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Rick's List
Gas Line Explosion Decimates California Neighborhood; President Obama Holds News Conference; Pitch Less to Play Longer; Living Large on Taxpayer's Money
Aired September 10, 2010 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez.
Here's what's topping the LIST on this day.
I want you to take a look at a couple of pictures I'm going to take you through. All right? This is the incredible inferno that obliterated an entire neighborhood just south of San Francisco.
I want to take you through the process of just how it happened, because it started sometime around dinnertime last night. It was a 24-inch natural gas pipeline. It ruptured in San Bruno, right across the freeway from the San Francisco Airport.
This thing rips a huge hole in this neighborhood, where homes were just a few feet apart, so you can imagine that, you know, it had a tumultuous effect on one building to another. Flames shot dozens of feet into the air and then spread fast.
It happened so fast, in fact, that no one had time to react. I want you to listen now to this woman. She was inside her home when, suddenly, one of these pipes burst.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you hear the explosion?
JUDY SERRESSQUE, RESIDENT OF SAN BRUNO, CALIFORNIA: Oh, yes. Yes. It was huge. It -- it felt like an earthquake, a big one. And -- and I got scared. I mean, I felt have them before. But this one was -- the whole house shook.
And I got up to go into a doorway, and my living room filled with an orange glow. And when I went to my front door, a glass front, I looked out, and everything was just flames. Everything was flames.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Here's the very latest damage list. You ready? Thirty-eight homes destroyed, seven heavily damaged. At least four people have been killed. Fifty-two people have been sent to the hospital.
Can you imagine if that were your neighborhood? Now, right now, the gas and the electric company says it has cut off the gas to the area and is working to restore electricity to the homes that are still standing.
Now, here's a tweet that we got from PG&E. It says: "Because of the concern for safety, we are walking block by block, house by house, to reestablish service to those without power."
There it is, directly from PG&E. We have been checking their Twitter account all day to bring you the latest as it comes in.
Now, let me bring in Ted Rowlands. He's been working this story all day long. He's got to be one tired hombre now. He's in San Bruno.
Just bring us the latest that you're hearing out of there, Ted.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're -- we're expecting to get an update with maybe some new numbers.
Here's what we're being told, off the record, is that expect the number of fatalities possibly to go up. And that's what they're doing now. They're using cadaver dogs and going through the area, looking for possible human remains.
So, you may see the fatality rate go up. There are also some very seriously burned people in that 52 number that were injured. Some of those folks are fighting for their lives, very seriously burned. And you can only imagine, looking at the inferno from last night and how quickly it spread. That's what we're hearing from a lot of people.
The other thing that is going on is the investigation, how did this happen? Every major city has these pipe lines going through them. Why did this one burst and ignite such an explosion? PG&E is going in and looking at it.
They say they haven't been out -- gotten the opportunity from police yet to go right to the ground zero area and analyze the pipe. But they're hearing from a lot of people that say, about a week-and-a- half ago, two weeks ago, this neighborhood had reports of people smelling gas and possibly crews even coming out to investigate it.
Here is the testimony of one of those individuals that says he smelled gas two weeks ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIM GUTIERREZ, RESIDENT OF SAN BRUNO, CALIFORNIA: I mean, I don't know how anybody cannot repair a smell like that, and -- and not find that smell, especially going to neighborhoods, and there's other -- other neighborhoods that have smelt the same smell, really strong.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And for how long have you smelled this?
GUTIERREZ: For a good three weeks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what did they tell you to do? GUTIERREZ: When they -- when they -- when they had came out, they said, just shut the door and go inside the house. And that was it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROWLANDS: And the NTSB, Rick, is actually leading this investigation. But they're relying heavily, as you might imagine, on PG&E. And they are saying that they will be completely transparent. They say they're aware of these reports. They're looking through their logs.
And they want to get down there and actually take a look at this pipe to see what happened. Two theories. One is erosion. The other, somehow, somebody broke it.
SANCHEZ: Well, it's interesting. I'm fascinated by these folks who are coming forward now and saying, we -- we have been smelling something for several weeks, as you've just -- as you have just reported.
But it -- it doesn't seem to me that PG&E is saying, yes, we received those complaints and did such and such as a result of receiving those complaints, because I -- I imagine there has to be some process, some system in place for dealing with something like that, right? And, if there isn't, my God, they should have it.
ROWLANDS: Oh, absolutely. And they will -- they will be armchair-quarterbacking on what the response was, if indeed these other reports had anything to do with this.
That's the other thing.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
ROWLANDS: It's easy to connect dots when we think, oh, this A led to B. So, they're looking into all that.
But I got to tell you, it started with this one guy on television, and then, just in the last hour, we have met two other people who say, in the neighborhood, they had smelled gas, too. So, you -- obviously --
SANCHEZ: Yes.
ROWLANDS: -- you have to wait for the investigation to run its course.
SANCHEZ: Well, but -- but that's -- but that's -- but --
(CROSSTALK)
ROWLANDS: But there seems to be --
SANCHEZ: But --
ROWLANDS: -- a lot of concern about it.
SANCHEZ: But that's my point, though. It's one thing to smell gas.
ROWLANDS: Right.
SANCHEZ: It's another thing to pick up the phone, call the gas company and say, I'm on the corner of Smith and Elm, and I want you to know, I am smelling gas right here, right now.
Was that done? Was there anybody who actually made an official complaint --
ROWLANDS: Yes.
SANCHEZ: -- aside from the Monday morning, you know, quarterbacking that we're hearing now?
ROWLANDS: Well, the -- I don't know how the complaint started. But this Tim Gutierrez, the individual we just heard from, he was outside his garage when PG&E showed up, and they did a full analysis and told him actually to stay back because there was gas in the air and it was potentially dangerous.
SANCHEZ: Huh.
ROWLANDS: So, they were out here. Whether they were out here looking at the potential explosion site or another one, that's the question.
SANCHEZ: Yes. And it's a darn good question. My thanks to you.
Ted Rowlands is going to be following that story for us. If there's anything new on it, obviously, we are going to be getting back to him.
In the meantime, I want to bring in Chad Myers.
Chad, for anyone who isn't familiar with the area, I want you to show us where San Bruno is, because we're talking about a huge -- I mean, we're talking about an entire area -- neighborhood being essentially taken down by these series of explosions. Talk to us geographically here, would you?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, sure.
And, as I go through this, I want you to notice the homes around it, and I want you to notice the lack of any real gap that would say, here's a giant pipeline, don't dig here, or something like that. This is literally through like a neighborhood like you and I would live in.
There's the airport. There's San Bruno. There is the freeway.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
MYERS: So -- and this is the area right here. This is the area that we're talking about right here, kind of a quiet little neighborhood, a little bit of a berm through here. I noticed that -- don't go any farther yet, Dave -- the houses here and the houses here both have fences.
This fence here ends here. This fence here ends here. There's some kind of a right of way in between here. But the big hole that you see in all that video is down here, down in this roadway.
We also noticed a bunch of patches in the road. I'm not saying there's anything going on there. But I would just -- we were just noticing these things. Go ahead, Dave. We will take it out. We will -- we will kind of make it a little bit different here, take a view of it.
It's rough here, San Andreas Fault area. This is rough. This -- there's canyons through here. Here's -- here, right here, there's the pipeline right there. That's where the explosion was. Notice, there's a big cliff that falls off on the other side where, again, that hole in the ground that you see, it's actually filled with water today.
I assume that's probably a water line that was filling up this big cavern that they have put -- this thing exploded right here, right on this intersection. And there's that big hole, and they're pumping the water out and down into this cavern, and so they can get down there to see what it is.
Let me get rid of this for just a second. I'm going to take you to something else we don't use very often, because we're always on Google. But I'll tell you what. Our friends at Bing Maps -- go Bing.com and you can find the Bing Map.
This explosion -- there's the tree. There's the hole right in the middle of the intersection. This is obviously a map when the homes were still here. Trust me, these homes are no longer here.
And just move this around, Monica, anywhere -- any place that you want to take us to. So, again, the hole would be here. Now, look at the neighborhood. OK, yes, there is this area, Rick, where there's a little bit of a gap between the houses, but houses everywhere.
There are just -- there are just -- there -- there's not something -- like I would expect like a football-field-wide area --
SANCHEZ: Huh.
MYERS: -- that says, here's the natural gas line. Here's where it is. That doesn't exist.
And, in fact, if I take you here, I -- I don't think it exists anywhere. This is a map of all of the gas lines -- natural gas lines -- in California. And all the red lines are the natural gas lines.
So, look, here, there, there, there, all the way -- there are -- there must be hundreds, I mean, if not thousands, of miles of pipeline. You know, usually, they're marked. And, usually, you can just go ahead and take a look and say, hey, look, there's that pipeline. Don't do anything there. That's where it is.
And it should actually as you buy your home on the disclosure, yes, there's a pipeline in your backyard.
SANCHEZ: Yes, I would say.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: I would say.
MYERS: Yes.
SANCHEZ: You know, I -- we had a home once in New Jersey, and when you went into a wooded area, you actually would see where the pipeline was. And it was marked off.
MYERS: Yes.
SANCHEZ: And -- and it -- and it was an area that was separated from the homes, although there was always a fear that, if it blew, it would probably affect the homes. But it was quite a distance away.
MYERS: I see those markers here in Georgia. It's a big pipe --
SANCHEZ: Yes.
MYERS: -- orange or yellow with a big red cap on it and says natural gas pipeline, do not dig.
SANCHEZ: Right.
MYERS: Do not dig. I get that.
SANCHEZ: And -- and --
MYERS: And I'm not saying anybody was digging, but that's what it says on -- and you can see it in a big straight line --
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: So, that's interesting that they -- there was no demarcation there, though, huh, you say?
MYERS: I didn't see it on Google Earth. I went on the Bing Maps.
I went all the way -- you know, Google Earth, you can actually see where the cars have driven down, taken pictures every 10 feet.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
MYERS: We went -- we went through all of those pictures and didn't see one thing that said nat gas pipe. But I -- you know, we weren't living -- we didn't live there.
SANCHEZ: No, no, I understand. I understand. MYERS: We're not there. We're not on the ground. So, we're not on the ground to look for it. I'm looking at it from a map from somebody else's picture, so --
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: It's a great question to raise, though, and something we will continue to look into.
Obviously, we are going to obviously be doing the story tonight again at -- on prime time's -- the prime-time version of RICK'S LIST.
MYERS: Of course.
SANCHEZ: And that might be something that we might want to go after.
Hey, by the way -- Chad, we will get back to you a little bit later.
I want to talk about something else now. I want to talk about the Red Cross. They also have been tweeting. In fact, just a few minutes ago, received this tweet. Let's go to the Twitter board, if we possibly can, here in New York City.
"We have opened two shelters now for Bruno fire survivors and are providing food and drinks to emergency responders on the scene."
So, as usual, the Red Cross real quick to let us know what's going on. We follow them, and they tweet us as soon as there's any emergency in the United States here at RICK'S LIST, so that we can provide you with the information that they -- they -- they want you to know.
All right, now take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are not at war against Islam. We are at war against terrorist organizations that have distorted Islam.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: President Obama holding his very first news conference in months, and he used the platform to weigh in on just about everything from the economy to Afghanistan, but it's what he had to say about the religious tensions in this country that really stuck. That's ahead.
And, for 36 days, nearly three dozen mean have been trapped 2,000 feet under the earth. There's an update, pictures. But it's what we have heard that they're asking for now that we think you will find most interesting. And I will have that for you after the break.
That's next right here on RICK'S LIST. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back.
You have heard some of the questions that were raised -- being raised by both Ted Rowlands and by Chad moments ago as we're following this incredible fire that's taken place in San Bruno just outside of -- just outside of San Francisco.
You're going to see here two things. There's the -- there's the fire on the left, or the smoldering, or what's left of it. Now, you see those cameras that are set up there? That's a news conference that's about to take place.
City officials from San Bruno, from San Francisco, fire officials, folks with the gas companies are all coming together to try to answer all these pertinent questions to how this happened, how it could have happened, who possibly dropped the ball on this thing.
We're going to take you through that. As soon as that news conference begins, you're going to be able to see it live right here on RICK'S LIST. So, stand by, folks.
Now, let's check in on efforts to try and rescue those 33 Chilean miners, that story that we have been telling you about for the better part of two weeks now. They have been trapped underground now for 36 days.
I want you to take a look at this piece of equipment. This is an oil drilling platform. And it arrived at the mine just today. This is part of what's being called plan C.
All right, here's what you need to know. Plan A, that includes a drill that's digging away and is working just fine, a little slow, but they say it's working OK. Plan B's drill was digging faster, but it hit a snag this week. And the drill bit was destroyed. So, B, not so good.
Enter plan C. And we're being told this new drill is going to dig faster than either of the other two drills. But this good news comes with a little bit of a warning. The miners still might have to wait until December or longer to be rescued.
So, now let's take a look at this, how these guys are doing, how they're spending their days and their nights underground. There's the video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: See that right there? That's that pipe that brings them the food and whatever it is that they need. Can you imagine? That's their stash of supplies. These pictures that we just got in, they clearly show what the conditions are like down there. It's obviously not easy. You can see how the trapped men prepare food, how they work. The men say they try to keep busy, and they try to exercise, and they say they try and spend a lot of time praying as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was an aggressive campaign and an even more aggressive campaigner!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Why is this man yelling? Wait until you see this video.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: It is a stump speech. But this is a stump speech like you have never heard before. That's coming up here in just a little bit.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: Also, President Obama got very candid during his news conference today. He talked about what al Qaeda wants to see in the United States and what his administration is trying to do to catch Osama bin Laden.
That's next right here on the LIST.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez. This is your LIST, your national conversation.
At the very top of our political list today: President Obama's White House question-and-answer session. Today, President Obama gave his very first full-scale question-and-answer session at the White House in nearly four months. And this was a doozy. I mean, this went on and on and on. He talked about the economy and he talked about the tax cuts that he wants, not for the wealthy 2 percent, he says, but only for the middle class.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I have said that middle-class families need tax relief right now. And I'm prepared to work on a bill and sign a bill this month that would ensure that middle-class families get tax relief. Ninety-seven percent of Americans make less than $250,000 a year -- $250,000 a year or less. And I'm saying, we can give those families, 97 percent, permanent tax relief.
And by the way, for those who make more than $250,000, they'd still get tax relief on the first $250,000, they just wouldn't get it for income above that. Now, that seems like a common-sense thing to do. And what I have got is the Republicans holding middle-class tax relief hostage because they're insisting we've got to give tax relief to millionaires and billionaires to the tune of about $100,000 per millionaire, which would cost, over the course of 10 years, $700 billion -- and that economists say is probably the worst way to stimulate the economy.
That doesn't make sense. And that's an example of what this election is all about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Here's CNN's senior political analyst Gloria Borger. She's joining us now from Washington.
Hi, Gloria.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: How are you doing, Rick?
(CROSSTALK)
BORGER: There's the message.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: Well, it is. And, you know, he -- he's been throwing that big nut out now, that $700 billion figure.
And --
BORGER: Right.
SANCHEZ: -- I have got -- I have got to tell you, that is a big nut. When you hear $700 billion, suddenly, it's -- it's a number that resonates, I think, with Americans --
BORGER: Right.
SANCHEZ: -- when you start talking about deficits.
BORGER: Sure. It -- it -- it's a big number. It's a way for him to differentiate Democrats from Republicans, saying, look, we want to extend these tax cuts which are set to expire for the middle class, but not for the wealthy. So, why would Republicans hold it hostage? And, P.S., if Republicans are really serious about doing something about the deficit, which they say they are, the president says, then why would they -- you know, why would they want to give tax cuts to the rich and cost -- cost that kind of money?
So, he's really framing the narrative --
SANCHEZ: Yes.
BORGER: -- for Democrats to take -- to take into the midterm.
SANCHEZ: Well, yes. It's -- because he's saying, OK, to give them the $700 billion, we have to borrow that $700 billion. So, why would we --
BORGER: Right.
SANCHEZ: -- borrow $70 billion to give people who already are very wealthy and may not need the money $700 billion? I mean, it's a -- you know, it's an argument that, if you're looking at it logically, you could say, well, you know, finally --
BORGER: Right.
SANCHEZ: -- he's on to something that's at least tangible, whether you agree --
BORGER: Well --
SANCHEZ: -- with it or not.
BORGER: Well, but Republicans would make the argument that right now is not the time to raise taxes on anybody.
In fact, a former member of his administration, Peter Orszag, said the same thing, which was, essentially, keep those tax cuts for the wealthy for a couple of years and phase them out. And it seemed today, in fact, Rick, that the president was not in concrete on the way to do all of this.
SANCHEZ: Hmm.
BORGER: You know, it seemed to me that he was saying, look, if we pass our jobs bill and Republicans want to do that and give tax credits to small businesses, maybe we can work our way around on this -- on this tax issue.
SANCHEZ: Right.
Gloria Borger, always good talking to you. We're going to have to cut it short --
BORGER: You, too.
SANCHEZ: -- because we understand that news conference has just started in San Francisco.
Let's go to it now. And we will take it live.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- immediately assess all property and see what assistance -- additional assistance is for the victims of the incident.
I would also like to add that PG&E has committed to temporary housing, to food, to clothing and other essential needs for the victims. I also would like to state -- state that the Red Cross is coordinating at the Veterans Memorial Building. That's in Bruno Park. I was just there. And the support from the community is amazing, dropping off food, water, clothing, all for the victims.
I want to assure the people of San Bruno and the people of California that we are moving quickly to find the cause. It is very, very important to all of us.
Now, if I may just briefly, in Spanish. (SPEAKING SPANISH)
SANCHEZ: He's telling people in Spanish now that he's just passed permits in the municipal and area, so he will allow people to collect unemployment who are now without their homes, so that they can be taken care of as a result of this situation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- Connie Jackson, the city manager of the city of San Bruno.
SANCHEZ: So, that -- that's what he said there in Spanish just a little while ago for those. Apparently, he's come up with some kind of way of giving folks unemployment benefits.
Now let's listen in again.
CONNIE JACKSON, CITY MANAGER, SAN BRUNO, CALIFORNIA: That is one of our primary, immediate tasks.
An important update will -- will occur at a town hall meeting which will take place tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 p.m. This is an announcement for the public. A town hall meeting will be convened by the mayor and the City Council tomorrow afternoon, 2:00 p.m., at Saint Roberts Church on Crystal Springs Road, which is directly across the street from our Veterans Memorial Recreation Center.
Chief Haag will give you an update on the status of the event. To date, I can assure you again that we are doing everything possible to assist residents, through the recreation center, with accessing resources.
As I told you this morning, earlier, our local assistance center is up and running at the recreation center on Crystal Springs Road. We have a large group of people who are currently taking advantage of that -- those services and the shelter facilities, which are available there.
Any person who needs to -- information about resources should report to that location. And we are still encouraging residents who have not identified their whereabouts and their safety to report in at the recreation center, so that we can begin to complete an accurate accounting of all of the residents of the affected area.
Again, tomorrow afternoon, 2:00 p.m. at Saint Roberts Church, a town hall meeting with Mayor Ruane and the City Council.
Thank you.
BATTALION CHIEF DENNIS HAAG, SAN BRUNO FIRE DEPARTMENT: Good afternoon.
As mentioned by the lieutenant governor, we have completed 75 percent of the property, upon initial search with the rescue dogs. The other 25 percent of the residences are still too hot to enter. So, we still have to process -- go through a cooling process before we let the dogs go in.
We have 25 companies searching these residences. And we have requested now two additional urban search-and-rescue teams to assist us, as there's quite a bit of rubble and debris that has to be cleared.
We have -- one challenge is, we're trying to repair the water and sewer lines, so we can access the crater and let PG&E have access into -- into the gas line.
We have eight investigators on the scene currently. They're going to rule out everything in trying to find the source of the ignition. And we plan on having the damage assessment report here this afternoon. We want to make sure that everything is correct addresses and so forth and so on.
So, that's our status right now. Thank you.
QUESTION: Sir, what's your name and title, please?
(CROSSTALK)
HAAG: Dennis Haag, fire chief, San Bruno.
(CROSSTALK)
HAAG: H-A-A-G. No one gets it right, though.
Right now, I would like to introduce Police Chief Neil Telford.
CHIEF NEIL TELFORD, SAN BRUNO POLICE DEPARTMENT: From the law enforcement standpoint, we continue to provide perimeter security, as well as roving patrols in the area, affected area, as well as providing assistance with the search-and-rescue mission.
So, that is the extent of the law enforcement effort. Once again, we will continue to patrol that area. We will continue to make sure that those homes in that area are safe. We have a tremendous amount of support from the state of California, the county of San Mateo and all the mutual law enforcement agencies that are assisting us.
So, we will continue our safety efforts and continue to assist fire with our search-and-rescue efforts.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Chief.
Next, I would like to bring up Jean Fraser, the chief of the San Mateo County Health System, to review some of the health --
SANCHEZ: All right. That's the situation right now there in San Bruno. I'll tell you, you just heard what the fire chief was alluding to. And as we look at some of these pictures, you see exactly what we're talking about. These people were suddenly put upon with no warning, no expectation, an explosion from this natural gas line that just blew and then spread the flames and the fire from one home to another.
Seventy-five percent of the area has been searched or checked. That means 25 percent of the homes in this neighborhood have still not been checked. And you just heard the fire chief explain there why. It's just too hot. They can't get dogs in there. They can't get anybody else there in. So what they need to do now is find a way to stabilize the area, repair the water and the electric lines to make it safe enough for the folks with the gas company to then go in, check their line, the gas line, and find what the origin of the explosion was. Because without finding what the origin of the explosion was, obviously they're not going to be able to tell what could have possibly caused this.
And the very first thing that was said by officials outside of this news conference was, we are determined to find what caused this to happen. So we're going to be on this. Obviously, a lot of questions. The story is still developing. And as we get information, we're going to be sharing it with you. What a story.
Meanwhile, new dangers in Colorado, more powerful winds fanning the flames of a raging wildfire. I'm going to tell you about the brand-new warnings for more neighborhoods. That's next right here on THE LIST. You're watching RICK'S LIST. We're going to be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Hey, welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez. We got a couple of tweets that I want to share with you because at least we ought to be able to get a sense of what's going on now in Colorado. This is a story that we've been sharing with you for quite some time. These are the four-mile fire, as it's being called, around Boulder, Colorado. To the Twitter board we go.
Here it says, the first one. This is from Boulder County, by the way. They say, "The four-mile canyon wildfire is approximately now 6,422 acres in size." And then they give a status report as well. And they go and say, "No deaths as a result of the fire have been reported. Three firefighters sustained minor injuries."
So as we watch this, we want to bring you up-to-date on what's going on out there.
I want you to take a look now at this picture.
Let's go ahead and put that up if you got that there - Dan Kell (ph).
This is what's left of the house in the foothills near Boulder, Colorado. Remember the other day when we were watching some of these houses burn? Listen to this number -- 169 homes in this canyon have burned to the ground, destroyed since the wildfires began Monday. And there's fear today that winds could push flames into the Boulder City limits.
CNN's Jim Spellman is in boulder. He's joining us now to bring us up-to-date on what's going on.
Jim, you know, I guess it's all about whether the conditions are good enough for the firefighters to go out there and deal with this, right? But it changes from day to day, is that right?
JIM SPELLMAN, CNN ALL PLATFORM JOURNALIST: Yes. And as we've been talking all week, Rick, it's really a race against the wind. The more time that they can do to put this fire down, build lines around populated areas and homes, before the wind comes in and starts feeding the fire, the better.
I'll tell you in the last hour, it's really picked up here. It's gusting up to 25 miles an hour. It's what they call a red flag warning in effect for this afternoon where the winds pick up and whip through these canyons.
Last night, winds were gusting up to the 40 miles an hour, but they were able to maintain all their lines. They are really happy about that. They think if they can make it through tonight, they're going to be in better shape with some more humidity and lower winds over the weekend. But you know what they said yesterday, once spark can jump the line and it's off to the races, as one fire official said yesterday - Rick.
SANCHEZ: Well, what is the situation now? I mean, I know we've lost some 169 homes, but is there a threat that there could be more homes that are going to be lost tonight?
SPELLMAN: Yes -- well, they're optimistic. I mean, they're optimistic, but you cannot get ahead of yourself with a fire like this. Last night, they started telling people in the City of Boulder to be ready to evacuate if they had to. They've sort of backed off that a little bit. They're in a kind of wait-and-see mode. But, you know, if the wind changes directions or something, and heads toward more populated areas, there's not that much time to get out. You know, we see with these fires over and over again. How fast they went through. So they're really asking people to be precautious and ready to go if the City of Boulder is affected.
They offer that a little bit for the moment, Rick. But things have really been changing. An hour ago when we were last briefed, the weather was calm and it had been like that all morning. And now just in this last hour, these winds are steady and gusting. So we're all hoping that, you know, to make it through the night, that they'll be in good shape - Rick.
SANCHEZ: Not good news. Thanks so much, Jim Spellman, following that story for us diligently now for several days.
Viewers are sending us some fascinating iReports, by the way, from these -- from the blast zone in California.
Brooke Shields -- Brooke Baldwin is going to bring us those videos here in just a little bit.
Watch this, by the way --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, he's kissing, oh, my god. Oh, the kisses I got from him. He's so cute.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let me see her. Wait, wait, wait.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: That is cute. Have you ever heard of therapy pets? That's what these are. Apparently they love giving out big, wet kisses. That's next when Brooke Baldwin -- oh, she's going to give it to me when she comes out and tells us about this. But "Fotos" is next. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Are you mad at me?
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: My ears perked -- I heard Brooke Baldwin and she's going to be mad at me. And I started like peeking my head in the studio door.
SANCHEZ: You know what I called you? Brooke Shields.
BALDWIN: Brooke Shields?
SANCHEZ: Yes. That's not bad, right?
BALDWIN: That's a compliment.
SANCHEZ: Right. It's not like, you know --I didn't call you Brooke Magilacatti (ph).
BALDWIN: Magilacatti.
SANCHEZ: Not that I -- you know, nothing against Brooke Magilacathy out there, by the way.
BALDWIN: Sanchez. People, help me.
SANCHEZ: Can you help me out?
BALDWIN: Absolutely.
SANCHEZ: Stay with me, because I need your help. I've been up since 4:30 this morning. Let's do it -- you and I.
BALDWIN: Let's do it.
SANCHEZ: You may have heard of therapy animals. But it's usually a dog or a cat, right? Today, by golly, it's in "Fotos."
Therapy at this nursing home in New Jersey is a dog and a pony show. Get it? Dog and Pony show. Well, minus the dog. It's just a big, 300-pound Shetland named Samson --
BALDWIN: Who likes to lick, kisses.
SANCHEZ: He does big, big, sloppy kisses. He gallops into nursing homes every week to doll out love and kisses. Look at her, she's like, oh you're cute, but OK get out of my face.
BALDWIN: Yes, get out of my face. Put the tongue away.
SANCHEZ: Apparently it behooves the residents, makes them feel more stable. That's nice.
BALDWIN: I could use a therapy pony with you.
SANCHEZ: With me. You might say Samson is a one-lick pony.
Well, I got a little too real for this reality show contestant during a fruity challenge. The task was to launch the watermelon into a target. Instead, she became the target. All right, we're going to pause and watch and then you take us through the rest of this.
BALDWIN: OK.
This is -- that was after. We didn't see the watermelon knock her out -- that was post-watermelon knock her outage. Basically, what happened -- let me re-enact.
SANCHEZ: Please.
BALDWIN: So she's got this like -- the little rubber band --
SANCHEZ: Can we go tie it on Brooke, please?
BALDWIN: So she's got this rubber band thing, right? She's supposed to fling like a sling shot. Fling the watermelon at the target. There she goes. So instead it backfires at her.
Watch.
(VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Oh, my God.
BALDWIN: That will leave a bruise.
SANCHEZ: Oh, my God.
BALDWIN: And then they made her keep going.
SANCHEZ: You're kidding?
BALDWIN: No. SANCHEZ: That's not the way it's supposed to work.
BALDWIN: No.
SANCHEZ: Ouch.
BALDWIN: Ouch is right.
SANCHEZ: That's a big, old watermelon, too.
All right. Now, she took it in the chin, you might say.
Would you have the guts to tackle a gun-wielding bank robber?
BALDWIN: No.
SANCHEZ: This guy in Wisconsin apparently did. Watch, as soon as the customer sees what is happening, he springs into action and takes crook down into chokehold. The perp got away, but nobody got hurt.
And that, Brooke --
BALDWIN: Is "Fotos."
SANCHEZ: "Del Dia."
And you can find them yourself on our blog which is CNN.com/RickSanchez.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These people who are were re-elected to represent us, turn our backs and stole money from ourselves. You know, we're all mad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: And they should be mad. Most Americans would be mad. Remember that? Residents in Bell, California, upset about these sky- high salaries of some of their elected officials. Well, now it appears there's another California City with council members treating the public's money like their own personal piggy bank. That ain't right. It's ahead.
And tons of iReports coming from the scene of that massive explosion in California. And Brooke's going to join me in just a little bit to tell you what's going on in trending as well, which will have nothing to do with people getting hit in the face with watermelons.
BALDWIN: No watermelons, I promise. Just lot of amazing pictures.
SANCHEZ: We'll be right back.
BALDWIN: That hurt, right? Yes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That's pitching great Tom Glavine watching his son's little league practice.
Now, you might be surprised at what he has to say.
TOM GLAVINE, 1995 WORLD SERIES MVP: You know, I wouldn't let a kid at 11 years old throw a breaking ball. I didn't throw a breaking ball until I got to high school.
GUPTA: So, why does he say that? Well, because the breaking ball, also called the curveball, puts too much stress on preteen elbows.
GLAVINE: There you go. That's a little better.
DR. JOE CHANDLER, ATLANTA BRAVES: Over time, we're seeing an epidemic of overuse injuries in youth baseball, an epidemic of shoulder and elbow injuries.
GUPTA: That often means surgery and pitching careers over before they've even started.
GLAVINE: I think at this young age, teach them how to throw a fastball for strikes, then teach them to change-up and just teach them how to pitch and don't worry so much about the curveball. There's plenty of time for that.
OK. Not every pitch is a strike.
GUPTA: The problem is, young players are also getting injured because of throwing too many pitches each outing or playing too many innings per game. It's hard when professional baseball is such a draw.
UNIDENTIFIED KID: I want to be a professional baseball player.
UNIDENTIFIED KID: It's my dream.
GUPTA: But many young players and coaches don't always get this message: play less to play longer.
CHANDLER: Those who are getting significant injuries at 19 or 20 years old, you can usually trace it back to overuse at 12 and 13 years old.
GLAVINE: A lot of these kids are playing one sport and they're playing it year round.
GUPTA: Growing up, Glavine took a break from baseball each season to play hockey. He gave his arm a rest and thinks that may have contributed to his long baseball career. And he's hoping these little leaguers catch on.
UNIDENTIFIED KID: Don't throw curveballs.
UNIDENTIFIED KID: Oh, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED KID: Don't throw it out.
UNIDENTIFIED KID: Oh, yes, that's not good.
GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Hey, welcome back. This is a bit of a follow-up on our "Follow-Up List," today. A real lopper they might say. Remember when I told you -- and it made so many of you mad. I remember your tweets when we told the story, about Bell, California. Public officials in many ways taking advantage of their own residents. Here, let me give you a short clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You all need to go to jail so that we don't have to pay back one penny.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Turns out Bell, California, is not the only place where this "Let's gouge the taxpayers" game is played. The tiny town of Vernon, this is just south of L.A., population fewer than 100 people, is stepping up as a heavyweight in the taxpayer-gouging category, at least that's what's taxpayers are saying. So I want you to listen to this.
Now, remember, I told you that Vernon has fewer than 100 residents, right? Largely little industrial area. One of its former city administrators earned $1.6 million -- $1.6 million in 2008. Now, listen to this trip that former city administrator, Eric Fresch is his name, took to New York in 2007, and consider the expenses that this small town city manager incurred. Are you ready?
He spent four nights at the Ritz-Carlton, cost $7,600. He used a limo during those four days. Cost? $2251. The City of Vernon also reimbursed Fresch for $485 he spent dining at the "Four Seasons" New York. And he's not the only Vernon officials grabbing his share of the taxpayers' pie.
And also this. Trips like this were being taken at a time when the City of Vernon was saying it had such serious budget problems that it had to layoff. Many of their employees and strip health and life insurance coverage away from these city workers' spouses and their kids. All this information comes to us thanks to a report that's been filed by the "Los Angeles Times." They investigated it. HECTOR BECERRA, BUREAU CHIEF, LOS ANGELES TIMES: Hector Becerra is the "L.A. Times" bureau chief who is good enough to join us now to try and catch us up on this.
Now, you report that several Vernon officials were on that trip to New York, each staying in an $800 a night room at The Ritz, right?
BECERRA: That's right.
SANCHEZ: I'm just wondering, just let me stop there, first Bell and now Vernon, and a lot of folks who are watching us from around the country now are wondering, what's the deal with California? This is starting to look like a trend, Hector.
BECERRA: Well, I mean, I think Bell has just sort of shed the light in a lot of other cities. But what's been going on in Vernon has been sort of been going on for a long time. The city has been sort of known for paying its executives a lot of money. I think the details about the trips are relatively new or the extent of the amount of money that we're actually talking about is relatively new.
SANCHEZ: How can they get away with something like this? Because most people would wonder, how is it that they can do this without being accountable to the people whose money they're taking, specifically we'll get into the rest of us later and the rest of the residents of California, but just the folks in that city, were they aware that these guys were making this kind of money?
BECERRA: Well, I don't know that they were actually aware about how much money they were actually making, but earlier you showed a clip from the City of Bell. One of the things that Bell has that Vernon doesn't have is people. I mean, like you pointed out, Vernon has less than a hundred people, and virtually all of them historically have depended on the city for their livelihood. Not only their housing which is heavily subsidized but their jobs.
So what you saw in Bell, you're not going to see in Vernon. You're not going to see hundreds of people wave with picket signs, bull horns, torches, pitch forks storming city hall. That's just not going to happen in Vernon. You don't have people that are empowered to do that. And the city --
SANCHEZ: I was just thinking about what you just said. You said that the city -- almost everyone who lives in the city is hired and works for the city?
BECERRA: They either work for the city or they have some kind of connection to city council members or department heads.
SANCHEZ: Well, that's weird. The problem with that is, OK, fine, you guys want to pay your guy that much money, it's great, but in the end, when you give him a huge salary and a huge pension, doesn't that also affect everybody else who lives in California?
BECERRA: In theory it does, but Vernon is not really comparable to any other city in California. There are a couple cities in L.A. County that are industrial cities that has small populations but none like Vernon. City of Industry, I think has 800 residents, which is still a lot more than Vernon.
SANCHEZ: But here's the problem.
BECERRA: That city also does --
SANCHEZ: Here's the problem, and I certainly don't mean to interrupt, but I'm just thinking, OK, fine. You got hundred people, want to get together, form a city and give yourself huge salaries or give this one guy all this money and let him do whatever he wants with it. That's great. It's your money.
The problem is you also give him like for example a pension plan, right? That pension plan is partly paid for by all the residents in California so some guy in San Diego that has nothing to do with Vernon for example ends up having to pick up when this guy retires his pension plan and just because he was a greedy city worker. And, you know, that ain't right.
BECERRA: Well, I mean, that's really the case in Bell. Other cities are going to pay -- might have to pick up the tab on the pensions in Bell. But like Bell, Vernon is also a charter city and that gives them quite a bit of leeway compared to other general law cities as far as how much they pay their administrators, consultants, and how much they spend on travel.
SANCHEZ: You guys have done a great job to bring this story out. And I'm so glad we're jumping on it, but I'm just thinking, is there any sense in California, you know what, enough is enough? And we need to do something about this to make sure that it doesn't continue to happen?
BECERRA: No. I think there is a sense of that, but the remedies aren't. You know in Bell you can talk about recalls. You can talk about residents becoming more specifically involved and putting pressure on politicians. That just doesn't happen in Vernon. You don't have the residents do that. If you're an employee there, you're an at will employee. You don't have civil service protections. You can be fired at will.
If you have housing in Vernon, you can be evicted. Their constituents are really the business owners and so a lot of the pressure would have to come from business owners. And the state legislature can try to get the ball rolling on some actions, but they would be pretty extreme actions.
SANCHEZ: Wow.
BECERRA: And it wouldn't be guaranteed to work.
SANCHEZ: Well, we'll see. We'll follow it, and we'll see what some of the reaction is.
Hector Becerra with certainly one of the best newspapers in the country the "L.A. Times." My thanks to you, Hector.
We're going to be right back. Brooke is going to be joining me and she's going to be taking us through what is trending on this day. And that's Brooke Baldwin, by the way.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Something I talk about an awful lot in my book, and you're seeing it right there behind me. Isn't that cool? I mean, that's Lady Liberty as she looks right now. That's a live picture because we're bringing you the show today here from New York.
And much of what I write about, you know, in my book, "Conventional Idiocy" is about what it's like to be an immigrant in the United States, which is, you know, my story. Not just an immigrant but a refugee as Tony Montano would say.
My book is in many ways a reflection of what we do on the show every day by being very transparent or trying to. And I owe much of what we do to the viewers, to the folks who check on us, keep us honest, and call me out every time I do something that's dumb.
BALDWIN: Feedback, we appreciate it.
SANCHEZ: Like earlier today. Feedback, we appreciate it. Look at you, you're so official.
So a little while ago, you know, Brooke and I have this constant theme going between she and I
BALDWIN: Bantering.
SANCHEZ: The banter. I refer to her as Brooke Shields. I don't know if you heard that. I referred to her as Brooke Shields.
BALDWIN: I missed it.
SANCHEZ: But it was quite a moment. And somebody out there picked up on it. So we want to reward the people who send the funny and interesting tweets.
BALDWIN: Who are listening very closely.
SANCHEZ: Yes, very close. So here we go. The person who gets a signed, autographed book by me and Brooke today is --
BALDWIN: Drum roll?
SANCHEZ: Emilio Abadka. Is that how you say the name?
BALDWIN: I looks like it.
SANCHEZ: "I didn't know that Brooke Baldwin was in "Blue Lagoon."
BALDWIN: Ha, ha, ha.
SANCHEZ: I didn't know you were in "Blue Lagoon," either.
BALDWIN: You know, Brooke Shields, Brooke Baldwin.
SANCHEZ: Yes, that was a good movie. Lots of beachy scenes.
BALDWIN: The guys are laughing.
SANCHEZ: What are you guys laughing about?
BALDWIN: I know guys could giggle in the studio. This is man giggling right now. Oh, my. For the love of.
