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First Move with Julia Chatterley

At Least Six Killed in Wildfires; Officials Hold News Conference on L.A. Fires; Tracking Wildires in Mobile App; Rival rallies in Venezuela on eve of Maduro's inauguration; Maria Corina Machado Detained; Trump Pushes for Takeover of Canada. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired January 09, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: You can listen to the show all two hours whence you get your podcasts. The news continues now on CNN with Wolf Blitzer in

The Situation Room. And I will see you tomorrow.

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN ANCHOR, FIRST MOVE: It's at 9:00 a.m. in Beijing, 3:00 p.m. in Los Angeles, and 6:00 p.m. here in New York. I'm Julia

Chatterley. And wherever you are in the world, this is your "First Move."

And a warm welcome to "First Move." And here's today's need to know. Fire fears. Six people confirmed lost as first responders raced to contain

California's wildfires before strong winds returned tonight.

Protest pressure, one inauguration, two men vying for the presidency and large-scale demonstrations in Caracas. We'll bring you the very latest.

Elon's endorsement. Musk backing Germany's far-right AfD Party as he hosts the leader on X.

And wildfire watch. We speak to the CEO of an app providing real-time updates in L.A. to help people prepare and evacuate. All that and plenty

more coming up.

But first, officials are holding a news conference on the Eaton Fire near Pasadena. So far, it's the deadliest of all the fires in Los Angeles. Let's

listen in.

KATHRYN BARGER, LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, BOARD OF SUPERVISORS: Have faced imaginable devastation, displacement, and loss. We must stand up

against opportunists who want to prey on these victims. I will not stand by and allow an already traumatic experience to be further compounded. I stand

here today with the sheriff as he makes an important announcement that will amplify our ability to protect our vulnerable communities in their time of

need.

My deepest thanks to our first responders who have been battling this place and the law enforcement officers who have been standing up against criminal

activity to the best of their ability. I am confident that these steps we are taking today will give us extra leverage and support needed to really

crack down on this important issue.

To our residents, we stand with you and we'll continue to stand up for you. It's frustrating to me when we ask people to evacuate. Their greatest fear

is, am I going to come back, not only to a home that's standing, but if it is standing, have people come in and burglarize my home. They shouldn't

have to make that choice.

So, with that, I would like to introduce our Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna.

SHERIFF ROBERT LUNA, LOS ANGELES COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: Thank you, Supervisor. Just so all of you know, her leadership's amazing. And we've

been on the phone consistently with a lot of the challenges that we're facing, but we remind each other we're facing them together and we have a

lot of good things going on.

So, as we're working through this, I want everyone to know that the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has officially requested the support of

the California National Guard for both fires, at least in L.A. County, both the Palisades and Eaton Fire. We are in the process. And we'll coordinate

deployments for any additional request through the county.

And just so everybody's aware in order to request mutual aid, at least for law enforcement in Los Angeles County, I'm the primary regional coordinator

for that. So, the request was made through our department. But we are working in collaboration with the Los Angeles Police Department, Chief Jim

McDonnell. Chief Gene Harris, who joined here to the left, and then the Chief Ramon Batista from the Santa Monica Police Department. And then any

other chiefs of police who may need additional resources as a result of these fires, we'll make sure that we do that.

So, for the last time, 24 hours or so we have had approximately 400 National Guard members throughout the state ready to support us. And as I

just stated, they will be coming in. We expect that they may be on site as soon as tonight. That may change a little bit. But they will be assisting

us with traffic control and critical infrastructure protection. They will be staged throughout the Los Angeles region. And our Emergency Operations

Bureau is currently working on specific missions that they will fulfill, both in these affected county fire areas, the City of Pasadena, the City of

Santa Monica, and the City of Los Angeles.

This wouldn't be possible without the assistance of Governor Newsom who approved this request. He's been consistently on the phone with our

leadership asking what that we need and we're very grateful for that.

[18:05:00]

This effort will allow law enforcement to free up our resources and move personnel to other critical areas throughout the county, in a sense,

becoming a force multiplier.

I'm going to switch gears a little bit now. Earlier, there was a lot of questions, as there should be, about the death toll here in Los Angeles

County, as it specifically relates to the fire. Anytime I talk about numbers, whether they are fatalities or we're talking about potential

looting arrests, I'm going to tell you something, the number just continuously fluctuates, and it's because we're still in a very chaotic

scenario.

And just to give you an idea, and I'm surrounded by a lot of firefighters, and the fire chief will come up and talk next, we're still working in a

very fluid and active environment. Meaning that there are still spot fires going on in areas, there's gas leaks.

So, when people are asking us for number of fatalities, we want to give them to you, but we have to wait until it's safe for our personnel to be

able to go in there and do this right. Because to some people, the death toll may just be a number, to us, on our side of the fence and public

safety, each one of those numbers is a family member.

We're going to have to make notifications with our partners at the coroner's office to let them know that they may not -- they're not going to

see their family members anymore. So, just again, it's preliminary and it's absolutely going to change. But as of right now, and we stated this

yesterday, we do have confirmed five deaths between Palisades and the Eaton Fire, but that number again is going to change as more information comes in

and when we start to get into the damaged area.

The homicide detectives for the L.A. County Sheriff's Department are trying to get into the locations to process the scenes, but they've been delayed

for the dangerous conditions that I just spoke about. But once homicide is able to get in there, they'll do the death investigations and then we'll

have more complete information that a lot of people are asking us for.

I also want to mention that our team has been working on a curfew. Our goal is to attempt to implement a curfew within the specific impacted areas in -

- around the two fire areas, both for Palisades and Eaton. As we work through the legal process to get that done, the goal is to try and

implement it tonight. If we're not able to do that, that may happen maybe by tomorrow night.

That curfew looks like it'll be from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. Again, 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. That will be the goal. We will be enforcing that. I think

if most of you heard our press conference earlier today, we had a number of looting arrests throughout the entire county region. That is unacceptable

behavior.

Having additional resources, having the National Guard with us, which will augment those resources, will help send a stronger message, keep people out

of the impacted areas so we don't continuously victimize the people who have already been victimized who have lost their homes.

So, we'll continue to work on the evacuation orders as soon as we can. We'll give you more specific information, because a big legal part of that

is that we have to notify our community of what it is and how that works.

And just to wrap up for us, we have increased resources for our burglary and looting suppression. Unfortunately, there have been crimes out there

that have been reported to us by residents who have evacuated their homes. Our deputies continue to do an amazing job of conducting humanitarian

missions and they've had many rescues. And I do want to stress that the majority of the people they are having a rescue out of homes and vehicles

are individuals that chose not to evacuate, not only putting themselves in danger, but putting the first responders in more significant danger. So,

please, you hear this over and over, when somebody tells you to mandatory evacuate, please evacuate.

[18:10:00]

Preliminarily, I know we're talking about 20 arrests. Preliminarily, we have about 12 arrests related to looting. And again, that number hasn't

been confirmed. We're checking that. We're also getting the number of about 16, and that's at the multiple impacted areas throughout the County of Los

Angeles. But we'll continue to collaborate.

And as I stated earlier, I'm in constant contact with the California Office of Emergency Services. That's where we made the official request for the

California National Guard. I've been in communication with the commissioner of the California Highway Patrol. He's offered his assistance and we've

deployed with his partnership or collaboration, multiple CHP officers for traffic control around the area.

My last item is this. If you have any questions about current evacuation orders or warnings or the many street closures that we have here in Los

Angeles County, please visit lacounty.gov/emergency for updated information.

And with that, I am going to now introduce the fire chief for Los Angeles County, best looking fire chief Tony Marrone.

CHIEF ANTHONY MARRONE, LOS ANGELES COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: Thank you. Thank you, Sheriff Luna and Supervisor Barger, chair of the board. So, I'm

going to limit my comments to an update for the Eaton Fire here in Los Angeles County that's affecting the unincorporated community of Altadena in

addition to the cities of Pasadena, Arcadia and Sierra Madre.

We remain in unified command, however, we have added one unified command partner, CAL FIRE Incident Management Team 3 has been assigned to the

incident to assist with recovery operations. Recovery operations consists of trying to coordinate all of our human remain detection teams that will

be going house to make sure that we can account for anybody who's been killed in the fire. Also, setting up a community recovery centers. They're

also going to be doing damage inspection coordination for us.

So, the Eaton Fire is now estimated to be 13,690 acres. It's grown since our morning press conference because the fire is making a run towards the

historic Mount Wilson area. We're still at zero percent containment, but we now have a better estimation of the number of fire personnel assigned to

the incident. We're now at 1,527 personnel assigned. And like this morning, additional mutual aid resources continue to arrive to assist in the

firefight.

This morning we did have a firefighter suffer a significant injury in a fall. That firefighter is resting comfortably at an area hospital. He's in

stable condition, and he is expected to make a full recovery.

We now have a confirmation that we have a potential for over 4,000 to 5,000 structures damaged or destroyed. The definition of a structure could be a

single-family residence, a multifamily residence, a commercial occupancy, an outbuilding or a vehicle. So, this morning I reported 1,000. We are now

reporting 4,000 to 5,000 of those types of structures.

The cause of the fire remains unknown and under investigation by the sheriff's department, along with the L.A. County Fire Department and the

U.S. Forest Service.

The reason that the sheriff is going to be reporting fatality information because the cause of the fire is unknown at this time. If it turns out that

this was an arson fire, any death --

CHATTERLEY: OK. We appear to have lost connection with that press conference there, but it was pretty galling to listen to. Not only, as you

heard there, the sheriff confirming five deaths, as we've been discussing between Palisades and the Eaton Fire and the fear that number will continue

to rise, but that the Eaton Fire itself, one of the two largest has grown in size since this morning.

But what you also heard there was a phrase, the victimization of victims have been 20 arrests, 12 at least tied to looting. So, the idea that people

have had to flee their homes and are also fearing the prospect of their homes and possessions being targeted by individuals, which I think is quite

appalling to listen to.

Nick Watt is on the ground in Pacific Palisades, California. Nick, I know you were listening to that. So, this idea that people are having to -- the

double fear of not only losing their homes, but losing their possessions too.

[18:15:00]

I think on the better side, the idea that the California National Guard is coming in and those troops may arrive as late as early as tonight.

NICK WATT, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, they are beefing up the personnel. We are hearing criticism around here in the Palisades from

people saying, why weren't there more firefighters? Why weren't there more people here to help earlier? Why did the water run out in the hydrants? Why

did the mayor cut the fire department budget? She claims that had no impact at all. But I'm definitely sensing today, Julia, a sense of anger as people

come into these neighborhoods.

If you pan around, Julia, I mean, look at this. There's just nothing left. And people are angry and starting to ask questions. The Palisades here,

we've now had the first confirmed death. That was just confirmed by the City of Malibu that somebody from Malibu has died in this fire. But of

course, the Sheriff's Department are going to have to come through here with cadaver dogs to find any human remains, because I've got to tell you,

some of these houses have been so badly burned that the steel beams are buckled by the heat and there is just nothing left.

I spoke earlier to a man who'd come back to the house that his grandparents bought after the Second World War, that generations have lived in, and he

was picking through the remains to try and find anything, and it was tragic. I mean he had a couple of little, you know, plastic toys that that

was what he'd found. I spoke to another guy up here who said that he only built his house two or three years ago. So, he's hoping that that means

because the plans were approved so recently, they can just reapprove them and he can start building again.

But I don't know, for some people, I'm not sure they want to rebuild. There's not much left of this community. Huge tracts are just destroyed

here in Pacific Palisades.

Now, the good news that we've had today, as well as the National Guard, is there have been planes flying. I heard them first, overnight, and it was

such a welcome noise. The sound of the engines was comforting because you knew that finally the winds had dropped enough that they could get that air

support in, which is always so crucial in fighting these wildfires here in California.

I mean, I say wildfires, this is an urban wildfire. So, for all the people fighting it, there's the extra issue of what is burning here? It's not

grass. There are chemicals, plastics, everything in these houses. So, this acrid smoke, breathing in, firefighters here for 24-hour, 48-hour shifts,

it is -- I mean, it's got to be doing some damage.

And certainly, those firefighters have got to be flagging. They've been fighting such a losing battle, frankly, for so long against these flames,

trying to contain this fire within these little roads, beautiful little neighborhoods, close packed houses. It's been a tough fight and it will

continue to be a tough fight because the wind is going to pick up again and then we're going to have another bout of this wind next week.

So, it's not over not over by a long shot, Julia.

CHATTERLEY: No, it's certainly not. And we know that the two largest fires at this stage, we just heard confirmed there, and I'll reiterate it again,

Eaton Fire zero percent contained at this stage. So, the fear, to your point, is that the winds pick up again.

I want to go back to what you said at the beginning, Nick, because I do think this is vitally important of the people that are now sort of coming

back and seeing what they can salvage and the criticism and the anger that they're voicing that there wasn't initially the support, that there wasn't

the preparation. And I know Governor Newsom faced a lot of flak today from people that were clearly asking him questions about that early response.

Who and to whom is their anger directed at?

WATT: Well, right now, it's directed at the politicians. I mean, we were just hanging out down in Palisades Village this morning and suddenly, Gavin

Newsom, the governor, jumped out of a car and he was pretty quickly confronted by a local woman who said, why was there no water in the

hydrants? And he said, it'll be different next time. It'll be different next time. And then, he jumped into his SUV saying he had to get on the

phone with the president. He clearly did not want to deal with this kind of anger.

The mayor of Los Angeles has also been under extreme pressure. She was away on a foreign trip when this hit. She is being blamed because she cut money

from the fire department budget recently. She says that has had no impact whatsoever. But people are beginning to direct their anger at public

officials.

You know, it's difficult. I -- when I first started covering these kinds of natural disasters, it was weird because when you cover a war, people are

angry at each other. And then when you cover a natural disaster, the first reaction from people is often just, they're sort of flabbergasted and they

don't know who to blame. They don't have anyone to blame.

Now, a few days later, people are beginning to focus in on targets, rightly or wrongly, I can't say, but people are beginning to lay blame at the door

of politicians now. Because we knew these winds were coming. The Santa Ana winds are famous, infamous here in Southern California. These offshore

winds that, you know, are dry and often bring fires.

[18:20:00]

So, they had prepared, but they'd only really prepared for one or two fires. We've had five or six fires. But you know, how much can you prepare?

You know, I mean, you can't have a standing army of 10,000 firefighters for each city. You know, there's -- where do you draw the line? But certainly,

these fires are going to have to change the way we in Southern California prepare for and fight these fires. Because clearly, this kind of thing is

unsustainable.

When you see an entire neighborhood -- you know this is one -- this the most populous county in the entire United States. And you've got these

fires popping up. You know, last night, a fire popped up in Hollywood all of a sudden. Forty-three acres. Cramped urban environment. Chaotic. You

know, this is not a sustainable way for a city to continue. So, something has to change. What will change, I can't say it.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, and something has to change in how it's rebuilt too, to your point, Nick, because this can't happen again. It can't be allowed to

happen again. And I think it's natural to look to somebody else to blame when you're shocked and when you're suffering on our hearts with everybody

there.

WATT: Yes.

CHATTERLEY: Nick, thank you for being there. Nick Watt, thank you. Now, as Nick was saying, the fire's being fueled by the Santa Ana winds, which blow

hot, dusty air through the region this time of year, and the winds have eased a bit in recent hours, allowing, as Nick was saying too, those

firefighters to drop water over the blazes, which is so critical.

However, meteorologists are now warning that the wind speeds could pick up once again. Chad joins us from the CNN Weather Center. Chad, it was exactly

as you predicted yesterday. What are we looking at now?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I think we're going to have a few good hours and then the winds pick up again after dark, probably 20 to 30 miles

per hour. So, 30 to 50 kilometers per hour.

I have some pictures behind me here, at least one. This is what Malibu looks like. When you drive the PCH, there's Ventura and Malibu that way,

and then all of a sudden you get Santa Monica that way. These absolutely stunning homes line the highway, the Pacific Coast Highway, and we talk

about defensible space.

They would like you to have 30 to 40 feet of nothing around your home in case a fire gets to your home, at least there's not going to be a tree to

fall on your home. So, defensible space around your home. There's absolutely no defensible space when you can barely get in between every

single one of the houses. Millions of dollars per house. Millions, not just one. They are all, from here all the way back off to the west, they are all

now ashes. Completely gone. Beautiful, absolutely stunning part of the world. As you drive by, there's honestly very little room on the shoulder

to even park your car. People don't care about that. They just want the view of the Pacific Ocean.

Hearst Fire, Eaton Fire, this was a big one here. This was Altadena. Part of the problem here is that these were not row houses, so to speak, but

again, your neighbor's garage was five feet from your home. So, if that house caught on fire, your house caught on fire, the next one did as well.

Here's the forecast for where we are pretty much right now. Still winds offshore, 20 miles per hour, almost 30 miles per hour in spots. That's not

good. Better than 80 and 90, yes, but not that great. By tomorrow afternoon, all these numbers change and even change direction.

Now, the numbers changing down to the single digits in most spots, pretty good. But the changing direction, Julia, is not a good thing because the

firefighters have been fighting a fire that was going this way. Now, all of a sudden, if the winds are going to be coming in from the west, they're

going to have to, one, get out of the way of that wind shift, and two, fight a fire in a completely different direction that's coming at them from

the west rather than coming at them from the north and toward the northeast.

Humidity does pick up tomorrow. That is some good news. But we're still in critical conditions for today and then slightly less conditions for

tomorrow. There will be an event down here. This is San Diego right there. It doesn't say it, it says El Cajon because El Cajon is kind of up in the

mountains. So, this is the area here that we're going to see the wind gusts could be 60 to 75 miles per hour. There are no sparks. There are no fires.

And we have to hope and pray that doesn't happen. It's wind, it's dry, and it's the spark. And it's dry because it hasn't rained in Los Angeles since

March, a couple sprinkles. The last time it has rained an inch or more in Los Angeles was March.

We should be in wet season now. It hasn't started, didn't rain. It rained in Northern California. It rained 200 percent of normal in Northern

California, zero percent down here. And the air quality, as Nick was talking about, everything that burned, I saw like an automobile brake shop

catch fire with fluids and brake shoes and, oh, whatever else was inside the building, just billowing black smoke, houses with even, you know, the

ordinary LP albums. They're made of petroleum, catching on fire, making black smoke.

[18:25:00]

It isn't a campfire that these people are dealing with. It isn't just some smoke that you can walk away from because your camp fires here and you have

to get on the other side. It's everywhere and it is toxic in many spots. Julia.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, it goes to your point yesterday about the curtains in homes as well. Suddenly, everything that has some form of plastic or

inorganic material and chemical and it suddenly becomes like lighter fuel. Chad Myers, thank you so much for that. Great to have you on as always. See

you tomorrow. Stay with CNN. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move." Now, in situations like California wildfires, tracking fires isn't just a helpful, it may be

essential. Watch Duty, a free fire tracking app provides real-time updates and other crucial information like evacuation zones, shelter locations and

weather alerts. It's automated monitoring system utilizes various sources, including 911 dispatch alerts, radio scanners, wildlife cameras and

satellites.

Well, this week, the app has soared to the top of the charts on the Apple App Store. And joining us now, the CEO and co-founder of Watch Duty, John

Mills. John, fantastic to have you with us. What we're seeing now in L.A., as unbearable as it is to watch, is precisely the reason why you've built

this app because you've been in a situation near fires and simply not been aware of what was going on, and you realize something like this could help.

JOHN MILLS, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, WATCH DUTY: Thanks for having me, Julia. Yes, this is all too common. Unfortunately, watching from Sonoma County

where I live, I've witnessed this type of destruction before. This one happens to be much more devastating than anything we've seen since we've

been doing this.

CHATTERLEY: And just describe how and who is behind this app? Because my understanding is you're a group of both active and retired firefighters,

dispatchers, first responders, reporters. You vet everybody very carefully that are filtering information because trust in this app and trust in the

information that you're providing to people is absolutely essential.

MILLS: Yes, that's right. You know, first and foremost, we are a nonprofit organization. It is important that we give away this information for free

without sign up, without e-mail address, phone number. We want people to have this in their hands because we wanted this when we went through this

type of disaster.

[18:30:00]

And so, these reporters, we call them, they're radio scanners and operators have backgrounds in this work, whether it's again, like you said, dispatch

fire service or just grew up a son or daughter, a firefighter who've been listening to radios their entire life. And so, those folks are vetted. They

have background checks. This is not a crowd sourced application. As you can tell, it's a one-way communication from real radio traffic that first

responders are saying to each other.

CHATTERLEY: Yes. And, John, I think I'll reiterate the point and we'll come back to the point where I can imagine reading between the lines, what

you're saying is the sort of initial response to people to this app was it in some way you're trying to profiteer from crisis in this sense? So, I'll

reiterate for you the nonprofit aspect of this.

But I do think it's no small mission to be able to pass through the information that you're given and make decisions on when you're saying to

people, look, this is the evacuation zone, and this is how you need to sort of behave in this moment. How do you ensure the accuracy and how you choose

what information you provide to people on this app?

MILLS: Yes, it's a great question. I mean, obviously, we have lots of training and lots of time doing this. I mean, the folks who've been doing

this work have been doing this well before Watch Duty existed. In fact, I found them on Facebook and Twitter four years ago when I was going through

my first big wildfire. They were doing this as independent human beings.

And so, what we did is we put them all together. They communicate in real- time and they talk and decide on what to put out and when. So, it's not some lone actor in the woods somewhere who's pushing information out, it's

actually a bunch of people who are collaborating what, where, how and how fast we do that. And so, speed is important, but accuracy is more

important.

CHATTERLEY: And I know you've reached over 7 million people this year, and as I mentioned, it's been enormously downloaded over the past few days. Do

you think this app could be expanded to other areas? I'm thinking hurricane risks, for example, in Florida, flooding risk, potentially even

earthquakes, too. I mean, the model that you have here, I feel, could be expanded for other natural disasters and beyond.

MILLS: Yes. I mean, that's always been part of the plan. I like to tell people that we didn't name it fire duty for a reason, right? It's Watch

Duty. It's people who are on watch day and night doing this job. And so, it is absolutely part of our plan. You'll be seeing some of that coming out

for the next rain season.

CHATTERLEY: Is education, as part of the app, a possibility too? We had a professor on the show yesterday that was saying home hardening and removing

shrubs, perhaps meshes to protect against some of the debris that's flying around and perhaps starting other smaller fires, these steps by individual

homeowners could help protect them in future is sort of education apart and potential piece of this app too, John, because we can connect you? If so, I

just think that could be very useful for people that are on this app to get educated on how they can protect themselves better too.

MILLS: Well, I think you're reading my mind here. It is very much in our wheelhouse to start working in education. We're very focused on what's

called the conflagration right now, the fire, and it's important that we get this in everyone's hands and get life and safety first. And then, we

will start expanding into these things, right?

There's pre-planning, which is what you're talking about. There's the conflagration, which is what we do now. And then there's recovery, which

takes years. And so, all of this information is scattered well across the internet. It takes a lot of time and money and energy to go find it all.

And so, it's very much in our purview to think about what does it look like to have the disaster application for all disasters pre, post, and during.

CHATTERLEY: Very quickly, John, you said the magic word, which is money. As we've discussed, you are a nonprofit. Do you need to raise more money?

Are you looking for more money at this moment to help you deal with the additional thousands of people that have just been added to the app?

MILLS: Yes, absolutely. I mean, every dollar counts, you know, and everyone who does pay and support the app, make sure that it is free for

everybody else. And so, if people can support us, watchduty.org/donate is the place to do that.

CHATTERLEY: You got it. John, thank you so much for your time. John Mills, CEO and co-founder of Watch Duty there.

MILLS: Thank you.

CHATTERLEY: Thank you. All right. Coming up, more on the raging wildfires in Southern California, a live report from the scene, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:35:00]

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move." And more now on the wildfire disaster in Southern California. Multiple major fires are still burning

across the Los Angeles area. The worst of them, the Palisades Fire, is now the most destructive to ever hit the region. It's believed to have

destroyed thousands of homes and businesses since Tuesday. Arson investigators are now looking into how it began.

Meanwhile, just a short while ago, the L.A. County Fire chief held a news conference on the Eaton Fire too.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARRONE: Well, the Eaton Fire is now estimated to be 13,690 acres. It's grown since our morning press conference because the fire is making a run

towards the historic Mount Wilson area. We are still at zero percent containment, but we now have a better estimation of the number of fire

personnel assigned to the incident. We're now at 1,527 personnel assigned.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHATTERLEY: Around 200,000 people are under evacuation orders. Wind speeds eased slightly earlier, but are expected to pick back up slightly. And as

Chad Myers, of course, was telling us, it's the direction change that we also need to watch.

Bill Weir is on the ground in Malibu, California. Bill, good to have you with us. I'm just looking at the scenes behind you and words fail me. It's

just total devastation.

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: I'm still recovering from my initial reaction driving up Pacific Coast Highway, Julia. For generations,

this strip between the Pacific Ocean and this roadway, is some of the most unique, iconic, and valuable real estate anywhere in the United States.

But, on this stretch here, for about five miles, eight kilometers, it is just ashes and destruction. It is smoldering ruins. It is twisted metal.

There, you can see the remains of these mansions.

In a good day when you had the top down driving up this road, you'd see more mansions than you would ocean because they were so densely packed

together. But on Tuesday night, just a blizzard of ashes or of embers came screaming over that hillside down to the beach here, and we can see that it

just ignited pretty much everything it touched, with rare exception, there are pockets of homes that survived, but we're seeing cars that are just

absolutely melted.

Every bit of vegetation is charred, you know, into charcoal. You know, we talk about in forest communities like Paradise, which had a devastating

campfire about five years ago. You got to defend the space. You got to no vegetation within 10, 20 feet of your home.

[18:40:00]

You don't think about that when you live on the Pacific Coast Highway, when you live on the beach, literally. But this is the result of a new kind of

firestorm on a much hotter planet, and people are still reeling.

There's active flames up in Topanga Canyon. We were there as nervous locals were watching, hosing their roofs as helicopters dropped retardants and

crews on the ground, were hosing the vegetation there. And there's that -- this doesn't even count the big fire up above Pasadena and Altadena there

as well. So, these are really, really tense times in Southern California, Julia.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, it's such a destruction. Bill, to what you were just saying, though, and I think this is a vitally important question, and it's

going to be a more important question, I think, going forward, is there any understanding, just based on what you're looking at of why some of those

houses there survived versus others? I guess it goes back, perhaps, to your point, about surrounding vegetation.

' WEIR: It can be. It can be construction material. I'm working on a special now, actually, that's airing in the spring about how to build for this

fiery new world. What is a fireproof home? What is it made out of?

You can see the stone on some of these structures survived. Here's a standing brick fireplace as a result of that. But stone is a different

challenge when it comes to construction in the United States. Stick frame and stucco rules the day here in California. Fire code calls for a stucco

that'll burn for an hour. Well, if everything else around that stucco burns, it doesn't really matter, does it? This fire is so sneaky.

So, we're living through sort of real-time forced adaptation, changing building codes, changing property values, to be sure, but certainly,

changing insurance rates. That's a massive crisis. So, many big insurance companies have pulled out of California because they've lost so much money

here. This, when you consider the billions of dollars of property, just in this part of this fire, will add another layer to that.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, home hardening. That's the key, isn't it, Bill? But it doesn't help with the heartbreak and the devastation and the loss that

they're suffering right now. Thank you so much for that report. Bill Weir, on the ground there in Malibu for us. Thank you. We'll be right back. Stay

with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back. The Venezuelan opposition claims its leader was briefly detained after a protest in Caracas. Maria Karina Machado was

making her public -- first public appearance in months ahead of Friday's inauguration of President Nicolas Maduro. The Venezuelan government denies

that she was held.

[18:45:00]

Maduro is set to begin his third term in office, but both he and opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez claim to have won July's presidential election.

Stefano Pozzebon has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST (voice-over): Refusing to be silenced. Once again, Venezuelan protesters taking to the streets on Thursday demanding

President Nicolas Maduro step down. Among them, opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, her first appearance in months.

MARIA CORINA MACHADO, VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION LEADER (voice-over): Whatever they do tomorrow, they will bury themselves. It will be the end of Maduro.

POZZEBON (voice-over): But Maduro, in power for more than a decade, does not intend to back down. He's planning to be sworn in as president for a

third time on Friday, despite widespread international outcry and independent electoral observers casting serious doubts over the legitimacy

of his victory.

The U.S., Canada, and several countries in the Americas have instead recognized Machado's ally Edmundo Gonzalez as the true president-elect. A

former diplomat who fled the country last year, he plans to challenge Maduro by returning to Caracas and assuming power on Friday. U.S. President

Joe Biden and other leaders backing him along the way.

Gonzalez faces immediate arrest if he were to return, even though up to nine former presidents pledged to join him. Maduro's government deployed

soldiers and militia before his inauguration on Friday.

DIOSDADO CABELLO, VENEZUELAN MINISTER OF INTERIOR, JUSTICE AND PEACE (through translator): We have plenty of space in our jails. We have plenty

of space for anyone who comes here to attack this country, to disrespect our people.

POZZEBON (voice-over): Tensions rising ahead of a crucial showdown and an early test for democracy in 2025.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHATTERLEY: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was one of the dignitaries who attended the state funeral of Former U.S. President Jimmy

Carter in Washington Thursday. He sat not far away from President-Elect Donald Trump, who continues to argue that Canada would be better as

America's 51st state.

Trump shared a map on Truth Social Wednesday that showed Canada, as well as parts of Greenland, as parts of the United States. The New York Post

cheekily calling it Trump's Donroe Doctrine a play on the Monroe Doctrine, of course.

Trudeau, who announced this week that he's stepping down as Canadian prime minister sat down with our Jake Tapper for an interview just a few hours

ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: President-Elect Trump has been needling you a bit, calling you Governor Trudeau, talking about making Canada the 51st state. Did you have

any interaction with him today?

JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: No not today. But that's not going to happen. Canadians are incredibly proud of being Canadian. One of

the ways we define ourselves most easily is, well, we're not American. There is such a depth of pride that that's not actually an issue.

What I think is happening in this is President Trump, who's a very skillful negotiator, is getting people to be somewhat distracted by that

conversation, to take away from the conversation around 25 percent tariffs on oil and gas and electricity and steel and aluminum and lumber and

concrete and everything the American consumers buy from Canada is suddenly going to get a lot more expensive if he moves forward on these tariffs. And

that's something that I think we need to be focusing on a little bit more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHATTERLEY: The Canadian prime minister there, Justin Trudeau. Now, coming up for us more on the fast-moving wildfires in California, a battalion

chief from CAL FIRE joining us with the very latest, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:50:00]

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move." It's almost 4:00 p.m. in Southern California and firefighters continue to battle the devastating

wildfires there. At least six people have lost their lives so far. The Palisades and Eaton Fires are still zero percent contained.

President Biden calling the situation, quote, "catastrophic," saying the federal government will cover all costs of recovery for six months.

And joining us now, Brent Pascua, he's battalion chief with CAL FIRE. Chief Pascua, thank you so much for your time and for your service. Can you begin

by giving us the latest and how -- what you're challenged with today compares to this time yesterday?

BATTALION CHIEF BRENT PASCUA, CAL FIRE: Yes, so the latest on the Palisades Fire were just over 17,000 acres that have been burned. We have

over 2,000 personnel fighting this fire. And today, was actually a good day. The winds subsided. We've been able to fight -- take the fight to this

fire instead of chasing it around when we had those 80-mile an hour winds.

CHATTERLEY: Yes. Are you able to build some kind of containment? I mentioned just there in the introduction, we're still saying zero percent

contained. But do you have at least time and the opportunity now with the winds lower to at least try to build some containment?

PASCUA: I'm very optimistic that we did get some containment put in today, but also this was a major disaster with a lot of structures, a lot of homes

destroyed. So, our focus is on that as well. So, it might take a little while to see that containment come up.

CHATTERLEY: And we were talking earlier on the show about the possibility of the wind speeds picking up, potentially changing direction, as well as

we push throughout the night into tomorrow. How are you preparing for that?

PASCUA: Yes. So, crews have taken advantage of today's favorable weather. We're putting as much water resources on the smoldering fire that we can

because we know if those winds come back, it creates -- it could create another catastrophe, blowing embers everywhere again.

CHATTERLEY: And can I ask about the situation with hydrants and potential lack of pressure as well? And there's been reports on social media and

people worried about a lack of water as well. Can you just give us a sense of, again, how your teams are utilizing these facilities and what is and

isn't available?

PASCUA: Yes, every time the crews come in to grab a bite to eat, I go and ask them about this question because I get asked it a lot. And so, far, all

I've heard is at the height of this firefight, the water pressure drops. They never ran out. And they were able to keep fighting fire because they

had water. They just said at the height of the fire, it did drop a little bit, but I didn't hear of any running out of water.

CHATTERLEY: OK. This is important too. And what we did hear from the sheriff as well for L.A. County suggesting that the California National

Guard has been called and could hopefully arrive as early as this evening. Can I ask what additional support your crews have got at this stage and

perhaps what more you're hoping for?

PASCUA: Yes. So, we've been getting additional support from firefighters all over our state and out of state as well. The National Guard coming in

is going to be great help for traffic control, making sure there's no looters. This is a big area. So, any help we can get is going to be great.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, it's heartbreaking that these people that have had to flee their homes are also having to fear the prospect of looting too. We're

sorry for it. I think most importantly, how are you holding up? How are your crews holding up? Because I'm sure you're all pretty exhausted.

PASCUA: You know, talking to my crews today, you wouldn't know they've been up for 48, 60 hours. Somehow, they still have a smile on their face.

They're still motivated and they want to take this fight to the fire. We were all so happy to have this day where the wind wasn't blowing sand or

ash or smoke in our face. It was a really nice day to make some progress.

[18:55:00]

CHATTERLEY: Chief, we thank you and all those out there fighting for your bravery and for your dedication, and keep those smiles on your faces,

please. We're behind you and thinking of you. Thank you.

PASCUA: Thank you very much.

CHATTERLEY: Thank you, sir. OK. And that just about wraps up the show. Thank you for joining us. Stay with CNN. Plenty more coverage of the

California wildfires to follow. And we'll see you tomorrow.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:00:00]

END