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Erin Burnett Outfront
Weather Service: Severe Winds Could Spark "Explosive Fire Growth"; What Caused The Fire?; Not Making Payroll . Aired 7-8p ET
Aired January 13, 2025 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:35]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
Live from southern California, where there are urgent warnings of what they are calling explosive growing fires near hurricane strength winds forecast in these coming hours.
Plus, searching for a cause. Federal investigators just arriving on the ground, trying to determine now, trying to find what caused the deadly fires, including the Palisades Fire where near where we are. Was it arson? We're going to speak to an investigator involved.
And I'm going to talk to the owner of a bakery in Pasadena, now feeding first responders and neighbors who have lost homes, even though she can no longer live in her own house and can't make payroll for the first time ever.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
(MUSIC)
BURNETT: And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
Tonight, live from Malibu, California.
And OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news, brace for what they are saying will be explosive fire growth. That is the warning here tonight as the winds are now just starting to pick back up. And we are looking at near hurricane force wind gusts in the next few hours over this evening.
That is, of course extremely concerning because wind like that, any kind of wind, but certainly wind like that could erase progress that firefighters have made in trying to knock down the raging flames and fires that have devastated Los Angeles, killing at least 24, a number the governor of California says will go up significantly.
Already, more than 12,000 structures are gone, 40,000 acres burned through, including what is behind me, one of the most beautiful places to live in America. This is all that exists of a home that overlooked the Pacific Coast Highway right here in Malibu.
And I'll show you what this place looked like one week ago. One week ago, if you were standing here, and I never would have been standing here because you don't stand in Malibu, California, for a new show until you look at the other side of the screen. And that is what has happened, this devastation, all that is here now, part of a door wall, a fireplace, everything else is gone.
Now, at this hour, nearly 100,000 people still under evacuation orders as two major fires here are still burning. They are not contained. Not controlled. The Palisades Fire, which has consumed 23,000 acres. And we are within that Palisades Fire now, including the neighborhood where I am is 14 percent contained. That's up three percentage points since 24 hours ago.
And that's why officials are sounding alarms tonight. It's, of course, not just where we are tonight. It's around Los Angeles and directly north of where we are standing, an area that is so far been spared. There's fear tonight because of the direction of the winds, the potential direction that the flames could push there and could go into areas where -- where there has not been burning in decades, and more and more fuel for the flames.
Bill Weir and Nick Watt both still here with me, of course, here in southern California. Derek Van Dam has the very latest forecast on these dangerous winds that we anticipate to pick up here.
So let's start with Bill. He's in Altadena where we spent part of the day.
And, Bill, what is the latest that you are seeing there? I know that there's been fire retardant dropped a lot of places where you are, alerts to evacuate even now.
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Those alerts are in the Pasadena side. We're here up in Altadena, which is a hive of activity right now, not far from us. The grid search for bodies is going neighborhood by neighborhood, and the blocks are like out of a world war two film, just decimated, firebombed, block after block, churches, schools.
Right here is a gas crew from Arizona. They are basically have to every house that burns, they have to find the gas line, jackhammer it up, seal the ends, suck that explosive gas out of there, which complicates things.
At this end of the street, we've got power lines working on just the sort of rat's nests of lines that are down in all of these neighborhoods. But, Erin, it's so striking. This is one of those sort of houses that somehow survived. This person's going to come back and look out of every window and in every direction, their neighbors homes are gone.
Yeah. It's interesting. At the other end of the street was saved. We're going to meet him later by his citizens who stayed and with a bucket brigade, thanks to a retired fire captain who lived on this street, said, close your vents. Even if you take duct tape and a baking pan, or even they use cardboard to close their vents on this house, they boarded up the windows, but the captain probably would have told him, you should cover the vents. And for people who are now in this particularly dangerous area, even
folks in Ventura County, that is the line of defense. I hear from Cal Fire again and again and again. The last thing you want is an ember to get up into your attic, because all that insulation is just will go up like a poof right there.
[19:05:03]
So later in the show, Erin, I'll talk to you about community and the places that are the tightest right now are sometimes suffering the most, but may have the biggest odds of rebuilding. But this place has lost so much, and you'll meet some of those folks coming up here.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Bill Weir, in Altadena. So devastated.
And let's go to Nick Watt. He is in Pacific Palisades.
And, Nick, what is the latest that you're learning as we are just starting to feel some of these winds here, starting up?
NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, yeah. Well, Erin, we've heard within the past hour or so an update from the fight here in the Palisades, now, 40 square miles is the extent of this fire.
As you say, those winds are coming back. So they are using this little bit of downtime to prepare for that. Drops from the air and hand crews on the ground going around the perimeter of this fire, looking for any hotspots, trying to snuff that out and getting ready to react to whatever might come in the middle of the night as these winds pick up.
They're going to have extra fire patrols, just keeping eyes out. And you know, the difference between now and last week. When the fire broke out here last week, there were 250 firefighters here to fight it. They didn't have a chance. They couldn't get anything in the air.
Now there are 5,000 firefighters here. So the hope is that should anything pop up, they will be able to jump on that. Excuse me, I'm just getting a phone call. They will be able to jump on that as quickly as possible.
Now in the Palisades, in the downtown, we've seen over the past few days, people waiting in huge lines to come in and see their homes. They have now stopped that there are now 200 National Guard soldiers here in the Palisades guarding the entrances in and out, and also some key locations within the Palisades.
They do not want looters. There is a curfew, of course, at night as well.
So, all eyes are on what's going to happen next. While L.A. County officials are going around trying to assess the damage, the first sort of official assessment, because, as I said, a lot of people can't get in. So the county goes around, they take a picture of every house, they upload it. So even if you can't get in, you can at least see whether your house is still standing or not. Six people also still unaccounted for here. Erin. So, you know, the
other striking thing I just heard is that the footprint of this fire has just butted up against the footprint of the Franklin Fire from a month ago down in Malibu, near where you are -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Nick Watt, thank you very much.
And we have seen, as Nick talks about the National Guard, a real pickup and just the visibility and presence of the National Guard and a lot of the checkpoints around this fire that's been very noticeable just in these past 24 hours.
So these winds, what is going to happen in these crucial hours ahead?
Derek Van Dam is in the CNN Weather Center.
And, Derek, that's what it is all coming down to now. The winds and what the winds could do and where they bring this fire. So what is the exact forecast at this moment?
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Indeed. And using the terminology from the National Weather Service out of Los Angeles, this is about as bad as it gets.
Anywhere you see this red flag warning which extends through Wednesday afternoon and the hardest hit areas. This is where we have a high risk of rapid fire growth. But what the National Weather Service has just done is consolidated and expanded what is known as a particularly dangerous situation, or PDS for short.
And what's different than just a few hours ago is that it's expanded to include much of the San Fernando Valley and into central and eastern sections of Ventura County. Remember, the western L.A. County is where we have our Palisades and our Eaton Fire.
So, this is a new area that we're keeping a very close eye on. And just to give you an idea of how rare these PDS events are, they've only issued six in the past five years, four of which have been issued in the past three months. And we know what happened last week when they issued the particularly dangerous situation. The Palisades Fire exploded in size and caused the damage that you've seen on your TV screen.
So the wind direction is so critical. And what's different about the forecast? We have had this northeasterly wind component for the past week or so, and now what were noticing, it's subtle, but it's important that more east to northeasterly wind direction puts a new area at risk for the potential of rapid fire growth.
Remember, we need the ignition. So a spark has to happen. There are no current fires in Ventura County, but the fact is it's a tinderbox. And where the winds are lining up, that will put a new area at risk, including where Erin is currently located in Malibu.
High wind warnings, ridge top winds up to 70 miles per hour. Here's the Eaton Fire. There's the Hurst Fire. Let's move into the Palisades Fire, which, by the way, the evacuation warnings and orders have crossed over the 405, threatening the UCLA campus.
Here in Malibu. We have an evacuation warning that shading of orange is the acreage that has already burned.
[19:10:04]
Erin, the wind direction so important and it will pick up in the coming hours where you're located.
BURNETT: So important. And as you said, just even small, small changes can -- can mean everything. Derek, thank you very much. We'll be checking back in with you through the hour. Obviously, everything at stake here on this.
Andy VanSciver is with me. He's with the Ventura County Fire Department, assigned to the Palisades Fire.
So, Andy, I appreciate your time.
So, Palisades Fire -- you know, we're obviously in Malibu. They're concerned about areas like this over these hours with the wind.
What is the latest as you see it with this Palisades Fire? I mean, it's -- it's a mammoth thing, but that doesn't mean you can see it from every place that you're standing.
ANDY VANSCIVER, VENTURA COUNTY, CA FIRE DEPARTMENT PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER: Yeah, I understand. Our biggest concern at this point in time is the wind event that's upcoming. The good news about the wind event, it is pushing the fire, any potential fire front that was moving towards the north of the east, back upon itself.
So that's very good news because the fire has consumed the majority of the fuel at that end of the fire. We've supplemented the potential growth to the north with Phos-Chek and hand lines put in by our firefighters.
BURNETT: So when we talk about containment, it was 11 percent yesterday. It's 14 percent today. When you look at that and, you know, you might say, okay, that doesn't sound good, but tell me where you are on that containment, which is basically, I know, trying to establish a perimeter. It's not putting the flames out. It's established cordoning off an area where you can contain them, right?
VANSCIVER: Exactly, Erin.
And so one of the challenges we have with containment, it was relatively easy to contain the fire because it burned down to the Pacific Ocean. So that portion was easily cleaned up. The challenges are in the northern section --
BURNETT: It's a natural barrier.
The northern side of the fire is in very steep terrain. If you get a chance to look at the hillsides behind us, I know the audience can't see us. Get you an idea of how challenging that terrain is. It is not possible in many places for us to run our bulldozers over there and create a firebreak.
So we're relying on the aircraft to drop some Phos-Chek, and we're relying on our hand crews, which we have over 60 hand crews to build a hand line.
BURNETT: And we're going to -- we're going to show everyone those mountains in just a moment. But let me ask you about that air. I did see some fire retardant today dropped actually over near the Eaton Fire and Altadena by NASA jet propulsion labs.
You know, the big red fire retardant. But we saw less air activity today it seemed.
VANSCIVER: Right. So in our fire, we have less activity from specifically the fixed wing aircraft, right, because we're going to use that to build containment lines from the air. Right now, we've boxed that in pretty well, and we've supplemented with what we call contingency lines of Phos-Chek and contingency lines further out ahead of the fire with bulldozers.
BURNETT: All right. Andy, thank you very much. I know that, you know, you're in the midst of this right now.
Let me just ask, how are the crews doing, knowing that they just its this is a marathon, but it's a sprint every day.
VANSCIVER: It's a sprint and marathon, for sure. There was a huge outpouring of assistance with the mutual automatic mutual aid. We had firefighters responding from all over southern California on the initial attack. We now have firefighters from all over the western United States, including Mexico, has brought up some firefighters to assist us with this fire.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much. We appreciate it.
I know these coming hours are going to be so crucial to see what direction this goes in.
And as this community, Malibu, where we are, is prepared for the winds and the fires. You heard Derek talking about it, Andy talking about it, so important right here. Those who have already been affected and lost so much are now facing the daunting task of picking up the pieces of their lives, just trying to continue.
And today, I spoke to Christine Moore. Her Altadena home is one of the only ones left standing on her street. The smell, though still noxious and as the owner of the little flower bakery in Pasadena, she's been feeding first responders and neighbors who have lost their homes.
But even it's coming, as she knows she is not because of the fire losing so many people who were coming in who have now lost their homes. For the first time in 17 years today, she said she couldn't make payroll.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CHRISTINE MOORE, LITTE FLOWER BAKERY OWNER; HOUSE IS ONE FEW STILL STANDING IN NEIGHBORHOOD: We are all struggling right now. We're struggling with our personal lives. We're struggling with our small business because there's no business.
We're -- we're not making payroll today, for the first time in 17 years, and I've spoken to a lot of friends that are also struggling with the fact that we've lost our beautiful town. Our customers are suffering, and now our businesses are suffering.
BURNETT: And then what happens? I mean, what happens if --
CHRISTINE MOORE: People start losing their jobs, and that's even worse. And that's happening all across the city. And again, I'm just -- I'm talking about this because I am worried about the ripple effect of this disaster.
Thank you so much, Taka. No, I'm so glad you're here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have to save community.
BURNETT: I see you when you walk up. Everybody just comes over to you.
[19:15:01]
It's a -- you're the mother. You're the stability.
CHRISTINE MOORE: It's an honor -- it's an honor to be community. We're a community. Little Flower has been here for 17 years. This community has helped me out of a terrible divorce, raised three children by myself with no help. This staff has been with me the entire time.
BURNETT: How do you manage being the rock for everyone else?
CHRISTINE MOORE: I have incredible friends. I have an incredible staff. Yesterday was a bad day. Everything started to unravel. I felt completely overwhelmed. I haven't slept.
I have a hard time asking for help and right now I need help and everybody's showing up. We've been feeding every family that has lost and been put out. We've been feeding the firefighters. We've been feeding the National Guard. My son and his friends have been distributing food since you just.
BURNETT: And he's going out, driving out? Yeah.
CHRISTINE MOORE: Yeah, he's taking it straight to them on the front line. So we were all in shock. My son had a complete breakdown last night because we were at the house all night watering it down and saved it, but everything around us is gone.
BURNETT: You will go down a street with that acrid, horrible smell and every single thing is gone, but the chimneys. And then there'll be a pocket of a few houses, or maybe even just one house. You've got a few. This would all be gone, though, if it weren't for your son.
CHRISTINE MOORE: We hosed all down. We soaked it.
I'm hosing down my house. I'm on the back deck hauling, hosing down the front.
BURNETT: When you -- when you came back with your mom and you start hosing your house, hosing other houses, did you even think, or were you just going?
COLIN MOORE, HOUSE IS ONE OF FEW STILL STANDJING IN NEIGHBORHOOD: Just going. You know, I've never really had that sense of urgency before, but I just knew it was if it was going to protect anything, I was doing it in a heartbeat. I kind of just flipped the switch.
BURNETT: You saved four houses. You saved four houses. Have you processed that? Has that changed you?
COLIN MOORE: I don\t think so, because I've always been a person to put other people before me. And I just want to help my community the best I can. And that's putting out little spot fires that can turn into big fires, I'll do it instantly.
BURNETT: So this was chlorinated blue water?
CHRISTINE MOORE: Yeah.
BURNETT: A few days ago.
CHRISTINE MOORE: Yeah.
BURNETT: Now it's full of toxic ash and --
MOORE: Yeah, well, at one point we were surrounded and Colin's friend called him and said, you need to get out. You are surrounded.
And Dave and Colin and I said, we need a we need a plan. And Dave said, we're going to jump in the pool.
Oh boy.
BURNETT: The smell.
CHRISTINE MOORE: It's unbelievable.
BURNETT: I mean, the smell in here is -- I mean, do you even -- I mean, thank God you saved it. But what do you do with -- I mean, is this even --
CHRISTINE MOORE: It's so bad.
BURNETT: I mean, do you --
CHRISTINE MOORE: I have no idea.
BURNETT: I think you can live here again? CHRISTINE MOORE: I am going to live here again. Yeah, we are going to rise from the ashes and we are going to clean this up, and we are going to rebuild Altadena. We are.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: Christine, you know, just dealing with that, to think about that loss and then her small business unable to make payroll. Those employees, she said most all of them have been with her for at least 15 of those 17 years that she has run the little flower bakery in Pasadena.
OUTFRONT next, federal investigators are now on the ground here in southern California because they want to know how it started. They are scouring the ashes and they are trying to find out whether it was arson, whether the Palisades Fire here was caused on purpose.
Plus, the families who have lost everything and have no insurance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People think, oh, the Palisades, that's rich people. But it's not just rich people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And I'll speak to a couple who suddenly found themselves surrounded by a wall of flames.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have a very big problem.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?
Oh, (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Holy (EXPLETIVE DELETED)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:23:46]
BURNETT: All right. Welcome back. I'm Erin Burnett here in Malibu.
And just want to show you a little bit about where we are, why this area is so important. So this you can see just the total devastation, devastation and destruction in all of where we are in Malibu. It is so incongruous with the absolutely gorgeous day that you have. Of course, the sun has nothing to do with fire. You see this part destroyed now, the area that we're in, which is right up above the Pacific Ocean, is destroyed.
But if frank and I'll just show you on the other side here, you can see over that right down the ledge here, the part of Malibu that is completely fine and still standing. The whole town is evacuated. You're not allowed to be here right now, even if your home is still standing. But -- but the big situation that they're facing with these winds is a real fear that Malibu is at risk for the rest of it, to completely burn down.
But the situation in this area, of course, is it has already been almost completely destroyed, although there are some houses standing. And I'll show you as were walking over here. You see this hydrant and the cap off the hydrant, and we see the cap off every one of these hydrants, every one of them was, was emptied. So you see, these caps are off and you see that on hydrant after hydrant coming over here to where it is completely destroyed to also give you a sense of where we are.
[19:25:06]
You have Pacific Ocean behind me. And then if you look off into the distance and we'll see if frank can get a shot of it. But you're looking over there. You've got Santa Monica, which is also mostly under evacuation orders.
And back on these hills, if we pan back again to the left, you'll see parts of the Palisades in the distance, which has been completely burned out. And then just up here in the mountains, we show you those Santa Monica Mountains.
And that is where we are in the evacuation zone. We are in the zone of the Palisades fire right now. And those mountains are exactly where Andy was just talking about. He wanted me to show you it's impossible for them to do bulldozers and to set a containment line. But the fire is up over those mountains.
You don't see it right now. So sometimes it's hard to really envision it. But that is the, the, the situation right over those mountains. And the worry is that these winds in the coming hours are going to pick up, putting at risk the rest of Malibu and so many areas across Los Angeles.
Tim Jones is joining me -- joining me now, the deputy assistant director of the ATF.
And I know that they are you are now right now, Tim, looking at what started these fires, what exactly started the fires? The Palisades fire there's a lot of talk out there about the possibility of arson, all sorts of theories out there. Have you been able to come to any kinds of conclusions at this point?
TIM JONES, DEPUTY ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, ATF FIELD OPERATIONS: Thank you, Erin.
And before I begin, I do want to extend my condolences to those affected and impacted by this terrible and tragic incident.
To get to your question, that is the purpose for our national response team to be at the Pacific Palisades fire scene is to actually conduct the investigation and have a origin and cause determination. At this point, we don't know what caused it. There are four different determinations that could be made. It could be incendiary, accidental, undetermined or natural. But that's why the investigators are on scene to conduct that investigation.
BURNETT: And do you feel that you will be able to ever get an answer as to whether, in any of these fires? It was purposeful arson, and if so, who did it and what the motive might have been?
JONES: For ATF, we were requested specifically for the Pacific Palisades fire. As a result, we sent our national response team there, and it is our hope to find an origin and cause for that determination.
But the team arrived yesterday. They conducted their preliminary briefing today. They are on scene now, conducting an initial scene assessment. So we just have to give them time to do their jobs.
BURNETT: And how the scale of it, deputy director, the scale of it is, is just so hard to comprehend, even standing amidst it, how -- what evidence do you even need to find in settings like this, where absolutely everything is destroyed over such a massive space? What sort of evidence do you need to find to get to the answer of what started it?
JONES: Well, that is the benefit of having such great relationships with our local law enforcement partners and our fire service peers. The team will conduct interviews with those firefighters. They will determine where they believe the origin started, and then they will get to that location and conduct that assessment.
As you can see, and as the gentleman mentioned earlier, these are very austere conditions, and it's going to take some time for them to get up there and conduct that review. But they're doing that now as we speak.
BURNETT: All right. Well, deputy assistant director, thank you very much. I appreciate your time. As the ATF here is now on the ground at this Palisades Fire where they have been requested to find out exactly what started it.
We're going to take a break on the other side. You know, someone's camera at their home, right, to pick up whether someone's dropping packages or what's happening on your front stoop, captures the moments as the flames were coming in on their house and they were desperately grabbing a few possessions to run. We're going to be joined by the couple who found out that their entire story was on camera right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:33:43]
BURNETT: Breaking news, the Los Angeles county sheriff is warning potential criminals they will be, quote, hammered by law enforcement if they commit crimes in neighborhoods devastated by the fire. This is authorities say nearly 50 people have already been arrested for looting, burglary and other offenses, and crimes like these are preventing desperate people from checking to see if their homes are still standing.
You know, when you come in here, when you're able to get through the checkpoints into these zones, they need a lot of identification because people have been trying to pose as firefighters or as journalists to get in here.
Nick Watt is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Many know they've lost everything. They've seen the pictures, but they just need to see it in person.
SHERIFF ROBERT LUNA, LOS ANGELES COUNTY: We know that, but we have people literally looking for the remains of your neighbors. Please be patient with us.
WATT: Police were escorting people into the Palisades who had waited in mile long lines.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have halted this escort service for the safety of everyone involved.
WATT: Locals can't get in to check, largely because they're trying to keep looters out. The National Guard now on scene.
KATHRYN BARGER, CHAIR, LOS ANGELES COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS: It's time for us to let the public know that accountability is alive and well in Los Angeles County.
WATT: Five confirmed dead so far in the Palisades fire.
JAIMIE GELLER, PACIFIC PALISADES, CALIFORNIA RESIDENT: We are alive.
[19:35:02]
We lost, you know, everything but a couple things in a suitcase. You lost everything. But then so did everybody that you know.
WATT: Thousands lost it all when this blaze scorched an area the size of Miami. The toxic, tragic mess will take months to clear. Then how long to rebuild?
Today, fire officials going house to house, logging damage and uploading pictures so folks who cant get in can see what's left of their homes. And also for the thousands of impending insurance claims.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the first official documentation were trying to get accurate and timely information to the public.
WATT: But in recent years, many insurers refuse to cover homes in high fire risk areas like this.
PEGGY HOLT, PACIFIC PALISADES, CALIFORNIA RESIDENT: For years, we were the whole condo complex was covered by Farmers Insurance, and then they canceled. People think, oh, the Palisades, that's rich people. But it's not just rich people.
WATT: The state insurance many resorted to does not cover everything. And now scammers, says the LAPD, are actively targeting vulnerable individuals and families exploiting their distress online, on the phone and in person with fake offers of help. And --
DISTRICT ATTORNEY NATHAN HOCHMAN, LOS ANGELES COUNTY: We have been seeing price gouging with hotels. The criminals have decided that this is an opportunity, and I'm here to tell you that this is not an opportunity.
WATT: A friend told me of the 60 children in his kid's classes at school here in the Palisades, only 12 still have a home to go to.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATT (on camera): And that friend said he went to mass yesterday and the message was very much fire can take our homes, but it can't take our community. But he said what struck him most was the tears in some of the older people's eyes.
Erin, they realize that they may never see their homes or their community rebuilt, that they may be gone before the Palisades is back to anything like what it once was -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right, Nick, thank you very much.
And just what Nick was saying, you know, you think about a class of 60 kids, and only 12 of them even have a home. What happens to those communities? I mean, that is the -- the -- the -- just the incredible fear and sadness of this moment was, as some of the people have managed to, obviously people got escaped. Maybe their homes are standing, maybe they're not. People are desperately trying to find the answer of that. These communities spread out everywhere.
Well, one couple is now staying at a hotel in Burbank, having to flee their home, but the entire fire and the fleeing was all captured on their doorbell camera.
Jeffrey Ku's wife, Cheryll, saw the flames as she arrived home from work. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHERYLL KU, WIFE: Hey, babe, I need you to come out here right now. We have a very big problem.
JEFFREY KU, HUSBAND: What? Oh (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
Holy (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
No, (EXPLETIVE DELETED). No, (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
C. KU: Let's go.
J. KU: I'm going to spray the roof down. C. KU: I don't think we have time. You want to just do it?
J. KU: Yeah.
Please, God. Please, God save us. Save our house. Please.
Let's go. Let's go. We're going.
(CRYING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: All right. Jeffrey and Cheryll are OUTFRONT now.
Gosh, I just -- there's the moment in the fear it. So your doorbell camera is showing you. And, you know, at the time, I -- it's probably the last thing you were thinking about, right? That this would all be on tape.
You're frantically grabbing something. You run in, you get that basket. Cheryll, I think it was you. You run back out, you grab that hose, then in the final seconds, trying to just hose down the house. Jeffrey, to before you get in the car.
As you rewatch this, can you match it with what you were thinking in those moments?
J. KU: I can't. It's -- it's a blur. When -- when you are faced with terror like that. I think there's a lot of split decision making that has to happen. And at that point in time, it was just all engines firing. We know we knew we needed to prioritize getting the things that were most important and packing the car and getting out.
I think I tried to spray the house down and the wind was blowing so hard that the water was just going sideways. So I think at best it was just giving me peace of mind that I did whatever I could. I knew that when we were leaving, that I just wanted to get that, get that done.
[19:40:04]
BURNETT: Cheryll, some of this, I guess, when we were looking at this, you do see, right now were looking at Jeffrey with the -- with the hose, and then you see some of that water coming sideways. But at one point, it seems what we're seeing actually come through, the pictures in some of the video is actually embers. I mean, it was closing in on you from everywhere.
C. KU: Yeah. You know, it's not something that we were focused on at the time. We were in the panic mode of just trying to get out as fast as we can. We did see the embers flying. It was almost like a snow flurries, but instead it's fire that's coming around.
And we did not think about whether or not those embers were going to ignite on a dry brush around us, that it was just a matter of we had limited time and we had to go. But when we rewatched the footage, we didn't realize how many embers were flying around us. And it's -- it's almost like watching a horror movie in a way.
BURNETT: It is. It's like a swarm of them. And at first you're trying to figure out what it is, and then you realize, I mean, it's -- it's a miracle. The cause of the fire is under investigation I know right now, but your video could be crucial in trying to understand what happened here. It shows the flames right at the base of the electrical tower.
Did -- were you able to tell? I mean, did that seem to you to be an initial start of the fire, or was that already after it had started spreading?
J. KU: Well, I think it was it was, Cheryll, because I was home actually without power, sitting on the sofa. But it was Cheryll on her drive home coming off the freeway. And because there was no power, the neighborhood was -- was dark. The mountains, the canyon was dark.
She could see a light in the hillside. And as she got closer to the house, sure enough, it was burning bright. And it was the -- the base of the tower on fire. And that was when the video started, where she came in to, to get me, and in her -- her voice, which I'll never, ever forget, which is you need to come out here now. We have a big problem.
BURNETT: You've shared video of what's left, and maybe it was because of the hose that you did. I know, I mean, it may sound so futile to some, but sometimes just spraying a house with hose water saved it. Maybe that's what happened to your house. It's the miracle.
Of course, you're not there. You're -- you're in a hotel. I don't know when you'll be able to go back. You don't know if -- you know nothing yet.
What are you doing right now? Are you basically in a hotel indefinitely? Are you even able to work? How are you all managing?
C. KU: I'm actually able to go back to work. So I'm -- I'm -- I am going to work on a daily basis. Jeff is working remotely. I think he's fortunate enough that his company is very, very flexible.
J. KU: They -- yeah, they decided to keep the office closed. So I'm -- I'm in the hotel room. We've been extending our stay, um, kind of little by little. But, initially, that was the right thing to do. But now, you know, all the evacuees are here. We're all doing the same thing.
And so we're just making sure that we have enough days, uh, reserved here. And, yeah, there's really no timetable for return. The water is contaminated. The power is still off, the gas is still off, and the Army National Guard is still blockading our neighborhood.
We had looters come through which -- which was highlighted. And it's just absolutely despicable. But, you know, they're protecting our homes now.
And so we're just going to ride it out. Were just going to be here until they let us know it's -- it's time to at least go back. And then we can assess what additional damage there is. And there's obviously going to be smoke and other damage that we have to deal with and things that we just probably don't want to inhale.
So it's going to be some time. But you know, were really fortunate and grateful, first of all, that we have ourselves and our health. And we were able to get out safely. You know, that's -- that's really the number one thing. And we're just really thankful for all of the first responders and the volunteers and all the community. And the outpouring of support has been tremendous.
BURNETT: Well, your fortitude and your -- your calm is really something to see and appreciate so much you taking the time to talk to us. Thank you both.
C. KU: Thank you.
J. KU: Thank you, Erin.
BURETT: Next, as the winds start to pick up, they expect these near hurricane force gusts to begin overnight. What are the crews' most concerned about tonight? We're going to speak to the fire chief overseeing the Eaton fire.
Plus, a heroic bucket brigade. We're going to introduce you to a group of neighbors who were burned saving their street.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:49:15]
BURNETT: The breaking news we are live in Malibu, California, right? Part of the Palisades fire much of it destroyed, but they're worried about the rest of it. And the winds really are starting to pick up here.
Right now, just a moment or two, it's calm, but it has been picking up and it is going to get much worse. We're talking about the expectation, the forecast for near hurricane force winds tonight, incredibly dangerous conditions. The worst case scenario, of course, is these fires are now burning for a sixth straight day.
You can see crews working tirelessly to stop the spread dropping fire retardant. We saw some of that today a little bit less, though, of some of those fixed wing aircraft as they were explaining to us, and they had in recent days as the winds pick up.
Robert Garcia joins me now, Angeles National Forest fire chief overseeing the Eaton fire and Altadena where we were earlier today.
[19:50:02]
Chief Garcia, you know, we've been talking to you throughout this disaster. And at this moment, as you are looking at a dramatic increase in wind speed, what are you most worried about?
ROBERT GARCIA, FIRE CHIEF, ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST: Yeah. Good evening, Erin. It's good to be with you and your viewers tonight.
You know, we're paying really close attention to the weather. And obviously our partners at the National Weather Service, we have close coordination. And so we are on the cusp of another significant wind over the next 48 hours. And so our primary concern is any new ignitions, any new fires that start.
So we spent quite a bit of time pre-positioning resources and making sure we have the reinforcements we need, should we have another emerging fire and just getting our crews that have come off the fire line for short reprieve in preparation for this next couple of days.
BURNETT: And how -- I mean, you have done a lot. A third contained with the Eaton Fire. I know the Palisades fire here about 14 percent contained and a lot of that just because the ocean is here. But the Eaton fire, you've got about a third of it under containment. I mean, significant progress in recent days.
But when you look at the flanks that you haven't contained and obviously the wind could take anything and take it anywhere, I realize that. But even on the parts that you have not yet contained. What worries you the most about that in the context of these rising winds?
GARCIA: Yeah. So even -- even those areas, we have containment lines on, essentially that means we have hand lines separating the unburned from the burnt vegetation. But those areas hold a lot of heat through the root systems, through the smoldering activities. And so, we're worried that we ensure that we reinforce those containment lines, that we have to hold those in place to keep embers and, and unburned material from reigniting.
And then those areas that we haven't had containment on yet with boots on the ground, and this is some of the most remote terrain in Los Angeles county, the largest Los Angeles County area.
And so we have skilled hand crews, what we refer to as Hotshot crews out, basically tracing every bit of ground, working closely with air support aircraft. We're using mobile retardant. That's helicopters to drop the red retardant material to secure the areas of greatest concern.
BURNETT: Yeah. All right. So, Chief, I know in Eaton, they're already now trying to find out what happened. I was talking to the deputy director of the ATF because they've got teams on the ground here in the Palisades fire trying to determine what started it, whether it was purposeful, whether it was human, whether it was arson. They're going to figure that out, they say.
In Eaton, the Eaton Fire, I know investigators have been focusing specifically on a tower in Eaton canyon as possibly the site where the fire started. And our guest just a few moments ago, they -- their ring camera as they were evacuating their home, caught a lot of it and caught flames at the base of an electrical tower. Officials with the electric company, southern California Edison have so far said they don't believe their equipment was responsible.
Do you have any indication at this point of how that fire started?
And it sounds like sounds like we did just lose my connection with the chief. And things can be a little dicey out here. Connections are challenging. Our thanks to Chief Garcia.
We are going to take a break. When we come back, we've got an incredible story. I mean, this is a group of men. They went, as you've now seen, others with the hoses trying to go house to house. They were using buckets to save their street from the devastating flames. And we're going to tell you what happened next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:57:04]
BURNETT: New tonight three neighbors joining together to save homes in their community as fire was raging around them. And now they're determined to rebuild what's been lost.
Bill Weir is OUTFRONT with this story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WEIR (voice-over): In the parched hills northeast of L.A., the Eaton Fire cut a brutal swath across multiple cities and different kinds of communities.
The Elliot Arts Magnet School is in the Pasadena School District and draws gifted public school kids from the area and the area is decimated. Block after block of Altadena turned to ash, broken up by the occasional oasis of survival.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This house was one of the -- this was the last one to burn on the street right here.
WEIR: Like this end of Calaveras Street that was saved when a retired fire captain and a TV set designer and son formed a bucket brigade as embers burned holes in their clothes.
JOHN CALKINS, ALTADENA, CA RESIDENT: I mean, it was so hot. It just I mean, I had to come down off the ladder and just stick my hands in the bucket, put the water on the back of my neck and go back up the ladder.
WEIR: John and his neighbor Kevin, a music festival producer, are now putting out hot spots as their relief is tempered with worries about the future.
This is the kind of neighborhood where a family leaves out all their extra citrus and avocado for anyone to help themselves. Dan is the handyman who lives here, who tells me about 40 of his families have lost their homes. This is a mixture of scientists from jet propulsion laboratory and set designers, costume makeup, people from Hollywood, the kind of place where they have tiny art galleries so kids can share their creation.
And the strength of this community will go a long way when it comes to recovery. The question is, how many people still want in?
KEVIN LYMAN, ALTADENA, CA RESIDENT: There's going to be people that leave. Its going to be tough to live here. This is not going to get fixed overnight. It's going to take years, if not a decade, to -- to feel like it was.
CALKINS: We've lost school down the street, churches, a lot of schools up north. We drove around yesterday for the first time. And I mean, it's -- it's devastating. I mean, it's bleak.
WEIR: But they also focus on what's left.
CALKINS: They've been laying eggs like feeding the neighbors chickens that somehow survived a frying.
WEIR: And the flocks of wild birds that now need their bird feeders more than ever.
CALKINS: They love it. We feel the feeders went empty. They go empty every two days, and they go empty at the end of every day now.
WEIR: Wow.
CALKINS: We fed the crows. The crows came in this morning. We gave them apples.
WEIR: Yeah, but they're -- the birds are part of the community too, right? So it was nice having them around.
CALKINS: It's nice having around, you know?
WEIR: And signs of life.
CALKINS: Little sign of hope.
WEIR: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
CALKINS: You know, which we all need right now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WEIR (on camera): Altadena was also home to many of Walt Disney's early imaginers, artists and animators who could afford to build buy fixer uppers up here and created real community here.
We're going to need a lot of imaginering about the future, Erin, in places like this. But the core, the soul of these communities that cannot be burned.
BURNETT: No, it can't. Some of those homes in Altadena so beautiful, so much history.
Bill Weir, thank you very much, in Altadena.
And good night from us in Malibu. Thanks for joining us.
"AC360" starts now.
