Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Five Dead, Nearly 2,000 Structures Destroyed As Fires Race Across L.A; Trump, GOP Senators Strategize Shaping His Agenda; Trump Wouldn't Say If He Would Send Troops To Take Greenland. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired January 09, 2025 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:34:15]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The images we're seeing out of California can really only be described as a hellscape and here is the maybe perfect example of what we're talking about. Satellite images over Altadena capture an earth on fire. Entire blocks of homes, entire communities on fire and destroyed -- just gone.

The before and after images of local businesses, coffee shops, houses of worship, all highlighting the utter devastation that is being left behind and the harsh reality that residents will be and are returning to in Southern California.

The lack of water at times to fight some of these fires has been a focal point since the first blaze emerged. Anderson Cooper spoke with a Los Angeles fire department captain about the difficult fight.

[07:35:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPTAIN CHRIS DONNELLI, LOS ANGELES FIRE DEPARMENT: Our hydrant ran dry about two minutes ago.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And is that the water pressure issue or --

DONNELLI: Yeah. We are -- because there's so many engines tapping the grid and multiple grids, we're basically just taking all of the water out of the grid.

COOPER: Well, on a scene like this right now what can you do?

DONNELLI: We are looking at houses that we can save. So things that we can do. We can clear brush away from fences. Things that we can do with our hands or with tools. And we just helped some homeowners get out.

So just -- I mean, the first thing is rescue operations. We want you out. Houses can be replaced and all that; lives cannot. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: For sure.

Joining me right now is Brent Pascua, battalion chief with CAL FIRE. It's great to see you again, Chief. Thank you for coming back on.

You and I spoke at -- I think it was 9:00 a.m. Eastern yesterday morning and you were really in the thick of it in Pacific Palisades. At that point you told me that where you were it was fire all around you -- apocalyptic.

How are things looking today?

BRENT PASCUA, BATTALION CHIEF, CAL FIRE (via Skype): It's night and day today. I am standing next to a metal pole that blew over in the 80 mile an hour gusts and it's right next to a palm tree that I'm looking at right now and it's not even moving. What a welcome sight. What this fire so desperately needed was a break in these winds so that we can actually get some containment now on this fire.

BOLDUAN: That is great news all over the place.

PASCUA: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: The water situation -- as you heard there, some firefighters have talked to our colleagues on the ground that they've been dealing with water pressure issues given the demand on the supply, maybe in just specific neighborhoods. Hydrants running dry was a topic at a press conference of officials yesterday and it sparked criticism and a lot of chatter online that essentially you all are running out of water.

Can you speak to this? I mean, from your perspective is the overall water situation for firefighters or is it struggling?

PASCUA: You know, two things. One, just thinking about that in the middle of the firefight with all that water being used at the same time I could see how there would have been maybe some issues.

I've spoken to a lot of crews that have come in here this morning asking those questions because I get asked those questions -- and they say they've had water the whole time. Maybe the pressure was a little low, but they weren't experiencing dry hydrants. So I'm not sure but I can imagine at the height of this firefighter there may have been some issues.

BOLDUAN: So overall, from your perspective -- from CAL FIRE and all of the firefighters you're talking to when someone says there's no water that is not true. You -- the water situation is good from the firefighters' perspective.

PASCUA: I have yet to ask any of the firefighters that I have come in -- that have come in here to talk about their firefight. They have said they have -- the only water issue I heard that was maybe the pressure was a little low. But other than that they had water. BOLDUAN: OK. So it doesn't seem it's a concern right now or becoming a bigger problem, I guess is probably maybe the way -- maybe the way to put it.

Do you have an updated number on --

PASCUA: Right.

BOLDUAN: -- how many homes, businesses, or other structures have been destroyed from these two main fires, the Palisades and Eaton fires? The last I saw was about 2,000 is what was being discussed but I'm not sure if that's outdated. Has that gone up?

PASCUA: My number is really low. I have an official damage inspection team that goes out and makes it all official. And -- so I have a lower number right now. That number you have is probably more closer to the actual number.

BOLDUAN: OK.

Do you think that tide will turn today in terms of getting containment, especially on these two major fires?

PASCUA: I really do. I really do. Like I said, this is night and day. Yesterday I was trying to hold the tripod up for these interviews. Today, again, I can't even see the trees blowing in the wind at all right now. So what a welcome sight.

BOLDUAN: The L.A County fire chief was talking yesterday at a press conference about how there simply was not enough manpower for an emergency of this size.

How -- can you talk to how stretched the teams were at the height of this, or probably still are? I mean, you guys aren't -- you've still got to contain these things. Are you seeing the backup coming in from neighboring states is making a difference?

PASCUA: Yeah. We're getting a lot of reinforcements, which is great. But if think about it, at the height of this fire with those 80-mile- an-hour winds, if we had crews at every house this still would have been a difficult firefight. It was just trying to fight this fire like in a hurricane with fire all around you.

So, yes, in any fire like that you're going to be strapped for resources. But now that we have our conditions back to a little more normal, I believe we're going to get a handle on this.

BOLDUAN: Battalion Chief Brent Pascua, thank you so much. You have been very kind in getting the information --

PASCUA: You're welcome.

BOLDUAN: -- and bringing it to us in the most updated fashion. We really appreciate it. And good luck today. Let us hope this tide does turn. Thank you.

PASCUA: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Thank you so much -- Sara.

PASCUA: All right.

[07:40:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: The battalion chief saying it's like trying to fight a fire in a hurricane.

The devastation of just one fire in Los Angeles County has amounted to more loss than the county has ever experienced in its history. That's from just one fire. There are at least five major fires burning, destroying thousands of properties and taking at least five lives.

We have just heard again from CAL FIRE the good news this morning that the Santa Ana winds have finally calmed down for a bit. However, forecasters are expecting them to whip up yet again.

CNN's Marybel Gonzalez is live on the ground from the apocalyptic scenes in the Pacific Palisades. What are you seeing this morning just before the sun comes up?

MARYBEL GONZALEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Sara.

We were standing on this very block just around 10 hours ago and it already looks so much different than yesterday. More fire damage targeting these areas -- these businesses like the one that you see right behind me. This used to be a pizza shop but as you can see in the overnight hours this has just burned to the ground. In fact, you can still see some of those spot fires active in that rubble.

This is just one of the many businesses on this block that have been impacted. There's only one standing and that's a veterinary center that is right next to us. Across the street a church burned down. A few blocks over on the drive back home yesterday we saw the high school also experiencing severe fire damage.

The best way we can describe this, it looks like a ghost town. Block after block impacted by these fires. There's still active flames and smoke billowing out of some of these businesses. This is far from over.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM, (D) CALIFORNIA: I really am long-term optimistic, but the devastation -- to hear people wailing and crying concerned about their pet, their family -- they're just bewildered about what's just -- what they're experiencing. And again, not just experiencing -- I was not talking past tense. This is happening in real time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GONZALEZ: And that was California Gov. Gavin Newsom. He was actually on the scene yesterday. We saw him and his staff stopping by the downtown area, one of the hardest hit areas here in Pacific Palisades, to scope out and evaluate just how bad the damage have got -- has gotten -- Sara.

SIDNER: Yeah, he's been traveling to several fires. He was in Altadena there where we saw the fire just exploding behind him. And you said he has visited Pacific Palisades where the worst, so far, of the damage is.

Marybel Gonzalez, thank you so much -- appreciate it -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And, of course, the air around Los Angeles is well into hazardous levels -- a level six out of six on the air quality index because of all the smoke and ash.

One family told us that is why they had to leave.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY ESPINOZA, LOS ANGELES EVACUEE: We couldn't breathe anymore, and we had -- we had all the filters going in the house. We had HEPA filters, and nothing seemed to work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So what are the exact medical impacts? CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Just about anything you might imagine is going to be inside that smoke. But it is important to draw a little bit of a distinction between standard forest fire and what they call the wildland urban interface.

Think about that urban setting that you're looking at there. You're burning everything -- plastics, and metals. You're unearthing certain metals that are even in the soil. Cars and electronics, and carpets and drapes. All of that gets into the atmosphere. These volatile organic compounds of benzine, and formaldehyde, and toluene. All these types of things are in the air and people are breathing them in.

Now, initially, you may not have sort of classic symptoms of smoke inhalation injury. It may be sort of burning eyes and scratchy throat. Even vaguer symptoms like headaches, for example. But eventually people may develop breathing difficulties and even chest pain. That's because of the toxicity of the smoke.

But it's also really small particle sizes as well -- something known as particulate matter 2.5. And what that means is basically particles as small as 120th the width of a human hair. You breathe that in, that goes into your bronchioles, it goes into your lungs, it gets into your bloodstream and can eventually affect just about every organ in the body.

So that's why there's so much concern there. That can cause sort of this systemic inflammation.

There are things you should do to protect yourself. And keep in mind that this -- these toxins in the smoke can travel. They can travel into the air, and they can travel miles with all the wind. So even if you're not directly in the path of the smoke or the fires you need to be careful here.

Stay inside as much as possible. If you do need to go outside think about wearing an N-95 mask -- a high-quality mask. Inside, portable indoor air cleaners. That can be really helpful to keep that indoor environment as clean as possible. Now is a good time to look at the filters on your HVAC system and make sure they're up to date.

[07:45:10]

And also, if you're driving around turn on the recirculation button on your car. You want to keep the air circulating inside without bringing outside air in.

It's a dangerous situation obviously -- there's a lot of toxins in the air -- but there are also ways to try and protect yourself.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Our thanks to Dr. Sanjay Gupta for that. It is such good advice because that air is just oppressive -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: The other important story we are following today, Donald Trump and the new Republican leadership in Washington. With his inauguration less than two weeks away the president-elect went to Capitol Hill with a message for Republican lawmakers -- pass his agenda and do it fast. But how to get there -- that might still be a big question mark and on the shoulders of Republicans on the Hill right now.

CNN's Manu Raju has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump met for more than an hour with Senate Republicans for the first time since they took the majority, since the first time the 119th Congress has been sworn in, and just days before he becomes the next President of the United States.

Big-ticket items on the agenda: how to proceed with a number of those major agenda items like energy policy, like dealing with immigration and the border, and also dealing with taxes and the like. And one of the big questions has been the process all along.

This is not just a sequential debate -- how to sequence his agenda -- it also carries significance because when Congress gets -- goes down one road and it does not go its way it could all collapse if the process is not executed to perfection. They'll need perfection given the narrowness in the House Republican majority and the fact that in the Senate they can only afford to lose three Republican votes on any party line vote.

But not only does Donald Trump want to add all those issues into potentially one bill but also the debt limit. Raise the national debt limit with spending cuts as well. Complex issues that they want to get done as soon as the first quarter of this year.

But when Trump emerged from this meeting, he expressed confidence that the party would be in line.

And also Sen. John Thune, who I asked him out of this meeting whether or not he is on board with the House's approach, wants to put this altogether in one big bill even as Thune has suggested narrower bills in order to score some early wins and punt on more complicated issues like taxes for later.

Are you in line with what Trump and Mike Johnson want -- just one bill?

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: We're in -- all in line with getting the result. And the process arguments that we have around here I think are a lot less important, certainly with the people across the country than accomplishing the things I just mentioned.

RAJU: But Trump indicated he really did not have a preference on how to proceed even as the House and Senate try to squabble about what the best way forward is. Nevertheless, this will be an expensive and expansive agenda. One of the big questions will be how they will pay for that expensive agenda.

Trump, behind closed doors, suggested that tariffs could be one way to pay for it. That is a big question that a lot of people believe it will not really pay down for the cost of such a massive bill that Trump is proposing here.

But one of the big debates on Capitol Hill, how will we pay for it, what will they cut, and will they get the votes in order to get this all through? All big questions as they pursue an aggressive timeline and an ambitious agenda, and get it done in just a matter of months.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: Speaking of aggression, this morning President-elect Donald Trump is doubling down on his expansionist threats. The president- elect wouldn't rule out sending military troops to acquire Greenland or the Panama Canal when asked by CNN about it on Wednesday.

This comes as Danish officials say Trump's allies and advisers are warning them Trump may be more serious about acquiring Greenland this time around than he was when he was -- brought up the idea during his first term.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand is joining us now from the Pentagon. How are Danish officials reacting to what amounts to a threat by Donald Trump?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well look, Sara, when Donald Trump first proposed buying Greenland back in 2019, Danish officials kind of scoffed at the idea and the Danish prime minister actually called it absurd, rejecting it outright.

Well now, Danish officials are taking this threat much more seriously and they are being told by Trump allies and advisers that look, this is not something that Donald Trump is just going to do away with quickly -- this idea.

And so one official -- Danish senior -- Danish official actually told me that their impression is that the ecosystem surrounding this idea is actually much stronger than it was five years ago. And another senior Danish official told me that this time around seems "much more serious."

Now, Secretary of State Antony Blinken -- he actually also weighed in on this yesterday. And he said that look, this is obviously not going to happen and therefore it's not even worth discussing.

But Danish officials that we spoke to actually don't agree. They say their frank discussion with the incoming Trump administration -- with Trump officials -- that is really going to be the only way to kind of stave off a crisis. They are still skeptical, of course, that President Trump could actually pull this off or that he's actually serious about pursuing it. [07:50:10]

But they say that they do want to have a discussion about it because the U.S. is a major ally and a major NATO ally, of course.

Here's what the Danish foreign minister said about this just yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARS LOKKE RASMUSSEN, DANISH FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): We fully recognize that Greenland has its own ambitions. If they materialize, Greenland will become independent though hardly with an ambition to become a federal state in the United States. We are open to a dialogue with the Americans on how we can possibly cooperate even more closely than we do to ensure that the American ambitions are fulfilled.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERTRAND: Look, Greenland obviously is very strategically important for the United States. The U.S. does have its northernmost military base in western Greenland, and they work very closely with Greenland and Denmark in order to try to stave off threats posed not only by Russia but also by China, which is increasingly kind of flexed its military muscles in the Arctic.

And so this is -- this is obviously something that the U.S. has been concerned about in recent years. And Donald Trump actually just to kind of underscore how close Greenland is to the United States posted a map just last night on Truth Social showing that proximity there. It's actually closer to New York than it is to Copenhagen, Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you so much. If there's anything that tells us that he's more serious about it, he sent his son Don Jr. over there to take a look around.

Natasha Bertrand, thank you so much -- appreciate it -- John.

BERMAN: We have new reporting that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and President-elect Trump spoke on the phone just hours before Trump asked the court to delay his sentencing in the hush money case.

And then Hollywood comes to a halt as these deadly fires rage across Los Angeles. Celebrities speaking out about their loss.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES WOOD, ACTOR: She came up -- I'm sorry. One day you have a swimming pool and the next day it's all gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:57:00]

BERMAN: All right. This morning the fires raging in Los Angeles are bringing movie and television production to a halt. According to The Hollywood Reporter, more than a dozen shows and movies that film in Los Angeles have paused production, including "GREY'S ANATOMY" and "THE PRICE IS RIGHT."

The Critics Choice Awards that were originally set to be held on Sunday -- they have been postponed until the end of the month.

And, of course, so many people who work in the industry live there. Actor Cameron Mathison talked about returning to his house.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAMERON MATHISON, ACTOR: (Crying) Oh. Oh, God. Oh, God.

Those sort of sounds come out of me before so it's very odd. It was just a -- it's kind of a guttural pain and disbelief, and shock, and fear as I was approaching my property and not seeing the house. Our street, in particular -- our block, I should say, was pretty much nothing left. It looked like, in many cases, there was no houses ever built there. It was just decimated to nothing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: CNN entertainment reporter Lisa France is with us now. This is just a body blow to so many people who live and work out there.

LISA RESPERS FRANCE, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: It absolutely is, John. Good morning.

Part of the issue, too, is that people sometimes forget that celebrities are people as well and fame and fortune is not saving them from the devastation. Joan Rivers' daughter Melissa Rivers -- actress Melissa Rivers talked

to our own Kaitlan Collins about what she experienced. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELISSA RIVERS, ACTRESS: I definitely have not gotten my head around it. I got some video sent to me that our house is totally gone. In my personal situation that's it. That is the end of everything that were -- that belonged to my family and the history of it. So I honestly -- to be 100 percent honest, I grabbed my mom's Emmy, a photo of my dad, and a drawing that my mother had done of me and -- my son and I. I can't even remember which is grammatically correct right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCE: John, stars are actually using social media to connect with people. "THIS IS US" star Mandy Moore shared some of the images that were coming out of her community in Altadena and just complete and utter devastation. It's so hard to look at these scenes.

And when you talk about horror, Paris Hilton actually posted on social media that she watched her house burn. She said she was "Heartbroken beyond words. Sitting with my family, watching the news, and seeing our home in Malibu burn to the ground on live TV is something no one should ever have to experience. The devastation is unimaginable. To know so many are waking up today without the place they called home is truly heartbreaking."

And likewise, John, Billy Crystal put a really heartbreaking post as well talking about what his home meant to him and his family -- the home that they lost. He said, "Janice (his wife) and I lived in our home since 1979. We raised our children and grandchildren here."