our neighbourhood and our neighbours have been eviscerated. it's really devastating to see generations of people's lives and livelihoods completely wiped out. as firefighters struggle to contain the blaze, strong winds forecast for saturday and sunday could whip up flames further. president biden has called it a �*war scene.�* rachel reeves has become the most senior official from the uk to visit china for seven years — reaching trade agreements with beijing worth £600 million. and in sport, everton appoint david moyes as manager for the second time. hello. in los angeles, firefighters are still battling to contain the devastating wildfires and there's no real sign yet that they're turning the corner. here are the key developments this hour. overall, at least least 11

people have been killed and the number of homes and structures that have been destroyed stands at 12,000. an evacuation order for the palisades fire — one of the worst — has actually expanded to take in the suburbs of brentwood and encino, and the area that includes the getty museum. at least six fires are burning and the forecast is for more strong winds, which won't help the situation at all. president biden has called it a war scene. a public health emergency has been declared for the los angeles area because of the risk from smoke. california's governor has called for an investigation into how critical fire hydrants ran out of water, impeding the firefighting effort. helena humphrey reports from los angeles. they got out. that's what matters most. amid the ash and ruin, a hug from dad promises everything will be all right. even if this family doesn't yet know how. when the fires tore through altadena in the dead of night, daisy and keith

bundled their young children into the back of the car. they had no official warning, just instinct. iam waiting i am waiting for urgency to say leave, this is dangerous. when i saw more flames going up, i said, we have to get out. like so many here, all this family has left is each other. the dream home they worked day and night for gone in an instant. it was on a distance ridge one minute and then ten minutes later it was right on top of us, it was crazy how fast it moved. for now, authorities are focussed on the immediate crisis. california governor gavin newsom is calling for an independent investigation into reported water shortages that hampered firefighters efforts. and with the hardest hit areas still burning. president biden has warned that things could get worse before they get better. there are still a lot of people

that are unaccounted for. we don't know where they are. i think the toll is likely to go up whether it's significant or not. pray god it's not. but it could be. the duke and duchess of sussex have visited a fire relief centre, where they met first responders and those impacted by the fires. forfamilies like daisy and keith's, all they can do is cling on to each other. looking for a glimmer of hope through the lingering smoke. 0ur correspondent peter bowes is in los angeles. he's been giving us the latest developments. it is extremely difficult. 0ne it is extremely difficult. one moment there is a glimmer of hope, because you havejust been talking about in terms of getting these fires under control, these are the numbers that everyone are looking out for constantly. how much of the fire has been contained. the firefighters are convinced it will not spread further but

those numbers are still very low. the two big fires, the pacific palisades especially, is still spreading and it is moving towards the densely populated areas, brentwood, to the west of los angeles, also the west of los angeles, also the san fernando valley which is a spawning area to the north of hollywood. i am just north of hollywood. i am just north of the san fernando valley and there have been fires close to here, to the west and east as well. extraordinary situation where you have all of these fires right across this sprawling city. that is a big part of the problem in terms of resources being stretched to the limit and some political repercussions are beginning to start. we understand there was problems with the water supply, that the fire hydrants were running out of water, now we have the governor of california calling for an investigation into that and i have heard a lot of people talking about this. there is a tremendous

amount of anger and frustration at the way in which the phi has been dealt with and perhaps the attitude of the authorities. having said that, equally a lot of people are understanding of the situation that the firefighters themselves have been absolutely stretched to the limit and in many cases have simply been helpless to put individual fires out because they didn't have the resources or time to get to everyone. jason kirkpatrick is a climate expert from la and former vice—mayor of arcata, in california, with experience in natural disaster planning and management. his cousin's home also burned down three years ago in a wildfire. we heard the governor of california asking for an inquiry into why those fire hydrants run out. what is your theory about what happened? we have theory about what happened? - have seen some reporting on that. we are talking about a one—time event in terms of it being the worst ever fire in

la. my experience with natural resource disasters, natural disaster planning is you should try to plan for a worst—case scenario. in california there are fires, earthquakes. in britain it is more flooding. but when you have these kinds of events that we see more and more of with extreme weather, caused by climate change, which are going to be growing, to battle a fire like this you would need five or ten times as many firefighters and the budgets are not going to be ready for that. they will have to look at these issues like water but at the same time, people have to start being a bit prepared for this. planners will help to plan better but also, we need to start tackling climate change and climate disruption which will be saving money in the long run compared to these billions we are losing in these catastrophes. you mentioned _ in these catastrophes. you mentioned the _ in these catastrophes. you mentioned the need - in these catastrophes. you mentioned the need to - in these catastrophes. you mentioned the need to plan for the worse case scenario. it seems there is quite a lot a bit of anger around their not

being bad planning. is that your experience or do you think the intensity of this was out without any planning? some thins without any planning? some things could _ without any planning? some things could be _ without any planning? some things could be planned - without any planning? some i things could be planned better, i'm sure there will be changes in a year but when you have 100 mile—per—hour winds whipping around, you cannot do much about it. i did grow up in this area, i rememberstanding on the roof of my home with wooden shingles because north west california, they have big forests and all the homes are made of wood. 0ur roof had wooden shingles which is crazy. in between they have been more fire proved but i would stand on the top a couple of times with a garden hose, watering that down so it wouldn't catch fire. when the winds are whipping at 100 miles an hour, sometimes they can be coming from the north or north—east one minute, the next minute the south east, there is not much you can do about that. you have heard people saying it was on

another ridge a minute ago then buy my house, the fires can jump buy my house, the fires can jump miles. you have to cut the fire department and city planners a bit of slack. you mentioned _ planners a bit of slack. you mentioned that _ planners a bit of slack. you mentioned that in - planners a bit of slack. you mentioned that in your- planners a bit of slack. you mentioned that in your case you were busy watering down the top of your roof. in general, do you think people haven't been prepared enough?— prepared enough? there is a coule prepared enough? there is a coume of _ prepared enough? there is a couple of issues _ prepared enough? there is a couple of issues here. - prepared enough? there is a couple of issues here. one i prepared enough? there is a j couple of issues here. one is the urban planning. are people going to be allowed to build in these fire zones in the future, far away in the city? this has to be looked out. in malibu the average cost of the homes is $2 million. these are people with money and they want to put their home up on the hill, have a nice view, but does the fire department need to subsidise these risky investments? you had to look at whether or not this would be banned quiz. . they will not be able to

rebuild again and again in these fire zones. it is not working out. it is same in britain in a flood zone, you wouldn't have a house washed away in a couple of years in a row and rebuild there. as we seenin row and rebuild there. as we seen in these catastrophes, they are getting worse. thank ou. richard weintraub is a resident of la who was among those who battled to save his home. he told my collague nicky schiller how his family were coping. i think we are in denial. if we were to go through the levels of emotion, it's been a tremendous roller—coaster. we've really blast that our home has been saved, it has tremendous damage to it, we will continue on but our neighbourhood and our neighbours have been eviscerated. it's really devastating to see generations of people's lives and livelihoods completely wiped out. it's really hard. you've centred some videos of how you defended your home which we are going to show,

just tell us first what happened and what you did? so, in 1993, my wife and i had lost our home in a fire in malibu, ironically. i saw how that played out and i didn't like the end of that story and so i decided against advice to stay and to fight the fire and i got three houses going with powerful nozzles to wet down all the foliage around us and to wet the ground and to put out the embers. the smoke was incredibly thick, you could not breathe, but i was there for many hours alone. by the grace of god, and a lot of blessings and prayers, our home was saved. but it was not without danger in doing so. we are seeing the pictures, and the flames are so close to you,

why did you decide to stay? i think when you get to situations like this, just being realistic... when it comes down to it, people can say, we feel so bad for you or whatever, but you are on your own, when you are on your own, you have to protect what is yours, and i talked to some firefighters, not in this neighbourhood, who have said, keep the embers away from the house, you have a reasonable chance of success. so, that's what i chose to do. i was told by my wife and by our friends to get the hell out of there, excuse my language, but i realise that if worse came to worse, i could jump on a fire truck and get out of the neighbourhood. i'm not saying i did the smartest thing in the world but at the end of the day, our home is still standing and i stand by what i did. it was very, very hot. and it was actually quite painful when some of the embers came, and...

briefly, where do you go from here? we have friends, we went to their homes in the hills, fortunately we were evacuated from there, we have our three dogs with us, our kids are in college that we aren't as concerned with them, we were evacuated to a house in hollywood, a couple of hours later we were evacuated to a house in beverly hills, where we were able to stay the night and now we are down in the coachella valley which is around two hours away, which is well known as palm springs, palm desert area which is where we are now, where we go from here i am not sure. for many caught up in the fires, social media has been a means of sharing critical information — not least about how to keep safe. 0ne app that's being used by many is tiktok. but its future is in doubt —

at least in the us. representatives from tiktok appeared before the court on friday, as the us government argued that without a sale, the app could be used as a tool for spying and political manipulation by the chinese government. here's how residents of los angeles are using tiktok during the fires. this is all that is left of homes after the fire raged through the area. the fire has already burned more than 10,000 acres and is the second largest in the loss angeles area after the palisades fire. and extreme wind event push these flames unprecedentedly fast. we wind event push these flames unprecedentedly fast.- wind event push these flames unprecedentedly fast. we are at the ymca in _ unprecedentedly fast. we are at the ymca in santa _ unprecedentedly fast. we are at the ymca in santa monica, - unprecedentedly fast. we are at the ymca in santa monica, one| the ymca in santa monica, one of the — the ymca in santa monica, one of the closest to the fire is currently _ of the closest to the fire is currently burning in the palisades and these are a couple _ palisades and these are a couple of items they need donated and if you could donate your time, — donated and if you could donate yourtime, if donated and if you could donate your time, if you are in the area, — your time, if you are in the area, you— your time, if you are in the area, you show up, sign in at

the_ area, you show up, sign in at the blue _ area, you show up, sign in at the blue tent and go and help organise _ the blue tent and go and help organise all the items coming in. let's speak to la—based technology journalist taylor lorenz more on this. tell us how people have been using tiktok and how you have found it useful in these fires. i am out of town so i have been keeping up with the fires on tiktok as have a lot of people. it has such a localised feed so wherever you are, you are likely to get as much content as possible from people around you. the app has been an absolute lifeline for los angeles residents. they are finding donation centres, they are finding tips and tricks on how to manage the wildfire, where to get mosques, things like that. it has become an essential tool.— like that. it has become an essential tool. but all this is in doubt because _ essential tool. but all this is in doubt because there - essential tool. but all this is in doubt because there is i essential tool. but all this is in doubt because there is a l in doubt because there is a battle in supreme court as to whether it will be allowed to continue in the us. do you think the way it has been used in the fires will make a difference at all? unfortunately, i don't think

so. the government seem to care about the essential role tiktok plays. they signalled they want to ban it, the law has passed and it doesn't seem, from the information we have so far, that the supreme court is set to overturn that ban.- that the supreme court is set to overturn that ban. they will robabl to overturn that ban. they will probably uphold _ to overturn that ban. they will probably uphold it. _ to overturn that ban. they will| probably uphold it. christopher wray, who was at the fbi at the time, said the chinese government could control the recommendation algorithm which could be used for influence operations, that is the sentiment that has been put through quite a lot. do you understand how the algorithms could be manipulated?- understand how the algorithms could be manipulated? there is absolutely _ could be manipulated? there is absolutely zero _ could be manipulated? there is absolutely zero evidence - could be manipulated? there is absolutely zero evidence of - absolutely zero evidence of those claims. meanwhile, we have actual claims of the app, not just evidence have actual claims of the app, notjust evidence but proof, of american social media apps being manipulative by foreign powers. the whole internet is

subject to manipulation, however there is absolutely zero evidence that tiktok knowingly has allowed anybody to manipulate people on the app. in fact we have seen tiktok is the one app where you can freely gain access to information. we have x are being controlled by elon musk, now mark zuckerberg is altering the ecosystem on mata. tiktok has been a real lifeline for people and which will be devastating for a lot of people when it goes away. 1532 00:16:36,586 --> 00:16:3