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More Malibu Fires; Natalee Holloway Case
Aired November 24, 2007 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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The plan for the entire operation is take care of the structure protection and life protection, and that goes back from the evacuation. The evacuation is crucial for life saving.
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FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN, ANCHOR: Next in the NEWSROOM, a dangerous, dynamic situation in southern California. Malibu torched again. A victim once more of the Santa Ana winds.
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HANS MOS, CHIEF PROSECUTOR: We have evidence that she is dead. And I can tell you any day now is extra proof that she is not alive anymore.
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WHITFIELD: Heartbreaking words from the prosecutor in the Natalee Holloway case. He said there is no doubt that she is dead.
Hello, everyone, I'm Fredricka Whitfield and you're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
The hills above Malibu are ablaze this afternoon. For the second time in a month, dry, desert winds are fanning unpredictable fires. Thousands of people have fled to safer ground and multimillion dollar mansions lie in ruins. With the latest now, CNN's Kara Finnstrom, who was right in that cordoned off area that has been under this mandatory evacuation.
KARA FINNSTROM, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the massive fight against this fire continues from the air and ground. And just behind me firefighters began to fight this fire with more fire. They lit a long back fire as they're called along this ridge. That burned through the face of the other fire, which is advancing towards us and they are hoping also to actually dig out a containment line and up there we have been able to see bulldozers actually digging out that containment line on this side.
A containment line is just actually an area that they dig out all the way around the fires to get rid of the fuel that may be surrounding and hopefully get this fire to actually burn in on itself. We just spoke with someone at the fire department who said that is really the main effort under way at this hour. They are still at zero containment but he tells us they got those bulldozers out there on all fronts.
Now, at this point we understand that 10,000 people are still under mandatory evacuations. A total of 35 homes have been lost. Although fire officials tell me they may be updating that number very soon. A little earlier today, the mayor here of Malibu spoke, saying that these type of fires is something this area has gotten all to accustomed to.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Waking up 4:00 in the morning with the smell of smoke in your nose and the wind beating at the windows is something that we learn to live with here but it always comes as something of a shock. And any time that you have a fire that claims 35 homes, it's a disaster. There are some silver linings as we stand here today. The wind, as you can tell, has dropped. It gives the firefighters and the aircraft the chance to really hammer the fire and try to bring it under control.
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FINNSTROM: And just behind me here, we are actually were watching the owner of this Malibu seafood put up Christmas lights on just about 15 minutes ago. So it gives you a feel of how surreal this must be for folks here who battled this huge fire in this same area very close to here, just about a month ago. That fire took nine homes. This one has already taken 35. And one more new piece of information we want to share with you, Fredricka, we just learned that the number of people injured has been raised to five. Those are five firefighters. All their injuries though are said to be minor. Things like some minor smoke inhalation. One of the firefighters, we are told, did suffer facial burns but they are all expected to be okay. Back to you.
WHITFIELD: Wow, these numbers are extraordinary, Kara. Are we still talking about what 2,200 acres scorched, and if that's the case, do the firefighters who are working this blaze right now feel like they can handle it on their own? Are they going to soon start asking for other assistance from other states, perhaps?
FINNSTROM: We have been seeing the assistants from surrounding communities rolling here all day long. We have been looking at trucks from all kinds of local communities that have been coming in, fire departments, to help. The firefighter I spoke with earlier said you know they are still trying to get some updated information but he was cautiously optimistic. And from us out here, we have seen less smoke in the air. So, the hope is maybe they are beginning to gain headway with these massive water drops. He said they're just going to keep pounding those. They're going to try to get this fire line dug out all the way around this fire. And they are going to hope - and this is the key part of this that these winds remain died down. Right now, they are calmer than they were out here earlier today. They are hoping those will not whip back up later tonight.
WHITFIELD: All right. Kara Finnstrom, thanks so much there in Malibu. So, as Kara was saying, just underscoring the fact that 10,000 people have been evacuated. Many of those homes right in that area where Kara is standing. Our Chris Lawrence is also in Malibu and he, too, has gotten a firsthand look and listen to a lot of folks there who have talked about this aggravation. But at the same time, Chris, it's kind of the way of life there in southern California, the threat of devastation like this, right?
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you said it, Fredricka. The shoreline and the beauty of the Pacific Ocean behind me not only explains why so many people would continue to live in such a fire- prone area, but the ocean has also actually been a very big help to some of the firefighters. We have seen continuous water drops where the helicopters swoop in and take the water right from the pacific and fly right over the mountain on the other side of me and make the drop.
In fact, a lot of the families in this area, we spoke with one of them, they had a pool built in their backyard a few years back. Not so much for the show and the entertaining but really just to have a base of water nearby because they have been through five fires and they know how quickly those fires can come through. That family told us, in fact, there are several signs in the area that alert firefighters exactly where those swimming pools are and over the course of the morning and into the afternoon, we started to see some firefighting, some of those helicopters swooping low, picking up water out of the swimming pools and then dumping it onto the fire.
That same family we talked to, however, did get caught off guard by the fire that happened last month. They were scrambling. It came in so quickly. They weren't able to get everything they needed. They realized they could only pack so much in a car. So what they did, the dad went out and he bought a small trailer and they did a complete list of everything that they wanted to take. So when this evacuation happened this morning and they were shocked out of bed, the trailer was right there. They went down their list very quickly, able to get the stuff out and evacuate. Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: That is extraordinary. We heard the fire chief say earlier that you know folks who live in this area, even though it's a way of life, have your evacuation plan. And that family right there certainly living by example and perhaps teaching a whole lot of folks lessons about preparation.
All right, Chris Lawrence. Thanks so much.
Also in the area, Los Angeles county fire department public information officer Inspector Rick Dominguez is on the phone with us now. And so Rick, do you feel like you're department, the L.A. County Fire Department, really can handle this colossal, I guess, mess?
VOICE OF INSPECTOR RICK DOMINGUEZ, LOS ANGELES FIRE DEPT.: Well, us along with all of our cooperating agencies, I believe that we can, you know, this time the weather is so much more on our side as opposed to a month or so ago, as you know. And right now we can continue to bombard with our aircraft and helicopters, just keep bombarding the fire and we have the winds are died down to about 20 miles an hour, or even less up in the hillside there. So we can get our ground crews up there and our dozers and try to get a containment line around the fire.
WHITFIELD: Well, give me an idea of the obstacles some of these firefighters are up against. With the injuries that we have just learned from our Kara Finnstrom involving some of your firefighters, we know that this is a risky job. But with these winds, that certainly does raise the risk level, doesn't it?
DOMINGUEZ: Yes, ma'am. The injuries, most of our injuries as you said - one was moderate with second degree burns and four other were minors but it's always a hazard up there. But the firefighters, we always keep our safety look out and our personnel are always being aware of the hazards. But with the way the winds are, it's not just the winds or the direction of the fire but it could be a tree that's burned or branch falling or rolling rock or some kind of debris that can cause an injury to the firefighters out on the line.
WHITFIELD: And so what now? How do you get ahead of, you know, this fire? We heard our reporter Kara talked about the fire line that has been put in place near the location where she is. But what other methods do you take?
DOMINGUEZ: Well, what we do, as what you're watching on the screen, is we are continuing to drop. We will do some back firing, which will allow us to burn in the area that is not burned and that will draw into the burned area. And we'll stop the fire that type of way. Also, with our bulldozers and our fire crews, we can make a fire break and also use the roads that are, you know, the fire mountain highways and the fire break roads that are already there, constructed prior. And, of course, one of the most important key things is the fire prevention at the individual homeowners do throughout the year with their brush clearance.
WHITFIELD: How do you all end up working with a number of individual homeowners who end up getting their own kind of separate, I guess, firefighting team. There are these independent firefighting teams that are being hired by a lot of families. They have it involved in their insurance policies. How do you end up working with those groups?
DOMINGUEZ: Well, in Los Angeles county, we are not, we don't do that type of firefighting. All of the people and the taxpayers in that county...
WHTIFIELD: But you end up encountering them, right?
DOMINGUEZ: Right. Oh, yes. We have people calling us. We have people that come up and they are goodhearted. They volunteer to do fire prevention or spray fire retardant on the homes. But we let them know we appreciate their help. But we just ask them if they would, you know, step aside so we can do the job. A lot of that has to do with legality. So we just want to make the homeowners aware that they will be approached by a lot of people.
WHITFIELD: Well, the common denominator here of the fire last month and the fire right now is indeed the Santa Ana winds. Are there any profound differences that you're seeing in the pattern of this burning taking place this go-around that you know makes you guys change your strategy or do things a little differently?
DOMINGUEZ: Well, a month and a half ago with those 80-mile-an- hour winds, the winds were so sporadic, as you saw, there were spot fires starting, you know, all over the place. And so then we were then rushing our strike teams and our equipment up into the areas. Right now, we have the fire pretty much within a certain geographical area surrounded by four mountain roads. So we are able to just concentrate on the same area. We have small fires within the big area, but there's no - the fire hasn't jumped to any major roads. So that's to our advantage now.
WHITFIELD: Yes, you're not seeing the embers, you know, floating a way a mile to two like you did last time.
DOMINGUEZ: Yes, the winds are basically on our side right now and we are able to, you know, the aircraft are doing a tremendous job. And we're doing a few spot fires within the area but we're able to attack those right way.
WHITFIELD: What about the PCH, that had to be closed last go around. Is it open for the most part here?
DOMINGUEZ: No, no.
WHITFIELD: It's also closed.
DOMINGUEZ: It's closed right now between Canyon and Carell Canyon. So, the boundaries are Mulholland, Frankous Canyon, Carell Canyon and PCH. So, PCH is closed between Carell Canyon and Frankous, for those familiar with the area. And we are surrounding and doing all of our attack within that geographical boundary there.
WHITFIELD: Rick Dominguez, public information officer with L.A. county fire department. Thank you so much for your time.
DOMINGUEZ: You're welcome.
WHITFIELD: And all the best in your efforts to get this blaze contained. Thank you.
Well, the fires have indeed, as you look at the live pictures now of yet another structure burning there. The fires have certainly sent our i-reporters scrambling to grab their cameras as well. A Pepperdine University student snapped this one for us. Our thanks to Francisco Sapigao. He and his brother Isaac were fleeing by car, shooting photos as they went. And now take a look at this. This picture right here from Jesse Silver. To submit an i-report, you need to go to cnn.com and click on i-report near the top of your screen. But we encourage you to be very safe as you do so. We certainly are not encouraging you to put your life in jeopardy as you take these images.
Jacqui Jeras is in the weather center. And Jacqui, you know, we have been talking about the winds all day of course fueling this fire. The good thing is, we can see from the live shot and we even hear from Rick Dominguez with the fire department, that the winds have died down a little bit. But is this just like a temporary respite?
JACQUI JERAS, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: No, I don't think so. In fact I think the windstorm itself peaked out and that happened about 7:30 this morning Pacific time, when winds were gusting 59 miles per hour. That was the worst we saw so far. Right now, winds are gusting 15 miles an hour. So they are progressively weakening. We think they will be continue to do so and hopefully those wind advisories will cancel at about 3:00 as they are anticipated. So it's good news. We do expect things to be improving but we still have a good two, three hour window where we could see those gusts, 40-plus miles per hour, that could help these fires to accelerate a little bit.
Now, I got a google earth animation here I want to show you. It kind of helps put things into perspective as to where this area is. There you can see San Diego and there you can see Los Angeles. Here's Malibu itself. I want to take you in towards the Pacific Coast Highway and here's Pepperdine University right there, where i- reporters were taking some of those photos. So it's just to the east of there where we have been seeing the most of the activity. It's also moving in and around the Malibu Creek State Park area, which is right back for there. And so it's really this area they are dealing with and there you can see the Pacific Coast Highway along the bottom of your screen there.
Let's talk a little bit more of these weather conditions. There you can see them. 74 degrees. That's your current temperature right now. Relative humidity really critical. It's down to only 4%. That is just unbelievably low. Here where the advisories as are and notice that the orange spots here, that all coincides with the terrain. So wherever we have the hills, the mountains, the passes, the canyons for those winds to funnel through, that's where the winds are going to be the strongest. And look at this sustained right winds right now in the 10s and 20s across the area. So it is down very significantly from these peak gusts that we saw early this morning. So, Fredricka, while we expect conditions to improve, one other thing to think about is that it's still going to stay extremely dry and the humidity will be very, very low. So, red flag warnings will fly through tomorrow. The critical conditions dying down today but still pretty nasty, at least until Monday when we get those onshore winds coming back in and we start to see some of those moisture from the ocean make its way onshore.
WHITFIELD: I know the folks look forward to when this happens. Can't come soon enough. Jacqui, thanks.
And at this programming note - some of you may have tuned in this hour to watch our special report on toy recalls. But due to our breaking news coverage of these California wildfires that you're seeing right here, "Trouble in Toyland" will now air tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. We will get advice from parents, a pediatrician and a toy industry expert and find out what the government is actually doing or not doing. I hope you will join us for that.
And "like a blowtorch with a hair dryer behind it." That's how one firefighter describes this latest round of wild fires in southern California. We'll show you some of the tools they are using to knock down the fire.
Plus a break in the Natalie Holloway case perhaps. Three arrests. All of that next in the NEWSROOM.
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WHITFIELD: Live pictures right now of a raging fire there in Malibu, California. 2,200 acres are in flames. 34 homes have been destroyed and about 10,000 people are evacuating the area. Fierce Santa Ana winds are fueling the fire. A fire official said the blaze is like a blowtorch with a hair dryer behind it. 1,700 firefighters are on the scene and 5 of them have actually been hurt. So, when it comes to a fire this dangerous, they are using all their tools at their disposal. That includes swimming pools in the yards of these multimillion dollar homes. Helicopters are sucking up the pool water to help battle the flames. And so far the fire has not been contained, nor is it clear exactly what started this blaze in the first place.
Meantime, i-reporters are capturing amazing images of the fire. A student at Pepperdine university took this shot. They school was in the path of a major fire in that area last month. Hezekiah Adewunmi says he snapped these shots right after school officials woke him up to tell him to evacuate to the cafeteria. That is part of the evacuation plan on that campus. The fires are producing a tremendous amount of smoke and as you can see, it was just billowing over that university. And many of the students are not there because, of course, the holiday weekend. School officials are sending the students who are there however, they are giving them updates by phones and e-mails and text messages if they indeed have not made it to the cafeteria.
New developments today in the Natalee Holloway case. A third suspect is in jail in Aruba at this hour. 20-year-old Joran Van der Sloot arrived there from the Netherlands last night. He and two other suspects have been re-arrested in connection with Holloway's 2005 disappearance. Susan Candiotti has the latest.
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SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Joran Van de Sloot on the last leg of his court order trip from the Netherlands back home to Aruba, changing planes in Curacao, he appeared relaxed in police custody despite the prospect of a possible manslaughter trial in the death of Natalee Holloway. Dressed in casual clothes and carrying a personal bag, various times he is seen yawning and laughing as he sits in the gate area with two officers. Once his plane landed in Aruba, van der Sloot, believed to be in the middle car, was rushed out of the airport and back to the car and to jail. Investigators says he's forbidden to see his family, only his attorneys for now. On Monday, he's scheduled to appear before a judge in a closed door jail house hearing. Authorities will ask a judge to hold Van Der Sloot at least another eight days under suspicion of manslaughter in the death of Natalee Holloway.
HANS MOS, CHIEF PROSECUTOR: I think we have enough evidence that the girl is not alive anymore. CANDIOTTI: Even without a body?
MOS: Even without a body.
CANDIOTTI: Holloway was last seen leaving the bar with Van Der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers more that two years ago. In interviews, Van Der Sloot denied allegations of rape and murder and said he regretted leaving Holloway alone on a beach.
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JORAN VAN DER SLOOT: At that moment in time, for me it was the wrong thing. But it's not something a real man would do. It's not normal. It's not right at all.
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MOS: He always denied that he was involved in this case. He has his own truth. We think our truth and the real truth is other than his truth.
CANDIOTTI: Earlier Friday a judge oversaw separate jail house appearances for two other suspects. Deepak and Satish Kalpoe, who also denied harming Holloway. The judge ruled there's enough so- called incriminating evidence to detain the brothers eight days for more interrogations. Defense attorney weren't happy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: there is no new evidence. They don't have [ bleep ].
CANDIOTTI: A chief prosecutor won't reveal what the new evidence is. CNN has learned a new team of Dutch and Aruban investigators had been re-creating cell phone transmissions and text messages among the suspects after Holloway disappeared. Discrepancies allegedly were found.
MOS: We used state of the art technology in reviewing this case. That's clear. It would be cited if we didn't do that. So we used state of the art stuff from the Netherlands, brought in here, to analyze the whole investigation again.
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CANDIOTTI: Authorities say some information initially was improperly analyzed or overlooked. The chief prosecutor says by year's end, he hopes to decide whether to try the three young men for manslaughter. If found guilty, they would face 15 years in prison. Whatever happened to Natalee Holloway, the chief prosecutor said he believes her death was not intentional. Police have a theory about exactly what occurred but they are not sharing it. Susan Candiotti, CNN, Oranjestad, Aruba.
WHITFIELD: The big fire we are have been following since early this morning, you're looking at live pictures right now of Malibu, California, where firefighters there have assembled, trying to perhaps come up with their strategy for trying to attack this blaze from the vantage point where they are right now. Malibu, 2,200 acres, have burned. 34 houses have been destroyed. A remarkable amount of time today. This is a massive, very destructive fire that's been fuelled by the Santa Ana winds once again. Even though there's kind of a lull right now in the winds, this fire is still burning out of control. We will have much more from Malibu, California, throughout the day here at CNN.
Plus, we send some presidential candidates into cyberspace.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The concept of universal health care is something I think is important for America. But certain members on the stage have criticized the idea as being socialist. If you believe universal health care is a bad idea, can you please explain to me why?
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WHITFIELD: Perhaps a good sample of what you're going to see on Wednesday, when we are headed to Florida, live where the republicans face their toughest questions yet. Questions from you.
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WHITFIELD: Well, this is in part how they are trying to fight this massive blaze in Malibu, California, for those property that have pools that are far enough away from the house itself. These firefighting helicopters are dipping their buckets into the pools and then taking that water to those blazes and then dumping them, helping to extinguish a little bit of what has turned out to be a 2,200-acre, damaging, destroying fire there in Malibu.
Now live pictures right now of exactly what these 1,700 firefighters are up against. 34 homes have been destroyed and 10,000 people have been evacuated. You can see right there part of the air assault in the air. 23 aircraft are in the air dousing retardants just like that as well as water from the ocean, as well those swimming pools that I just mentioned.
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I'm a registered republican. I'm a Christian, and I'm also gay. My husband Jeff and I are raising two children but a vote for you is a vote against my family.
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WHITFIELD: All right. Republican presidential hopefuls, listen up. That was yet another question for you. Just four more days until the cnn/youtube face-off in Florida. Our senior political analyst Bill Schneider is already in St. Petersburg with the CNN Election Express. He's joining us now live. So, Bill, why after all is the debate being held in Florida? We know it's a key state. Always is pretty pivotal, right?
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it's pivotal in the general election. We found that out in 2000. But they want to be pivotal in the primaries so they moved their primary date up. They jumped the gun. You're not supposed to have a primary before February but they moved it up to January.
And what happened? Well, the Republicans said, you do that, we will take away your delegates from the convention. And the Democrats, rather the Republicans are going to take away half of their delegates. The Democrats are going to take away their delegates but there is still a campaign here. Why? Because the state has scheduled its primary. The Republicans are campaigning here. There's going to be a vote and Democrats have taken a big chance. The Democratic candidates have said we're not even going to campaign in Florida because they are breaking the rules by moving ahead of the schedule and trying to move too early.
So the Democratic candidates are not even going to show up here to campaign. They are going to show up here to raise money but not campaign. So the Republicans are here and we are having the debate Wednesday night with just Republican candidates.
WHITFIELD: Are there any early reads into the polls, who seems to be kind of leading the pact and who needs to do a little extra work to get there?
SCHNEIDER: Giuliani is leading the Republican pack in all of the polls I have seen taken this month in November. He's the national front-runner. He's doing well here as well. Hillary Clinton is the front-runner on the Democratic side, just as she is nationally.
And you know, the risk for Democrats is, if they don't campaign here and Hillary Clinton is likely to win this primary with no campaign because she is the best-known candidate.
Also, of course, the Democrats are taking a risk by not campaigning because the question is if they don't show up for the primary campaign, a lot of Florida voters may resent it.
And could they be writing off Florida in November for the general election? The Democrats are expecting by the time November rolls around, all will be forgiven and that whoever the democrats nominate, that nominee will say, Florida delegates are welcome to be at our convention. We would not think of excluding them.
WHITFIELD: Well, when it pertains to issues perhaps is there one or maybe even a couple issues that a Republican can kind of get in trouble with?
SCHNEIDER: Illegal immigration, a very big issue. It's the hottest issue in the Republican primary. It's the number one issue, certainly, to Republicans in Iowa. There's a conservative base that's very angry over illegal immigration.
Look what happened to the John McCain campaign because he wanted to grant citizenship to illegal immigrants. Now, of course, they are in Florida. When they come to Florida this week, they are going to discover there is a huge and rapidly growing Latino population here in Florida that's going to be very watchful for any kind of comment that they think are insensitive to immigrants and to Latino voters.
It's a powerful, fast-growing constituency that could hold the balance of power in a crucial state here like Florida. So those Republicans better watch what they say.
WHITFIELD: All right, Bill Schneider in lovely St. Petersburg, Florida. Even though the sun is not shining like usual in the Sunshine State, it still looks like a great backdrop there with the Election Express too. All right, good to see you.
SCHNEIDER: Certainly is, thanks.
WHITFIELD: All right, well still time for you to help make history. Go to CNN.com/YouTube debate. Post your questions for the candidates. The deadline for submissions is midnight Sunday night. Then watch the debate Wednesday November 28th. Your voice will be heard only on CNN, your home for politics.
And your home for the latest news as well. This big story we are following out in California, the Santa Ana winds to blame once again in part, and here are the flames.
All of this tormenting southern California again, this time specifically Malibu. What's being called a dangerous and dynamic situation. More straight ahead.
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WHITFIELD: Back now to our top story. Big fire in Malibu, California, 2,200 acres and counting being scorched there. You can see the fire is active. CNN's Kara Finnstrom is on the ground with the very latest. Kara, any headway since last time we spoke?
KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we hope so. It actually feels better out here. We are not seeing the massive amounts of smoke that we saw when we arrived here early this morning.
But just behind me you can see this fire is continuing to burn. It actually flared up just behind that ridge there. And lots of smoke in this canyon just behind me. Officially the fire still at 0 percent containment, 2,200 acres burned and 35 homes lost.
Now a little while ago we saw actually a pretty incredible sight over this canyon. We want to roll some videotape for you. A DC-10, especially equipped with tanks inside to carry retardant or water, just rolling across this canyon and dumping out massive amounts of fire retardant.
We spoke with fire officials a little earlier today who tell us they are now really aggressively fighting this fire. Earlier today, it was evacuations, the protecting of structures. But right now they are out there with bulldozers and we have seen them in these hillsides behind us, trying to cut a containment line around the fire and also trying to dump more of the flame retardant right in front of the fire, which is what they did right behind us. So that hopefully this fire will stop advancing. We did hear a little earlier today from the fire chief about how this fire got started.
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MICHAEL FREEMAN, L.A. COUNTY FIRE CHIEF: It occurred off a paved highway and in kind of a dirt motorway. We don't have any information on that. It is under investigation. We are very diligent in trying to establish a cause. But right now it is just officially under investigation. We have arson investigators up there now.
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FINNSTROM: Also a new number this evening is that five firefighters, we are told, have now been injured fighting this blaze. Those are minor injuries we are told.
No other injuries reported. That's amazing when you consider the folks that we spoke with, who had no phone calls to tell them to evacuate who actually saw or smelled the smoke or had a neighbor banging on their doors and fled the home because the fire moved so quickly this morning. Reporting live in Malibu, now back to you.
WHITFIELD: All right, Kara, thank you so much.
On the phone with us as well right now, Malibu Mayor Jeff Jennings. Mr. Mayor, earlier we listened to you during the press conference, you said this is something that you lived with, but it was still a shock. Were you, too, awakened by the smell of smoke?
MAYOR JEFF JENNINGS, MALIBU: Oh, yeah. Well not the smell of smoke so much as I could hear the wind and then I heard the noise of a helicopter and I thought, well, that can't be good. And when I got up and went out to take a look, I could see the glow of the fire on the ridge line to the northeast of me. So we knew we were in for another day.
WHITFIELD: Wow, this is really extraordinary. For so many reasons because you talk about the topography, which is so challenging there in and of itself. And then for the firefighters, you've got 1,700 of them on the ground and in the air trying to tackle this blaze.
What are your greatest worries, concerns about the kind of obstacles they are facing?
JENNINGS: Wind.
WHITFIELD: Yeah.
JENNINGS: Wind would be number one through ten.
WHITFIELD: Uh-huh. And, of course, that's out of everybody's control. You're at the mercy of the wind. JENNINGS: Unfortunately, it is. And it does seem to be -- it's been fairly calm all day long and it's just beginning to pick up a little bit now. But nothing to the extent like we had last month when the winds were unbelievable. But now this is just -- this is nothing compared to that.
WHITFIELD: Despite the winds, however, though, do you find that this is a greater challenge in which to fight versus the blaze of a month and a half ago, month or month and a half ago?
JENNINGS: Well, you know, I think the difference to me at least is the enormous number of resources that are being devoted to this thing. I'm standing on my deck of my house here and I can see four helicopters and I guess they are all helicopters, all attacking the fire at once.
So they are going after it in a hurry. There's no doubt about that. And they are trying to knock it down and I think, if I were speculating about what they are thinking, is that they got a window of opportunity here when the wind is relatively light and they are going to hit it because, who know what's can happen after the sun goes down?
WHITFIELD: And you're there at your home. Did I hear a horse in the background, by the way, Mr. Mayor?
JENNINGS: Yeah.
WHITFIELD: OK so tell me about that because a lot of people in your community have horses, have animals. And it's one thing -- and it's challenging in and of itself to evacuate all of the humans. What do you do and how do you do it when it involves large animals?
JENNINGS: Well, there are a lot of people, a lot of generous people in this area who donate their time and their trailers and their trucks and everything else. They worked out a pretty good plan for being available to take the horses out of here. There are ranches and facilities located usually out of the fire path that will take the horses in and then after everything calms down, you can go over there and see if you can find your horse again.
WHITFIELD: We heard from our reporter Kara Finnstrom there and fire chief saying that they feel like they have pinpointed a location of where this blaze may have started. Are you learning anything or have the firefighting team told you anything more about whether they believe this is arson or whether this may have been an accident or something else?
JENNINGS: They have not said yet, and I don't know. The first priority is to get this thing knocked down and then we will try to figure out where and why it started and what, if anything, can be done to try to prevent it in the future.
WHITFIELD: Mayor Jeff Jennings of Malibu, thank you so much for your time. We wish you and all of your neighbors all of the best.
JENNINGS: Thanks a lot. WHITFIELD: Right now you're looking at live pictures. This is exactly in part how they are in part battling this blaze from the air and on the ground. One of the helicopters here with the buckets dragging there in the Pacific Ocean. You have seen other images of the choppers very carefully descending in the backyards of people's homes to use the pool water in which to help battle the blaze. And then an aircraft just like this, where usually douses flames with fire retardant -- 23 aircraft in the air to help out the firefighters there on the ground as well. Live pictures right there. We'll have much more in the NEWSROOM right after this.
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WHITFIELD: Firefighting efforts under way there in Malibu. Fires that are be fuelled by these Santa Ana winds again a problem. Jacqui Jeras is in the Weather Center. And it seems as though there's a little lull in the wind pattern, but how much longer might that last again?
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, we have a couple hours to go, really, Fredricka, where I think things are going to be extremely bad. And then we're going to be just kind of bad. How about that?
The winds should be diminishing I think by mid afternoon and continually getting better. And they really have been getting better since the winds peaked this morning around 7:30 Pacific Time.
Now that said, it's still going to be pretty ugly for a while yet. Even though the winds will be dying, the humidity is going to be extremely low. Look at this right now. Our winds are doing OK, north at 13 miles-per-hour, gusts of 15 but the relative humidity is down to 4 percent.
I want to show you this map. It is kind of hard to see. But basically what I want you to look at is this green line. What this is, this is the dew point or it has to do with the amount of moisture that's in the air. The lower the dew point, the less humidity that there's going to be.
And look how nice and high things were until 1:30 Friday, a drop like a rock like that. Now we had a little bit of an increase in the last couple hours but it looks like we are on a downward trend again. And that humidity is really going to be very critical today and tomorrow because we think it is going to stay extremely low.
So even though the winds are getting better, it will be very dry, which is not good news. We are going to have to wait probably until Monday before winds come in off the ocean, what we call the on-shore flow and helps to bring in some of the humidity and brings it up a little bit.
So Fredricka, we are starting to wane off a little bit of the worst of the system, but still we think overall the weekend is not going to be great.
WHITFIELD: All right, thank you so much, Jacqui. Well it is being described this way, a dangerous and dynamic situation. We will have much more on this fire in Malibu when we come right back.
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WHITFIELD: All right. This really happened. Today imagine waking up to this view, flames just over the horizon.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Are you kidding me?
WHITFIELD: Yeah, i-Reporter Keegan Gibbs woke up to just that image and he took this photo of the scene outside of his bedroom window early this morning. Gibbs is under a mandatory evacuation order but he says he is confident the fire isn't heading his way. So he, his mom and dad and siblings and grandma, they're all staying in the house, staying put and watching the fire a couple miles away.
Well maybe if this view gets more menacing, he will change his mind. Officials are urging anyone who lives in the mandatory evacuation zone to leave their home. I spoke with him earlier. He was so cool, calm and collected. Tony Harris with me now, more of the NEWSROOM coming up.
Yes, I talked to him, and he was just like, you know, we do this, we are used to it. No thanks.
HARRIS: And we know that to be true. You spent a bunch of time in southern California, I have, too. Yeah, there is a different -- we say it all the time, there's a different groove out there. But yes, they seem to be better equipped to handle maybe because they see it more often. So where do we stand now? I'm just trying to get caught up on all the stats of this.
WHITFIELD: Still 2,200 acres burning, 34 homes.
HARRIS: Boy.
WHITFIELD: Maybe 35 homes that have burned, 1,700 firefighters. You want to go on with this. It's unbelievable. Resources are really being used.
HARRIS: Look at the pictures.
WHITFIELD: They are fighting it from the air and ground, 23 aircraft.
HARRIS: And using these buckets, they're scooping out of the Pacific Ocean, obviously but also --
WHITFIELD: And the swimming pools.
HARRIS: In people's backyards and they're setting up containment lines. Is that what I was hearing you talking about? And setting fire breaks and back fires. So we will follow that obviously next hour. But imagine this -- you're married. This is your second marriage and you're married to what you think is a wonderful woman. You have got step kids. You're bringing the whole family together. Well, your second wife beats up your child so severely that the child dies. This is the woman's stepson, dies of these wounds. Convicted, goes to jail, and this is all in New Jersey. Is about to be released from jail pretty soon here and says to the judge, you know what, I want my alimony to be reinstated, wants that $4,000 a month. Can you imagine? It's the outrage story of the day. That's coming up for you at 5:00. Of course, we will continue on the fires.
WHITFIELD: That is universally outrageous.
HARRIS: Oh, absolutely. So that and our continuing coverage, great job on the fires and Kara Finnstrom and Chris Lawrence out in Malibu.
WHITFIELD: All of our team is out there.
HARRIS: Wonderful.
WHITFIELD: Thanks so much.
HARRIS: Thanks for having me, Fred.
WHITFIELD: We will be watching. Happy Thanksgiving weekend.
HARRIS: Same to you, Fred and your beautiful family.
WHITFIELD: Thank you so much.
All right well, speaking of the holiday season, that means people start thinking about toys, yeah, like this. So if only Christmas toys really did come from Santa's workshop. You know the nightmare scenario this year more likely these toys were made in China or somewhere else other than the USA and that presents a real dilemma for a lot of gift-giving parents. "Trouble in Toyland," what you need to know.
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WHITFIELD: Well plans changed because of the California wildfires. We were planning to dedicate this hour to a special report on the avalanche of toy recalls parents are wading through this season. This is one of the busiest shopping times of the year and a lot of you just aren't sure which toys are safe to buy for your little ones.
So tomorrow now at 4:00 p.m. Eastern we are going to take a look at the issue, offer some solutions. We will find out how much lead paint a child can be exposed to before it really does become a major health risk. And learn who is suing 20 U.S. toy makers.
But first, here's a look at how some parents are coping.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A child's toy chest suddenly backs Pandora's box this holiday season. The massive recalls have altered the shopping lists of parents like Kathy Sidwell.
KATHY SIDWELL, MOTHER: My daughter had Aqua Dots. And I just realized that they are now not safe. So -- she loves them, which is too bad. But, yes, I'm definitely paying more attention to where the toys are made.
WHITFIELD: Target store manager Tom Stanley tried to help one frustrated buyer.
TOM STANLEY, MANAGER, TARGET: I had a guest come in to our store inquiring about toys that were made in the USA, and him and I were walking the building trying to find different toys that he could purchase for his son that actually were made in the United States of America. Most of the toys we found yesterday were made overseas.
WHITFIELD: The ones that aren't? Board games like Monopoly, Battleship, Scrabble and Candy Land are all made in the U.S., a are other classics like Wiffle Ball, Crayola Crayons and the original Slinky.
Independent toy store owner Steve Ricks proudly showcases American- made toys here.
STEVE RICKS, TOY STORE OWNER: Dripstik. A mother of five invented this. She makes it here in the United States.
A dress-up line called A Wish Comes True. Potholder kits.
This game is over 100 years old, Rook. Zip Lines (ph) called Fun Rides Flying Turtle. Trains. These are maple.
WHITFIELD: Lots of parents are counting on merchants being selective.
SIDWELL: I come in here because I know that everything here is always good. Good, creative toys and, you know, they do a good job of picking out their merchandise.
WHITFIELD: "Parenting" magazine is helping, too.
CAMILLE CHATTERJEE, TOY EDITOR, "PARENTING" MAGAZINE: On parenting.com we decided to post a list of "Made in the USA" toys because we're overwhelmingly hearing from readers that they are concerned about the toys that they are buying for their kids this season.
WHITFIELD: Another Web site to find American made, fatbraintoys.com. Here you'll find Dado Cube Building Blocks, Fractiles, which are magnetic tiles, and a spinning gyroscope.
From the Internet to small independent stores, the push to buy American is reaching new heights, giving another look at old made in the USA classic like the Arrowcopter, while at the same time demanding all toys are safe.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: So don't forget, "Trouble in Toyland," that's tomorrow 4:00 p.m. Eastern. We will hear what an industry expert has to say about these toxic toys and what you, the consumer, need to do and need to know. We will also talk with a pediatrician. Plus it may not be enough just to test toys for lead. One family found out the hard way. The benefits of having their children tested. "Trouble in Toyland" tomorrow 4 p.m. Eastern.
From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Fredricka Whitfield. The next hour of the NEWSROOM with Tony Harris starts right now.
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