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Fierce Wildfires Burn in Southern California
Aired May 15, 2014 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: BALDWIN: Breaking news here on CNN, nine different fires burning in the San Diego area, the number one priority now, as we are hearing, according to the governor, is what you're looking at, San Marcos, California, specifically.
Sarah divan, amidst everything else she has going on here as communications officer with the city of San Marcos, is good enough to jump on the phone with me.
And, so, Sarah, let's just begin with you have been in multiple briefings here, as we are all looking -- and by the way, our hearts and thoughts going out to you and all the folks in the San Diego area.
Just looking at this, the flames precariously close to these homes, tell me what you know.
SARAH DIVAN, COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER, SAN MARCOS, CALIFORNIA (via telephone): Thank you, Brooke. We really appreciate that down here in San Marcos, California.
What I can tell you is that Governor Jerry Brown has declared a state of emergency for San Diego County and the city of San Marcos will be receiving federal and state support.
Currently, we're looking at fires burning across 800 acres in San Marcos. No injuries have been reported, and based on current assessment, there has been approximately one home destroyed in San Marcos and two homes destroyed in the neighboring San Diego County area.
BALDWIN: OK. So those are the facts, Sarah, but just can you just tell me, for these families who have to quickly leave, or other families who are thinking maybe they should leave, what do you want families to know?
DIVAN (via telephone): What we want families to know from a city perspective is that mandatory evacuations are still in place and that resources are available to them.
We have established evacuation centers and crews are really working collaboratively around the clock to make that we're preserving their safety.
We're also working as diligently as possible to establish that safety so that we can return them to their homes, but we still do not have an estimate on when that might be. BALDWIN: OK, Sarah Divan, thank you so much for jumping on the line, communications officer, city of San Marcos, as we now know, as you've been saying, 800 acres burned, one home gone. Sarah, thank you so much.
Let's hop back over to Carlsbad, California, which is just about 30 miles from San Marcos, where we have Dan Simon on the ground for us in front of a home that is just gone.
And so, Dan Simon, I understand you're standing next to someone who lives in the area.
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. You know, first of all, Brooke, we're continuing to watch the plume from this vantage point.
It actually at one point appeared that we saw three separate plumes, but here in Carlsbad, right here on this street, we had two homes that burned to the ground.
This is the homeowner. This is Sophie Payne. You've lived in this home since 2006. Is that right?
SOPHIE PAYNE, HOME DESTROYED IN FIRE: Right.
SIMON: And, obviously, we see it looks like your friends and relatives going through the house. Can you --
PAYNE: All of my cousins and all my relatives and my husband's in there and my -- brother-in-law, sitting right next to me, and it's quite crazy, actually.
SIMON: At one point, it was very emotional, because -- I'm going to go over here and --
PAYNE: (Inaudible) to get up all the stuff, and it's like, what the heck do I do with it?
SIMON: I want to show something real quick over here. This is something that you found -- you found this in your -- in the family safe, is that right? Can you explain what that is?
PAYNE: It was in the safe, and it was all (inaudible) and all weddings and my daughter made me a lot of different things from when I was younger. And it's just falling apart. (Inaudible).
They are trying to get in the big safe over there, but they can't get into that and I have (inaudible).
SIMON: Sophie, where were you when the fire broke out? And how did you know that your home had caught fire?
PAYNE: We were all the way down in (inaudible) seeing to his auntie because his aunt needs help. The husband passed away a little while ago, so every Wednesday we go over there and see her.
And the brother-in-law called us, and he said, where do I park the fire truck? And I says, Fire truck? He doesn't belong to the fire truck. He doesn't belong to the fire company or anything.
So that was a joke, first of all. Then he says, I think I seen on the news that your house is on fire. and I says, No, it's not.
And then my daughter called and then it's helter skelter from there, but of course we couldn't get in here until 5:30.
So when we got here, my son was really involved in trying to catch the dog, his dog, you know, kept saying, Where's Rocky? Where's Rocky? So they jumped the fence and they went all the way to the back and then they found the dog and he was still alive.
SIMON: Let me ask you something. So you've lived in San Diego for how long?
PAYNE: In San Diego, I lived -- how long have I been here?
SIMON: OK, you've been --
PAYNE: Quite a long -- 42 years.
SIMON: Nine fires breaking out at once, we know that this area is prone to fires. We've seen it before. Have you ever seen anything like it?
PAYNE: Never, never, never. Never seen it here, no.
SIMON: And --
PAYNE: And we have been here since 2006.
BALDWIN: Has she ever had close calls, Dan?
SIMON: Brooke is asking if you have ever had close calls, personally, with fires before.
PAYNE: No. In El Cajon -- we lived in El Cajon. We had a two-story home with a pool and everything, and I said, Kids, we've all got to jump in the pool if anything happens.
And we saw it on the ridge, all the fires and everything else, a few years back, and I says, I never want to see another fire like this again.
Little did I know it was going to happen to me, you know? And it was quite crazy, because we had his parents with us and everything else. We had to take care of them. Of course, they've passed away now, so --
SIMON: We are very sorry this happened to you. Looks like you have a lot of people helping you go through the house and go through.
But we are continuing to keep an eye on what's happening, east of here.
In Carlsbad, we know that the fire is 60 percent contained, at least. We had a pretty good sense that things were wrapping up here in Carlsbad, then all the sudden, in San Marcos, just east of here, so that is really what people are worried about in this community right now
PAYNE: Yeah. I know. I know. I just hope this is over and done with, because he always wanted to -- my husband always wanted to live near the beach because he's a surfer.
And I said no, no, no, this is beautiful right here. Look at this. Look at that. And of course this was my dream house. And what can I say?
So now we just wait for the homeowners to come over and see to everything. You know how it is.
SIMON: We wish you the very best.
PAYNE: Thank you.
SIMON: We're glad you got out safely.
PAYNE: Thank you. Yeah, with the clothes on my back.
BALDWIN: Oh, bless.
SIMON: That is just one person's story, Brooke.
We know that 22 residences in Carlsbad burned to the ground, 18 of them in a single apartment complex.
And it appears we're going to see more houses go up, again, about three miles east of here in San Marcos, where you see that giant plume of smoke.
We know that there are a lot of military aircraft trying to fight it from the air, hundreds of firefighters on the ground.
They have plenty of resources, but it just goes to show you, you can pour tons of resources at a fire, but when you have these drought-like conditions, and it's very hot and very windy, there is really only so much you can do.
It shows you that mother nature is in charge.
Brooke?
BALDWIN: What a woman, that Sophie.
Thank you so much for grabbing her, and just her upbeat attitude, given the fact that she has lost everything, and there you were, looking through pieces that she had found, walking through the charred remains of history of her and her family's lives.
Unbelievable, Dan Simon, thank you so much for that.
We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Breaking news here as we look at these pictures from San Marcos, California, the San Diego area, we know that the governor of California, Jerry Brown, has declared -- has issued a state of emergency for San Diego County and San Marcos.
This area that you're looking at right now in both of these pictures is their number one priority.
Just talking to someone, communications officer from the city on the phone here, she told me one home has been destroyed, 800 acres scorched.
Jennifer Gray is with me. Dan Simon is with me. But, Jennifer, to you first, as we talk about the conditions and the fire on the right side just swirling.
JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's eerie.
BALDWIN: It's eerie. It's incredibly eerie. It's the winds that are coming in from the desert, it's these hot, dry winds, that is fuelling this.
GRAY: Yeah. Yeah, these Santa Ana winds that you hear so much about, the very dry, dry air from the desert, normally associated with an area of high pressure situated at the worst possible place for these Santa Ana winds, and they pull from east to west, bringing very, very dry, very hot air from the desert.
You also have this down sloping off of the mountains and pushing to the west. That is fuelling these fires. It brings those humidity levels into the single digits, and that just adds insult to injury when you're talking about these fires.
Brooke, these Santa Ana winds should start to flip a little bit by tonight into tomorrow. We should get more of an onshore breeze. That's air coming in off of the ocean. That'll pull those humidity levels up. That's what you want.
BALDWIN: That's the air full of moisture. That's what they need.
Jennifer Gray, thank you very much. Don't go too far.
Dan Simon, I'm going to go back over to you in Carlsbad, California, here, as we -- you just heard from Sophie, who owns the home in which you stand in front of, who has lost everything.
She and her family have been walking through, trying to find pictures, mementos. Can you just walk me through it?
SIMON: It's just a charred mess. This is the garage. It's kind of tough to really discern anything. You can see that bicycle over there in the corner.
But we know that, you know, you have friends and neighbors going through the house, trying to get whatever they can. I'm actually going to go on the other side of this red tape here. You can see just, for example, these are some of the things that they have been able to save, a hat, looks like some tools and some pottery over here.
And they tried to salvage -- we showed you just a few minutes ago. They tried to salvage some family photographs, and it looks like a few of them made it out. But, boy, just what a mess.
And you can see over here, firefighters still continuing to do some mop up. There still is a presence here because you never know; the flames could kick up.
You can see the firefighters over there, taking a much deserved break. Obviously they feel confident that they have gotten the hot spots out of these areas.
But you can see, again, another house, this is right next door to Sophie's, and just take a look at this. I mean, unfortunately, this is the aftermath of this devastating fire that has caused so much destruction in San Diego County, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Dan, how many homes are like Sophie's in Carlsbad? How many are gone?
SIMON: We're told it's 22 residences, two single -- four single-family homes and then 18 apartments, those 18 apartments in one building, so basically a condominium building that was leveled, but four single- family homes.
And right now as we have been showing, the concern is just east of here in San Marcos where, if you look at that plume of smoke, you look at those flames, there is a huge concern that you're going to have a whole lot of homes in that area going up in flames.
We know that firefighters are there, actively on the ground trying to contain to contain things, but it is getting much windier here on the ground. And that is a terrible mix when you add in the hot and dry conditions that we have been experiencing here in San Diego County.
They said that actually today it actually might be the hottest day of the week. They were expecting to see triple-digit temperatures. Now you throw in the wind, and that's just a recipe for disaster, as we all know.
BALDWIN: As I said before, our hearts and thoughts go out to folks in San Diego and the surrounding area right now.
Dan Simon, thank you so much.
And as Dan was talking to the homeowner whose home was just absolutely gone, you know, she has lived in San Diego, she said, for 42 years and the notion of nine different fires burning is something she has never heard of or experienced while being there in Southern California.
Quick break, back after this. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Nine different fires burning in Southern California, you're looking at these pictures of San Marcos, California. That is priority number one now for the state of California here as 800 acres now have been scorched.
One home is gone and that is the active situation. You see these firefighters here in this one neighborhood.
Jim Paxson is on the phone with me. He worked with the U.S. Forest Service, Jim, for, what, 30-plus years, so you know these conditions all too well.
I know you're driving and not in front of a TV, but let me just tell you, these flames, I mean they're almost swirling in this unreal, eerie sort of manner.
How do you as a firefighter attack these flames from the ground?
JIM PAXSON, FORMER FIREFIGHTER, U.S. FOREST SERVICE (via telephone): Well, they are prepared and prepositioned so that, any ignition, they will put all of their resources on it, all the engines, the available air tankers.
They've got a lot of fire resources in California, so they're just trying to hit these fires when they're small and not allow them to grow and get big.
But it is so hot, record temperatures, so dry, less than a third of normal moisture last winter, and those Santa Ana winds are really difficult because they just whip the flames up and blow the fire far away, out of firefighters' reach.
BALDWIN: Isn't part of the problem with these Santa Ana winds, these dry winds that are coming in from the desert, just when these firefighters may think one fire is out, and there are fires all over this hillside, as we can see in this one picture on the left-hand side of your screen, I mean, in an instant they can just flare back up, can't they?
PAXSON (via telephone): Well, yeah. You know, they are doing 100 percent mop-up, which means that they're extinguishing everything that they can see.
But an ember can be under the dirt or in a stump and the wind will cause it to glow and fan and then jump and off they go again.
So firefighting is really difficult under these extremely dry, hot, and then the Santa Ana wind conditions.
BALDWIN: Difficult may be an understatement as we look at this.
We thank you for your 30-plus years, and wishing these firefighters the best and just being safe here as they are fighting this in Southern California in the San Diego area. Jim Paxson, thank you so much, sir, for hopping on the phone. I appreciate it.
Quick break, back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: We know the priority right now from the state of California's perspective is this city you're looking at, San Marcos, California, one home gone, 800 acres scorched. This is the active fire right now that they're fighting.
But let's take you to Carlsbad, California. That's where Dan Simon is, where over 22 homes have been destroyed.
And, Dan, I understand you're standing with another homeowner?
SIMON: That's right, Brooke. This is J.J. Bannasch. He lives in this subdivision. This is actually your in-law's home that went up.
When you saw this, can you just tell us what went through your mind?
J.J. BANNASCH, RELATIVE'S HOME DESTROYED: Yeah, I mean, we saw it on TV. People were sending us screen shots on their phones of what they were seeing on the news, and so we kind of had an idea of what we were walking into, but it's kind of from the back angle looking forward.
And then once we walked up, it's kind of the last thing we wanted to see, even though we knew it was kind of going to be in this kind of form.
But we just didn't know everything was going to be so destroyed into basic quarter-sized pieces.
SIMON: And it's my understanding that you actually got married a week ago? You had your wedding reception at this home?
BANNASCH: We actually got married in Hawaii and then we had the reception here about a week after that, last Saturday, so had about a big, about 50-, 60-person person party here in the back and had a taco cart and all friends and families here.
And I guess it was the last celebration here.
SIMON: Well, it's great memories, obviously.
And we're keeping an eye on the plumes of smoke, Brooke.
J.J., thanks very much.
We're keeping an eye on these plumes of smoke. I mean, just looking at, even from this distance, I know that the flames that you're seeing there, Brooke, are quite dramatic, but even from this vantage point, three miles away, just absolutely enormous.
Brooke? BALDWIN: That's San Marcos, California, and that's where those violent flames are right now as we said, priority number one for Governor Jerry Brown and those firefighters.
Dan Simon, we'll be looking for you throughout the afternoon and evening here on CNN as we continue to stay on this story.
I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you so much for being with me.
"THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.
