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California Wildfires; Interview With Colorado Congressman Mike Coffman

Aired May 15, 2014 - 15:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Got to move along, top of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

We are following breaking news, a possible tornado on the ground in Miami.

(WEATHER UPDATE)

BALDWIN: Let's move along and talk about the big story out of Washington today.

The nation's chief of veterans affairs says -- quote, unquote -- he is "mad as hell," Eric Shinseki testifying today and mad as hell, he says, about our American heroes dying at home while allegedly awaiting appointments at VA hospitals, mad as hell about charges first raised by CNN of these dual wait lists, potential cover-ups and administrators gaming the system, not mad enough apparently, though, to raise some hell himself and raise it now within the ranks of the health care system. Got to wait for those official reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. ERIC SHINSEKI, SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS: Evidence that 40 veterans may have perished awaiting scheduling, the I.G. is going to get to the bottom of that. He is the lead in this comprehensive review. I don't get out ahead of him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Isn't there evidence here of criminal wrongdoing, that is, falsifying records, false statements to the federal government? That's a crime under the...

SHINSEKI: It should be, yes.

Again, I will work with the I.G. to make that available to him, if that is his request.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, may I suggest, respectfully, Mr. Secretary, that it's your responsibility to make that judgment about the I.G.s?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Just a quick footnote, I.G., that is government speak for inspector general. An I.G. investigates problems, issues reports that sometimes get acted upon. So, with that, I want to bring in Congressman Mike Coffman, Republican of Colorado, who is demanding that Shinseki resign. He joins me live from Denver.

Congressman, nice to have you on. Welcome.

REP. MIKE COFFMAN (R), COLORADO: Great to be with you.

BALDWIN: Congressman, has Shinseki by chance, assuming you listened very closely to the testimony today, has he won you over at all?

COFFMAN: No.

And this goes far beyond the testimony today. I am a Marine Corps veteran, but more importantly -- or as important maybe -- I'm the chairman of the Oversight Investigation Subcommittee and the House Veterans Affair Committee. And we have been looking at problems, chronic, systemic problems in the Veterans Administration since I have been chairman of that subcommittee last -- in January 2013.

And there's just a pattern of problems. He is little more than a figurehead on top of a bureaucracy that is dysfunctional. Now, I want to say something about the men and women who serve, the rank and file in the Veterans Administration, the men and women who really care about our veterans, and a third of which are veterans themselves.

BALDWIN: Sure. Sure.

I fully aware you're a veteran and I am glad to be talking to you. But the real question, getting back to the resignation issue, why not resign? That was actually a question that Shinseki was asked today. He said unequivocally no, not going to happen. Let me just play some of that exchange, sir.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you believe that you're ultimately responsible for this?

SHINSEKI: I am. This is not a job. I'm here to accomplish a mission. I intend to continue this mission until I have satisfied either that goal or I am told by the commander in chief that my time has been served.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I'm just wondering, Congressman, we heard testimony today that some of those problems, they go way back. And you have been working this.

COFFMAN: Sure.

BALDWIN: You have been looking at documents as far back as the year 2000, at least.

COFFMAN: Sure. BALDWIN: Why blame Shinseki? Is this not more about a bigger culture there at the VA?

COFFMAN: There is no question that there are cultural problems.

But he has not been able to make a difference. He's not changed -- he's not been able to -- he's never said, this is an outrage. He certainly does at this time because now it's a national story, because we have had problems before. We have three major medical VA centers, hospitals under construction that are each over $100 million over budget, years behind schedule.

We have veterans dying from preventable illnesses. And we have a culture of leadership in the Veterans Administration that is about cover-up.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: But, Congressman, if you call -- if the word you choose to use to describe Shinseki is just a figurehead and let's say he does go away and you illustrate problem after problem after problem after problem, how does that really help things? How does this stop.

COFFMAN: Right.

(CROSSTALK)

COFFMAN: Yes, sure. You have a losing team, you change the coach.

I served in the Army before the Marine Corps. And I really value and honor his service in the United States Army. And there's a model of leadership in the United States Army. Lead, follow or get out of the way. He's not led. He certainly is not there to follow. And it's time for him to get out of the way.

And the president, if he's not going to resign voluntarily...

BALDWIN: Well, what is the solution?

COFFMAN: The president of the United States needs to get rid of him. The president of the United States needs to treat this not as a political problem, but as the fact that we're not meeting the obligations to our nation's veterans. And so what we need is leadership in there that will make a difference. And he's not doing it.

BALDWIN: OK. OK. Congressman Mike Coffman, thank you so much for joining us.

COFFMAN: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Obviously with our huge investigative series on this, dedicating a lot of time to this very issue here on CNN. Appreciate it, sir, very much.

Have to take you now to some live pictures, huge plumes of dark, thick smoke here. This is one of at least eight wildfires raging. Look at this. This camera pans left. This is the San Diego area, Southern California, record-breaking weather conditions taking their toll.

My goodness. The fires have scorched nearly 10,000 acres. Tens of thousands have been told to evacuate. Many of the flames, as you can see, far from being under control.

And then we have this from way up in space, high-res satellite image from NASA. This is the Southern California coastline here on the left side of your screen. And you can see, if you look closely, plumes of smoke that far out.

This is what it looked like yesterday when much of the fires had erupted. Winds blew thick blocks of smoke toward the Pacific Ocean there. And you can see them blowing on the left side of your screen over that blue water.

Look closer in here on the ground, many people trying to escape the flames. They also found time to record video of homes just engulfed in flames. This iReport that we want to show you comes from 16-year- old Brandon Breeze. He shot this. Here it is.

He and his father were just passing through a Carlsbad neighborhood when they witnessed this house just explode.

So, joining me on the phone is Brandon.

And, Brandon, just describe to me. We're looking at some of your pictures. I imagine you saw a lot more than what you all were able to share. Tell me what you saw.

BRANDON BREEZE, WITNESS: Oh, it was is so intense. We are just walking up to this house and it is completely engulfed in flames.

And as we're watching it, we're just watching it and just a deafening blast as a huge ball of fire just comes out of the house. It was intense.

BALDWIN: Were you seeing anyone? I know you don't live in Carlsbad. You all just happened to be there and were walking through, you and your dad. What were people saying who lived in the neighborhood?

BREEZE: There was just one woman crying. She was just bawling her eyes out. I felt so bad for her. And there was this other guy just like yelling at firefighters to save his home. It was just really, really intense.

BALDWIN: It makes my stomach turn looking at the pictures, not just your pictures you shared with us, but other pictures on the left side of the screen.

And you can see all the flashing lights here of the firefighters on the ground. And hopefully with the wind conditions they can attack this from the air.

But final question to you. I know you don't live in Carlsbad. Are you OK? Are your friends, your loved ones, is everyone all right?

BREEZE: I'm well. I'm doing very good. And everyone I know is well. I don't know anyone that is actually hurt from the fires, but -- yes.

BALDWIN: That's a good thing. That's a good thing.

Brandon Breeze, thank you so much for calling in and giving us the iReport.

Folks, just a reminder, just iReport.com.

So, we're watching the fires here in Southern California, just huge, nine different fires burning there, many, many people being forced to evacuate.

We are also watching another weather story, Southern Florida. Jennifer Gray, we going to her or we're going to break?

Go to Jennifer. Oh, on fire.

Jennifer, we're going to stay with you on fire.

Looking at these pictures, it makes my stomach churn.

JENNIFER GRAY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it really does.

This is unprecedented, because we are seeing very, very dry conditions in California. We haven't seen the state this dry ever in history of California. So, we are going to be in a very scary situation as we go through the next couple of months.

Temperatures will start to back off a little bit as we go through tomorrow into the weekend. Temperatures have been running 20 to 30 degrees above normal, Brooke. But they are going to start to slack off a little bit. We will start to get help with the winds as well. We have had those strong Santa Ana winds. We should start to get a wind shift as we go through the next day or so.

The winds should start to relax tonight, get better by tomorrow, and then we will get more of an onshore flow as we go through Friday to Saturday. That is going to start to increase the humidity levels a little bit, bring in a little bit more moisture. And that is going to help with the fire danger. So, it should get better as we go through the weekend, but more importantly those temperatures have been oh so hot, and the firefighters trying to fight those flames in temperatures triple digits. Unbelievable.

BALDWIN: I'm just -- we just want to stay on the pictures and continue this conversation here.

And when we're talking about San Marcos, we were talking to Dan Simon. He's one of our correspondents there in the San Diego area. He was in Carlsbad, which is an area where a lot of homes are gone. Can you tell -- I don't know if you or someone in the Weather Center, if we can do this on the fly, show me on a map where San Marcos is in conjunction with, say, Carlsbad or San Diego or even L.A. I just want to understand where this is, Jennifer.

GRAY: I believe we may have Google Earth right here. There we go.

I'm just going to do this on the fly. There is San Marcos right there. Here is where that fire danger has been over the past couple of days. Those little red box indicators are little hot spots out there. So, it's just to the west. There's Camp Pendleton right there that you can see.

And then we will zoom in just a little bit more. And those fires are just on the northwest side, if you can get an idea right there. But with those offshore winds, it's been pulling all that smoke into those very heavily populated areas. And so, with that change in wind, like I was mentioning a moment ago, those onshore winds will really start to help things and that should be happening tonight into tomorrow morning.

BALDWIN: Hopefully, as we talk to you Jennifer -- I'm just staying on these pictures -- we can get somebody hopefully on the phone, maybe someone who lives in this area, a firefighter or someone from our L.A. bureau. I would love to just hear a little bit more about the conditions as we are looking at this.

The sky, it's just orange. It's orange looking up and the fire almost just coming from every single direction, and looking at the fire trucks, just one, two three in this picture alone.

When we talk about these fires, these brushfires, these wildfires, Jennifer, we talk a lot I know about wind. And you mentioned wind. Do we know -- I mean, I know it's hot there. But are at least firefighters able to attack this from the air or is it too windy?

GRAY: Yesterday, no.

We had winds 50 and 60 miles per hour in the foothills, in the mountains. It was extremely windy. The wind started dying down late yesterday, so they were able to get back in the air by 5:00 or 6:00 Eastern time, so say 2:00 and 3:00 yesterday afternoon. They were able to fight in the air all afternoon yesterday.

They should have been able to fight in the air today. And then as we go to tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday, with the winds really dying down, we get more of that onshore flow, they should really be able to get this under control. So, we're hoping, we're thinking that it shouldn't get any worse, because the winds aren't going to be as bad and they will start to get a little more moisture. And so they should be able to get it under control in the next 24 hours.

BALDWIN: Nine different fires, 9,000-plus acres scorched. You see your screen, tens of thousands being evacuated as we watch these fires here in the San Diego area of Southern California.

Jennifer Gray, don't go too far.

We will be talking to a reporter on the ground here in the San Diego area. Got to get a quick break in.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right, coming on breaking news here, and we're showing you a split-screen, because, wow, what an afternoon it's shaping up to be here in the world of weather.

First, you have on the left side of your massive flames here. This is the San Diego area of Southern California, specifically San Marcos and Carlsbad. So, we're going to take you to a reporter on the ground who can see all of this with his own very eyes.

On the right side of your screen, you see a lot of dark clouds. This is a live picture from Miami as a tornado has been spotted there. We're working both stories for you this afternoon, both breaking news stories.

(WEATHER UPDATE)

BALDWIN: And to California we go, to Carlsbad, specifically, as we stay glued to these pictures.

Oh, there he is, Dan Simon. Dan Simon, he's in Carlsbad.

And, Dan Simon, you're in Carlsbad, but I see those -- those -- the smoke over your right shoulder. That San Marcos, correct?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is San Marcos.

We have been keeping an eye on that giant plume of smoke for the last several hours. I would say in about -- about 15, 20 minutes ago is when things really flared up.

It also coincided with the winds kicking up as well. It had been relatively calm over the last -- at least since this morning. And then, I don't know, about -- about an hour ago, the winds just suddenly started to kick up. But that is a very dramatic scene.

That is San Marcos. I would say about three miles away from where I'm standing, there is a university over there. A whole bunch of people live over there. They're under a mandatory evacuation order. I can tell you that the university, they were supposed to have their graduation ceremony this weekend.

BALDWIN: Oh.

SIMON: We know that it's been canceled, and obviously that that -- that evacuation order is going to remain in effect at least through the night, Brooke, you would have to think.

BALDWIN: You would have to think by the looks of some of these pictures we keep seeing.

And, Dan, what about -- I know where you are, it's hot, hot, hot, and how about the wind? How bad is it?

SIMON: You know, it just kind of comes and go.

But we are expecting to see triple-digit temperatures. We're not quite there yet. But it remains hot. It's very dry. And of course that is what has enabled this fire to spread in the first place.

Remember, Brooke, we're talking about nine separate fires in San Diego County. And they all popped up basically within 24 hours. So, that right now is the most concerning. That's what authorities had been telling us since yesterday. They were keeping a very close eye on San Marcos, not quite sure why San Marcos has been the most problematic, perhaps the terrain.

But we know that they have been keeping a close eye on that one. That's where the majority of the firefighting efforts are -- of course, are at this moment -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: OK. Stay with me.

Let me talk to the control room here.

Guys, are these live pictures on the left-hand side? OK. OK.

Dan, stay with me. We're going to sneak a quick break in.

Wow, look at this picture of San Marcos, California, nine different wildfires, as Dan said.

Quick break -- back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BALDWIN: We want to just stay on these gut-wrenching pictures.

Don't want to look at me. Show the pictures. Here we go, San Marcos, California. This is the San Diego area, not too far from Carlsbad, which is where we have our correspondent, Dan Simon, who is with me.

But, as we stay on these pictures, Dan Simon, and we talk about this -- this neighborhood, I mean, huge, obvious residential area, a number of flashing lights, a lot of -- for obvious reasons, fire presence there, nine different fires burning here in Southern California. We have 9,000 acres scorched already as they continue to just pop up one by one.

And, Dan Simon, as -- let me just talk to you. When we talk about evacuations here, can you just tell me the latest numbers you have as far as how many people have been asked to evacuate these homes in the line of fire?

SIMON: Yes.

You know, Brooke, we know that 120-something-thousand received these notices. Either they got a phone call at home or they received a text message on their cell phone, 120,000 people.

In terms of how many people actually heeded that evacuation warning, we don't know. But, certainly, word got out obviously through local news and through this emergency system that they have in place in San Diego County. We're continuing to keep an eye on the plume from where I'm standing, but just to show you that you can see here in Carlsbad people still cleaning up, people going through the rubble.

This is one home over here, and then right next to it another home that burned down, and you see firefighters continuing to keep an eye on the hot spots. And just to give you an idea in terms of the unpredictable nature of fire, you can see this -- this office building behind me that burned down. You can some flames kicking up?

BALDWIN: We do, yes.

SIMON: They thought they had that fire completely out and then, all of a sudden, flames kicking up.

But, obviously, San Marcos is where most of the attention lies right now, and it's pretty dramatic.

BALDWIN: It's incredibly dramatic.

And if we can have your -- your photographer panning back to that -- to that home, it's obviously just gone where you -- they are there in Carlsbad, not to not pay attention to Carlsbad. The story right now clearly is the flames in San Marcos, but, I mean, folks in Carlsbad obviously losing homes as well.

Can you -- you have been in California here. As we talk about these different brush and wild fires and how now nine different ones have popped up, why does this happen so quickly? Tell me about the terrain.

SIMON: Well, it happens because, in particular, this -- this year, you are dealing with record drought conditions and you are dealing with hot temperatures. You throw that together and you have a recipe for disaster.

Jeff (ph), if we can just pan and we can -- we can show the neighbors here going through their belongings, trying to salvage whatever they can.

This was a relatively new home, by the way. This was a dream home for a couple. Their daughter actually just got married here last weekend.

But just in terms of the overall situation in California, it's really unprecedented. Everywhere you go, it seems like you're facing a drought. And it's not only creating a problem with fires, but even we're seeing a lack of just basic water in some communities.

So, this is really an unprecedented situation. And we're seeing it really come to light, if you will, here in San Diego County with all of these fires, again, nine fires breaking out basically within a span of 24 hours -- Brooke. BALDWIN: Frightening. Dan Simon, stay with me.

Jennifer Gray, let me bring you back in this conversation.

And when we -- when we see the map and all these different nine fires so far, they are spinning almost like tornadoes; isn't that right?

GRAY: We have heard this term firenado, or fire tornado, over the past couple of days.

And, yes, it does have some of the same characteristics. I mean, this is intense heat. And we all know that heat rises. And so the heat is rising very quickly. You have very, very gusty winds. It creates almost like a whirlwind, if you will, like an eddy. And so that's what gives it that tornado-looking effect, very creepy-looking.

We have seen so many of them with the new technology, with smartphones. We have seen just all this video the past couple of fire seasons. But, yes, it is basically just the heat rising very quickly and then the winds whipping around, making sort of a whirlwind or an eddy.

BALDWIN: And worsening it, the drought conditions that Dan Simon was just talking about there in California.

GRAY: Yes.

BALDWIN: Jennifer, thank you so much.

Got to get another break in. We are going to stay on this breaking here out of the San Diego right now.

And top priority right now, as you have seen in these pictures, San Marcos, California. Got someone on the line who is going to talk to me about they're seeing, what they're dealing with, how they're trying to get people out next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)