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CAL FIRE: "Significant Concern" Fires In L.A. County Will Grow; Curfew To Start In L.A. County; Crews From Other States Helps Firefighters In CA; Firefighters Attacking Flames From The Air. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired January 11, 2025 - 20:00   ET

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


ROBERT LARA, LOST HOME IN FIRE: For just 12 months --

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dealing with the maze of home insurance.

LARA: This is definitely going to take a lot longer than 12 months.

LAH (voice-over): And money.

LAH: A lot of people outside of California think it was celebrities who lost homes, rich people. Is that true?

LARA: This is your everyday hard working. I work in construction, gardening, housekeeping, your everyday essential workers with nothing. We still have to cover our mortgage. I called my lender and I still have to continue paying.

LAH (voice-over): This family of faith is left grasping for meaning.

DOMITIA HINOJOSA, LOST HOME IN FIRE: I hear the voice that God told me, I give it to you everything and I lost in one second. You need to follow me only. Follow me. I believe in God. And I think in one day I'm going to have a house and I'm going to have everything.

LAH (voice-over): They only hope God is listening now.

LARA: Is somebody going to help us? Are we helpless? What do we do? Who do we call? I don't know.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: Kyung Lah, thank you for that. The next hour of CNN Newsroom starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

DEAN: You are in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Jessica Dean in New York. And right now, fire crews are racing to put out wildfires tearing across parts of Los Angeles County. The most destructive fires Los Angeles has ever seen.

Fears are rising that powerful Santa Ana winds could both strengthen and change direction. And with that, more homes could be at risk as those fires could push further inland toward Brentwood and Bel Air toward UCLA. All of this, creating simply hellish conditions for first responders and for the people trying to evacuate.

More than 12,000 homes and businesses have been destroyed. Nearly 60 square miles have been scorched. And to put that into perspective, that is nearly three times the size of Manhattan, and these fires are still burning. CNN's Stephanie Elam is in L.A.s Brentwood neighborhood that is on the eastern side of the Palisades Fire.

And Stephanie, you've been there for hours today. You've been watching as crews have been trying to protect that area as they change different directions. What can you tell us about right now? I know you were feeling the winds pick up last time we talked to you.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the winds have definitely picked up and had to catch my hat a couple of times when the gusts came up here. And if you take a look at the smoke behind me here, you can see it's starting to change direction as well, starting to go up and starting to move now south down this Mandeville Canyon here as the sun is beginning to set.

But over on that ridge, we did just see a flare up of flames. We've still seen some aircraft out here battling the blaze from the sky, even as the sun is going down here. But they are really working to create space between these homes and the wilderness if they can. A place where they can count on being able to stage and fight against these blazes if they do change and move this way.

The winds are definitely picking up. The humidity is very low and there is a lot of kindling out here in the form of this dry brush that is still burning down here below the sunset. You see the smoke coming up where they were dropping fire retardant and water earlier, but there's still some hot spots out there now that the sun is going down you can see that.

So, it doesn't take much for the wind to pick up an ember and blow it far. It could go for -- it could go a lot. It could be more than yards. It could be, you know, a football field away and start a fire someplace else, especially as the wind goes.

Here we go with one of the helicopters coming in here. These helicopters that have been coming through here throughout the day, I'm told, can drop somewhere between 702,000 gallons of water each time they fill up, and they can take that and drop it on a hot spot. They're going south down this canyon to do that now. They've been here throughout the day, but obviously, the whole idea here is first to save lives.

We were told a lot of people here -- most of the people here have evacuated, where I'm standing in Brentwood. And the second thing that they're trying to do is defend these homes, and that is what is very dangerous about living up in these canyons.

It's beautiful. I mean, the sunset here is gorgeous, Jessica, but the danger is when there is a wildfire. that they are the first ones that could be impacted by it. So, you can see there's a yellow hose out there right now. They're prepared to defend these homes on this canyon should the wind change, as we were told, and start to bring these flames this way. That is why they're there prepared to protect these homes as this helicopter now making its way through these hotspots down deeper into the canyon over here, trying to put those out and try to defend them from the flames coming this way.

[20:05:00]

But it is a 24-hour attack and they will be working to stop these flames all night. They'll be out here. There you go. You've got a drop of water right there to try to put those flames out. So, this is -- just because the sun's going down doesn't mean the battle stops now. It will continue on as they try to protect these homes from burning, which they have been out here working very hard to do.

We just also saw some Earth moving equipment that defended a -- created a defensible space, clearing out brush. So, they have a place to fight. And now, they went up on the ridge behind us. They're looking to do the same thing there as well, creating that space so they continue the firefight going into the night, Jessica.

DEAN: And, Stephanie, I can't help but notice the sun is going down. You just mentioned how beautiful the sunset is. It is beautiful up there in Mandeville Canyon. But what does that mean for these efforts, if anything? Does that shift anything around as they start to lose light?

ELAM: Yes, it's amazing what they're able to do, and they have a new capability where they're able to fly at night, which is rather new. It's the last couple of years that they've been able to start doing that and spotting these hot spots. In fact, that's something that they have not been able to do.

And then, think about all the firefighters that are on foot, that are out there in, you know, like a hundred pounds of gear, out there digging fire lines, trying to stop the blazes. But this is some rugged terrain. It makes it really hard to get into some of these places. And you have to take into account all the things are encountering, besides the fact there's all this brush because we did have those two wet winters.

So, we had a lot of growth. And then we have this drought that we're now back in here in Los Angeles County. So, it's extra dry. And then, there's just all the animals that are out there. There's snakes out there. There's all kinds of things that are out there that they have to be careful of.

So, this is a difficult battle that they're up against. And it will -- you know, it's not going to be easy if you ask them about containment. Yes, there was some progress made, but the winds change. We could lose some of that containment. So, that's what they're working to hold onto, to keep making progress on that containment and slowly get a perimeter around it and then knock the fire all the way down.

DEAN: They are heroes among us, those firefighters. Stephanie, thank you so much for that reporting. We really appreciate it.

Meteorologist Chad Myers joining us now from the CNN Weather Center. Chad, we have talked for hours now about the winds, the wind conditions, how that impacts what these firefighters are having to do and changes their tactics. What do the conditions look like right now?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Now, that we have sunset, now the desert is going to get cold again, it's going to be a pretty cool night in L.A. as well. But as the desert gets cold, unlike a rising hot air balloon, a cooling atmosphere begins to come down toward the ground. And so, the pressure gets a little bit higher, and then all of a sudden that air has to go somewhere, and it goes out through the mountain passes. Out through and into places that we don't need more wind.

But this is a very disconcerting map behind me. I've moved it ahead now to 3:00 a.m. A 43-forecast mile per hour wind gusts in Malibu at that hour. And I know so much damage has already been done in Malibu for two fires, but now we're still seeing the wind come out of the mountains at night.

This is how it happens. And then tomorrow, the wind slackens a little bit. But I will tell you that I have been watching this since early, early this morning, the lack of smoke in Stephanie's shot is very good. They really got a lot knocked down, but when we talk about another 30- or 40-mile per hour wind event on Tuesday, how long can they keep knocking these hot spots down? That is really going to be the question.

Critical. This is level two of three. Now, the day that we had the big fire, it was three of three, but still two of three, two of three and the same for Tuesday and Wednesday, that critical forecast for wind and very dry land. Severely dry land. This -- all this orange in here, that's all severe drought in every one of the places that we have a fire. That probably shouldn't really surprise anyone.

And then, the smoke forecast. And without more fire starts -- and that's not a guarantee, but without more fire starts by Monday, the horrible air we've been talking about in L.A. does move away and all of the smoke blue blows offshore here and that would be good. The problem with this map is that it can't tell you whether there will be other fire starts because it doesn't know, because this is a computer model and computer models can't tell you where the next spark might be. Jessica.

[20:10:00]

DEAN: And another thing we're watching, Chad, is the flames that are now encroaching toward the 405 there, that runs directly through West Los Angeles, just a massive interstate there. That's very key, because that really is a key line that that fire would have to essentially jump to get in more east.

MYERS: Right. If you're talking about -- I mean, if you've ever looked at an aerial of L.A. you're going to notice the Getty Museum, right? That's right along the 405. That's the north south freeway from L.A. all the way up toward San Fernando.

So, this is the area here that we're trying to keep the forecast kind of the winds shifting from the east more than from the west more. But I was watching, Jessica, wind blowing from the north and the fires -- because the land is so dry, the fire's still burning against the wind. Sure, it was burning downwind too, but the fires were still -- with the wind blowing the smoke that way, the fires were still encroaching the other way. And that's not how it usually happens, but it does when you're in a severe drought, and you have just so many fires.

It's just going to be a very, very long night. Hopefully, they get a lot more knocked down before they have to stop because of the wind if they do.

DEAN: Yes, we certainly hope that. Chad Myers, thank you so much for tracking that for us. And joining us now is Marissa Hermer. She's a Los Angeles-based entrepreneur and restaurateur her restaurant burned down. But less than 24 hours later, she launched a food delivery service for those impacted by the fires, called You Give We Cook They Eat.

Marissa, thank you for being here. I'm first just -- I'm so sorry. And we keep saying that and it feels not sufficient because what you and your family and your community are going through is just traumatic.

MARISSA HERMER, RESTAURATEUR: Yes. Yes, it's a new fresh hell.

DEAN: I can't imagine what that has been like. Walk us through just what today was like. I know you and I were in communication earlier. You were just running all over town trying to make sure things and people were protected. What is your day like today? What is your life look like today?

HERMER: Oh, well, the kids and I -- my family, we are down in Laguna. I'm on a neighborhood chat and they needed food. Some of my neighbors have stayed to put out the fires. I live on the fire line. My house is still standing, but the other side of the road is not. And the fire trucks have been moved to Mandeville. So, our neighbors are putting out fires in hot spots and they were hungry. So, I came up to bring them food.

DEAN: And -- yes.

HERMER: Go ahead.

DEAN: I was just going to say how is it being with your friends, seeing the place where you raise your kids and you grab a coffee and obviously, the relationships are still there, but the actual neighborhood is just gone?

HERMER: Yes, I drove -- well, I was able to get to my house today. I had a police escort take me there. I stood in the queue and was able to get in. And then, my car I actually had to leave on the side of the mountain and run down, was it Tuesday, and the officer kindly drove me to my car. But to get there, I had to go through the Palisades. It's not good. DEAN: I'm so sorry. I'm just so sorry.

HERMER: It's really bad.

DEAN: And I think --

HERMER: It's really bad.

DEAN: And it happened, Marissa, so quickly. It was here and then it wasn't, and that has to be part of it, too, that's just so shocking.

HERMER: It's hard to grasp the reality of it. It's out of a horror movie, what I just saw.

DEAN: How are you -- yes, go ahead.

HERMER: Yes. I mean, I don't know how to move forward, you know. We have to. We have to dig deeper than -- this will have to galvanize us. But it's mass, mass destruction.

DEAN: How are your children doing? I can't -- I think that's been the thing that has been so just hard to listen to, is parents having to explain to their kids that their home is gone, but they're still OK. I mean, how do you even begin to wrap your arms around that as a parent?

HERMER: There are a lot of questions that we don't have answers to. You know, one of our kids today said, mom -- you know, asking all the questions and he wants to know things. And I said, you know, the one thing you can know is that we don't know. That's the only thing we can grab onto right now, but we are here and we are safe, and mommy and daddy will figure it out because that's what we do, we're figure outers. We're like, we're going to figure it out.

[20:15:00]

And then, we need to like carve out the pockets of time for joy and play. Like we were walking through the hotel lobby yesterday and we made up a game where we walk silly and everyone else walks silly after them. So, I walked like a duck and they all walked like a duck after me. And one of them walked like a monkey and we all walked like monkeys. And, you know, we have to find those moments to just give our brains a break.

You know, we set up a game of wiffle ball on the beach and football and put away our phones. We have to, we're all -- we have to take a break from this crisis and this trauma.

DEAN: Absolutely. Absolutely. And find a place to have -- like you're saying, to create some joy, some levity especially when children -- you know, they're kids. And I also too --

HERMER: It's too much. Yes, we have to spark joy.

DEAN: Yes, yes. I can't -- it's amazing what you've been able to do too with your restaurant burning down. You've been able to serve meals to people. Tell people about that effort. And I know there are so many people out there watching that want to help, and they feel helpless, if you have ideas for them, please share, because I know you -- they want to help, they want to wrap their arms around you all.

HERMER: Yes, we have to help. We all have to help. I was driving down on Tuesday evening down to Laguna, and I was wondering what's for dinner, like we all wonder, everyone around the world wonders what's for dinner, and it's harder to figure out dinner when you don't have a kitchen. And I can't get to my kitchen right now, but I realized we have kitchens in our restaurants, Olivetta and Chez Mia.

And so, we can cook dinner and you can text dinner to 707070, and people want to help. So, we have drivers who want to help. So, if you go to Chez Mia underscore Melrose and say you're a driver, or you can say you're a family who can receive a meal, or you can nominate a family because sometimes it's hard to raise your hand up and say, hi, I want -- I need dinner. And maybe you can afford it and maybe you can't and that's not the point. We want to feel like we're a community.

And so, on Tuesday, Wednesdays, and Thursdays we are cooking food and we have drivers coming and we have families receiving food. And Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday is family dinner for You Give We Cook They Eat. And Angelina's will be having dinner together. Even though we're dispersed and displaced, we are going to have dinner together.

DEAN: And it's like the one -- I think too, just like in these moments, having those moments together that are -- that kind of bring a sliver of normalcy to a very not normal situation, to be able to sit with your family and have dinner or sit with your community and have dinner, that's a really meaningful thing. It's a really meaningful thing.

HERMER: Community is the most important thing right now. We have nothing right now. We have hope and sometimes we don't. I mean, by the way, sometimes I'm on my knees and devastated and think, how the -- how are we going to do this? But we have to keep hope and we have community.

And it might look a little different and we might be all over the place, but when one stranger delivers food to another stranger because they care, that's community.

DEAN: That's community. That's love. That's doing something to lift people up. And you're certainly doing that. And I know how clearly this is just taking such a toll and how difficult it is, but to be able to reach your arms out and help others in this moment is really amazing. Marissa Hermer, thank you. Please stay in touch with us. Thank you for everything you're doing. And we really -- we wish you all the love and all the support and we hope that there are brighter days ahead.

HERMER: Thank you.

DEAN: Thanks, Marissa. And for more information about how you can help those affected by the fires in the L.A. area, you can go to cnn.com/impact. You can also text wildfires to 707070 to donate. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:20:00]

DEAN: OK. You are looking at live pictures of the Palisades Fire. In less than an hour for now, a curfew will begin for a lot of those areas under evacuation orders in L.A. County. Law enforcement warning of hefty fines, even jail for anyone thinking of burglarizing, looting those empty homes.

Joining us now, Democratic Congressman Robert Garcia of California. Congressman, thank you so much for being here. So, many people are evacuating. I just talked to one at a moment's notice. They are literally taking the clothes on their back and whatever they can grab out the door. And there is this threat of looting. People can't get to their homes right now. What are you hearing from people on the ground and how concerned are you about people taking advantage of what is already a horrible situation?

REP. ROBERT GARCIA (D-CA): Well, thank you. Let me just first start by saying that this is -- I mean, this is the worst devastation, disaster that I've seen here in the state. It is worse than even the images are -- that are being shown across the country. I've been heartbroken to hear stories like the one we just heard obviously here on your network.

And what's really, really important at this moment, like you said is people follow the instructions of law enforcement and of our fire agencies. We have firefighters from across the entire Western United States. We have now firefighters from Mexico and Canada all trying to help us get these fires under control.

We have a -- we are in the middle of a serious emergency. And I think I just heard from law enforcement was, please folks need to listen, to evacuate. And the folks that are choosing to not take these direct orders, that are choosing to stay in their homes are not just endangering themselves, they're endangering our firefighters.

And I was talking to a group of firefighters earlier, and they just need our help. They need the public's help to please listen to these evacuation orders.

[20:25:00]

DEAN: Yes. And I know you mentioned you met with these first responders, these firefighters earlier today. And I think you're underscoring something that's so important, which is they need to be able to do their job. It's already dangerous enough. You know, if people need to follow these evacuation orders and allow them to do their jobs. How are they doing? Obviously, they are working 24/7 in just extreme circumstances.

GARCIA: Look, that's right. And I think what's important is we have firefighters from all across, of course, most of the Western United States, but in California, agencies from everywhere, the entire region has been impacted. The firefighters that I was talking to, and I visited a firehouse in the City of Long Beach. These are folks that are now been deployed. They're also -- they're tired. They are doing everything they can to do this work, but they're doing it heroically. And so, it's important that they get our full support as well. They want folks to listen to authorities and to please be safe and stay safe.

And our firefighters are coming from all across the area and they need our support. And I'll say one other thing, as you mentioned, the looting concern, law enforcement agencies, L.A. sheriff, the L.A. Department, Long Beach, all these agencies have been crystal clear that you will be arrested if you are outside, it's curfew hour, in one of these impacted zones.

We -- unfortunately, there are some folks out there that are -- that think this is some kind of joke or a game, and those folks are going to be arrested and the full extent of a law is going to be implemented in those cases. So, please stay home if you can. Do what you can from home.

A lot of folks are donating. There's a lot of efforts going on out there and we've got to do everything we can in Congress to make sure that FEMA has the resources they need to help every single person that has lost home or a business.

DEAN: Yes, it's going to be years for them to, in some cases, recover. I do want to ask you before we go. California Governor Gavin Newsom launched this website to fight the spread of misinformation online. Because it's a double-edged sword. There's some great information out there. There's some really bad information out there. He said people want to, quote, "divide this country for their own political gain."

There's a lot of noise on the internet right now. And how does that impact what's actually happening, which is an ongoing disaster? This is not even over.

GARCIA: This has been the most frustrating part of this moment. We're in the middle of an emergency. The disaster is ongoing. We have fires going into more neighborhoods. The fire that's approaching Brentwood is very serious, especially as winds, as we know, are picking up in some parts of the region. And to have all these people out there, first, more focused on blame or lies or telling all of this disinformation online about what's actually happening on the ground is quite frankly, shameful and sick. These people should be ashamed of themselves.

What people need to be focused on right now is supporting first responders and supporting the victims that are being impacted by these fires. And I commend the governor. He is doing a great job right now in the state. He's on the ground. I've communicated with him and a lot of us have. And what's really important is to focus on helping people.

And so, I'm glad the governor's put up this website. It's fighting all this misinformation and people need to focus on the important thing right now.

DEAN: All right. Congressman Robert Garcia, thanks for your time. We appreciate it.

GARCIA: Thank you.

DEAN: Still ahead. Firefighters are up against increasing winds tonight that could help spread the already devastating fires burning across L.A. County. We're going to go back to the fire zone for an update. You're in the CNN Newsroom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:30:00]

DEAN: The Palisades Fire in Los Angeles is threatening to move further east toward Bel Air and Brentwood. That would also include the Getty Center, UCLA. Joining us now is CNN's Gustavo Valdes from the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles. And, Gustavo, obviously you are standing in just one of the absolutely hardest hit areas where just a whole community was very quickly wiped out. Tell us more about, about what you've seen today.

GUSTAVO VALDES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've seen a few of the residents trying to come back and see what they find. In fact, not long ago, we heard a lady calling the name of what -- she said it was her pet dog, trying to see if somehow he's around the area. So, that's just one of the many stories we've heard from residents, many of them frustrated they can't even access this area.

I'm not going to a gentleman area that he went to his house, and he seemed optimistic. The house is gone, but he says the memories live with him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO ASSANTE, PACIFIC PALISADES RESIDENT: I see the frame in my mind. I know what was there. My memory, you know. I had my electric bike park right behind it, my pool table and my ping pong table. And you know, we left the -- my wife -- you know, we just thought we were going to be back in two days, you know. We didn't honestly think that the fire was going to make it to us. That's the truth.

Yes. So, we had a basement, a kitchen, bedrooms, and we had a rooftop that looked at the ocean. This is my front door right here, this way. Right there.

VALDES: And now, it's a hole.

ASSANTE: Yes. I wish that I would have took it a little more seriously. We were safe, but I would have took more stuff with me, more memories.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALDES: Those memories like those of all the residents are likely buried under this rubble and ashes. The fire is so intense that literally there's nothing recognizable that we can see. Even the cars that have been damaged, we cannot tell what brand they were. Now, about the advance of the Palisades Fire, has been actually impressive to watch from the hotel where I'm staying in Marina del Rey, which is south of the fire, I've seen over the past few days how the fire and the smoke has moved from one side of the mountain to the other. And this morning you could see how it was approaching the neighborhood. So, that is the danger that the firefighters are facing as the forecast calls for increased speed on the winds in the next few days.

[20:35:00]

Now, today they got some extra help from neighbors in Texas, north and south of the border, Canada and Mexico, also sending help. Governor Newsom welcomed the Mexican firefighters that arrived in L.A. They said any help is welcome.

And about the Mexican group that is coming, it's not just firefighters. They're elements of the army and they are going to be assisting those in communities where the Spanish language is needed. They're going to try to assist with those efforts also knowing that there's a large Mexican and Hispanic community in general.

And I was in Altadena earlier today, and I spoke with woman who hadn't seen her house. I was able to get a video conference on the phone and I was showing her her house and she couldn't believe that her two- story house, her bedroom was on the second floor, and now all is left is the metal frame of the stairs going up to nowhere.

DEAN: Just devastating. Gustavo Valdes, thank you for bringing us some of those stories. We appreciate it.

Still ahead. How firefighters are attacking the flames from the air? You're in the CNN Newsroom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:40:00]

DEAN: With fires burning across Southern California, aerial firefighting efforts are proving critical and protecting lives and homes and businesses. Earlier, I spoke with retired Air Force colonel and CNN military analyst, Cedric Leighton, about the challenges of battling the flames from the sky. And here's that conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: I think it's just important to note for a second the heroic battle and the heroic actions that these firefighters are taking. It is truly incredible what these men and women are doing around the clock, trying to protect people and homes.

I know during your time in the Air Force, you dealt with similar operations in combat, but explain how critical that the aerial firefighting is in trying to contain these fires.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST AND U.S. AIR FORCE (RET.): Yes, Jessica, good to be with you. There are so many aspects of this that are very similar to what you experience in combat, especially from aerial perspective.

And one of the key things to think about here is how all of this really comes together. So, when you see all these aircraft flying, the different fixed wing aircraft, as well as the rotary wing aircraft, the helicopters, all of that has to be controlled basically in a centralized way.

Here, for example, you can see a DC-10, which is being used. It has a huge capacity, almost 10,000 gallons that can be dumped on fires that -- you know, that are raging in the California area. And these kinds of aircraft are really essential to fighting these fires. C-130s -- CAL FIRE has C-130s, but the U.S. Air Force has also C-130s that they brought in to help with the firefight. Many of them have come from National Guard units, not only from California, but from Nevada and from Wyoming.

And what these air efforts are basically is based on being able to use as much power as you possibly can bring to bear against a specific area. So, just like you would run a bombing campaign in combat, you would be actually using these aircraft to target specific areas of the fire. And if you get those areas under control, then you can move ground teams in and use those ground teams to dampen -- tamp down the flames in that specific area.

So, it's basically a rolling activity that goes on based on not only what they see, but what they expect to develop in the next, not only a few hours, but in the next few minutes. And that's based on a lot of, you know, intelligence work that the fire companies are doing in this particular case.

DEAN: Yes. And we showed a graphic there of all the different types of planes, helicopters involved in this. How do they work together in concert to contain these fires?

LEIGHTON: So, a lot of it is based on really the air of space management, and this is a fancy way of talking about air traffic control. So, each one of these aircraft is queued together, tied together with a centralized node, that could include the OV-10, which is a spotter aircraft. And all of them are basically run in sequence.

If you think of aerial operations, kind of like a ballet where you have certain roles that each particular person has, in this case, each particular airframe has, and you bring in the heavy aircraft in order to take care of major areas of fire, and then you take, for example, the CL-415 that you see there, it picks up water from the ocean in this case, and then moves that water to the point where it can actually be dumped on a specific fire.

And the air traffic controllers, the airspace managers, they basically take care of making sure that those aircraft are at a specific target area at the time that they're needed. And when they do that, they're basically choreographing the entire battle against that fire, and they do that in concert with the ground teams so that the fire authorities in Los Angeles County are going to be really taking a look at not only what they're doing on the ground, but how effective the air piece is.

And the air piece can be extremely effective because they bring so much to bear on specific points along the fire line. And once those fire line points are actually attacked, then you can go in and move the containment area up further and increase the amount of containment that you have with a specific -- you know, with a specific fire, which is each specific fire.

DEAN: And then, just the challenges here. I have been struck by these giant planes, the C-130s or these really large planes that are flying pretty low and pretty slow for what they normally do.

[20:45:00]

LEIGHTON: Yes, that's right. In fact, the C-130s they have a special system on board that's basically been developed since the early 1970s. And what that system does is it has over 28,000 pounds of -- excuse me, 28,000 gallons that it can bring to bear on a specific part of the fire.

They have to fly at an above ground altitude of about 150 feet in some extreme cases so that they can actually target the specific parts of the fire that they're going after. One of the big challenges there, Jessica, is that the winds are different at lower altitudes compared to higher altitudes. So, they have to -- the pilots have to make sure that they account for the differing winds, especially in a place like Southern California, where the Santa Ana winds are, of course, playing a control in the fire. It can actually affect how the airplanes are flying.

DEAN: Certainly. All right. Colonel Cedric Leighton, thank you so much for that context. We really appreciate it.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Jessica.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: We're going to have more on the California wildfires as the sun sets there over Los Angeles. Just ahead. We'll be right back.

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DEAN: Just apocalyptic scenes across Los Angeles County. The second largest city, Los Angeles in America, where wildfires are sweeping through neighborhoods causing absolutely catastrophic damage. And it's not even over yet. CNN's Erin Burnett got a look at the unbelievable devastation from the air.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, I mean, Jessica, one of the things that is so striking when you fly into Los Angeles right now is that it goes from blue sky to just a sea of sort of reddish black and downtown Los Angeles emerges almost suddenly amidst all of that smoke.

We went up by air in a helicopter to get a sense of the scale. You're talking about the second largest city in America. Just the scale from the sky of what we're looking at with these massive fires, and here's what we saw.

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JOSH ZAIDA, PHOTOJOURNALIST: So, right now we're south of the Palisades and the fire. Looking up, you can see this is PCH right here.

BURNETT: Pacific Coast Highway running right along the Pacific Ocean, yes.

ZAIDA: And then, leading up into Malibu.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm seeing your picture, and once again, I guess you're not hearing right now.

ZAIDA: And even here, it's almost impossible to see with all the smoke.

BURNETT: Yes, flying into this, it is like you're flying into a complete wall of fog. It almost doesn't even look like that. It just looks like an actual wall, like a white wall.

ZAIDA: Yes.

BURNETT: That we're flying into.

ZAIDA: There's a fire bomber that just dropped retardant right there.

BURNETT: All right. So, that red that we're looking at is fire retardant? There we go.

ZAIDA: Yes.

BURNETT: We're zooming in on it. All right. That plane is dropping that there. So, that is an active area then in the Palisades Fire?

ZAIDA: Yes, that's their way of setting a defense wall from the fire progressing any further. And when they are referring to containment, this is what they're talking about, is where have they set up their defense. And 100 percent containment pretty much means that they've set up their defense in a circle around the fire, and the circle's complete.

BURNETT: And that is really important to understand, that containment doesn't mean it's not burning, it means that they've been able to establish a perimeter.

ZAIDA: Correct.

BURNETT: Essentially, that they can defend. I mean it's, using words like, again, war zone words, right? But that's exactly what it is. You're setting up a line that you're going to make your frontline?

ZAIDA: Yes, you're containing the threat. You're not eliminating the threat.

BURNETT: So, this is the plane that just dropped the fire retardant that we saw. And now, it's going out. As it was doing that, one thing that you could see being in a helicopter and all of the altitudes are -- is that the right? Is that how I'd say it?

ZAIDA: Yes, altitude.

BURNETT: OK. So, when you see that plane flying that dropped the fire retardant, as that was happening, there was a commercial flight that you could see nearby it. And all of this is happening in, you know, an incredibly busy airspace. There it is dropping more fire retardant right now. All of this is around the perimeter of the Palisades Fire, where they're trying to establish that defensive line.

ZAIDA: My in-laws actually lost their house in the Palisades Fire. And you know, it's something that's very hard to comprehend. Because, you know, you started the week, business as normal. And then, you know, by Tuesday night, they're wondering if their house is even still standing. And then Wednesday, you know, I was able to get up in the air and confirm that it was gone. So, that's their house right there in the center of the screen.

BURNETT: That's their house. So, this is your in-laws house right here.

ZAIDA: Yes. And you know, a lot of memories with our three kids there. And so, it's just one of those things that you just got to, you know, pick yourself up and rebuild. But, you're not alone. You have a whole community that's suffering and try and, you know, bond together one day at a time.

Well, there's the entrance into the Getty.

BURNETT: All right. That is the Getty Museum, one of the Getty family and one of the PAM and Art Museums (INAUDIBLE) certainly in L.A. And they had in the middle of the fire area, but had established a perimeter and were able to save.

But look right there. Right there, next to it, devastation. Total devastation. And then, can we swing back over to the Getty? There you go. Swing right back over to the Getty. And you see, right there, they were able to save that. This is the -- past Palisades Fire in the distance. Saw another giant fire-retardant plane flying through that.

[20:55:00]

And then as we pan across, you can see the smoke over all of L.A. here. And coming in here, you're going to see it, finally, the iconic Hollywood, which you can barely see now because of the smoke. Behind that is the Eaton Fire. So, what we're looking at there, just over the hills and just that volume of smoke, that is the Eaton Fire.

This image is absolutely incredible. This looks like the aftermath of some sort of a bomb.

ZAIDA: Yes.

BURNETT: And that's just the sun shining back through the Palisades?

ZAIDA: Yes.

BURNETT: It does though, it looks as if some -- a bomb had been dropped there.

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BURNETT: You heard the photojournalist there that was up in the helicopter with me talking about his family's home here in Palisades that was raised to the ground.

One thing that stood out to me, I said, how did you determine -- how could you tell that was exactly your family's home, your in-laws' home? And he said, it's because I know the curve of the streets. I know the streets so well. And the end of that street, there was just a little hook. And that's how I was able to tell. And somehow, that really brings it home of just how devastating this is and how much these communities matter. That he would be able to find a home just because he knew the curve of the streets.

He also said, and the pilot was talking about how they felt a little part of every single person in Los Angeles has burned down, that there is just a searing pain for so many across this city, just as they are getting ready to fight every day now, what could be another huge disaster in this city. Jessica.

DEAN: So, many of our fellow Americans really hurting tonight. Erin, thank you for that. And stay with CNN and CNN.com for continued updates on these fires.

I want to say thanks for joining me this evening. I'm Jessica Dean. We're going to see you again tomorrow night starting at 5:00 Eastern. Good night.

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