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The Lead with Jake Tapper

L.A. Residents Urged To Prep To Leave Ahead Of High Winds; Biden: Israel And Hamas Are "On The Brink" Of Deal. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired January 13, 2025 - 16:00   ET

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

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: -- NBA's Los Angeles Lakers are also trying to help with the recovery.

[16:00:04]

The team plans to host a donation drive at their upcoming game starting tonight, and they're also using their practice facility as a drive through donation center beginning tomorrow.

Lakers coach JJ Redick lost his own home in the Palisades Fire.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: I think it's so wonderful. They're using their platforms to remind people and get them some help.

And THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Kasie Hunt, in for Jake Tapper.

We are following two major breaking stories. In the Middle East, Hamas is expected to release 33 hostages during the first phase of an emerging ceasefire deal, according to Israeli officials. We're going to have more on that shortly.

But first, the Los Angeles wildfires. If you live in the Los Angeles area, make your evacuation plan now. That is the message today from officials who warn that increasing extreme winds are raising the danger of spreading wildfires. Fires already blamed for killing 24 people and charring an area larger than Paris, France.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF KRISTIN CROWLEY, LOS ANGELES FIRE DEPARTMENT: We talk about the pets. We talk about the medications. Put your plan together. Be ready, and you do not have to wait. You do not have to wait for the order.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Wins by the major wildfires already strengthening, and they're going to continue to increase through Wednesday. And they could get strong enough to once again prevent efforts to fight these fires by air. And that threatens to undo some of the progress that's been made in containing them. The Palisades Fire is about 23,000 acres at 14 percent containment,

and the Eaton Fire is 14,000 acres and at least one third contained. But the strongest winds, with gusts up to 70 miles an hour, are forecast to hit areas west of those fires, leading city officials to brace for the possibility of another fire breaking out.

Let's get straight to CNN's Anderson Cooper, who is with members of a Cal Fire crew as they work to try to contain the Palisades Fire.

Anderson, tell us how that crew is trying to ensure that a new fire won't start as the winds increase.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kasie, I'm in Brentwood heights with the crew that is doing incredibly difficult work just on this one section that they've been assigned to.

As you can see, more guys are coming down right now. They're essentially going over every inch of this hillside. They've got about 20 people here at least working. And this is just one of many crews doing this in other parts of the Palisades and elsewhere over the Eaton Fire. They're essentially digging with rakes through every inch of this hillside, looking for any hotspots that may exist underneath, just below the surface.

You can see they're digging over there with shovels. They've got rakes, they've got chainsaws.

You know, look, this -- this whole hillside is already went -- the flames have already moved through here last on Saturday. And now they're just trying to make sure that a new fire won't erupt if the winds pick up.

HUNT: All right, Anderson, thanks very much for that.

Let's move east of the Palisades Fire to Altadena, where the Eaton Fire is burning. And that's where we find CNN's Veronica Miracle.

Veronica, what are you seeing there today as crews prepare for these high winds?

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kasie, we're just surrounded by utter destruction. You can see right behind me. Just home after home has been destroyed by the Eaton Fire. This little pink tag here signifies that firefighters have actually been here. We saw them go home by home a lot by lot to see how much damage there is. They're assessing all of the damage.

The crew we spoke to have seen about 1,400 homes. There's about 7,000 that have been damaged or destroyed here in just this area. So they have a lot to go through.

We've also seen crews working around the clock to try and repair some of the power lines here, so that people who do come back will have power, though so many in this neighborhood will come back to nothing. And then we have that wind event that is already here in some areas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIRACLE (voice-over): Dire warnings coming at a critical stage for firefighters --

CHIEF KRISTIN M. CROWLEY, LOS ANGELES CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT: We are not in the clear as of yet, and we must not let our guard down.

MIRACLE: -- in their nearly week-long battle against the deadly Los Angeles blazes, severe fire weather conditions will continue through Wednesday.

CHIEF ANTHONY C. MARRONE, LOS ANGELES COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: The anticipated winds, combined with low humidities and low fuel moistures, will keep the fire threat in all of Los Angeles County critical.

MIRACLE: A fresh round of Santa Ana winds, bringing gusts in excess of 50 miles an hour, and the perilous possibility of further spread or even new flare ups.

[16:05:05]

CROWLEY: I've strategically pre-positioned engine strike teams and task forces, which are dedicated to rapid response.

MIRACLE: A relatively calm weekend allowed firefighters to make progress. The Eaton Fire in Altadena, which has damaged or destroyed at least 7,000 structures, now 33 percent contained. To the West, the Palisades Fire has chewed through more than 23,000 acres.

CROWLEY: We have crews from up and down the state, outside of the state have made excellent, excellent work overnight mopping up flare ups and hotspots.

MIRACLE: Thousands of firefighters on the ground and from the air, working day and night to beat back the flames. Still, more than 90,000 people are under evacuation orders, not knowing when or if they'll be able to return. The LAPD halting a service to assist residents to retrieve small items and pets from their homes.

DOMINIC CHOI, LOS ANGELES POLICE: But we tried to be compassionate and put together a team to escort residents to their homes to either retrieve small pets or their medication. But that line became exceedingly large, and it was causing more problems than solutions.

MIRACLES: In the fires wake, the stories of loss echo across the region.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People like me lost everything not only the home, but every single thing in it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lots of tears, anger. We're going through the stages of grief.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think its just really overwhelming because you feel like you lost everything. But then so did everybody that, you know, so how do you mourn the loss of your life? And then also everybody is mourning the loss of every -- it's overwhelming.

MIRACLE: The Gellers, like thousands of their neighbors forced to flee, only to return to utter devastation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you move forward?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MIRACLE (on camera): And the wind is picking up just a little bit here. We are told by authorities that people from Ventura all the way down to San Diego Counties, need to be prepared to evacuate in the next few days. That's millions of people who are already going through emotional and psychological damage, you know, just having to deal with all of this.

And then there's so many people who have not yet been able to come to see if their homes are still standing or if they've been burned down to the ground, or if there's anything that they can salvage in terms of the investigation. Now, authorities on the record are saying that both fires, both the Palisades Fire and the Eaton fire are under investigation. But "The L.A. Times" is reporting that there's an electrical transmission tower up in Eaton Canyon that is currently cordoned off. It's being investigated as a possible origin of the fire.

Now, SoCal Edison has put out a statement. They put out a statement yesterday saying that they have checked all of their electrical equipment in Eaton Canyon, and that all of it was working correctly and that it could -- could not be the start of the fire. However, "The L.A. Times" reporting that an electrical transmission tower up in Eaton Canyon is currently cordoned off, possibly the start, and the origin of that fire.

Back to you.

HUNT: All right. Veronica Miracle for us in Altadena, California -- Veronica, thanks very much for that.

And joining us now is Los Angeles County district attorney, Nathan Hochman.

Sir, thanks very much for being with us.

Next hour, you're expected to announce the first fire related charges, one in that arson case you said is not related to one of the major fires. What can you tell us about this?

NATHAN HOCHMAN, LOS ANGELES COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: So here's what I can tell you: we sent a warning early on to all would be looters. To all would be arsonists, to people who are engaging in any type of fire related crime, whether its price gouging or these internet scams that they would get arrested, they would be prosecuted and they would seek maximum punishments. That's what exactly you're going to see. The first wave of these prosecutions will be announced at 2:00 this afternoon, Pacific Time. There will be several looting cases and one involving the Palisades

Fire, two involving the Eaton Fire. There's also an arson case unrelated to the big fires, but an arson case nevertheless. And what you'll hear is that these people are facing significant years in jail. We're not messing around with this one. If you want to go ahead and take advantage and exploit a tragedy that has cost people their lives and cost people their homes, we're going to go ahead and throw the entire book at you, and make it absolutely crystal clear that we will not allow predators to go ahead and take advantage of the truly vulnerable.

The police are working overtime. The firefighters have put their own lives on the line. Over 200,000 people have been evacuated, evacuated and cooperated with that, including myself and my family. In fact, my sister lost her home in Pacific Palisades.

[16:10:04]

We will not tolerate people who want to take advantage of this. And predators beware. You will be brought to justice.

HUNT: Our thoughts with your family, as with all of the families who've lost their homes in this.

And, sir, that we do know that arson is, of course, a possibility that's being looked at as a cause for the major fires, one or more of them. Where does that investigation stand, and do you expect to bring any charges?

HOCHMAN: So a task force has been formed of people who will analyze the cause and origin of each one of the fires. It could be manmade, it could be manmade and intentional, which would be arson. It could be accidental. It could be natural.

They will conduct this examination, but it is not their initial and first priority right now. Firefighters and law enforcement are dedicating their lives to keeping people safe, keeping their properties and homes around to survive the fires that were still experiencing.

After that is done, that extensive analysis will be done and we will at that point assess whether or not arson was the cause of any of the fires. And if it was, we will bring the arsonist to justice.

HUNT: So you also mentioned looting charges coming later on this afternoon. What can you tell us about how widespread the looting has been? Do you think at this point you've got everyone?

HOCHMAN: Unfortunately not. We've been told by local law enforcement that there's over 40 different cases that they've actually identified. I hope that we're done with looting. I hope that this warning will finally be heeded, and the would be looters will stay out of these evacuated zones and not go ahead and try and commit looting, robbery, grand theft and burglary.

Unfortunately, that's probably not going to be the case. And when they -- when not if -- when they get caught, they will be prosecuted and we will seek maximum punishment.

HUNT: One other thing we've been following here has been what you've called an increase in price gouging with hotels. People who are charging well above the allowed 10 percent increase. And you say you've also seen that with medical supplies and other critical things along those lines.

How is your office going to handle that piece of this? And if you're someone in the L.A. area and you think that this is happening to you, what should you do?

HOCHMAN: If you think its happening to you, you can actually report it to your local law enforcement. You can report it to the D.A.'s office or the attorney general's office. Just go online and you'll see -- type in price gouging report, and you'll be able to get to one of these links.

But my message to the price gougers is absolutely crystal clear. Don't do it, because if you want to take advantage of people and some of their lowest moments to make a profit at their expense, we will come after you criminally. We will come after you civilly. We'll put your name or your company's name out there and shame you publicly.

So please, please do not do it. Or if you've done it already, change what you've done and do not gouge people in their lowest moments.

HUNT: All right. Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman, I know you have so much work ahead of you. We look forward to hearing more from you and your team later on this afternoon.

HOCHMAN: Thank you very much.

HUNT: All right. Still ahead here, a woman who built a career helping other people deal with the emotional process of moving to a new home. What she's now dealing with after flames destroyed most of her neighborhood.

Plus, with only seven days left in office, what President Biden said today about his administrations urgent push to close the deal on a ceasefire and hostage release in the Middle East.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:17:46]

HUNT: All right. We're back now with our national lead in the deadly fires in southern California. The firefighters battling to contain the flames as they brace for gusty winds and try to avoid even more destruction.

CNN's Gary Tuchman has been riding around surveying fire damage across one of the hardest hit areas that, of course, the Pacific Palisades.

Gary, tell us a little bit more about this west sunset location that you're joining us from. GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, Kasie. We're in an

area where we're about to show you looks like it was a set for a scary movie. It's symbolic of the terror that so many people went through Tuesday when these fires broke out. Take a look at these incinerated vehicles. I'll start by telling you nobody that we know of was killed in these vehicles.

But these vehicles were being driven down this street to Pacific Palisades to get away from the fire on Tuesday night. What happened was, according to fire officials who I just talked to, there was a traffic jam on the street. And people ultimately ended up evacuating these vehicles and running away.

Later, fire came down this hillside, and that's why the vehicles are incinerated. I can't even tell if cars these were other people watching right now may be able to know, but there's no indication of what they were. That's how hot this fire was.

On the other side of the street, Kasie, this is very interesting. There's also cars, but they haven't been incinerated. According to the firefighter I talked to, it's because the flames never crossed the street.

These people also evacuated their vehicles. The reason they're so helter-skelter all these cars is because when the fire trucks came in, the other emergency vehicles came. They rammed the cars to get them to the side so the vehicles could then go up the street into the canyons and start fighting the blaze.

I want to tell you, we've been driving around this area. The damage is unimaginable and immense. It's absolutely true that people who've left their homes last week should be able to go back and see their homes, but the fact is, officials say it's just not safe yet. They're still looking for bodies. There are power lines down, so it's a really difficult situation, Kasie, for the people who want to go back to their homes and see if they're still there -- Kasie.

HUNT: Yeah, incredibly difficult.

Gary, you also rode around through the neighborhood earlier. Can you tell us a little bit about what you saw?

[16:20:03]

TUCHMAN: Yeah, I think it's really important to point out, it's almost a cliche to say it looks like a war zone, but it does. When we cover hurricanes and tornadoes -- yes, you see immense damage, but on a given block, you'll see a house obliterated. You'll see a house with minor damage, another house with no damage.

Here, there's entire neighborhoods and commercial streets where everything is completely gone, just the same way. Nothing's there. And it looks like bombs came from the sky.

HUNT: Absolutely unreal.

Gary Tuchman, for us, thanks very much for that report.

Let's now go to bring in Tanya Memme. She shared photos and videos of her neighborhood. You can see here just the apocalyptic scenes in Pacific Palisades with almost every home on her street destroyed.

Tanya, thanks very much for being here.

TANYA MEMME, TV HOST: Thank you for having me.

HUNT: So from the video that you shared, the fire looks like it would burn one house, skip others. And you're calling yourself one of the lucky ones. What happened to you? And why do you think it played out this way?

MEMME: I mean, I don't -- there's no rhyme or reason why some houses survived and some didn't. Our house survived in a little pod of about four homes and for miles all around it, there's just sheer destruction.

So, you know, a lot of the houses that did survive, its like were sitting here going, were dealing with survival guilt at the same time. But then we also don't know what that means. Like, does that mean that there's because there's lots of being told there's smoke damage and the powers out, of course. And the water is toxic and the air is toxic.

And, you know, we may have to gut our house. We don't know. So there's just a lot of unanswered questions. And it was a very -- it was very, very -- it's been a very stressful time. Yeah.

HUNT: Yeah. I mean, even knowing that your house is still standing, what does it mean? And how can you grapple with the reality that even if you are able to move back in to your home, the surrounding community, I mean, your neighbors are gone. The schools are gone.

MEMME: Yeah. We're -- we're not going to be moving into our house anytime soon. I mean, it's just -- and it's also like when you see the destruction, maybe you can see in some of the videos, but its like even just driving my 13-year-old daughter through the town, up the street, up the next street. I mean, it's -- it's kind of its very unlivable right now and it's devastating. It's devastating.

Most of my friends and family, they've all lost their homes. We were stuck in the gridlock that your reporter was just talking about a minute ago, I was there, I was I was like a couple hundred feet from the -- from the cars that all had to people had to get out of their cars and run.

I was stuck with like in my car trying to evacuate total gridlock with fire all the way around. I was stuck in the car with my mom and my cat, and it was the scariest. I was in there for two hours and we couldn't.

We couldn't move. And it was very, very devastating. Very -- total chaos. Um, there were cars, like going in the other lanes and then the fire trucks couldn't get through and police cars couldn't get through. And, you know, every time we would get a little break in the movement, other cars would, you know, go in front and, and when the fire started coming closer and closer on both sides, it, it -- you know, we were -- it was -- it was traumatizing. Yeah.

HUNT: It sounds incredibly traumatizing. What was the difference between those who were able to get out in their cars? Were you able to get out in your cars and those who had to leave them behind?

MEMME: The only difference is that I was probably a couple hundred feet away from Palisades Drive. So if you know the area of Palisades Drive is kind of coming south down the street towards Sunset Boulevard, I was on Sunset and everybody on Sunset was going so quickly past Palisades Drive that the people on Palisades Drive couldn't move because nobody was letting them go down that street to go on to Sunset.

There was only one way out of the highlands. There was only one way out. And so those cars had to wait and wait and wait because Sunset, no one was listening to traffic, you know, there was lights, traffic lights. No ones abiding by anything.

There were no policemen there, you know, guiding traffic. It was a complete mess. Everyone was out for their own. And it was -- it was very difficult.

So they got stuck there. And the police and firemen asked them to just ditch their car, grab whatever they could, and run like it was. It was that -- that's what happened. Yeah.

HUNT: Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable.

Tanya, we should also note, of course, you have made a living working on a show called "Sell This House" that was on A&E and on other programs that are related to that. You help people go through the emotional process of buying, selling a home.

When you think about what home means to people, how do you, given that experience that you have, understand what everyone is going through?

MEMME: Yeah, it's -- I would have never, ever thought that id ever be in a situation like this. I worked on the show for 12 years. I worked on like, five different home design shows.

[16:25:01]

And now I'm a real estate agent. And I've always been there for people. That has everything to do with their homes. And I'm -- now I'm asking for help and it's -- it's very, very, very difficult.

You know, and it's -- I -- yeah, I have no words. It's like -- it's just very difficult to be in this situation to. But I'm just -- so, so, so happy with everybody that's reached out.

I mean, I'm talking to people I haven't spoken to in years, and the love and the support. I can't tell everybody how thankful and grateful I am. And I'm trying to stay strong for my daughter and for my family and for my friends that have lost absolutely everything.

And we don't know what this means moving forward. There's no -- we don't know what life is going to look like tomorrow, let alone a month from now. And there's just a lot of unanswered questions, and everybody's very scared. And yeah, it's a very scary time.

HUNT: Yeah. Well, Tanya, our thoughts are with you. Of course, with your daughter, who I know, and all of the children who have been swept up in this -- it's really particularly heartbreaking. And we do very much appreciate you taking a little bit of time to talk with us today. Thank you.

MEMME: Thank you.

HUNT: All right. If you have the means to financially help wildfire victims in southern California, you absolutely can. Just head to CNN.com/impact. You'll find options there to give. And you can also donate. Just text the word "WILDFIRES" to the number that you see on your screen there. It's 707070.

All right. Let's turn now to more breaking news coming up. President Biden said today that Israel and Hamas are on the brink of a major ceasefire and hostage deal. The specifics just announced. How much pressure is coming from the incoming president elect, Donald Trump, who takes office in a mere seven days?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:31:14]

HUNT: All right. To the breaking news in our world lead now, the push to secure a deal between Israel and Hamas is intensifying. The deal, expected to include the release of some hostages and a ceasefire.

I want to turn to CNN's MJ Lee is at the White House. We also have national security analyst David Sanger, and former deputy assistant Secretary of Defense Evelyn Farkas with us.

MJ, let me start with you. What did President Biden have to say about this just moments ago?

MJ LEE, CN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, this was certainly a legacy burnishing speech where President Biden essentially tried to take a victory lap for all of his foreign policy accomplishments, accomplishments over the last four years, saying that America has been thoroughly tested over the last four years, but has emerged stronger and its adversaries weaker with regards to the situation in Gaza.

The president, echoing what U.S. officials have been saying both in private and in public over the last 24 hours, suggesting that a deal could be reached sometime soon, that it could be on the cusp of being announced. You know, it's been a really long time, Kasie, since we have heard this kind of optimism, at least coming from inside the Biden administration. But sources have been telling us over the last day or so that they do believe a deal could be announced for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages from Gaza in the next coming days, meaning in the very final stretch of President Biden's time in office.

This is what the president said in his speech earlier about what would be entailed as a part of this deal if it were to come to fruition.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Pressing hard to close this. The deal we have a structure would free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to Israel, and allow us to significantly surge humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians who have suffered terribly in this war that Hamas started.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: And, you know, for the president, this deal has been so elusive for so long. And I think it's important to point out just how costly this has been for the president in terms of the time and effort that he has tried to spend dealing with this. It has at times been incredibly disruptive to his ability to govern things here at home, not to mention just the political capital he has had to spend.

So it goes without saying that this is very much a deal that he would like to see get done under his watch -- Kasie.

HUNT: Right, for sure.

And on that point, though, David Sanger, we have reporting here at CNN, a source in Israel saying that Donald Trump is actually the driving force behind how this is sort of coming together here at the last second. Our source said this, quote, Trump -- only Trump is the incentive, only Trump. And he's talking there about Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister.

What impact does that dynamic have?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL & NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, it's been a fascinating negotiation, Kasie, in part because the president's chief or president-elect's chief, Mideast negotiator, Steve Witkoff, has been going along for each one of these negotiations, has been in the room with Brett McGurk, who's been the negotiator for the Biden administration.

He told me last week, McGurk is leading this, but clearly, many of the deadlines will fall into the Trump administration if this comes together. So they want to have a tight handoff.

And it's interesting because you've heard everybody, including Secretary of State Blinken, who you saw on the screen there a moment ago, talk about the role of the Trump appointees. So one way to look at this is it's the way it's supposed to happen. You saw the press conference last week. President-elect Trump issued this threat that, you know, if there isn't a deal before he takes office, there'll be hell to pay.

[16:35:01] We heard J.D. Vance later say that that would be unleashing the Israelis to go after the remainder of Hamas's leadership. But a lot of that's happening anyway.

The core of the deal hasn't changed. It would be 34 of the hostages, which is probably a little under half. It would last with a ceasefire for 42 days. And then the question is, what could the Trump administration do after that point? Could they extend the ceasefire? Could they get more hostages?

HUNT: Really interesting.

Evelyn Farkas, how do you see the state of play here? What is holding? What is holding it up at this stage?

EVELYN FARKAS, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT DEFENSE SECRETARY FOR RUSSIA: Yeah, that is a good question. Clearly, I do think that President Trump's envoy being there on the spot does matter, because he seems to have more sway -- meaning he being President Trump -- with Benjamin Netanyahu, with the Israeli prime minister. And obviously he's coming into office.

So Netanyahu wants to please him, and he's going to have to agree to this deal. It's hard to say which side is more difficult. The Qataris obviously have been putting pressure on Hamas.

The deal itself will be important, obviously, because we want to get the Americans back. Among the hostages are seven Americans. But we also want to make sure that there is the path ahead for peace, you know, to put an end to this.

President Trumps been pretty blunt, you know, let's just get this over with or language like that. So I think we also want to move back to a more stable situation. But the question is, you know, what is that? Because there are a lot of pieces here.

Now, Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank situation, you know, the whole prospect of a two state solution is very much up in the air.

HUNT: Yeah. So, Evelyn, we know that there's going to be a pretty critical meeting tomorrow as this deal making continues to unfold. What needs to happen there?

FARKAS: Yeah, I mean, they obviously have to come to terms, you know, how are they going to make the prisoner swap the names? I don't know, I would imagine that they know what the names are. Who are they swapping and then the timing, you know, who's going to take credit, who's going to be there to, you know, do all the operations.

HUNT: Yeah, for sure. All right, M.J. Lee, David Sanger, Evelyn Farkas, thank you guys all very much for being here today.

Coming up next hour here on THE LEAD, we're going to talk much more about President Biden's role on the world stage with John Kirby, who's a top national security adviser for the president.

But, first, documenting heartbreaking stories of loss. What my next guest has learned while reporting on victims of the L.A. wildfires.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:42:01]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIORGI ANTINORI, LOST HOME IN FIRE: We had a daughter 15 years ago. She'd be 15, and she passed away when she was one and her ashes were in our home and they're gone like every memory, every piece of physical evidence of her life is just gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right. Back in our national lead, the stories of heartache and anguish from Angelinos impacted by the devastating wildfires around L.A. That widespread destruction has raged across neighborhoods, and it has left so many people struggling to pick up the pieces of their lives.

Let's check in with Leigh Waldman. We find Leigh in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood as we, of course, have been listening to so many of these stories.

Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kasie, we're back here in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood. It's a lot of activity that's happening here. We've seen fire crews coming through throughout the day. They're looking for any remaining hotspots in the rubble of these homes that you see behind us.

Thankfully, the crews that were talking to, they said they haven't found a lot of remaining hotspots, which is a good thing. With these winds starting to pick up, they can kick up those embers and start new fires.

We also talked with a crew from Cal Fire. You can see this pink ribbon here behind us. They're marking these properties after they go through and start taking pictures of those properties. They're intending to send those pictures to the home owners there.

Now, the intention with that is to let homeowners know what they're coming back to, whether it's a home that's still standing or damaged or completely destroyed, like you see behind us. It's also a data collection tool that they're utilizing. They want to know which material withstood fire, like you can see homes in the distance that are still standing, or which homes were completely destroyed by the fires that moved through here.

We know that people are eager to get back to their neighborhoods. A lot of these blockades blocking off these neighborhoods. We saw last week, there was long lines of cars, people wanting to get back. Now that the fire has moved through this neighborhood, they want to see what their home, what their street looks like.

But escort services have stopped completely. They said its simply not safe and we can see why in this neighborhood, power lines hanging off of broken utility poles. Crews are coming through here marking those poles and tending to fix them. We see why it's unsafe. They're asking begging people to give them some patience -- Kasie.

HUNT: All right. Leigh Waldman for us there. Leigh, thanks very much for that.

Of course, the danger is not over. Up next, the new warning about fierce winds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:49:08]

HUNT: All right. We're back now with our breaking news coverage winds already picking up near the Los Angeles wildfires, creating an even more dangerous fire weather situation.

Let's go to our CNN meteorologist, Derek Van Dam.

Derek, I'm tempted to say good morning, because we usually see each other then. But good afternoon.

The Weather Service, of course, just expanded the area where it expects the strongest and most dangerous winds. What are the models showing now?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, we are entering into another particularly dangerous environment for some very specific areas. We'll get to that in just one moment.

The red flag warnings, they continue through Wednesday. This means that the conditions are ripe for explosive fire development and growth. But they've highlighted the National Weather Service out of L.A., some particular areas. So they've expanded and consolidated what is known as the PDS, a particularly dangerous situation.

To give you an idea just how rare this is, they have only issued four in the last three months, and they've all been representative of severe fire situations, not to mention what just happened last week.

[16:50:09]

The last time they actually issued these was back in 2020. So it's been some time. And now we've had four just in the past three months.

So here it is, outlined in the shading of black. And what's different with what happened just a couple of hours ago with this update is its consolidated this area here in the San Fernando Valley and across the central and eastern sections of Ventura County.

This is particularly dangerous because what they're noting is the winds will be more out of the east northeast versus a north- northeasterly wind direction that has dominated this weather pattern for the past week or so.

So the potential here for additional fires to build and explosively -- explode exist here across the Ventura county region and the San Fernando Valley.

So notice that the Hurst Fire and the Eaton Fire is just in that particularly dangerous situation. And the Palisades Fire, although still burning out of control, is not included within the PDS, but still included within the red flag warning that is in place.

So wind advisories and high wind warnings are in place for those hardest impact areas. Up to 70 mile per hour winds in the highest prone ridge top areas. But this is the east northeasterly wind direction that they are noting and talking about, particularly within this PDS area, because if a new fire does erupt within this region, the chance for that to explode in size exists. We recall with the previous PDS that were issued just how quickly the Palisades Fire actually exploded.

So here it is. This is the Palisades Fire now, and you can see the expanded evacuation orders and warnings as we zoom into this region. It is now moved over the 405 highway. And by the way, it's edging closer and closer to the UCLA campus.

So, Casey, we're entering into this extremely critical moment in time in the firefighting effort. And the wind direction is also important.

HUNT: For sure.

All right. Our meteorologist Derek Van Dam for us -- Derek, very grateful for you. Thanks very much.

VAN DAM: Okay.

HUNT: I want to bring in "Washington Post" climate reporter Brianna Sacks. She is based in Los Angeles, and she's going to join us now on the phone.

And, Brianna, as part of your ongoing work, you've been collecting stories from people about what they've lost from the fires.

Tell us a little bit about what they've told you.

BRIANNA SACKS, CLIMATE REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Hi. Yeah, thanks for having me. Sorry. I'm via phone.

Just got off the mountain with some firefighters, but I have been really touched hearing people I don't even know across Los Angeles share a lot of the same feeling and emotion that I've been feeling about watching their childhood burn and just these special places that were just so used to being able to access, not exist anymore in a way that we have treasured them. And then also really harrowing experiences of barely escaping and not knowing if they're coming back and then finding out their parents homes or the homes they grew up in were gone, along with everything in there. HUNT: Brianna, this has been personal for you as well. You had said

that your father lost his home in the Palisades. I mean, what has it been like for you to not just cover it for the post, but to have to have that very personal experience? What happened?

SACKS: Yeah, I actually included my dad as part of this project that I learned he had in his home that completely burned to the ground. He's 80 that he had his dad's prayer shawl and to fill in to, you know, really important things in the Jewish religion, along with his mother's engagement ring.

All those things were about 100 years old. And those all went, you know, he barely got out in time. And so it's -- I haven't really processed it. I think it's been hitting me in short spurts like that. He's starting over at 80, and that's a really hard thing to wrap my head around. And you know, where is where is he going to go. And that like thousands and thousands of people are also in this position.

HUNT: Brianna, you cover climate, of course. How for you has it been to cover these, these such personal stories in light of the broader themes that you usually focus on?

SACKS: God, well, I've seen this a lot. You know, I was on paradise. I was in Lahaina, I was Santa Rosa. I was just in North Carolina for Halloween four times.

But all the firefighters I just spoke with, and I know we say this every fire, but this one is the worst I've ever seen. It's one of the worst disasters I've ever seen. And the firefighters here who have been doing this 20 years said the same.

[16:55:03]

The way the fire moved, you know, 20, 30 blocks sent embers moving 20, 30 blocks ahead of homes and just the winds and how quickly it moved into very densely urban areas was unlike anything they've ever faced before. And I my fear is that this is we're -- this is the next level of disaster that we'll get used to and like, where do we go from here?

HUNT: Where do we go from here? It is quite, quite a question. The question really.

Brianna Sacks, thanks very much for your perspective. I appreciate it.

All right. Coming up next, we are expecting to get new information soon from authorities in Los Angeles as they investigate how these fires started and folks trying to take advantage of the victims and the horrible situation that they are already going through.

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