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CNN International: Palisades Fire Most Destructive in Los Angeles County History; Wind Forecast Key to Stopping the California Fires; Danish Officials: Trump's Greenland Talk Seems to be Serious; Carter's Funeral in D.C., Burial in Plains, Georgia; Actor Returns to his Neighborhood Decimated by Fire; Melissa Rivers: "Our House is Totally Gone". Aired 8-9a ET

Aired January 09, 2025 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

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FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Fredricka Whitfield, and this is the CNN Newsroom. Just ahead, the destruction is unimaginable. Five fires are burning across Los Angeles County. One of them is now the most destructive LA has ever seen.

While firefighting and rescues are underway, President-Elect Donald Trump takes aim at California's Governor, saying he is to blame. Also happening, these are live pictures from Washington, D.C., where the funeral for Jimmy Carter, the 39th U.S. President begins in less than an hour.

The scenes of devastation seem to go on and on as another day of red flag wind warnings fuels wildfires across Los Angeles County. Five major wildfires are currently burning the two largest blazes still at 0 percent containment. The latest fire broke out in the Hollywood Hills late yesterday, now putting some of Los Angeles's most famed landmarks in harm's way.

So far, at least five people have lost their lives in these fires. Here's where the fires are burning at the moment. Los Angeles public schools are closed today, and shell-shocked residents are trying to come to terms with the immense damage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I saw a big ball of orange with the smoke, so it looked like it was here towards the top of the hill, and I went back to the house and got some things.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And when I was there and I've seen everybody running back and forth, and I looked to my left and just seen a fire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You ever seen anything like this in Hollywood?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, nothing like this. I never think something like that would happen over here in this area. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This hurts, and it hurts seeing the scale of it. I've lived here in the LA area my whole life, 32 years. It's never been this bad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I mean, it's really sad that there's just no -- there's no response at the moment, because the fire departments are all out. There's thousand homes burning right now. So right now, it's -- you know neighbors just trying to save their own house, and it's up to them try to save your neighbor's house. We've gotten really lucky with the rains the last couple year, but this year, we knew, with zero rain, that one big wind storm, and we were -- we were toast, and last night, it happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: In the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, the largest blaze has exploded to more than 17,000 acres. That's nearly 7000 hectares. It is now the most destructive blaze in LA County history. From the air, the devastation looks like a war zone. More than 130,000 people are under evacuation orders or warnings.

The situation was so chaotic that in some places, evacuees had to abandon their cars and continue on foot. The Governor of California touring the devastation and speaking to CNN's Anderson Cooper in Altadena, California.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Marybel Gonzalez is joining us now from the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles, with the very latest. Marybel, I mean, Jeff -- just everything behind you is simply decimated.

MARYBEL GONZALEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Fredricka, good morning. This picturesque neighborhood now looking more like a ghost town. We were on this very block just about ten hours ago, and as you can see, this one of the many shops that has burned since we were last here this happening in the overnight hours.

I just want to show you the extent of this damage. We're seeing embers, a few embers, spot fires between the rubble. This scene repeating itself block after block here in the downtown area. It's -- you know across the street, a church burned down a few blocks down, a high school also damaged by the fire. Tens of thousands of people still evacuated. And today, of course, this fire, along with the fire in Altadena, are not contained at all. 0 percent containment at this moment. WHITFIELD: And so, Marybel, talk to us about the challenges that firefighters have had of getting air assets in play. They couldn't, because the winds have been too strong.

[08:05:00]

But I've seen some images where some air assets are in use. What's the situation?

GONZALEZ: Yeah -- you know yesterday the wind was just so gusty. We literally had to brace ourselves at some times, because it was so strong, and that, of course, was making it so difficult for those air drops to happen. Now today, that wind has subsided, very different from what it was yesterday, hopefully facilitating more of those air drops.

However, officials have said that we're not yet in the clear that is because these dry conditions, the drought that we've been experiencing for several months, could cause further spotting fires, complicating their efforts.

WHITFIELD: All right, Marybel Gonzalez, we'll check back with you. Thank you so much. Earlier, a national spokesperson for the American Red Cross joined my colleague, Kasie Hunt from an evacuation center in Los Angeles to discuss the situation and what people are doing to help each other. Here's part of that interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICOLE MAUL, NATIONAL SPOKESPRESON, AMERICAN RED CROSS: Well, for a little bit of perspective, here in Los Angeles right now, it is still the three o'clock hour, so that means the folks that we're taking care of here at this shelter are really doing their best to try to get the best sleep that they can give the circumstances.

As you can imagine, this is not an easy situation for folks with thousands of people evacuated, and we've got hundreds of those folks at shelters across Los Angeles County. This is a difficult time, and as I've talked with folks who've been evacuated. As I talked with fellow Red Cross workers who also have experienced evacuation orders themselves.

What I found is it's a difficult time, but the sense of community, the sense of rallying together, it really, it's inspiring, and even during this incredibly difficult time, folks are pulling together for each other, and I hear conversations where strangers are helping strangers, strangers are comforting strangers, and we're proud to be able to just help folks alongside their journey.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And like other Los Angeles residents, CNN reporters who live in the area are not immune to the disaster. CNN's Nick Watt lives in one of the communities impacted by the fires, and while reporting on CNN last night, he spoke about what he planned to do to protect his own house from going up in flames. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK WATT, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Everybody knew this was going to be bad with the Santa Ana winds, with the drought we've had for so long, no real rain since the spring, when those winds were forecast, we knew it was going to be bad. Everyone got ready, but they were prepared for maybe one or two fires, as you say now, they were like six fires.

How do you prioritize? How do you fight those flames? It is terrible. Thankfully, the wind, as I say, is dropping, but it's not over. We -- you know the Santa Ana winds are going to pick up again in a couple of days, and just the devastation. And just as I say -- you know when you've got fires like this that are just -- they're just having to leave them to burn, that's going to set something else on fire.

It's a chain reaction. I have never seen anything like downtown Palisades. After I finish speaking to you, I'm probably going to go. I've got texts from more friends to check on their house over here. Before I even go to check on their house I know it's not going to be there because I've driven past that area and there's nothing left.

I'm going to go to my house. I'm going to hose the whole thing down, just hoping that if everything is wet, if an ember lands on it, it won't Ignite. And then I think I'm going to go with my family up to West Hollywood, although now we're hearing more fires up there. So, let's see. Yeah, it's extraordinary to cover something like this in your own community. I've been covering fires for a long time. You have sympathy for people now I have empathy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Live pictures right now you see the fires are still actively burning there again. Evacuation orders are underway. Some 130,000 people are directly being impacted there. The fires in two of the areas are 0 percent contained, and it is simply devastating, and it's moving fast because those Santa Ana winds are still a significant problem, whipping up these embers, sending those burning flames just hopping across streets and taking out house to house to house.

CNN's Anderson Cooper is in Los Angeles covering this rapidly spreading series of wildfires. Here's part of a report that he did Wednesday, as he witnessed flames consume house after house in the community of Altadena.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: The wind is just taking these embers from the tree. They're all over the block, and they are moving to other houses. And you see new fires being created from these embers. This house is gone. I mean, just look, all these houses are gone here.

[08:10:00]

There's a fire crew here. I was talking to the captain earlier. They ran out of water here on this street. About 30 minutes ago, they went. They hooked up the hydrants, they turned them on, the water ran out, so now they're just moving on to another area.

What they did when they don't have water is they try to create defensive perimeters around houses that they think they can save, and those houses are houses that don't have a lot of bushes, hedges, plantings in front of them or around them, or if it does, they try to rip, they spent -- they've spent, like the last hour just trying to clear debris from houses to try to maybe save it.

But it's a matter of luck or misfortune. Where these embers land, where these flames hop. This area over here, I want to show you. I mean, this house is completely gone. We've watched this entire house burned down, the house next door, the car that you see over here, we watch that the flames jump from the house onto the car. There was a small explosion as the gas canister blew.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, we'll have much more on our coverage of these fires thus far, wiping out some 17,000 acres in and around Los Angeles County. More live pictures right now of these fires still underway. We'll be right back.

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WHITFIELD: All right. More live pictures right now it's in the 05:00 a.m. hour in the Los Angeles area, and five wildfires still burning, two of which are at zero containment, wiping out houses, covering 17,000 acres, impacting so many lives thus far. The death toll stands at five.

Let's check in with CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam. The winds have been fueling these fires. The winds have been a major challenge for firefighters to tackle. What's the situation right now with these Santa Ana winds?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, look Fredricka, I've seen some encouraging signs, one of which is what you're seeing directly behind me. They have had seven helicopters flying overnight. That's the major difference between fighting these fires this morning compared to 24 hours ago, when the winds were so strong they were not able to fly these very effective firefighting tools in the sky because the winds were too strong and too erratic.

So that's some promising news, but the danger is by far, by far over. We have calmer winds than 24 hours ago right now, but things will change going forward. So, I want to show you this map. This is the current, well, more or less the forecast wind conditions within the next hour or so.

But as I advance this through the course of the morning and into the early afternoon notice a lot of orange and red being replaced into the hardest hit areas of Western LA County, into Ventura County. Winds anticipated to pick up out of the Northeast.

[08:15:00] That's an offshore component that is a drying wind that is the Santa Ana wind, that can funnel down these valleys and canyons to the hardest impacted areas. We have to look to Friday before we start to see words like calm appear on this forecast wind graphic. That's what we want to see. The firefighters need that desperately.

I want to show you just a quick map of the five active fires that we are currently monitoring, the largest of which is the Palisades fire burning over 17,000 acres. The burned area indicated with the shading of red. There's the famed Santa Monica Pier and Beach. And notice this burn area encroaching on such a heavily populated, very densely packed area of Western LA County.

Now let's hop over to the Eaton fire. This is another one of the major fires that we're monitoring. There is some containment with this, but it is still encroaching on such a large number of structures, that is why we are seeing the videos and the social media elements that are popping up on our phones and on our TV screens as well.

It is bone dry in Southern California, the driest start to a calendar year, or to a wet year, which begins in October that we've ever seen in Southern California that's saying something. Critical fire danger today elevated tomorrow, and then we think about the smoke that these wildfires are producing, toxic, toxic, toxic smoke that is really just descended on the Greater Los Angeles region.

In fact, Pasadena has had some of the most dangerous, most hazardous air quality in the entire planet at one stage, just a level six out of six in terms of the air quality alert index. You can see the current indices there across Los Angeles County.

And then as we go forward in time, as the winds relax, we'll still have the smoldering embers on the ground that produces additional smoke, and eventually that will drift right back into Southern California, impacting Los Angeles and the surrounding communities. This is going to be a difficult long haul through the course of the weekend, as we try to contain the fires, but also deal with the quality of the air within this area.

WHITFIELD: Yeah, the forecast continuing not to be in anyone's favor there. All right, Meteorologist Derek Van Dam, thank you so much. All right, let's get an update now on the efforts to try to contain the fires. We're joined now by Cal Fire Battalion Chief, Brent Pascua. Chief, glad you could be with us. I know your hands are full here. 0 percent containment for two out of these five fires. Is that still the case?

BRENT PASCUA, BATTALION CHIEF, CAL FIRE: That's still the case here with the winds, we just weren't able to get any containment on this fire. But today -- in two days, I felt come with this with the plan, so we're trying to get what we can and maybe -- on the site, some good headway on this fire.

WHITFIELD: Yeah, lots of volatility, and even with our signal too, which it's being impacted in our conversation. So, I'm wondering, can you besides the winds, of course, what is the biggest challenge in trying to either get to some of these fires or try to impact them? Is a water shortage still a problem in some communities?

PASCUA: I think if there was a problem, I think it was at the height of the firefight, but right now, that's -- being able to have a well- coordinated attack with our aircraft and our ground troops. We weren't able to fly in these winds when it was over 40, 50, miles, but now that they've calmed down, we were able to use them last night -- being -- if a lot, and we hope to continue that today, before the winds come back.

WHITFIELD: Cal Fire of Battalion Chief Brent Pascua, we're going to leave it there for now. You all are doing heroic work. Thank you so much for taking the time to try to update us all the best to you and your teams out there and continue to be safe. CNN's Bill Weir has been reporting from the hard-hit Pacific Palisades neighborhood. He takes a look at how climate change has impacted the region, making these fires especially dangerous.

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: This is just one of over thousand buildings that have burned here in the town of Pacific Palisades, a community that is now utterly devastated by this later storm of wildfires here. This community home to some very affluential residents, but also working-class small business owners, many of whom have lost everything in this part of Los Angeles County.

Unnatural disasters on an overheated planet, heated up by fossil fuels has created this drought conditions in January. This is typically one of the wettest months of the year in Los Angeles.

[08:20:00]

But it hasn't rained significantly in months. Last year, we got a lot of water all at once in California, created a super bloom of weeds and other vegetation, which is now bone-dry fuel up in these canyons, and with 60, 70, mile an hour winds, as this thing broke, spreading it out, the winds died down a bit overnight, but it also spread into Runyon Canyon.

This is an area right above the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the famous handprints and stars those hills just north of that area were evacuated last night as the fire crept over the canyons there. This is extremely difficult terrain for first responders to fight in, and they weren't able to fly fixed wing or even helicopters to fight these flames during the first 24, 36 hours of these blazes.

But now from the Altadena area up north of Pasadena here in the Palisades, now in the Hollywood Hills it is an all-hands on deck moment here in Southern California for a wildfire storm few have ever seen. Back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Bill Weir, thank you so much. And incoming President Donald Trump, is seizing on the Los Angeles wildfires to revive his long-standing feud with the Democratic Governor of California. He called for Gavin Newsom to resign in a post on Truth Social and said this after meeting Republican Senators.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND CURRENT PRESIDENTIAL- ELECT: This is a true tragedy, and it's a mistake of the Governor, and you can say the administration, they don't have any water. They didn't have water in the fire hydrants. The Governor has not done a good job with that being said, I got along well with him when he was Governor. We worked together very well, and we would work together. I guess it looks like we're going to be the one having to rebuild it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Newsom took a brief moment to talk to CNN's Anderson Cooper in the middle of the flames.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWSOM: One can't even respond to it. I mean, it's -- people are literally fleeing. People have lost their lives. Kids lost their schools. Families completely torn asunder. Churches burned down. This guy wanted to politicize it. I have a lot of thoughts, and I know what I want to say. I won't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And while in Washington, D.C., Donald Trump met with Republican lawmakers to discuss what he is calling his one big, beautiful bill to put his border, energy and tax policies into law. Observers say it will be a major undertaking to get a bill like that through Congress, and some Republicans are talking about spreading the Trump agenda across two bills.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We had a great meeting. There's great unity. Whether it's one bill or two bill, it's going to get done one way or the other. I think there's a lot of talk about two and there are a lot of talk about one, but it doesn't matter, the end result is the same.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And away from Capitol Hill, European leaders are reacting to President-Elect's -- the President-Elect's latest remarks about taking over Greenland from Denmark. We're hearing from multiple Danish officials who tell us Trump advisers are saying he is serious. Let's go live now to the Pentagon and CNN's U.S. National Security Correspondent Natasha Bertrand. Good morning to you, Natasha. So how are Danish officials responding to Donald Trump's claims?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka look, the first time around in 2019 when Donald Trump proposed this idea of buying Greenland, Danish officials' kind of scoffed at the idea, and the Danish Prime Minister actually called it absurd at the time.

Well, now we're told that Trump allies and advisers are advising Danish officials to take this much more seriously that Donald Trump is not just saying this is kind of a passing fancy, that he actually means it. And Danish officials believe that actually is the case. They say that the environment kind of supporting this idea and the ecosystem around it are much different than it was in 2019 and that it seems much more serious now.

And so, they want to have a conversation with the incoming Trump Administration about his concerns, about Donald Trump's concerns about why -- you know the Danish ownership of Greenland and the control that they have over Greenland may be, according to Donald Trump, pose a national security risk or threat to the United States?

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that this really shouldn't be a discussion at all. But Danish officials actually disagree and believe that the best way to stave off a crisis at this point will be to have that very frank conversation with the incoming Trump Administration. And to that end, the Danish Foreign Minister actually spoke to this a little bit yesterday and said that they look forward to having these conversations with the Trump team. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARS LOKKE RASMUSSEN, DANISH FOREIGN MINISTER: We fully recognize that Greenland has its own ambitions. If they materialize, Greenland will become independent, though hardly with an ambition to become a federal state in the United States.

[08:25:00]

We are open to a dialog with the Americans on how we can possibly cooperate even more closely than we do to ensure that the American ambitions are fulfilled.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERTRAND: Now Greenland, obviously, is very strategically important, not only for the United States, but also for the world. You have Russia and China competing for influence in the Arctic right now, and Greenland has been a very important spot for the U.S. military in terms of staving off a Russian -- potential Russian attack.

And China and Russia have actually started to collaborate more in the Arctic around Greenland, and so the U.S. has been beefing up its military presence at a northern military base that it has in the western part of Greenland there. But you know, this is all causing contention, obviously, just days before Donald Trump is set to take office.

He's already kind of causing friction with really important allies, including Denmark, of course, which is a key NATO ally. And so, we'll have to see how this plays out. But no one is arguing here that Greenland is strategically important for the United States. It's just that Greenland themselves say that they have a very important voice, obviously, to play in this, and they don't want to be stuck in the middle of the U.S. and Denmark either Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Natasha Bertrand, thank you so much. All right, still to come, we'll be returning to our top story, the fires consuming large parts of Los Angeles County, a live report from the Hollywood Hills straight ahead. Also coming up, the state funeral of Former President Jimmy Carter set to begin soon. We'll give you a preview of what's ahead.

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WHITFIELD: All right, back to our breaking news out of California. Words like devastating and apocalyptic almost seem inadequate as entire communities are consumed by flames. More than 130,000 people have been ordered to evacuate as five major fires continue to burn. The Palisades fire is being described as the worst ever in Los Angeles County.

And this shows how fast the flames can spread as they are fanned by gale force winds a lush green mountain with homes at the top turning into embers in a matter of hours. Moments ago, my colleague John Berman spoke to the FEMA Director about how they're preparing to help evacuees?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEANNE CRISWELL, ADMINISTRATOR, FEMA: Help them register for assistance, but I have already had people staged in and working side by side with the state emergency operations team in Sacramento, making sure that we are moving the resources in at their request for what they need to help support this. I've been coordinating with the NORTHCOM Commander and the President of the American Red Cross.

[08:30:00]

So, we can ensure that we have all of the right resources there. But people will start to see individuals in FEMA shirts, helping them register, starting in the shelter areas where people are, and we'll try to find people if they're in hotels, so we can get them started on this process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Julia Vargas Jones is in Altadena covering the fires force. What's the situation there?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, this morning, we've seen street after street here in Altadena, houses that look like this, just completely destroyed. I mean, you can see a chimney here, perhaps the front steps that this person very thoughtfully decorated at some point. Everything else is gone.

Yesterday, I came here and I actually I stopped in my tracks, because this house was just going up in flames. I think you might have the video of this. This was just a massive, massive fire, one of the first ones that we came to the scene here to see yesterday. And next door, three or four volunteers were trying too careful here, were trying to save this home.

This is the home of Gail (ph). She's lived here for about 10 years. She said, well, actually, let's listen to what she told me as I saw her in front of her house just yesterday.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know who all these guys are. They're helping to save my house right now, but I am very grateful to them.

JONES: Is that what they're doing, is that what --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, you know, I was here an hour ago. I thought for sure when I came back. Now -- So I'm happy that it's standing right now, but don't have a lot of hope.

JONES: Fred, the impact that these people had in the life of this woman. I know that's just one house that we're talking about, but you know, it's standing. It's standing because they doused it in water, and they helped contain the fire, even to spread, you know, into other parts of this neighborhood.

750 firefighters have been working shifts of 36, 48 hours. We have firefighters coming from Nevada, from Arizona, Oregon, to help fight these 10,600 acres. It just ballooned over the last 48 hours, still at 0 percent containment. And we are hearing that today, winds are expected to pick back up.

What happens with that is that then we have difficulty in fighting this from the air, it's harder to get helicopters with water to try and contain it, so you're really relying on the people on the ground to keep this from spreading even further.

WHITFIELD: Right. So many obstacles. Julia Vargas Jones, pretty remarkable, that woman. She is among the very fortunate, right? That her house actually still is standing after those efforts. It doesn't always work out that way, because so many other people have tried, you know, with those fire hoses, those water hoses, to save their homes, to no avail.

All right, thank you so much. Appreciate that. All right, still to come, a final farewell to a beloved humanitarian. The United States says goodbye to Former President Jimmy Carter today, a preview straight ahead.

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[08:35:00]

WHITFIELD: The nation pauses to say goodbye to Former U.S. President and Humanitarian Jimmy Carter, today. In less than an hour, President Carter's casket will leave the Capitol and head to the Washington National Cathedral. Carter's state funeral expected to be attended by all of the country's living president, including President Joe Biden, who will deliver the eulogy for the man he called a dear friend and a remarkable leader.

Let's bring in now CNN Sunlen Serfaty, who joins us now from Washington, D.C. Sunlen, what can we expect on this historic and somber day?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, certainly is a somber day, Fred. A National Day of Mourning to remember the 39th President of the United States and the current president, as you noted, Joe Biden, will be having a leading role in today's services that are taking place in just a few hours at the Washington National Cathedral here in Washington, D.C.

Biden is set to deliver the eulogy. This is something that Former President Jimmy Carter personally asked Biden years ago to prepare for to deliver his eulogy when he eventually passes away. And as you noted that they've had a decades long friendship. Biden himself likes to talk a lot about how he was a young U.S. Senator.

And he was the first sitting senator to endorse Carter in his long shot bid to take the White House in 1976. So, this is a decades long friendship that will certainly be on full display when he delivers his eulogy later this morning. Also, we will be hearing from Ted Mondale, who is the son of Walter Mondale, Carter's Former Vice President, of course, who passed away.

He had written a eulogy to deliver when Carter passed away. So, we'll be hearing from that that's certainly notable. Also, Steve Ford, the grandson of President Gerald Ford, who, of course, died in 2006 also wrote a eulogy so notable that we'll be hearing from two other close confidants and friends.

Of course, Carter went on to defeat Ford. So that notable. Also in attendance, as you noted that there will be the gathering of the President's Club, all five sitting U.S. President, all five presidents, former presidents, will be gathering today, including incoming President Trump.

So that certainly will be interesting to watch the dynamics as they pay their respects to Jimmy Carter. After today's services at the Cathedral, his body will be flown to Georgia. He will be having a private ceremony, private funeral at the Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia, that's where he taught Sunday school.

So certainly, a poignant moment there, and he'll be laid to rest and buried in a plot next to his wife at the family home, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yeah, full day. All right, Sunlen Serfaty, thank you so much.

SERFATY: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: All right, let's take a look at Jimmy Carter's extraordinary life and legacy. Julian Zelizer is joining us now from New York. He's a Historian and Professor at Princeton University and a CNN Political Analyst. Great to see you. All right, so much --

JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Thanks for having me.

WHITFIELD: Wonderful to have you. I mean, so much has been said about Carter's decency, his goodness, the challenges during his one term presidency and his impactful work post presidency. What do you think the sitting president and good friend of Carter will focus on, especially after being asked by Carter to deliver his eulogy? ZELIZER: I think he will talk about all he achieved in his one term, which is obviously on President Biden's mind, but it's something historians and journalists have been looking back on, how in four years, he did so much, both terms of issues like human rights and here in the United States in terms of the environment.

But he will also talk about the hard work that he did after leaving the presidency and using that power from being in the Oval Office to continue doing the work of public service, particularly overseas since the 1980s.

WHITFIELD: Well, watching these pictures now too, of this ceremony taking place outside a very snowy capital before the body is then taken to the National Cathedral, which is not that far away from the Capitol.

[08:40:00]

It might take about a 15, 20-minute drive, just as we saw so many people lining the streets when his body arrived, taking a very similar route to his days of inauguration before lying in state there. What do you expect this moment to be like in Washington, D.C., as he makes his way to the National Cathedral?

ZELIZER: Well, look, it's interesting. I was thinking of his inauguration in 1977 when for many Americans, his walking down the street with his wife and daughter was refreshing. In the era of Watergate, post-Watergate, post-Vietnam, when Americans were tired, divided and a bit angry, this was a breath of fresh air.

And in some ways, his passing comes at an equally contentious time. And so, I think it will be solemn, but it's also a good moment where we reflect on the commonality and on a person who really whether people liked him or disliked him, most agree he devoted himself to the nation. And I think it comes at an important time when we all need a little healing.

WHITFIELD: Yeah. A moment ago, just as we see them now approaching the steps there for the Capitol. We saw a live picture inside the cathedral, and you can see people already there. There's the live shot right there. All living presidents will be present for Carter's ceremony.

It will be a striking picture, as it always he is inside the cathedral there, but won't it also be an awkward one, as the incoming president has had a history of being very critical of Carter, showing less than presidential grace toward him and his legacy, Trump will be there among the five presidents who will be in attendance. What do you think that will be like?

ZELIZER: I think there's no way to avoid the tension. It was like this at the funeral for George H. W. Bush, and it's not simply that President-elect Trump had differences with Carter or the other presidents who will be there, but the way he talks about them, the way he has attacked the late Carter and the others is different than what we get from most presidents. So, there's no way to avoid the tension, and it will be a visual that people will be focused on, even as the event itself revolves around Former President Carter.

WHITFIELD: In your Princeton classroom lessons, what will you impress upon students in terms of Carter's legacy?

ZELIZER: Well, I always talk about the legacy he was able to achieve in four years, and urge students not to only think of re-election as the metric to gage presidents, but I also talk about the high cost of not just losing, but losing to a president, in Carter's case, Ronald Reagan, who opens the door to a very different age in politics.

So, achieving policy matters, and Carter's history shows that. But your political success matters well. The best presidents combine the two, and in this case, he struggled for all of his achievements.

WHITFIELD: Julian Zelizer, always appreciate your words. Thank you so much.

ZELIZER: Thanks for having me.

WHITFIELD: And you can join CNN as the United States mourns the death of the 39th president, special coverage of Carter's state funeral beginning in just a few minutes at 09:00 a.m. Eastern Time. That's 01:00 p.m. in London. We'll be right back.

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WHITFIELD: All right. Returning now to our other top story. Celebrities like other Los Angeles residents are among those losing their homes as these wildfires continue to rage. Actor Cameron Mathison documented his trip back to his house and the devastation that awaited him. He spoke about that emotional return with CNN's Laura Coates.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR: Cameron Mathison joins me now, Cameron. I can hear the distress. I cannot imagine what you've gone through to even feel that way as you're nearing your home. Can you just -- can you take us back to what it was like to be back in your neighborhood? What were you thinking?

CAMERON MATHISON, ACTOR & TELEVISION HOST: Yeah, I mean, I've actually never heard those sorts of sounds come out of me before, so it's very odd. It was just such as -- it's kind of a guttural pain and disbelief and shock and fear as I was approaching my property and not seeing the house.

But anyway, yes, it was early in the morning, and I was asleep, and I was woken up at five because they were covering. I saw in the news that they were covering there the reporters were on our block showing the houses around my neighborhood burning. And I recognize these houses, these are my neighbors.

And I couldn't see from this camera angles, whether my house was spared or what it wasn't, and look and so I just couldn't take it anymore, pretty much. And I just -- I got in the car and weaved my way up into the neighborhood. And it was still obviously, as maybe you could see from that video, just houses were burning all around, and it was tons of smoke, and roads were closed, but I made it up.

I made it up to my street, and then when it kind of came into our stretch of the houses, it was just totally decimated, like there was many, as you saw in the video, houses and then fires and houses and fires, but our street, in particular our block, I should say, was pretty much nothing left. It looked like in many cases, there was no houses ever built there. It was just decimated to nothing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Absolutely stunning. The L.A. fires are having a huge impact on the entertainment industry. Movie and television production is also being halted. Celebrities, just like him losing their homes. CNN's Lisa Respers France is tracking that for us. So, I mean, everyone is impacted there in some way, shape or form.

LISA RESPERS FRANCE, CNN REPORTER: Absolutely, and being famous and having money does not spare you from the devastation. We're seeing this because many of the celebs are taken to social media to share what they're seeing and what has happened to them. Paris Hilton posted about the horror of watching her own home burn live on television.

She said, heartbroken beyond words. Sitting with my family, watching the news, and seeing our home in Malibu burn to the ground on live TV is something. I mean, could you imagine, Fred? She said, no one should ever have to experience. So, I mean, this is just been so devastating on so many different levels, people's homes.

I mean, you can lose a house, but it's the home. It's the memories that are made. Billy Crystal, I think, encapsulated that really well with his post when he talked about, Janice and I lived in our home since 1979. We raised our children and grandchildren here. Every inch of our house was filled with love. Beautiful memories that can't be taken away.

So, while these celebrities, like so many other people, are losing the structures that house them, that they lived in, you know, he put it perfectly, that their memories that they're always going to have for it.

WHITFIELD: Yeah, I mean, Billy Crystal, Actor James Woods was on our air yesterday, describing, you know, having to get out and go on foot, and how at first, he was like, it's like Mount Everest, you know, the idea of walking, but then, you know, houses are going up.

Melissa Rivers talking about how -- you know, how you're at this juncture of, yeah, you want to save things, but then you have to make some choices. I got to save my life. What tiny things can I carry out?

FRANCE: Yes, she spoke where our Kaitlan Collins about exactly that. And I think we have a little bit of that if we want to take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELISSA RIVERS, EVACUATED FROM HOME AS WILDFIRE APPROACHED: I definitely have not gotten my head around it. I got some video sent to me that our house is totally gone. In my personal situation, that's it. That is the end of everything that were -- that belonged to my family and the history of it.

[08:50:00]

So, I honestly, to be 100 percent honest, I grabbed my mom's Emmy a photo of my dad and a drawing that my mother had done of me and my son, and I can't even remember which is grammatically correct right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCE: She mirrors so many people, Fred, when she talks about, like, just a few things that she was able to grab, some people weren't able to get anything at all, you know. And you know, stars like Mandy Moore have gone on social media to just share video of the devastation of what it looks like to be there on the ground with just homes completely gone. It just apocalyptic.

WHITFIELD: Yeah.

FRANCE: It is the word that we just keep hearing over and over again.

WHITFIELD: Right. Imagine for those who are out of town hearing about what's happening in their community, home goes up in flames, or even another woman who I heard early this morning, who said she had left that morning because she had a car repair appointment, and she did that and then tried to make her way home, couldn't figure out what's with all the traffic.

Oh my gosh, house, and her house is gone. So many horrible stories. Lisa Respers France, thank you so much. Those fires continue to rage. Five of them too are still at zero containment there in the Los Angeles County area. I'm Fredricka Whitfield, thank you so much for joining me here in the CNN Newsroom.

Stay tuned with CNN as the United States mourns the death of the 39th President Jimmy Carter. CNN's "Special Coverage" of Carter's state funeral begins after this.

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