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Thousands Remain Under Evacuation Orders as Firefighters Tackle Blazes; Winds, Drought in L.A. to Hinder Firefighting Efforts; Crews from Other States and Abroad Join Wildfire Fight; Mayor of Paradise, California, Offers Support to Altadena. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired January 13, 2025 - 00:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

[00:00:32]

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT/ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to all of our viewers watching from around the world. I'm Polo Sandoval.

And now to the very latest on the breaking news out of Southern California, where at this hour, firefighters are racing to make more progress containing the devastating wildfires in the L.A. area, as the winds potentially pick up again shortly.

The death toll now climbed to 24, and there is fear that more gusty winds expected to last through Wednesday will only further complicate the firefighting efforts on the ground and could possibly spread embers to dry areas, once again, sparking new fires.

This is a situation on the ground right now. The smallest of the three fires currently burning, which is the Hurst Fire you see on the map. It's mostly contained, at about 89 percent.

The Eaton Fire, which has proven deadly and has devastated out the Altadena area, is at about 27 percent at this hour. But the largest one, the Palisades Fire, only 13 percent contained, and it's already charred more than 23,000 acres.

Here's what one fire official described as what the crews need the most.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEPUTY CHIEF BRICE BENNETT, CAL FIRE: We need Mother Nature to give us a break. We have the firefighters. We have the water. We need the time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Yes. Time can't -- They can't get enough of that.

The widespread devastation seen from high above Los Angeles County. You see entire rows of homes gone. California Governor Gavin Newsom says that dozens of teams are trying

to inspect every one of those buildings is damaged by the fires. And he's setting his deadline of about two weeks. He told CNN's Kyung Lah what will hopefully come next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How soon before this house and that house behind you? How long before you envision this neighborhood?

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): So, on the basis of just moving forward to eliminate as many barriers as possible, the current estimate -- and you can come back in two weeks and, objectively, on the basis of new information, I likely would have a modestly different answer.

After stress testing the last 48 hours, we think if we get these contracts up and running, we deal with jurisdictional issues between the cities, many cities and the county of L.A. and the state, working with our federal partners hand in glove, that we can move forward within 6 to 9 months. Get all that debris removed, all the hazardous materials removed.

If we get this first 14 days done, that will start that clock.

LAH: You're seeing --

NEWSOM: Well, you can tell the debris is gone, and -- and we said we want nine months is the goal; nine months to a year. You're looking at the magnitude of this. And with the hazmat side, it has to be done in a way that services the long term needs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: The governor there on the ground, describing a major task ahead for officials, even as firefighting efforts remain far from over.

CNN's Natasha Chen is following developments from L.A.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Relatively favorable wind conditions on Sunday have helped fire crews make progress at the Palisades Fire behind us.

These areas on the hillside have already burned on Saturday, and on Sunday, we've been seeing nonstop aircraft coming through, dropping water in this area --

CHEN (voice-over): -- into the canyon below, where there are more homes. And they were able to actually keep the fire from encroaching upon those homes and coming up this ridge to where we're standing. So, that's very positive progress for the Palisades Fire.

But of course, this is all about to change. In the coming days, we're expecting very high winds. Red-flag warnings through Wednesday with low humidity. And that means a very high fire danger.

Authorities are telling people in the entire metro area to be prepared for these wind conditions and potential new fires and potential flare- ups, possible preemptive power shutoffs to prevent disasters from happening.

And at the same time, that means that until Wednesday, until actually Thursday, when the red-flag warnings are over, they cannot have conversations with evacuees about repopulation.

For example, the people who left the Palisades area who may have their homes still standing there, cannot try to come back in or discuss that with an escort, with police until these immediate conditions have passed.

And so, that makes things very difficult, very stressful for a lot of people here.

In the meantime, we are learning that authorities are going undercover to make sure there are no looters in these evacuation zones, taking advantage of the situation.

[00:05:06]

They're also scanning the skies to make sure people are not illegally flying drones, because we've already heard from authorities that someone --

CHEN: -- flying a drone had that drone collide into a super scooper. So that happened on Thursday, causing that aircraft to be grounded. Very serious consequences here.

So, as they prepare for harsher conditions, fire crews, authorities say, they have the resources now that have come in from other places. And the L.A. water system is prepared.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: CNN's Leigh Waldman, following the very latest developments from Pacific Palisades.

Leigh, the neighborhoods that you've been in, best described as war zones, to say the least. Some of them, as you report, still with hotspots, especially along some of those major highways.

Talk to us about the efforts by first responders in some of those neighborhoods, some of which still have firehouses standing, but not any houses to fall back into.

LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Polo. It's like a bomb has gone off in so many of those neighborhoods.

Where we are right now, this is a command center set up along the Pacific Coast Highway. And for the second time tonight, on the other side of this highway, it's a cliffside covered in trees and brush. We've seen small fires spark. And we asked firefighters what's happening.

They said they believe it's an ember that's buried underneath the ash or underneath the dirt. The wind hits it just right, and a fire can spark there.

That's why they're telling people it's not safe to go back to their neighborhoods right now, because they don't know what the situation is. It's just not safe.

If there's another ember that's buried in a home that's maybe not burned down, or one that is, a fire could start again. It makes it not safe.

That's why those evacuation orders are still in place for so many of these different neighborhood places.

What we know, as far as efforts that are happening, like I said, this is a staging area. We've seen a lot of activity happening in the command center behind us, a lot of different fire crews coming in and out of here, National Guard members coming in and out of here, law enforcement coming in and out. They're doing what they can to try and contain these fires.

We spoke with a captain with LAFD today, who said they're focusing a lot of their efforts on the Northeast side of this fire. And that's because that's where a lot of the dry brush is.

But he said for them, it's personal. Listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIK SCOTT, CAPTAIN, LOS ANGELES FIRE DEPARTMENT: When you go through those communities, and you see them devastated, it hurts. And our fire stations are riddled there. Fire station 23-69, homes burned all around it. They're still standing, but there's no water at the fire station. There's no gas. There's no electricity.

But we're just trying to help the community as much as possible. And the long tale of -- of recovery and repopulating people into these homes is going to take months.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Five, one, three, three. Try that.

WALDMAN: And so, trying to get the people back in. They're having conversations starting on Thursday, officials are, about when they can get those people back into their evacuated neighborhoods.

SANDOVAL: And we know the California governor ordering that assessment to try to get a better grasp, a better, really, perspective on the extent of the damage here.

We know, Leigh, as you've seen there firsthand, thousands of homes and buildings have been damaged or destroyed. Talk to me about some of the relief that's out there for some of those people who need it. So many people displaced from their homes.

WALDMAN: Yes, we know that FEMA is playing a very active role in this. The FEMA director, she's been here in Los Angeles County throughout the course of this week while these wildfires and the response is happening.

We know that over 24,000 Californians have already applied for assistance. President Joe Biden has promised that the federal government will step in to help with some of that assistance.

And officials here in California said they're going to cut any and all red tape that they can to provide aid and to quickly provide aid to people who need it.

SANDOVAL: All right. Leigh Waldman, underscoring the threats of not only the embers in the air, but also some of those hotspots buried beneath the soil.

Leigh, do be careful. And thank you so much for all your reporting these last few days.

And rising winds will be a challenge for firefighters as they battle these blazes in Southern California. But wind is not the only environmental factor that could be actually jeopardizing their efforts.

CNN's Allison Chinchar with more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Winds have already started to increase across portions of Southern California. They will continue to do so on Monday.

The concern is there's not really going to be much of a break. So, those high wind gusts are still expected to remain in this area at least until Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.

So, you have the red-flag warnings in effect, indicating those high winds are expected to stay in place through the day Monday at least, but also that the humidity levels are going to stay very low.

[00:10:04]

When we look at these wind gusts, early Monday morning, you'll start to see them ticking up 20, 30, even 40 miles per hour. By Tuesday, you could be looking at wind gusts in excess of 50 to 60 miles per hour in some of these places.

That is going to make it incredibly difficult for these firefighters to really make more advancements in those containment numbers, especially through Wednesday.

One of the things that has been really working against these areas in the fires is this dark orange color you see here. That indicates that they are under a severe drought, where all of the fires are located. And I cannot emphasize enough how dry this area really has been.

When you go back to since October 1. And that is the start of what we refer to as the water year. It does not begin January 1, like the calendar year. It follows more of the natural water cycle. So, it begins on October 1.

And since that date, this area around Los Angeles has only had 3/100 of an inch of rain. Normally, they would have at least 4.5 inches of rain by this point.

And the other thing to note, too, is usually, we don't have fires this large spreading this quickly in January. And the reason for that is because January is actually the second wettest month of the year for this area.

When you go back to this same time last year, January 9th of 2024, none of California was in drought. Fast-forward one year. Now you not only have areas in moderate drought, but also severe and even higher categories of drought, just simply because of how little rain this area has had.

When we look forward to the forecast, there is no rain in the forecast for at least the next five days. By day six and seven, we do start to see humidity levels begin to tick back up with a very low-end possibility for rain in some extreme Southern California areas.

But again, you're still talking 6 or 7 days out, and a lot can change. The only one thing we can hope is that at least it will bring the winds back down, and we can get those humidity levels back up to at least help a little bit for the firefighters.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Allison, thank you.

You know, as a captain in the Los Angeles City Fire Department, Al Hugo has worked for decades to keep his community safe. But after a career spent trying to save others' homes, he was unable to save his own.

All he could do was watch helplessly from afar as he and his wife, Carmen, lost their home of 20 years to the Eaton Fire. They spoke earlier to CNN's Bill Weir.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AL HUGO, LOS ANGELES CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT CAPTAIN: It was kind of surreal. I mean, it's something that really hits home.

You know, you do this for a living, but you know, you invest your -- your life to try to, you know, protect life and property.

But when it's your own, it's just a different feeling. It's almost like I'm in a dream or something.

We evacuated just when the fire got to the point where we had to. But throughout the night, we -- we were vigilant, trying to keep an eye on it. We had lost power, electrical power for the whole area since 4 p.m. that afternoon.

And our eldest son, who's a federal agent, he kept us informed. And we kept one of our cars turned down and kept charging the phone. So, had means of communication, just -- just in case.

BILL WEIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And, Carmen, what was it like for you, realizing that this place was -- held so many memories, was gone.

CARMEN HUGO, WIFE OF LOS ANGELES CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT CAPTAIN: It was really hard. I didn't know what to do.

I just said, it smells like the smoke is right here in the house. And then we got the alarm to evacuate. And then that's when we left. Didn't have time to get anything from the house, because we never thought it was going to burn.

A. HUGO: I was supposed to report to duty that following morning, and so, you know, her concerns -- I made the decision to call in and not report to duty and inform my office -- my chief, so I can stay back. And just in case it got bad.

But with my experience and history of -- of firefighting, even here and Altadena, I wasn't as concerned. But, you know, my wife doesn't have that experience and knowledge. So, I stayed home to help.

But I've never in my wildest dreams did I think it was going to hit as close as it did to my house.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: An example of so many firefighters who themselves lost what they have.

The L.A. County fire chief insisting that their water system is ready to fight these fires. At a news conference on Sunday, Chief Anthony Marrone said 70 water transport trucks requested by CAL FIRE have already arrived. They can help replenish the water supplies in the fire engines on the front lines.

Now, this is important, because this comes as state and local leaders have faced backlash over apparent water management issues. Some residents have said that they -- that they were forced to try fighting the flames with hoses.

[00:15:06]

And then you see this video from last week: people using buckets of water after the hydrants began to go dry.

So, what can be done to decrease the chance of a future water shortage during firefighting efforts? For the answer, let's go now live to Jay Lund. He's a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Davis.

Professor, thank you so much for offering your expertise and some insight on this extremely important angle here.

The L.A. Department of Water and Power said in a statement last week that extreme weather demand impacted their ability to refill three water tanks supplying the Palisades.

So, professor, can you tell me why water from other Southern California reservoirs couldn't be immediately rerouted to the affected region? As -- as you would be able to explain that.

JAY LUND, PROFESSOR OF CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS: Fires, and these fires in particular, have extraordinary demands.

So, you couldn't possibly get that much water through the pipes that connect the local fire protection reservoirs to the regional water storage reservoirs that are built for droughts.

SANDOVAL: Right. So, essentially, there was water in the region. It was getting it as quickly as they needed it to -- to get there. That really proved to be the big challenge.

LUND: Right. There's enough water in the region to really basically drown all of the fire areas in about 20 feet of water, but you couldn't get it from the regional reservoirs to the local reservoirs fast enough.

SANDOVAL: That's -- that's telling. If only they could.

And as you know, professor, out of disasters will usually come changes in policy, upgrades in ordinances, building ordinances to try to diminish damages and loss of life. From your perspective, what are some of those changes that local and state officials will likely move to implement already?

LUND: Well, I think on the water side, there will be some improvements in the local water storage, because this is a fairly common problem with -- with wildfires and urban areas.

But I think probably in the long run, we will need to have much more attention to building codes and land use planning. This is what's been extraordinarily useful for flood management and for earthquake management in California.

We have a lot of disasters in California, not just fires. But for earthquakes, it's been particularly building codes that have really knocked down the damages and loss of life.

SANDOVAL: What are the sort of building codes there in that zone? My understanding is a lot of these houses were actually built before some of these new building codes were actually implemented to try to make for -- I wouldn't say fireproof, but at least more fire-resistant structures.

LUND: Right. That -- most of the fire codes seem to have come in in about 2007, 2008. The latest one I saw was 2010. And they're really -- go after a lot of the -- the bigger forms of

damage, the bigger forms of -- of ways that fire can catch a structure on fire. And it just takes time to work those things through.

We saw that -- we've seen this with earthquakes, where every earthquake we have, we're a little bit better off for it, because we've had newer and newer buildings in the population.

SANDOVAL: Other parts of the country, folks in other parts of the country, may not be very familiar with the topography here. Many of these homes were in elevated regions on a very hilly, steep landscape. So, getting water to those higher elevations proved to be a challenge for firefighters and still is.

In a part of the country with some of the most expensive real estate, how could things like local water storage be done in or near some of these neighborhoods that were lost?

You'd have to sacrifice property.

LUND: Up on the hills, it'll be extraordinarily difficult to get new storage of -- for firefighting up -- up at that elevation, unless they have very large pumps.

So, what tends to happen in the higher elevations is that's where you would want to be, especially, cognizant and use especially the -- the wildfire building codes.

SANDOVAL: The --

LUND: There's quite a few communities in Southern California where what we do is we -- we have people, before you can build a development up there, you have to basically build the structures so that a fire can -- can come through and not kill people.

SANDOVAL: Professor Lund, I know you'll be monitoring the situation in the coming days, as well, and you better believe so many engineers and experts will, as well. So, thank you very much for -- for offering your extremely valuable insight to this.

LUND: You're very welcome.

SANDOVAL: Well, California Governor Gavin Newsom is welcoming any firefighting help that they can get from anywhere in the world, with crews arriving from several states, others coming from abroad.

CNN's Rafael Romo with that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: California Governor Gavin Newsom said that his administration is trying to pre-position resources to a wider area to better fight the wildfires, because conditions are expected to deteriorate, with gusts expected to be over 50 miles an hour Monday.

[00:20:11] ROMO (voice-over): From a private aerial firefighting company from Montana, to firefighters from Mexico and Canada, California has been open to get all the help it can.

As the governor pointed out in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press," there are currently firefighters helping those in the Los Angeles area from nine different states across the nation. Some of those firefighters have traveled from places as far as Oregon and Washington state.

Governor Newsom also welcomed a firefighting team from Mexico, with 73 members that traveled from Mexico City to California on Saturday.

Upon arrival, the firefighters were sent to the Noble Creek operations base, then getting specific assignments to the fires in the Los Angeles area, according to CAL FIRE.

ROMO: Governor Newsom told NBC he believes he has the resources he needs to combat all the fires that are raging right now.

NEWSOM: Yes, we got 14,000 people working the line right now. We doubled the National Guard. We have 16,80 out there, helping on the logistics side. I was just with folks from Mexico, 73 folks. They'll be relieving some of our hand crews. We've got nine states that are now providing under this EMAC system support.

MAYOR KAREN BASS (D), LOS ANGELES: Let me thank every Los Angeles firefighter and the thousands of firefighters from across the state, the nation, and even the world.

People are coming from everywhere to help us and make sure that we are ready for the days ahead. So, to them, I want to say thank you.

ROMO: The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, better known as CAL FIRE, also issued a statement expressing their heartfelt gratitude to the extraordinary departments, states and countries that have stepped up to support California.

Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And still ahead in this hour, the very latest on the Gaza ceasefire hostage negotiations as the White House hopes to strike a deal in the last day of the Biden presidency.

Plus, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy making an offer to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. We'll tell you more about that, on the way.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANDOVAL: With just one week remaining in the Biden administration, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan says that it is possible a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal might still come together before the next administration takes over. His comments came as outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the latest progress on the negotiations on Sunday.

The White House says that Mr. Biden once again called an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, or at least called for that immediate cease -- ceasefire. And also, for the return of the hostages and increased humanitarian aid to the enclave.

[00:25:06]

Here's what CNN's -- here's what Sullivan told CNN's Jake Tapper on a possible timeline for this potential hostage deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: We are very, very close. And yet, being very close still means we're far, because until you actually get across the finish line, we're not there.

We have right now President Biden's top Middle East advisor, Brett McGurk, in Doha. He has been there for a full week, hammering out, with the mediators, the final details of a text to be presented to both sides. And we are still determined to use every day we have an office to get this done.

Can we get it done before the 20th? It is possible, but I certainly can't make any predictions that we will.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Meanwhile, incoming President Donald Trump has warned, quote, "All he'll will break out" in the Middle East if the Hamas hostages are not released before his inauguration, which takes place in a week.

Well, meanwhile, Israeli forces are ramping up strikes in Gaza. I want to show you what happened there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(EXPLOSION)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: That was the moment an Israeli strike hit a house in a refugee camp in central Gaza on Sunday. We know at least one person was killed and six others injured, according to hospital authorities.

Gaza's Health Ministry says Israeli strikes have killed nearly 46,000 people since October 7th of 2023.

Gaza's hospitals are still under immense strain, with dwindling vital supplies.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is now offering to release two North Korean soldiers if North Korean leader Kim Jong-un can arrange the release of Ukrainian troops held in Russia.

On Saturday, Ukraine announced that it captured the North Korean -- the North Korean soldiers in Russia's Kursk region. Ukraine's security service released video that it says shows the wounded prisoners being interrogated.

Neither Moscow nor Pyongyang have acknowledged that North Korean troops are fighting alongside Russian forces. Kyiv says the captured troops are definitive proof that Russia's army is dependent on aid from Pyongyang.

Turn -- turning now to Washington, D.C., where Senate confirmation hearing for Donald Trump's cabinet picks will begin on Tuesday.

First up, Mr. Trumps controversial choice for defense secretary Pete Hegseth. His nominees for secretary of state, attorney general and treasury will face their own grillings later in the week.

All have expressed -- all of them have expressed unwavering loyalty to the president-elect's agenda and are expected to do the same during their hearings.

When we return here in the CNN NEWSROOM, our breaking news coverage of the deadly Los Angeles fires continues as crews start to make some progress when it comes to containment. But that could change, with dangerous winds starting to pick up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:30:27]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

SANDOVAL: Hello and welcome to all of our viewers watching here in the United States and around the world. I'm Polo Sandoval.

Firefighters are bracing for another round of intense Santa Ana winds as massive wildfires continue to burn across Southern California.

The death toll, the combined death toll now up to 24. Officials say that the fire threat is very high, and wind speeds are predicted to keep rising through Wednesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID ACUNA, BATTALION CHIEF, CAL FIRE: The biggest hazard is a new fire start, which is why we need the public to be very cautious. This wind event is taking place from Santa Barbara all the way to San Diego, so it's every member's responsibility to cause one less spark.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: More than 105,000 people still, days later, under evacuation orders. Crews have managed to control some of the smaller fires, which have freed up some resources to focus on the major ones that are still burning. The Hurst Fire, about 89 percent contained right now. The Eaton Fire,

which proved deadly, 27 percent contained. But the largest blaze is the Palisades Fire. It is just at 13 percent containment.

Officials say hundreds of California inmates are actually helping fight fires on the front lines, joining those forces. And the governor announcing that he's deploying 1,000 more National Guard members to join the effort. That brings the total number deployed there to about 2,500 people on the ground.

CNN's Julia Vargas Jones has more on what lies ahead for these devastated communities.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On the sixth day of the Palisades Fire --

JONES (voice-over): -- residents are starting to want to go home: to pick up the medication, to pick up their pets, to look for items that they left behind.

But this morning, Chief of Police of Los Angeles, Jim McDonald, said that will no longer be allowed. He said the resources are just not there. And he understands that people might not be happy with this decision, but that's just what they need to do.

They said they will start bringing in cadaver dogs to look for potential people that were left behind in the fires, as well. That could create active crime scenes and really make it difficult for officers to bring folks into their neighborhoods.

We spoke to some of those people. Listen to what they have to say.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have to go wait in line in my car where I can ride my bike up really quickly, check my properties.

JONES: Well, they're saying that they're not allowing people to do that anymore.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're not -- they're not allowing anybody. I tried yesterday, I've tried a couple of days ago. Nothing.

JONES: Their argument is that it's still -- the fire is still burning. The gas lines are still on in some parts, and that it's just too dangerous. What do you think? Do you think it's too dangerous?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dangerous. I agree. No, save lives before anything else. I understand.

JONES: Yes, but you're frustrated.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of course. Wouldn't you be?

JONES: And that frustration that you hear in his voice there --

JONES (voice-over): -- that's been echoed by so many other people.

And we also had the opportunity to see and follow people as they saw their homes for the first time after this fire. This has been an event of an immense magnitude for this community. And yet, we keep hearing, over and over again, that people are choosing to rebuild here. They're not abandoning their communities, something we've seen in events like this one.

We're now hearing from Governor Gavin Newsom that he will try to make it easier for that rebuilding to take place, saying that he will waive certain necessary permitting for building in this particular area affected by the Palisades Fire.

And telling our colleague, Kyung Lah, in an interview that he will make sure that these houses, all of these structures, are inspected in the next 14 days.

JONES: Julia Vargas Jones, CNN, Pacific Palisades.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: People in Altadena, California, they are getting much-needed support from someone who knows exactly what they're going through right now. Steve Crowder, the mayor of Paradise, California, has firsthand experience leading a community through devastating wildfires.

You see, in 2018, the Camp Fire killed more than 80 people and destroyed about 95 percent of Paradise, including his own home.

The day after the Eaton Fire began its devastating sweep through Altadena, Crowder reached out to the town council chairperson to offer his experience, guidance and support, as well.

[00:35:01]

Mayor Steve Crowder joining me live tonight. Mayor, thank you so much for -- for spending some time with me.

You've referenced the ongoing fires in Southern California as a carbon copy of what you and your town experienced in 2018, Mayor. In addition, your own daughter's home lost in the fires last week. We take it she is safe tonight?

MAYOR STEVE CROWDER, PARADISE, CALIFORNIA: She -- she is safe.

SANDOVAL: Good.

CROWDER: She's devastated, which is understandable.

SANDOVAL: Yes. And Mayor, we're thankful for that.

Now, with so many in Southern California losing homes, businesses and, quite frankly, even their hope, how do you assure to them that rebuilding is possible? And -- and what have you told city leaders in places like the Pacific Palisades and certainly in Altadena?

CROWDED: Well, I have had several conversations with Victoria from Altadena and, you know, I told her it -- it looks very bleak. It looks hopeless. But I can tell you firsthand, it isn't. I went through the same feelings.

I came up to this town after it burned, and I looked around and I went, there's no way we're ever going to come back from this. And as time passed, and -- and some progress was made with debris removal, I looked and said, you know, I think we might be able to do that.

Six years later, we are well on the road. And what I told her is just don't lose hope. Don't let anybody tell you, you can't because you absolutely can. And we are proof of that.

SANDOVAL: Yes. That's so much hope in -- in a place that is quite hope -- in many cases has lost it, of that hope.

How much progress? I'm curious how much progress has actually been made in Paradise? Made in terms of rebuilding, getting people to -- to move back.

CROWDER: Well, we were a town of 26,000 pre-fire. We went to a town of less than 2,000 overnight.

We started with about 13,000 (ph) structures and ended that day with 17,000 structures.

Today, we have about 33 percent of our housing stock back. Our population is 11,000. We had a long-term recovery plan done almost immediately after the fire. We involved our community and asked them what they wanted.

Their No. 1 ask was for underground utilities. That's in the process now. We should be finished with that in about another year or less.

Then comes repaving all the streets, and that will take probably two years from now to totally finish up. We've already started where the underground is finished.

So, I think we're making really good progress. It's-- you know, it's a 20-year rebuild. It's not going to happen overnight, but I'm really happy with the progress we've made. And a lot of it has to do with the wonderful staff that we have.

SANDOVAL: You touched on something that's very important, too. This isn't just rebuilding people's homes. This is rebuilding the infrastructure, essentially re-finding that town from the ground or potentially underground up.

CROWDER: Oh, absolutely. I mean, the -- the fire wiped out our -- our, all of our utility poles. It wiped out our town and police department communication. It took out our cell phone towers.

So, the day of the fire, I spent up here evacuating, helping evacuate the town. And probably within about an hour and a half of it, we had no communication on our -- our town radios or our cell phones. So, that was tough to do.

SANDOVAL: Be it in five, ten, 15 or, in your case, 20 years, rebuilding will happen. So please close with that final message for the residents of this affected of this affected area. What does life post devastation look like?

CROWDER: Well, I mean, there's challenges. You're -- you're, you know, living amongst a construction zone. But you're back in your community, and it's got -- it's still got its beauty. You've got your friends around you.

We have probably -- right now it's about a 50/50 mix of what's coming back, whether it be rebuilds or brand-new people. But it's still a great place to live. It's still home. It's still a community, and it's only going to get better.

SANDOVAL: Paradise, California, nearly destroyed years ago, but now, on the mend, bouncing back, and providing so much hope for those who are just about to begin that very long, very long process.

[00:40:07]

Mayor Crowder, thank you so much for -- for that advice that you're sharing with your counterparts in other parts of California, and wish you, and certainly your daughter, the best.

CROWDER: Well, thank you. And I want to send my heartfelt condolences to everybody in the Southern California area that's experienced this tragedy. We do know how you feel, and Paradise does stand with you.

SANDOVAL: We know they appreciate that, Mayor. You take care.

CROWDER: Thank you.

SANDOVAL: All right. Still on the way, our coverage of ongoing breaking news will continue. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANDOVAL: Welcome back. More now on the breaking news in Los Angeles, where firefighters are racing to contain three major wildfires right now.

The Hurst Fire is 89 percent contained. The Eaton Fire at about 27, but the largest one, the Palisades Fire, just 13 percent containment.

Joining us now is Ken Haskett, section chief for the Los Angeles County Fire department. Chief, thank you so much for spending some time with us, given how busy you and the rest of your teams -- remarkable teams -- are.

So many residents keeping their eye on the weather right now. Some of them may be saying, here we go again with these red-flag warnings.

[00:45:05] So -- so, sir, how confident are you that L.A. County officials have addressed any challenges with water supplies so that it's stocked and ready to go for Monday's red-flag warning?

KEN HASKETT, SECTION CHIEF, LOS ANGELES COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: Water supplies, the hydrants are all at maximum capacity. I know LADWP, as well as the water power [SIC] -- the water authority is ensuring that we can get the water we need, as well as we have hundreds of water tenders in the area throughout the entire fire perimeter of the 23,700 acres we have.

You mentioned earlier, we are at 13 percent containment. Today, the fire activity was moderate. There wasn't much smoke in there, which is good. But we still have a lot of hotspots within the interior of that 23,000 acres.

So, it will be hot. Luckily today, the red-flag warning is pushing the winds back onto the fire, so that will be beneficial. So, the winds are coming out of the North-Northeast, basically.

SANDOVAL: Got it. That's certainly, if I may ask also about preventative actions, things that maybe you, the firefighters, have done the last couple of days, trying to get the upper hand.

Can you just speak to some of those preventative -- preventative actions that have been taken by firefighters to make it really, essentially, harder for fires to ignite or for current ones to spread?

HASKETT: Getting our aircraft back in the air has been paramount to stopping that fast rate of spread.

Getting those pulse (ph) check drops in ahead, and getting dozer lines in to get our containment and contingency lines bolstered, as well.

We've been really successful at getting personnel here. We have well over 5,000 firefighters on the ground currently. We're able to get out of that initial attack and start doing our extended attack and getting crews rested.

So, people are going in fresh, working a 24-hour shift, and they'll be able to extinguish any of those little hot hotspots, as well as around the structures that are still there, luckily and thankfully.

We're getting any smoldering, because it's still hot and dry. If you get any kind of embers like at a campfire that you do, that go into the eaves of people's crawl spaces, right? It can ignite that. So we're getting those out next to -- that's our No. 1 priority is extinguishing those small spot fires. Even the smallest amber, right, with the hot wind and the heat can ignite another house on fire.

SANDOVAL: Sure. As you were going down that list, we're seeing those videos of those air drops, as well.

What would you say to some of those people who are at home watching in a hotel or at a loved one's home, waiting to potentially go back to their home? What would you tell those people who are asking when they will have an opportunity to actually return to their neighborhoods and see what, if anything, remains?

HASKETT: Unfortunately, we're only about 20 percent done through our damage inspection. We estimate well over 5,000 homes have been destroyed just on the Palisades. It's devastating.

We have two confirmed fatalities, and my dearest sympathies go out to the families and loved ones that have lost people on fires. It's a tragedy.

I ask for patience. I ask for people to understand that infrastructure is destroyed. We are in a disaster. This is something Los Angeles County, as well as Los Angeles City, at least in my history -- and I've lived in Los Angeles city since 1976 -- hasn't seen since I was born.

So, this is fuels that haven't burned since the '50s. So, the infrastructure is destroyed. I think, luckily or unluckily, I think we'll hopefully get some new reform out of building and rebuilding our communities that are more resilient to stuff like this or wildland fires like this.

So, I ask for people's grace. Please, patience. We are doing this as quickly as possible and as safely as possible for the firefighters on the ground.

SANDOVAL: Yes, pleading for patience. That's key. And understandably, so many people growing impatient and frustrated. But the reality is, this is going to be a very, very long journey to recovery.

And the first thing is, I assume, make that area safe before --

HASKETT: Yes.

SANDOVAL: -- you can even contemplate access.

Chief Haskett, my best to you, and please tell all of your firefighters --

HASKETT: Thank you.

SANDOVAL: -- that have been working now for days that we re certainly thinking about them and wishing them the best with this new threat on the horizon.

HASKETT: Thank you for your support, too.

SANDOVAL: Thank you, Chief.

All right. The devastation that these fires have caused has been beyond comprehension, as the chief was laying out. When we come back, how L.A. is coming together to help those who've lost nearly everything and, in some cases, everything in the fires.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:53:54] SANDOVAL: Welcome back. This is what an outpouring of love and support amid devastation in Los Angeles looks like.

You see a sea of donations transforming the horse track at Santa Anita Park into a grassroots donation center. This is pretty amazing.

Hundreds of wildfire evacuees and volunteers gathered for free food and water, as well as plenty of other resources. The wildfires have taken an immense emotional toll, even on people who haven't been directly affected by these fires.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER DENHARTOG, LONG BEACH RESIDENT: I just needed to come out and do something to help people. I don't -- Sorry. I feel so bad for the people, so I just wanted to come help somebody. That's all I can do. I can't give a bunch of money, but I can come and give my time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Yes, even giving back is emotional.

For more information about how you can help the Los Angeles area wildfire victims go to CNN.com/impact for more information.

And so far, the fires have claimed the lives of at least 24 people. Others remain missing as search-and-rescue teams go neighborhood to neighborhood as they look for victims.

[00:55:08]

And we're also learning more about some of the people who have died in this disaster. Among them is 85-year-old Annette Rossilli. We are told that she insisted on staying in her Pacific Palisades home with her pets. Neighbors encouraged her to leave, but she declined.

Victor Shaw also chose to stay. He reportedly tried to fight the raging Eaton Fire with a garden hose rather than evacuate his longtime family home.

We also heard the story of Rodney Nickerson. He's a grandfather. He was a grandfather who raised his family in the house, which is now burned to the ground. He lived in Altadena in his neighborhood for more than 50 years. As the fire approached, family members say that Nickerson refused to leave.

Our affiliate in Los Angeles spoke to Mr. Nickerson's daughter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIMIKO NICKERSON, FATHER DIED IN WILDFIRE: This is where we've been our whole life, and my son tried to get him to leave, and my neighbors and myself, and he said, he'll be fine. I'll be here when you guys come back. And he said his house would be here.

His house is here. And he was here, too. He was in his bed when I found him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And then there is Rory Callum Sykes. He's a former child star from Australia. He died when the Palisades Fire ripped through his family's Malibu estate.

He appeared in the 1998 British TV series "Kiddy Kapers." His mother, Shelley, described him as beautiful and wonderful.

And we want to thank you for sticking around and watching those tributes.

I'm Polo Sandoval. Our breaking news coverage continues after the break.

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