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Return of Gusty Winds Could Complicate Los Angeles Wildfire Fight; LA Homeowner Coming to Grips with Scope of Tragedy; One-on-One with California Gov. Gavin Newsom; Trump Makes False Claims About FEMA, California Water Policy. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired January 13, 2025 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from the U.S. and around the world, I'm Max Foster.

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christina Macfarlane, it's Monday January 13th, 9 a.m. here in London, 1 a.m. in Los Angeles County, California, where firefighters are working tirelessly to tackle the ongoing wildfires as they brace for the return of gusty winds that could complicate those efforts.

FOSTER: Yes, crews have made progress over the last weekend but there's now a fear that strong winds will return, expected to pick up today and last through to Wednesday and they could undo that work and spark new fires if embers reach dry areas once again.

MACFARLANE: Well right now the smallest of three fires currently burning, the Hurst Fire is mostly contained at 89 percent, the Eaton Fire which has devastated the Altadena area is at 27 percent but the largest one, the Palisades Fire is only 13 percent contained with more than 23,000 acres burned. Here's one fire official describing what crews there 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)

FOSTER: The death toll climbing to at least 24 with dozens more missing. Governor Gavin Newsom says he'll deploy more National Guard members to Los Angeles, bringing the total number to about 2,500. He also says mandatory evacuation orders have been lifted for all fires except the Palisades and Eaton Fires and we've learned the LA school district is set to reopen all but nine schools in the hours ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALBERTO M. CARVALHO, SUPERINTENDENT, LOS ANGELES UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT: We have made the decision to reopen all schools and all offices tomorrow January 13th at the regular time and hour of operation. However we will reopen all sites based on an inclement weather protocol. What that means is that outdoor activity shall be restricted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well amid the devastation and outpouring of love and support, a sea of donations transformed the horse racing track in Santa Anita Park into a grassroots donation center. Hundreds of wildfire evacuees and volunteers gathered for free food, water and other resources.

FOSTER: Others affected by the fires lined up for assistance at a wildfire recovery center. One woman described the emotions that she's been dealing with.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lots of tears, anger, we're going through the stages of grief, there's no doubt about it. I think I finally went from denial into anger last night, but this is a challenge that I know we'll get through it. We've gotten through challenges before, this just feels like the biggest thing that's ever happened to us, but we will get through it.

We just have to take every step and standing in this line is one of those steps.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well CNN's Natasha Chen is following developments for us from Los Angeles.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATASHA CHEN, CNN U.S. NATIONAL 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 non-stop 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 home still standing there cannot try to come back in or discuss that with an escort of 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.

[04:05:03]

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 LA water system is prepared.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Well earlier CNN spoke with Ryan Pearson. He's an Altadena resident whose home and neighborhood was destroyed. He shared some advice for those who may be in the path of wildfires this week.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN PEARSON, ALTADENA, CALIFORNIA RESIDENT: I've already been telling many people that have reached out to us with concern who live elsewhere in LA 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 that and if we had just grabbed that and so 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 evacuation orders without sort of going to look themselves. Like I'm kind of like 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. Pretty much all the houses on our street were destroyed and then at our home our ping-pong table in the backyard sort of miraculously is still standing so I've been telling people that when the neighbors are safe to go back we can all play a game of ping-pong together in the backyard.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Seeing the positive there. Thousands of Los Angeles residents are still under evacuation orders.

MACFARLANE: The Los Angeles County Fire Chief says if conditions improve authorities will start letting people return home on Thursday. CNN's Julia Vargas Jones has more on what lies ahead for those devastated communities.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On the sixth day of the Palisades fires 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 McDonnell 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 so I can ride my bike up really quickly and check my properties.

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

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I go anyway. I tried yesterday I've tried a couple days ago nothing.

JONES: Their argument is that it's still the fire's still burning, that 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, you know, yeah, save lives before anything else. I understand.

JONES: But you're frustrated.

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

JONES: That frustration that you hear in his voice there that's been echoed by so many other people. And we also had the opportunity 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 community.

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 certain necessary permitting from 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)

FOSTER: People in the area victims of mother nature really. Joining us now from Southern California is Todd Hall, a senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service. You can look ahead to what it's to expect this week. Thank you so much for joining us. We are seeing the winds whip up again and the direction of those winds is really vital here for the firefighters. What do you expect to happen?

TODD HALL, SENIOR METEOROLOGIST, NOAA/NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE: Yes, we are going to see another round of Santa Ana winds developing on Monday or later today into Tuesday. And we are looking at an extended period of critical fire weather conditions through at least Wednesday or Thursday depending on the areas in Southern California you are living in.

[04:10:00]

But in general, we wish we had better news at this point, but we are still in this. And the good news is that this has the potential to be less strong than last week's event, so there is some good news there. But we're -- you know this one's a little -- this particular round of Santa Ana winds is a little bit more challenging because the modeling hasn't exactly been -- the numerical modeling we use and some of the projections we use haven't been as good at giving us a good idea of what's going to happen.

MACFARLANE: Todd, we were hearing on reading there that one of the fires, the Palisades fire, is still only 13 percent contained. We know the firefighters, what they desperately need is a break in the wind in order to try and, you know, affect that containment. Do you have any idea as to whether there will be breaks forthcoming this week and indeed rain as well?

I mean, we were just seeing a bit of rain there on the forecast. I mean, is there any good news?

HALL: We do typically get a diurnal break in the winds during the afternoon hours. That tends to -- you know, today is the exception to that, but typically our Santa Ana winds, we typically have a break in the afternoon hours. But again, we're -- there's still a -- you know, the good news is right now the -- you know, we're expecting an onshore flow pattern to resume or reestablish across Southern California.

That would be flow from the ocean to the desert, which we don't have right now. That will bring in some Pacific moisture, and that will happen for later this week. There still is an outside chance.

We're looking at a lot of our model solutions and our ensemble forecasts that we use, and we're looking at the potential for some rain, which could be -- could amount to some rain for the Los Angeles County area somewhere between the 18th and the 23rd at this point.

So it's still -- we're still monitoring that, but as we all know, doing this for almost 20 years and being a part of the Montecito debris flow event on January 19th -- January -- I'm sorry about that. The debris flow event on January 9th, 2018 in near Montecito, California, we know that sometimes the deadliest conditions actually happen with the rain after the fires.

And so that's why we need to be cautious. We've got to hope that we don't get a lot of rain all at once, but we'll be monitoring that closely as we move forward over the next couple of months.

MACFARLANE: Todd, so hard to forecast this with these winds we know that are so erratic, but we appreciate you giving us the latest there. Thank you, and fingers crossed.

And you can help those impacted by the devastating fires in California. Visit cnn.com/impact for information on vetted organizations.

FOSTER: Many people are left with nothing as wildfires continue to engulf LA County. CNN spoke with -- well, spoke one-on-one with California's governor, as you saw earlier, about the growing destruction ahead. His message to people who've lost their homes and have no insurance.

MACFARLANE: And in Washington, Donald Trump's cabinet picks are about to face a Senate grilling. We'll get some perspective on the partisan fireworks coming up on Capitol Hill.

FOSTER: Also ahead, a Hindu festival begins in India, the world's largest religious gathering, which is expected to draw an astounding 400 million people.

MACFARLANE: Only in India.

[04:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Throughout the wildfire areas around Los Angeles, officials are bracing for more difficult days ahead. But the LA County Fire Chief insists the water system is ready to fight the fires.

MACFARLANE: At a news conference on Sunday, Chief Anthony Marrone said 70 water transport trucks requested by CAL FIRE have arrived. They can help replenish water supplies in the fire engines on the front lines.

FOSTER: This comes as state and local leaders face backlash over apparent water management issues. Some residents have said they were forced to try fighting the flames with hoses and buckets of water, especially as hydrants began to run dry.

MACFARLANE: And as questions swirl over California's handling of strained resources, CNN's Kyung Lah spoke directly with the state's governor. During their conversation, Gavin Newsom explained the evolving scope and scale of wildfire damage.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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.

LAH: So what is this assessment? Help explain why we need this and what this means for that homeowner?

GAVIN NEWSOM, (D) CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR: You got through the state fire marshal, CAL FIRE, working with county partners, teams of two go in, they will go in 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: So that's thousands of homes.

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, a year until the debris is gone. And as I said, 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.

And then, obviously, you're going to learn from this process.

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

NEWSOM: Yes. The one I have, my dad's house, is under the FAIR plan, the state's plan.

LAH: And it's very expensive.

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

LAH: Right, right.

[04:20:00]

So what do you tell people?

NEWSOM: We tell them that we are not only assessing all of that in real time, and have 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 were working class. What about people who didn't have insurance?

NEWSOM: 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. It'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.

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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: The Los Angeles Police Department arresting looters across LA County. Authorities say looting is becoming an issue within mandatory evacuation zones, with some trespassers impersonating firefighters even.

MACFARLANE: The teams of undercover federal and local law enforcement officers are patrolling evacuation areas to stop looters and illegal drones. California's attorney general says those breaking the law will be prosecuted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROB BONTA, CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: The rule of law is in full effect. We are cracking down on those who violate the law, whether you are an imposter for a firefighter to get into a disaster area to get access to steal things. If you're otherwise looting, if you're involved in scams, if you're price gouging and raising housing prices higher than they should be, which is only 10 percent more than it was before the state, the declaration of emergency, whatever it may be, you know, flying a drone. Follow the law, be helpful, be part of one California where we're going to lock arms and help one another and lift each other up. Don't look for opportunities to be predatory, to victimize and exploit people who are suffering.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well, 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 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)

FOSTER: Donald Trump sounding a similar tune, taking swipes at the governor, but also making false claims about disaster agency FEMA. CNN's Daniel Dale has a fact check.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANIEL DALE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: I showed an expert on California water policy, one of President-elect Trump's social media posts, bashing California Governor Newsom this week. The expert responded that none of Trump's posts was true. I'll give you some examples of Trump's false claims.

He claimed that President Biden is leaving him, quote, no money in FEMA. In reality, FEMA told me its disaster relief fund has $27 billion in it, thanks to a funding bill Biden signed in December. Now, that might not be enough to cover the needs of this year's disasters, but it's certainly not no money like Trump claimed.

But Trump also claimed that Newsom refused to sign a so-called water restoration declaration that Trump said would have sent water from the north of the state down south. Actually, no such declaration even exists, as Newsom's press office pointed out.

Now, most importantly, Trump repeatedly tried to link the fire crisis and the firefighting challenges to Newsom's attempts to protect a fish species in the north of the state called the Delta Smelt, rather than do what Trump himself wants and have more of that water diverted southward to farmers in the Central Valley.

Two experts on California water policy told me this is absolute nonsense. There is no link whatsoever between northern environmental preservation and the fire situation.

The Central Valley is not LA. It's separated by a whole mountain range. Sending more water to those farms would have done nothing to stop fires from sparking in LA dry brushland.

And this is key. The experts noted there is no shortage of firefighting water in the Los Angeles area. As of the time that Trump made these comments midweek, area reservoirs were filled at or above historical levels. Now, you might have seen there were some dry hydrants this week in one part of LA, Pacific Palisades.

That's real, that's significant. But that issue had to do with logistical, technical problems related to water tanks in the mountainous community, not a lack of water in LA as a whole. Hydrants elsewhere in the city kept flowing.

[04:25:00]

Daniel Dale, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Federal Emergency Management Agency working to help more than 24,000 people now affected by the fires. You'll hear from the agency's director after the break.

MACFARLANE: Plus, U.S. President Joe Biden enters his final full week in office. We'll look at what he's accomplished and what he's not been able to get done.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: Hi, welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM. Here are some of the top stories we're following today. At least 24 people have died in the wildfires raging in Los Angeles County. And the sheriff's office says they have dozens of dozens of reports of missing people. To date, the total area burned is bigger than the city of Paris.

Well, Croatian President Zoran Milanovic has overwhelmingly won re- election for another five-year term on Sunday. He is a critic of the European Union and NATO. Milanovic is sometimes compared to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump for his combative style of communication with political opponents.

And the world's largest religious gathering began Monday as millions of Hindu devotees gathered on the banks of the Ganges in India to mark the beginning of Maha Kumbh Mela.

[04:30:00]

Over the next six weeks, 400 million people are expected to attend the festival on the riverbanks of the city of Prayagraj.

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