Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
LAUSD And Other L.A. County School Districts Announce Fire- Related Closures; Death Toll Rises To 10 As Wildfires Rage In Los Angeles; Many California Homeowners Have Had Fire Insurance Dropped; Venezuela Prepares For Inauguration Of Nicolas Maduro; U.S. Honors Former President With State Funeral; Man Saves Stray Dog from California Wildfire Rubble. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired January 10, 2025 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00]
DAVID SWANSON, PHOTOJOURNALIST: But he came out to his flagpole and took down the American flag and wanted it to be photographed and walked away with a folded flag.
LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, my God. The images you've captured, what we will still see ahead. David Swanson, thank you so much.
SWANSON: Thanks for having me on.
COATES: Thank you all for watching. Our coverage of the Los Angeles wildfires continues with Anderson Cooper360 right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello and welcome to all of our viewers watching and streaming from around the world. I am Polo Sandoval in New York. California firefighters, they are still racing to put out several major wildfires that are tearing through neighborhoods in Los Angeles. The overall death toll just in now gone up to 10.
And authorities are warning that the total may grow. Officials expanded evacuation orders again on Thursday after a new fire broke out near the border of Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Video showing flames inching dangerously close to the homes in that area. You could see that glowing at night.
California's governor saying that he's sending 900 more firefighters to battle this new fire. The three largest fires that are burning right now have not been contained at all. Officials saying that intensifying winds and also dry conditions will continue to complicate firefighting efforts into next week.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is facing criticism for being out of town when those flames erupted earlier this week and also over budget cuts that affected the city's fire department months ago. Here's how she responded to some of those questions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KAREN BASS, LOS ANGELES MAYOR: These fires are burning now. Our job is to make sure that people stay alive, that we save lives, that we save homes, that we save property. And I also said that when the fires are out, we will do a deep dive. We will look at what worked. We will look at what didn't work. And we will let you know.
Until then, my focus is on the TV screens behind you that are showing devastation that has continued. Thank you. Answered it in the morning, answered it now, won't answer it again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANDOVAL: Some tough questions she's facing. Meanwhile, our colleague Nick Watt giving us a closer look at the devastation across the L.A. area.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, there's the right plane swooping in to save us.
NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sadly, a little too late for this fleeing family. This morning we found what's left of their home. Nothing. Thousands of homes have been lost across the county, plus businesses and more $50 billion worth of damage.
But the winds finally eased so now they can attack these flames from the air. All last night, we heard the planes, a reassuring sound in a fire. But winds will pick up again, blow through Friday night and get stronger again next week. More than 6,000 personnel now fighting the worst fires in the history of this great city.
MARK PESTRELLA, DIRECTOR, LOS ANGELES COUNTY PUBLIC WORKS: Sewer, water, your power system and the transportation system have all been significantly damaged.
WATT (voice-over): We know the depth of the devastation. We can see it. The death toll, well, it's just too early to tell.
SHERIFF ROBERT LUNA, LOS ANGELES COUNTY: At one point we'll be able to do a more thorough search of these impacted areas. Some of them look like a bomb was dropped in them, where we will be able to bring in canines and other things to help us hopefully not discover too many fatalities. That's our prayer.
WATT (voice-over): 43 acres burned in Hollywood last night. Hollywood chaos in such a tight urban environment. In Santa Monica, a sunset to sunrise. Curfew kicked in last night as the Palisades Fire threatens. So far across L.A., 20 alleged looters arrested, accused of preying on houses left standing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shame on those who are preying on our residents during this time of crisis.
WATT (voice-over): Here in Pacific Palisades, where entire neighborhoods are just gone. Arson investigators are today on the ground and the post mortem is already underway. Did the L.A. Mayor's cuts to the fire department budget hamper the effort?
BASS: There were no reductions that were made that would have impacted the situation.
WATT (voice-over): And that loss of water in the hydrants here in the Palisades at the peak of the blaze, Governor Gavin Newsom visited again today.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why was there no water in the hydrants Governor? Is it going to be different next time?
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D) CALIFORNIA: It has to be.
WATT (voice-over): But for neighborhoods like this and the people who once lived here, now what?
WATT: Now we've met people who have walked miles into the evacuation zone to see if their house is still standing, it's very seldom good news for these people.
[01:05:10]
Most houses are just gone. I've also heard of kids charging people a few bucks to come in on their bicycles to check on houses. The money they're giving to a fund to help the victims of this fire. Nick Watt, CNN, Pacific Palisades, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANDOVAL: And Nick just touched on the issue, the lack of water and fire hydrants that's also drawing some criticism from Donald Trump. On Wednesday, the U.S. President elect lashing out on social media against federal, state, and also local officials and their response to the wildfires. But as the current U.S. President, Joe Biden, appears to be really pushing back against Trump's comments. And he also speaking out against the potential spread of misinformation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: There's a direct correlation between the utility company and the ability to pump water out of a hydrant. And so it allows for a lot of uninformed people to make assertions or concerns or accusations about the local officials not caring or not working.
So as I understand it, the vast majority of the circumstances where the water resource has been diminished is because of the utility company not being able to maintain the electric transmission because they're getting knocked down and shutting down so they don't cause more fire.
(END VIDEO LCIP)
SANDOVAL: The head of the Los Angeles Fire Department said that they have requested additional resources as emergency responders work still around the clock to battle those destructive fires. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF KRISTIN CROWLEY, LOS ANGELES FIRE DEPARTMENT: You look at the multiple fires, the fires keep coming. Our firefighters are working to the highest efforts. I've never seen this in my 25-year career. And I can tell you, as a chief, I can stand strong. I can tell you that LAFD and the rest of our regional partners, our firefighters, boots on the ground, are absolutely tired. But I tell you, they will never, ever give up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANDOVAL: Joining me now from California is Pacific Palisades resident Francois Auroux, who used a bicycle to escape before the flames devoured his home, his family's home. Francois, thank you so much for taking some time to check in with us.
It goes without saying we are sorry about what you're experiencing right now and we certainly hope that things get better by the day.
Recently, you did tell my colleague that it was your hope that every member of your beloved Pacific Palisades community managed to evacuate safely. However, on Thursday, we learned that sadly, that wasn't the case. I'm curious what went through your mind when you heard that news?
FRANCOIS AUROUX, LSOT HOME IN WILDFIRES: This is the first time hearing it.
SANDOVAL: I'm so sorry.
AUROUX: But, you know, I heard people passed away in the Eaton Fire, which is just tragic. You know, the fires are still going on, so let's just hope everybody heeds the evacuation warnings.
SANDOVAL: Have you been able to see the devastation firsthand? I'm talking about your home or strictly through some of the photos that you've shared with us?
AUROUX: Only through the photos. You know, I knew somebody that went up to go rescue their cat the day after, and they sent me those photos of our house. And the night that I gave the interview, I was pretty sure that it was gone. But then, you know, those photos confirmed it.
SANDOVAL: You have your -- you're alive, you have your family, but what else do you have left?
AUROUX: You know, we all left in quite a hurry. You know, I don't think many of the people in either Pacific Palisades, Altadena, Topanga really had time to think about much. You know, they basically got in their cars and left. So, you know, we have this strong community. It's going to stay together whether people are displaced or not.
I feel like this is kind of a collective event for Los Angeles because so many areas have been affected, so many people have been affected, and displaced people have lost their homes, people have lost their lives. But I'm just so thankful to the firefighters that were there, amazingly putting, doing work to try to put these fires out. I was shocked at the amount of fire and embers and smoke, and these firefighters were just standing there, coolly calm, collected.
You know, there were a couple of engines on each block. They were ready for it, and they were just -- this is just a part of their day. And I was just amazed. But, you know, I'm very appreciative to the authorities to issue those evacuation orders and actually save a lot of lives.
[01:10:03]
SANDOVAL: Right. And we cannot forget many of those firefighters, even homeowners themselves, that were many of them personally affected by this, yet selflessly out there defending people's -- protecting people's lives and property.
One of my corresponding colleagues lives not far from there and has been reporting on this already for several days since the flames broke out. And he's been speaking to residents. And there is a level of frustration that is certainly beginning to be felt. I would even call it anger.
Personally, for you, amid some difficult questions that are being asked of local authorities. Do you have some questions that you have for them, issues that you hope may be addressed to try to prevent or at least minimize the impact of something like this in the future?
AUROUX: Future impacts, I'd say climate change, reduce fossil fuel use. This windstorm was the strongest winds I've ever seen. January, a heat hurricane. It was, you know, a windstorm that came through and spark happened. And, you know, there's nothing you can do to stop those fires when the winds are between 50, 100 miles an hour.
I've never seen wind like that. So, you know, if there are concerns, how can we stop this in the future? How can we stop all the devastation from all the hurricanes that we've seen this year? You know, that's what I would say.
SANDOVAL: As we heard from the governor, these are fires are becoming more intense. There's a reason for that. If you could at least close out by telling me a little bit about this community that you've called home your entire life. What do you want people around the world to know about it? And most importantly, how you expect this community to get back up again.
AUROUX: You know, it's -- looks like a big town sometimes, but it's actually a small town. When you go walking around, you meet people, you say hi. The center of town has a big Christmas tree. During the holidays, everyone's out walking their dogs. And in the summertime, we have the 4th of July parade. We have all the band members and all of the schools organizing the parades. It's just a quaint place to be.
And, you know I feel like this community is so strong that we're going to be able to pull through it. You know, people have lost their schools, they've lost their homes. Just looking at entire blocks being gone. I mean, this fire took out block after block in a matter of minutes or hours.
And, you know, there's just nothing that anyone can do, you know, and myself, I've been going over what could we done differently? And, you know, I just -- none of us have been sleeping because I've been going over that in my head and going over the images in my head of this raging fire.
And I think everybody just needs to understand that they've done their best. And, you know, as long as they're with their family and they have their lives, you know, life is long. And I think we have that to look forward to.
SANDOVAL: On that, that is a wonderful note to end on. Francois, thank you for sharing your story again with us. And we wish you and your family and your neighbors certainly the best. And do take care of yourself.
AUROUX: Thank you, Polo.
SANDOVAL: Meanwhile, firefighters continue to battle critical conditions across Los Angeles County on Thursday evening. Officials believe the weather will complicate further efforts to subdue these fires again next week. Chad Myers telling us the wind is still fanning the flames.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, the winds have picked up overnight in some spots. Now 20 to 30 miles per hour, even gusting higher than that in the mountains up to almost 50 miles per hour up on top of those mountains. And we've had a few new fire starts. The most significant obviously would be Kenneth Fire there. Very dry air in the middle of a drought in the region. It rained a lot in the spring. Then the rain just stopped.
And now all of that vegetation that grew in the summer is now dried out and ready to burn. So watching that Kenneth Fire there to the northwest there of Calabasas, with the wind speeds now about 20 to 30 miles per hour there.
Still tonight, critical conditions here, critically low relative humidity. The wind is still blowing. Tomorrow it dies off quite a bit, I mean, an awful lot. And then by tomorrow night, possibly some more winds, some around San Diego, especially in the mountains to the east of San Diego.
Looking at the smoke, sure it's still here. Pasadena, Altadena, all the way towards Santa Monica. All the usual suspects here with all of this smoke still in the air as these fires are nowhere near 100 percent containment. They're still trying to get fire to fire on house to house battles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANDVOAL: And yet no sign of precipitation in that forecast.
[01:15:00]
Students across Los Angeles facing some severe uncertainty as the wildfires and smoke force many districts to close, including the second largest in the United States. We'll hear from the man leading that school system, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAYA REYNAGA, FIRE EVACUEE: Everything I've ever worked for my entire life was there. My work equipment, my brother's ashes, my daughter's momentums, my keepsakes, my deceased mother's photos and belongings that she passed down to me. It's all I have. I have nothing. I can't even teach. And I'm a first responder. I teach people to save lives and I couldn't even save my house. And I'm just shattered. I'm broken for my family, the community.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANDOVAL: You could clearly hear it in her voice, that heartbreaking grief for so many Californians just like her. Right now, they're losing everything to the devastating wildfires ripping through Los Angeles. The fires have not just destroyed and damaged homes and businesses, but also schools, and is disrupting education for thousands of students.
For many of them, school is a place where they find a sense of normalcy, a meal, perhaps support. But 19 entire school districts in the area were forced to close on Thursday due to the dangerous conditions. And the closures included the nation's second largest district, which is made up of about a thousand schools.
And this is what's left of one of their charter elementary schools. As you can see, it's all gone. Officials saying that a nearby high school, which serves more than 2,000 kids, also sustained serious damage.
For more on what the second largest school system in the U.S. is doing to respond to the deadly outbreak of fires, I'm joined by Alberto Carvalho. He's the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Mr. Superintendent, thank you for joining us.
ALBERTO CARVALHO, SUPERINTENDENT, LOS ANGELES UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT: Thank you for having me, Polo.
SANDOVAL: So you and your staff, you're still assessing the extent of the impact? Obviously, the situation is still very much fluid days later. But I'm curious, how many schools have been lost? My understanding, at least three in Pacific Palisades alone, which I wouldn't be surprised if, sadly, that number goes up even higher. What's the latest in terms of resuming classes, which are canceled for Friday? CARVALHO: So, Polo, number one, thanks for the opportunity. We lost
two elementary schools in the heart of the Palisades. The high school, 30 percent of the school has been compromised, destroyed by fire. This is really shocking. It's heartbreaking for this community. Often, schools are the heartbeat of communities. And in the Palisades, a reasonably small community, they meant a lot to the parents, to the community as a whole.
So, number one, what we're doing is we are moving the impacted student populations as an entity. We do not want to separate children from their colleagues or their teachers or their principals.
[01:20:02]
So they will move as an entity to the closest school that has capacity to accommodate them. We've already devised the plans. We'll be informing the community over the next couple of days. So, three schools deeply impacted, serving in excess of 3,000 students, district wide. Obviously, we're completely shut down right now, not necessarily because of the fires, but because of the smoke, the ashes, the particulate matter in the air that has compromised air quality across Los Angeles Unified.
We continue to assess conditions until we reach a threshold of air quality that will allow us to return kids and the workforce back to schools.
SANDOVAL: Yes, an important reminder that students and staff don't necessarily have to live or study in the affected region to feel the impact of these massive fires. It was Nick Melvin, one of your school district's members that told CNN on Thursday that in Los Angeles, roughly 85 percent of kids enrolled in public schools are living at or near poverty. So schools very much often the answer for meals or for child care for these families. So how does that really increase that urgency to get schools open again?
CARVALHO: Look, it's a sad reality. You're absolutely right. Over 80 percent of our kids depend on the free breakfast and lunch that we provide as a subsidy to our communities, often considering their level of poverty. If we shut down schools and did not have a vehicle by which we continue food distribution, many of our children would go hungry.
That is why, notwithstanding the fact that our schools, 1,000 schools are shut down, we continue to provide free food to our community. We've opened eight different distribution sites preliminarily. Tomorrow we will increase those sites to 16 locations where we'll be providing free breakfast and lunch, two meals for every single child that attends Los Angeles Unified.
But look, we do not stop at food. We also partner with entities to stand up 30 childcare centers at no cost to the families. We recognize some parents have to go to work and cannot supervise their kids. And then we've stood up also mental and social, emotional support systems for our kids, their parents, as well as our workforce. We're all in this together. Of critical concern, obviously, are the heart breaking stories of
parents and our own workforce who have lost houses, their homes as a result of this fire. So we've also created a special fund within our foundation to receive investments to provide for these deeply impacted workforce members or families within our community.
SANDOVAL: And on that note that you just mentioned, Mr. Superintendent, how do you even begin to, as an educator, how do you even begin to explain to a child why their home is gone or why their neighborhoods look like a war zone. And as we see the number of victims increase, especially those who have perhaps even lost loved ones, how do those conversations even begin with the youngest minds?
CARVALHO: Polo, that's probably one of the best questions you could ask, but also one of the most touching questions. You know, kids are smart. So the very first advice I have for parents or anyone in our community, we ought to speak with them in a truthful manner while adjusting for their age. We ought to tell them to the best of our ability what has happened. We need to reassure them and comfort them. We need to approach them with empathy, but then guarantee to them that tomorrow will be a better day, that they will move with their school community to a different site, but their colleagues and their teachers will be with them. We will try to make sense of the, quite frankly, incomprehensible.
It is important for us to meet children where they are and explain to them in an honest but age appropriate way what they're living through. And then it's important also to ask them about their feelings. How are you feeling about this? Let them express their frustration, their anxiety and their stress. That's why key to our approach is social, emotional support, counseling and psychological support to the children, their parents, and our workforce.
SANDOVAL: So many images that we've already seen of people fleeing their homes, having to escape and run away from the flames. I can only imagine so many of these children have already, at their young age, have experienced more than so many adults in the rest of the country will in their whole lifetime. So we certainly hope that everything eventually turns out in their best interests. And certainly also for your educators as well, who help these students go through such a traumatizing moment.
Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, thank you so much for spending time with us and for bringing us up to speed on the situation on the ground.
CARVALHO: Thank you very much, volunteer (ph). Last point, if I may, very quickly. It is important, considering the devastation, considering the impact that is being felt by countless individuals in our community.
[01:25:07]
There are state, local and federal entities collaborate independently of politics to ensure that the necessary resources of support and rebuilding arrive in our community for the benefit of our children, their parents, our workforce, and quite frankly, all of Los Angeles.
SANDOVAL: Mr. Superintendent, our best to you. Thank you for your time.
CARVALHO: Thank you.
SANDOVAL: Thousands of people have already been left homeless by these raging wildfires. And for so many of those homeowners, there will be no insurance to help them rebuild or repair. We'll tell you the reason why next on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANDOVAL: Welcome back to our breaking news coverage of the L.A. wildfires. There are now five major fires burning around the L.A. area right now and officials fearing more wind and dry conditions will continue to complicate the effort for firefighters even into next week.
Authorities have confirmed 10 fire related deaths so far, but they that number will rise considerably. Officials saying they need to get cadaver dogs into the devastation. CNN's Anderson Cooper spent much of the day on the front line with firefighters near Malibu in Topanga Canyon.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: As of this afternoon the Palisades fire, which we are right now on the northern edge of, is the one that concerns fire crews most. Obviously, they are battling all the fires that are going on. You can see a helicopter that's used to drop water flying over this area. We're in Topanga right now.
And what is happening here is there are two smaller fires which are moving up this hill and have been over the last hour or so. The firefighters here have been watching this, just tracking its progress as they prepare.
Over the ridge there is a community, there's a residential community, there's homes. That is of course what they are trying to defend. This is just one small part of the Palisades fire, obviously.
But what they are trying to do for the entire Palisades Fire is use bulldozers, in some cases using shovels, whatever they can to build a perimeter around the fire. So we've seen three drops from these helicopters of water just on this one spot in the last 10 minutes.
There's a number of helicopters with water circling, trying to find the best locations for them to actually put down some water.
[01:30:04]
But this is a persistent fire that's been moving up this mountain. It looked like the helicopters had put it out, but it keeps flaring up again.
There's also spotter aircraft, spotter helicopters which go around trying to assess where it is. They should put -- put water down. Over on this ridge, a large crew of firefighters -- those are actually
inmates who have volunteered to learn firefighting skills. They are working, clearing the -- you see the road there on -- that's a road likely created by bulldozers earlier to kind of create a fire line. They are now widening that road, clearing out more underbrush, and then they will move to other locations.
But this is a very active spot. This is the northern edge of the Palisades fire. And there are certainly, because the wind has died down today, they're able to get a lot more air assets in the sky and a lot more water coming down.
They've dropped a lot of water from helicopters over the last hour or so. It seems like the wind shifted and suddenly the fire just erupted.
CHIEF JEFF GILBERT, WILLIAMS FIRE PROTECTION AUTHORITY: Exactly. You know, afternoons they get the wind shifts up here. So that's exactly what's happened. And they had to vacate this -- the line that we thought we were going to put in.
So back to our contingency line, come down around these houses and just try to cut this bowl off.
COOPER: You guys are doing incredible work. Is this the worst you've seen?
GILBERT: We're from northern California, so this is a little bit different down here.
COOPER: There's another fire now. There's a residential community right over here. But there is another fire, as you can see, on the other side of it.
So there's a lot of different areas that crews are trying to work on. They're trying to kind of build a defensive perimeter around the entire part of this northern edge of this fire.
But it is it is a very dynamic situation. It is changing. The good news is the wind has died down. They're able to get a lot of these air assets.
But you know, just watching this one little tiny part of the Palisades fire seeing numerous water drops on it and yet the fire comes back. So it is -- it's a very tough, tough battle right now.
SANDOVAL: More than 5,000 homes and other buildings have been damaged or destroyed just in the Pacific Palisades community alone. And for many homeowners there, the devastation wrought by the fire will be compounded by the fact that they don't have insurance to cover the damage.
It's not because they don't want it. You see, some insurance companies have actually dropped many customers out of their plans in California. You see, between 2020 and 2022, insurance companies declined or actually declined to renew 2.8 million homeowner policies in the state. And that includes more than half a million in L.A. County. California has set up a program called FAIR. It's aimed at making
alternate insurance available. But in some cases it comes with higher premiums and lower coverage limits, forcing many homeowners to go without that coverage.
Carmen Balber joins me from Los Angeles. She's the executive director for the group Consumer Watchdog. Carmen, thank you so much.
CARMEN BALBER, EXECUTIVE DIRCTOR, CONSUMER WATCHDOG: It's good to be here.
SANDOVAL: So, as you know, with some insurance companies limiting fire insurance coverage in California because it's simply too risky, I want you to give us a sobering reality check of the claims process that awaits many of the victims of this fire who lost everything.
We're talking tens of thousands of people who evacuated this week and potentially lost their homes. So what should they be doing right now?
BALBER: The most important thing to do if you've been evacuated and fear that your home may be lost, is start documenting everything.
One thing consumers should know is that if they keep the receipt for any evacuation expenses, including expenses if your home is completely lost, that should be reimbursed by your insurance company.
We also tell everyone to document everything, every conversation you have with your insurance company, who you talk to, what they say, and your losses. Before you start clearing through the rubble, removing things, cleaning up, make sure you talk to an insurance adjuster first and document everything.
SANDOVAL: Yes. In the chaos of a crisis, it's very easy to forget that evacuation costs money -- fuel, transportation, hotels, all of that.
It's important to document it right now to hopefully get as much of it as they can reimbursed. Most Californians, Carmen, are certainly familiar with the fair traditional insurance policy. It covers many of them. Most of them, I would say, if I'm not mistaken.
Is that generally enough for most homeowners to restore their lives, to basically build back up what they lost property wise?
[01:34:48]
BALBER: Well, that's a real concern, particularly with the Pacific Palisades fire here, because many Californians in that area were dropped by their traditional insurance companies.
Some, I'm sure, were able to successfully find coverage with others, but many were shifted to the Fair Plan. And the Fair Plan has lower benefits and higher costs. So, many of the things that are covered in a traditional insurance policy are not covered by the Fair Plan.
A good example is those expenses we just talked about. Additional living expenses that most insurance companies will pay for, the cost for your hotel, food, et cetera, are not covered by the Fair Plan.
So people in the Fair Plan may have less protection than those with traditional insurance. And that's a real problem for folks who are trying to live their lives while they rebuild.
SANDOVAL: On the topic of protection, what kind of consumer laws are out there in California to ensure that companies actually provide coverage to homeowners in some of these wildfire-prone regions?
BALBER: California has got very strong consumer protections when it comes to your claims being paid, for example, those additional living expenses, which I think are so important to talk about right now as people are newly-evacuated.
Insurance companies are required to give you an upfront advance of some of those costs and an upfront advance for your lost personal property in a home. So that's a good consumer protection.
Another thing that's really important to know if you're in a fire zone now, is that we have a mandatory moratorium on non-renewals for one year for people in a fire area and the surrounding zip code.
So the one silver lining in this is that homeowners in these fire areas do not have to worry about their home insurance being non- renewed for the next year.
SANDOVAL: And from your perspective, Carmen, what do you feel are hopefully some of the more, you know, looking into the future here, perhaps some of the long-term changes that you would like to see to try to really limit losses or help people in the very long recovery process?
BALBER: Well, I think one of the things that this disaster is driving home is the need for better wildfire mitigation in our homes and in our communities.
California has statewide standards for home hardening and brush clearance around your home that make it less likely that homes in an area will burn down.
We can't prevent every wildfire, but we can make our homes less risky. So we need greater investment not only by the state and individuals, but by the insurance industry in reducing the risk to homes of wildfires so all of our communities are better protected.
And then to incentivize that spending by homeowners, we need a guarantee that if you take those steps, you're able to buy insurance from any insurance company in the state, and that will start to stabilize -- stabilize the market, and keep California insured.
SANDOVAL: Yes, there's a way to potentially get it right here. And if this week has taught us anything, is that wildfires are a way of life in southern California and so insurance companies and homeowners need to take action.
Carmen Balber, thank you so much for lending your expertise to this. This is an issue that people often don't think about amid the chaos of some of these fires. Thank you.
BALBER: Absolutely. Absolutely. Glad to be here.
SANDOVAL: Tensions are high in Venezuela ahead of the presidential inauguration set for Friday. But not one but two political leaders there claiming they should be sworn in. One of them, with some serious support from the United States. The stories ahead.
[01:38:24]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANDOVAL: Those are opposition and government supporters. They are back on the streets of Venezuela ahead of the controversial inauguration of President Nicolas Maduro just hours from now.
Maduro was declared the winner of the election in July but the opposition says the winner was Edmundo Gonzalez.
In the run up to the inauguration, opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was violently intercepted and kidnapped. Those are the words of her team after a rally on Thursday.
Well, she's now free. And the government for its part denies that she was even detained. But her team says that she was forced to record several videos before being released.
Now the upcoming inauguration is taking the country into politically uncharted territory. Both Maduro and Gonzalez are claiming that they should be sworn in. Several former presidents of other Latin American countries, they are saying that they will join Gonzalez in his return to Venezuela.
But Venezuelan authorities are discrediting that support, alleging that former presidents are implicated in crimes, including complicity in terrorism. And fears are growing of another violent crackdown against the opposition.
Stefano Pozzebon in South America with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN JOURNLAIST: Refusing to be silenced, once again, Venezuelan protesters taking to the streets on Thursday demanding President Nicolas Maduro step down.
Among them opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, her first appearance in months.
MARIA CORINA MACHADO, VENEZUELAN OPPOSITON LEADER (through translator): Whatever they do tomorrow, they will bury themselves. It will be the end of Maduro.
POZZEBON: But Maduro, in power for more than a decade, does not intend to back down. He's planning to be sworn in as president for a third time on Friday, despite widespread international outcry and independent electoral observers casting serious doubts over the legitimacy of his victory.
The U.S., Canada and several countries in the Americas have instead recognized Machado's ally, Edmundo Gonzalez, as the true president- elect. A former diplomat who fled the country last year, he plans to challenge Maduro by returning to Caracas and assuming power on Friday. U.S. President Joe Biden and other leaders backing him along the way.
Gonzalez faces immediate arrest if he were to return, even though up to nine former presidents pledged to join him. Maduro's government deployed soldiers and militia before his inauguration on Friday.
DIOSDADO CABELLO, VENEZUELAN MINISTER OF INTERIOR, JUSTICE AND PEACE (through translator): We have plenty of space in our jails. We have plenty of space for anyone who comes here to attack this country, to disrespect our people.
POZZEBON: Tensions rising ahead of a crucial showdown in an early test for democracy in 2025.
Stefano Pozzebon, CNN -- Bogota.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANDOVAL: Trump supporter Elon Musk is facing criticism for hosting a live interview on X with the co-leader of Germany's far right party, the AFD. The tech billionaire spoke on Thursday with Alice Weidel, the party's candidate for chancellor.
Musk has already endorsed the -- I should say he's already endorsed the AFD in next month's snap elections, calling it the only party that can save Germany, he says.
Well, he and Weidel blasted critics who they accuse of trying to suppress the AFD's far right message.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELON MUSK, CEO, TESLA AND SPACEX: It's actually quite easy to tell who the bad guys are. It's like, who wants to shut down freedom of speech? They are the bad guys. It's very clear.
ALICE WEIDEL, GERMAN AFD PARTY LEADER: Yes. And do you know what? What-- what-- what Adolf Hitler did. The first thing he switched off -- free speech.
MUSK: Yes.
WEIDEL: So he controls the media and without that, he would have never been successful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:44:46]
SANDOVAL: Now, AFD is staunchly anti-immigrant and critical of the E.U. It is the first far-right party to win a state election in Germany since World War 2.
Although it is gaining support, a recent poll found that 79 percent of Germans view that party unfavorably.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Donald Trump's Friday sentencing in the New York hush money trial -- I should say, the case itself, can go ahead.
The justices, in a 5 to 4 ruling, denied Trump's emergency request to halt the sentencing. That basically means that the U.S. president- elect will be sentenced just days before his inauguration. But the court's majority said any potential violations could be addressed on appeal. New York Judge Juan Merchan has basically signaled that Trump will not face prison time or any penalties, but Trump criticized him over the case, warning, quote, "This is long -- this is a long way from being finished."
Meantime, a federal appeals court also rejected Trump's attempt to block the Justice Department from releasing special counsel Jack Smith's report on the abandoned federal cases against the president- elect. Trump is expected to appeal that decision to the Supreme Court as well.
In the meantime, Trump continues to say that Canada would be better off as America's 51st state. He actually shared a map on Truth Social on Wednesday that appeared to show Canada, as well as Greenland, as part of the United States.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who announced this week that he's stepping down, responded to the taunts while speaking with CNNs Jake Tapper.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: President-elect Trump has been needling you a bit, calling you Governor Trudeau, talking about making Canada the 51st state. Did you have any interaction with him today?
JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: No, not today. But that's not going to happen. Canadians are incredibly proud of being Canadian. One of the ways we define ourselves most easily is, well, we're not American.
There is such a depth of pride that that's not actually an issue.
What I think is happening in this is President Trump, who's a very skillful negotiator, is getting people to be somewhat distracted by that -- by that conversation, to take away from the conversation around 25 percent tariffs on oil and gas and electricity and steel and aluminum and lumber and concrete.
And everything the American consumers buy from Canada is suddenly going to get a lot more expensive if he moves forward on these tariffs. And that's something that I think we need to be focusing on a little bit more. TAPPER: Did the reelection of Donald Trump and this more direct
confrontation with Canada over this issue play any role at all in your decision to resign as leader of your party and prime minister?
TRUDEAU: No, on the contrary, what we were able to do during the first presidency of Mr. Trump was work together in a, you know, very challenging situation to come out with a very strong win-win in Canada-U.S. relations with the renegotiation of the USMCA.
It is a great deal for both of our countries. We've seen trade grow. We've seen opportunities grow. We've seen wealth grow in both of our countries for workers, for businesses.
Working together concretely is something that we've been able to do in the past. And I'm looking forward to continuing to work with him for the next two months while I'm still in office.
TAPPER: Let's talk about this potential 25 percent tariff from the United States on Canada. Economists say that will drive the Canadian economy into a recession, and the Canadian government is preparing retaliatory tariffs if these actually go through.
Which do you think would be potentially the most effective against the United States? I don't want them, by the way, just as an American -- I don't want these tariffs. But minerals, energy.
TRUDEAU: You know, we don't want them either. We do not want to see tariffs on our side. We do not want to see tariffs on your side. It's bad for people who have for generations made things together and been successful together to actually start creating barriers between economies like ours.
Like we have so many resources in Canada more than our market can support. So we export them to our closest friend who can rely on them. It is a win-win for us.
We would -- we would definitely respond, as we did years ago when President Trump put tariffs on steel and aluminum. We responded by putting tariffs on Heinz Ketchup, on playing cards, on bourbon, on Harley-Davidsons, on things that that would hurt American workers.
But we don't want to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANDOVAL: The United States has bid a final farewell to former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Carter's body was interred privately near his home in Plains, Georgia.
[01:49:51]
SANDOVAL: But the official ceremony earlier in Washington, D.C., included a rare constellation. The five living former U.S. Presidents honoring the former naval officer and state governor from rural Georgia.
Here's CNN's Brian Todd.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Jimmy Carters funeral was filled with personal accounts from those who were closest to him.
JASON CARTER, JIMMY CARTER'S GRANDSON: They were regular folks. Yes. They spent four years in the governor's mansion and four years at the White House but the other 92 years they spent at home in Plains, Georgia.
TODD: There were also unique touches, eulogies delivered by Steve Ford and Ted Mondale, the sons of President Gerald Ford and Carter's Vice President Walter Mondale. Eulogies to Jimmy Carter written by their fathers before Gerald Ford and Walter Mondale passed away.
Steve Ford, relaying his father's account of a political rivalry, turned friendship.
STEVE FORD, SON OF FORMER PRESIDENT GERALD FORD: "During our 1976 contest, Jimmy knew my political vulnerabilities, and he successfully pointed them out.
Now, I didn't like it, but little could I know that the outcome of that 1976 election would bring about one of my deepest and most enduring friendships."
TODD: President Biden eulogized Carter by repeatedly praising his strength of character.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's about asking ourselves, are we striving to do things, the right things? What values -- what are the values that animate our spirit? Do we operate from fear or hope? Ego or generosity?
TODD: In attendance, dignitaries from around the world, including the so-called presidents' club, Biden, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump. Trump and his former vice president Mike Pence shook hands for the first time since their falling out after January 6th.
But as for Pence's wife.
KATE ANDERSEN BROWER, AUTHOR, "TEAM OF FIVE: THE PRESIDENTS' CLUB IN THE AGE OF TRUMP": Karen Pence sat there very quietly, did not get up when Donald Trump walked in. There was a lot of tension in that room.
TODD: But it was Barack Obama who seemed to be the only one engaging with Trump, chatting and smiling freely with the president-elect.
BROWER: Now that the political dialog has just gotten so vitriolic that Donald Trump can say really terrible things about these men and then sit next to them as though nothing had happened.
TODD: Despite the tension in the cathedral author Kate Andersen Brower says, we shouldn't forget the underlying lesson of the presidents' club that there is still a mutual respect between them that has not been completely done away with and we should celebrate that.
Brian Todd, CNN -- Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANDOVAL: Don't go anywhere. More coverage after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAMIS SADRIEH, HELPED PARENTS EVACUATE PALISADES FIRE: Just watching these videos, watching the news, and seeing the town that I grew up in, the high school that I went to, the elementary school that I went to -- they're all burned.
I mean, its unrecognizable. It's like the worst nightmare that you can have. It's like a set at Universal Studios. It's just unbelievable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANDOVAL: You heard it straight from a survivor of the California deadly fires. He's reliving the nightmare of finding much of his hometown burned to the ground. And those stories repeat themselves.
[01:54:55]
SANDOVAL: These are exactly the kind of victims that Chef Jose Andres is trying to help right now on the ground. His charity, World Central Kitchen, has been on the ground across the fire-hit areas. He's setting up mobile kitchens like this for those who need them the most, mainly the first responders and evacuees.
Chef Andres told Anderson Cooper that he hopes to offer more than just a warm meal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHEF JOSE ANDRES, WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN: As people are going back to their neighborhoods, when they are able to go back and they give them permission, we need to make sure we are there next to them with water, with food.
Not because sometimes the food is not available to them, but because sometimes people they need to feel that somebody out there is there to care for them, to show them love, to show them empathy. Adaptation in these moments is the most important in emergency.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANDOVAL: The healing power of a warm meal, really.
The California fires, they are taking a toll on everyone, including animals. But kindness abounds despite that destruction that we've shown you.
CNN captured the moment a man rescued an injured stray dog from the wildfire rubble.
Samantha Lindell with that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAMANTHA LINDELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rick Miller was checking in on a friend's house in Altadena, California, when he noticed an injured stray dog across the street.
He decided to see if he could help.
RICK MILLER, CALIFORNIA RESIDENT: Start caring for each other. I'm like, everyone needs help right now. Sorry for crying, but it's really emotional seeing like my friends lose their houses and people losing their animals. And so you try to help each other out.
LINDELL: Miller says the wildfires have taken a toll on everyone. And the least he could do is try to give back.
MILLER: Yes, you seem like all your friends are, like, losing their houses and you're just trying to help them out. Like our house was, you know, fortunately, my house was saved. But our friend is right across the street. Their house is gone.
But that's why you just want to help -- help your friends out. Help your families out. Help. Help the animals out.
LINDELL: Miller said he ultimately decided to bring the dog to the Pasadena Humane Society in hopes of giving the animal a better future.
The Pasadena Humane Society confirmed they received the stray dog and was treated for burns and exposure to smoke.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you guys.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANDOVAL: Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Polo Sandoval in New York.
Stick around, more coverage continues after the break.
[01:57:21]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
