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Five Major Fires Burning Across L.A. County As Thousands Flee; Soon, President Carter Arrives In Georgia For Private Funeral; Wildfires Spotlight California's Insurance Crisis. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired January 09, 2025 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Kyung, give us a sense of what it's like where you are and also what the winds are like, as you know, they're trying to make some progress, if they can.

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: And today should definitely be a day where they can make some progress, Brianna. Because I want to start with zero percent containment. That's the active fire fight.

But where we're seeing the human loss and the amount of dollars that this will rack up to is in communities like this one. This is Altadena. This is a working-class community, but it is still very much a community in danger.

And I want to explain that right now, because what you're looking at over here is a home that we were just trying to drive around, talk to people, and this home was on fire.

An ember somehow sparked this. That's a belief from the firefighters here. You can see they are mopping up now. They are now just having to watch this burn.

But these homes are still catching on fire here because it is still very much an active firefight, even though it looks like fire has swept through these communities.

And this is, indeed, a community. These are single family homes you're looking at. Each one of these contained families. Altadena is not -- at least in the section that I'm in, it is not a rich community, predominantly three-bedroom, two- bath homes.

Some of the people you were talking about, you know, the people who we're lost, there are going to be some grim discoveries because this is a mix of families and also retirees.

I know of several disabled people who live here. They're confined to their wheelchairs. So there are going to be people who just simply could not have gotten out.

But all of Alta -- there are whole sections of this community that it's really just unspeakable. It's hard to measure what you're looking at in terms of, not just dollars, but each life. I know teachers who live here and people who have kids. So each one of

these homes was filled with those lives. But they're still dealing with this emergency. This is a 10,600 acre fire. Again, five people who have been killed.

What you're seeing over here, these firefighters, there are firefighters far away from Nevada and Arizona who are now coming in. Firefighters outside of the immediate Los Angeles area because it is exhausting, difficult and dangerous work.

And the more and the number of hours that these Los Angeles firefighters work, the harder it gets to stay alive. So that's -- there are a number of threats that this city and this community has to deal with as this immediate danger continues to take place.

And, Brianna, again, a reminder we're beyond the -- the Whack a Mole, new firefight, new firefight, new firefight, new wildfire issue that we've seen in this last 24 hours.

What's happening now is, try to assess, try to contain. But this is still very much, in Los Angeles County, a gigantic emergency -- Brianna?

KEILAR: Yes. it's huge. And how are they -- I think we should note, Kyung, and to your point, as you're talking about so many people in that neighborhood who may not have been able to get out.

There saying what the death toll is right now, but that's the official number, and it's pretty clear that officials there are expecting it to go higher.

For people who we're able to get out, what is being done? What is the assistance for them?

LAH: Well, a lot of people -- I can tell you because I have friends in this community who are trying to find places to stay. A lot of the hotel rooms, at least the affordable ones, they are all gone.

People have gone into the desert, halfway to Las Vegas to try to find a place to stay, just to try to assess. And they're starting to drive back and figure out, are there Airbnbs they can rent? Where do they have family that they can go to?

Most of the people I know have gone to Orange County. They've gone to San Diego, driven to family up in the north area.

And they are just trying to figure out, what does my insurance look like? Do I have another car to come back to? Is my child's school open? How do I educate my child? How do I get care for my elderly parent?

These are sort of the big, real problems that a lot of these families are now going to have to try to figure out what to do. And just, you know, cost.

Like the -- a lady I talked to, she moved here 25 years ago. Houses in Altadena -- like, OK, so this house here, I can tell you because I -- (TECHNICAL PROBLEM) -- a million and a half dollars. It was purchased very likely for a fraction of that.

So what do they do now? What's their coverage look like? And what will their House look like? Can they even afford to rebuild?

KEILAR: Yes, I mean, that's the thing. When people moved in 25 years ago, maybe they purchased it for $100,000, $200,000 and they watched it appreciate. So this is going to be tough for so many people.

Kyung, thank you so much. Really appreciate the report from Altadena.

[13:35:03]

And ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, a final farewell to Jimmy Carter, the 39th president, with a eulogy from President Biden, among others. That and much more of our coverage of the fires in Los Angeles next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: A final trip home. These are live images from Joint Base Andrews as President Carters remains are set to depart the nation's capital. He will depart to Georgia a short time from now coming from his state funeral in Washington, D.C.

Here is part of President Biden's eulogy for a long-time friend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[13:40:03]

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Jill and I will cherish our visits with them, including that last one in their home. We saw Jimmy as he always was, at peace, with a life fully lived, a good life, a purpose and meaning, of character driven by destiny and filled with the power of faith, hope and love.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: As for where Carter is headed next, these are live images from Plains, Georgia, his hometown. You see, crowds gathered there, mourners getting set to bid their farewell to the former president. The 39th president will be laid to rest there in a private ceremony just a few hours from now.

CNN's Eva McKend joins us now live from Plains, Georgia.

And, Eva, what can we expect for the rest of the day as these remembrance ceremonies wind down?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, in just a few hours, the late president and his family will arrive here at the Maranatha Baptist Church here in Plains.

And on any given Sunday, before President Carter fell ill, you could see him here teaching Sunday School. His niece has since taken over teaching those Sunday School lessons.

But his imprint can still feel -- be felt so heavily here in this community, in this church.

President Carter notably resisted the Southern Baptist Convention, broke with them decades ago over this issue of women serving as pastors in the church.

This church now has its first female pastor. Prior to that, it had its first black pastor in Tony Loden. And he will be offering the eulogy this afternoon.

We've already seen busloads of family members and friends arrive here at the church. A different character and color for this private service.

We saw a lot of dignitaries at the service in Washington but these are going to be people here remembering him who really knew him on a personal level. Many referred to him as Mr. Jimmy, as he was so intimately connected to this community.

SANCHEZ: Obviously, as you noted, Eva, a marked difference between what will play out behind closed doors in Plains, Georgia, and what we saw this morning at the National Cathedral. Take us through some of the highlights from what we saw.

MCKEND: Well, something that stuck out to me was when their grandson, Jason Carter, who is a very strong speaker, spoke about how humbly they lived. They really resisted, I think, some of the things they could have embraced in terms of lifestyle. They lived modestly up until the very end.

And he spoke to this. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON CARTER, GRANDSON OF PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER: In my 49 years, I never perceived a difference between his public face and his private one. He was the same person, no matter who he was with or where he was.

Sometimes I feel and felt like I shared my grandfather with the world. Today is one of those days. But really, he shared the world with me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: And when you speak to here, people here in Plains, they very much echo this sentiment. You speak to a shop owner on Main Street, and he talks about when he fell ill. President Carter came to visit him and pray over him.

Or you speak to Jill Stuckey. She is the superintendent of the Jimmy Carter National Park site here. And she talked about the Carters coming over to her home, having dinner.

At one point, the late president seeing a broken chair, picking it up, bringing it to his home, fixing it, and bringing it back the next day.

Or how they could have easily spent thousands of dollars remodeling their kitchen. But their kitchen still looks like it did decades ago.

Because they just, in a deep way, felt as though all of the available resources should go towards people in need and not towards themselves. And so that is just the consistent theme that you hear from people in this community.

SANCHEZ: Eva McKend, live for us in Plains, Georgia, thank you so much.

As we watch these images of the plane carrying President Carters remains set to depart Joint Base Andrews in just moments, again destined for Plains Georgia.

So the road to recovery will be long and expensive for many people in Los Angeles.

[13:44:47]

Ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, how insurance policies are getting harder to come by for certain homeowners and what that could mean as folks try to rebuild from this catastrophe.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: While we do not know how many houses at this point have been lost to the fires in Los Angeles. Each one means another family is facing questions about where they'll go next, whether they're going to rebuild.

And making this more difficult is the state's growing insurance crisis. Between 2020 and 2022, insurance companies did not renew 2.8 million homeowner policies, according to state officials, and more than 500,000 of them were in Los Angeles County.

[13:50:04]

Most of those, by the way, were cases where insurance companies canceled the policies, not where the homeowners were not renewing them.

Joining us now is California's insurance commissioner, Ricardo Lara.

Commissioner, thanks for being with us.

Do you have an estimate on how many of these homes may have been uninsured for fire? Because the "San Francisco Chronicle" found that State Farm, the largest insurer in your state, dropped coverage for approximately 30,000 Californians last year.

And that included about 70 percent of their policies in the Pacific Palisades. And I'm not sure about Altadena, but I'm sure they were affected as well. RICARDO LARA, CALIFORNIA INSURANCE COMMISSIONER: Yes, it's still

uncertain to say. We are doing the research. As you know, the fires still are not contained, and so we're working to get this data.

What we can say, though, is that we feel confident that we will have the services ready and available to make sure that we answer those questions for consumers that are rightfully scared and very -- and you know, concerned about this issue.

We are -- we're doing the needed investigation to make sure we have those answers for them. As soon as we get the perimeter of the final fire.

But you're absolutely right. This already complicates a further complicated situation here in California, just similar to -- to other state's that are going through similar issues around the west and the east coast.

KEILAR: So for -- for people who are not covered, what kind of assistance can the state give to them?

RICARDO: So we're looking to make sure, just as we've done in other cases where -- where folks may not have insured or are self-insured, we're looking at some state programs.

Of course, the federal government around FEMA and what the president's recent announcements do to help make sure that we get some sort of services, relocate folks, and make sure that they have shelter are going to be critical.

But what we're seeing here is a large portion of these - (TECHNICAL PROBLEM. What we're telling consumers are, make sure that they get a complete copy of their insurance policy, that they take note of their additional living expenses, and that they track and get receipts for everything.

We want to make sure that -- this also simplifies the claims process. And document every conversation they're having with their agent or with their adjusters. And again, not to rush into these decisions.

Unfortunately, as you've been reporting, this is a time when fraud becomes prevalent. Out-of-state adjusters come into communities making false promises.

And so we want to make sure that consumers know that they can call our department at 1-800-927-4357, so we can walk them through the process.

But most importantly, let's make sure they're safe. They have a place to evacuate.

And for those that may not have evacuated or are in in the perimeter, we're asking them to start taking pictures of their valuables, of any improvements they've made, of just of their home so we can have that documentation that helps them through the claim process, move, move -- help them move quicker through the claims process.

But we're in constant communication with -- with the industry and with advocacy groups to make sure that they have these tips on hand.

We don't want people signing any documents under duress. And so we're asking them to take their time, call us, and we'll walk them through the entire process.

KEILAR: That's very good advice.

Demand for the state fire insurance plan, the California Fair Plan, which was designed as a last resort option, has skyrocketed as people have not been able to get private insurance for fire. It's tripled for homes here in the last four years. It's more than quadrupled for businesses.

Can that remain solvent after these disasters?

RICARDO: This is a great question. And why the reforms that we literally just implemented are going to be key to make sure not only that insurance companies remain solvent, but that the Fair Plan gets depopulated as well.

So with -- with the reforms that we've made, allowing insurance companies and the department to utilize catastrophic modeling, to look into what the reinsurance costs are for California.

We are allowing insurance companies to use these tools with the guarantee that they're going to come back into these communities. And that is an agreement that we've made and that we are now -- are fully implementing this year.

So, you know, we are ready to meet this moment and to make sure that insurance companies meet the promise of being able to pay out claims and to deliver the services that people contracted -- contracted them to do.

And so, you know, it -- it -- regardless of this catastrophe that we're living through in Los Angeles, that remains -- these regulations remain in vigor now and are going to help us get to a place where we modernize this market, get the guarantees that people are coming out of the Fair Plan

(CROSSTALK)

[13:55:00]

KEILAR: Can I ask you about that guarantee?

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: I'm sorry, we have limited time, and I think this is so important because a lot of people are watching.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: I want to ask you about that guarantee that you said. The idea here was these are regulations, which you announced just two weeks ago, that get private insurance companies to go back into these communities where they are not insuring people anymore, into these fire-prone areas.

And they get to factor in their reinsurance costs. So, yes, they insure people, but they're also insuring themselves, right, against covering those folks, kind of spreading the risk around.

Independent watchdogs have said -- and you're well aware of this -- they've said this is going to just jack up prices on homeowners, but it's not necessarily going to expand the ability to get coverage.

What is the guarantee that it will force insurers back into these communities?

LARA: Great question. We have, under this agreement, not only do we have the guarantee that insurance companies that want to be able to use these tools that they've been asking for 30 years to use to modernize our market, if they want to use these tools, they have to grow in the wildfire distressed areas by 85 percent. That is the agreement.

And we have, at the department, the statutory authority to go after them if they don't do -- if they don't do as they promised. And we can remove the tools and actually reassess the rates if they don't go forward, and if they go back on their word.

So --

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: So what's the penalty if they don't?

RICARDO: -- as we're trying to navigate.

So again, the penalty would be we could go after them legally. That depends on, you know, we can't -- depends on the actual company and the amount that they have. So I can't give you blanket statements around that.

But we have the authority to do that, which is unprecedented. Other state's allow for just a pass-through of reinsurance with no guarantees. This is why our reforms, we feel, are going to work.

We're going to start seeing insurance companies coming back into California around hopefully the end of this year. And so again, this is, of course, independent of the tragedy that we're living in.

So right now, my immediate goal is to make sure that we get the claims paid, the claims paid as quick as possible, and that we get people on the road to recovery as quickly as we can.

KEILAR: Yes, they certainly need it. And we are seeing that in Altadena, in Pacific Palisades. It's just unreal, the pictures we're witnessing.

Commissioner Ricardo Lara, thank you so much for being with us.

LARA: Thank you. KEILAR: Thank you so much. We appreciate you being with us.

We have much more ahead on the wildfires in Los Angeles County. Stay with CNN for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)