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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Five Major Wildfires Ravage Los Angeles; Former Presidents Pay Respects To Carter; Now: President Biden Speaks About Massive California Wildfires. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired January 09, 2025 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:04]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: She opened up her two animal hospitals to help as many pet owners as possible, and even track down someone with a trailer to help rescue a woman's donkeys. She says she's received hundreds of messages and calls from volunteers offering to pitch in however they can.

Got to help to help out the animals.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Yeah, especially under such devastating conditions there, so lovely to see somebody helping out where they can.

Thanks so much for joining us this afternoon.

"THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

We're going to begin with our breaking news.

When I last spoke with you yesterday afternoon, we were tracking four major wildfires in the Los Angeles area. And today, that number is five.

The biggest fire right now remains the Palisades Fire near Santa Monica. Take a look at some of the devastation already left in that fire's wake. What used to be the Pacific Palisades neighborhood. This fire is burning more than 17,000 acres, zero percent of it, as of now, is contained, zero percent.

The Eaton Fire near Pasadena is also zero percent contained more than 10,000 acres.

The newest fire is called the Sunset Fire. It broke out in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood last night, prompting even more evacuations in the area. As of now, that is zero percent contained. It's only 43 acres.

The flames last night were approaching iconic parts of Hollywood, including the TCL Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard. By that point, though, the wind speed had slowed enough for area firefighters to battle the flames by air, potentially averting, at least for now, a different level of disaster.

But this break in the high winds could be, sadly, a short lived. Winds are picking back up and will remain gusty into at least Friday afternoon, with two more dangerous wind events in the days to come.

At least five people have died in these fires, though officials today cautioned, quote, frankly, we don't know where the true death toll stands. They believe more people have likely been killed, and we just haven't learned about it yet. In total, so many people, countless, have lost everything. Thousands of homes and cars, businesses, structures destroyed or damaged.

Today, officials are facing questions and criticism over the city's response to the fire. The city acknowledged that about 20 percent of the hydrants used to fight the Palisades Fire went dry on Wednesday. We're going to speak to the Los Angeles County fire chief in just a second.

We're also expecting a news briefing for President Joe Biden. And we'll bring that to you live when it happens.

Let's start our coverage right now with CNN's Kyung Lah, who is in Altadena, California, where the Eaton Fire is burning.

And, Kyung, you've been in the thick of it ever since these fires erupted. Tell us what you're seeing today.

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, in the thick of it, initially, as somebody who's trying to get out of her house, I mean, this is a wide- ranging fire. This is impacting so many people. And I have to tell you, it is astonishing standing here in Altadena. This is a middle class community.

The street that I'm standing on is one that I'm familiar with, because there are a lot of families who live here. These are single family homes. And just take a look at what's left. Each one of these contained lives and families who built so much, and it's all gone.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

YVETTE ANDERSON, HOME DESTROYED IN EATON FIRE: My kitchen table, my living room table right there. My stove and everything.

LAH (voice-over): Finally able to return home in Altadena, Yvette Anderson is finding an entire life's possessions gone.

ANDERSON: There's nothing. There's nothing left. I literally just have the clothes on my back. There's nothing. I thought I would come back home and find something, but there's nothing here.

LAH: Her story repeated for miles across this middle class community in northeast Los Angeles to the Palisades.

CHIEF KRISTIN CROWLEY, LOS ANGELES FIRE DEPARTMENT: It is safe to say that the palisades fire is one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of Los Angeles.

LAH: For a third straight day, firefighters across the region face out of control infernos. But signs of hope in the battle, water drops from the air as winds weaken.

CROWLEY: Today, we expect winds to subside somewhat, which will allow fire crews to increase containment lines. However, I want to be very clear here as well, we are still under red flag warning with extreme fire behavior possibilities.

LAH: And wide ranging. Five wildfires continue to blaze across the county.

MAYOR KAREN BASS (D), LOS ANGELES: We continue to confront a big one level firestorm.

LAH: The Palisades Fire has grown to more than 17,000 acres and is zero percent contained. L.A.'s fire chief says extreme fire behavior and wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour are still challenging first responders.

[16:05:05]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's been, you know, heartbreaking, pretty loss for words.

LAH: Where once thriving neighborhoods graced the hills, apocalyptic scenes have replaced them.

CHRIS GROEL, WORKPLACE DESTROYED IN PALISADES FIRE: Something this big and this fast that, you know, kind of just wiped out the whole town was something that I personally and I think a lot of people from around here never saw coming.

LAH: Nearly 180,000 are under evacuation orders.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The time to get out of the house. Where the car keys?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mom?

LAH: Harrowing tales of escape from the Palisades to Rustic Canyon, where this now viral video.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's get out of here. We tried, we tried, bro.

LAH: Capture the moments when Tanner Charles and his friend Orly Israel made their escape from Israel's burning home.

ORLY ISRAEL, HOME DESTROYED IN PALISADES FIRE: You know, I feel like we fought a losing battle, but we fought it. And I'm glad we made it out alive.

SHERIFF ROBERT LUNA, LOS ANGELES COUNTY: Right now, frankly, we don't know yet. We eventually will.

LAH: But worry is growing across the region. At least five deaths have been confirmed, but officials stress those numbers may rise.

LUNA: At one point, well be able to do a more thorough search of these impacted areas. Some of them look like a bomb was dropped in them, where we will be able to bring in canines and other things to help us, hopefully not discover too many fatalities. That's our prayer. But this is a crisis and we don't know what to expect.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAH (on camera): We don't know.

Back here, live in Altadena. What is happening here? But it looks like some of the residents in this neighborhood who are returning home. They found an injured dog, you know? So as people come back into Altadena and into the Palisades to try to figure out what's happening with their lives and their possessions, they're also finding, you know, these types of things.

There are a lot of injured animals and the number of missing is also still out there, that people have had a hard time communicating. A lot of folks have not been able to reach their neighbors or their friends, or they're piecing it all together. Cell service has been spotty, so, you know, we're going to try to find out what happened with this little dog.

But, you know, it's -- everyone's trying to help out. Were seeing people walk through these communities and like, just walk over. This way you can see other folks just kind of coming home and figuring out, okay, is there anything salvageable here? But at least just in this slice here, Jake, it's -- it's not looking very optimistic.

TAPPER: No, it is just heartbreaking. Kyung Lah, thank you so much.

Let's go now to CNN's Anderson Cooper, who is near Topanga, where the Palisades Fire has been raging.

And, Anderson, tell us what you've been witnessing today.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. So, Jake, we're on sort of -- excuse me, Jake, were on the northern edge of the Palisades Fire.

You can hear helicopters. We've been seeing them all in the last several hours as we've been up here. They're dropping water in some cases and other cases, they're just trying to assess exactly where the fire is. This ones actually a looks like that.

That's a Chinook. That may be, yeah, may have dropped some water. As I said, this is the northern edge of the Palisades Fire. And what firefighters are doing here. This is in Topanga. There's a community, a residential community just over the ridge of this hill that we're on.

There is a fire that is now moving up this side of the hill. It's just kind of dull down. It was more much more active about two or three minutes ago. That big tree up there looked like it might burn. There's also another part of this fire which you can't now see. It is burned down temporarily, but we have been watching it steadily move up this hillside.

So there's kind of two areas of this fire just in this small area of Topanga. But this is just a tiny piece. And look, if you look up here, that's one of the, the helicopters which has been dropping water, which is really, you know, it's an amazing thing to see the fact that the winds have died down enough that they were able to -- to do that.

You also, when you drive out on the on the Pacific coast highway, you see airplanes scooping up water from the sea to come. So there are a lot of aerial assets now in play. But what firefighters are doing here is the dirty, dull, incredibly hard, but incredibly important work of essentially building a line, building a defensive line all around the Palisades Fire.

So right now in this area, there are bulldozers. You can maybe hear them a little bit in the distance. There's bulldozers all over this area. This -- they've already cleared this little road that we're on. This is something that bulldozers have cleared just to get any debris out of the way.

So they're essentially trying to build roads like this, or even connect a new dirt road that they make with the bulldozer to an existing road and build a line around the fire to prevent it from -- from jumping over, to prevent it from moving forward, to protect that community.

[16:10:15]

The question is, do the winds change? Do the winds pick up a slight change of winds? It can obviously, as you know, jump the line and ember can go, you know, miles and start another fire somewhere.

But they are -- there are a lot of crews here. There's a lot of heavy equipment here. And they are working very, very hard in difficult conditions to -- to essentially isolate this fire as much as possible, Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Anderson Cooper, thank you so much.

Joining us now, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone.

Chief Marrone, high end red flag warnings, also known as very high fire danger conditions are expected to return right about now or in the next hour. What specific fire or neighborhood is your biggest concern heading into this right now?

CHIEF ANTHONY MARRONE, LOS ANGELES COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: Well, Jake, thanks for having me on.

But right now I believe that the Palisades Fire burning in Los Angeles County is our number one priority. As you stated earlier, we have more than one fire burning. We also have the Eaton Fire, a very destructive fire on the east end of Los Angeles county that started just hours after the Palisade Fire on Tuesday, when those horrific winds arrived here in Los Angeles.

TAPPER: Given the awful fire conditions, not to mention the wind forecast, I think a lot of our viewers, especially a lot of Los Angeles citizens, are wondering how is this going to end? What -- what city, state, federal resources do you need to stop this? And are you not getting them?

MARRONE: No, we absolutely are getting them. I met with President Biden yesterday. I also met with Governor Newsom. We've had nothing but support from the federal and the state governments.

Locally are 29 fire departments that operate in Los Angeles County. We've come together to render aid not only to the Palisades Fire, but also the Eaton Fire, the Hurst Fire, the Lilac Fire and the Sunset Fire. We've had five major fires in the last two days, and it's unprecedented.

I was born in Los Angeles. I've grown up here. Ive been in the fire service for 40 years, and this is some of the worst conditions I have ever experienced.

TAPPER: There's a real question about the water that's needed to put out these fires. The Los Angeles City Department of Water and Power says about 20 percent of the fire hydrants used to fight the Palisades Fire went dry on Wednesday. We know that the problem was not a lack of water. It was the huge demand all at once, especially the essentially, the water system could not keep up with demand.

How was this not a known issue and why were other backup resources not more readily available?

MARRONE: Yeah. You know, the water issue that the city of Los Angeles experienced in the Palisades has been discussed at the last several news conferences. I represent the County of Los Angeles, not the City of Los Angeles. The fire has moved into the county at the Palisades Fire and fortunately, the L.A. County Fire Department did not experience the same issues with the fire hydrants that the Los Angeles City Fire Department experienced in the beginning of the Palisades fire off of Palisades Drive.

But you know, your viewers must understand there's a finite amount of water, and the water system really isn't designed for a large scale, ongoing firefight like the one that we just experienced here in Los Angeles County.

TAPPER: The Los Angeles City Fire Chief says that arson investigators are actively looking into the start of the Palisades Fire. Do you suspect that arson is to blame, at least partly, for this devastation?

MARRONE: You know, I really don't want to speculate on the cause of these five major incidents, especially when the wind is so incredibly strong. You know, a cigarette out the window of a car, any other ignition source could have started the Palisades Fire. I'd rather wait than speculate to find out what the cause was. But I know that Chief Crowley and her team at the L.A. City Fire Department are going to get to the bottom of it.

TAPPER: Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone, thanks so much.

This is an enormous tragedy. So many families need to find new homes. So many families will need to rebuild their lives. CNN is compiling a list of vetted resources that you can look at if you have the means where you can help.

[16:15:05]

It's called "Impact Your World". To find that, you go to CNN.com/impact, CNN.com/impact to donate.

You can also text wildfires to this number 707070 or 707070. Coming up, we're going to talk about t these destructive fires compounded by climate. CNN's chief climate correspondent will join us to talk about the conditions under which these five fires began.

But first, a big interview. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is here in Washington, D.C., and he's coming to THE LEAD. We're going to talk to him about the political pressure he's taking from President- elect Trump, the announcement this week of his resignation. We'll talk to him about it all, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: You're looking at some of the high profile guests who attended the funeral of the late President Jimmy Carter earlier today. You see there Bush, Obama, Trump, Biden, along with spouses, along with world leaders, including Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

And joining us right now is Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Thank you so much for being here.

[16:20:00]

JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: Glad to be here, Jake.

TAPPER: Really appreciate it.

Before I get into the funeral and before I get into what's going on with you back in your home country, I do want to ask, you know, our country and the world really is watching these horrible fires in Los Angeles. Canada has a lot of experience with similar conflagrations.

I know that you have been offering resources to the people of California and Los Angeles. What advice could you offer them?

TRUDEAU: Well, I think unfortunately over the past years we've seen it get far worse and we've seen wildfires increasingly encroaching on urban areas. And that's an interface fire where were having to train up more local municipal firefighters to deal with wildfires in a way that we never had before.

I've been back and forth texting with Governor Newsom. We've offered a tremendous amount of equipment that they're -- they're already accepting. There's -- there's expertise. There's things that were having to do to deal with together as we, of course, respond to these fires, but also know that climate change means they're going to get steadily worse. And we have to keep stepping up on fighting climate change, too.

TAPPER: A lot of people out there might say, what does climate change have to do with this? Explain.

TRUDEAU: Well, when the -- summers get drier, when the weather gets hotter, when weather patterns shift, communities that were built in a place that never saw fires are suddenly seeing fires much more frequently. There's a -- there's a shift in everything that means even what we see now is going to just get worse and worse and worse over the coming decades if we're not serious about reducing our emissions and looking for ways to protect our future generations.

TAPPER: So you are here in Washington, D.C., even though you just stepped down as your party's leader, and you will soon leave as prime minister. But why was it important for you to come here to Washington today to go to President Jimmy Carter's funeral?

TRUDEAU: Well, President Carter was a dear friend of my fathers. They overlapped in their times of service. And Jimmy had been down at -- at my father's -- at my father's funeral 25 years ago. He was always an inspiration to me in terms of compassionate, selfless leadership. And it was important for me, and I think it was important for the friendship between our countries that that the prime minister be there to represent.

TAPPER: President-elect Trump has been needling you a bit, calling you Governor Trudeau, talking about making Canada the 51st state. Did you have any interaction with him today?

TRUDEAU: No, not -- not today. But that's not going to happen. Canadians are incredibly proud of being Canadian. One of the ways we define ourselves most easily is, well, we're not American. There is such a depth of pride, that that's not actually an issue.

What I think is happening in this is President Trump, who's a very skillful negotiator, is getting people to be somewhat distracted by that -- by that conversation to take away from the conversation around 25 percent tariffs on oil and gas and electricity and steel and aluminum and lumber and concrete and everything the American consumers buy from Canada is suddenly going to get a lot more expensive if he moves forward on these tariffs. And that's something that I think we need to be focusing on a little bit more.

TAPPER: Did the reelection of Donald Trump and this more direct confrontation with Canada over this issue play any role at all in your decision to resign as leader of your party and prime minister?

TRUDEAU: No, on the contrary, what we were able to do during the first, first presidency of Mr. Trump was work together in a -- you know, very challenging situation to come out with a very strong win- win in Canada-U.S. relations, with the renegotiation of the USMCA. It is a great deal for both of our countries. We've seen trade grow. We've seen opportunities grow. We've seen wealth grow in both of our countries for workers, for businesses.

Working together concretely is something that we've been able to do in the past. And I'm looking forward to continuing to work with him for the next two months while I'm still in office.

TAPPER: Let's talk about this potential 25 percent tariff from the United States on Canada. Economists say that will drive the Canadian economy into a recession, and the Canadian government is preparing retaliatory tariffs if these actually go through.

Which do you think would be potentially the most effective against the United States? I don't want them, by the way, just as an American, I don't want these tariffs, but minerals, energy.

TRUDEAU: You know, we don't want them either. We do not want to see tariffs on our side. We do not want to see tariffs on your side. It's bad for people who have for generations made things together and been successful together to actually start creating barriers between economies -- economies like ours, like we have so many resources in Canada more than our market can support. So we export them to our closest friend who can rely on them.

[16:25:01]

It is a win-win for us.

We would -- we would definitely respond as we did years ago when President Trump put tariffs on steel and aluminum. We responded by putting tariffs on Heinz ketchup, on playing cards, on bourbon, on Harley-Davidsons, on things that that would hurt American workers.

But we don't want to do that because it drives up prices for Canadians and it harms our closest trading partner.

TAPPER: Is there nothing that Donald Trump is saying about trade status and relations right now, where you think that he has a point? There's nothing you think that is that is unfair.

TRUDEAU: I mean, the conversation around tariffs started around border concerns and when I spoke with him about in Mar-a-Lago was the fact that less than 1 percent of migrants into the United States, less than 1 percent of fentanyl into the United States comes from Canada. But there are absolutely more things we can do and we stepped up.

TAPPER: Right, and you pledged $1 billion to enhance border security.

TRUDEAU: And would strengthen -- that's -- that's a clear win for President Trump. That got us to do even more to reduce even further the minimal amounts coming in.

On trade, there's more that we can do, but we should be focused on making sure that we're replacing Chinese lithium or Chinese germanium or Russian titanium into American productions by relying on your closest and friendliest trading partner in Canada. We can be a strong supplier of things that the U.S. needs to compete around the world because we can do it together. That's the argument that I'm making.

TAPPER: So the struggle that you were having domestically, your disapproval rating had to do with, as I understand it, discontent with your government because of high inflation and the economy and also because of immigration policies, those are also issues that the left wing party in this country has faced a lot of disapproval of, and just lost an election over.

It seems like voters in both of these, you know, liberal democracies are sending a message to left wing parties, liberal parties. We don't like how you're doing the economy when it comes to inflation. We don't like how you're doing immigration.

TRUDEAU: There are a lot of feelings involved. I mean, if you look at the actual numbers, inflation in Canada was lower, came down quicker. Our economy bounced back faster after the pandemic than anyone else's, including the United States, were projected to grow faster than the United States and all other G7 countries next year.

Our economy is doing very well, but when someone is paying $8 for a head of lettuce, it doesn't matter that you're doing better than they are in Spain or somewhere else. There's a sense that, okay, something's got to give. And that's where incumbents are in trouble everywhere across the -- everywhere around the world, not just in our two countries.

The issue, though, is that in a time of crisis, responsible politics is around focusing on things that actually make a real difference in people's lives. We delivered $10 a day child care. We're delivering a dental care program that provides dental free dental care to people who don't have coverage. We're moving forward on putting a price on pollution that puts more money in the pockets of eight out of ten Canadians, of middle class Canadians.

These are policies that, you know, are not short term. They're policies that will have a deep impact in the wellbeing of Canadians and of our country for years to come.

Now, you can take those policies like a child care policy and say, oh, see, that's just about wokeness and about, you know, women's rights. Well, no, it's about getting more women into the workforce at a time where we need economic growth. That's what it is.

But when you get a con, you know, a I was going to say conflagration, but at least an intersection of both, you know, right wing policy, right wing attacks and social media, you end up with a lot of misinformation, disinformation and responsible governments have to stay focused on the policies that are making a difference. And that's what we've been doing.

TAPPER: I know you have to go. Before you go, I know you're not going to say who you want to succeed you, but whether its Wayne Gretzky or Christina Freeland (ph), what's your number one piece of advice for your successor when it comes to President Trump?

TRUDEAU: Understand that the win-win is what we need. Making sure that everyone understands that, we do better when we work together. That, yes, the American president has a capacity to hurt the Canadian economy. There's no question about that.

But anything an American president does to hurt the Canadian economy will also hurt Canadian -- American consumers and American workers and American growth. We do better when we work together to take on the world, whether it's China or Russia or anywhere else.

When we work together, we can't be stopped. And that's the focus that we need to have. And that's certainly what I've continued to work on with -- with President Trump.

TAPPER: Prime Minister Trudeau, thank you so much. And au revoir.

TRUDEAU: Pleasure to be here.

[16:30:00]

Merci, Jake.

TAPPER: We're going back to California and those deadly wildfires in the major underlying factor that is making these factors so destructive.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: And we're back with the breaking news in THE LEAD.

Fires, five of them, devastating wildfires across California. Here you can see plumes of smoke towering over the iconic Santa Monica pier. The Palisades Fire in the distance, that's the most destructive to ever hit Los Angeles County.

Let's go now to CNN chief climate correspondent Bill Weir, who is live among -- along the Pacific Coast Highway at Las Tunas Beach in Malibu.

Bill, tell us what you're seeing.

[16:35:03]

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Jake, we're getting really our first glimpse at what this fire did to the coastal community as it came roaring down, ripping down the canyons here. And if you've ever driven up Pacific Coast Highway, you know that you have to get a peek of the ocean between these multi-million dollar mansions. But if I had to guess, 75 percent of them, Jake, are gone -- are gone, between Topanga Canyon and Carbon Canyon up in Malibu.

It was about five years ago that the Woolsey Fire ripped across the other side of Malibu, became the most destructive in southern California. But this will surpass that one in spades in so many different measures here. It is so surreal to see this coastline like this. And it's still smoldering in the distance.

We had a fire truck just pulled over and is spraying what used to be one of these multi story oceanfront mansions here in Malibu.

But this is just gobsmacking when you consider the property values here. We knew that the Palisades Village was something unlike we'd ever seen. But this when we drove up PCH, I was speechless. I went to school just up the road here. This was my commute. And so this is unreal, next level.

And, of course, there's still the fire burning in Altadena. And we came down through Topanga Canyon where very nervous residents are watching a line of fire trucks try to hold the line as the flames came crackling down the canyon side. We do have some drone video of just of the -- of the coast here. We put it up safely so you could get a better look at the coastal destruction, Jake.

But again, a reminder, this Palisades Fire is not yet contained even 1 percent, and it is just burning. Thankfully, we have a reprieve in the wind, but Santa Anas are supposed to kick up again tonight, tomorrow, and the next day.

TAPPER: So, obviously, there are lots of questions about how this was able to happen, and I just wonder in terms of planning, in terms of preventing this from happening again, is it possible for a heavily populated city, a densely populated city like Palisades, to have a more effective wildfire prevention system, or at least a -- you know, more effective firefighting system when these 60 to 80 mile per hour winds are happening?

WEIR: It's never been done in human history, we just don't have the capacity to fight a fire when you have 80 mile an hour winds. You can imagine the other night it would be a blizzard of embers coming over these hills and into these homes.

And right now, the best you can do. There's a huge insurance crisis happening in which insurers are saying, well, you guys have to do your share. You have to have defensible spaces. So, no vegetation within 8 to 10 feet of the house.

Well, this home here had looked like some shrubs in the front. You wouldn't think you'd have to worry about it when you're next to the Pacific Ocean and between Pacific Coast Highway here.

But those embers, anything that catches his fuel these days. So in answer to your question, the infrastructure in these water lines is built to put out 1 or 2 house fires at a time. But we've got dozens or hundreds of crews tapping that water grid at the same time because there's so many fires.

No, we built -- you know, Los Angeles was built on a different, cooler planet without these kinds of systems that are now colliding.

TAPPER: Bill Weir along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, thank you so much. Some must see video just in showing these fires from above. This is from a drone that flew over the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles County. As far as you can see, neighborhoods just destroyed, homes turned into ash.

Our reporter, who regularly covers the Los Angeles area, who is now dealing with the aftermath of these fires, is going to join us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:43:06]

TAPPER: Back to our breaking news out of southern California, a horrible news, multiple wildfires. Five of them are raging, forcing tens of thousands of residents to evacuate their homes. The body count is at least five, but authorities believe it's likely much higher.

My next guest had to flee her apartment. She could see the blaze over the Hollywood Hills from her window.

Brittny Mejia is an L.A. resident. She's also a reporter for "The Los Angeles Times" covering these fires.

And, Brittny, I'm so sorry for what you and your beloved Los Angeles are going through. Your family's been affected by the fires. Tell us more.

BRITTNY MEJIA, METRO REPORTER, LOS ANGELES TIMES: Yeah. Thank you so much.

It's definitely been challenging. I think for a lot of us here in California, it's been stressful waiting for the next fire to potentially pop up. You know, I have family who had to evacuate out of Pasadena and who continue to keep evacuating others who evacuated to San Diego. And last night I ended up leaving because I could see flames on the hill from the Hollywood Hills fire. And I was glad I actually got out because it started already being a gridlock just to leave.

TAPPER: And you were not in an evacuation zone, but you had to leave your apartment. Did you find that most people in your neighborhood were also evacuating?

MEJIA: I actually found a lot like neighbors in my building were all leaving, too. I think people just out of an abundance of caution, I was a little bit away from the mandatory evacuation zone, and I had a friend who actually came to evacuate to my apartment, got to my street, looked at the blaze and was like, I -- we shouldn't stay here, we should leave.

And she ended up leaving and I ended up meeting her and getting my cat and my other friend who's out of town, her cat, and just putting both of them in my car and just leaving just in case. I just didn't want to risk it.

TAPPER: These wildfires people are looking for answers, and we've heard a lot of criticism over local city officials cutting funding from the fire department not adequately planning for these devastating fires. More seriously encroaching on urban areas.

[16:45:04]

Donald Trump is laying blame at Governor Newsom's feet and more. What criticisms can you tell are legitimate and worth journalists like yourself to push on?

MEJIA: I mean, what's interesting, too, in this moment I guess what I would say is, like, there is definitely a lot of criticism that's circulating, a lot of finger pointing and blaming. And I just think even when I'm talking to residents who are dealing with the very real, you know, issue of having lost their homes and having to rebuild, I think their focus is like, what's going to happen next? What -- what are politicians going to do to help us in this situation, to rebuild? Are we going to get the aid that we need?

I think really for a lot of people here who are on the ground and living this, the question really is like, what support is going to happen and what are we going to do to help people recover here?

TAPPER: Yeah, there's going to be a whole thousands of California refugees.

Brittny Mejia, thank you so much. God bless to you and your family.

President Biden, addressing the fires right now. Let's listen.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A lot of these places are burned to the ground. There's not a single thing left in their homes. And so, that by -- if they contact disasterassistance.gov, anybody has lost everything or anything of consequence. Disasterassistance.gov or 1800-2 -- excuse me, 1800-2 -- I beg your pardon, 1800-621-3362.

That's what they -- disasterassistance.gov, 1800-621-3362, to get the kind of help they need for everything from the basics that they don't have access to right now.

And this morning, due to the magnitude of the disaster, I was talking with the governor and he requested if I could increase the federal funding that was authorized under this legislation for -- from 75 percent to 90 percent. We're increasing it to 100 percent of all the costs to be covered by the federal government for both the fire management assistance grants and the elements of what they call the disaster declaration.

So today, I'm announcing that the federal government will cover 100 percent of the cost for 180 days. This is going to pay for things like debris and hazard material removal, temporary shelters, first responders salaries, and all necessary measures to protect life and property.

And folks, I want to underscore, I told the governor and local officials, spare no expense to do what they need to do and contain these fires and in their communities that are really been devastated.

And we're doing literally everything we can at a federal level. That's also why I call this group of folks around this table of all relevant federal departments and agencies together to discuss what more we can do. And some of the folks are on the screen as well.

Before we begin things, here's an update on where things stand right now. First, first, we focused on helping contain these fires. Over the last 24 hours, the United States forest service, working with state and local responders, has suppressed over 50 fire starts, and the fire in the Hollywood hills has been contained by brave firefighters risking their lives.

Right now, three major fires are still burning in the Pacific Palisades and Pasadena and in Sylmar.

I want to be clear what I know from talking to the governor that there are concerns out there, that there's also been a water shortage. The fact is, the utilities understandably shut off power because they are worried the lines that they carried energy were going to be blown down and spark additional fires.

But the Cal Fire and when they did that, it cut off the ability to generate pumping the water. That's what caused the lack of water in these hydrants.

And so Cal Fire is bringing in generators to get these pumps up and working again, so that there are no longer a shortage of water coming out of these hydrants.

I'm also urging all federal resources possible in southern California, including 400 additional federal firefighters, over 30 -- over 30 firefighting helicopters and planes, federally supplied. Firefighting planes and helicopters, and eight Department of Defense C-130s that are equipped to suppress wildfires.

Today, the secretary of defense also authorized 500 wildfire ground clearing personnel from the Defense Department, and I've directed the department to continue working with Governor Newsom to identify additional resources that can be provided for public safety and security.

[16:50:01]

And we've secured additional firefighters and firefighting aircraft from our ally and Canada, as well.

I also want everyone in southern California to know we're going to keep at it. We're sticking with this. We expect there may be a temporary break in the winds, but in some areas, the winds are likely to continue well into next week. And so were going to continue to spend -- spend -- sending everything, literally, every resource we can find that's appropriate to help the governor and the first responders.

Second, were focused on helping people who have been displaced or in many cases, lost everything you reported on. You've seen the homes just burned to the ground, whole areas burned to the ground, large areas. They've been displaced and they've lost everything.

As I said, since the fire started, FEMA has been working with state, the state to help residents get shelter, groceries, prescription and other critical goods like baby formula. We're also sent FEMA Director Criswell to Los Angeles to manage our response on the ground.

She was supposed to be on this call, but we have the deputy here because she is out in the field with the governor right now surveying what's going on.

Let me close with a message to the people of southern California. We are with you. We're not going anywhere.

To the firefighters and first responders, you are heroes. Many of these firefighters are out there risking their lives. And. And so -- I won't go beyond that. But risking their lives, and while their own homes are in danger, their families are in danger.

To the firefighters and first responders, you really are -- it's not hyperbole. You're heroes. You're genuinely heroes. And in the worst, you know, this is the most widespread, devastating fire in California's history. It's amazing. And there's nobody who understands it better than the press has been covering this in a minute to minute basis, and you're literally have to run into the flames.

These firefighters, you know, that old expression, God made man. Then he made a few firefighters who -- who runs in the flames, you know. In doing so, you're leaving your own families and who may be in harm's way as well. So we owe you, and we're going to make sure that you get every resource you need, every possible resource you need.

You know, to the families who have been impacted by this disaster, you're living through a nightmare, I know. And I promise you, were going to help you get through this. And eventually recover and rebuild.

I want to turn it over now to the vice president before we go on to the folks in the in the in the various cabinet positions as well as agencies that control these issues.

Madam Vice President, I know you're directly affected. So you fire away, no pun intended.

TAPPER: All right. As the president throws it to the vice president, we want to show you another drone video on the right of your screen. A new drone video coming in earlier today over the Pacific Palisades area in Los Angeles County, house after house after house gone. It's just heartbreaking.

We're going to have more from the region next. Stay with us.

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TAPPER: And we're back with our breaking news out of southern California.

CNN's Chad Myers is tracking the wind patterns for us.

And, Chad, these winds need to die down if the firefighters are going to have any hopes of putting out these fires, tell us more.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And die down, laid down. That really happens tomorrow. I mean, were talking three, four, six miles per hour tomorrow, but not today.

Follow the arrow here from about the northern parts of the mountains. They'll come over. Those wind gusts will come over the mountains and down toward the ocean in an hour or so.

Now, that will not be enough to slow down the helicopters for sure. And even the big DC-10 is in the air dumping that Phos-Chek right now. So, great news. We have air assets out there, not enough wind to slow them down.

Now, when you're blowing and dropping water and the wind is 25, it doesn't always land where you want it to.

But look at tomorrow. Every color is gone. The winds have shifted directions a little bit, Jake. But you know what? Well take the ten and 11 when those air drops can be right on the money -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Chad Myers, thanks so much. We're going to go back to our reporters in southern California right after this quick break.

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