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Southern California Wildfires Burning Out of Control
Aired October 22, 2007 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hello, everybody, on this busy Monday. I'm Betty Nguyen, in today for Kyra Phillips, at the CNN Center here in Atlanta.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Well, you said it, absolutely busy, Betty.
And I'm Don Lemon. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Burning out of control all night and all day. Our top story is happening right now in Southern California, where hurricane-force winds are fanning a string of wildfires. This is new video from Lake Arrowhead, where the flames are consuming one home after another.
In San Diego County, almost a quarter million people have fled their homes, along with a hospital and nursing homes. Firefighters overwhelmed by the flames are pleading with people to follow evacuation orders. And through it all you have shared your breathtaking I-Reports with us. And we will show you much, much more and take you live right into that fire.
Let's start in San Diego County, though, a quarter of a million people in and around San Diego ordered to flee the flames.
CNN's Kara Finnstrom is there now.
KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and we can actually hear a chopper overhead. That's actually a very good sign because earlier today they were not able to fly those helicopters because of all the heavy smoke, very bad visibility, very high winds.
And the mayor had said that they really needed to get those up in the air to do some of those airdrops, so a good sign. Also down here, you can see this command post has really just popped up within the last hour-and-a-half. There are a lot of fire trucks down there, a lot of big water vehicles.
So, hopefully with more reinforcement coming in they will be able to try and get a better handle on the massive number of blazes out here. There are actually like five or six blazing at this point.
Joining us live now is one of the people who was evacuated from their homes, Duane Henry.
And explain to us. You actually got trapped here earlier this morning. You couldn't get out because of the traffic. DUANE HENRY, RESIDENT OF CALIFORNIA: Yes. I came in the neighborhood here and they had all the roads closed down and the streets were just packed. So I pulled in the parking lot down here, and I have been trapped here ever since. And pretty phenomenal thing that is happening here, houses going up behind us all morning long. Just fires are going from rooftop to rooftop. And it's just a tragedy.
FINNSTROM: And you live right on this hillside behind us, where we have actually seen some flames popping up. You have been keeping a close eye on your home. Tell us about those neighborhoods up there.
HENRY: They're all just residential neighborhoods with a lot of big trees, and the potential for it to just be a massive firestorm.
The fire department is doing a great job. As you can see, all the guys down here, they have been working around the clock, and we're really proud of them.
FINNSTROM: And, finally, on that note, you grew up here. You say you have lived here all your life. Have you seen anything like this?
HENRY: No, this is the first time I have ever been in it or been around anything like this. It's just -- it's crazy.
FINNSTROM: Well, we wish you of course all the best with your home and hope that you're able to get up there again soon.
Of course, Don, the concern right now is these strong winds that are continuing to gust out here up to 80 miles an hour, but again the fact that we saw a helicopter able to get up and some of the smoke has lifted, those are at least a couple good signs this evening.
LEMON: Yes, if the winds aren't high enough so the helicopters can't go up.
Thank you very much for that, Kara.
NGUYEN: So, the fires burning San Diego and the Los Angeles area, Malibu, even Lake Arrowhead.
Chad Myers has been following all of this, as he watches the wind just continue to blow out of control.
In many areas, it seems hurricane-force winds, correct, Chad?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, even 101 miles an hour at Point Mugu yesterday, that was one of the measured wind gusts. That was the highest wind gust we had. Other wind gusts were around 70 and 75 miles per hour.
Here's the U.S./Mexican border. There are even firestorms south of the U.S./Mexican border, but San Diego County, a lot of your fires are just to the north and northwest of downtown. Escondido, Rancho Escondido, all the way back up here into these mountainous areas, and the winds are blowing in from the east and from the northeast.
Every one of these flames that you see is literally a hot spot that's been noted from the satellite. And it will put a dot on our map for us to show us where these hot spots are.
I can't count the number of hot spots, but there's well over 100 there. That's San Diego County itself. Now we will fly you up. We just showed you some pictures from Irvine a little bit ago, but Lake Arrowhead, and over here by the country club, a lot of homes, dozens of homes are right here now on fire.
And here are some pictures here. That little box right there, that's actually Lake Arrowhead. From KABC, our affiliate there, been showing you east of the lake has been pretty good. West of the lake, somewhere around country club and to the north, there was a power line that sparked. That spark actually got to the ground and caused the fire.
That fire has been blown out of control, and houses in this -- see, these are not lumber roads. These are real roads with real homes on there. And there are just not enough firefighters up there to even catch one of these fires, let alone all of them, and a lot right now of western Lake Arrowhead in trouble. Evacuations going on at this point.
Now, where did it start? Well, it started well west of here, west toward Malibu. And this is what we were talking about all last night. And we were just talking about -- this was breaking news from about 8:00 on yesterday up here into the Malibu Canyon area, and then some of these sparks were flying down into Malibu proper, catching one of the churches on fire, the big castle that you probably -- everybody has seen if you have driven by it, that castle on fire, basically a total loss here.
And every one of these spots was a hot spot or is a hot spot from the satellite. So, we can really -- you asked me earlier, Betty, can you show us where all the fires are? Well, it's very difficult, because at this point in time there are so many hot spots from the satellite, they can actually tell you what the ground should be.
The ground should be about 75, 80 degrees. And when it finds a hot spot, it will put one of these symbols for us and there are many, many across Southern California this morning and this afternoon.
NGUYEN: Yes. Just looking at that, Chad, OK, we can't show all of it, because there's a lot of them, but how many miles are we talking? You have got Malibu. You have got Los Angeles. You have got San Diego, Lake Arrowhead. This spans several hundred miles?
MYERS: Yes. Well, oh, absolutely. Hundreds of square miles without a doubt. And now you're trying to use your air support to cover fires that are almost up to Oxnard. Here's Malibu.
And then over here into the country club, this is the country club up near Lake Arrowhead. Down through Irvine and Escondido, and then San Diego, you just don't have enough planes to cover this many fires all at one time. And there's no relief in sight from this wind. These flames are not going out by themselves. They're going to absolutely require firefighter help to get these and intervention.
So, now what the firefighters are doing they are placing themselves in line. They're going, OK, we have to be here. We're not letting that fire get into this neighborhood. And then all of a sudden sparks fly over their head and behind them and then they're in trouble, because there are flames behind what they thought would be their fire line and they're evacuating and they have got to -- then they have to retreat back again, trying to keep these homes -- obviously if a tree burns down, OK, that's bad, and a part of a forest burns down, that's bad, because at some point it's going to rain and then maybe you're going to get a mudslide.
NGUYEN: Yes. But when a home burns down...
(CROSSTALK)
MYERS: Exactly.
NGUYEN: We were talking to the firefighters earlier, and they pretty much have to make a choice. This one, we can't save, but this one we can, and that's what we're going to work on.
Want to take you to the scene now and Our affiliate KGTV and take a look at some of their local coverage. They are covering this minute by minute. Take a listen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looking at our (INAUDIBLE) cameras up in the north county and Oceanside, lots of smoke, lot of limited visibility south of Oceanside, all the way out to the coast, on the 5, just use some extreme caution. Increase that following distance. Reduce your speed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good advice. That was Rob Sanchez (ph) from The Transportation Management Center.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Great information. Great information.
Let's go back to Rancho Bernardo and 10 News reporter Steve Fiorina.
STEVE FIORINA, KGTV REPORTER: We are still in Rancho Bernardo in this one cul-de-sac that was terribly damaged by the fire, but not completely.
Five of the six homes in the cul-de-sac absolutely gone. You will see flames coming from the gas lines that ruptured and continue other forcefully push it out, but there's not much danger from that, except if something were to blow in its path and then continue on.
One home here was saved. Part of the reason may be that the homeowner cut down some of the branches on some of the trees very close to the roof. This home had one person in it. We saw the car pull out as we came in. If you look around right the rest of the cul- de-sac here right to left, you will see that many of the other homes here are gone.
However, just beyond that, virtually untouched. Those homes are still standing. Down the street, we will see three or four or five homes, then one or two that are gone, then three or four more that are still standing.
LEMON: California's governor putting some numbers with the emergency. Here's what he said just a short time ago in Malibu.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA: I have proclaimed a state of emergency in seven counties, and CAL FIRE officials are using whatever resources they need in order to put out those fires.
I urge everyone to follow the directions and evacuation orders issued by the emergency personnel. Here, this fire, the Canyon Fire, we have so far 2,400 acres that have burned and 10 percent of the fires are under control and contained. Hundreds of people have been evacuated under mandatory, precautionary and voluntary evacuations. Eight buildings so far have been destroyed, five homes, two commercial structures, and one church.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, the governor said crews are doing all they can to protect lives and also to protect property. But the winds, they are dry. And the dry air, well, they're tough to overcome.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCHWARZENEGGER: It's a tragic time for California. The devastating fires have killed so far one person. They have injured four firefights.
Maria and I want to turn all Californians to send our thoughts and prayers to the families of those victims.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, the acting Malibu, he (sic) joined the governor and told people to be ready for anything.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAMELA CONLEY ULICH, ACTING MALIBU MAYOR: Homes can be replaced. People can't. The message today is be prepared. The winds are changing as we speak.
A lot of people don't have -- in the west side of town don't have electricity, they don't have their cable, they don't know what's going on. My message to them is you can get to Malibu High School. It is now an evacuation center. So, you can go there. You can get information. Be prepared. Be safe.
(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: And you heard the acting mayor there. She said many people don't have electricity. That's if they're even in their homes. And they are also asking people to limit the use of their cell phones.
Here's how we're going to help you out. If you have evacuated, let us know you're safe. Visit our Web site at CNN.com, and your loved ones will be able to see that you're OK. Just go into our I- Report section and click on there. It will tell you exactly how to do it.
And, that way, everyone involved, if you're waiting on relatives, you're concerned about them, you can go and log on and see if they have put something on this Web site, if they're OK. And if you evacuated and you want to get a message to your relatives or people that you know, or you just love and care about, go to that site, CNN.com/ireport, and you can click right on there...
(CROSSTALK)
NGUYEN: And it's really important, too, because a lot of the cell phone limes are just jampacked. They're tied up. People can't get a call through, so perhaps this is the only way for some folks to be able to know that their family and friends are OK.
Right now, we do want to get a status report on the ground from Holly Crawford. She is the public information specialist for the Office of Emergency Services for San Diego. And she joins us live by phone.
When it comes to 250,000 people being forced to evacuate, how is that going at this hour?
HOLLY CRAWFORD, OFFICE OF EMERGENCY SERVICES FOR SAN DIEGO: You know, it's a large number of people. It really is.
And I can't tell you the number of people that I have heard today say this is the worst fire situation that they have seen in their lifetime. We have seven fires burning in the county of San Diego right now. I have just learned that one of the fires has jumped the -- Freeway 15, and is threatening the community of Fallbrook, with about 45,000 residents.
So, it's a touch-and-go situation. I think our crews on the ground are doing everything they can to get these fires until control, but unfortunately Mother Nature is not cooperating. We have got Santa Ana winds that are very unpredictable, and 30-, 40-, sometimes gusts into the 70- to 80-mile-per-hour range, so it's not conducive to successful firefighting at this point.
NGUYEN: Well, the pictures are just incredible, whether it's in San Diego, in Irvine, out at Lake Arrowhead. The fires just seem to be burning everywhere out there in California and out of control, as you mentioned. Do you have enough firefighters on the ground to really try at least to get a handle on this?
CRAWFORD: You know, we are requesting assistance. We have help on the way and arriving as we speak from the state. But it does take some time to get down here without equipment and those materials. So, we have requested help. CAL FIRE is able to get some additional assistance, and we have helicopters in the air right now, but unfortunately because of the fire conditions, we're not able to get fixed-wing assets over the fire right now.
So it's difficult even to tell the parameters, how big these fires are.
NGUYEN: Well, let's talk about logistics for a minute because we had talked about the 250,000 people being forced to evacuate. And you say fires are jumping the freeways and threatening other neighborhoods. Can people actually get out of their homes and make it to a safe place?
CRAWFORD: Well, what we're doing is notifying people well in advance so that they have the time to evacuate, and looking at wind directions and where the fire is headed, and notifying people through our mass notification reverse 911 system, that they need to leave their homes. And it's unfortunate when people do not listen to those warnings. And that's one message that we can't reiterate enough is that when they get those calls, they really need to leave at that point.
You know, life is more important than material goods. You need to get out of the homes when it's advised that you do so.
NGUYEN: And that's why they're staying? They just want to stay and protect their home and try to save it if at all possible?
CRAWFORD: I think that's part of the motivation. But again bricks and mortar can be replaced and you as a person cannot.
NGUYEN: That is so very true.
I want to bring in, Holly, our meteorologist Chad Myers, who is going to be talking with you in just a second.
Chad, what do you have?
MYERS: I just have a question for you, because you mentioned Fallbrook and I know Rancho Bernardo. Those are areas really north of San Diego proper, In San Diego county, I understand, but people are very worried. I'm getting a lot of e-mails here about what about El Cajon? What about those areas that are really towards San Diego the city? Are there fires east of the city, or is pretty much everything still north of town?
CRAWFORD: No, I can tell you that we have confirmed structures lost in the neighborhoods of Rancho Bernardo, North Poway, Forest Ranch.
You mentioned that were these all sort of northern county fires? No. We have a fairly -- one of the biggest fires out of the seven is actually in our southern county, the Harris fire. So, there are fires pretty much in various directions. The best thing for people locally to do is to -- for information, to dial 211.
It is a toll-free number they can call from a cell phone or a land line, and they can get the latest information. And stay tuned to local media as well, of course.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Holly, thank you -- Betty.
CRAWFORD: Thank you.
NGUYEN: Yes, thank you for your time today, Holly. We do appreciate it.
Of course, we are going to be following this throughout the day. I'm sure we will be checking in with you.
But just looking at this live picture, Don, look at that smoke. It just seems to encompass everything, especially in this -- this is Irvine. We haven't talked a lot about Irvine today as we have been focusing on many of the other areas, especially San Diego.
LEMON: Yes. And they mentioned, you know -- the person who was talking to Chad earlier, some of the fires have jumped to certain places that they didn't even really know about, that's not even accounted for yet, so you're looking at very a smoky Southern California today.
As you saw that map that Chad had, just up and down the entire -- looks like almost the entire Southern California coast, fire after fire after fire.
NGUYEN: Seven in San Diego County alone.
LEMON: Alone, 250,000 people evacuated, at least we know 1,400 firefighters on the scene. Now, these live pictures that you're looking at coming to us -- and we really appreciate this -- courtesy of our affiliate KABC. This is Irvine, California, as Betty just pointed out.
We're also going to talk -- these are the professionals, but we have our I-Reporters, too. More of your I-Reports are coming up.
And also a castle, it falls victim to the Malibu fires, wildfires there. Details straight ahead right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Man oh man, you just saw it there on the monitor. Where there is smoke, there is definitely fire in this case, and you can bet there's also CNN I-Reporters. You sent us some of the most compelling images of Southern California and the wildfires there today.
And our T.J. Holmes, he joins us now with a look at some of the stuff you're sending in.
What do you have this time, T.J.?
T.J. HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this time, oftentimes this is the case, that we get I-Reports from young people. A lot of young folks of course have those cameras always ready. And a couple of these coming to us from a couple college students there in Southern California.
This image here from Erick Pleitez, as we can see, 18-year-old actually a student at the College of the Canyons. This is in Canyon Country. And this picture was taken in his neighborhood. He said the damage there seemed just so random. There were some homes that were damaged and the home right next door didn't have any damage at all. Then the home right across the street or down the street was completely destroyed.
So, he said that struck him as the damage being all random. And here are some of his pictures. I think we have four we will try to make it through here, but you can see these. And he actually said -- we were trying to get him on the phone here a short time ago. He wasn't available, because possibly he said he's going to go back out and try to get more images for us.
So, Erick, if you're listening, we appreciate it, but please don't put yourself in danger, and take care of yourself and your family and if you can to some extent your belongings and your property there.
Also, we have other images here to go to from Anthony Fredericks. Now, that's a heck of a shot there. Some of these pictures can be gorgeous, and not really realize how ominous the situation is around. This is Encinitas. This image came to us again from another college student, this one from U.C. San Diego. He says he's actually getting ready to evacuate, and was trying to get out of there, but took a few shots for us here as well.
And then we have one other set here from Arvin Budomo. These pictures, once we get to the next one here, this is from Mr. Budomo, said this was happening right across the highway from him, said his home not particularly in danger, but this is in Escondido, California.
But this is on the 78 Freeway there just south, and he said this is right across the freeway from him. This is part of the Witch Fire. This is the smoke you're seeing there from the Witch Fire. And wow. We have seen reports and people telling that sure enough when that smoke comes in, the daytime seems like night. Had another I-Reporter saying had all the lights on in my house at 2:00 in the afternoon because it was just pitch black dark around me because of this smoke and this fire.
So, these images. And, again, our I-Reporters, we can't say it enough, we thank you so much for what you do in helping us tell these stories. Oftentimes, it's some of the best images we get are from the I-Reporters, but be careful out there.
LEMON: And, T.J., let's say it together, I-Reporters, thank you.
HOLMES: Thank you.
LEMON: Thank you. We appreciate it. OK.
Thanks a lot to you, too, sir.
NGUYEN: Well, this thing is also visible from outer space. The California wildfires are showing up on NASA satellite images. Take a look. This is San Diego County in the northern Baja Peninsula. You can see the smoke there. And in this image we see both the San Diego and Malibu fires. And here is a view of the California coast that shows smoke from at least seven different fires in California and two more in Baja.
Reporter Michael Shappee of KFWB News Radio, he has gotten a lot of look -- gotten a real close look at some of the Malibu neighborhoods in harm's way. And he's with us now, joining us by telephone.
I have just been sitting here, reading some of the information about you. You have been going to the command center and also speaking -- going to people's homes. Some of them don't want to leave.
MICHAEL SHAPPEE, KFWB REPORTER: Well, that's true. There are some cases where it's mandatory that they have to. The L.A. County Sheriff's Department is, you know, demanding people they leave for their own safety, because these hillside homes are on thin streets, and you can't get out in the nick of time if you need so, so they basically say don't take chances, get out.
Right now, I'm looking at one of the canyons that is fully involved. We have got just columns and columns of smoke pumping out of what is called Carbon Canyon, right next to Pacific Coast Highway, which is the very popular highway here in Southern California.
They are in a pitched battle right now, air choppers doing water drops, trying to save multimillion homes in the hills. So far, five have been lost in Malibu. And that's absolutely astounding, considering what we're up against, wind gusts of 55 miles an hour, single-digit humidity. It's just amazing to watch the cooperation between the different agencies.
I just watched about six different fire trucks go up one road into the canyons here to do structure protection for homes. They're coming from places like Tulare County, Reedley -- I don't even know where Reedley is -- and Clovis and Merced counties. These are in Northern California. So, we have got a great aid set up between areas here in Southern California.
LEMON: And, Michael, I just want to question you a little bit. How long have been covering or living in that area and seeing this stuff?
SHAPPEE: Well, I have been reporting for KFWB for 17 years.
(CROSSTALK) LEMON: Seventeen years. OK. And even if it's just a small fire and your home is involved, it's huge to you. Comparatively, from what you have witnessed out there, how does this stack up? Is this unprecedented, to have so many people have to leave their homes?
SHAPPEE: No. Actually, I'm surprised. This area in 1993, we lost 393 homes in literally a matter of three hours.
But we have learned a lot since then, brush clearance, cooperation. Agencies can communicate within interagencies. So they have learned a lot, and I don't know exactly what they are going to chalk it up to, but things have not been nearly as devastating as they were in 1993. And it could be just luck.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Yes. And, Michael, you're there. You're doing your reports, and you're speaking to people. Tell us what they're telling you, what they're talking to you about. Share some of their stories with us.
SHAPPEE: Well, what they're saying is that they don't want to leave. It's funny. You walk or you drive down Pacific Coast Highway, it is absolutely closed to people who are nonresidents and reporters and emergency personnel.
But you see people sitting on the curb, smoke wafting around them, and they have got masks over their faces to try and protect them from the smoke. But they're just sitting there. They're just not going to leave. They want to make sure that their stuff is safe, not just maybe from fire, but also from the potential for looting in the area.
I have seen a couple of people standing on their roofs, no fire near them, but lots of smoke. They're holding garden hoses. They are going to do battle until the bitter end, apparently.
LEMON: Yes. What's something, the most interesting thing you would say you have seen? Is there something unusual that you had never before as a reporter and that you're witnessing now in all of this?
SHAPPEE: Well, I can tell you right now I'm at what kind of is a makeshift evacuation point. It's a beachside restaurant, a large parking lot. And I saw a guy take out a very, very large turtle. It probably weighed about 70 pounds. And it was alive. And so, he's probably evacuating that from his backyard, I would imagine.
LEMON: There you go. I always ask those, because you always see something unusual when you go to a story. At least, in something of this magnitude, something's bound to be unusual and to catch your attention.
Michael Shappee, we thank you,sir, KFWB News Radio.
NGUYEN: Let's take you now to CNN correspondent Dan Simon, who is in Rancho Bernardo, which is in San Diego County, seven fires burning in that county alone.
What is the situation on the ground where you are, Dan?
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Betty.
It's pretty unbelievable. We are standing on one block where I'm looking around and I'm seeing eight homes that have been completely leveled by this fire, the fires still smoldering on this block.
And I'm looking off in the distance here. I see a ridge and I'm seeing more flames and a lot more homes in this particular area. So, we're just seeing total devastation. One thing that really strikes me as you drive around San Diego, we have been here for about two hours now.
It's just a ghost town. Everybody has left, which obviously is a good thing. But it's just striking to see nobody on the streets. The only thing you're seeing, you're seeing firefighters and police officers who are blocking all the streets, but definitely the folks here in San Diego have heeded the warn, they have packed up, and we are seeing obviously widespread destruction here.
NGUYEN: Are the streets safe enough for people to try to maneuver out of these neighborhoods?
SIMON: Yes and no.
Obviously, when you have active flames, you don't want to go into these streets. But now for the most part, we can sort of navigate through now that the flames have mostly been put out, at least on this one block, but firefighters are keeping people at bay. They're letting the media go across, so we're obviously trying to be very safe. But it's a very smoky environment, not a good place to be.
NGUYEN: And is it at a point, Dan, where you're watching firefighters pretty much pick between their homes that they can and cannot save?
SIMON: That's exactly right.
And with these embers, it's just unbelievable to see which homes go up in flames and which homes don't. On this one particular block, I would say about half of them have gone down and the other half are up. So it's just sort of random.
NGUYEN: It's got to be just devastating for those who have stayed behind to save what little that they can, to just sit there and watch just so helplessly.
SIMON: Yes. There's absolutely nothing they can do. I mean this is something that -- it's just a total random event. If you get one of these flying embers that, you know, gets close to your home, all you can do is watch. That's exactly right. And we have our satellite truck on the way, so we're going to be bringing these pictures to you live in just a -- just a short while.
NGUYEN: All right, Dan.
We'll be talking with you very shortly.
Dan Simon is coming to us from Rancho Bernardo, which is in San Diego County, one of the main areas where these wildfires are just burning out of control today.
Well, fire is the enemy. But so far, the weather is, too -- hot, dry, windy. It is just a nightmare for firefighters.
Our severe weather expert, Chad Myers, shows us the forecast and a virtual bird's eye view of the ravaged region. You don't want to go anywhere.
You're watching CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: On Friday, the Dow Industrials notched their third biggest point loss of the year.
So, let's go now to CNN's Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange to see how things are affecting trading today.
How's it going -- Susan?
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's been a volatile day. The good news is that we're not seeing much of anything for the Dow Industrials right now. Perhaps the bulls are resting -- ready to make their charge. You know, the Dow not only the third worst point loss of the year on Friday, but the Dow was down every day of the week. Down 100 points, pretty close to the open this morning. The bulls fighting back. Right now, we're pretty much at the flat line. The Nasdaq is hanging in there pretty good. It's better than a 1/2 a percent.
A couple of stocks I want to mention to you very quickly. Schering-Plough, the being pharmaceutical company -- its shares down more than 13.5 percent, reporting its quarterly earnings at missed estimates. And that's really one of the focuses right now. We are still in the early stages of earnings season. We know that the American economy is slowing down. We're expecting that the corporate earnings we'll see for this just past quarter will be the slowest in five years. And so we've been watching those very closely.
Financials, for instance, really bearing the brunt of the credit card crunch, as well as losses in the housing market.
Another company that we're watching today, another stock, is Microsoft. Its shares are up just about $.25. Microsoft giving up a nine year battle with the European Union. It was an antitrust battle -- something similar to what we saw here in the U.S. -- saying it won't appeal a decision by a European Union court last month which said it would have to unbundle its Media Player software from its ubiquitous Windows operating system, as well as give its competitors information for their software to work with the Windows operating system. So a big decision for Microsoft on that.
But otherwise a slow day in the markets. And we'll be talking to you later, closer to the closing bell.
Back to you -- Betty.
NGUYEN: All right.
Thank you, Susan.
LEMON: All right, CNN is working all the resources, including our affiliates there in the California area who have been working on this massive -- these massive wildfires.
A couple of our reporters -- KGTV reporters -- here's what they had to say. They filed these stories just a little bit ago.
JAN: Well, the winds have kicked up quite a bit here in the past half an hour or so -- I think the last time that we were here with you live in Rancho Bernardo.
We're now on Hayden Hall Court, which butts up against Escala Drive. And we want to show you this home. Now, this cul-de-sac is quite the opposite of the other cul-de-sac we've been showing you for the past few hours. This one has seven homes. Only one was devastated, whereas the other one -- it was -- there was only one house standing out of the five.
But this owner had the forethought to pull his car out of the driveway. He had a 19 -- or he has a 1935 classic Ford.
I'm not sure if Steve can show you or not, but the front tire is the only part of the car that has any kind of damage -- some fire damage to the front of it, flat obviously. But, for the most part, I think this homeowner wanted to save his car. And by thinking ahead and doing what he did, by backing it -- he or she backing it out of the driveway, it saved probably one of their possessions that they wanted to save.
And I want to show you this house right here. About a couple of hours ago, we saw some flames go up in the brush in the back of the house. But fire crews were quick to get onto the house. They got here quickly and went out to the backyard, sprayed it immediately before that fire spread over to the roof. And you can see fire crews in the back right now. They've been trying to knock this fence down for about two-and-a-half hours, three hours now. It lights up and then it goes down and lights up. And the police have come in. They've knocked it down with their hands. A swimming pool -- which you can't see behind it -- there's a swimming pool that's just filled with black soot right now. But this home has been protected by the fire crew and this could have been the second home on this block.
I'm going toss things now over to Steve Fiorina, who has more about the home on a hillside that was also saved by fire crews -- Steve. STEVE FIORINA, WGTV CORRESPONDENT: Jan, thank you. Before we get into that, a couple of fire captains just walked -- drove by. And I stopped and asked where they are doing -- where they are here and what they're doing in other areas around this. This is mostly mop upright now in this part of Rancho Bernardo. They say there is still the bulk of this fire on the west side now of I-15, over in the Four S Ranch area, the east side of Black Mountain. That's where they think they've got the worst problems.
At this side, back over toward Poway, it's down by Poway Reservoir, where they are having the most fighting for the fires.
As you see, fire trucks going by. They just unloaded a crew and made sure that that hot spot over there was taken care of. And now they're moving around -- cruising around. There's another house just up here -- Steve, if you can -- as the fire truck goes by, we're moving slowly to our left. You can't really see much except a chimney through the trees there. That house was fully engulfed about 45 minutes ago. They put massive structure protection on the side of it, downwind from us, and they saved that house. I looked at it and I thought they were putting water and it was going for 20 minutes to half an hour and still going.
And I thought is this going to pay off?
But it did. They were able to keep it away from that house. They are having some victories here as we go through the day.
NGUYEN: Well, not only are firefighters on the ground, but the military is springing into action. Let us tell you how.
Barbara Starr joins us now from the Pentagon. I understand military families are being obviously affected by these fires and, in fact, the military is saying we're going to step in to help you find your loved ones.
BARBARA STARR, PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's exactly right, Betty.
As many of our viewers may know, San Diego -- Southern California is a very large U.S. Navy community. San Diego is a Navy town.
We've talked to officials out there. And at this hour, 19,000 military families, both military and civilian Navy families, are living under mandatory evacuation orders. Most of them, they believe, have now left their homes. Military evacuation centers have been set up. And, of course, what concerns the Navy is that -- they're doing a nose count.
Is everybody out?
Is everybody safe?
And, secondly, of course, they're trying to get a hold now of sailors deployed at sea on duty, overseas in the war, who may be from San Diego, on board their ships or even in Iraq or Afghanistan, who may have loved ones back home affected by the fire. So the Navy is working to try and contact any overseas military members who may have family in San Diego affected by all of this.
What we are told is the military facilities in San Diego have told the people who are there only essential personnel should report to work. The military hospitals may be ratcheting back on everything except for essential military medical procedures.
And as for the Marines, who are a little further up the highway at Camp Pendleton and in Oceanside, just north of San Diego, they tell us that they are now canceling training in the field with any equipment or any munitions, of course, that could have any sparks. They don't want to inadvertently set off any more trouble with any of their actions. So the military very much affected by all of this -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Absolutely.
CNN's Barbara Starr joining us live from the Pentagon with that portion of the story.
Thank you, Barbara.
Well, the home of the San Diego Chargers has become an evacuation center. About a thousand people who fled their San Diego homes reportedly have taken refuge at Qualcomm Stadium.
Meanwhile, though, San Diego police are being pressed into service. All officers and off duty detectives have been ordered to help with evacuations. Many people are apparently fighting orders to leave. And along the border, National Guard troops have been forced to evacuate at least one of their barracks. But a spokesman says the border is still secure.
Of course, moving a quarter million people to safety no small feat. A lot of families across the country are wondering, though, whether their loved ones are safe. We talked to Barbara Starr about that just minutes ago. But some families may have been separated or you may have friends and family who you need to hear from to let them know that you're OK, and that they're OK, as well.
CNN would like to help you with that. Send us your stories of what you went through, how you got to safety and how you are doing right now. We'll post your e-mails so that your family and the general public know that you're safe.
Send us e-mails, photos or any video, if you have it, to CNN.com/ireport.
And, Don, this is so very important, especially right now, not only with the fire situation, but people are on their cell phones and a lot of those lines are tied up. And this may be one of the only few ways out there in which you can get a message to your family member.
LEMON: Yes, especially if you're going to some place -- they are telling people to go to a library or what have you... NGUYEN: Right.
LEMON: ...and a lot of them have Internet connections...
NGUYEN: Everyone is there with their phone, yes.
LEMON: ...and you can use the Internet. You can go on to the CNN Web site, go to the I-Reports and let people know how you're doing. And then, if you're at home and you're wondering about your folks there, people you know, check it out -- cnn.com/ireport.
Betty, we've been telling our viewers about this castle that was involved in this.
NGUYEN: Oh, yes. So sad.
LEMON: It's called the Castle Kashan. And it stood for 30 years on a seaside hill in Malibu. It was a fairy tale structure, on the market earlier this year for -- get this -- $17 million. Well, today it's a picturesque pile of rubble.
More from CNN's Tony Harris now.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TONY HARRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A landmark castle, a monumental fire -- what was once regal is now in ruins. On an ordinary day, Castle Kashan was picture perfect. But the past 24 hours have been anything but ordinary for residents along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.
DANIEL COLLINS, CASTLE QUEST: When I woke up this morning, you couldn't even see outside the window there was so much smoke. It was quite a way to wake up.
HARRIS: Daniel Collins' day did not improve. Collins was staying at Castle Kashan as a house guest of philanthropist and socialite Lily Lawrence, the daughter of a former Iranian oil minister. The two escaped as bricks were raining down.
COLLINS: Right before we left the property, they told us that the castle couldn't be saved.
HARRIS: Parched conditions -- one of the driest years on record -- erratic, powerful Santa Ana Winds -- all three combined igniting a threat into a reality.
COLLINS: We only had a couple moments to gather some things. We never got back into the castle.
HARRIS: The castle wasn't in the fire's direct path, but whipping, unpredictable winds fanned the embers and firefighters were soon battling an unstoppable wall of flames. Lawrence says the loss is in the double-digit millions -- family heirlooms burned, paintings and Elvis Presley memorabilia bought from his Graceland estate were all destroyed.
The castle itself was only about 30 years old. Built in the late 1970s by Dr. Thomas Hodges, it was used as a setting for shows like "The Rockford Files."
COLLINS: It was incredibly beautiful and it was filled with priceless antiques and a view of the mountains in the back and a view of the ocean in the front. And it's just a wonderful place to be.
HARRIS: Tony Harris, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Wow, Chad, just look at that.
For those of you who remember "The Rockford Files" in the '70s -- and this has stood, what -- it stood for 70 years. Sadly, to show the impact of this -- you've got pictures of before and after, right?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Right around Malibu -- actually the coast goes east to west.
LEMON: Right.
MYERS: Everybody thinks that California is north and south.
But I'm going to zoom into where this castle was -- and part of it still is. But, Ontario, your winds are 23; Palmdale, 28; 30 miles per hour. And as we zoom into L.A., Long Beach -- notice this part of the east-west part of Malibu -- the church, the fire in Malibu Canyon -- the fire started north of this area and blew southward all the way through Presbyterian Church. And then right there would be the castle. And I think we have the castle on one of our other pictures here. This is actually Microsoft's Virtual Earth. It's amazing. You can probably see how many cars are in your driveway -- well, at least when they took the picture.
Here is the castle. We're going to zoom right in on it here. Someone flew over this for Microsoft Virtual Earth and took the pictures. And there you go. You can actually -- from a couple of different angles -- a beautiful structure for sale for about $18 million in the spring. And it obviously -- it didn't sell. They were still in there. They were trapped in it for a while. But very, very unfortunate.
The good news is, I guess, the 300 homes that were lost during the 1993 fire -- and so far with this fire, only about five structures are actually lost, although the fire is obviously still completely out of control -- Don.
LEMON: Chad, to see the picture before and then those fires there, the flames and the rubble from (INAUDIBLE)...
MYERS: Built about -- built about 30 years ago, I think, from what I was reading. But...
LEMON: Yes, all right.
MYERS: Yes.
LEMON: Very sad.
All right, Chad, you're a busy man today.
MYERS: Oh, yes.
LEMON: We're going to continue to check back.
MYERS: All right.
LEMON: Thanks, sir.
MYERS: You bet.
NGUYEN: All right, we're going to take a break from the fires for just a second.
We want to tell you about this. Al Jazeera plays what it calls a new audio tape from Osama bin Laden. We're going to have much more on that. It's a developing story, coming up.
You're watching the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: We want to tell you that Al Jazeera has aired a new audio tape said to be from Osama bin Laden. It's not yet been confirmed that it is the Al Qaeda leader.
But CNN's Arab affairs expert, Octavia Nasr, says it certainly does sound like him.
She tells us more about the message.
OCTAVIA NASR, SENIOR EDITOR, ARAB AFFAIRS: Basically, it is a message that we haven't heard before. It does not have any time markers, so we cannot determine for sure when it was taped, when it was recorded.
But, basically, he is addressing the people of Iraq. He has what seems to be a new message -- basically what -- when he called on Iraq earlier to attack anyone who deals with the infidels, in this message, he's calling on all Iraqis of all conscience to unify under the flag of the nation of Islam; basically calling on the religious leaders and tribal leaders, everybody, to get people under Islam, basically saying don't follow leaders, don't follow groups, don't follow countries, follow Islam.
A very different message from Osama bin Laden. Like I said it is something that we haven't heard before. And it definitely shows a shift in the way he is looking at what's going on in Iraq.
LEMON: Just -- and you say it shows a shift. A shift in what way?
What do you mean by that?
It's showing a shift in what could happen, how he's asking people to unify?
Is it against American forces or forces that are within the country?
How is this a shift?
NASR: The portions that we heard do not say against whom. But we obviously know who he wants the forces to be against -- definitely the American forces, the coalition and anyone who aid them.
What's interesting about this message is that the last message we heard from bin Laden about Iraq, he was calling on people basically to fight each other. I remember on the set we talked about how he was basically pitting Sunnis against Shiites, telling them, look, it doesn't matter if you're killing other Muslims, what matters is that you should get rid of anyone who aids the Americans in their work in Iraq.
LEMON: Right.
NASR: Here there's a shift. Some people, like myself, when you monitor bin Laden on a regular basis, you listen to his messages, you know where he's going, you have to take this as a sign of weakness, that he is looking at Iraq and basically seeing that there is a split among the fighters, among the militants, among the insurgents.
LEMON: Right.
NASR: And basically he's calling on them to get back together and find one enemy, because right now they're fighting each other. And it seems that he's seeing this as a failing proposition at this point.
LEMON: CNN's senior editor for Arab affairs, Octavia Nasr.
NGUYEN: We want to take a look at the trading day and that closing bell. The numbers from Wall Street, all of that straight ahead right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Don't go anywhere.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, if the wildfires weren't enough, chad, there's severe weather coming onshore.
What do you know?
MYERS: Yes, I haven't been able to talk about this for most of this show, but just so you know, Alabama, even parts of Georgia, it's going to be a severe weather day for you. The latest tornado warnings for Southwestern Mobile County. This storm rotating just to the south of western Dolphin Island. And it may be running at the town of Mobile. It is a pretty good circulation there. The warning goes to 3:30 Central daylight time -- at least another half hour for that. We'll keep you up to date during THE SITUATION ROOM, as well -- Betty.
NGUYEN: OK, thank you, Chad.
MYERS: All right.
NGUYEN: Moving a quarter million people to safety and out of the line of fires that you see here is no small feat. A lot of families across the country are wondering whether their loved ones in California are safe. Some families may have been separated or you may have friends and family who need to hear from you.
CNN would like to help you. Here's what you can do. Send us your stories of what you went through, how you got to safety and how you're doing right now. We're going to post your e-mail so that your family and the general public will know that you are safe.
Send your e-mails, photos or even video, if you have it, to cnn.com/ireport.
The closing bell is in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: It's now time.
The closing bell is about to ring on Wall Street.
LEMON: Absolutely right.
Susan Lisovicz standing by with a final look at the trading day -- hello, Susan.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi.
LEMON: We didn't see much of you.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
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