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Strong Winds Expected To Pick Back Up In CA Fire Zone Potentially Slowing Containment Advances; California Governor Calls For Water Supply Investigation; Firefighters Battling 4 Wildfires Across L.A. County; At Least 11 Dead, 100k Plus Under Evacuation Orders In CA Wildfires; New Evacuation Order Issued In Palisades Fire; Biden Pledges Federal Support For "Astounding" Wildfires; Strong Winds Expected To Pick Back Up In CA Fire Zone, Potentially Slowing Containment Advances. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired January 11, 2025 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

DEMI MOORE, ACTRESS: And finding kind of the power in that important message of accepting who we are as we are.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN ANCHOR: That's all we have time for. Don't forget, you can find that interview and all of our shows online as podcasts at CNN.com/audio and on all other major platforms.

I'm Christiane Amanpour in London. Thank you for watching and see you again next week.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Saturday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta.

And we begin with this breaking news. Fire crews in the fight of their lives as out of control wildfires tear through parts of Los Angeles County. You're looking at live pictures right now from the front lines of the fires.

The inferno is being blamed for at least 11 deaths. More than 100,000 are now under evacuation orders as the flames reduce communities to ashes. But firefighters are making some progress. Officials now say three of the five fires have some significant containment.

The Palisades fire, which is the largest, has 11 percent containment. The Eaton fire is 15 percent contained.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

CAPTAIN SHEILA KELLIHER, LOS ANGELES COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: If we do what we're supposed to be doing, we keep working through the night and the weather is cooperating right now. I think we can really make some headway and then we're just dealing with normal red flag conditions, which is totally different than the monstrosity that we've been dealing with.

We have all the units in place. We've got over 3,000 firefighters on this fire. We've got over 350 engines, 54 crew buses, helicopters, dozers. We've got the world out here working on this.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

WHITFIELD: The fires have wiped out entire neighborhoods. Evacuation orders are now expanding in Los Angeles County to include parts of Brentwood and Encino. Even UCLA administrators are now asking all students to be ready for potential evacuation.

In the midst of this disaster, California Governor Gavin Newsom is calling for an independent investigation after some hydrants lost water pressure during the height of the firefights. The L.A. City Fire Chief says they were prepared for wildfires, but not four simultaneously. She's blasting officials after her department's budget was hit with major cuts.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

CHIEF KRISTIN CROWLEY, LOS ANGELES FIRE DEPARTMENT: We have over 100 fire apparatus out of service, and having these apparatus in the proper amount of mechanics would have helped and so it did absolutely negatively impact.

I want to also be clear that I have, over the last three years, been clear that the fire department needs help. We can no longer sustain where we are. We do not have enough firefighters.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

WHITFIELD: That was the L.A. City Fire Chief. It was the L.A. County Fire Chief who said they were prepared for a fire wildfires, but not for simultaneously.

All right, we are expecting to get another update from L.A. County officials next hour. But for now, let's get a live update on the ground. CNN's Julia Vargas Jones is near the Palisades fire. Julia, what's happening?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, we're seeing the expansion of this fire eastward firsthand. I'll step out of the shot here so you can see. We are very close to the 405 freeway. This artery that links north and south Los Angeles.

The hills that you see now a blaze are just west (technical difficulty) of the Palisades. That's the direction of (technical difficulty) that you've seen the wiping of entire neighborhoods. That is what is beyond these hills.

On this side where we are, this is where those neighborhoods that you're mentioning Brentwood, the Getty Villa being evacuated. I'm sorry, the Getty Center being evacuated. One is the most iconic cultural institutions, museums with $6 billion worth of artworks now being protected with first responders around there.

Around me here, lots of aircraft going up and down these hills. What they're doing now is that they're dumping water in the spots that need the most. So we're right between, like, close to the 405, just north of here, the San Fernando Valley. That is a very, like, densely populated residential area.

As this fire is making its way to the other side of this hill, a lot more people are in danger. That's why they are receiving these evacuation orders.

Fred, that also come with orders for a curfew. We're hearing and we're hearing from officials here on the ground as we're making our way through these neighborhoods, how many looters or people with the intention to loot they have encountered? We had four more arrests overnight.

At least 20 people so far have been arrested for looting and similar crimes. That is a concern that residents have and that authorities say that they will prosecute to the full extent of the law, saying that they cannot allow for people who have already lost so much to lose even more.

[12:05:11]

And now we have more than 100,000 people under these evacuation orders curfews. It is truly a scene that we've never seen before. And now that we had a low in the winds, the Santa Ana winds --

WHITFIELD: All right, Julia Vargas Jones, we lost that signal there. Understandably, the conditions are quite precarious there. Winds have died down a little bit, only to be picking right back up.

All right, let's get more analysis on another point of view. With us is Michael Gollner. He is an associate professor at U.C. Berkeley and the director of Berkeley's fire research lab. A lot of your work looks at how fire spreads.

So I know it's still early on in what's transpiring there in South -- Southern California, but I want you to kind of take a stab at, you know, what's behind this kind of destruction. Can you help us understand why these fires spread as quickly as they did?

MICHAEL GOLLNER, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY: Yes, well, it's twofold. I mean, first off, the weather conditions were sort of a worst case timing set up. They started to call this hydroclimate whiplash in that we had significant rains almost a year ago and then dry nothing. And this allows a lot of fine fuels like grasses and shrubs to grow and then die and dry out.

And that's the fine fuels that actually spread fires. And if you've seen back in Texas, had those massive fires, they spread really quickly through brass and fine fuels. And so that was all primed and ready. And then we had significant Santa Ana wind events.

So these were 50, 60 mile an hour plus wind events. And these drove the fires at an incredible pace. But something that's unique about happening at -- in the L.A. basin, is that we see this area where homes and structures are intermingled with vegetation completely. Sometimes it's called the wild and urban interface.

But what we already have is those fires and they're very close to neighborhoods and communities. The fires jump into those communities and then continue spreading and that's what helps cause this destruction.

WHITFIELD: So with those elements that you just described, it really does seem like this was unavoidable, this kind of destruction, especially with the winds of upwards of 100 miles per hour during -- wind gusts during this week.

GOLLNER: Well, yes and no. Fires are unavoidable in California. Those Santa Ana wind events have happened long before, since people were here, and they will continue to happen. The vegetation is naturally adapted to fire.

What's different is that we've built our communities without regard to that fire. There's vegetation surrounding homes, homes can catch embers, small flying particles that take the wildfire and move it into urban areas.

And under those high winds, it's very hard to stop it, but we do have measures to build communities better before the fire. And these are older communities and really hadn't adapted those measures very much.

WHITFIELD: You used reconstructions of previous fires to help kind of create models in anticipation of, you know, other fires to come. So if you were to do that here, what are you hoping to learn? What are you hoping people will learn from this kind of devastation?

GOLLNER: Yes, well, we'll definitely look at these fires, try to reconstruct them. What we've learned from many of the past disasters, like in 2017, the Northern California fires with the Tubbs fire, and the Camp Fire, the Camp Fire had over 18,000 structures that were lost.

We learned a lot of those is the surrounding vegetation burns, but it's the small embers that bring the fire into the community. So those small burning pieces. And if you can clear shrubs and vegetation around homes, it's called defensible space, especially in the 5 feet around home, and then extending beyond that.

This is like almost landscaping level. And if you can do that, and then you can seal up the home so embers don't get in, you actually have a much more survivable chance, because most of the destruction after those embers come in, it then goes house to house.

So if the houses are close together, and there's a car or other vegetation that ignites between, it's almost like dominoes, one after another. And so we want to break that chain as much as possible which will give firefighters a much better chance of slowing or stopping the fire.

WHITFIELD: There have been some questions raised about, you know, hydrants in the Pacific Palisades, in particular, either losing pressure or running dry at times as the fire, you know, first got underway early in the week.

Officials say the demand was just simply too great. You know, and the system needed time to kind of catch up. California Governor Gavin Newsom is calling for an investigation into water pressure and availability issues.

Do you see that that is something that needs to be re-evaluated? Do you believe it did make an impact here?

[12:10:07]

GOLLNER: I think on an individual case level, these things can have an impact but I think we have to kind of step back and look at it. No amount of water would change the overall destruction. It might have an impact in small areas and what they're doing, and we certainly want to give them as much as possible.

But I can think of only maybe one or two cases where in a wildland urban interface disaster, water didn't eventually go out. Our systems are designed for several structures or commercial building on fire. We're talking about hundreds or thousands of homes exposed at once.

And if you've ever seen the fire department respond to a structure, the number of lines, the amount of water responding is incredible. So much more than a normal residential demand. And so, it's definitely worth investigating. We always love to go back to these disasters and learn as much as we can. See if there were mistakes made, try to correct them for the future.

But I think most of the investment that's really going to make a difference is actually going to be on the ground, putting defensible space around homes and designing our communities and thinking about that fire is going to come back someday. Let's make this community so it won't burn again. And then the water that we have hopefully will help enough.

WHITFIELD: All right, Professor Michael Gollner, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

GOLLNER: Thank you, Fredricka.

All right, those gusty winds that supercharged the four fires early in the week, now it is five fires after being reduced from six fires. A lot of it has been fueled by wind gusts of upwards of 50 to 100 miles per hour. And now, some of the winds are calmer, but the forecast is it could pick up again later on today.

We spoke with Cal Fire Battalion Chief about what he expects over the next 12 hours.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

BATTALION CHIEF BRENT PASCUA, CALIFORNIA DEPT. OF FORESTRY AND FIRE PROTECTION: It was like fire, fire in a hurricane. These normal Santa Ana's were used to fighting fire and that they're expecting the next couple days. So we're staying cautiously optimistic with that forecast.

(END VIDEOCLIP) WHITFIELD: All right, CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is tracking all of this. So what about those wins? I mean, it's a major culprit, obviously, and all of this dying down a little bit. Is it helpful only to pick back up again?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. We've already actually seen the containment numbers go up, so we know that it has helped at least a little bit. We're hoping they can make even more advancements in the next few hours before they really start to pick up later this afternoon and especially into the evening.

And both today and tomorrow have that elevated and critical threat, not just in Los Angeles, but you'll notice even spread out from there. You still have that potential. You look at all of the fires you see here.

Good news, the Lidia fire now finally 100 percent containment. So having those lower wind speeds certainly help there. The Eaton fire has also jumped up in containment numbers. Same thing for the Kenneth fire.

We hope that the others will continue to go up over the next couple of hours. Those winds right now still single digits for most of these areas, but that is going to go up as we go through the rest of the day. You're going to start to see them jump into the teens and the twenties by this afternoon and eventually overnight tonight could even get up around that 30 to 40 mile per hour range, and that would continue through the early morning and afternoon hours on Sunday as well.

Then we get a little bit of a lull Sunday night before the next round comes in Monday through Wednesday of the upcoming week.

Now, one thing to note when you get these winds that calm down, that is fantastic news for the firefighters trying to fight these fires. However, it's not exactly good news for the air quality because there's no wind to disperse those smoke particles.

So in a lot of times they can get trapped, especially in some of the valleys, making that air quality a little bit worse in some of these spots. So you still have all of these areas shaded here in gray under the air quality alerts for today that will likely continue tomorrow as well.

You can see the winds dispersing that smoke. The vast majority of it going offshore, which is good news. But at times when that wind direction changes, it comes back on shore and affect some of these communities. So the overall key takeaways here is we're still expecting those locally very strong winds starting again tonight and will continue through Sunday.

That's a concern for all of that dryer and also the dry vegetation. Two separate periods, the one that starts later today through Sunday, then the next one that starts up Monday through Wednesday of the upcoming week. And you have the red flag warnings and also a fire weather watch in effect across portions of California. The other thing too, that we talk about, we talk about wind speed, obviously, but wind direction is equally as important because these firefighters will make a plan based off where the wind direction is going at the time.

But then Fred, what may happen is it shifts and they have to completely change that plan all over again.

WHITFIELD: All right, Allison Chinchar, thank you so much.

All right, so everybody wants to know how they can help people. For more information about how you can in the Los Angeles area wildfire victims kind of scope, go to CNN.com/impact or text wildfires to 707070 to donate.

We'll have much more on these devastating wildfires in California within this hour.

[12:15:03]

But first, new details on the deadly plane crash in South Korea that killed 179 people. The new hurdle for investigators trying to find the cause of the crash.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. Just moments ago, officials in Los Angeles gave an update on progress on the four currently burning fires in Los Angeles County. The L.A. County fire chief talked about his department's response and the challenges that they are facing.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

ANTHONY MARRONE, L.A. COUNTY FIRE CHIEF: Thank you for your question. So, yes, I've communicated at the previous press conferences the actions that the L.A. County Fire Department took in advance of the county of Los Angeles Fire Department. Every day, we staffed 900 firefighters throughout our communities out of 176 fire stations.

And at 7:00 a.m. or thereabouts, we held over the off going shift, and we now had a firefighting force of 1,800 firefighters.

[12:20:09]

We staffed all available reserve apparatus prior to the start of the Palisades fire. I did everything in my power to make sure that we had enough personnel and resources before the first fire started. I alerted my board via memo regarding the situation prior, and on Wednesday, I recalled all L.A. County firefighters back to work.

Not only two shifts, all three shifts. I was the one that made the call to the State Office of Emergency Services. I requested 258 OES, went to outside states, the western United States for additional resources to be brought into California, to be brought into L.A. County. We have national and international firefighters. Mexico, Canada, all of our surrounding states are here right now fighting this fire. So it wasn't for a lack of preparation and decision making that resulted in this catastrophe. It was a natural disaster.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you. And we have Sheriff Luna.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) who wants to add something.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we'll get to your follow up.

SHERIFF ROBERT LUNA, LOS ANGELES COUNTY: Thank you, Chief Marrone. I just want to add from the law enforcement side and really from the county family side. And I'm going to start off by really talking about Kevin McGowan, who's back here because he's our director of Office of Emergency Management, and he had all county departments on a phone call as we were getting the weather updates.

And as we were getting them, they were getting worse. So obviously we did everything we could to plan for the worst. I don't think any of us anticipated it was going to be this bad. And as you see, we're making history here. And not all for the right reasons, right, from a weather perspective, climate perspective and all those things.

But from the law enforcement perspective, we made sure that we had our resources in place. I was on the phone with the Chief of the Office of Emergency Services for the state. We were in communication with the California Highway Patrol.

We were already putting things in place along with our other partner law enforcement agencies in L.A. County, which includes my multi daily conversations with Chief Jim McDonnell from the Los Angeles Police Department.

So there were a lot of things going on, a lot of moving parts. But remember this for anybody who's watching, we weren't dealing with one fire, we weren't dealing with two fires, we were dealing with multiple incidences all around our county.

And I got to tell you, from a first responder perspective, we're still answering 911 calls. We are still responding to people who are asking for help throughout the entire county of Los Angeles. So I'd just like to throw this out, and you're going to ask tough questions, we need to answer those tough questions.

But man, I'm telling you, I am so proud, and I could speak from the policing side of it, our deputy sheriffs, because most of them haven't had a day off, most of them haven't seen their families, but they're out there.

I've run across many of my employees who have tears in their eyes because they're seeing the devastation and it's impacting them, it's impacting their families. Not to mention, I've spoken to at least four of my employees who have lost their houses, total losses, and that's -- and I'm getting more of that every day. So I just want to throw that out as we're talking about our preparedness and what we're doing and next steps. This event is unprecedented and I'm really proud to be part of this county family and the partnerships that we have in the region and the state. I believe our mutual aid systems are second to none in the entire United States.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your follow up?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can I just add one thing on that? And Chief Marrone, you touched on it. I was at the Rose Bowl yesterday. And that is the command center where all the different agencies bring our position.

And I had the opportunity to talk to firefighters throughout the state from Cal Fire, but also from Kern County, from Santa Clara, and they were talking about the fact that this is a year round situation, and they stand ready at a moment's notice to drop everything, and they commit to, what I was told, 14 days at any incident.

So this is an example of mutual aid. But this is going on constantly and we are coming. So we were prepared for what we believe to be a very dire situation. And so I also want to thank you, Chief Marrone, because you did alert us and you had an all hands on deck working with the sheriff.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

[12:25:03]

WHITFIELD: The police chief and the L.A. County fire chief, among those defending their work and the decisions made pre-emptively and during the wildfires there in southern California. We'll have more on our coverage of those wildfires in a moment.

Right now, other news we're following, investigators say both flight recorders from the South Korean passenger jet that crashed last month stopped working just four minutes before the accident.

They were hoping the devices would shed some light into South Korea's deadliest plane crash in nearly three decades. In a statement, South Korea's transport ministry said it was unclear why the devices stopped working, and they are trying to determine the cause.

The plane crash and exploded while attempting a runway landing, killing 179 people. Two crew members survived.

The deadly wildfires in California are not just devastating, they could be one of the costliest disasters in U.S. history. With California's insurance industry already in crisis, what does this mean for the road to recovery? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:30:16] WHITFIELD: I want to take you straight to Los Angeles County there right now. The FEMA regional administrator there in the SoCal area is now talking this after hearing from the L.A. police chief who talked about 600 L.A. police officers that are dedicated to assisting right now. Let's listen in to the FEMA administrator for that region.

ROBERT FENTON, FEMA REGIONAL ADMINISTRATOR: One of the areas that we're focusing now and our priority is to help those that have been affected by this event. And one of the ways we do that is through our Individual Assistance Program. I want to start off with how to apply to that program. So the easiest way is to go to the website to disasterassistance.gov and apply there.

You can also download the FEMA app and use that to apply. Or you can phone our 1-800-621-3362 number to apply for assistance. We've already had over 16,000 applications as of this morning. And we'll continue to take reservation -- registrations into our system. And we'll be probably reaching out to many of those individuals.

Those who are have ins -- that are insured, I urge you to go ahead and call your insurance company first as you'll need that information through the registration process with FEMA as you go through that application process. One of the positive things that have happened in some of the changes of our legislation is we can help those that are uninsured, which I suspect will be a significant need here in -- from these fires.

FEMA is starting to expedite serious needs assistance. It's a one-time payment that helps survivors with costs associated to disaster-related needs, such as whether it's water, food, infant formula, things you had to purchase as you evacuated. And that's a one-time payment.

Other forms of assistance include displacement assistance to help with hotel costs, minimal repairs to your house, other needs assistance, costs for if you have medical bills from this event, the unfortunate funeral costs that will come for some if you lost your car in this event. You could go ahead and put that in for assistance from FEMA.

And then ultimately, as we've seen the great devastation and loss of housing, temporary housing, whether it be through our rental assistance programs or other forms of temporary housing, that we'll work with the city, the county on how to provide those in the -- in the best way that meets the needs of the community here.

So I'm working closely with the state and county and the city to ensure that we bring not only the full weight of the federal government, but working with community part -- partners to make sure that we bring the resources that are needed to help recover. We are sending staff out to the field to help individuals register for our program.

We'll start with going to the shelters and some of the other places, and we'll expand out and -- and help individuals that need help registering. However, I urge you to go to the three locations I gave you, register online or register through the 1-800 number, as it's a -- it's better to register before coming in and asking for extra technical assistance.

Ultimately, we'll work with the county and the city to set up local assistance centers. We will have in-processing place -- in processing centers to help with your application. Lastly, I just want to continue to reiterate, we are here for long term. We're here to financially support the response costs and to help individuals recover from the fire.

And have the full weight of the federal government behind me to support any needs that the state or the county or the city have in response to these fires. Thank you.

MAYOR KAREN BASS (D), LOS ANGELES: Next is SBA District Director, Julie Clowes.

JULIE CLOWES, SBA DISTRICT DIRECTOR: Thank you, Mayor Bass. Thank you to all of our government officials, FEMA, and especially our first responders. Thank you so much for everything you are doing for the community. For those that are affected by these fires, my heart is with you. My team and I live here. We know what the challenges are ahead, and we're here to help you through that recovery process.

SBA's Disaster Loan Programs are open. They've been fully activated, and they are open, and people can apply today. The applications are available for homeowners, for renters, for businesses of all sizes, and for private non-profits here in L.A. County.

A quick overview of the programs for you. The Disaster Home Loan Program is loans to renters or homeowners to repair or replace disaster damaged real estate and personal property. And this includes automobiles. Loan maximums are 500,000 for real estate and 100,000 for personal property.

[12:35:16]

And this is for uninsured or otherwise non-compensated losses. Business -- physical disaster loans are also available for businesses of all sizes to repair or replace their disaster damaged property, including the real estate, inventory, supplies, machinery, and equipment. Businesses of all sizes and non-profit organizations are eligible to apply, and loan maximums are 2 million.

Economic injury disaster loans are available to small businesses and non-profits as a way to provide working capital to help them meet their ordinary and necessary obligations that otherwise could have been met but for this fire. Loan maximums for this program are 2 million. Interest rates are extremely low, under 4 percent, and in some cases, 2.56 percent for homeowners and renters.

We have a 12 month deferment on interest and payments. And we are in the process of setting up some centers, but everyone is absolutely eligible to apply online today. SBA.gov/disaster will take you right to the info page and application.

Also SBA.gov, we have banners on our homepage to direct you right to these resources as well. And you may also reach out through our customer assistance line at e-mail box, I'm sorry, at disastercustomerservice@SBA.gov, again, disastercustomerservice@SBA.gov. And we also have our cadre of business advisors through small business development centers, women business centers, veteran business outreach centers, and SCORE, who are all over the county with free business assistance ready to support any business concerns you may have. From recovery and rebuilding to applying for any of the assistance we talked about today. Thank you.

BASS: Who's on that? Oh, there you are. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible).

BASS: Well, you know what, I think that the people in Palisades and in most of the areas have been doing everything they can. They've been responding to the evacuation orders. I think that it's critical that they do that. We know that those people who stay behind might not be able to get out. And -- and I think that it's important that people pay attention to that. The good news is, is that the fires have been slowly being contained.

We -- I know that the Palisades area is one of the ones that is the most vulnerable for the winds to continue to spike up. And it's anticipated that the winds will kick up again at the beginning of the week. So having National Guard there, having law enforcement there is going to be very critical because not only do we have to protect ourselves from the fires, but we also have to make sure that no one goes up there and attempts to loot, attempts -- attempts to do anything that is inappropriate in the areas.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible).

BASS: Well, they need to pay attention to what the orders are. You know, in some of the areas they've been told to evacuate. I know that west of the 405 people are supposed to evacuate. I know east of the 405 it's a warning. So I think people need to pay careful attention to what the instructions are. And please, please, please not try to wait out the fires.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).

BASS: Oh, my goodness.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).

BASS: Let me just say that as you see here, the chief and I are lockstep in our number one mission. And that mission is to get us past this emergency right now. We want to make sure that we save lives, we save housing, we save businesses. And if there are differences that we have, we will continue to deal with those in private. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).

BASS: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible).

[12:40:06]

BASS: First of all, I have no idea as to what he means when he says he's getting different answers from different people. But I have to tell you, I have a lot of concerns about every step of what has happened over the last week. Again, we have to stay focused on the number one mission, which is getting through this crisis, keeping people safe. Examining what happened, I want a full investigation of every level. So I'll follow up with the governor to find out exactly what he means, but I do not know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).

BASS: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).

BASS: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you've been listening to an update from L.A. city officials, including L.A. Mayor Karen Bass.

WHITFIELD: All right. We're -- we're watching and listening to this ongoing press conference there out of the Los Angeles area. The mayor, Karen Bass, is speaking. They're also saying that they're doing the best that they can using all the resources. And they, too, are curious about anything that needs to be second guessed or questioned later based on some of the grievances that were expressed by way of some of the reporters and their questions.

And we also heard from the police chief in FEMA, all talking about the kinds of resources that are available to renters and homeowners, those who are insured and underinsured. We'll have much more when we come right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:45:57]

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. President Biden is pledging that federal resources will be available for Southern California. Biden announcing this week the federal government will cover the entire cost of the wildfire response for the next six months. CNN's Julia Benbrook joins us now from the White House. Julia, what more can you tell us about Biden's plan to help fight and recover, this area, recover from these fires?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Biden administration says that it has been in constant contact with California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. During a briefing yesterday that those two leaders were a part of, President Joe Biden received an update on the efforts to suppress the fires across L.A. And the way that federal resources are being used to help with the response on the ground. Vice President Kamala Harris, a California resident, also a part of that meeting, emphasized that this devastation will linger for quite some time.

Following the briefing, Biden promised that his team will continue to work 24/7 with state and local officials. That promise coming as Biden has just over a week left in office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to make sure California has every possible resource to fight these fires and help survive.

This is not going to be over even when all the fires are out. It's just going to be the beginning. And the change in insurance policy in California for these modest homes as well as these very expensive homes and businesses. So we're going to be around a long while to help the federal government and the mayor as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: The President has directed the federal government to cover 100 percent of the state's cost for the initial response that takes place over the next 180 days. Biden announced that FEMA has activated critical needs assistance program to jumpstart recovery. That gives an initial one-time payment of $770 to survivors so they can quickly purchase critical items like water, formula, gas and prescriptions.

The administration is also providing resources like air tankers and firefighting helicopters to assist with the response. More than 600 California National Guardsmen are currently assisting and hundreds of other service members are standing by to assist if called on.

Now, Biden was originally scheduled to be in Italy right now, but he canceled that trip and is here at the White House where aides say he continues to be focused on the federal response to these devastating fires. And Fred, important to emphasize that in just nine days now, a new administration will be directing this response.

WHITFIELD: All right, Julia Benbrook, thank you so much.

[12:48:40]

So as firefighters battle the four wildfires raging in Los Angeles County, residents grapple with what comes next. Coming up, how insurance will play in the road to recovery for the thousands of residents who have lost everything.

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WHITFIELD: California also taking new steps to protect homeowners. On Friday, the state's insurance commissioner issued a moratorium which prevents companies from canceling fire insurance for one year. I want to bring in Sean Kevelighan, right now CEO of Insurance Information Institute, for more insight.

Sean, great to see you. So, what went through your mind when you heard about this moratorium to prevent a lot of companies from dropping policyholders, or at least their fire protection plans, for about a year?

SEAN KEVELIGHAN, CEO, INSURANCE INFORMATION INSTITUTE: Well, I think it's very -- it's important to understand, first and foremost, that the insurance industry, this is what the insurance industry is meant to do. It acts as the economic or financial first responder.

And so, while people are getting safe, as the first responders are telling them to do, we also encourage them to make sure that they're contacting their insurance professional. The moratoriums are -- are a usual step that the regulator will take. However, what I would say for the state of California is that we've been on the brink of an insurance crisis for decades.

And what we really need to do, and thankfully there have been measures that have been taken in recent months to sustain the industry, albeit we need to make sure that we're getting people the coverage that they need. All the claims that are out there for those that are insured will be covered. There is enough capital on hand, the FAIR program as well.

So, all of this is just part of the system where insurance is there to help with that economic recovery that is going to be vital as we begin to rebuild and recover in Southern California.

WHITFIELD: All right, well, let's deal with the immediacy right now. It's good to hear you say that there is enough capital right now for people to rebuild, recover, whichever direction they go.

So, we just heard from a regional FEMA administrator who was talking about assistance for the insured or the underinsured. So, say you were one of the many who were in any one of those five -- those five or six burn areas, you've lost everything. You don't have your driver's license. You don't know your policy number.

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You know, all of that important documentation. So, what's your advice on what they do, even if they can't even remember their, you know, insurance company, because I've been in that before where I'm like, OK, who am I insured by now, you know, these days? So, anyway, you remember who that is and you call. What do you do to start getting some immediate assistance before you can even get to the juncture of rebuilding and -- and reclaiming?

KEVELIGHAN: Yes, absolutely. Again, once -- once individuals are in a safe place, we encourage them to contact their insurance professional as soon as possible because there are mechanisms and recovery efforts that can happen now. Things like additional living expenses, making sure that we're getting people the money that they need to recover fast.

Oftentimes, what's -- what's unfortunate and that we find is those that are underinsured or even uninsured think that the government will be there to help them recover. And I -- I dare to say this is going to be extraordinary when those -- when those individuals that might not have the insurance coverage understand that the coverage that they're going to get from the government is going to be considerably lower than if they had the insurance.

We heard earlier in your program from the SBA about getting SBA loans. Those loans also can be used to purchase insurance. So, if you didn't have the insurance the first go around, use those loans as well to make sure that you're covered for the future. We've heard some of your guests earlier in this program to say that some of these wildfires and some of these circumstances because of how things are developed and how people are living in this area so close to nature and so close to wildfire-prone areas that these circumstances are inevitable.

So, one, make sure that you're contacting and making sure that you understand what you can do to recover now from insurance. But I think the big wake-up call here, and unfortunately we see this a lot in the industry, it takes a very large catastrophic event to do this, is we need to understand how the state of California is going to prepare itself and become more resilient. Because how we've been living, how we've been even having an insurance market in this state in many ways needs to change. And we have seen some circumstances where the policymaking and the regulatory port -- regulatory community is wanting to get that change made and make sure that the market can be more sustainable.

We really need to focus on that for the future. But again, those that are insured and have insurance policies, they will be covered, even if it's with the government-sponsored program, the FAIR program. All of that is in place. This industry is designed to make sure that promises are kept.

WHITFIELD: And -- and folks then need to remember, if you have insurance, you need to start making those phone calls now to your carriers. If you don't have insurance or perhaps you're underinsured, reach out to the state support as well as FEMA support. There is immediate monies being made available for your hotel, for your food, for your, you know, babies' diapers, things like that. But you've got to take the initiative to -- to make those phone calls.

And we just heard in that press conference some of the websites, so hopefully someone, you know, people can borrow, you know, a computer, you know, access, a phone, something, in order to get that process going.

Sean Kevelighan, thank you so much. Appreciate it. I mean, people are going to be in such great need right now and for the next many, many months. Thank you.

KEVELIGHAN: Thank you.

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WHITFIELD: Much more ahead on the now four active wildfires ravaging California. Officials are sending more resources to the eastern side of the Pacific Palisades fire as it threatens to shift to new areas. You've already seen some of those air apparatus dropping, flyer retardants and water in the area. They're taking advantage of a lull in the Santa Ana winds. We'll be right back.

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