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Cal Fire Says, Significant Concern L.A. Wildfires Will Grow; Fire Crews Make Progress on Containing Palisades Fire Edge; Death Toll Rises To 16 As Wildfires Rage In Los Angeles. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired January 12, 2025 - 03:00   ET

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

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IVAN WATSON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to CNN Newsroom. I'm Ivan Watson.

As we head into day six of the devastating wildfires in Southern California, firefighters are racing against the clock. Officials are warning there's a very significant concern that the fires will grow in the hours ahead as the Santa Ana winds regain strength. That comes as the death toll climbs to 16. California's governor is doubling the number of National Guardsmen deployed, seven other U.S. states, Canada and Mexico, are sending in firefighters to help.

The powerful winds are picking up as crews make progress on the largest blaze burning in Los Angeles, the Palisades fire. The operations chief says there's minimal activity in some parts as they stop the spread of the fire's boundary. But that work could be lost with flames inching closer to Brentwood, Bel Air, and other communities near UCLA. Officials say they're waiting to see how these winds will impact firefighting efforts.

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DEPUTY CHIEF BRICE BENNETT, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY AND FIRE PROTECTION: What the wind conditions predicted and what we were hearing from the National Weather Service, when it can carry an ember miles away due to 40, 50, 60-mile-an-hour winds, it doesn't really how big -- I mean, there's no line you can cut that can stop that.

So, what we need to do is we need to have everyone ready to be able to evacuate if necessary, depending on where the winds blow the fire.

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WATSON: CNN's 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.

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 stage 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.

And 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.

WATSON: CNN's Stephanie Elam reporting from the fire line near Brentwood.

The 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.

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.

[03:05:03] And 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, we 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 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 L.A. We've been talking about how bad the air quality is, at least by Monday, when the winds all blowing from the same direction, we will be blowing that smoke away 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.

WATSON: Joining us is Ross Greenberg, who lost his home in the Palisades fire. Ross, I'm so sorry about this devastating setback. Can I ask you, how is your family right now? Where are you guys staying right now?

ROSS GREENBERG, LOST HOME L.A. FIRES: Thank you so much for having me tonight. My family is okay. We're currently at a hotel where we've been trying to kind of piece our life back together. I have a, you know, five-year-old and a seven-year-old. Actually, her birthday is this week. She's turning eight. So, we have to kind of explain to them that they don't have a house anymore and they don't have their things anymore and we have to find a new place to live and it's been devastating.

I think they're holding up well And we're doing our best. And, you know, seeing what the community is going through is really tough. You know, they lost their dance studio that's been there for 30 years, and their musical theater studio that's been there that my wife actually went to as a kid. It's just -- it's hard seeing what's going on.

WATSON: Yes, I really can't imagine. And, by the way, our viewers right now are looking at footage and images, I believe, of the ruins of your home in the aftermath of this fire. And I know you just said you guys are just trying to come to grips with this. Your seven-year- old is about to have a birthday. Can you tell me what kind of calculations are you making kind of for the near and medium future for your family as you kind of try to come to grips with this loss?

GREENBERG: So, we live in an area called The Alphabets, and it's grids of houses next to each other. And my entire street was wiped out except for one house. And so the immediate thought is, we have to find a place to go and we have, you know, thousands upon thousands of people in the Palisades that have been evacuated and they're looking for places to go in their homes are probably most likely lost.

And then secondly, the rebuild, we're thinking about rebuilding. So, I'm calling contractors and architects and thinking, how quickly can we get this done. And I've been doing that all week and because, you know, I know my neighbor is going to have to rebuild and I know my neighbor down the street is going to have to rebuild. And what is that going to look like and how can that be expedited is kind of really top of my mind because we love our home. We, you know, bought it a couple years ago. It was a fixer. We fix it up. We finally moved in. We've been there about two years and then we lost it. So, we're just going to go and rebuild it back to what it was. You know, it was very special to us.

So, we're just hoping that everyone kind of figure out this expedited process and, you know, everybody loves their home and if they can get back into their communities well. So, it's just tough, you know?

WATSON: It's incredible to think that just days later, you're already thinking about plans to build a new home. Can I ask the home that did get burned down? Was it insured? Are you moving forward with the process of dealing with the insurance company or reaching out to other resources to compensate for the loss?

GREENBERG: So, yes, I'm fortunate my policy was not canceled. I was one of the people that still had my insurance carrier. I know that other people have various things, like that piecemeal, but I hear, like the fair plan and wraparound coverage. My carrier is still with me. They've actually been wonderful. I'm not going to lie. I knew Wednesday morning, I lost my house. I was on the phone with them an hour later.

[03:10:01]

I was in an office with them on Thursday. They've called me every day. They're helping me kind of outline what it's going to take.

And, you know, I'm wanting to just get things done. So, you know, my coping is, let's get our house back. Let's get my family out of a hotel and into an apartment or a home nearby so they can -- my kids can have some type of semblance of a life and try to get things back to normal kind of plan that we can, you know, hopefully be back in our home in two to three years, maybe. That would be ideal. And hopefully that process can be expedited.

WATSON: Ross Greenberg, thank you very much for sharing your story with us and good luck moving forward.

GREENBERG: Thanks so much.

WATSON: Okay, I'm going to speak now with someone who's trying to help people in those devastated communities.

I'm joined now by Maribel Marin. She's the executive director of 211LA, and she joins us from Los Angeles. Thank you for joining us so late at night there. We're in the early morning, actually.

First and foremost, Maribel, are you and your family and your home, are you all safe and out of harm's way right now?

MARIBEL MARIN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, 211LA: We are safe right now. Thank you for asking, Ivan. Yes.

WATSON: Okay, that's great to hear. Now, you run this nonprofit, which kind of tries to help hundreds of thousands of families with information and access to health and human services. And I understand you're partnering with Airbnb.org to provide housing to people who have been evacuated. Can you tell me more about that initiative?

MARIN: Sure. So, I mean, first of all, 211LA is a nonprofit organization. We've been serving the communities of Los Angeles County since 1981 and we've had many opportunities to assist during disasters. And so this is something that we are set up to do.

So, we immediately began staffing up on the 8th when we were activated by the county. And soon after Airbnb contacted us and we began working to set up a way for people to be able to sign up for assistance with credits for at least seven days. And we have over 29,000 people currently on that list.

We do have about 5,000 households that are receiving or will be receiving credits from Airbnb. That includes about 29,000 people and nearly 8,000 pets that will be obtaining that support.

Now, that sign up form continues to be on our website. So, people should continue to sign up because we have been getting a lot of other organizations with resources, including housing resources, transportation resources getting lined up. So, there's more help coming. And Airbnb has generously continued to increase the allocation of credits.

Now, that is all based on availability and we are getting fairly saturated here in L.A. County and now looking beyond L.A. County for placements and for transportation to help people get there.

So, there's a lot more to come out of our partnership with Airbnb, and we are also expanding our partnership with other organizations who are coming to help.

WATSON: And, Maribel, I assume when you say that you're giving credits, that's basically a shelter, or a place for somebody to stay for at least a night. If someone is watching this right now and they need help, what should they do to reach out to your organization?

MARIN: So, first of all, 211 is a three-digit dialing code. It's a free, 24/7 hotline that people can call. And we have not only an ability to sign you up for the Airbnb credits, but we can also connect you to a lot of other resources that are available throughout the county. If you go to our website, 211.org, you will see that we are maintaining a list of all kinds of resources, including shelters where people can get material supplies. Fairly soon, there's going to be local assistance centers opening up. The libraries are helping people get signed up for FEMA. So, there's all kinds of assistance being mobilized and through our website. You can find that information. We have a team of people dedicated solely to finding that information. We are also collaborating with partners all across the country. 211 is a national network and we're getting a lot of support for call handling and getting through the list of over 29,000 people who are signed up on the Airbnb credits form so that we can get people verified and issued credits.

[03:15:12]

And the credits are for seven days, Ivan, not just tonight. So, this is a very valuable resource for people.

Again, I encourage people to continue signing up on that format on 211.org -- I'm sorry, 211la.org.

WATSON: And, anecdotally, you know, I'm hearing from friends in L.A. about volunteerism right now, you know, food drives, clothing drives, and things like that. Are you seeing much volunteerism from within the communities? And what advice do you have to give to anybody who wants to help people, victims of the fires?

MARIN: That's a great question. You know, there is a lot of information out there, lots of GoFundMe accounts. And I think that for people who want to volunteer, there's a couple of opportunities that are listed on our website. It's important to know that many of the evacuation shelters are not necessarily equipped to take donations. So, before someone brings donations to a shelter, they really should contact them first.

But if you go to our website, you'll see a list of places where you can take material donations, where you can donate monetarily, if you have that desire to do that, and also if you have time to volunteer, who is taking volunteers right now. That list will continue to be updated as the situation evolves. There will continue to be more opportunities to volunteer and to donate. But our website, 211LA, is the place to go to find verified information.

WATSON: All right. Maribel Marin from 211LA, thank you very much for that important update, and good luck moving forward with this.

We're going to take a break now, but frustration among residents is growing as evacuation orders remain in place. Our breaking news coverage continues after this break. Stay with CNN.

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