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American Morning

California Blaze Enters San Diego City Limits; GOP Presidential Debaters Argue Over Who's a Genuine Conservative

Aired October 22, 2007 - 07:00   ET

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

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: Polly Lebar, thanks so much.
POLLY LABAR: Thank you.

ROBERTS: The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(Voice over): Breaking news:

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It came so fast, there was no stopping it.

ROBERTS: Wildfires on the move right now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They say to get out, we're going to get out.

ROBERTS: The worst isn't over yet. Live reports, I-Reports and dramatic new pictures.

Fight for the right. GOP candidates for president take on the left.

FRED THOMPSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He sides with Hillary Clinton.

RUDY GIULIANI (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And Fred has his problems, too.

ROBERTS: Plus the dramatic turnaround that has Red Sox nation back in the World Series, on this AMERICAN MORNING

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: Good morning. Thanks very much for joining us on this Monday, the 22nd of October. I'm John Roberts.

CHETRY: I'm Kiran Chetry. We have breaking news this morning, as Southern California keeps up the fight against devastating wildfires. Many are still raging out of control right now and no one is immune. There's a look at the map from Santa Barbara, Malibu, on down. Well- known celebrities and average American families all in the line of fire; 10,000 people around Ramona, that is just northeast of San Diego have been told to leave their homes. There are two fires are burning near the city, and crews say the flames could cross city limits. Seven more fires are burning in the ritzy Malibu area and then another in the Angeles National Forest, north of L.A.

At least one person is dead and more than a dozen others hurt. Several homes, landmarks, and a church have all burned to the ground in Malibu. Crews say that the fire may have started when power lines were blown down by powerful Santa Ana winds, sometimes gusting up to 75 miles per hour. Right now, the concern is that those winds could send embers flying, triggering flames wherever they land -- John.

ROBERTS: It just took a few sparks to take a real life setting for a fairytale and turn into a nightmare. Firefighters say burning embers ignited the famous Kashan Castle in the Malibu Hills. It is just one of several homes completely destroyed by these wildfires. And some of the most-famous celebrities in the world are worried about their mansions and that they could be next. Our Chris Lawrence is live at Malibu where crews are at the mercy of the Santa Ana winds. He joins us now.

Chris, a real mess behind you there this morning.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, John, the winds are still blowing. It's only going to get worse in a couple of hours when the sun comes up. by the time all is said and done, 100s more homes may still be threatened.

This is what's left of the second floor sanctuary of a church. It was literally just a few hours before the congregants were going to come in for Sunday service before the fire broke out, super-heated air. This is all that's left of the second floor of this church right here.

Over the last couple years, about two winters ago, there was an incredible amount of rain, a very wet winter that caused the brush to grow. And then right now, we are in the middle of just the driest season on record. So, when those super-hot Santa Ana winds came through it literally just took everything up. And the thing about this fire was you had these embers, sometimes up to a foot long, getting blown a half a mile in any direction.

So at times these firefighters were looking for several firestorms that were just popping up all over the place. It jumped the Pacific Coast Highway at one point and buildings, homes, no one was immune. Singer Tanya Tucker, who was in Vegas, her home had to be evacuated. Her teenage daughter and her dogs had to run out of there when the fire got too close. Also, director James Cameron and singer Olivia Newton-John. No one immune to the effects of this incredible firestorm, John.

ROBERTS: We can see the winds are kicking up already, Chris, blowing you and your light and camera around there. Do they still have the same number of firefighters on the ground? We had heard overnight they might be shifting some of them to a fire further south? LAWRENCE: Well, what happens in a state like California is, all the -- from each other, so when the Malibu fires broke out, you had some of the crews coming from the south up to help out here, then when San Diego started to flair up, some of those resources had to be adjusted again. So it's that time of year when the crews are trying to battle multiple fires at once.

ROBERTS: Chris Lawrence for us this morning in Malibu.

Again, you can see the wind is really kicking up, even knocking his signal out there a little bit. Things starting to get sketchy there a little bit this morning in Malibu.

Let's get more on this power Santa Ana wind fanning the flames. Rob Marciano at the weather update desk in Atlanta this morning.

How we looking this morning? From Chris' vantage point it looks like its going to be another bad day.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, the weather situation really hasn't changed all that much, John, in the last 24 hours. Critical to extreme fire danger, is expected and wind warnings now posted through today, through tomorrow afternoon. These are the areas affected south, SoCal, Southern California, the inland valley will cook as will the coastal regions. When you get these offshore winds they compress as they head down the mountains, and they get even hotter and drier.

Some of the totals, or at least some of the measurements right now. And these are from where the wind is coming from, northeast for the most part, anywhere from 20 to 40 miles an hour. And this is due in part because of the cool air that settled in over the Rocky Mountains. You see how warm it is down here, with those offshore winds, that cool air pools, and high pressure builds. And that's what gives that easterly component.

Where you see the critical fire danger, that's what we talk about often. We rarely talk about extreme fire danger, which is the next category higher out of the Storms Prediction Center. And probably the biggest thing here is this relative humidity level of 4 to 8 percent, that is just devastating for firefighters trying to battle these flames. And them of course, the winds at 30 to 50 miles an hour, that is not helping the situation. The weather situation, John, or pattern I should say, not looking to change in the next two days, so the next 48 hours for sure are going to be troublesome.

ROBERTS: Rob, thanks very much. We'll get back to you real soon.

To San Diego now, where things are looking pretty dire this morning. More than 6,000 acres have burned. Our Kara Finnstrom is on the fire lines there. '

Kara, you can see the fire just behind you. How is it looking today? The mayor is worried that the fire could actually come inside the city limits? KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we actually got confirmation just a short while ago that it has done exactly that. We've been reporting there are fires burning, a dozen or more, all across southern California right now. But this is the one that they say is their top priority at this point.

You can see the fire raging on the hill behind me. The concern here is that this fire is spreading much more rapidly than anyone anticipated, originally. They're calling this, describing it as a blow torch. They say they've clocked winds of up to 80 miles per hour. These winds are actually picking up huge chunks of burning debris and then hurling it out in front of the fire, the fire continuing to spread.

Now overnight the mayor of San Diego did hold an emergency press conference. He ordered the mandatory evacuation of San DePasquale (ph) Valley. There are no firm numbers right now on how many were evacuated, but fire officials are estimating that it could be up to as many as 20,000 people. And we did get some reports this morning of some pretty bad traffic jams, as all of those communities were trying to get out of harm's way.

The mayor also asked the rest of San Diego to be on alert and keep a close eye on this fire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

This is a very quickly evolving situation. Out of an abundance of caution we want San Diegans to be aware of this potential now, so they can take appropriate actions and collect important belongings, so that when evacuations are necessary, they can evacuate immediately.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FINNSTROM: Now one of other reasons firefighters are so concerned is they say this fire is taking very close to the same path as the 2003 Cedar Fire, that was the deadliest fire in state history. And they say these huge wildfires tend to burn along the same paths because they're largely driven by the topography of the land. So, they're very concerned at the way this one is progressing.

They also say we've got these red flag warnings up through at least Tuesday and they're concerned that these conditions could persist even further into the week, so they say, John, they have a long battle ahead of them.

ROBERTS: You know, Kara, when we think about the city limits of San Diego, you think about the downtown area, the Gas Light District, what is actually between downtown and where the fires lines are?

FINNSTROM: Well, this is actually where it is passing over the city line, so it's quite a ways from downtown. But there's also another fire outside of the city limits. The Harris fire, that they're also very concerned about.

Now their last acreage and reports of exactly where these fires were burning were taken before night fell, so they don't have a very good idea of exactly how much acreage has burned, or exactly where these fires are going. As soon as day breaks, they plan to get some helicopters up, and really get a better view of what the two fires have done overnight and exactly which other homes may be in danger.

ROBERTS: Kara Finnstrom this morning in San Diego. Kara, thanks. We'll be getting back to you a little bit later on.

Kiran.

CHETRY: Well, there were some market jitters, world stocks taking their cue from Friday's huge sell off on Wall Street. Japanese stocks plunged overnight. The Nikkei fell more than 3 percent before regaining some of those losses. The Dow has been down now, five straight sessions. It's starts the trading week at 13,522.

Making history in Louisiana as Governor-elect Bobby Jindal becomes the youngest, at 36, and the first Indian-American governor in country's history. He says he's using a congratulatory call from President Bush as a chance to schedule a meeting on hurricane recovery issues. Jindal says that his parents came to the United States in pursuit of the American dream and, quote, "found it right here in Louisiana."

The political gloves came off in last night's Republican debate in Florida. Candidates sparring for about 90 minutes, trading political jabs on who could best serve conservatives. Many of the GOP hopefuls, though, saved some of their best punches for the Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. CNN's Dana Bash was at the debate last night.

And these were actually some of the sharpest exchanges we've seen yet between the contenders.

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're exactly right, Kiran. That was the really headline out of last night's debate, just how sharp and personal attacks were on one another. It was one of the most aggressive debate, so far. And the issue was, as you said, who is the most conservative candidate in the Republican field? This is something they were encouraged to mix it up on, but didn't really take a lot of prodding.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRED THOMSPON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Giuliani believes in federal funding for abortion. He believes in sanctuary cities. He's for gun control. He sides with Hillary Clinton on each of those issues I just mentioned.

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

(END VIDEO CLIP) BASH: Now the front-runners, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, they took perhaps the most incoming on this issue of who is most conservative. Perhaps because they are seen as flawed on this issue of who is conservative.

And you know the reason for this, Kiran, is I think if you look at the numbers and look at the calendar, it's clear it's about 11 weeks before the first Republicans go to the polls in Iowa and this field, this Republican field, is so incredibly unsettled. And the candidates are not seen as conservative enough by many in the Republican electorate, Kiran.

CHETRY: The other interesting thing, of course, is that some of the best jabs were not even aimed at each other, they were aimed at a person who is not there, Hillary Clinton. How did that play out?

BASH: It played definitely out in a way that we haven't seen before. We certainly heard the theme before, but they were again encouraged to say what they thought about Hillary Clinton, if she were commander in chief. Listen to some of what we heard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hillary Clinton wants to run the largest enterprise in the world. The government of the United States it, employees millions of people, trillions of dollars in revenue. She hasn't run a corner store.

MCCAIN: Senator Clinton tried to spend $1 million on the Woodstock Concert Museum. Now, my friends, I wasn't there. I'm sure it was a cultural and pharmaceutical event.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: And there you heard the attacks on Hillary Clinton. Now, the reason for this is, in some ways the same as the reason they were attacking each other, because this is a Republican field really trying to gin up the Republican base, nothing does that more than talk about Hillary Clinton.

But there is something else here and that is, elect ability, each of the candidates want to prove that they can actually be the one to take Republicans back to the White House. And, of course, they looked at the polls like everybody else does, and they see that Hillary Clinton is perhaps the most clear person they're going to be running against if they are the Republican nominee.

CHETRY: Yes, Dana, they're certainly acting as though she's already won the nomination. Time to go home, if you're a Democrat.

BASH: They are.

CHETRY: Very interesting, all right, Dana, thanks.

What to know what you think about it? The Republicans really seem to believe that it's all Hillary for the Democratic nominee for president. Do you? Cast your vote at cnn.com/am.

Quick check right now, it's dropped just a tiny bit from the last time we checked in, right now 69 percent saying yes, it was -- 59 percent rather -- it was 60 percent earlier. And 41 percent saying no. We'll continue to update the votes throughout the morning -- John.

You got to wonder are the other campaigns voting away frantically there this morning?

Red Sox Nation out in force, mobbing the streets after the team clenches its second trip to the World Series in four years. The Sox won the AL pennant with an 11-2 win over Cleveland in game seven, decisive. They had to dig out a 3-1 series hole to get there. Pitcher Josh Beckett was named series MVP. He'll start game one on at Fenway on Wednesday against the National League Champions, Colorado Rockies.

Gasoline prices moving up again. The latest Lundberg survey shows prices rising by a nickel in the last two weeks, to a national average $2.80 a gallon for self-serve regular. San Francisco is the most expensive place to fill your tank, $3.17 a gallon. Newark, New Jersey, the best buy, $2.56 a gallon -- Kiran.

CHETRY: Imagine that, if you had the smart car you'd only have to go once a month.

Well, are the chemicals used to grow plants and livestock harming our bodies as well as the environment? CNN Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has a "Planet In Peril" reality check about the food we eat, and she joins us now.

Good morning, Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran.

Kiran, both of us know pesticides are just a fact of life. They're in the foods that we eat. They are very hard to avoid, and here's the problem. The pesticides not only can they be in the food, they can also end up in the air. They can attach to pollen, and pollutants, and end up becoming airborne. And also pesticides can find their way into water.

Now some scientists have done some relatively small and limited studies that link pesticides to cancer, and also to reproductive problems, and immune system problems. Now, other people say that there's not an absolute link between pesticides and illness. The industry that makes pesticides, for example, say that. But still, the concerns are there.

Now, one thing that people can do, of course, is to buy organic, if they want to try to avoid pesticides. But that can get expensive. And organic isn't always around. Another thing that you can do to avoid pesticides, or at least try to avoid them, is buy local. Now the reason why buying local works is because not only are pesticides used when foods are grown, they're used in the transport of foods to avoid spoilage. So, buying local could help you out a bit -- Kiran.

CHETRY: All right, also real quick, does washing your food remove all of the pesticides?

COHEN: You know what, Kiran, not necessarily. And the reason for that is that pesticides can sometimes get absorbed into the food, into through the roots and then inside the food and there's not much that you can do. You should wash with water because there could be dirt or bacteria you want to get rid of; and certainly peeling and cooking may do you some good, but sometimes the reality is that you can't get rid of the pesticides that are in food.

CHETRY: Elizabeth Cohen, thank you

COHEN: Thanks.

CHETRY: Also, it's a CNN investigation you can't afford to miss, Anderson Cooper and Doctor Sanjay Gupta and Jeff Corwin, all teaming up to explore the world's environmental issues, "Planet in Peril" tomorrow and Wednesday, 9:00 Eastern only on CNN.

ROBERTS: It's 16 minutes after the hour now. A church burns to the ground as a wildfire tears through the heart of a community. The pastor is here to tell us why his faith remains strong. That's next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Malibu's mayor is saying his city is really at the mercy of the Santa Ana winds, fueling a wildfire that has destroyed several homes, beloved landmarks, and it has certainly tested the faith of a church community, by burning the church to the ground. With us this morning, Senior Pastor Greg Hughes. He's standing in front of what remains of his church this morning, the Malibu Presbyterian Church. Reverend Hughes thanks for being with us.

REV. GREG HUGHES, SR. PASTOR, MALIBU PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH: Thanks for having me.

CHETRY: First of all, I wish it was under better circumstances. We're sorry to hear about the loss of your building. How is the congregation coping with the news this morning?

HUGHES: The congregation is doing well. We've had prayer meetings for our community and all of the other communities that are threatened this morning by the fires. So we lost a building but we didn't lose our church, and so that's the good news, and we'll regroup, we'll re-gather and we'll find a place to meet again.

CHETRY: Did it come as a bit of a shock? You guys were told there was some sort of threat. You were in the building, collecting some of your computers, and paperwork. And then all of the sudden you're told get out, and before you know it, the building's lost. HUGHES: Yeah, it was quite a shock. We had a fire truck that was right here on our campus, and we thought our church would be protected. And unfortunately, the winds changed, obviously the firefighters were overwhelmed and the whole structure was lost.

Our preschool, as well, is right here. We have a school, I mean, this building is sacred ground for our community here in Malibu. It's a place where Alanon, AA meets. We have a college, Pepperdine is right across the street; 300 college students meet here Tuesday nights, so 450 people worship here Sundays, so it's a huge loss to our community.

CHETRY: When you see the pictures -- let's look at some of the pictures. You can't see them but we're going to show them to our viewers, of what your church looked like before. A magnificent building, just beautiful, and now when you look behind you at the charred remains, it doesn't look like anything's left at all. Have you thought about rebuilding plans yet?

HUGHES: Absolutely. We know that we will. The building process will start today, but it's going to take us some time to obviously clean up and draw up new plans. (AUDIO GAP)

CHETRY: You dropped out for a quick second. Reverend, do you have fire insurance for the church? Are you going to be able to get enough money to rebuild?

HUGHES: Well, our lawyers are looking that over very carefully. But hopefully we do, and so they'll be figuring that out.

CHETRY: Yes, I know. It's certainly a lot to take in right after that. Of course, the community has rallied around you. As I understand you've had many offers to hold services in various places, as you take those steps toward rebuilding.

Listen we wish you all the best and we hope you guys are back up and running sooner rather than later.

Reverend Greg Hughes with the Malibu Presbyterian Church, there. And, boy, you can see mind you the devastation of those fires.

Thanks for being with us, Reverend Hughes.

HUGHES: Thank you for having me.

ROBERTS: You can also see that wind picking up again. Looks like it will be another bad day there.

A call for help in Philadelphia. Recruiting efforts underway for volunteers to help fight crime. Thousands are answering the call, but will it be enough? That story ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: These are some pictures just coming in to us of the devastating wildfires that have continued to rage in many parts of Southern California. These specifically are coming from San Diego, the Witch Creek Fire, as well as some that have started as an offshoot of those, because of the winds just blowing a few sparks and another fire quickly, quickly rises up.

In an area, Ramona, which is a little bit northeast of San Diego, they have had 36,000 residents have to evacuate, and counting, at this point. Many of those areas very, very populated neighborhoods, all of those people told to get out as a precaution.

Really the firefighters are at the mercy of the winds which have gusted up overnight. We're continuing to follow those but they're talking about 75 mile-per-hour gusts at times, almost hurricane- strength winds and the dry heat making it quite a difficult situation. We're going to continue to follow it all morning, but when you see the dramatic pictures you wonder just where do the firefighters begin to battle this?

ROBERTS: Really difficult to battle those fires down there.

It's 26 minutes after the hour. As part of our countdown to CNN's special worldwide investigation, "Planet In Peril" we're taking a look at how some companies are working on ways to go green, and help out the environment. Stephanie Elam in for Ali Velshi "Minding Your Business" And she's got that, so who's doing what?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: We'll start off looking at Office Depot. I should have worn my green outfit to match your green tie, so it could go with our green theme here. But I didn't do that.

But let me tell you what Office Depot is doing. Just part of the effort to make sure people are doing their part with landfills. So, here's the deal, Office Depot saying everyone has gadgets that they're done with. Here's what you do to get rid of them. This is their tech recycling service that they're expanding through their 1,100 stores in North America to keep these gadgets out of landfills. Because electronics can be toxic, as we know.

So, you go ahead, go to Office Depot, and buy a box for $5, $10, $15, that includes shipping and handling. Fill it with all the stuff you don't want. They're different sizes, these boxes. And then take the box back to the store and they'll make sure that those gadgets go where they need to so they don't end up just in landfills. So, it's a small thing that you can do there.

Motel 6, retrofitting hotels, just to make sure that power is not used where it doesn't need to be used.

That's what we're looking at, what companies are doing to make themselves healthier.

ROBERTS: It's a lot of things the companies can do and not only saves the environment, but saves them money as well.

ELAM: It saves them lots of money. Motel 6 is doing, $2 million a year they're saving.

ROBERTS: Incredible.

CHETRY: Why keep a room air conditioned, if no one's in it?

ELAM: If no one is in it, exactly.

CHETRY: Thanks, Stephanie.

ROBERTS: As long as they air condition it when they are.

CHETRY: Yes.

ELAM: That's true.

ROBERTS: I've run into that problem a couple of times. Stephanie, thanks.

ELAM: Sure.

ROBERTS: Look at a story coming up in hour next half hour now, that you just can't miss. Kid Rock in trouble with the law again. Did he see it coming? Here's Kid Rock from an interview with our own Lola Ogunnaike, just two weeks ago. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KID ROCK, MUSICIAN: This time, in front of the judge, and he's sentencing me and he says -- he says, apparently, they've worked out a plea deal or plea agreement and said apparently also going to have to, you're not allowed to go into Nashville gentleman's club establishments for one year. I'm like, excuse me, your honor? He kind of looked at me like -- and I'm like if I was to smack someone at the Waffle House, would I not be allowed there for a year as well?

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Guess what?

CHETRY: Well, how -- well he either really like waffles or he can predict the future. Because as it turns out, he was arrested at a Waffle House over the weekend. Lola will be joining us. She will explain what went down. And, also, the top stories when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Well here is a live picture once again coming to us from San Diego, where the wildfires have been raging overnight, thanks to the Santa Ana Winds. When they whip up, those flames jump. We've been talking about the evacuations that have taken place, thousands of people asked to leave their homes in Ramona, an area northeast of San Diego because of the fire threat, and as we've seen it certainly has not discriminated, making life miserable for some of the really, really expensive homes that people own along Malibu, and also just average neighborhoods. Certainly a very, very tense situation there as firefighters try to battle this, but they've talked this morning and said things like containment is really not an option right now because of the unpredictability of the winds. We're following it all morning here on AMERICAN MORNING.

And thanks for being with us once again. It's Monday, October 22nd. I'm Kiran Chetry.

ROBERTS: And good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. The breaking news this morning is out of Southern California. The wildfires, they're growing in size and in numbers, becoming more dangerous by the minute. More than a dozen are burning right now. Thousands of homes are in danger. Brand new evacuation orders, including 10,000 people in the San Diego area. Now there is fear now that the fires has actually gotten outside the city limits -- and we're talking about outside city limits here -- that it could move further toward the downtown area.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MYR. JERRY SANDERS, SAN DIEGO: This is a very quickly evolving situation. Out of an abundance of caution, we want San Diegans to be aware of this potential now so that they can take appropriate actions, and collect important belongings so that when evacuations are necessary they can evacuate immediately.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: The mayor also said the reverse 911 calls would be made from San Diego police to inform residents who should leave their homes. And here's a live picture from just north of San Diego, Malibu, California.

Is this San Diego again?

This is San Diego again. There you can see the fires burning across the hills. The upper right-hand portion of your screen there, you see that tongue of fire coming down. That was on the other side of the ridge line, just a few minutes ago. And here's some pictures from KABC of what going on what's going on in Malibu. Fires continue to burn all night. The wind beginning to whip up again. So it looks like another bad day there in Southern California -- Kiran.

CHETRY: All right. And you know all weekend our i-Reporters have been sending amazing pictures of Malibu and some of the other areas as the fire spreads.

Our Internet correspondent Veronica De La Cruz has been monitoring them. She's here now to share with us some of your images.

And people have been sending in a lot of fascinating video.

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Especially the students, because, as you know, the fires are burning near the campus of Pepperdine University. And we have received tons of photos, videos from the students there.

Take a look at this. This is from Jeffrey Dillborn (ph). He took over 100 digital images. It's just so happens he's taking a digital photography class. He lives off campus, but, Kiran, because of the fire last night, he was forced to stay there.

Another shot of now students being told to evacuate. This comes to us from Matthew Miller. He took this photo of students coming down the stairs. And take a look behind them. You see that huge plume of orange smoke. The students were told to relocate to other buildings on campus. Also the cafeteria.

And finally another shot from a resident of Oxnard Shores. Now Oxnard Shores is about 25 miles north of Malibu Canyon. We should have a picture from Hala Hillway. He took a photo in front of his home, and he said that people had been driving around with their headlights on at 2:00 in the afternoon. This photo, Kiran, is 2:00 in the afternoon.

CHETRY: It's looks like something out of a movie, doesn't it?

DE LA CRUZ: Yes, I mean, you really can see how badly the area was affected, how dark the skies got, all of that smoke in the air, and you know, you can send us an i-Report as well by logging onto CNN.com/ .com/ireport and take a at all of the photos there.

CHETRY: Wow. So a lot of that from Pepperdine University?

DE LA CRUZ: And the students are being held there on campus, and there are no classes, so.

CHETRY: Can you imagine that?

DE LA CRUZ: Right. And they're All out to with their digital cameras. Of course they're doing what they can safely, right? You don't want anyone to put themselves in danger, but some amazing pictures. Thanks, Veronica.

ROBERTS And we'll be talking to one of the students from Pepperdine who took some of those iReport photos in our next hour of AMERICAN MORNING, so stick around for that.

Also new this morning, two U.S. Navy sailors are dead and a third is critically wounded after being shot on a U.S. military base in Bahrain. The Navy says the shooting with a not terror related and involved only U.S. military personnel.

Philadelphia has become one of the nation's deadliest cities. Now police there are asking volunteers to help. Over the weekend, thousands gathered at Temple University to sign up to help police by patrolling neighborhoods. And many are optimistic that the plan will work. But will it be enough, or is the crime problem in Philadelphia just too big?

CNN's Jason Carroll has got more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Murders are so common in Philadelphia's toughest neighborhoods, these teenagers say, for most of them, it's just a part of life here.

(on camera): Do all of you know someone who has been killed or hurt?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My older cousin, he got shot at the park.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of my friends just got killed, like, a couple months ago, too.

CARROLL: Police commissioner Sylvester Johnson hopes he found a new way to tackle crime -- he's calling on 10,000 volunteers to patrol the streets.

SYLVESTER JOHNSON, PHILADELPHIA POLICE COMMISSIONER: You put the tourniquet where you're bleeding at, and we're bleeding right now.

CARROLL: The plan calls for men, mostly African-American, to walk the most dangerous neighborhoods three hours every day for three months. They won't carry weapons. They can't make arrests. They will talk with people. The hope is that will help deter crime.

High school teacher Keith McCall has volunteered.

KEITH MCCALL, VOLUNTEER: I grew up here. I was part of the system. I was in a gang. I've done a lot of things that, you know, I'm not too proud of, but someone took time to talk to me.

CARROLL: McCall and other volunteers expect some resistance.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The cops really not doing their jobs out here. They're really not. I mean, what they want us to do, take over the streets for them? What they want us, to do their job?

MYR. JOHN STREET, PHILADELPHIA: Our answer to many of those people, is where have you been? You know, where have you been? What are you doing? It's real easy for people, you know, to kind of criticize the police commissioner, criticize the city.

CARROLL: The city has tried flooding police into hardest-hit areas, but Commissioner Johnson says more cops is not the answer.

JOHNSON: We can't solve issues that we didn't create. We didn't create the education. We didn't create the poverty. We didn't create the unemployment.

CARROLL: The commissioner calls this plan a tourniquet, and people here waiting to see if it can stop the bleeding.

Jason Carroll, CNN, Philadelphia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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CHETRY: It could be the neighborhood fight of the future, as one man's wind turbine really to benefit the environment, or is it just eco-bling? We're going to take a look at that, coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.

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(NEWSBREAK)

ROBERTS: Entertainer kid rock arrested over the weekend at a waffle house. He did see it coming? Did he have a premonition? hear what Nostradamus told our Lola Ogunnaike about two weeks ago about waffle house, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

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CHETRY: 49 minutes past the hour. If you're just joining us, here's a look at what's new this morning. A state of emergency in seven California counties this morning, that's where wildfires continue to rage. Here's a live look right now Malibu, California, coming to us courtesy KABC. And you can see the flames there still over the ridge, they are driven by almost hurricane-force winds. One person killed. About a half dozen injured and thousands forced from their homes.

President Bush awards the Medal of Honor today to Lieutenant Michael Murphy, a Navy S.E.A.L. who was killed in Afghanistan. Murphy sacrificed his life trying to save his four-man team during a fierce fire fight with the Taliban back in 2005.

Rising tensions today on Iraq's border with Turkey. Kurdish rebels ambushed a Turkish army patrol Sunday killing at least 12 soldiers. That attack increased pressure on the Kurdish government to strike terrorist camps inside Iraq, but Defense Secretary Robert Gates spoke with a Turkish defense minister saying he does not believe turkey will retaliate.

Asian markets are down considerably after the Dow plunged almost 400 points Friday and the value of the dollar fell against the yen.

It will be the Boston Red Sox and the Colorado Rockies in the World Series. Boston blasted Cleveland out 11 to 2 Sunday night to complete a comeback win in the American League Championship series. So the World Series begins this Wednesday.

ROBERTS: Singer and rapper Kid Rock is free on bond this morning after being busted outside of a waffle house. Here's the mug shot for you. Looks more like a publicity photo. He was arrested in Atlanta on Sunday and charged with battery after a fight in the parking lot. Our Lola Ogunnaike sat down with the Kid a couple of weeks ago.

She joins us now from Washington and Lola, strangely enough, Kid Rock almost predicted that something like this might happen.

LOLA OGUNNAIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He seems to be a psychic of sorts. I don't know where he got it from, but here's what he had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KID ROCK, MUSICIAN: This time in front of the judge and he's sentencing me and he says, he says -- apparently they've worked out a plea deal or a plea agreement. He said, and apparently you're not allowed to go into Nashville gentleman's club establishments for one year. And I'm like, excuse me, your honor. He kind of looks at me and I'm like, if I was to smack someone at the waffle house, would I not be allowed there for a year as well?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: So there you go. The waffle house thing was on his mind, wasn't it?

OGUNNAIKE: He actually did smack someone at a waffle house. Apparently a customer got into an altercation with a female in his entourage. Kid Rock maybe was feeling chivalrous, maybe he was feeling ready for a fight. They ended up in a brawl, it spilt out into a parking lot. Members of his band jump in, it becomes this huge melee.

Eventually, they drive off, they're eventually apprehended by the police, he's charged with misdemeanor battery. This is his latest in fights. He got into a fight last month at the MTV Awards with Tommy Lee obviously, but doesn't seem to be hurting his career at all, John. His album Rock 'n' Roll Jesus is currently number one on the Billboard charts.

It sold 172,000 copies in its first week, and knocked Bruce Springsteen out of the number one spot, so the fights seems to be working for him.

ROBERTS: Well, I'll tell you, I think a lot of his fans are probably pleased that he was arrested at a waffle house, it shows that in fact he is a man of the people, Lola.

OGUNNAIKE: He is a man of the people, but the interesting thing is he's cultivated this up from the trailer park persona. He comes from the suburbs. His father owned two car dealerships in Detroit. This guy did not grow up in a double-wide at all, John.

ROBERTS: Waffle house, one of my favorite places, I'll tell you that. All right, Lola Ogunnaike for us this morning from D.C. Thanks, Lola.

Ogunnaike: Thank you.

CHETRY: Well, whether you want to know it our not, Britney and her kids topping your quick hits now. Britney Spears managing to regain temporary visitation of her two young children. The singer's lawyer says that Spears had the boys for the weekend. Last week the court suspended her visitation rights for not complying with orders.

Earlier, in an earlier ruling they gave primary custody -- sole custody actually, temporarily to her ex-husband, Kevin Federline.

A blood bath at the box office. A guess it's just in time for Halloween, a lot of creepy stuff out there. The hyper-violent horror movie 30 Days of Nights, yikes was tops over the weekend. Hide your kid, this is creepy. The story of the vampires who descend on an Alaskan town pulled in $16 million. Former number one, Why Did I Get Married?, came in second.

Plus, it's the ultimate extreme makeover, our renovation project that's about to empty the U.N. building for the next three years. The story ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

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ROBERTS: A truly extreme makeover. Officials at the United Nations are considering plans to execute a massive renovation project in one phase. The controversial plan would leave the headquarters empty for three years. You can hear the jokes already. Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon says in the end the plan is less risky, less expensive and faster.

Right now, the $1.8 billion project is a year behind schedule and every month adds roughly $10 million to the overall cost. 45,000 people work at the United Nations and would have to be relocated. Remember what the former U.S. former ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said about it?

CHETRY: What did he say?

ROBERTS: You could take the top 20 floors off the building and nobody would notice. Apparently that's not in the renovation plan though.

CHETRY: Well, it's two minutes before the top of the hour Stephanie Elam here in for Ali Velshi this morning minding your business. Although the Dow dropped nearly 400 points by close on Friday you're saying there is a silver lining.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a lot of people will freak out, especially when you hear the fact that it was the 20th anniversary of Black Monday. But back then, it dropped 23 percent. On the markets on Friday we lost about 2.5 percent on all three of the major --

ROBERTS: 2.3.

ELAM: 2.3, there it is, there's the numbers. I'm born on the 23rd, I like it, let's go with it. So anyway, if you look at the markets and how they dropped off here, the biggest drop of the year on Friday, a lot of people wondering what's going on. You here people talking about recession again. You factor in the housing issues, the credit crunch. All of that factoring into the markets.

But, investors are saying wait a second, there's actually good side here. There's a lot of cash that these companies have, so they can continue to grow and after earnings season is over, which is what we're in right now, we may actually see companies come back and pull back; which means investors could go in there, buy right now, make more money.

So, a lot of people still see an option out there to make money. It's just, the market has to move this way. We go up, we go down. Go up, go down. Get in on the down.

ROBERTS: October 23rds your birthday?

ELAM: No, January.

ROBERTS: Oh, January.

ELAM: Yes, but I'm saying I'm born on the 23rd.

ROBERTS: Oh, I see.

ELAM: I'm born on the 23rd, so I was going with the two, three.

CHETRY: She was just looking for an extra present.

ELAM: My sister's birthday was Saturday. Does that count?

CHETRY: Thanks, Stephanie. Hey, by the way, it will be your last chance to vote if you would like to help name the new baby jaguar born at the Brevard Zoo in Florida, brevardzoo.org. We're going to actually reveal live on the show coming up, what the four-month-old's name is.

ROBERTS: All right, the next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.

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