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L.A. Fires At Critical Stage As Strong Winds Set To Return; Officials Give Updates As L.A. Braces For Return Of Dangerous Winds. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired January 13, 2025 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Wow, look at that.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Look at that.

BROWN: Oh my gosh.

ACOSTA: Man, oh, man.

BROWN: Oh, nail biter.

ACOSTA: You know, it was -- it -- it was a great victory. Last second field goal kick. Of course, they had to bounce it off of the post there to win the game. The first time they've won a playoff game, Pam, since the mid-2000s.

BROWN: Wow.

ACOSTA: And I mean, that's nearly 7,000 days ago. As a loyal, I mean, I remember the -- the Washington Redskins winning those Super Bowls back in the 80s and the early 90s. We felt like we would just never win a playoff game ever again. And Jayden Daniels and the Commanders have done it. We're just so happy here in Washington. I'm driving around. I'm seeing people wearing Washington football gear -- gear. I feel like I'm on another planet. It's -- it's just something else to watch.

BROWN: You're like, wait a second. We actually want to play, doink, as you call it. I mean, I always like --

ACOSTA: Yeah.

BROWN: -- the kicker, I -- I -- I feel so bad for them because there's so much --

ACOSTA: Yeah.

BROWN: -- pressure on them usually. They don't get to play a lot.

ACOSTA: So much.

BROWN: But when they do, usually it's like all the pressure is on them, right. At first you're watching, you're like, uh-oh, is it going to go out? And then it just hits the post, goes right in.

ACOSTA: Yeah.

BROWN: And now the Commanders are making their way through.

ACOSTA: They got the lines next.

BROWN: We'll see.

ACOSTA: I'm a little worried, but I got the burgundy tie on just to celebrate today.

BROWN: You do. You're representing. You got the burgundy background even right now.

ACOSTA: Exactly.

BROWN: All right. Congrats on that win, Jim.

ACOSTA: Thank you.

BROWN: And good morning to everyone. You are live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Pamela Brown in Washington.

And we begin this hour with breaking news. Officials in Los Angeles are about to hold a briefing on the wildfires sweeping through the area. The toll is enormous and it is growing. Fires have burned more than 40,000 acres and destroyed more than 12,000 buildings, homes, businesses, even entire neighborhoods just wiped out.

At least 24 people have died and dozens are missing. And the next few days appear ominous. Fire officials say wind gusts could reach 70 miles an hour. So that means the progress made to contain 14 percent of the Palisades Fire and 33 percent of the Eaton Fire could be lost.

People are expected to be let back into some evacuation areas Thursday, but many will find there's just nothing left there. And check out this video. Wind gusts and flames are whipping up these fire tornadoes. Look at this. Fire crews are trying to determine what caused these fires. An electrical transmission tower or other power equipment are under scrutiny, among other scenarios.

So let's get the very latest here. CNN's Veronica Miracle joins us from Altadena, California. What are you seeing there on the ground, Veronica?

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pamela, as the sun comes up here, we are just getting a look at the incredible amount of devastation. Entire blocks, entire neighborhoods completely leveled. And what is so striking about this devastation is you -- you can see just right behind me, there's really nothing left. You can see outlines of the foundations of homes, chimneys, cars. That's pretty much it. Everything is all ash.

But then look across the street and this entire row of homes untouched. I mean, that's a wooden fence and so much. There's trees, there's all kinds of shrubs there that could have been lit up and definitely incinerated. And all of those homes could have been destroyed. That is how unpredictable these fires are. And all of those winds are.

In terms of the bigger picture scope, the devastation, including the Eaton Fire, the Hurst Fire, which is a little bit north of us, and then the Palisades Fire, all of those combined have burned the size, bigger than the size of Paris, if you can even imagine. But for people who are going to be returning here, they are going to find so much loss, entire communities that are going to have to be rebuilt.

And right now FEMA administrators telling CNN that it's going to take about six months to clean up all of this debris because there's toxic ash that is now seeping into the soil. All of that is going to have to be cleaned up and then likely the foundations of all of these homes are going to have to be removed. So if you can just imagine the level of cleanup that is going to be involved here.

Now, families have not been able to come back to this neighborhood. It has been very quiet. We've seen firefighters, investigators driving around. But other than that, all you can really hear is the sound of birds chirping. And that's because fire officials say it is too dangerous for families to be coming back to this right now to assess the damage, to see if their home has been lost, to see if there's anything that they can salvage or to see if their home is still standing. There's toxic ash. There are downed power lines. You can see some of the lines down here.

BROWN: And officials in L.A. are speaking right now, giving us the latest in the wildfires. Let's listen.

CHIEF ANTHONY MARRONE, LOS ANGELES COUNTY FIRE DEPT.: We gained no acreage yesterday, which is a very good thing. We know that over 7,000 structures are damaged or destroyed. And we have 3,408 firefighting personnel assigned to the incident, 26 percent of our damage inspections for dwellings have been completed. Impacted residents may visit recovery.lacounty.gov to view preliminary maps showing damage assessments.

[11:05:24]

Please note that the preliminary maps have been posted and are being updated daily. If there is not a color icon on your address, it means the building has not yet been inspected. Severe fire weather conditions will continue through Wednesday. Please be assured that all fire departments and all law enforcement agencies in the area will be prepared.

The anticipated winds combined with low humidities and low fuel moistures will keep the fire threat in all of Los Angeles County critical. I ask all Los Angeles County residents in wildfire prone areas to understand that the necessary public safety power shutoffs are important for our collective safety in preventing the next wildfire natural disaster.

I did want to dispel one rumor. The L.A. County Fire Department has never turned down any offers for mutual aid assistance and resources. Repopulation will not occur until all areas are safe.

Additionally, our C -- our CL-415 super scooper that was damaged because of a drone incursion is reportedly going to be flying tomorrow morning. It has been repaired and we're waiting for the FAA to give us approval to fly again.

Thank you to Board Chair Supervisor Kathryn Barger and Supervisor Lindsey Horvath for your unwavering leadership and continued support throughout this unprecedented disaster.

And finally, to all the Los Angeles county residents affected by this catastrophe, please be assured your firefighters continue to work towards full containment of these wildfires from the air and on the ground. We stand alongside each of you as you begin the repopulation of evacuated areas when safe and the rebuilding of your homes, your communities and your lives. Thank you.

CHIEF KRISTIN CROWLEY, LOS ANGELES FIRE DEPT.: Good morning everyone. Kristin Crowley, Los Angeles City Fire Department Fire Chief. Well, to start off with just a moment to share with everybody out there that's been impacted by these wildland fires that the entire LAFD family, sworn civilian, our city family, Mayor Bass, city leadership, everybody, our thoughts and hearts and prayers go out to you as we continue to push forward and mitigate this emergency. We understand the impacts and we're working and we'll continue to work very, very, very hard for everyone.

Another point I want to make is that also we are so very grateful for the firefighters and the first responders that have already arrived and continue to arrive in the Southern California region. We absolutely know that we cannot do this on our own. And we are tremendously appreciative of all of your continued support.

As the increasing wind event is upon us as we speak, the Los Angeles City Fire Department has maximized our resource capabilities and response capabilities. All available LAFD resources have been staffed. I have strategically pre-positioned engine strike teams and task forces which are dedicated to rapid response for any new fire that breaks out in the city.

In addition, I've directed the Fire Prevention Bureau to augment wildfire patrols in high hazard areas. The Palisades Fire, your LAFD remains committed to this fire and we have significant number of engines that have been dedicated to this fire.

The crews that are involved, we have crews from up and down the state, outside of the state, have made excellent, excellent work overnight mopping up flare ups and hotspots. Their primary focus last night was on the Mandeville Canyon area and this fire is now at 23,713 acres with 14 percent containment with 5,123 personnel assigned to the Palisades incident.

[11:10:13]

Firefighters will continue to work diligently throughout the day to increase containment and prevent further fire spread. Again, I want to focus our -- my comments on the amount of resources that are here in the Palisades from the first responders all the way up to our incident command teams. Again, we're going to keep working really, really hard for you.

Just a brief comment on the Hurst Fire. It's been held to 799 acres with 95 percent containment. Again, thank you to the community members that are out there for remaining vigilant. We are not in the clear. I want to make sure of that. We are not in the clear as of yet. And we must not let our guard down as we have right now, extreme fire behavior.

And we need to make sure that the community is staying updated with the most information, updated information as well. Follow all evacuation warnings and orders without delay and please, please stay safe.

I would now like to introduce our next speaker, and that is Sheriff Luna. Thank you.

SHERIFF ROBERT LUNA, LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: Robert Luna, Sheriff of Los Angeles County. Regarding our deployment, we still have well over a thousand of our Los Angeles county deputies out there working on 12 hour shifts. We have 172 California Highway Patrol officers. I'd like to thank the commissioner who was with me yesterday, Sean Duryee, for all of his assistance. I also want to thank Major General Beevers, I was with him as well, and he has fortunately been able to increase the amount of National Guard assistance that he is giving us to up to 600.

And he told me yesterday, if we need more, we can ask for more. And we are strategically looking at that, analyzing it, and will ask as needed. Evacuations we have approximately, and this is some good news because it's dropped, we have over 92,000 people who are under evacuation orders and approximately 89,000 people who are under evacuation warnings.

I want our community to know this and Chief Marrone did talk about this for a second. In every conversation we're having about evacuations, warnings, whether they're -- they're going to implement them or take or them away, the conversation about repopulation is on all of our minds. I know that we are attending, staff's attending community meetings, whether they be out in the Palisades Fire area in Malibu for us at L.A. County Sheriffs in the Altadena area, we are hearing our community loud and clear. And we want to get you in there as soon as possible.

But I want to reiterate what is holding us up, this is very important. We are still -- for the Altadena area, we are in the third day of grid searching. It is a very grim task. And we unfortunately, every day we're doing this, we're running across the remains of individual community members. That is not easy work. Very sad to report. And I believe that work is not only going to continue, but I believe we'll continue to find remains.

So please be patient with us. People are saying, I just want to go look at my house and I want to see what's left. We know that. But we have people literally looking for the remains of your neighbors. Please be patient with us. There's a lot of hazards in the area still. The area has not been rendered safe. Please be patient with us.

And then we have the potential of crime scenes. And I have -- I'm not saying that's what it is. I'm just saying we have to think ahead because we can't go back from that. So please be patient with us. The curfew is still in effect 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. for specifically the mandatory evacuation areas in both the Palisades impacted area and the Eaton Fire impacted areas. Those are subject to change depending on need one way or another.

We understand again that people want to go back, but it is dangerous to do so and we will not put anybody's safety at risk. I want to talk about arrest for the L.A. County Sheriff's area. Overnight, we had several other arrests. It brings it up to a total of 34 in our geographic area. We have 30 in the Eaton Fire area and we have four in the Palisades area.

[11:15:07]

Last night, specifically, again, for L.A. County Sheriff's jurisdiction, we arrested four. Two were for curfew violations. Two were arrested for one drone incident. To my knowledge, we have now had two specific drone incidents that have resulted in three arrests. So as I talk to our community, again, if you do not have business in the -- in the evacuation areas, do not go there, please. You're infringing upon the work that our first responders need to attend to.

And I do want to say, when I talk about these arrests, I want to clarify, not all of them are for burglary or looting or for curfew violations. But it is very important when I say stay out, we are arresting people who are not supposed to be there, who do not live there, who are in possession of narcotics. We've arrested several with guns. And yes, I'm going to tell you something. If we're -- if our deputies being very proactive in these areas, stopping people in a constitutional manner as always, making sure that they're supposed to be there and you have narcotics on you and you have a gun on you, in police work we call that a clue, something's wrong there. So that's why we're arresting people.

Our search and rescue missions up to the -- through the two days we have searched 1,874 properties in regards to deaths. And again, I want to clarify, this is for the Los Angeles county area of responsibility. We have confirmed 21 deaths, 16 in the Eaton Fire area and five in the Palisades area. And sadly, yes, unfortunately, I anticipate the number to go up.

Missing persons, we are actively have 23 active missing persons reported, 17 in the Eaton Fire area, six in the Malibu area. All of them are adults. Thank God there's no juveniles. But if you believe you have somebody who's missing, make sure you report that to us as soon as possible. For any updated information that anybody may have questions, very important questions regarding evacuation orders or warnings or any road closures, please -- please go to lacounty.gov/emergency. For assistance, the American Red Cross is doing an amazing job. Please contact -- please contact them. And again, for some of the negative things I talk about, there are some amazing stories of community members coming forward to donate items. It's very inspiring. For donations, go to Emergency Network Los Angeles.

And now it's my pleasure to introduce Assistant Chief Dominic Choi from the Los Angeles Police Department.

DOMINIC CHOI, ASSISTANT CHIEF, LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT: OK. Good morning. I want to start by just assuring everybody that our primary focus still remains the safety and well-being of our residents. These fires have caused significant disruptions, but we're -- but we are working tirelessly with our partners to protect lives, property and secure critical infrastructure.

So as of this morning, LAPD has in the city 266 officers deployed to the Palisades Fire. We also have support from our National Guard partners who have deployed 200 soldiers assigned to the incident. We're very grateful for their support.

We also have dedicated resources investigating our missing persons reported. So at this time, as of this morning, 6:00 a.m. we have a total of 26 people reported missing in the city of Los Angeles, 17 of those individuals have been located safely. Nine -- of the nine remaining, two most likely were found in the fires deceased, but they haven't been positively identified by a coroner's office yet. So those are still waiting to be identified.

One individual we believe is located safely in a shelter, but that person, we're waiting for confirmation on that. There are six that remain unaccounted for, and we're digi -- diligently trying to identify and locate these people. So in total, in the city of Los Angeles since Tuesday when these fires occurred, we have three fatalities. Again, two were found in the fires, and one was a burn victim that was transported earlier this week to a hospital. That person later passed away.

If you want to make a missing persons report, you can do so either in person or over the phone. You can call any one of our 21 geographic stations and make that report, or you can call our missing persons investigation unit directly. I'm going to give you the number. It's 213-996-1800 and select option three. That telephone is manned 24 hours a day currently.

[11:20:19]

As of this morning, the city of Los Angeles related to the fires has a total of 14 arrests. Three for curfew, one for impersonating a firefighter, one for possession of burglary tools, four for burglary, one for DUI, one for felony vandalism, and three for shoplifting.

As the sheriff just mentioned, it's not just for looting or burglary that you're going to jail or curfew. If you're in the area, you don't belong in the area, you will be stopped and questioned. And whatever crime your -- is being committed, you will be held accountable for that. So please stay away from these evacuation areas.

Regarding escorts, we talked about this a little bit yesterday, but we tried to put -- be compassionate and put together a team to escort residents to their homes to either retrieve small pets or their medication. But that line became exceedingly large and it was causing more problems than solutions. We have halted this escort service for the safety of everyone involved. Currently, we don't have any timeline of when we're going to open up that service, if at all. So please be patient with us. We know you are waiting.

If you are still waiting at any of these checkpoints to be left -- to -- to be let in or escorted, please do not wait there. You will not be let in or allowed to have an escort at this time.

Also, the reason -- another important reason for stopping these escorts is because we have search operations beginning. Over the next 48 hours, we'll be working alongside LAFD Search and Rescue, our ATF partners, as well as the L.A. County Coroner's Office throughout the burn areas, given -- giving priority to those people that are reported missing in these burn areas. From there, grid search will take place that could result in crime scene preservation and then recovery of remains.

We hope that the high volume of resources dedicated this -- to this effort will expedite the process. And as many of you know, the dry conditions and winds increasing, it's possible that evacuation orders may increase. I know overnight we saw some of the evacuation orders turn into warnings, but we can absolutely see some of these order areas increase to mandatory evacuations again. So I urge you, we urge you, please heed these orders. It can save your life.

And as we also previously mentioned, identifying the cause of these fires is critically important to all of us. In conjunction with our partners and led by ATF, we have created a Los Angeles Regional Wildlife Investigative Task Force. And while their work is still in the early stages, we're committed to identifying the cause and origin of these fires. And we're also committed to holding anyone who's responsible for these fires accountable.

And to further protect the residents of Los Angeles and the city, our curfew is also still in effect from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. In short, if you don't belong there, don't be there.

In closing, I want to reiterate that our department and all of us standing here this morning are with you. I want to express my deepest gratitude to the firefighters, our fellow law enforcement partners and volunteers who are putting themselves in harm's way to protect our communities and help people recover. Their bravery and dedication are truly inspirational.

We are also grateful for the patience and cooperation of our residents during this difficult time. We know this is not easy. Thank you and be safe. At this time, I'd like to introduce Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman.

NATHAN HOCHMAN, L.A. COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Thank you. With firefighters literally putting their lives on the line to save lives and to save homes, with law enforcement working around the clock to keep security at a high level. With over 200,000 people evacuated, I'm one of them. And with people who have lost lives, lost homes, lost businesses, there are still people in our community who rather than saying thank you, look at this as an opportunity to commit crime and to take illegal profit and advantage over the situation.

We've seen this come up and you've heard law enforcement describe the arrests that have been made. Whether those arrests are for looting, burglary, grand theft, whether those are rests or for arson, whether those arrests will eventually be for price gouging because we have been seeing price gouging with hotels, people offering residence as well above the 10 percent addition that they can charge.

[11:25:00]

We've seen that with medical supplies, other types of supplies, price gouging going on. So the criminals have decided that this is an opportunity. And I'm here to tell you that this is not an opportunity. You will be arrested. You will be prosecuted. And you will be punished to the full extent of the law.

At 2:00 p.m. today, we'll be holding a press conference to announce the first charges in a looting case and the first charges in an arson case. This is not an arson case tied to the major fires. It was an arson case that was done on the side, in essence. You will hear that these people who've committed these crimes are facing very significant sentences.

I am working with over 750 deputy district attorneys and the entire law enforcement community to bring these people who are despicable and disgraceful to justice. And we're not only going to see what's happening right now in connection with bringing stability to our community, whether it's again going after the looters, the arsonists or the price gougers, but we're starting to see the criminals emerge who are going to go after the recovery efforts.

These are people who are contacting people and pretending to be GoFundMe operations to help people who have suffered. And GoFundMe, by the way, actually is an excellent organization that has put in place protections that if you use their site you can use it safely. But these are people who are creating fake GoFundMe sites. I tell people to be very, very cautious, when you give your money away to check out the organizations that you're doing it to.

I applaud anyone who wants to donate to these causes, whether with money or services, but make sure that they are going to the right operations. Again, you can go to Emergency Network LA, that's enla.gov or you can go to recovery.la county.gov to see the types of operations that you can have confidence in.

And we're also going to see scams coming up with insurance proceeds. We're going to see scams coming up with government benefits because we are going to literally have billions of dollars come into Los Angeles County over the next months and years. And for the criminals who view this as an opportunity, let me again give you this warning, an absolutely unmistakably clear warning that if you go ahead and you want to rip off people and the system and governments that are trying to help the tragic, the people who have suffered from these tragedies, you will be arrested, you will be prosecuted, and we will seek maximum punishment against you.

I hope that I'll have the opportunity to tell you at a later point that this warning has been heeded, that deterrence works. Because if we are going to actually have this is -- the -- the stability and the rebuild, it's going to be based on everyone contributing. But for those who don't want to heed this message, the warning has been cast out there and the warning will actually have teeth behind it.

I'd now like to introduce Los Angeles Board of Supervisors Chair Kathryn Barger.

KATHRYN BARGER, LOS ANGELES COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS: Thank you. As I discussed yesterday, FEMA relief is essential to getting our impacted residents back on their feet. Today and yesterday, FEMA staff have been at seven county libraries, plus the Alhambra Library, providing support to individuals who are seeking FEMA relief.

Tomorrow, these services will transition to centralized assistance centers, one at Pasadena City College and the other at UCLA Research Park. These centers will be in person venues where all impacted individuals can receive direct support for FEMA's assistance program, which helps residents access lodging, essential items and other large financial needs.

You can visit recovery.lacounty.gov for all the details. And I would encourage everyone listening to go to one of these sites because I was at Pasadena Convention Center. I know you were as well. And I saw people handing out cards. I don't know who they are. I don't know who they represent, but people are looking for an opportunity.

[11:29:45]

At these recovery centers, you will have legitimate government officials who are going to work with you to make sure you receive the benefits you deserve. I want to thank FEMA for their continued support for our impacted residents. Our residents need this support to begin rebuilding. And believe me, after last night's meeting that I attended with --