Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Raging Wildfires in Southern California; New Attacks in Southern Turkey

Aired October 22, 2007 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN NEWSROOM ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Heidi Collins. Tony Harris is off today.

Watch events coming to the NEWSROOM live on this Monday morning. It is October 22nd. Here's what's on the rundown.

Southern California burning. Major wildfires threaten thousands of homes this hour. Live updates and your live I-Report pictures.

Also, investors looking for smoother sailing after a rocky ride. Wall Street opens for business this hour and we are there.

And oh, baby, a tornado is no match for a tough 1-year-old. We'll tell you the story right here in the NEWSROOM.

A sleepless night and no rest for the weary in Southern California. About a dozen wildfires are raging from Santa Barbara to San Diego. Thousands of acres have burned. Thousands of homes now evacuated. The largest evacuation so far in San Diego County. Residents packing up and heading out of some 10,000 homes around Ramona. The danger brutally clear. At least one person has been killed, 17 others injured. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency for seven Southern California counties.

Major fires are bearing down on the posh beach side community of Malibu. 2,000 acres have burned, more than two dozen buildings destroyed.

This story is developing by the minute, of course, and CNN crews are posted at each point along the way. CNN's Kara Finnstrom is in San Diego County, reporter Vince Gonzalez is in Malibu and meteorologist Rob Marciano is watching the many weather factors at play here. We want to begin this morning, though, with Kara.

Kara, tell us, are people still being urged to evacuate now?

KARA FINNSTROM, SAN DIEGO CO., CALIFORNIA: They are. Earlier this morning, actually overnight, there were some mandatory evacuations that were put into place for all of San Pasqual Valley that has at least 10,000 people -- fire officials telling us, it could be up to 20,000. And those people have been continuing to evacuate throughout the night and early into this morning.

Now, just a short while ago, the mountains behind me were completely in flames. I want to show you some pictures that we took at that time.

Firefighters here say that this fire, the Witch Creek fire, is like a blow torch. They say some of the winds that are coming through here have gusts of up to 80 miles per hour, and are actually picking up huge chunks of burning debris and then throwing them in front of the fire and just really spreading this fire along. The mayor urged people in San Pasqual Valley to evacuate. And he actually urged everyone this morning in the San Diego area to please keep a close eye on this fire. Here is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If a police officer visits your home, please listen to what they have to tell you. When they tell you, you need to evacuate, please evacuate immediately. Listen to them. Take the directions that they have, and leave the area as quickly as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FINNSTROM: Now, part of the reason fire officials are so concerned about this fire is because they say it's taking the exact same path as the Cedar Fire of 2003. That was the deadliest fire in the state's history. And they say, often these huge wildfires follow the same paths, because they follow and are driven largely by the topography of the land.

So they're very concerned, keeping a close eye on it. They're going to have some small helicopters, small airplanes going up later today, and try to get a better feel for exactly how much area has been charred. But at least 14,000 acres by one fire, 8,000 acres by another. And they say these fire conditions are expected to continue on through the week.

Back to you, Heidi.

COLLINS: Wow! All right. CNN's Kara Finnstrom giving us the layover there.

All right, Kara, thank you for that.

I want to go ahead and head up to the California Coast now, to Malibu's home of the rich and famous, as I'm sure you know. But today, the fires are getting top billing. Reporter Vince Gonzales is there.

Vince, good morning to you. Tell us a little bit about the situation as you see it.

VINCE GONZALES, MALIBU, CALIFORNIA: Good morning, Heidi.

Well, this fire is definitely still burning in the canyons above Malibu. As we were driving in, we could see the bright orange glow going out over the ocean. And as we rounded some of the canyon turns, you could see the flames up in the areas where we know there are houses. But right now, what we're told is the fire is pretty stationary. The winds are gusting here, but not quite as bad as they were yesterday.

Behind me is the Malibu Presbyterian Church. And this is the result of the fire yesterday when we had those fierce winds, those embers that get picked up by the fires all around the state. The same thing happened here. Threw those embers far from the main body of the fire. We lost some houses here in Malibu. This church was gutted by fire.

Firefighters say the embers hit, it lit up so fast, they were not able to save this church. It's just in ruins and it's actually still hot this morning. We approached this open doorway here a little while ago, and you can feel the heat radiating off of it. There's still pieces of it that are actually smoldering tonight -- this morning.

Now, what we're told is that the winds are expected to pick up, like this gust that just hit us here, as we get closer to dawn. Our equipment's been blowing around. And the fear is that if those winds reach the gusts that they were at yesterday morning, we could again see this fire break out of the canyons and head into the part of Malibu now that everyone thinks of when they think of Malibu and Hollywood, where the stars live.

COLLINS: Yes.

GONZALES: Yesterday, people were actually foaming their homes down there, to try to prevent a repeat of what happened.

COLLINS: Yes, they put that fire retardant on there. I think we saw some video of that.

All right, thanks so much, Vince Gonzales. We'll check in with you later on.

Meanwhile though, we want to take a moment to step back a little bit and look at the big picture. In all, more than 50,000 acres have burned across Southern California. Wind gusts have topped 80 miles an hour. That's hurricane strength. More than 10,000 homes have been evacuated. So far, at least one person has been killed, 17 others have been injured.

I want to go ahead and get over to Rob Marciano straight way now, with more on the weather picture here, but there are certainly a lot of meteorological factors this morning.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, but the biggest one is that wind...

COLLINS: The wind...

MARCIANO: ... like you said...

COLLINS: Yes.

MARCIANO: ... you know, gusts to 80 miles an hour. Forget about it. And then -- and where it's coming from. So, everything is coming from the dry desert, the dry mountains as opposed to an onshore flow, which typically keeps Southern California nice and cool, comfortable and just enough humidity to make things pleasant. But now we're getting these dry winds that come down the mountains. And that -- there's a number of things. It comes from a dry area. And then when it comes down the mountain and compresses, and that heats it up and dries it out even more. So, a number of factors certainly come into play here.

And these are winds in the last hour, anywhere from 20 to 40 miles an hour, sustained gusts higher than that, of course. And the closer you are to Canyons; those winds will actually shoot down the Canyons and kind of funnel and be squeezed a little bit more like that.

The other factor is the unusually dry -- unusual -- this is going to be a record year, looks like it, for L.A., 2.8 inches of rainfall. That's since January 1st. I mean, there are over seven inches below where they should be. Riverside has only seen 1.3 inches of rainfall since January 1st.

So, tremendous amount of dry air, and dry land and a hot 91- degree forecast high, Heidi, for Southern California today. And things don't really change until we get towards the end of the week. Things aren't going to improve tomorrow.

COLLINS: Yes, that's what I heard you saying earlier. All right, Rob, we know you're watching that carefully. We'll check back in a little bit later on. Thank you.

If you are in Southern California, share your pictures of what's happening. If you can, send us a CNN I-Report. Show us the flames and how you are protecting your home, or what you and your family are doing to get out of the way, escape the danger.

There are two ways to send an I-Report on your computer. Just go to cnn.com and click I-Report or type I-Report@cnn.com into your cell phone and share your photos or video with us. Of course, hopefully, we don't even need to mention this to you, but please be careful. Don't put yourself in harm's way in all of these. Some of these pictures that we are getting are just incredible this morning.

Meanwhile though, every day it seems to get a little bit worse. The Atlanta area quickly running out of water. Now, the White House may get involved in Georgia's drought crisis. It is considering a request to declare parts of Northern Georgia, Federal disaster areas. The governor submitted the request and officials warn a major reservoir supplying water to the Atlanta area has less than a 90-day supply remaining. Governor Sonny Perdue says part of the problem is the corps of engineers being required to release some of Georgia's water downstream to keep endangered fish alive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. SONNY PERDUE, (R) GEORGIA: We're willing to conserve, but it doesn't do any good to conserve if the corps, and the Fish and Wildlife still send more than twice of the water needed down the stream and beyond that dam. We can't conserve our way out of this, if they don't cooperate. And that's what I'm asking the president, to intervene, so we can get common sense decisions out of the Fish and Wildlife and corps of engineers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: The Governor Perdue has declared a water supply emergency in the northern part of the state.

Also, a new look for Louisiana. Governor -- voters there, I should say, electing a new governor over the weekend. Republican, Congressman Bobby Jindal captured 57 percent of the vote, avoiding a prospective runoff election. Jindal becomes the nation's first Indian-American governor.

REP. BOBBY JINDAL, (R) LOUISIANA GOV.-ELECT: My mom and dad came to this country in pursuit of the American dream.

(CHEERING)

JINDAL: And guess what happened? They found the American dream to be alive and well, right here in Louisiana.

(CHEERING)

COLLINS: He replaces Governor Kathleen Blanco, who decided not to run again. Jindal finished second to Blanco in the last election, before going on to win his house -- his seat, in the House of Representatives.

Well, the Dow opens this morning with signs of trouble ahead. Future's pointing to another big loss. It was a big stumble on Friday, that's for sure, down 366 points. International markets down as well. And today, the Nikkei lost some 375 point. U.S. markets are going to be opening in a few minutes. We are going to be live at the bell, and we'll be watching the market closely, all morning long, right here in the NEWSROOM.

Well, you may have noticed something a little different on the bottom of your screen. I'm not a meteorologist. They do this so well. There you go. Right there. The lower left corner has turned green. That's because CNN is going green this week. We're digging deeper on environmental issues, covering stories that affect all of us, from the air we breathe to the fuel we use. It all coincides with the premiere of "Planet in Peril." A special report with Anderson Cooper, with Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Animal Planet's Jeff Corwin.

That's tomorrow and Wednesday, coming your way, 9:00 Eastern.

A hellish inferno and church goers gathering for Sunday services. Now, they face a greater test of faith. You'll hear from their church leader in just a few moments.

DANA BASH, CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dana Bash in or Orlando, Florida, where Republican candidates for president had the most aggressive debate so far about who's the best conservative and who's the best to run against Hillary Clinton. More on that coming up in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Also, America's veterans, are they falling through the cracks, into a vacancy in Washington? We'll talk about that.

And, pesticides, chemicals -- they may be good for growing food or livestock, but how are they affecting the food we eat?

Our Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen will have some answers ahead right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Welcome back, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Increasing tensions in Turkey. New rebel attack pushing Turkish troops closer to entering Iraq. U.S. officials (inaudible).

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Another debate. This time, Republican presidential hopefuls got a little aggressive against each other. And Hillary Clinton.

We get more now from CNN's Dana Bash.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BASH (voice-over): Right out of the gate, Republican presidential hopefuls were encouraged to mix it up on who's the real conservative. But it didn't take much prodding.

FRED THOMPSON, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Mayor Giuliani believes in federal funding for abortion. He believes in sanctuary cities. He is for gun control. He sides with Hillary Clinton on each of those issues.

RUDY GIULIANI, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Fred has his problems too. Fred's (inaudible) along with very few Republicans blocked tort reform over and over and over again. That is not a conservative position.

MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're not going to keep Hillary Clinton out of the White House by acting like Hillary Clinton.

BASH: It was the most aggressive GOP debate with the sharpest exchanges to date. Front-runners Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney took the most incoming about their conservative credentials.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Governor Romney, you've been spending the last year trying to fool people about your record. You can't -- I don't want you to start fooling them about mine.

BASH: All that prompted this.

GIULIANI: Let them fight all they want tonight -- shed each other's blood -- asnd then I'll be ready to run for president.

BASH: Eleven weeks before their first Republicans vote in Iowa, Rudy Giuliani leads nationally, but in key first contest states, polls are mixed. The increasing heat here is generated by an unsettled and unsatisfied GOP electorate. But one thing, these candidates know Republican voters want is the best man to go after Hillary Clinton.

ROMNEY: She hasn't run a corner store. She hasn't run a state. She hasn't run a city. She hasn't run anything.

BASH: They were eager to deliver.

GIULIANI: No kidding, Hillary. America can't afford you.

BASH: John McCain attacked Clinton for trying to spend $1 million on a Woodstock Museum and used it to reminder of his experience of his '60s as a POW.

MCCAIN: Now, my friends, I wasn't there. I'm sure it was a cultural and pharmaceutical event.

(LAUGHTER)

MCCAIN: I was tied up at the time, but the fact is...

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Well, you got to admit it was a pretty good line.

Dana Bash joining us, live from Orlando, Florida, the site of last night's debate. Dana, good morning to you. Tell me...

BASH: Good morning.

COLLINS: This is Fred Thompson's second debate. Let's talk about him for a moment. How do you think he did?

BASH: Well, you know, it's really interesting. It's his second debate, and since really the first debate, and since Fred Thompson announced his candidacy, he has kind of been a non-factor, when you heard the barbs being traded back and forth. This is the first time we've seen it really on the stage -- the "Who's a conservative? I'm a conservative. You're not a conservative." But it's been going on like this since all that's been happening.

Fred Thompson has not even been engaged by these other candidates, because they haven't seen him as somebody who they needed to engage, which is quite interesting. Now, on the stage, he was sort of forced to mix it up by the panelist, by the questioners. So, that was sort of interesting. He certainly did seem more energetic than he has in the past.

One, perhaps the most pointed questions did go, Heidi, to Fred Thompson and it was about the fact that, you know, that he has been criticized for not campaigning very much, for being lazy. And his answer, Heidi, was kind of Reaganesque, in that he had a prepared line, and he's ticked off his lengthy resume. And then he said, "If that's lazy, I hope that more of that recommended to everyone."

So, he didn't really answer the question about why he only has, like one campaign event a day and about the criticism about his, perhaps, lack of fire in the belly or at least the perception of that right now. But it certainly did get an applause line, Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes, it certainly did.

All right, CNN's Dana Bash on the campaign trail for us.

Dana, thanks so much.

BASH: Thank you.

COLLINS: And just as a reminder, you did it once. Now it's time for history to repeat itself. Go to cnn.com/youtubedebates and post your questions for the Republican presidential candidates. The debate, Wednesday, November 28th, and your voice will be heard only on CNN, your home for politics.

Among other top stories this morning was California's wildfires.

Boy, look at these pictures. The losses measured in acreage and heartbreak. More than two dozen buildings lost, and one of them, the Malibu Presbyterian Church. Today, its members will gather for a prayer vigil.

Joining us, the church's associate Pastor Michael Mudgett.

Good morning to you, Pastor. Thanks for being with us. How is everybody doing there?

MICHAEL MUDGETT, MALIBU PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH: Oh, good morning. It's good to be with you.

People are doing well. We're very resilient. And we got a lot of phone conversations, people calling, and the staff talking to the people in the congregation. We're very resilient.

COLLINS: Talk to us a little bit about these...

MUDGETT: But more than the...

COLLINS: I'm sorry. There's a bit of a delay this morning. And I know we've had some complications because of these massive winds. We've even had some complications with our equipment. I can only imagine what it's like to be sort of standing in the middle of them. Tell me a little bit about that.

MUDGETT: What it feels like to be here? It's -- I'm still in shock. It's still very windy. And behind me is our devastated church building. And it's just sort of a surreal experience. COLLINS: And talk to us about the church. I know that this has been absolutely devastating to you and the congregation. I believe we're looking at pictures right now. How badly damaged is it?

MUDGETT: Well, it's totally destroyed. The church itself is totally -- well, the building itself is destroyed. The church, though, the church is its members. And the members are alive and vital. We're going through a grieving process, naturally, but all very hopeful. Everyone has reminded me, and we remind each other that the church is not the building. The church is the people. And we will pick up from here and go forward.

COLLINS: Boy, you said it well -- very well. And, tell us a little bit about what happened, though. I know that you were one of the first people there that had to actually sound the alarm when it got too dangerous?

MUDGETT: Well, one of our directors got up real early, saw the red skies and called a few of us, and we all came down to the church early yesterday morning at about 6:45. And we thought there was a fire danger coming down Malibu canyon. The winds were whipping up pretty strongly. And so, we took out some important things from the church, not really believing that it would burn down. When we left at about quarter to 8:00, went home, and about 30 minutes later, our Senior Pastor Greg called me and said, "Mike, our church is burning down." I turned on the local news and watched it burn down in real time. And that was just unreal.

COLLINS: Oh, geez. Oh, boy. I'm so sorry about that. And, again, as we...

MUDGETT: Oh, thank you.

COLLINS: ... continue to look at these pictures, it got to be absolutely devastating.

What next -- for you and the congregation?

MUDGETT: Well, we have a congregational meeting. We're going to rally some place and have a -- have a service, a worship service. Wednesday is what we're targeting. Tuesday evening, we're looking to assemble the session, which are -- which is comprised of the elders and just talk about our next step forward.

And this afternoon, the staff will assemble, and we'll -- we'll just start putting the game plan together. And we believe God wants to -- to build something great here out of these ashes and -- and God will. And so, we'll just all come together and we'll rally and we'll go forward.

COLLINS: So, you already have in your mind that I've -- it sounds like, from the way you explain it, in the congregation's mind, as well, that you will rebuild?

MUDGETT: I have no doubt that's going to happen here. This church is such a vital component of this community, and it's such a resource, and it's a spiritual center here in Malibu, along with some of the other churches. And it just plays such a vital part here that I can't think of anything other than rebuilding here. And so, we're excited from that point of view. We will be rebuilding.

COLLINS: Excellent. Well...

MUDGETT: And something new will happen.

COLLINS: All right. Well, we appreciate your time this morning, Michael Mudgett. And he's the associate pastor of Malibu Presbyterian Church, which, you heard right here, have been destroyed.

I know it's going to be a tough few weeks and months for you, but we wish you the very best of luck. Thank you so much, Michael.

MUDGETT: Well, thank you. Thank you and God bless.

COLLINS: Thank you.

Also, in the headlines this morning, we want to tell you about this story. The U.S. Navy says an American sailor shot and killed two female sailors before turning the gun on himself. And it happened today inside a military barracks in the Gulf island nation of Bahrain. The navy says the shooting was not a terror-related attack and that it only involved U.S. military personnel. We'll continue to watch that story as well.

Still ahead, though, young, vulnerable and tough!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am -- I'm grateful. I am very, very, very grateful. I don't want to let him go. I don't want to let either one of them go.

COLLINS: A Michigan baby, tossed by a tornado and found in a field of debris.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The market sell-off across the globe, this after Friday's near 400-point drop on Dow. I'm Stephanie Elam in New York, and I'll tell you what that means for today's session, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: The story we have been following all morning, with unbelievable pictures coming out of California, the San Diego area, now holding a press conference. We want to get straight to it. These are county officials coming in from our affiliate KGTV, again, in the San Diego area. Let's listen in this morning.

BILL METCALF, FIRE COORDINATOR: ... the situation we are facing today. But that's not the only fire situation we're facing. The Harris Fire in South County continues to move dramatically towards the west. Overnight, we saw significant structure loss and structure damage in the communities ranging from Tecate to Barrett Junction to Dulzura. And that fire continues to burn towards the west, aimed, now, directly at the Otay Lakes area. And -- and again, that fire continues to move dramatically, and do a great deal of destruction, as it does. In addition, overnight, we saw a number of new fires. One was the Guajito Fire, which I just mentioned. We've also currently have a significant fire burning in the Coronado Hills area of San Marcos. It's currently standing at 250 to 300 acres. It is -- as with the other two fires, it's -- it's basically zero percent contained. And they are struggling with limited resources to try and bring that fire under control.

We also have a developing situation in the Rice Canyon area, which is east of the 15, between 76 and Rainbow. Basically between the 15 and the Pala Reservation on Rice Canyon Road, where there's another significant fire that is making significant runs, pushed by the wind and pushed by the fuel.

All in all, it's been a long night, a very dangerous night. We know there have been people hurt. We know that there's been property that's been lost. And -- but we want the community to know that everyone in the fire community is putting out 100 percent and more, to deal with the situation. Almost every, if not every fire resource in San Diego County has been committed and is actively working on fire -- on fire suppression.

I guess I should clarify that in most cases, we haven't been able to do much fire suppression. As I talked about earlier, you don't get in front of these fires that are pushed by the wind and squirt a little water at them and they go out. It's an extraordinarily dangerous place for firefighters to be. And, on the best days, we are confined to doing flank perimeter control.

But one of the issues that we've dealt with in all of these fires is that we've been unable to do any suppression efforts because, in most cases, the fire resources are being used or having to pull off and do rescues. Rescues of people who, in most cases, were asked to evacuate and didn't. Didn't evacuate at all or delayed until it was too late. And those folks who were making those decisions are actually stripping fire resources away from...

COLLINS: All right. So there you have one of the briefings. I'm sure we'll have many, many more of these. I just want to try to bring you bits and pieces here as we continue to watch this story coming out of California. Boy.

Live pictures, once again, coming in from our affiliate.

Now, the Malibu area, KABC. And just to wrap it for you quickly, you heard him say -- Bill Metcalf, the area fire coordinator there -- very long, dangerous night. One person has been killed. At least 17 people have been injured. They're saying that they just cannot get in front of a fire like this. Normally they don't have to deal with winds quite as strong as this. I'm talking about hurricane force winds here. Boy.

They're going to continue to deal with this for quite some time. Zero percent contained right now. We'll watch it for you. And now, the opening bell on this Monday morning, after a really rotten day on Friday. Those numbers down, bigger than any other day the rest of the year. I think it was 366 points down. Yes, exactly. We're going to watch this very closely as well today and see what's going to happen. Hopefully, there was a bit of a recovery, but we'll see how it looks.

Meanwhile, as people started having those stock market jitters this morning, following that big sell off on Friday. Overseas, Asian markets are tumbling as well. Europe is also sharply down and U.S. stocks are looking poised to follow that global market slower as today's open. As we were saying, Stephanie Elam is of course watching it for us, "Minding Your Business" his morning. Yuck, Stephanie. This really feels like a Monday.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I know. I know. I'm so sad to be here on such a down day. And you know, if you look back, Heidi, on Friday it was the 20th anniversary of Black Monday. And it's almost...

COLLINS: And the mark has dropped like in sympathy or something like remembering that year.

ELAM: But to put some perspective here. Then, the markets dropped 23 percent. Today or Friday, I should say, they dropped a little over 2.5 percent. That's a very different situations that we are looking at here. Obviously, that was -- there's a few things that were fuelling this. First of all, mixed corporate earnings. It's earnings season right now. As we are looking for guidance on how these companies are doing so numbers coming in kind of mixed. That played a part.

Also, oil. It closed actually at $8860 on Friday. Not a record, but still very close to $90 a barrel. And just hearing that upsets people which obviously makes a lot of sense there. Also, the renewed fears of a credit crunch. All of that spread over to Asia. As you mention, European markets are lower. So, all of that factoring in. So, what we saw happening today actually started in the U.S. on Friday, Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. Is it all doom and gloom, though? I mean, is there anything that we can smile about on this Monday morning?

ELAM: You know, that's the thing. The interesting thing is that a lot of investors and analysts are looking at this market and saying, hey, wait a second. These U.S. companies after earning season are over. They may come back and bring back some more money into the situation here, because they have huge cash stockpiles. They have money. They can go out there and grow. Also, if U.S. companies are invested in other parts of the world, you can invest there.

There's still growth outside of the U.S. So that's good news as well. So people are saying, this is a good opportunity to do some buying on a dip and see where the markets take us after that. So, all in all, it makes look scary right now but people are saying it doesn't seem like all doom and gloom. COLLINS: All right. Sounds like a little bit of a Deja Vu. We were saying, I don't know, a few weeks ago when it was so volatile. But you did mention oil. What about gas today?

ELAM: Well, here is the thing. And I don't think it is going to surprise me or people. Lundberg Survey coming up saying over the past two weeks looks like a gas is up about a nickel. The national average putting it at $2.80 a gallon. That's about 60 cents more than last year. And of course, we always like to take a look at who has the highest and who has the lowest. Care to guess for the highest?

COLLINS: No.

ELAM: OK. The Bay Area. It's either Hawaii, The Bay Area. But it was San Francisco which is, you know, my home area and I do remember the gas price. It always seemed problem there. But $3.17 a gallon for regular self serving. If you're looking for some cheap gas, head over to (INAUDIBLE) head to New Jersey. They're paying about $2.56 a gallon there.

COLLINS: We always joke they pump it for you there too.

ELAM: I love that in New Jersey, especially in the winter.

COLLINS: All right. Stephanie, thanks so much. We'll check back with you a little bit later. Looking at that big board now, down about 105 points.

ELAM: Very quickly.

COLLINS: Yes, very quickly. We'll watch those numbers closely. Thanks, Stephanie.

ELAM: Sure.

COLLINS: Still ahead. A developing story out west. Raging wildfires in Southern California. A hilltop refuge in flames in Malibu. The destruction of a real-life castle. And all of its treasures.

Also, parts of Colorado. Get an early taste of winter. And for some, a bit sour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you doing?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm good. Well, not really. A little bit in shock.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Downed power lines, downed trees and big, big headaches.

Also, America's veterans. Are they falling through the cracks due to a vacancy in Washington? Let's take a closer look ahead right here on CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Staying on top of the developing story out west. Winds gusting to the strength of a hurricane. Flames racing to the doorstep and beyond. More than two dozen buildings are reduced to ash in Southern California. In all, more than a dozen fires are burning now and thousands of people are under orders to evacuate. You can see the traffic tie-ups there too. So far, at least one person has been killed. 17 others injured. The most harrowing scene, in San Diego County. Authorities there have ordered the evacuations of Ramona, a community of about 36,000 people. And a home of the stars also in the path of danger. Major fires are bearing down on the beachside community of Malibu. 2,000 acres have burned. More than two dozen buildings destroyed. CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano standing by now with the latest on all of this. And it's the wind. I mean, obviously, that is really complicating things.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: New attacks in Southern Turkey. Turkish troops retaliating against deadly attacks by Kurdish rebel fighters. Escalating violence. While one top U.S. official tries to talk Turkey out of invading northern Iraq. We're going to get more now from CNN Senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIMMY MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was all smiles and handshakes for the cameras, as U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates sat down for tense talks with his Turkish counterpart at a meeting of southeastern European defense ministers in Ukraine's capital Kiev. Gates ended the glad handing with a simple now to work. After 30 minutes behind close doors, the Turkish defense minister emerged to say his country would like to see tangible action before it calls off a planned incursion into northern Iraq. But, he insisted nothing is imminent. And that Turkey wants to work with the U.S.

VECDI GONUL, TURKISH DEFENSE MINISTER: Not urgently. They are planning, they are planning. They are planning to cross border, because, firstly, the intelligence is important. They get enough information and we like to do these things with Americans.

ROBERT GATES, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: I told him that restraint should not be confused with weakness.

MCINTYRE: In the meeting, Gate stressed the U.S. position that while it agrees, the PKK is a terrorist group and a real threat moving into Northern Iraq is especially without actionable intelligence will only make things worse.

GATES: I thought that a major cross border operation would be contrary to Turkey's interest as well as to our own and that of Iraq. Those interests of Iraq, I told him that we should work together on this and that we were very mindful of the reality of the PKK and terrorist threat. MCINTYRE: Gates argued that sending a large number of Turkish troops into northern Iraq would be a prescription for disaster and both sides agreed to do more to identify solid targets. But the U.S. stopped short of promising to take any military action inside Iraq.

Gates made four main arguments to his Turkish counterpart. A cross border attack will not solve the PKK problem. It will kill a lot of people. It will undermine U.S. efforts in Iraq and it will undercut the Bush administration efforts to kill the Armenian genocide resolution in the U.S. Congress that has the Turkish government so upset. Jamie McIntyre, CNN, Kiev, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Veterans Affairs, an important subject. Even more relevant with the thousands of injured U.S. troops coming home from Iraq. Marty Conatser is The National Commander of the American Legion. He met with troops in Iraq just two months ago. He is joining us now live this morning from Washington. Commander, thanks for being with us. I want to begin with you with some sound from President Bush. This was on Friday. About legislation based on the (INAUDIBLE) commission recommendations. Listen, if you would.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, U.S. PRESIDENT: Congress should consider this legislation promptly. To those injured while defending our freedom can get the quality care they deserve. Congress also needs to complete the Veterans Affairs Appropriations Bill. That funds veteran's benefits and other ongoing programs. But we have our differences on Appropriations Bills, Veterans Bill is where we agree.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: As you heard President Bush say, this is apparently an issue, Veterans Affairs, where everybody seems to be on the same page. If that is the case, why is there no Secretary of Veterans Affairs?

MARTY CONATSER, NATIONAL COMMANDER AMERICAN LEGION: Well, I think --

COLLINS: Go right ahead, sir.

CONATSER: OK. Well, I think we got to keep our eye on the ball. The Director of Veterans Affairs is an important position. But right now, the acting director, Gordon Mansfield is a disabled vet. A very good and very knowledgeable in the background of what's going on. We need to stay focused on what's important. And that's the Veterans Affairs budget. We talk about bipartisan legislation and it went through the House with two negative votes and the senate with one negative vote. Yet we can't seem to get that bill moved to the president for a signature. I hope the Veterans community and America stay focused on what's important and that's improving the health care for our returning veterans and our existing veterans. And you do that through the budget and through money. The members of the Veterans Affairs at this point cannot put on more staffing or improve Veterans health care until the budget is passed.

COLLINS: Understood. And with all due respect to the acting secretary, did it surprise you though, that the president said that this -- did not say that this was a priority. To get that person in place, whether the acting director moves into the actual Secretary of Veterans Affairs?

CONATSER: Well, it's a concern. But at this point, again, like I say, Gordon Mansfield is very knowledgeable in the system and has been in the system. At this point, the acting director is somewhat handcuffed because he doesn't have a budget. And that's the important thing we need to stay focused on.

COLLINS: Yes. Jim Nicholson, the former secretary of veteran of affairs. I mean, he made the announcement in July. It's been about three months. What needs to be done to get the budget through so that America's veterans can get what they need? And I want to hear more from you about what exactly they need after you tell me about how to get the budget through?

CONATSER: Well, I guess, how to get the budget through is veterans have to contact their elected officials and ask them why it isn't through. At this point, it has passed both Houses, but the House has not appointed their people for the committee to reconcile the two bills. And as soon as that's done, it's been our understanding that that could move quickly and go to the president for a signature. So, we're very concerned that that has not been done at this point.

COLLINS: What exactly is it? What is the number one priority that the Veterans need? We see all of this reporting about PTSD. There's obviously, there's been a new report that came out from the ION Institute of Medicine saying that it affects like 13 percent of veterans coming back from Iraq. 6 percent coming back from Afghanistan. This is obviously an issue. We hear a lot about traumatic brain injury. A lot more injuries, serious injuries from this war than any other war in history. I'm imagining that that is the priority. Am I correct?

CONATSER: You're absolutely right. Health care and the seamless transition from active duty to the Veterans administration, the VA system is very critical to all of our veterans and their families. This is a time when probably more research is needed. Traumatic brain injury and PTSD issue. Those are things that are very specific to this conflict. And we have to get those addressed through the VA and the research that's needed again goes right back to the budget. That research and that work cannot happen without a VA budget.

COLLINS: Very quickly, Commander, before we let you go here. Can you give us an update on Walter Reed? You know, that story got so much attention in the press. Haven't heard a lot about it lately. What's the situation there?

CONATSER: Well, I think, the day-to-day conditions at Walter Reed have dramatically improved with the formation of the transition assistance brigade. It has gotten much better there. It will continue to get better as long as we can keep the attention on it. One of the problems, again, is a seamless transition. The handoff from active duty. The military evaluation boards and physical evaluation boards to determine whether they can stay on active duty. We're concerned that the soldiers are not necessarily getting the best representation there. That's a concern of our organization. I will be visiting there again Wednesday, as an update visit to see what the improvements are.

COLLINS: OK. Well, we appreciate your work, certainly. We're going to stay on top of this story and follow it through here. Commander Marty Conatser, we appreciate your time this morning, the National Commander of The American Legion. Thank you.

CONATSER: Thank you.

COLLINS: And still ahead this morning. Pesticides, chemicals, they may be good for growing food or livestock, but how are they affecting the food we eat? Our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen will have some answers coming up in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: This week CNN will air a special planet -- excuse me, a special called "Planet in Peril." I'm sure you've seen some of the advertisement. It's taking a look at environmental issues facing up today. Our focus this morning, how are the chemicals used to grow plant and livestock affecting the food we eat? Lots of people are talking about this. Joining me now CNN Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. Good morning to you.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Well, we all know that pesticides are everywhere. I mean, it is really hard to live a pesticide free life. Not only are they in the fruits and vegetables that we eat, but sometimes those pesticides make their way into ground water and the water system can sometimes get contaminated. Also, you can see those pesticides are out in the air. Well, if they attach on to pollen or pollutants in the air, they can stay airborne and fly all around.

Now, there have been some studies. They are relatively small -- excuse me. And they're relatively limited. But there have been some studies that link pesticide exposure to cancer, to immune problems and also to reproductive problems. Now, many people, including the industry that makes pesticides say that there is no link. But, Heidi, there are a lot of scientists who really are concerned about this.

COLLINS: Oh, I imagine so. And they are prevalent. I mean, we talk about this a lot on the show. What can you do to get rid of them? Wash or -- you need to wash properly? What exactly does that mean?

COHEN: It would be nice if you could just wash them off or you could even just wash properly and they would come off. But unfortunately that is not always the case. What you need to do, if you want to minimize the amount of pesticides that you eat -- and I emphasize minimize. You're not going to be able to get rid of them, is peel your fruits and vegetables if the pesticides are on the surface. You can try to get rid of them that way. Eat organic. Organic foods have less pesticide. Some would say not know pesticides, but certainly have significantly less than non-organic and also buy local. This is an interesting one. Experts say pesticides are grown not just on crops, but are also the pesticides are put on the crops so that they will survive long transport. If you buy local, they don't have that. That is the second step.

COLLINS: Sure, they're just right there. But speaking of a long transport, a lot of produce comes from out of the country entirely. Are they the same sort of standards? I think I already know your answer, but for the pesticides that are used in other countries?

COHEN: The answer is they're supposed to be. The answer is that another country is growing fruits and vegetables for export to the U.S. They are supposed to go by the same standards that are used here in the United States. So, if a pesticide is illegal here because it could make someone sick, they're not supposed to use it abroad. Here is the issue. The Food and Drug Administration does test produce when it crosses the boarder. But you know what? They can't test all the produce. In fact, some would say they test only a teeny tiny percentage of the produce. Do we know everything about all the pesticides that are being put on produce grown outside the U.S.? Some would say, no, we don't.

COLLINS: Well, it's an interesting topic. Well, wash and wash and wash and wash.

COHEN: And peel and peel and peel and peel. Right?

COLLINS: All right. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you.

COHEN: Thanks.

COLLINS: And I do want to remind everybody as we mentioned. This week CNN will be airing "Planet in Peril". A worldwide investigation of environmental issues. You can catch it tomorrow and Wednesday night at 9:00 eastern only on CNN.

Well, here's a return trip for The Red Sox. Boston completing a near epic comeback to get back to the World Series. Tell you all about it after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: There you go. Major league comeback for The Red Sox. Boston makes it back for the World Series for the second time in the last four seasons. The Red Sox finished off the Cleveland Indians last night. Boston had been behind three games to one. They will now face off against The Colorado Rockies. Go, Rockies, in the World Series. The Rockies are making their first ever World Series appearance. It's going to be a fun one.

Kid Rock is free on bond this morning. He was arrested after a waffle house brawl in Georgia. The singer and his entourage stopped at the restaurant Sunday morning after a performance in Atlanta. Police say he exchanged words with another customer. It got physical and others jumped into the fray. Kid rock and five members of his party face a misdemeanor charge of simple battery.

He bit and got reeled in. A suspect takes a spin in a police bait car. Then his head spins when a bullet whizzes by.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com