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Fires Rage Across Southern California; Homeowner Faces the Fires; Space Shuttle "Discovery" Launched into Space Today

Aired October 23, 2007 - 13:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: More homes burning, more people fleeing, more acres turning to ash. Southern California burns for a third day as a string of wildfires spreads before our eyes.
Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

Here's the very latest for you. An estimated 1,000 homes are destroyed in San Diego County alone, and more than 300,000 people have evacuated.

PHILLIPS: Firefighters are nowhere near containing the flames, the number of acres burned now topping 350,000. One person is dead; three people are -- three dozen, rather, are injured.

LEMON: It's a state of emergency in effect right now in seven counties. Top federal emergency officials are in the region, and their boss is promising help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: All of us across this nation are concerned for the families who have lost their homes and the many families who have been evacuated from their homes. We send our prayers and thoughts with those who have been affected, and we send the help of the federal government, as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Now, house after house after house burned to the ground. That's the scene on the northern fringes of San Diego in the devastated town of Rancho Bernardo.

CNN's Dan Simon is there.

Dan, bring us up to date.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, pretty incredible when you walk through the streets of this neighborhood. You can see that we're standing in some ruins right here. Take a look at this. You can't even make out what some of this stuff is. Here's a bicycle right here. There's some wine bottles. It's just unbelievable.

Check this out to my left. House after house after house, and when you drive down the streets here, you see this everywhere. It is truly incredible.

We haven't seen any residents show up to the neighborhood, because they're still evacuated. They're not allowed to come back at the moment. So, these homes that you're looking at here, chances are that the people who live here have absolutely no idea that their homes have been destroyed.

The mayor says it's going to be some time before people can come back to these homes. It's still too unsafe. People can't come back and try to look for belongings, because you still have smoldering. You can see the smoke still coming up. In some parts there are flames.

Here's what the mayor had to say a bit earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR JERRY SANDERS, SAN DIEGO: Today we'll reassess some of the areas in San Diego for letting people back in. I just need to tell people it's going to be a process where we have to make absolutely sure that there is safety there so we don't have to remove people once we put them back in. We'll be very deliberate about that, but we'll also communicate who can go back to those homes.

Please stay at home today if you can. Stay off the freeways. Allow our emergency vehicles and people needing to evacuate to move around freely. And please stay off your cell phones.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: You're looking at what I think was a bathroom at this house.

Meanwhile, the wind continues to be a major problem. I've talked to a lot of firefighters. They tell me that, until these winds die down, you simply cannot contain this fire. This fire basically has no containment.

This fire still pushing west. As long as it continues to go, there are still 5,000 homes still in danger. This fire, there's a good chance it could push all the way to the ocean. We really have no idea when crews may be able to get this blaze under control, if ever, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll keep tracking it, of course. Dan Simon right there, Rancho Bernardo, California. Thank you so much, Dan.

We're also expecting a briefing on behalf of FEMA. As soon as that happens, we'll take it live.

LEMON: They have shelter. They even have buffets and massages. But do they have homes to go to? That's a question on the minds of thousands of people camping out at Qualcomm Stadium. And CNN's Thelma Gutierrez takes us inside. THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don, just imagine. There are 300,000 people who have been evacuated from homes here in the San Diego area. Many have no place to go. The hotels are full. Some of the folks don't live in this area. They don't have relatives in this area to turn to. So, thousands are coming here to Qualcomm Stadium for refuge.

There are 10,000 people who slept here overnight. There are 5,000 people out in the parking lot, parking their cars, their trucks. They're pitching tents out there.

And if you take a look right over here, we'll just pan right over. This is a staging area for the volunteers. There are hundreds of volunteers who have also come out here to help the evacuees.

This area was packed just a couple of seconds ago. They are moving these people in groups.

And you can see that they're carrying masks, and what they're doing is they're going to go and distribute those masks to the evacuees out here, because the air quality is just so bad.

Now, a couple of evacuees who join us now are Steve and Sue Greenberg. You're from Scripps.

STEVE GREENBERG, EVACUEE FROM SCRIPPS RANCH: Scripps Ranch, yes.

GUTIERREZ: Scripps Ranch. Tell me what this whole situation has been like. You said it was surreal coming here to Qualcomm to seek refuge.

STEVE GREENBERG: It was deja vu, reminiscent of what we went through in the 2003 fires. So, we came here. We were evacuated yesterday and set up camp in the parking lot. And generally the people have just been amazingly generous, and all night long coming by, offering blankets, pillows, food.

GUTIERREZ: And these are just regular residents from San Diego.

STEVE GREENBERG: Just normal, you know, John Q. Citizen. And it's been amazing to see that kind of support.

GUTIERREZ: Sue, I notice you're wearing a mask. Tell me a little bit about why you're wearing it and what the air quality has been like.

SUE GREENBERG, EVACUEE FROM SCRIPPS RANCH: Well, the air quality has been off and on, you know, really smoky and sort of painful to breathe and that sort of thing.

And there are medical personnel circulating through the crowd, strongly advising that you wear these things because there are things in the air you can't see. And I appear to be the only one who took them seriously. But they suggested this and a lot of water over the course of the day, especially today. GUTIERREZ: What has it been like here at Qualcomm? You both come here for ball games, and yet you're having to come here to seek refuge

SUE GREENBERG: Well, you know, grateful to be here, grateful to have each other. And the people here have been extraordinarily kind and generous with just everything you can think of: emotions, food, water. It's been great.

GUTIERREZ: All right. Sue and Steve Greenberg, thank you so much for joining us.

And you know, there are many people out here, police say, that they are so happy because there has not been one negative incident. Everything has been fine. And they have plenty of volunteers out here helping the evacuees.

Back to you.

LEMON: Yes, and you know what, Thelma? It's -- really, the last time we saw this many people huddled together in a facility, a public facility like that, was during Hurricane Katrina.

Real quickly, it appears, Thelma, everyone seems to be taking it in stride, even though, you know, not something they want to be outside of their homes.

GUTIERREZ: Yes, that's exactly right, Don. And you know, you have entertainers out here who have been hanging out with the kids, just wanting to put a smile on their faces. Many volunteers. And I think that's so striking about what we've seen out here.

LEMON: Yes. Thelma Gutierrez, thank you so much for that report. We'll check back with you throughout the day.

PHILLIPS: OK. Let's head over to northern Los Angeles County now, where aircraft have been hitting the hills hard, trying to keep three fires from merging into one giant nightmare.

CNN's Vince Gonzales is near the edge of the Magic Fire.

Vince, the wind actually gave firefighters a little bit of a break this morning, right?

VINCE GONZALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It really did. The winds died down. They were able to get these fixed wind aircraft, they call the super scoopers up in the air. And they've been hitting the ridges behind me all morning.

It may not look like a dramatic picture behind me, but it's a sight for sore eyes for fire crews. Because all night long, these ridges were glowing orange. There were high flames we could see coming down out of the hills.

Now there's lots of smoke, every now and then the occasional flame, but they stopped it cold. They stopped it from coming out of the hills.

We're keeping our eye open, because they have been hitting it about every 10 or 15 minutes pretty hard. But they did manage to get in the air to get the flames stopped here. Because if it made it out of these hills over the next ridge is homes.

And this is just one of three fires burning here in northern Los Angeles County that created some fears. This one only about 2,000 acres. The other two, though, one is 54,000. The other one more than 35,000, destroying homes.

And the fear was these three fires could come together, creating a catastrophic wildfire that there would really be no way to control. They'd have to back off, build fire lines and just really let it burn itself out.

But right now the winds have died. We're still getting some gusts but not that bad. And the fear is that later on tonight at dusk when the Santa Ana winds are prone to kick up, if they come back that could make it a really tight night for firefighters, especially those -- and actually, here we have a water drop coming in now. This is what we've been seeing all morning, is these drops that have been hitting this ridge hard. Because we thought for sure this is where the fire was going to come down.

In fact, there's large bails of hay stored right along the ridge here. And they've been doing everything they can, from getting to be sure the fire does not hit construction materials or hay. That's the first super scooper that just went in. They always fly in twos. And there they go.

And they have been hitting these ridges hard all day long. The second super scooper goes in, again, taking out this fire, preventing it from getting into the -- over the ridge into the area where there's homes -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Vince, just as we're watching these live pictures of these super scoopers, can you give us an idea, where exactly do they load up on the water and take off from? And how long are their shifts? Do you know how much water these aircraft can hold? Any details that you know about the operations as we watch it live?

GONZALES: Sure. I'm not exactly sure where they're coming from, but they need a long lake they can fly into, and they literally just land and scoop up as much water as they can, pulling it all in. And then they head for their drops.

And they've been working this area pretty much all morning long. I'm not sure how long the shifts are, but we do know they are limited. They can only get so many flying hours, so much time in the air.

And then the hope is they have reserve air crews, normally, who would take over. But with resources stretched thin across California, that's not likely to happen. That may be all we get once these you crews go off for the day.

PHILLIPS: All right. CNN's Vince Gonzales right there in Northern L.A. County. Appreciate it, Vince.

LEMON: We've been telling you about these fires, seeing sort of the coastline and a map of where everything is. We want to get you more specifically, especially about the one started yesterday.

If you take a look there at San Diego, we're going to talk about Lake Arrowhead. That one started yesterday. As a matter of fact, while the CNN NEWSROOM was on the air. Take a look at the latest pictures from there live. You can see that homes are just going up in flames, as they are all over Southern California.

Those pictures courtesy of our affiliate there in California, KABC.

Devastating. No matter how long you look at these pictures, no matter how many times you've seen them, this is devastating, to see people's lives and homes going up in flames.

When can Southern California expect relief? That is a big question, and meteorologist Jacqui Jeras joins us now from the severe weather center to tell us the latest forecast.

Jacqui, the winds going to die down? Can they expect any rain? Any of that would help out in this situation

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. It sure would. It's coming eventually but, unfortunately, Don, it's going to be getting worse before it actually gets better.

In fact, the next three to six hours are very critical. We see very strong winds aloft. And those winds are going to be mixing down to the surface. They're going to be moving through the mountains chains. They're going to be moving through the canyons into the passes and accelerating. So we think the winds will be getting worse in the next several hours.

Now, after that, we think they could calm down a little bit by tonight. Tomorrow, they'll still be strong but not as strong as today. Thursday and Friday, we're kind of in a transitional period where we'll start to become onshore and the winds will be much lighter.

By the weekend, strong onshore flow, which means onshore is that the winds come from the -- from the water onto the coast, onto the shore. Right now this is what's going on. And that brings in those hot desert winds, so we're waiting for that change. It should be happening.

And yes, maybe even some rain in the forecast early to the middle part of next week. Because this is a pretty strong system that's going to be coming in to change up the weather systems and the weather dynamics going on across parts of the west.

We've got to get through this afternoon just yet. Here you can see the current sustained winds at this hour, down into the teens. We've been seeing some 20s and 30s throughout the morning, but the gusts, that's where we've had the real problem. More than 80 miles per hour at Laguna Peak over the last five hours, so it has been pretty bad there.

This is the smoke that lingers and continues into the air. That's not rain on our Doppler radar. That's the smoke, all the ash and the particles in the atmosphere bouncing off our Doppler radar.

Here's our weather pattern for today, showing you the critical and extreme levels. And the humidity, guys, just to put this in perspective for you, Don. The storm prediction center issues a critical risk fire weather area when the humidity is down below 35 percent. Look what it's going to be here today: 4 to 8 percent.

LEMON: All of it really making it sort of a perfect storm, if you will, for this -- these sorts of conditions.

Jacqui Jeras, thank you very much.

We want to show you specifically where some of these fires are that we're talking about. Again, the one that we talked about, happening yesterday, Lake Arrowhead. There you see. Right there a little bit away from the coast.

And then there's live pictures, the latest live pictures now coming in from Lake Arrowhead, California. You can see big part of Southern California looking just like this today.

And as we linger on these pictures we want to tell you that FEMA, we're expecting a briefing from FEMA. And the deputy administrator, Harvey Johnson, is going to address the media any time now. As soon as that happens, we'll bring that to you live in the NEWSROOM.

Also a press conference, a briefing for reporters from the governor. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California will address the media at 2 p.m. Eastern, and we'll bring that for you live, just as well.

And we should say my partner, who is from there, the California area, heading out there. Your family's affected by this.

PHILLIPS: Well, I'm actually looking at e-mails now. I'm getting a number of e-mails from friends and family members, are actually sending me pictures. I just forwarded it to our producers. Maybe we can get them on the air.

There's actually fires in their back yards.

LEMON: Oh, my gosh.

PHILLIPS: And they're taking pictures on their cell phones and sending them to me. My parents so far right now, they're OK, but they -- they have huge, massive -- they have, I guess, brush, a lot of brush in the back of our house. And so I'm going to head out there right after our news show.

LEMON: We're glad they're fine. But we know everyone's pulled together. Your pastor, the people at your church.

PHILLIPS: That's right.

LEMON: And the community. Everybody is banding together to save -- to try to help save the homes.

PHILLIPS: You know where Qualcomm is, the stadium where everybody is.

LEMON: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Right across from there is our church where I grew up going to church.

LEMON: Right.

PHILLIPS: It's a big United Methodist there on the other side of the freeway, and they're already coming over and bringing people over and counseling and trying to help out.

LEMON: Yes.

PHILLIPS: So we'll go there and talk with those folks.

LEMON: Show us some of these pictures, Scottie, if we still have live there in California, especially the ones that we have. There's Qualcomm that Kyra was talking about there. Not far, as you said.

But again, some just -- very personal stories that are going to come out of there, and it's just devastating for everyone there. And there you go, Kyra, live Lake Arrowhead. I'm sure you've visited there.

PHILLIPS: That was a popular place, actually, while we were growing up. Lake Arrowhead was the place that you went. You rent boats. You go out on the lakes. They're very well known for the apples. There are apple orchards out in that area. And you go there for apple pie and caramel apples.

I mean, when you grow up as a kid, you go up to Lake Arrowhead and you go to Big Bear area. So it's sad for me to actually see this, because this is a really popular place. Not only to retire but to have a vacation home and spend the weekend when you grow up in San Diego.

LEMON: It's not just about the smoky pictures. These are lives we're talking about.

PHILLIPS: Well, a Malibu homeowner lost everything to a fire in 1993, so he rebuilt with fireproof materials. Is it still standing? We're actually going to talk to him about facing the fire this time around.

LEMON: And it's not the kind of fire fight they expected, but the U.S. military steps in to serve in California's time of need.

You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: We're not only monitoring the live pictures throughout the state of California of these wild fires -- you're looking at live pictures of Lake Arrowhead, California, courtesy of our affiliate KABC out of Los Angeles right now -- but we're also -- on the other side of the screen you see the FEMA deputy administrator, Harvey Johnson.

He's addressing the media right now and talking about the coordination of the federal response now through FEMA to these California wildfires. He's talking with federal, state and local partners live.

We're listening to it. We're going to let you how -- let you know how the national response is coordinating with regard to what's happening throughout California. We're checking it; we're listening. We'll bring you any pertinent information.

LEMON: And also, the governor, Kyra, holding a press conference at 2 p.m. Eastern. We're going to bring that to you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Now let's talk about the people facing all of this. Plenty of his neighbors fled, even his wife took off, but Malibu homeowner Jim Evans is staying put, even though he knows all too well that a fire -- what a fire can do. His first Malibu home, well, it burned down in 1993.

And we have Jim Evans on the phone with us ride right now.

I want to thank you for joining us. I have to say, I'm really sorry with what you're going through, sir.

Are you there, Mr. Evans?

Apparently, we're having some problems. But again, Mr. Evans and his wife have lived there since 1979, and as I said, their first home burned down back in 1993. And we want to get him on the phone. We can understand they're having some cell phone problems there. Asking people...

JIM EVANS, MALIBU HOME OWNER: Can you hear me?

LEMON: ... yes, not to use the phones.

Hey, again as I said, as I started before, sorry for what you're going through. We thank you for joining us today.

EVANS: Hello?

LEMON: Yes. Are you there?

EVANS: Yes.

LEMON: Yes, yes. So tell me about your ordeal. We know that you took some pictures as these flames were racing your way, racing through your neighborhood. You've some of the choppers coming in with water. You've got fire trucks, as well. Talk to us about these pictures if you can see -- if you can see our air.

EVANS: OK. Yes, I can see. I can see the helicopter right now.

LEMON: Do we have his pictures, guys? Can we get his photographs up?

EVANS: That looks like...

LEMON: This is you, right, standing in front there in your neighborhood.

EVANS: Actually, I'm looking at a live feed right now. Looks like -- looks like we're covering -- looked like yesterday.

LEMON: Yes.

EVANS: There I am, in front of -- that's in front of the fire station at the top of the hill. I think it's Station 8 or something like that, right at the top of around the Pacifico and Los Flores, right where they meet there.

LEMON: Yes.

EVANS: That's kind of like one of the big lines of defense in Malibu, Rambla (ph). And they had -- I think in excess of 100 fire trucks parked end to end on that street yesterday.

LEMON: And what are we looking at now? What is this hill?

EVANS: That's this morning. That's -- that's Carbon Canyon looking down from Payuma (ph) towards a house that was recently built there. And it looks -- you can see, it right burned up to that house, and they managed to keep it from going up in flames.

LEMON: Yes. And we're going to continue to scroll through. We've been talking to some of the reporters on the scene. They've been telling us about these super scoopers that are coming through. They come through in pairs. And they put out fires and, at least are trying to. With what you're seeing there, trying to get rid of that fire down in the valleys and up on the hills.

Tell us about these fire trucks and what have you. How far is this away from your home and what were you doing here?

EVANS: Well, that was yesterday. What you're looking at there was yesterday about 2 p.m. in the afternoon. I think that was probably the worst part of the day. From about 2 p.m. until 5 p.m. that entire canyon was looking like that. I mean, all it was was smoke and fire and emergency vehicles.

I was only able to get up there at 2 p.m. After that they started -- everybody started abandoning all the houses up there and coming down. I mean, my front lawn was like -- sort of like a refugee camp of people sitting in their cars, like you know, from up on the top of the hill here.

That was -- that was right by Fire Station 8 up there, and that was a drop they were doing. That hill, like, caught on fire in just like 30 seconds. I mean, we were there, the fire just started, and it basically enveloped the entire hillside. And they started hitting it with the air drops.

LEMON: This is the second time for you. I hate to say it, but it's a double whammy. Back in '93 you lost your home, as well.

EVANS: Right. That was a whole different kind of thing, because it started way back on the other side of the canyon and came out over the mountains. And it just, like, swept over the mountains in a really short period of time.

So, in the period of time of that fire, say from when it started around 9:30, maybe 8:30 in the morning, it came all the way across the hill and burned our house in this canyon at about 2 in the afternoon.

LEMON: Yes. You seem very calm, considering the situation. You're speaking very concisely. A lot of people we speak to are just sometimes too overwhelmed to even -- to form complete sentences sometimes.

EVANS: I think -- I think I -- you know, my brain fried on the first one, and it's sort of like sticking around for this one helped me kind of recover, like talking to the fire team.

I mean, last night they bivouacked in my garage. They had, like, their cots set up in there. My phone was the only one that worked in the neighborhood, so they came in, like all night long, making phone calls to their wives.

I mean, there was a fireman from Fallbrook who came in all kind of panicked, because he heard his wife and children were being evacuated in Fallbrook. And he's here fighting a fire in Malibu. And he was trying to get a hold of his wife.

LEMON: Yes.

EVANS: So it was a sort of surrealistic kind of situation. But talking to those guys and the way that they said they would defend the house, I said, "Well, we'll all just jump in the garage if it came through here real hot and heavy."

I thought OK, well, if my garage is safe enough for them, it's safe enough for me.

LEMON: Yes, and those guys are definitely heroes.

I've got to ask you this. Do you think of leaving Malibu?

EVANS: No, actually I don't.

LEMON: Not even with all this?

EVANS: I went through the -- I went through the mudslides and the earthquake, too.

I mean, I like it here. I surf here. And the good thing about Malibu is the fact that it's such a funky place in terms of, like, the disasters that a lot of people don't really want to live here.

Plus, you have the expense of the houses, and it makes it kind of like a remote place in some ways, even though you're close to Los Angeles.

LEMON: Yes. Well, Jim Evans, we certainly wish you and your wife and all of your neighbors the best. And when you see those guy, thank them personally for us.

EVANS: Oh, yes. We did.

LEMON: The guys and ladies who are fighting the fires out there. Jim Evans and his wife, Nancy, thank you so much.

EVANS: OK. Good talking to you.

PHILLIPS: Well, if you're watching our coverage of the fires and you want to help the victims, you can log on to our web site at "Impact Your World". The link is CNN.com/Impact. Click on "California Fires" under "Natural Disasters".

Now, Space Shuttle Discovery, it's on its way to what some are calling the most ambitious orbital construction project ever. We'll have details on this morning's lift-off with our Miles O'Brien. That's up next in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY HIMMEL, KFMB REPORTER: This is what is left of my home just outside the Forest Ranch area.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: A TV news reporter live on the scene of a house fire. Happens all the time. What's unusual about that? This story has a twist to it. That's the reporter's house burning. Details straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

PHILLIPS: The weather was a worry, but Space Shuttle Discovery managed a picture perfect liftoff from Kennedy Space Center shortly before noon eastern. Our own space expert, Miles O'Brien, was there.

Hi, Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra. You know I always tell you I wish you were here?

PHILLIPS: Yes. Are you going to tell me?

O'BRIEN: Today -- today, through the modern technology and high definition broadcast, it was almost as if you could -- were here.

CNN for the first time broadcast a shuttle mission in high definition. We've done 120 launches. This is the first time we did it in high definition. A real treat for our viewers who have access to high definition.

Take a look at the launch. It was an hour and 40 minutes ago or so, and it went off pretty much without a hitch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one. Booster ignition and lift- off of Discovery, hoisting harmony to the heavens and opening new gateways for international science. Discovery has cleared the tower.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Poetic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: The Space Shuttle Discovery on its way to the International Space Station.

Yes, there were concerns about weather. It was the forecasters that said 60 percent chance the weather would keep the space shuttle on the ground today. That didn't happen, obviously.

There were some problems with some ice on a piece of that external fuel tank. That turned out not to be a problem either. And so you see what happened.

They're on their way to space there. They've already completed one orbit. They're over the North Atlantic now. The seven-member crew getting ready for a very busy two weeks in orbit.

This is what they're headed to, the International Space Station. They have an important piece, a 31,000-pound docking node. Think of it as the circular wheel thing in tinker toys that allow all the other sticks to connect to. They'll attach that to the space station. Some laboratories, which come up later this year from Europe and Japan, will attach to it, so it's a key linchpin.

Everything kind of -- the knee bone connected to the ankle bone kind of missions. And this crew really has its work cut out for it. They use the robotic arm on the space station to pull that 31,000- pound Harmony module out, attach it to a temporary spot, then the space station crew later, after the shuttle leaves, will put it on the spot where the shuttle is and on it goes.

They'll also spend time moving a solar array to its other -- the position where it needs to be for the long term. These key milestones important because NASA is in a hurry to finish its portion of the space station before the shuttle is retired at the end of 2010.

And, Kyra, as you know, a milestone in space for women. The commander of the Shuttle Discovery is Pam Melroy. The second woman to that. And the commander of the space station is NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson. So I am convinced that things will get done over the next couple of weeks.

PHILLIPS: You know these women very well. You know how professional they are. and it's true, women add a special unique touch, right? Especially when it comes to staying calm, cool and collected.

O'BRIEN: All I say is how high, honey? That's all I can say.

PHILLIPS: And you jump. Speaking of how high -- oh, Miles.

LEMON: Yes, dear.

PHILLIPS: That's a definite poetic thought.

O'BRIEN: There's a lot of "yes, dears" in space.

LEMON: Absolutely.

PHILLIPS: Can you see Melroy with her honey do list telling the whole crew.

O'BRIEN: I can only imagine how tasks are going to be accomplished. They don't have any time to relax anyway. They're going to have to go through this timeline in five-minute increments. There really is no time to breathe. This is the most complicated shuttle mission ever tried, and certainly the most complicated for the space station.

PHILLIPS: It's making history in many ways. Miles O'Brien, great to talk to you.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

PHILLIPS: And of course our coverage of the fires in California continues as we await a briefing right now from Governor Schwarzenegger at the top of the hour. We're going to speak with the lieutenant governor straight ahead, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

LEMON: And you know, the fire is a formidable enemy. The U.S. military flexing a different brand of firepower. Coming up, support by land, air and also sea. You're in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Live pictures now Lake Arrowhead, California, courtesy of our affiliate KABC. This is just one of the areas devastated by these wildfires that are plaguing Southern California right now. Lake Arrowhead just outside of San Diego, California, a very popular place up in the mountains to go and vacation and visit. You can see here through our Google Earth gives you sort of an exact location of where the lake is, where the fires are popping up and how far away from San Diego it is. Just moments ago we saw those efforts from the air dropping tons and tons of retardant, and also water coming through those areas as well. Trying to fight the fires, trying to create some sort of line of defense to protect homes and people as they continue to evacuate. The numbers now, according to the governor's office, 321,000 people have been evacuated in the state of California.

Now pushed by the winds, fuelled by the bone dry conditions right now, it's a really tough time as the wildfires race through seven California counties.

Joining us from Los Angeles, the state's lieutenant governor, John Garamendi. Lieutenant Governor, appreciate you being with me.

First, I want to make sure we're getting those numbers right, sir. 321,000 people, the "L.A. Times" was reporting 500,000 people evacuated. Can you just confirm for me the numbers?

LT. GOV. JOHN GARAMENDI, CALIFORNIA: No, I can't. But the numbers are rapidly rising. It was about 300,000 earlier in the day, it's probably moving upward as these fires are continuing to burn as the winds continue to push them into these urban areas, so it could very well approach 500,000 now or by the end of the day.

PHILLIPS: Now sir, you've been in this area obviously a long time. You graduated from Berkley, you know this area. I grew up in this area. I have never seen anything like this. You have not had to deal with anything as drastic up to this point as well with all of the positions you've held, correct?

GARAMENDI: Well, we've been through a lot in California. In '91, I was the insurance commissioner here in the state. We had the Oakland Hills, the Malibu and the Laguna fire with perhaps more than 2,500 homes burned in that period. 2003, we had fires in San Diego, in exactly the same area where the fires are burning now. And there was more than 1,500 homes in that area, plus another 700 or 800 in the Riverside area, part of what you were showing a few moments ago and the San Bernardino Mountains.

We've been here before. In fact, this last winter, we didn't have a winter in southern California. We had a fire season 12 months of the year. Climate change is taking effect here and throughout the west in a very, very serious way. So we need to be continually preparing ourselves for what is likely to be a continuation of these kind of events. This is, however, the most extensive fire, number of fires that we've had over the broadest area, and it has stretched us to the maximum.

PHILLIPS: And you just talk about the impact environmentally. It's ironic that this is happening when we're going to be airing our "Planet in Peril" special tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. We're going to be talking about just the conditions like this ...

GARAMENDI: Right.

PHILLIPS: ...popping up across the country. Lieutenant Governor, you know, it's interesting, you mentioned you were the long time insurance commissioner of California. This was one of the discussion points that we brought up today in the meeting. Insurance and what type of insurance people have, fire insurance. Give us a reality check. If you have a standard policy protecting your home in southern California, are you out of luck? Are you in luck? Do the policies differ from area to area?

GARAMENDI: Well, fortunately, I think for Californians, the 2003 fire provided us with the information to significantly upgrade and improve the policies in California. We did this in '91 following the fires, 2003, and each period of time, we learn additional things. The policies should be better. There was a serious underinsurance problem, not enough insurance to cover homes in 2003. We put in place new procedures, new rules, laws, that forced the insurance companies to do better and individuals to pay more attention.

However, I know from experience that there's going to be problems out there that people will not have adequate insurance. For the most part, every home does have some kind of insurance and will have some sort of coverage.

For all of those people that were in the disaster assistance centers and you showed the picture of Qualcomm Stadium a moment ago, those people should be phoning their insurance company right now because the new policies in California do provide for hotels, motels, if you are forced out of your home by a mandatory evacuation. And that's what's happening with these 300 to 500,000 people. They, the insurance companies, will be paying for those hotels if people contact the insurance companies and certainly they ought to do that.

For the rest of California and literally for the rest of the nation, people need to be prepared. They need to make their homes fire safe. It's too late now for this area, but we do require 100 feet of clear zone around every house in California. That clear zone provides the opportunity for the fire departments to get there to protect the home, in most cases. When you do have a fire storm, it may be hopeless. And people need to do the inventories, to make sure they have adequate coverage, go around their house, take the video camera, talk about what's in the home.

That will terminate what was a major problem in 2003 and I suspect will be a problem again, and that is some insurance companies literally require people to inventory everything they had in their home from their socks to their bras. It's ridiculous. We tried to get the law changed. Unfortunately, the insurance industry killed that legislation.

Nevertheless, things are improved but we're in a bad situation here, it's likely to continue into the years ahead. And so, we just need to prepare ourselves, be prepared personally, and for the government and fortunately, Governor Schwarzenegger, the Office of Emergency Services, got on this immediately, assembled the fire departments and fire equipment from around the state and deployed it to southern California. But in every case when we have the Santa Ana winds, it's the wind that controls the destiny of the homes and the communities.

PHILLIPS: But you have given great advice. Bottom line, this comes from your experience as insurance commissioner, start documenting everything around your home, now make those calls to your insurance companies, don't wait. Be proactive as much as you can to take initiative.

Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi, we'll be following, of course, all the efforts from the side of insurance to the military efforts to your efforts there.

GARAMENDI: Well, there's one more thing if I might just take a second, and that is that when the fire department and the police agencies come through and say evacuate, do it. Don't hesitate. Your life is at risk and you put the lives of those firefighters and police departments at risk if you don't evacuate. So, obey those orders.

PHILLIPS: Point well made. Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi, appreciate it, sir.

LEMON: Those California wildfires are serious health concern for thousands of people. Straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM, our Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a look at the dangers of smoke inhalation.

PHILLIPS: And a TV news reporter live on the scene of a house fire. Well, it happens all the time, right? But this story's got a bit of a twist. That's the reporter's home that's burning. We'll have the details straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.

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LEMON: Live pictures now again from Lake Arrowhead, California. Fires sadly still going there. This area inland from the coast. And those fires, again, still burning there. Some 321,000 people so far that CNN has confirmed evacuated because of these fires in the entire state, the "L.A. Times" reporting more than that, 500,000. The lieutenant governor on just moments ago said the numbers are rising, he can't confirm them because they are so fluid and they are rising so fast.

You know, the U.S. military has gotten involved in all of this. They are in the mix now sending in and offering up people and hardware to fight the fire, and also help evacuees.

Our Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr joins us now with that part of the story -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well Don, we're awaiting a briefing here at the Pentagon in about an hour and a half from top military officials on their response to this crisis in California.

You know, the military is out there offering help, but is also of course falling victim to the fire. There are hundreds of thousands of military and DOD personnel, of course, living in these communities across southern California.

Some of the impact that the military is feeling, at Camp Pendleton, just north of San Diego, 60,000 marines and their family members on standby, waiting if it becomes necessary to evacuate from the base. They were told last night to start packing their personal belongings, pack food and water and be ready to go if the fire moves further north. 19,000 Navy families, already evacuated from San Diego.

But also, the military on standby to help at the same time. 800 marines from Twentynine Palms, California on standby, a full battalion, ready to go join the fight on the frontlines of the fire. That's a very heavily decorated marine unit. They have returned from combat in Iraq and they could head out to the fire lines.

Again, the Navy hospital in San Diego taking some of the critical care patients, some of the patients evacuated from civilian hospitals in San Diego. 1,500 National Guard troops called up, six C-130s that can drop those fire-retardant chemicals on the fires, they're in the air working.

But also, the bottom line, some impact of course on military operations. Some flight operations canceled. And Don, four Navy war ships in San Diego that were set to go to sea, they're staying in port so their crews can stay and try and help their families -- Don.

LEMON: Hey Barbara, how are you doing today, I know this is personal for you as well.

STARR: It is. Like so many people on our air, I grew up out there, my family is out there. And my elderly, although they probably don't want to be called that on television, my very elderly parents live, you know, north of Camp Pendleton, actually.

But they've been told by their doctors to stay indoors. The air quality, as Sanjay Gupta's been reporting across southern California is just dreadful at the moment. And for many people like my family, that lives a good distance from the San Diego fire, it is still a significant impact. They have respiratory disease and they are being told to stay indoors, keep the windows shut, keep the air conditioning on.

And let me add just one thing. For the military people who've returned from combat duty in Iraq, I've talked to some marines out at Pendleton this morning.

LEMON: Right.

STARR: It was very interesting, Don. They told me they're sitting outside, looking at a flaming sky, at debris falling and they said they feel like they're back in Iraq.

LEMON: They're back in the war zone, OK. Barbara Starr, best of luck to you and your family. Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Well, even the sky looks like it's burning. That's how powerful the southern California wildfires are. This is just one of the many i-Reports that you've been sending us. We sure appreciate it. We've gotten them over the past three days. We're going to show you much more straight ahead, from the CNN NEWSROOM.

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LEMON: Well, when the all clear finally comes, hundreds of families will have no homes to go back to. And for one reporter in San Diego County, there'll never be a harder story to cover. His name is Larry Himmel, he works for KFMB. He watched and reported as his own home went up in flames. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HIMMEL: On any given day, I would say welcome to my home, but this is what is left of my home just outside the Forest Ranch area. The fire crew that fought valiantly to save every house on this hill, at least took a shot at it and were nice enough to let us up here. That was our garage, the living room over there, there was a porch. Back there the bedrooms, no pets left behind, family out, cars out, safe. But you can see my hose right here valiantly trying to do something, but this is it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, so many people have fled the California wildfires, it take a football stadium to house them. No sport, just shelter, at Qualcomm. We're going to take you inside, straight ahead from the NEWSROOM.

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