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Firefighters Gain Ground On Deadly L.A. Wildfires, But More Wind Is On The Way; Biden Pledges Federal Aid For CA Wildfire Recovery; California Governor Newsom Launches Website To Combat Wildfire Misinformation; Curfew Hours Implemented To Prevent Looting In L.A. Fire Evacuation Zones; Ukraine Says It Captured Two North Korean Soldiers In Russia's Kursk. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired January 12, 2025 - 01:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:00:23]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Kim Brunhuber. Firefighters are making promising progress on the largest fire burning in the Los Angeles area, the Palisades Fire. The operations chief says there's minimal activity in some parts as crews stop the spread of the fire's boundary. But officials are warning there's a very significant concern that the fires will grow in the hours ahead. That comes as the death toll climbs to 16. Authorities say more bodies will likely be uncovered as cadaver dogs join search and rescue teams.

Powerful winds are picking up after a brief lull on Friday allowed firefighters to start making progress, but that work could be lost with the largest fire inching closer to Brentwood, Bel Air and other communities near UCLA. The mayor of Malibu says that city has already lost one-third of its eastern edge to the Palisades fire, which is 11 percent contained right now.

The second largest Eaton fire is 15 percent contained. More than 100,000 people remain under evacuation orders and FEMA has received more than 16,000 applications for individual assistance. The fire chief says to expect more power shut offs ahead of life threatening winds, an effort that could stop new fires from popping up.

The National Weather Service says very dangerous weather conditions will continue into next week. So as people struggle to figure out their next move, California's attorney general says price gouging during the fire emergency won't be tolerated. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROB BONTA, CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: We are talking about people who have lost loved ones, whose homes have perished in the fires, who have lost treasured belongings, whose lives have been turned upside down, who are struggling and suffering. They're looking for housing, they're looking for essential goods to keep their lives moving. The last thing they need is for someone to victimize them again,

exploit them and take advantage of them and harm them through price gouging. They need the opposite. They need some people who are giving them care and support and looking after them and valuing them and helping them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: CNN Stephanie Elam is on the ground near Brentwood and shows us what fire crews are doing to prepare for this new round of strong winds.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I want to draw your attention to this ridge line up here behind us, up there where you see a vehicle parked up on top of that sandy colored area. They have been bulldozing, making that broader, making that wider. And the reason why they're doing that is because they want to have a defensible space, a place where they can battle against the flames, were the fire to come this direction.

And we have gotten information that the winds will change direction and start to blow this way. Right now, the fire is burning out in this canyon here in Brentwood, California. But what they want to make sure is that it stays away from these homes that you see right here. All day Saturday, we've seen firefighters staged there behind these houses that are up against this ridge.

And obviously a lot of people like to live here where they've got this lovely, beautiful nature backdrop behind them. But this is also the downside of that, is just how close they are to this fire burning here, the Palisades Fire.

You can see as they have been doing all day. They've been fighting this fire from the sky. They've been dropping fire retardant. They've been dropping water to stop that forward movement. But as the winds change, the smoke starts to change. And so they have to change how they're fighting these blazes.

But this is what they're continuing to do here to protect the houses along this ridge here. Because obviously the first concern is to make sure that they keep people alive. And as I've been told, most of the people here did evacuate. The next thing that they're working on is keeping homes safe.

And so they have extra firefighters coming from all around the country, in fact, from several states and as well as Canada and Mexico here to help battle these blazes as we prepare for these higher winds over the next few days. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Earlier, I spoke with Giorgi and Leonardo Antinori, who lost their home and all their belongings in the Palisade Fire. And they described their heartbreaking experience there. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIORGI ANINORI, LOST HOME IN L.A. WILDFIRES: The fires never, ever come that far into the Palisades. They always stay in the canyons pretty far from where we are. But when I saw the plume of smoke, I did think that they would probably shut down PCH either way.

[01:05:00]

So I called my husband who was at home with our 2-year-old, and I said, you know, just in case they shut down PCH, why don't you just head to my parents, we can meet there, switch cars and I'll come home with the baby. And within an hour of that was at 10:30 in the morning. They were mandatory evacuating everybody. And by 5 o'clock everything was up in flames.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, it must have been just absolutely terrifying, especially as you say when you have a two year old to care for.

G. ANTINORI: Yes.

LEONARDO ANTINORI, LOST HOME IN L.A. WILDFIRES: Yes, definitely. It moved pretty quick. So I looked out the window and saw the plume of smoke and five, 10 minutes later I looked again and it was like reaching the ocean and so it was time to go.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, and good thing you did. Unfortunately your home didn't make it. How did you find out about that?

G. ANTINORI: So our entire community was watching the news pretty closely. I had to turn it off at some point because it was just so emotional. And so we woke up the next morning. I mean, we didn't hardly sleep at all. But at 8:00 a.m. when I finally decided I was brave enough to look, I looked and saw that everyone had announced that our park was gone. And it was just devastating.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, we're seeing some pictures. I mean, did you go back and take those pictures?

G. ANTINORI: We did.

L. ANTINORI: Yes.

G. ANTINORI: We went back on Thursday together on some borrowed bicycles from friends to see if we could salvage any valuables from the ashes.

BRUNHUBER: Yes.

L. ANTINORI: I went again today. And it's just -- I'm still trying to like, it's so mind boggling what happened and so tragic that it just -- you just don't have words for it, you know?

BRUNHUBER: Well, I mean, your house is almost your whole world and when that disappears, I can understand the sense of complete dislocation. And you know, we say sometimes, well, a house, I mean, it's just things that can be replaced. But there's a lot that can't be replaced, right?

G. ANTINORI: Yeah.

L. ANTINORI: Yes.

G. ANTINORI: I mean, you breathe your whole life into your home. It's like a family member, it feels like someone has died. It feels like a family member has died.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. Is there anything that you think of, you know, that just you won't be able to replace that you'll miss the most?

G. ANTINORI: Yes. So we actually -- we have our two-year-old daughter, but we had a daughter 15 years ago, she'd be 15 and she passed away when she was one and her ashes were in our home and I mean they're gone. Like every memory, every piece of physical evidence of her life is just gone. And that hurts. I feel numb right now because I feel like I've cried all of my emotions, but I've just been. It's just been. Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Well, Santa Ana winds this month have been exceptionally strong. CNN meteorologist Chad Myers looks at why they pose so much danger in the days ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Santa Ana winds happen all the time, but the one that we had on Monday was extraordinary. 85 to 100 miles per hour, unheard of. But what we're seeing now is even a 45-mile per hour Santa Ana wind will do certainly some damage because we have so many sparks that are already out there.

By morning hours here, I mean, we have winds at 43, 45 mile per hour gusts. Now, this is a transverse range. This is a mountain range up here. You're always going to see color here because it's on top of the mountain. That's kind of how the model is going to run this. But we kind of die off a little bit. Have a lighter day on Monday, but then again Tuesday and Wednesday. Look at the colors as we bring them back all the way through Wednesday and even into Thursday.

These deep reds are not what we're looking for when we already have embers on the ground. So for today, critical. For tomorrow, critical. Tuesday, Wednesday, the same story. Now, that's a level two of three. When we had the firestorm, were of three of three. And it's not going to be unheard of. If some of these days either Tuesday or Wednesday could get upgraded to three of three. We'll have to see.

Obviously, part of the problem is the drought. Everywhere that we see orange here, that is severe drought. And that just happened since March when the rain simply stopped. A lot of growth over winter. Lots of, lots of rain, lots of snow. But then all of a sudden it just stopped precipitating. There was just no more rainfall to come. We are going to see some of that smoke blow away from LA. We've been talking about how bad the air quality is. At least by Monday, when the wind's all blowing from the same

direction, we will be blowing that smoke offshore. For the next few days, kind of swirling around here in the valley. Be very careful with that unhealthy air that's still out there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[01:10:04]

BRUNHUBER: Mexican firefighters arrived yesterday at Los Angeles International Airport to help battle California's wildfires. They'll be joining more than 14,000 personnel already fighting the Palisades Fire. The state of Texas is also entering the fight. Its governor announced it would send more than 130 firefighters and emergency management and medical personnel and also provide 45 fire engines, ambulances, command vehicles and equipment.

California Governor Gavin Newsom thanked those helping his state. He announced on Saturday that he would double the number of National Guard members deployed to the fires and that will bring the total on site to more than 1,600.

President Joe Biden says he and the federal government are making every effort to aid California's firefighting and provide support in what will be a difficult aftermath. CNN's Julia Benbrook reports from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Biden administration says it is in constant communication with California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. Those two leaders were a part of a briefing where Biden was updated on the efforts to suppress the fires across L.A. and how federal resources are being used to assist with the response on the ground.

Following that briefing, Biden said that his team would continue to work 24/7 with state and local officials. This promise comes as Biden has just over a week left in office.

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: We're going to make sure California has every possible resource to fight these fires and help survivors. This is not going to be over even when all the fires are out. It's just going to beginning and the change insurance policy in California for these modest homes as well as these very expensive homes and businesses. So we're going to around a long while ago to help the federal government and the mayor as well.

BENBROOK: The president said that his team is briefing the incoming administration on the steps that they're taking. Biden has directed the federal government to cover 100 percent of the state's cost in this initial disaster response for the first 180 days. And FEMA has activated their Critical Needs Assistance Program to jumpstart recovery. That's a one time initial payment of $770 to cover initial needs like food, water and prescriptions. The administration is also providing air tankers as well as

firefighting helicopters to help with the response. Biden was initially scheduled to be in Italy over the weekend, but he canceled that trip so that he can focus on the federal recovery efforts. And again in just over a week, it will be a new administration overseeing this response. At the White House, Julia Benbrook, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: So as conditions continue to deteriorate across Los Angeles, many are asking the same question. Why are wildfires getting more severe and harder to tame? Ahead, the evolving behavior of the fires themselves.

Plus, from historic flooding to devastating firestorms, Southern California is turning into a dangerous proving ground for climate change. Stay with us.

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[01:17:00]

BRUNHUBER: All right, the latest on the horrific wildfires in Los Angeles. Weather isn't expected to cooperate with firefighters in the coming days. Forecasters are predicting low humidity and wind gusts of up to 40 miles an hour. And police say looting has become an issue, with seven arrests made in the last two days.

The largest active blaze, the Palisades Fire, is encroaching on more neighborhoods. The mayor of Malibu says that city has already lost one-third of its eastern edge to the Palisades Fire. That's all from the fires has reached at least 16 people. One city official is urging President-elect Donald Trump to see the impact of the disaster firsthand.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATHRYN BARGER, LOS ANGELES COUNTY SUPERVISOR: Today I wrote a letter to President-elect Trump inviting him to engage in wildfire recovery efforts and to visit the county to see the impact firsthand that it has on every socioeconomic individual in this county. Engaging the White House makes the way for the rapid deployment of federal resources, including emergency personnel and financial assistance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Four major fires continue to rage, with the Palisades fire being 11 percent contained. The second largest, the Eaton Fire, is 15 percent contained.

So as the severity of the L.A. wildfires worsens, many people are asking why they've gotten so bad. CNN's Laura Pattison points to the world's climate crisis and how it's impacting the behavior of the fires themselves.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) LAURA PADDISON, CNN SENIOR CLIMATE WRITER (voice-over): Deadly, destructive, out of control blazes are sweeping across the Los Angeles area and you might be wondering why is this happening now in the middle of winter?

January is typically one of LA's wettest months, so major fires are rare. But the climate crisis is changing fire behavior by driving hotter temperatures and more extreme swings from wet to dry conditions.

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D) CALIFORNIA: November, December, now January. There's no fire season. It's fire year. It's year round.

PADDISON: It's unclear what sparked the blazes, but they're being fueled by Santa Ana winds, strong warm seasonal winds which flow from the desert through the mountain toward the California coastline. These winds are not unusual for this time of year, but have been exceptionally powerful and have arrived as L.A. grapples with drought.

It's been the driest start to LA's wet season for more than 80 years, parching a landscape which has a lot of vegetation after an exceptionally wet winter last year. This has created perfect fire fuel. Crucially, every wildfire has its own unique set of circumstances. But as we've seen in recent years, climate change is loading the dice in favor of more intense and more rapidly spreading blazes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Peter Kalmus is a climate scientist who lived in Altadena, California for 14 years before moving to North Carolina in 2022.

[01:20:00]

Thank you so much for being here with us. So two years ago, I understand you decided to leave Altadena. I mean, anyone who studies climate knows, you know, more than anyone else the area is a fire risk. Was there something that convinced you it's time to leave now?

PETER KALMUS, CLIMATE SCIENTIST: Yes, my colleagues and I have been sounding the alarm for a very long time. It feels like we've been being ignored for a very long time. In my case, it was just getting hotter, drier, more fiery. A lot of big smoke events over the last 14 years.

And in 2020, there was a heat wave that got up to about 115 degrees in Altadena, which set off a series of fires. One of the fires was very close to my house and it was weeks of smoke. And I just said, this isn't sustainable, I can't stay here anymore. It doesn't feel -- it's just too hot and fiery. So, yes, and I used to imagine this happening. I didn't think it would happen this quickly.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, I mean, it must just be such a tough decision to uproot and somewhere that you, I know you loved so much. And looking at the pictures now of this devastation, I mean, so much of what you know and loved is now gone. I mean, even knowing the dangers, I mean, did you think something, you know, this extreme would happen?

KALMUS: Unfortunately, yes. So one of the things I want the world to know is that this is still just the beginning. We can see bigger heat waves coming, worse fires coming, worse floods coming. There is going to be impacts to the global food system. This is not a drill. This is a climate emergency. I don't know why the federal government won't declare a climate emergency.

And the last thing I really want the world to know is that the fossil fuel industry has been anti-science, has been spreading disinformation systematically for about half a century, and of course lobbying and essentially bribing politicians to block action. And the world needs to know that these are not natural disasters. They are caused by a dishonest industry that has recently pledged.

In 2021, there was a hearing in front of Congress and they essentially refused to stop funding their disinformation campaign. It's, ethically, it's beyond words. There's no words for how humans can put their own profits. Already very, very wealthy humans put adding additional profit to their bank accounts above life on Earth and a habitable planet and our cities like Los Angeles, it's just reprehensible.

BRUNHUBER: Well, putting corporate interests aside, when we look at sort of how our governments can deal with this. I mean, you look at the last election, it doesn't seem to have been a motivating issue for folks at the polls. I'm talking about climate change. And as a result, there's an incoming administration that's promised to undo what, you know, incoming President Trump calls the Green New scam on day one.

KALMUS: He couldn't be more incorrect. There's a second problem, which is that the media, I would say that the global media has not been connecting the dots on this issue. The public doesn't know that essentially everything is at stake. They don't know. They have a sense maybe that this is a new normal, but it's a ramp towards a hotter planet. And a hotter planet means all of these impacts are getting worse. There's essentially no upper limit to how bad things could get if we keep burning fossil fuel.

So yes, I think every time there's a disaster like this, anytime there's a flood, anytime there's any climate impact and a newspaper or a magazine reports on that, they should say three things. This will keep getting worse. This is caused by fossil fuels. And the fossil fuel industry has been and continues to spread disinformation.

That's part of the story. Without that information, the public doesn't really know what to make of that. They feel, you know, afraid. They feel like things are out of control. But I, you know, talk to people just, you know, at the grocery store. A lot of people still think that recycling will fix this. A lot of people still think this is caused by plastics. People think that carbon offsets might work. All that is false.

This is caused by fossil fuels. And the fossil fuel industry has been systematically blocking climate action. And that needs to stop. And people need to know that so that it can stop. BRUNHUBER: Yes, I mean, you chose to leave a fire prone area is not

necessarily an option for many people who live in affected areas. And when you widen it out to not just fire, but other, you know, climate disasters that we're going to be more and more exposed to.

[01:25:05]

Certainly all of us are one level going to be affected by this. So important to sound the warning. And we should certainly heed your words. Peter Kalmus, thank you so much for speaking with us. Really appreciate it.

KALMUS: Thank you.

BRUNHUBER: Our breaking news coverage of the Los Angeles fires continues and you'll get a closer look at the destruction in the Pacific Palisades.

Plus, we'll get a weather forecast as the fires are expected to continue into next week. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: Welcome back. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN Newsroom. Firefighters are making progress on the Palisades Fire, but there's still significant concern. Wildfires that have now killed at least 16 people will continue to grow in Los Angeles County.

The Palisades Fire has been threatening communities west of the 405 Freeway. And looking ahead, the National Weather Service says dangerous conditions are expected to extend into next week, which could lead to new fires. More than 100,000 residents remain under evacuation orders, but some orders have been lifted in certain areas.

[01:30:00]

Marissa Hermer's restaurant has been destroyed, but she's helping to feed others affected by the fires. And she tells us what she saw and felt as she realized just how much was destroyed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARISSA HERMER, RESTAURANT OWNER: 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.

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 to get there. I had to go through the Palisades. It's not good. It's really bad. It's really bad. It's hard to grasp the reality of it. It's out of a horror movie, what

I just saw. 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 mass, mass destruction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: And CNN's Leigh Waldman has more from the devastated Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Winds are picking up here in Pacific Palisades. It's a race against the clock for first responders who are trying to get a greater level of containment for the fires that are currently burning here in L.A. County. But we heard from the CAL FIRE chief who said there is a significant concern that with those winds picking back up, that the wildfires could grow.

WALDMAN (voice-over): The firestorm in Southern California stretching east Saturday. And now new concern over the wind speeds increasing, posing a further threat. The multiple blazes combined, singeing nearly 40,000 acres in southern California, decimating communities.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's OK.

VANESSA PELLEGRINI, OWNER OF RESTAURANT THAT BRUNED DOWN: It's like your heart's been ripped out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have everything.

PELLEGRINI: We have our life and stopped on and thrown away. And you're just trying to find a piece to put it back together.

WALDMAN (voice-over): The Pellegrini family lost their restaurant of 40 years. Like so many others, they've lost so much.

DAN O'CONNER, MALIBUT RESIDENT: Two doors down, the house is gone. One door up, the house is gone. The house above me is gone. The houses across the street were burning all day.

WALDMAN (voice-over): Dan O'Connor is one of the few residents whose home is still standing in Malibu. But around him is nothing but mangled metal and charred debris. This home, only the staircase, is left standing. The largest of the wildfires, the Palisades Fire devouring the Malibu area.

GINGER BLACK, HOME DESTROYED BY L.A. FIRES: It's devastating, heartbreaking for all, but it's great to see the community come together.

WALDMAN (voice-over): The winds calming down Saturday morning, allowing crews to make progress, fighting the flames by air and reducing the risk for firefighters.

CHIEF JASON KEELING, PECHANGA FIRE DEPARTMENT: You're not having those strong, strong winds that are providing ember casting and starting spot fires in front of the head of fires.

WALDMAN (voice-over): But the dry conditions still leaving much of Southern California under a critical level for fire danger. The Santa Ana winds are expected to pick up Sunday, which could worsen fire risk.

WALDMAN: California Governor Gavin Newsom doubled the amount of National Guardsmen who are here helping to respond to these fires. We also are getting help from Mexico firefighters and also firefighters coming from Texas, all with the same goal in mind, trying to protect the people and communities in the path of these blazes. In Pacific Palisades, I'm Leigh Waldman, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Last hour I spoke with Todd Hall, who's a senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard, California. And he said the winds are expected to be less significant than they were last week. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD HALL, SENIOR METEOROLOGIST, NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE: Both these Santa Ana wind events are expected to be much less significant than what we saw Tuesday and Wednesday of earlier this week or last week. So in general, yes, we're expecting the Tuesday -- the Monday night and the Tuesday event has potential to be a fairly strong event. And that has a tendency when we get gusts above 70 miles per hour, that has a tendency to push embers much farther ahead of the fire.

But we have world class firefighters here. They're well trained. I've seen them with even the smallest amount of window of weather conditions they get ahead of that fire. So, I have very, very high faith in they're able to do with these fires.

[01:35:02]

I will say that the Monday night, Tuesday event could end up could impacting the county to the north significantly. Ventura County as this event on Monday night to Tuesday looks more easterly, has a more easterly component to which tends to affect Ventura County more.

BRUNHUBER: Interesting. So those winds could push the fires sort of more inland. Is that towards more populated areas?

HALL: So the Palisades Fire would be pushed more back to the coastal areas towards the southwest. But we are for potentially new fires and that's what our concern for the counties to north. So far, Ventura County has escaped a lot of this and the winds were much weaker with this event in Ventura County. But we're concerned that those winds could develop as we get into Monday night and Tuesday.

BRUNHUBER: All right, so looking at this sort of, you know, pulling the lens back a little bit, this is being termed as a once in a generation event. I mean, talk to me about how we got here. Obviously the first ingredient is drought, right? HALL: Yes. We haven't in downtown Los Angeles a quarter inch of rain

since May. So we've had a very dry April and May. Normally receives about 14 inches on average per year. It doesn't seem like a lot if you live in other parts of the world or other parts of the country. But we normally should have 5 inches of rain by this time. And that allows the native chaparral and sage plants to absorb some of that moisture. Well, that really hasn't happened because we haven't had that rain.

So, it tends to really make the fire weather conditions much more critical as we get into this. When we get into these times of year when we have San and winds between October and December and even January. So that's what tends to happen is when we start getting into these and we don't have this rain, it becomes a very critical situation for fire weather.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. And you talked about the Santa Ana winds. I mean that's something that happens regularly. Is there something different that happened this time around?

HALL: The event this time was a little more northerly. And so it was a very -- so we ended up getting winds across much of Los Angeles County. Even the San Gabriel Valley on Tuesday and Wednesday got damaging winds that occurred. That's what helped start the Eaton Fire or help fuel the Eaton Fire, I should say.

As you know, these winds were very strong. They also prevented air resources from. They hampered some of the air resource efforts as far as providing that for suppression of the wildfires. So we had a lot of -- we had very strong winds. Going back to the 1940s, Burbank area reported to 83 miles an hour. We could not find a record of that going back to the -- to when that weather station first started, just around the end of World War II.

So now, significantly, what they will say about that is Burbank is just one area. There are other areas that have seen much stronger winds than that more frequently. So I can go back to the October 2007 wildfires, where we had a large amount of fire across Southern California. So, as far as once in a lifetime, it could be once in a lifetime for some people, depending upon where you are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Police say they've made seven arrests for looting in the last two days, including two people who are posing as firefighters. State officials are warning people to watch out for scams, and they're sending a message that price gouging during the emergency won't be tolerated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BONTA: We are talking about people who have lost loved ones, whose homes have perished in the fires, who have lost treasured belongings, whose lives have been turned upside down, who are struggling and suffering. They're looking for housing, they're looking for essential goods to keep their lives moving. The last thing they need is for someone to victimize them again, exploit them and take advantage of them and harm them through price gouging.

They need the opposite. They need some people who are giving them care and support and looking after them and valuing them and helping them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: California's Governor Gavin Newsom, has launched a website to fight wildfire misinformation. The site, California Fire Facts, aims to combat false information spreading online. Newsom says there's an astonishing amount of misinformation being spread by political leaders who seek to divide this country for their own political gain.

[01:40:07]

A wildfires rage in Los Angeles, bringing disaster. And after the break, look at disaster vultures who want to take advantage of the chaos. Our breaking news coverage continues. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: Firefighters say they're making progress on the largest fire in Los Angeles County, but there's still significant concern the flames will spread in the day ahead. The 16 people are now confirmed dead. The Palisades Fire has been closing in on communities west of the freeway, while a second front is moving toward the San Fernando Valley. It seems this disaster may be far from over as dangerous conditions are expected to carry into next week.

While evacuation orders remain for thousands in Southern California, some orders have now been lifted for certain areas.

And joining us now out of Cambridge, Massachusetts, is Juliette Kayyem. She's CNN's senior national security analyst as well as a former assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security. Good to see you again. Thanks so much for being here with us.

[01:45:00]

So listen, I want to start with the reporting we got from our reporter who was in the Palisades. Spoke to her about half an hour ago. She was saying that there was a curfew in place tonight in part to prevent looting. She talked to us about all the police patrols that were going through the area. California officials say at least 20 people have been arrested on suspicion of looting. We know, you know, richer areas are hiring private security. But those lessons, well, to do areas don't have access to that. How, how big are those concerns about looting?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: They're big, they're serious and unfortunately they're quite common after a disaster. We call them disaster vultures. These are people who take advantage of abandoned property, take advantage of people who are, you know, at the worst moments of their life. These range from stealing and looting to consumer fraud, people to give, you know, getting people the most vulnerable and taking advantage of them. And so that is why you're seeing a very heavy handed public safety

apparatus come into play now that people are returning home or that homes are abandoned. This is unfortunately necessary given what's going on. It's -- the oddity or I hate -- I guess it's the paradox of what we're seeing is because the fires were so bad and homes were so devastated, for a lot of these areas there's nothing to loot. There is in fact nothing there.

And so, some of the areas, the worse off they are in an odd way that the less looting, the less kind of public safety issues that they're concerned about will occur.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. Now the fires are so bad of course because of natural circumstances. We have the weather and the winds and so on and so forth. But something that is sort of incomprehensible as well is that people have actually been arrested and stopped. People who have been trying to set more fires. I mean, explain that for me.

KAYYEM: Yes, it's like -- the worst in people and the worst people often come out. I want to put this in perspective. The best of people and humanity often comes out in disasters like these. That's why people like me can stay in this field. As you actually see the best of these communities, I grew up in Los Angeles. This is familiar that Los Angeles knows will come together across lots of divides.

And you're seeing that unfortunately there are those who either are from there or come there who will take advantage of this situation and exacerbated as we're seeing with the arsons as we're seeing with probably likely a lot of consumer fraud will occur. People set up fake GoFundMe pages, say I lost my home and the goodwill of others is going to give them money. They didn't lose their home. Right.

And so part of this is just trying to put a heavy sort of law enforcement efforts on. I'll add one more thing, which is the drones, these people who are having fun with drones right now. We know there's been one altercation essentially between a private drone and a helicopter trying to assist in water. So this is another area where people are just sort of losing their minds in many ways. And an order needs to be restored to protect people who live there as well as the first responders.

BRUNHUBER: Juliette Kayyem, thank you so much.

KAYYEM: Thank you.

BRUNHUBER: Ukraine says it can now back up its claim the North Korean troops are fighting alongside Russia. Still ahead, Kyiv says two North Koreans have been captured and they're reportedly talking. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: The Los Angeles wildfires have now killed at least 16 people and forced tens of thousands to leave their homes. The flames are spreading inland on two fronts after fires ravaged the Pacific Palisades near Malibu for days. Firefighters are using aircraft to attack the flames in hopes of keeping the fire from spreading into homes in the Brentwood and Encino areas.

But the weather continues to pose a challenge, and forecasters say strong winds and extremely low humidity can be expected well into next week.

No oil tanker suspected of being part of Russia's shadow fleet is being towed to Germany. Officials say the Panamanian flagged tanker lost power in the Baltic Sea on Friday. The ships carrying nearly 100,000 tons of oil thought to be from Russia. So far, none of it has leaked.

Russia has been using a fleet of air aging and sometimes rusting tankers to circumvent international oil sanctions.

Ukraine says it has captured two North Korean soldiers who are fighting alongside Russian troops. Ukraine and its allies say some 11,000 North Korean soldiers were sent to Russia's Kursk region, where Kyiv launched an incursion last year. Moscow and Pyongyang have never acknowledged deploying those troops. Melissa Bell has more on this new development.

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MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ukraine has released footage that it says shows two North Korean soldiers captured wounded in the Kursk region these last few days. What the video appears to show in CNN can't independently authenticate it, nor indeed confirm the nationalities of the men it shows.

What the video shows are not just what Ukraine says are those captured soldiers, but also the Russian ID that was found one of them. Ukrainian Secret Services saying that the men say they had been brought to Russia on the understanding they would be trained there and found themselves in frontline combat instead.

We don't know much about the circumstances of their capture bar what President Zelenskyy has said, that it was a difficult thing to achieve given the Russian forces tendency to execute wounded soldiers in order that they can't end up in enemy hands.

What the Ukrainian Secret Services are saying, though, is that these two men are the first captured North Korean soldiers.

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And of course that is important since Ukrainians are trying to figure out exactly how many North Korean soldiers there are currently fighting in Kursk. Remember also the scene of very fierce fighting all the more since the latest push by Ukrainian forces to try and make what progress they can there in their attempt to keep that front active that Russians can't resupply the Eastern front where the fighting of course continues as well, a capture that will be important for the Ukrainians in trying to figure out not just the numbers of North Korean soldiers currently fighting in Kursk, but the nature of their training and readiness for battle. Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

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BRUNHUBER: Israel is sending its intelligence chief, Mossad Director David Barnea to Qatar for hostage and ceasefire talks with Hamas. Now the move comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with President-elect Trump's Middle East envoy on Saturday. Netanyahu is facing pressure from both the current and incoming U.S. administrations to reach a deal by January 20th.

An Israeli official tell CNN that sending Barnea is a sign of clear progress in the talks and of the pressure Israel is feeling to reach a solution.

Meanwhile, a few dozen Israeli protesters clashed with police during anti-war protest in Tel Aviv on Saturday. Police carried some protesters who refused to move out of the street. They pushed away others while trying to disperse the crowd.

About 2,000 protesters gathered to denounce Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government demanding a deal to end the war in Gaza and bring remaining hostages back to Israel.

All right, thank you so much for watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Kim Brunhuber and more CNN Newsroom is next with my colleague Ivan Watson.

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