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Wildfire Burns 2,000 Acres in Moorpark, California; The Rumsfeld Memo; Lebanon's Crisis; Rat Invasion in St. Bernard Parish; Venezuela Votes; The Reagans Today
Aired December 03, 2006 - 16:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again. I'm Fredricka Whitfield at the CNN headquarters in Atlanta.
You're in the NEWSROOM.
You can hear the winds and see the flames burning thousands of acres and damaging homes out West. A live update on the California wildfires.
And time for a major adjustment. Those words on Iraq from outgoing defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Private sentiments now made public.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't drive by. Drive through.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: And 32 hours and counting. This woman's not coming down from the roof until she gets her way.
Plus, four decades with the Reagans. I will talk with a photographer who has seen it all.
But first, a check of the headlines.
That wildfire in southern California has burned about 2,000 acres and destroyed at least two homes. The blaze, driven by strong Santa Ana winds, swept through parts of the city of Moorpark. Some residents were ordered to leave their homes as a precaution.
The son of Augusto Pinochet says his father is in the hands of God and the doctors. The former Chilean dictator had emergency angioplasty today after suffering a heart attack. Now he is listed in satisfactory condition but still seriously ill.
In Venezuela, voters turned out in huge numbers in an election that will decide if President Hugo Chavez wins another six-year term. Chavez, widely popular among the poor, is expected to win handily over the political veteran Manuel Rosales.
Two days before Donald Rumsfeld resigned as defense secretary he wrote a memo calling for changes in Iraq, saying U.S. forces were not working well enough or fast enough. The memo was first reported in "The New York Times."
Deep freeze, that's the condition for many areas from Texas to Michigan in the aftermath of a pre-winter storm. St. Louis was one of the many hard-hit areas. Hundreds of thousands remain without power. The storm is also blamed for at least 15 deaths.
And now our top story, a battle against flames, winds and nature. Fire crews are working to put out hot spots as a huge wildfire rages in Ventura County near Los Angeles. Several homes have been damaged and dozens of residents forced to flee.
Let's get the latest now from CNN's Gregg Canes, on the phone from Ventura County.
GREGG CANES, CNN PHOTOJOURNALIST: Hey, how is it going?
WHITFIELD: Pretty good, Greg. What are the big obstacles?
CANES: Well, the big obstacles are the 40-mile-an-hour-plus winds that have been blowing since this morning. I spoke with a Ventura fire captain who was attached to a unit that had attempted to save these two homes that burned down. And he said since early this morning, these gusts have been blowing and it took him pretty much by surprise.
There was a red flag warning up for most of last week. We all believed that it had ended on Friday. And then at 2:30 this morning these winds kicked up. And they have been in excess of 40 miles an hour. And it's a tough battle for these firefighters to fight these flames.
WHITFIELD: And Gregg, do firefighters have any idea how this may have been sparked?
CANES: No. Apparently, it began at 2:30 this morning. And, you know, I don't know whether that means criminal intent or -- or something else. But, as of yet, I think it's too early.
WHITFIELD: And Gregg, let's take a listen right now and look at some of these images that we've getting within the past couple hours. Pretty magnificent images of just how fierce this fire is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now he's working in the area of Grimes Canyon at Maria and Winchester.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: So we're talking about at least 20-mile-per-hour sustained winds that are helping to fan the flames. And Gregg, firefighters believe that they have this 2,000-acre blaze contained, but just not put out yet and under control completely?
CANES: That would surprise me, because as we were driving back in here, it looks like almost the fire split into two separate flames. And it's definitely -- it's pushing these -- the smoke is being pushed northwest, and every time we look around there is different hot spots in different places. It seems to be coming from the east of us and also going towards the west.
WHITFIELD: And what about the damage that you have seen, not just to, you know, the forestry there. We spoke earlier to a homeowner, Doran LePerch (ph)...
CANES: Right, LePerch (ph).
WHITFIELD: ... who talked about losing her home. Her mother lost her home. She was able to save all of her animals, but she did lose at least one bird.
CANES: That's right.
WHITFIELD: Is this becoming a fairly typical story? Is this the tip of the iceberg and perhaps we just haven't heard about other homeowners and their losses yet?
CANES: That's -- that's possible. I know that the firefighters -- the same fire captain that I spoke with, his eyes were red, you know, probably from the amount of wind that was going through here. But I know that these guys take it very personally when they lose a structure.
And he was very upset by it, as was Doran (ph). I spoke with Doran's (ph) sister as well. And they're not quite sure if they can go on from here.
There is a lifetime of memories in both of these houses. Her mother lived in one structure that was destroyed with the ashes of their deceased father. And both Doran (ph) and her sister said that their mother was taking this terribly, terribly hard and wondering how they could go on from this.
And the irony possibly on this is apparently last night they were all talking about how because there were a brand new building developments right next to their ranch that they felt much safer from fires.
WHITFIELD: Wow. Well -- well, just looking at these pictures, I mean, this is a pretty devastating fire. Very destructive. And those winds certainly not helping matters.
Gregg Canes, a photojournalist with CNN.
Thanks so much for your input on this.
CANES: My pleasure. You guys take care out there.
WHITFIELD: Well, let's check in again with Jacqui Jeras, who can explain what kind of wind conditions they're up against.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: Violence continues to have a grip on Iraq. Particularly in Anbar.
Two U.S. soldiers died in the province yesterday, killed by a roadside bomb. A military news release says the pair was on a security patrol when it happened.
And in a Baghdad courtroom, Saddam Hussein's lawyers formally appealed his death sentence for his role in the killing of 148 Shiites. Hussein and two senior members of his regime have been sentenced to hanging for the killings, which happened back in the early '80s.
And two days before resigning as defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld sent a memo to the White House. In it, he admitted U.S. policy in Iraq needs a lot of work. Maybe even pulling out American troops.
What's the reaction from inside the administration? Insight now from our Kathleen Koch at the White House -- Kathleen.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Fredricka.
The White House is downplaying the memo. This marks the second time in less than a week, though, that the frank thoughts of a top administration official have become embarrassingly public.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We'll remain...
KOCH (voice over): The memo sent by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to the White House two days before he resigned calls for a major course correction in Iraq. Among the many options, modest withdrawals of U.S. forces, redeploy troops from vulnerable positions in cities like Baghdad to safer areas, send more U.S. forces to seal the Iranian and Syrian borders.
National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley says President Bush is considering Rumsfeld's laundry list of ideas.
STEPHEN HADLEY, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: It was a useful memo. And we used it in that way to trigger discussions. But this was not a game plan.
KOCH: But some lawmakers were stunned at Rumsfeld's about-face.
SEN. CHUCK HAGEL (R), NEBRASKA: I think it's a little late for the secretary of defense to be sending a memo after almost four years to finally acknowledge that maybe we should change strategies, change policy, and acknowledge, for the first time I am aware of, that our policy in Iraq is not working.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Well, many of us have been offering alternatives for a way to be successful, and the administration has consistently shut that down. Now we see they're embracing the very things that we talked about.
KOCH: The Rumsfeld memo and a leaked memo from Hadley criticizing the Iraqi prime minister have raised questions about whether President Bush is leveling with the American public on Iraq.
Hadley says yes.
HADLEY: He has said publicly what Secretary Rumsfeld said, that some things are not proceeding well enough or fast enough in Iraq.
KOCH: In crafting a new strategy, Hadley says the president will consider the memo, the Iraqi Study Group report, an internal government review, as well as ideas from U.S. lawmakers and Iraqi leaders. President Bush meets with one top Shiite leader, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, Monday afternoon.
Officials say the new Iraq plan will be complete in the next few weeks.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOCH: Despite all this advice, the question now is how dramatic a change in U.S. policy in Iraq will President Bush support? Mr. Bush himself saying just days ago that U.S. forces will stay in Iraq until the job's done -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Kathleen Koch at the White House.
Thank you.
KOCH: You bet.
WHITFIELD: Robert Gates is the president's pick to take over at the Pentagon. His Senate confirmation hearings begin this week. In the next half hour in the NEWSROOM, our Gary Nurenberg looks ahead to those hearings.
An F-16 pilot has been listed as killed in action in Iraq. Major Troy Gilbert's fighter crashed on Monday, north of Baghdad. He was flying a support mission for troops fighting in Anbar Province. The Air Force says his identity was confirmed by DNA testing.
And it's going from bad to worse in Lebanon. Violent clashes erupted in Beirut today between Shiite and Sunni Muslims. One Shiite protester was shot dead. It happened as tens of thousands of protesters continue demonstrations against the U.S.-backed government.
Our Beirut bureau chief, Brent Sadler, has more.
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BRENT SADLER, CNN BEIRUT BUREAU CHIEF: For a third straight day, anti-government protesters have paralyzed the commercial center of the Lebanese capital, Beirut. Tens of thousands of protesters, led by an Hezbollah-dominated opposition, are now besieging, in effect, the prime ministry headquarters of Fouad Siniora. The government refuses to cave in to these continuing protests.
Now, the opposition quite clearly had many, many Christian supporters amongst their ranks today. At holy mass in a cathedral not far from one of the main squares, thousands of Christians who support former army commander Michel Aoun voiced their support during a holy mass Sunday. They say they represent part of a multi-religious attempt to topple the government by peaceful protests.
Now, inside the prime ministry complex itself, Mr. Siniora and at least a dozen cabinet colleagues took part again in a religious service to commemorate the death of cabinet minister Pierre Gemayel, a Maronite Catholic Christian who was gunned during an assassination by unidentified gunmen just over a week ago.
Both pro and anti-government camps diametrically opposed in this country are now trying to portray themselves as being representative of all religions and claiming that they hold the majority of the country in terms of who supports which side in this escalating political battle. This is what Fouad Siniora had to say about ongoing protests within earshot of his office.
FOUAD SINIORA, LEBANESE PRIME MINISTER: Under siege? No, we are not under siege.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)
SINIORA: No, no. I mean, this is -- the sit-in is fine. They are sitting there. They are expressing their right of expression.
We respect them. And this is their right. At the same time, there are plenty of other Lebanese -- plenty, much more, who have different opinions. We have to do our best in order to reconcile.
SADLER: Scores of tents have been erected in two squares in downtown Beirut. And all the evidence points to the fact that now, the ruling fragile order in Lebanon is in pieces and that these protests are set to continue for an open-ended period of time.
Brent Sadler, CNN, Beirut.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And sad news in this country. A holiday tradition turns deadly in the Northeast. A young boy killed by a parade float.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They control this. This is their -- this is their world. We're in their world now.
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WHITFIELD: We're talking about rats. They're running rampant in parts of Louisiana, forcing FEMA even to take action.
And he's taken pictures of the Reagans for decades. Photographer Harry Benson shares some of his favorites with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: News "Across America" now.
A holiday parade in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, turns tragic. A 9- year-old boy died last night after being hit by a float. The boy reportedly fell off the front of a Cub scout float when it hit a bump and the boy landed directly in its path.
Drugmaker Pfizer is ending clinical trials for one of its most anticipated cholesterol drugs, Torcetrapib. A study shows a higher than normal number of deaths associated with the drug. Pfizer is warning all patients to stop taking the drug immediately.
The crew of Discovery is getting ready for their new mission. They arrived at the Kennedy Space Center about an hour ago. During their 12 days in orbit they'll rendezvous with the International space Station and rewire its lab.
Discovery is scheduled to launch Thursday night.
Will she or won't she? A top advisor to Hillary Rodham Clinton says the New York senator is actively considering a presidential run in 2008. The advisor says Clinton is in the process of meeting with top New York Democrats, personally asking for their support in a possible run for the White House.
And one Democrat who won't be running? A top advisor to Tom Daschle says the former Senate Democratic leader will not seek the presidential nomination in 2008. Steve Hillebrand (ph) says CNN -- or tells CNN that Daschle's decision is based in part on the party's success in the midterm elections. He says Democrats are in a better position now to affect change in Washington.
Southern Louisiana has seen more than its share of troubles trying to clean up from Katrina. Now one of the hardest-hit areas, St. Bernard's Parish, is facing a new problem: hoards of rats.
The story from our Gulf Coast correspondent, Susan Roesgen.
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SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN GULF COAST CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Blake Forestall is fixing up a friend's house with an abandoned house next door. Abandoned, but not exactly empty. More than once, Blake says he's seen a rat sit in the windowsill watching him work.
BLAKE FORESTALL, RESIDENT: They don't have much to be scared of, do they? I mean, they control this. This is their world. We're in their world now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The ones we marked in yellow are repeat customers.
ROESGEN: For the first time in years, St. Bernard Parish is giving away rat poison. Six pounds per person is the average, and between 40 and 50 people a day are asking for it.
The problem is thousands of still ungutted houses. Perfect places for rats to survive and multiply. A fast-moving rat is not the easiest thing to capture on camera. But people who have caught them in traps seem to want to share what they've found. These are dead rats on ice at what's become the parish rat control headquarters. And live rats don't seem content to stay in unheated houses.
WILL SCHULTE, RAT CONTROL: But there's a little drain pipe or something from the air-conditioner, I think it is, and it's this thin stuff. They just poke a hole in it.
ROESGEN: Parish worker Will Schulte says the rats have found out how easy it is to get inside a FEMA trailer. The parish has started putting bait under as many FEMA trailers as possible, hoping the rats will be drawn do this bright blue molasses-smelling poison. But in some cases it's too late.
This is a normal sized hole for a trailer power cable. This is one that's been gnawed on by a rat. Even worse, parish worker Charlie England says he was gnawed on by a rat.
CHARLIE ENGLAND, RAT CONTROL: I really didn't want to believe it was a rat, but something leaves a hole in your leg, you know, it was what it was.
ROESGEN: The only answer may be letting the rats bite into something that can kill them.
Susan Roesgen, CNN, St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Well, it is election day in Venezuela. The polls just closed about an hour ago. Who is in the lead, the friend of America or the foe?
And investigators are following a trail of radioactive footprints in the case of a former KGB agent who was poisoned.
You are watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Well, it has all the elements of a James Bond spy thriller: murder, intrigue, radiation poisoning, and a former Russian spy. But the investigation into the death of Alexander Litvinenko is not fiction, and now it's beginning a new chapter with a new plot twist that may include extortion.
Here is CNN's Paula Newton.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's a forensic nightmare for police, but it remains some of the best evidence they have. The rare radioactive element Polonium-210 was detected all over London and even on airplanes, leaving a trail of radioactive footprints. And now the British government confirms the trail is leading investigators to Russia.
JOHN REID, BRITISH HOME SECRETARY: The police will follow whatever this investigation leads inside or outside of Britain.
NEWTON: A team of nine British officers is expected to travel to Russia later this week and interview two Russian men who met Litvinenko at the Millennium Hotel on the day police believe he was poisoned. And now a new allegation in the British newspaper "The Observer" suggests Litvinenko had more than a few enemies.
The paper reports that Russian academic Julia Svetlichnaja met Litvinenko several times and exchanged more than 100 e-mails with him. The report goes on to say that in a series of interviews, she says the former Russian agent was planning to blackmail several Russian tycoons and government officials with incriminating evidence of how they extorted millions from Russian coffers and companies.
It is an investigation that seems to get more complicated by the hour.
JOHN O'CONNOR, FMR. SCOTLAND YARD COMMANDER: Ignore all the opinions, ignore all the conspiracy theories, because that's what a lot of them are, and just go for the evidence. Trace the evidence.
NEWTON: And much of that evidence leads to Russia -- Litvinenko's meeting with two Russians at the hotel, to the Polonium traces found on airplanes from Moscow to London, to the Polonium-210 itself, which British nuclear experts believe came from a Russian reactor.
GLENMORE TRENEAR-HARVEY, INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: We will see that it is an intelligence officer, a Russian intelligence officer, either former or existing.
NEWTON: But did Litvinenko really bring this on himself by trying to extort money? His colleagues say it's not possible.
TRENEAR-HARVEY: As far as I was concerned, that he was a dedicated one, almost might say a fanatically dedicated intelligence officer who was determined to get back against a corrupt system and a corrupt intelligence agency.
NEWTON (on camera): Police still won't say whether or not Litvinenko was poisoned at this Japanese restaurant. But the web of evidence is now stretching further into Russia, where the government says it is ready and waiting to help British investigators.
Paula Newton, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And Monday, "ANDERSON COOPER 360" will devote a full hour to this mystery. Anderson goes beyond the headlines, examining Polonium-210 and how it became an assassin's weapon. His special, "Poison Plot: The Killing of a Spy" begins at 10:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
And in our CNN "Security Watch" today, a terrorist attack foiled in Saudi Arabia.
In the last three months, Saudi security officials say they arrested nearly 140 Islamic militants. All have suspected ties to al Qaeda. The interior ministry says the suspects are from several Arab countries. They were rounded up in Saudi Arabia before they launched their attack. Officials did not provide details on the plot.
And stay tuned day and night for the most reliable news about your security.
Raging wildfires are spreading throughout the West Coast, forcing evacuations. How close are the flames to homes?
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And I'm meteorologist Jacqui Jeras in the CNN weather Center. When will those Santa Ana winds die down?
The latest on the cold air in the nation's midsection. Your forecast is coming up.
WHITFIELD: Plus, why the man slated to replace Donald Rumsfeld is expected to come up against tough questions this week in Washington.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Our top stories now.
Firefighters are battling a trio of wildfires in Ventura County, California, that have already charred an estimated 2,000 acres. Strong Santa Ana winds are helping stoke the flames. A mandatory evacuation has been ordered, with a number of homes threatened.
The death watch is under way for Chile's former military dictator, General Augusto Pinochet, who is hospitalized in serious condition. The 91-year-old strongman underwent emergency angioplasty earlier this morning after a massive heart attack.
He's accused of killing and torturing thousands of political opponents during his 17 years in power.
The U.S. military confirms seven American troops have been killed this weekend in Iraq. Four died in combat, three died by roadside bombs. Their deaths, along with a reclassification of pilot Troy Gilbert's death last week to killed in action, puts the U.S. death toll in Iraq at 2,898.
The coalition's war in terror intensifies. The U.S. military says a precision airstrike leveled a suspected safe house where five insurgents were killed. Six more were killed in various overnight raids. And as many as 13 suspected terrorists have been arrested.
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HUGO CHAVEZ, VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The devil came here yesterday. Yesterday the devil came here. Right here.
(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: You remember those words a few months ago. That put the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, in a whole new spotlight.
Calling President Bush "the devil" may not have endeared himself to many Americans, but he is still extremely popular in his homeland on this election day.
CNN's Karl Penhaul is live in Caracas, Venezuela.
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, polling stations closed about two and a half hours ago now. The counting is under way, but according to the National Council for Elections, we don't expect any official result for a few hours yet, possibly some time towards mid evening.
But already we're hearing from some members of the opposition groups that they do believe there have been voting irregularities. They're stopping short at this stage of calling it wholesale fraud, but they have pointed things out, such as some polling stations opening very late this morning. They say that in some polling stations the whole procedure was going very slowly, and so the opposition does look like it may put up a fight about some of these figures, about some of the results, when they finally do come.
Overall, though, that is a reflection of how polarized politics are. Here in Venezuela themselves, voters today say that rather than voting between two candidates, on the one hand, Hugo Chavez, on the other, the main opposition candidate, Manuel Rosales, what voters are saying is that they're voting for two visions.
On the one hand, we have president Chavez's vision. He says he wants to transform Venezuela into a socialist state. On the other hand, his opponents say that Chavez is not a democrat. They say Chavez is a dictator, and they say that he wants to take Venezuela down the road of some kind of Castro-style communism -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And so, Karl, if it is Chavez who gets re-elected, we already know what his sentiments are about the Bush administration. What do we think this might mean for U.S.-Venezuelan relations if he is back into power?
PENHAUL: Well, certainly we do know that Chavez went into these elections as the frontrunner, although late opinion polls were suggesting the opposition candidate was making a late surge. But if Chavez does win, then what he has said during his campaign rallies is that he will strengthen his socialist project in Venezuela.
What that means is that across Latin America and parts of the developing world, he will continue to push his anti-free market platform. And that, by its very nature, is going to lead him into confrontation with the United States.
We know that Venezuela is a major oil supplier to the United States. But no member of the Venezuelan administration has made any further threats about cutting off Venezuelan oil imports to the United States. At this stage, it is still rhetoric, very much on the level that Chavez is opposed to the U.S. capitalist plan, what Chavez refers to as U.S. imperialism. But he's not so far putting his money where the rhetoric is, he's not making any overt threats in terms of oil exports to the U.S. -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Karl Penhaul in Caracas.
Thank you so much.
"Going Global" right now.
Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet is being closely monitored in a hospital. The 91-year-old suffered a heart attack earlier today and underwent emergency heart surgery.
A suicide car bomber in Afghanistan killed several civilians and wounded three NATO soldiers in Kandahar City today. NATO officials say the troops fired warning shots that may have killed other Afghan civilians.
A team of doctors in Saudi Arabia has successfully separated conjoined Iraqi twin girls. The girls have been joined at the chest and abdomen during their 11 months of life. The twins' chief surgeon tells CNN they are now in stable condition.
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DR. ABDULLAH AL RABEEAH, CHIEF SURGEON: The biggest risk is infection and wound care. And we are going to take a lot of precautions. When we saw them earlier today, they looked stable. There are no indications of any infections, and their wounds looked remarkably good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Those girls are so pretty. The operation took 18 hours and a team of almost 30 doctors working in shifts.
Well, after criticizing the New York Police department for last week's fatal shooting of an unarmed man who was about to be married, Reverend Al Sharpton has a new target: the Atlanta, Georgia, narcotics officers who fatally shot an elderly woman while serving a search warrant of her home. He wants a congressional inquiry into police use of drug informants and no-knock warrants.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REV. AL SHARPTON, NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK: They will have to answer what they, when they did, why they did before a body of the United States Congress, who has to protect the public.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Sharpton wants both the Atlanta and New York police shootings to be fully investigated by federal authorities. And now some of the most popular stories on CNN.com.
A Virginia teenager who had just been arrested for drunken driving escaped from a police cruiser on Interstate 95, and then he jumped off a bridge into the river and drowned.
A Columbus, Ohio, teenager who was throwing eggs at cars was the victim of a deadly retaliation. Police say some one in one of the egged vehicles shot at the boy, killing him.
And a San Francisco family is missing. James and Katie Kim (ph) and their two children disappeared on their way home from a vacation in Oregon.
Click on to CNN.com for more details on all these stories.
A first family captured in photographs. The man behind the lens will talk with us live about what we don't see in the pictures.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They need to drive in. I want to get off this roof.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: And she has been on this roof for several hours. What it's going to take to get her off that rooftop and get some sleep already.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: The winds are blowing. The flames are spreading. It's bad. Homes and lives at risk. More than 2,000 acres burned now in Ventura County, California.
CNN's Ted Rowlands joins us live from the city of Moorpark with the very latest, where we know at least two homes have been destroyed as we talked to the homeowner -- Ted.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Yes, Fredricka.
And about 20 minutes ago we saw some very, very dark smoke over this ridge which appeared to be another structure. We can't confirm that it was another one, but clearly there are hundreds of homes in danger here. And clearly, the problems is the winds, gusting up to 70, to even 80 miles an hour. And it is giving firefighters a lot of difficulty here with this fire which started at about 2:30 in the morning out here in the Moorpark region.
Just within the last half an hour, California Highway 118 had to be closed in both directions about a mile from where we are. From our vantage point, we're up on kind of a ridge. We can see a number of different areas that are burning, and they're trying to attack it by air in all these different areas. But because of the winds, it is just so difficult to get a handle on this. As you can see, some heavy smoke in this region. And then a number of homes directly behind us.
This one of the areas of concern for firefighters as they try to do their best just to protect structures. Most people, because of the severity of this, know that this is the real deal. And they have evacuated their homes. And they're hoping for the best.
The problem, forecasters say these winds are expected to last throughout the day. And while it is winter and cold in a majority of the country, here in California, as you can see, we are still in fire season, believe it or not, here in the first week of December -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And so, Ted, in this portion of Ventura County, is this sparsely populated or is it pretty densely populated?
ROWLANDS: Well, it goes in spurts. Like, right behind you, you can see this is a development here, a community where there is obviously a number of homes in these pockets.
There is -- there's construction here. This is an area that has been building out for years.
There are still a lot of ranch homes here. And one of the homes that did burn down was a ranch.
That's another problem that we're having today, is livestock, because there still are a lot of ranchers here and a lot of animals. People got the call early this morning to get out, and they did their best to get their animals out.
At this point, we haven't had an update in some time. And you said at least 2,000 acres burned. Clearly, the next update we get, that number will be going up because of the amount of splintered fires that are happening around us.
WHITFIELD: All right. Ted Rowlands, thanks so much for that update.
Let's check in with Jacqui Jeras.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: Carol Lin is here with more -- with what's ahead in the NEWSROOM.
And we're talking hurricane-type-force winds that were pushing these flames.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. I had no idea they were blowing that hard.
WHITFIELD: Isn't that remarkable?
LIN: Yes. Just seeing Ted Rowlands out there, you can imagine what the firefighters are dealing with in those canyons. And with the winds picking up, it's still going to be the windiest part of the day just in the next couple of hours.
Fred, we are going to be focusing on this very big story today, following the developing story, and talking to people on the front lines.
At 7:00, I'm going to be talking with a homeowner who lost the two houses that were on her property. One of them belonged to her mother. Her mother was living there.
We're also reaching out to other people in the fire zone there. We are going to be tracking what is happening with them. Are they evacuating? Did they lose their houses?
We're going to try to get to them during the cut-ins as well, and really hear their stories as it's happening.
And then at 10:00 tonight, there is a public Christmas festival in Chicago, all right? But the city has said that that's no place for any ads having to do with the original Christmas story.
A movie called "The Nativity Story," ads for that movie banned from the Christmas festival. Has political correctness gone too far?
This is not a holiday festival. This is a Christmas festival.
WHITFIELD: And if ever there was a time of year when some might say it would be appropriate...
LIN: Right.
WHITFIELD: ... wouldn't it be this time of year?
LIN: Yes. So I'm going to be talking with one of the groups that is opposing the ads for "The Nativity Story," and we'll see what she has to say.
WHITFIELD: All right. We'll be watching and listening to all that.
Thanks a lot, Carol.
Well, there's a pair of familiar faces on the new issue of "LIFE" magazine. The cover story focuses on the former first lady, Nancy Reagan. And the story was written by her daughter, Patti Davis.
"LIFE," by the way, is owned by Time-Warner, parent company of CNN.
Well, pictures for the story were taken by an award-winning photojournalist who is no stranger to the Reagan family.
Harry Benson joins us now from West Palm Beach, Florida.
Good to see you.
HARRY BENSON, PHOTOJOURNALIST: Well, it's very nice to beep here. It's nice and sunny.
WHITFIELD: Well, that is nice. And it does look great in your backdrop there.
BENSON: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: Well, you have documented this family for four decades. You know them well, personally, and you know them well as the subjects of many of your photographs.
We are going to look at some of the photographs while you and I talk. And I think most people have always been impressed by photographs that show a very in love Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan.
Did you have to work hard to try and capture the dynamic between this couple?
BENSON: Not in the slightest. It was so natural. So easy.
You know, if you are with them and the president would come into the room, he would insist you don't stand up. And it was so easy. Though obviously, you know, they enjoyed each other.
I photographed them, first of all, in '65, when he ran for governor of California. So I have known them. And it's always been fun.
WHITFIELD: And then you fast forward...
BENSON: Well, you always know you are going to get good pictures with them.
WHITFIELD: Really. You just didn't have to try hard. You knew that there would be great moments?
BENSON: That's right. You knew that you are going to leave them wagging -- wagging your tail. Like the Kennedys. Like Bobby Kennedy. You knew that things would be -- you know -- that allows you to do your job.
WHITFIELD: Well...
BENSON: And I found Richard Nixon the same. So...
WHITFIELD: And then you fast forward and compare these beautiful pictures over, you know, the past few decades of Ronny and Nancy, and then you look at the more current photographs when you involve those photographs with Nancy Reagan. Ronny is not there. The former president is not there.
BENSON: Yes.
WHITFIELD: Instead, replaced by Patti Davis.
BENSON: Well, these two are very...
WHITFIELD: How is Nancy Reagan doing? She looks very withdrawn in the few photos where we do see her face with Patti Davis.
BENSON: Well, I was -- I was amazed that -- just how healthy she was. I mean, she has still got that sense of -- sense of humor. You know, she busts out laughing at real jokes. You know?
You know, like I would say to -- to Mrs. Reagan, "I like your sunglasses." And she would say, "Oh, you do?" Then I would say, "Well I don't like Patti's." And, you know, she would think that was funny.
You know? It was. You know.
WHITFIELD: Right. Did you -- were you able to tell that just as -- you know, Patti Davis writes that, you know, the family has kind of come full circle. While politics had divided them in many ways, you know, the death and the illness of her father really brought them together.
Was that easy for you to capture? Did you feel that that was pretty evident?
BENSON: Yes, I did. There was a closeness to them. And, you know, Mrs. Reagan would say to me, "Doesn't Patti look beautiful? I have never seen her look so beautiful."
There was a very closeness with mother and -- mother and daughter. You know, it also makes me feel old too. I'm coming on, too. You know I was just a young -- a young guy...
WHITFIELD: Because you have grown with them.
BENSON: Well, I mean, there have been a few presidents, you know.
WHITFIELD: All right -- yes.
Well, we can all enjoy more of the photographs by you and the article written by Patti Davis in "LIFE" magazine.
Harry Benson, thanks so much for your time and thanks so much for sharing those images with us.
BENSON: It's a pleasure. Thank you.
WHITFIELD: Well, this is an unusual way of showing support for the troops, would you say? Spending the night on a rooftop. What you can do to help her cause.
You are watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
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