Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Crews Race To Contain L.A. Fires Ahead Of More High Winds; L.A. Homeowners Coming To Grips With Scope Of Tragedy; One-On-One With California Gov. Gavin Newsom; Health Officials Warn Of Risks Linked To Wildfire Smoke; Interview With Author And Pediatrician Dr. Debra Hendrickson; Equine Rescue Group Saves Horses From California Wildfires; Thousands Remain Under Evacuation Orders In L.A. County. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired January 13, 2025 - 01:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:00:42]

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

Now the latest on our breaking news at this hour, the death toll in Southern California's devastating wildfire has now climbed to 24 people. This is firefighters race against the clock to make further progress containing the flames before strong gusty winds set in. The weather conditions could pose a major challenge to crews as they battle three ongoing fires, including two which combined have nearly burned 38,000 acres.

This is a bird's eye view of the situation that's unfolding right now. The smallest of those three fires, the Hurst Fire, fortunately that's at about 89 percent contained. The Eaton Fire, which has proven deadly and devastated the Altadena area at 27 percent containment. But the largest one, the Palisades Fire, that is only at 13 percent contained.

The big fear now is that more gusty winds will not only further complicate the firefighting efforts, but could possibly spread embers to dry areas once again sparking new fires. The winds are forecast to increase throughout the day on Monday with strong gusts lasting through Wednesday. California Governor Gavin Newsom says dozens of teams are now trying to inspect each one of these buildings that was damaged by or destroyed by the fire and he hopes to do that within two weeks time.

But he says it could take six to nine months to remove all the debris and toxic material from burned out homes and buildings. CNN's Natasha Chen following developments from Los Angeles.

NATASHA CHEN, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Relatively favorable wind conditions on Sunday have helped fire crews make progress with the Palisades Fire behind us. These areas on hillside have already burned on Saturday. And on Sunday we've been seeing nonstop aircraft coming through dropping water in this area 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. They're also scanning the skies to make sure people are not illegally flying drones because we've already heard from authorities that someone 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.

SANDOVAL: So, weather wise, what's in store in the days ahead for Southern California? For the answer, let's go now live to Ventura, California. That's where we find Todd Hall. He's a senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Todd, thank you for joining us.

TODD HALL, SENIOR METEOROLOGIST, NOAA/NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE: Thank you for having me on.

SANDOVAL: No, it's our pleasure, especially with your expertise right now. A week ago --

HALL: Thank you.

SANDOVAL: -- before the deadly fires broke out, residents in L.A. received those alerts from the National Weather Service, the red flag, and also those high wind warnings. Of course, nobody could have predicted what would happen next. But now similar advisories are in effect for parts of Ventura and L.A. County. So what exactly is expected in the days ahead, weather wise, Todd?

[01:05:09]

HALL: Yes, we're expecting another around -- another round of Santa Ana winds developing between Monday and -- and into Tuesday and possibly into Wednesday. So we're -- we're gearing up for, we have very critically dry fuels in place or vegetation in place across our area. So we're gearing up for an -- potentially another very dangerous situation across Southern California as we move forward the next -- over the next couple of days.

SANDOVAL: And Todd, when you say another round, will this week's Santa Ana winds be similar to last week in -- in terms of intensity and -- and duration?

HALL: There are some ingredients there that could end up and be potentially equal. But for all -- for everything we look at this point, the -- it favors it being still weaker than -- than last Tuesday's event where we saw the Palisades and Eaton Fires actually start and -- and spread rapidly.

SANDOVAL: If there's some good news, it's definitely that. Now in terms of looking back at the last couple of days here, were weather conditions this weekend conducive for firefighters making as much progress as they can before this next round of winds set in?

HALL: They -- I believe that they have. And -- and I -- we have world class firefighters here, they're very well trained. They know what they're doing. And -- and they take even the slightest bit in conditions to -- to really make efforts on -- on suppressing these fires. So I've watched them do this several times throughout my career and -- and my career here spans about 20 years. So I've watched them many, many times do this.

I will say something about this event just to add, you know, this is a more easterly event. So it has a higher potential to -- to really affect the -- the more the Ventura County areas. The -- those areas have been un -- unscathed at this point. That's the county to the northwest of Los Angeles County. But this could still, these -- these fire weather conditions can still affect the Palisades and Eaton Fire as well and the re -- and the remaining fires burning across L.A. County.

SANDOVAL: You have -- you -- you mentioned some of those ingredients. You have the wind, you have dry environments, you have the dry vegetation, perhaps even decades worth as we've heard from some of the residents on the ground, Todd, that trifecta that has really been working firefighters. Where is there any potential or is there any potential for improvement long term? Do you see even a break in that dry weather pattern?

HALL: We do see a little bit. So right now we're what we call an offshore flow pattern, that's where the flow go -- the flow starts in the desert and goes towards the coast. We see a return of onshore flow, which is flow from the -- from the coast to the deserts which brings in Pacific moisture late in the week. So we -- we will see fire weather conditions dramatically improve hopefully.

But as far as -- as far as rain, there's something lurking towards somewhere between the 18th and 23rd of January. We're continuing to look at that as a potential to bring some -- some beneficial rain to these fires. Just an inch of rain will do -- will do a lot for putting out these fires across the area.

SANDOVAL: Rain cannot come soon enough, especially those regions in California that have barely seen any me -- anything measurable from up above. And -- and in terms of considering the wind warnings and the eventual fires that broke out. Keeping all that in mind, Todd, what is your message tonight for people who may be living in untouched but fire prone regions? You mentioned Ventura County is particularly vulnerable this time around.

HALL: The state of California and Cal Fire has the Ready Set Go Program. You should be, you know, those that are -- that are familiar with -- with the fire weather season in California, they should -- they should already be in the set stage. They should be ready to go on a moment's notice. They should have those pa -- those important documents, family photos and -- and family memoirs kind of together and -- and -- and know what they're going to take in the event that something does -- does happen.

And then we're just advising people when they tell you to go, please go. I mean these -- these fires, all it takes is just a slight change in wind direction and certain canyons will start to -- will start to actually blow and -- and we'll see almost hurricane force winds in some of these canyons with the Santa Ana winds. So it's important to -- to really heed the advice of -- of local officials and when they tell you to leave, please leave.

I mean, that -- this is -- this is your life that you're -- that you're jeopardizing here. We have -- like -- like I said earlier in the interview, we have some of the best trained firefighters and I -- I really put my faith and -- and -- that they're going to be able to save as many homes as possible.

SANDOVAL: And you want those best trained firefighters focusing on preserving property and not necessarily having to go out of their way to save people and homes who decided not to evacuate when those orders came in. We cannot thank you enough, Todd Hall, for -- for your expertise right now. You're going to be extremely busy the next 24 to 48 hours. And -- and we're all, along with you, I'm sure, hoping for the best.

[01:10:21]

HALL: Thank you.

SANDOVAL: Thank you, Todd.

Well, so many people forced to flee their homes now facing another frustration. They're unable to return to their neighborhoods to check properties, because it's simply too dangerous, as you can imagine. But fire officials say that they are doing all that they can to keep people safe under difficult circumstances.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID ACUNA, BATTALION CHIEF & PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, CAL FIRE: Part of the reason that the sheriff's office is keeping people out is because, not only because of the active fire, but also because there are exposed gas lines, there's exposed electrical lines, which we do not know if they're de energized. There are building collapses. And then on top of all of that, every little bit of that ash that's out there is toxic ash because it's made from houses.

Now, as far as what we're looking forward, we're concerned about this wind event. And every time that we had this wind come in on Tuesday at 60 to 100 miles per hour and it slows down now, well, that just means that the wind from the ocean is coming in and pushing the fire the other direction. As we rotate back to an east wind here later this week or early this week, it's going to cause more problems, which is why containment is going so slow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: The situation simply too dangerous for so many people to return to their neighborhoods. And that includes Ryan Pearson. He is in Mission Viejo, California. He's an Altadena resident whose home and neighborhood were destroyed. Ryan, thank you for joining us.

RYAN PEARSON, ALTADENA, CALIFORNIA RESIDENT: Hey, thanks for having me.

SANDOVAL: Can you tell us what you remember about what took place, what, five days ago?

PEARSON: I got home around 6:00, 6:30 that night and had seen some of the orange haze coming through the smoke on my way home and got a text from a friend saying that there was another fire in Altadena. I went out and shot video of it from the -- the intersection of Lake and Altadena Drive. And it was growing even as I watched it for probably 10 minutes. And the wind was whipping around stronger than we've ever felt it with the Santa Anas. So went back home and told my wife we needed to pack up and were out of the house by 9:00.

I texted a neighbor who knows all of our neighbors and asked if anybody needed help. And went over and helped a disabled neighbor who needed help getting from his wheelchair into the car and pointed him in the right direction. And they were taking him to the VA hospital. And we stayed with a family friend in -- in Los Angeles after that.

SANDOVAL: Ryan, as you were describing that, we're sharing with our viewers some of the photos that you snapped that night, those ominous plumes of smoke that -- that you see off on the horizon. It is absolutely frightening. I -- I want you to tell me a little bit about what it's been the last several days. You are among the few people who've been able to return to see what remains, which in your case is, I -- I understand, barely anything at all. What -- what did you find when you returned to -- to your property?

PEARSON: I was able to go back the day of the fire in the afternoon. I tried to drive up sort of, I think, while -- while things were burning, and the smoke was too thick and the flames were all around on -- on Marengo as I started heading up the hill. So did a U turn and went back about four or five hours later. And pretty much all the houses on our street were destroyed. And then at our home, our -- our ping pong table in the backyard sort of miraculously is still standing. So I've been telling people that when -- when the neighbor -- neighbors are -- are safe to go back, we can all play a game of ping pong together in the backyard.

SANDOVAL: Tell me about your home. The -- the way I understand it, you and your wife, I believe, poured your hearts into this place. This is -- it took a lot to -- to -- to make that decision to leave it behind.

PEARSON: It didn't take a lot to make the decision to leave it behind. We -- we knew -- I knew we had to go, but it is painful. And -- and for my wife especially, we had an inheritance from her father's death and spent money from that on modernizing the home and doing -- doing a big remodel and -- and renovation that we completed last year. And it was just exactly how my wife wanted it. And -- and I loved it, too.

[01:15:01]

And so, yes, it -- it makes it especially painful to have worked so hard on it and -- and put so much -- so much energy into it. And she's -- she's very creative and put a lot of sort of her creative spirit into it as a 1958 sort of mid-century home with Clarissa (ph) windows and hardwood floors. And we -- we really loved the -- the architecture of it and -- and appreciated all of our neighbors. And yes.

SANDOVAL: I read you were able to modernize it with your wife but at the same time keep that mid-century touch character that -- that house had. If you can now perhaps share a message with people, especially in Ventura County, we heard -- we had a meteorologist from the National Weather Service on just a few moments ago, not sure if you heard, but they are particularly concerned about what these next Santa Ana winds, what threat they pose. So your message to people who live in areas that have been spared thus far but live in -- in -- in fire prone areas.

PEARSON: I mean the thing is our -- our street at least was not exactly even a fire prone area. And so, but, you know, I've already been telling many people that have reached out to us with -- with concern who -- who live elsewhere in L.A. that just, you know, pack up as early as you can and pack up more than you think you should because we're, you know, we're kind of going back over those, you know, that like about an hour that we packed and going, oh, if we just grab -- grab that and we have -- if we had just grabbed that.

And so that -- that's my main message is just, you know, be ready and obviously heed the warnings and pay attention to what's going on around you. I think some people sort of pay too much attention to some of the -- the evacuation orders without sort of going to look themselves like, I'm kind of -- like if you can -- if you can feel the smoke, if you can feel -- if you can see the smoke, if you can smell the smoke and you have a sense that the fire is somewhere near you within three to five miles, it's worth -- it's worth leaving, I think.

SANDOVAL: Well, I'm glad you shared that. I think it's one thing to hear from officials telling people get out, but when you hear directly from somebody who had to give up everything for the sake of surviving along with the rest of your family, I think that will hopefully resonate. So thank you so much for sharing that -- that advice, Ryan. My best to you and -- and your wife.

PEARSON: Thanks so much.

SANDOVAL: Thank you.

Well, as firefighters continue battling the wildfire surrounding L.A., CNN speaks one-on-one with California's governor. Ahead, his message to people who've lost their homes and have no insurance.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[01:21:33]

TASIA CALLUM, LOST HER HOME IN ALTADENA: It's like unreal. It was like literally a nightmare. I was hoping that their -- our house would still be standing. And just to pull up to see our house just fully engulfed in flames is heartbreaking. You know, all the work we put in and just gone. But it was scary. Like initially seeing the flames on top of the mountain and then for as we left the flames were completely had come all the way down the mountain by that time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: This family's heartbreak is just one of the many tragic stories and accounts of loss and destruction from the California wildfires. The two largest fires burning right now, the Eaton and Palisades Fires they have burned nearly 38,000 acres in the past few days. Fire officials say that they are among some of the most destructive in California state history and have together destroyed more than 12,000 structures.

The Eaton Fire is currently at 27 percent containment, proven to be deadly. And officials say the Palisades Fire, that one is just 13 percent contained. And as firefighters continue their critical work, they'll be facing more strong winds in the days ahead with some areas expecting gusts as high as 60 miles per hour, very similar to was experienced last week.

And as Southern California grapples with this disaster, U.S. Vice President-elect J.D. Vance is criticizing the state's leadership. Here he is speaking with "Fox News" on Sunday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT: We have to do a better job. We need comp -- competent, good governance. Now, that doesn't mean you can't criticize the governor of California for I think some very bad decisions over a very long period of time. I mean, some of these reservoirs have been dry for 15, 20 years. The fire hydrants are being reported as going dry while the firefighters are trying to put out these fires. There is a serious lack of competent governance in California. And I think it's part of the reason why these fires have gotten so bad. We need to do a better job at both the state and federal level.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And as Vance questions California's competence and its governor, CNN's Kyung Lah spoke directly with the state's governor. Gavin Newsom explained the evolving scope and scale of wildfire damage.

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The governor of California, while overseeing this fire emergency in Los Angeles County for the first time, is now laying out some concrete timeline of when he wants this rebuilding to begin, saying that he wants assessments of all of the losses done within two weeks and that's to get insurance and FEMA rolling.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAH: So what is this assessment? Help -- help explain why we need this and -- and what this means for, you know, that homeowner.

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): You got through the state fire marshal, Cal Fire working with county partners. Teams of two go in. They will go into a property like this, they'll assess and they will photograph, and then they will post online, after it's verified, about a 12 hour process. And people can go on a website. They don't have to physically be here to know if their property is damaged. And that will then begin the process for the property owner on insurance and getting us to a point where we can start the rebuild process.

LAH: How quickly do you anticipate being able to do that?

NEWSOM: Well, as I said, I want all the inspections done within 14 days, every single structure that's been impacted by these fires. So that's --

LAH: That's thousands of homes.

[01:25:00]

NEWSOM: Thousands of homes. And so that's the mandate. Whatever resources they need, we said we're going to provide it. And then we're looking right now at debris removal. And you're looking at herculean effort. Well, you tell the debris -- debris is gone. And -- and -- and we -- I said we want nine months is -- 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. And then obviously you're going to learn from this process.

LAH: And then what about insurance? I mean, we know, I mean we live here. Your -- your house is insured? My house is insured.

NEWSOM: Yes. Mine is -- the one I -- I have, my dad's house is -- is under the fair plan, the state's plan. LAH: And it's very expensive.

NEWSOM: Very expensive. And it's -- it's not great coverage.

LAH: Right. So what do you tell people?

NEWSOM: We -- we tell them that we are not only assessing all of that in real time and hired an independent group to look to stress test not just the insurance market but the utility market in California as well. We've been making a lot of reforms in our insurance market and we'll need to make subsequent reforms.

LAH: Something that's particularly pressing for this community you're standing in is lack of insurance. A lot of people inherited homes or working class.

NEWSOM: Yes.

LAH: What do you -- what about people who didn't have insurance?

NEWSOM: That's, I mean, and that's going to be the most difficult and challenging thing. And that's where FEMA comes in. That's where the SBA comes in. That's where the state of California comes in, that's where the federal government comes in, that's where philanthropy comes in. People have lost their lives, they've lost their businesses, they've lost hope. And we've got to restore the hope and then restore their lives and businesses and opportunities.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAH: The governor has signed a slew of executive orders, not just on the assessments to speed that along, but also on loosening some of the environmental regulations to get some of this building done as quickly as possible.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Altadena, California.

SANDOVAL: When we return, the growing health concerns linked to wildfire smoke that's been filling the air over Southern California for days. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:30:56]

SANDOVAL: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. And I'm Polo Sandoval in New York.

At least 24 people are confirmed dead from the Los Angeles wildfires. And the sheriff says dozens and dozens of people have been reported missing and the concern that that number is likely to rise.

The situation could be at least growing even more dangerous. Red flag warnings have been issued for parts of Ventura and Los Angeles Counties as the Santa Ana winds are expected to peak on Tuesday morning through Wednesday afternoon. The Eaton and Palisades fires have burned nearly 40,000 acres since

Tuesday. One state official says they are likely to at least -- at least they are likely the second and fourth most destructive fires in California history.

And also then there's this. Health officials are raising concerns about the air quality in L.A. County. The fires have released hazardous smoke that poses several short- and long-term health effects, and that led the county to declare a local health emergency on Friday after several days of intense fire and wind.

Experts say toxins from the smoke can cause more serious problems in the future. That's especially true for children, the elderly, pregnant women and people with respiratory or heart or immune system issues.

Some of the symptoms from the wildfire smoke include burning eyes, headaches, also breathing difficulties. Experts cautioning residents to stay indoors if possible and also to wear filtration masks while outside.

Let's go ahead and bring in now Dr. Debra Hendrickson joining us now. She's the author of "The Air They Breathe", a book on climate change's impacts on children.

Dr. Hendrickson, thank you for joining us tonight.

DR. DEBRA HENDRICKSON, PEDIATRICIAN, AUTHOR, "THE AIR THEY BREATHE": Thank you for having me.

SANDOVAL: Doctor, help me draw a distinction between, let's say, a woodland fire, burning wood, vegetation versus a fire that sweeps through an urban region like what we've seen for days now. How much more toxic is that?

DR. HENDRICKSON: Yes, well, obviously the urban fires, which are consuming homes, garages filled with paint and chemicals, kitchens, cars, tires are going to contain a lot of chemical compounds, heavy metals and toxins that are very dangerous.

But even forest fires have been found through sampling of, you know, aircraft that have flown through them and sampled them can contain many different chemical compounds that are not good for us. Dangerous gases like ozone and carbon monoxide.

And all fires contain very high levels of fine and ultrafine particulates, which are the remnants of the microscopic soot and droplet's that are the remnants of what's been burned in the fire.

SANDOVAL: One of the reasons why I'm thrilled that we have you on, Doctor, is, is we've talked about the winds that are in the forecast for the next 24 to 48 hours and that and the potential to fan the flames start new fires.

But from your perspective and on the particulate matter that is microscopic, could these winds, these this next round of Santa Ana winds, could that potentially spread some of these toxins even farther?

DR. HENDRICKSON: Yes. Well look, I live in an area that gets a lot of wildfire smoke. I'm in Reno, which is about ten miles from the California border. And we've had multiple major smoke events here over the last ten years as the fires have gotten worse because of climate change.

And what we see is, you know, the wind can make a big difference in whether a day is terrible or better, you know, and because it shifts the smoke plume in widely over a bigger area.

So if its blowing in your direction, if the fire smoke is being blown directly into your community, yes you're going to have much worse air quality and have to take a lot more precautions in that case.

And especially with children, as you mentioned, and the elderly and other people who have chronic illness.

[01:34:48]

SANDOVAL: Based on your research, Doctor, any time you see these municipalities and their particulate matter levels go up, either because of pollution or, as we're seeing right now in California, with fires, is there a correlation with an increase in people suffering non-accidental deaths, especially those who report respiratory illness, chronic heart disease? Can we expect that potentially for the affected region?

DR. HENDRICKSON: Yes. What you tend to see is, you know, all of us experience irritated eyes, throats, lungs, but you also see all these types of non-accidental illnesses, you know, chronic illnesses increase. And the non-accidental death rate increases as the particulate level rises in a city.

So we see more cardiovascular disease, more heart attacks and strokes, more respiratory problems like asthma and COPD and things like kidney disease and diabetes are exacerbated by these particulates.

And that's because they are so tiny that they can pass through the lungs into the bloodstream and travel to every organ of the body. And they're very, very inflammatory.

So these deaths and illnesses don't often get attributed to them. But when you look at a city that's been exposed, you see these large increases in all these illnesses when the particulate level has risen.

SANDOVAL: For people who are working right now in the devastation, of course, firefighters do have special gear to protect them, but even they should be included in this. What should they be on the lookout for any potential symptoms, especially those who have spent not hours, but days right now in the affected region?

DR. HENDRICKSON: Yes. Well, obviously they need to wear their protective gear as much as possible. And you know, and you know, this goes for people even visiting these neighborhoods and going into these areas. You'll sometimes see here when there's a lot of smoke, I'll see kids out on the street riding their bike. And people really don't appreciate how dangerous smoke is and air pollution is.

So for the firefighters, I would say, you know, if they're feeling dizzy, lightheaded, having a lot of irritated airway and coughing, which I think goes with the job. I'm sure all of them have experienced it. But if it's really getting severe, they need to try to get away from it for a while and breathe clean air and try to give themselves some time to recover if possible.

SANDOVAL: And what about just regular folks, Doctor? Not only those who plan to go into the affected region when officials allow them to, but also those who live perhaps outside but getting some of that smoke?

DR. HENDRICKSON: Yes. I mean, I think there's a number of things that everyone should do. You should try to have the highest quality air filter on your HVAC system that you can, that your system is designed to hold. If you have a freestanding air filter, an air purifier, those can be very helpful, especially when combined with a freestanding air quality monitor inside the house that tells you how well you're doing.

You can take a damp rolled up towel and put it under doors, or even sometimes here I've seen families tape around windows to keep the smoke from coming in.

If you weatherize your home before smoke hits that, that's another way to prevent the smoke from getting into your house. If you have to go outside, wear an N95 mask, or if you have a baby who's too small to wear a mask, you can put a damp baby blanket over their car seat. Just try to be sure it doesn't come in contact with their face.

And I recommend that everybody get an AQI app for their phone. That's the Air Quality Index app that will tell you, you know, what zone the air is in and whether it's safe to go outside or not. Children should not be outside if it's -- if the AQI is over 100, if they have a chronic illness like asthma or, you know, or diabetes or something else that impairs them in some way, usually we try to keep them in if it's between 50 and 100.

And you can, you know, parents often will check here before a school day to see, you know, what the level is just to make sure their kids are protected.

SANDOVAL: More advice for parents in your book, "The Air They Breathe". Dr. Debra Hendrickson, thank you so much for offering all this very valuable advice for not just parents, but for everybody else who is dealing with this right now. Take care.

DR. HENDRICKSON: Yes. Thank you. You too.

SANDOVAL: Well, still to come here in the CNN NEWSROOM, animal rescue groups working around-the-clock right now to save pets and other animals from the southern California wildfires.

We will hear from an organization that's evacuated dozens of horses. That's coming up.

[01:39:11]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: You do have four big dogs. I understand you managed to get them all out.

CARMEN HUGO, LOST HOME IN THE EATON FIRE: Yes, I have four. Two big dogs. One is a senior, 13 years old, can hardly walk, and then the other dogs and the two rescues.

And I didn't see myself trying to get them all in the car.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: They're part of their family. Southern California residents are doing whatever they can to save their pets from the wildfires. Animal facilities and other rescue organizations they are trying to help right now. They're caring for dogs, cats, and some of the bigger animals right now that have been affected by the disaster.

I'm joined now by Vera Abdallah. She is the director of Love This Horse, Equine Rescue. Vera, thank you so much for joining us. We're so glad that you're doing ok. And certainly some of your unexpected guests, I take it as well, are doing well.

VERA V-ABDALLAH, DIRECTOR, LOVE THIS HORSE EQUINE RESCUE: Thank you. Yes, thank you very much. Yes, they're doing good.

SANDOVAL: So, about your rescue, Vera, is that in the affected region or are you fortunate enough to be at least somewhat far from that, so that you can carry out your rescue operations?

V-ABDALLAH: Yes. We're about 60 miles north of Altadena, so we're in the Antelope Valley area, so 60 miles north of Altadena.

So we're not directly affected by the fires, but on Tuesday evening, I saw the fire just exploding down there. I saw it, you know, go from 10 acres to 20, growing exponentially to 50, 100, 200 acres. So my daughter and I got our trailers ready and we went down into the Altadena area.

[01:44:48]

We belong to a loosely-knit group of horse rescue people that will go into fires with their trailers and trucks. And we have basically our dispatch that's manned by a volunteer. And he scours all the social media sites, and he will also receive phone calls people have for his number.

And then he basically dispatches us, just like you would have an emergency dispatch with the police or the fire department. And, you know, he dispatches us to different locations to evacuate horses.

SANDOVAL: That is fascinating and amazing. So essentially this is a network of people such as yourself with a great love for horses, that you are activated because fires are such a way of life or such an ongoing threat, persistent threat, I should say.

V-ABDALLAH: Yes and yes. And gosh, I want to say it was about 2016, the Los Angeles County Fire Department did a class for certification for large animal rescue in emergency situations specifically for horses. And I took the course and got certified.

And so what happens whenever there's a fire, we go out. I mean, I've worked the Thomas fire, you know, in Santa Barbara a few years back. And, you know, we had a fire here at the ranch this summer and, you know, within a short period of time, we have trucks and trailers standing by to evacuate. So we help each other.

SANDOVAL: So tell me about that night there. You jump in your vehicle, you start that potential 60-minute drive down to the fire zone, not knowing what you would find. What did you find?

V-ABDALLAH: Well, the first call, and it was my daughter and I, we went. She's 18 years old and she's an amazing horse handler. And we went down, the first call we went on was the Kaiser Permanente Hospital parking lot, where some women had dragged, you know, grabbed their horses and were waiting for us in the parking lot of the hospital.

We arrived there and there were enough trailers there to take these horses to safety. And then we started working the next 21 hours, nonstop pretty much, just going from one evacuation call to the next.

We would get the horses, you know, up to six horses into the trailer. Sometimes it was two very large horses into the trailer. And we, brought them to the evacuation facilities, which in this case, we brought all the horses to the Pomona Fairplex.

And then once we dropped off the horses, we would go to the next call that we were assigned to. And we did that for the first 24 hours.

(CROSSTALKING)

SANDOVAL: Essentially shuttling horses from --

(CROSSTALKING)

SANDOVAL: How many evacuated horses do you currently have in your stables, and are any of them injured?

V-ABDALLAH: We don't here at our rescue ranch. We don't have any horses. We took them straight to, you know, there's Hansen Dam, the Los Angeles Equestrian Center, or Pomona Fairplex.

SANDOVAL: Right.

V-ABDALLAH: So we took them straight to those facilities.

SANDOVAL: Vera Abdallah, those horses are very lucky to have you and your daughter for doing what you did last night. And I can only imagine that you're charging up your phone and getting ready for another round of potential calls with those winds getting ready to kick up again this week.

V-ABDALLAH: Yes.

Yes, hopefully we're keeping our fingers crossed, right, we don't. The other thing we're doing is we're giving -- our rescue is receiving cash donations, and we're giving out $500 grants to horse owners who've had their boarding stables burned down.

So because they have to find new facilities, they can be temporarily in those evacuation facilities.

But now they have homeless horses, right? And they have to find their own, their next boarding stable. And, you know, they have just -- they just paid for their board. So it's like basically like you pay rent, right? And then the boarding stables burned down. So we are assisting with that.

SANDOVAL: Absolutely. Recovery critical for people and certainly their horses as well.

Again, Vera, thank you so much. Our best to you and all of your efforts.

V-ABDALLAH: You're very welcome. Thank you.

SANDOVAL: Stick around. We'll be right back with more.

[01:49:08]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANDOVAL: Welcome back.

Firefighters are bracing for another round of intense Santa Ana winds as massive wildfires continue burning across southern California. The death toll, now up to 24 people. Officials say that the fire threat is very high, with wind speeds predicted to keep rising through Wednesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID ACUNA, BATTALION CHIEF, CALFIRE: 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: The threat is there, more than 105,000 people. They are still under evacuation orders, not likely to make it back to where their homes once were for a long time.

Crews have managed to control some smaller fires, which has freed up resources to focus on the major ones that are still burning. The Hurst fire, for example, that's at 89 percent, contained; the Eaton fire, that's 27 percent contained. But the largest one of the biggest threats that Palisades fire just 13 percent containment days later.

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, residents are starting to want to go home to pick up their 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.

[01:54:52]

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

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

(CROSSTALKING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're not allowing -- they're not allowing anybody. I tried yesterday. I 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: I agree. I agree. You know, 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 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.

Julia Vargas Jones, CNN -- Pacific Palisades.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Days later and those aerial images are just shocking.

Thank you for watching tonight. I'm Polo Sandoval.

CNN NEWSROOM and the coverage continues with Rosemary Church.

[01:56:32]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)