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remote controlled. we'll be testing out a number of beverages. >> this drink may cause a mild seasoning of external features i'm about to propose to my girlfriend. >> would you mind giving me a hand? >> okay. >> jana, you've always been a nasty freak. will you marry me? impractical jokers, all new tomorrow at ten on tbs. set your dvr now this is cnn breaking news. >> hello and welcome to all of our viewers in the united states and joining us from around the world. i'm polo sandoval live in new york. first this hour, breaking news out of southern california, where it's 10 p.m. that's where firefighters are now battling five wildfires across the l.a. area. and that includes the latest one to break out in the hollywood hills, which has prompted more mandatory evacuations. one resident who fled the area described a chaotic scene with traffic jams as people rushed to leave and first responders are trying to get into the

scene. we'll show you some video from the palisades fire, the largest so far at nearly 16,000 acres. remember, it started at only ten acres yesterday. residents have described what they've been seeing there as apocalyptic. at least five people have died in one of those fires. overall, more than a thousand buildings and other structures have already been destroyed. one resident watched from across the country. this video through her home security camera as the fire burned through her backyard, making its way through to her home. it's unclear right now whether her home is still standing, though. the eaton fire in eastern l.a. county continues to burn more than 10,000 acres in size currently. so far, zero containment and wind gusts are expected to continue through the day on thursday. also want to show you some satellite images that show the scale of the devastation, with the orange and white illuminating where the fires have been raging. the mayor of los angeles urging residents to

stay vigilant, stay informed as she addressed the devastation. >> i stand here today with. incredible sympathy and concern about the devastation and the tragedy that our city and county are facing, and i definitely want to send my condolences to the families who lost loved ones, to the families and neighborhoods who lost property finally, air operations have resumed and that is a big deal. but it is up to the winds as to how long the air support can continue. but these conditions are highly volatile. we've seen a devastating fire in the pasadena area. fires have sparked up in simi valley and on the l.a. and ventura county line. and as our firefighters do battle on the front lines, all of us must be vigilant. >> and tonight, cnn's anderson

cooper is in altadena, california, one of the places hit hard by this fire where he says the fires are, in his words, are still just out of control. he takes us along to show us some of the heartbreaking devastation. >> there just are not enough fire crews able to deal with all the blazes that are going on. this house is completely gone. the next house next door looks like the roof is just caught fire over there. the fire has also spread across the street. there are at least three houses ablaze. and then the fire in just in the last 2 minutes or 3 minutes has spread to that vehicle, which was parked out front. um, there was a slight explosion as some of the gas went up. um, a fire truck passed by here. there's another larger blaze up there which they are going to try to to deal with right now. we're at harriet, uh, in altadena harriet street. the fire has spread now to this house, which is really now engulfed in

flames. but, i mean, it's just surreal. i mean, look at this. even a small thing like this tree is burning from the inside. so on this block, i count one, two. i mean, all the houses, all the houses on this side are gone. now the fire. look, this house is engulfed. it's very much likely that this house will be next, because these winds are now just whipping onto this house yeah, it is just devastating

and what's so surreal is look down the block. it is block after block here in this area in altadena. i mean, there's a large a huge fire there burning several houses. any other time there would be fire crews blocking off this entire area. um, but there are just too many fires, and they've just got to. it's triage. we come upon captain chris dinelli of the l.a. fire department. his crew have been up more than 24 hours. how's water? i mean, obviously, palisades have had water issues. >> our hydrant ran dry about two minutes ago. >> and is that the the water pressure issue or. >> we are, because there's so many engines tapping the grid and multiple grids. we're basically just taking all the water out of the grid. >> so what do you do? i mean, you want to fight these fires. >> we do have water tenders, vehicles that shuttle water to us that carry 2500 gallons of water. but again, they're stretched thin as well. so they have a lot of demand placed on them.

>> so on a scene like this right now, what can you do? >> we are looking at houses that we can save. so things that we can do, we can clear brush away from fences, things that we can do with our hands or with tools, and we just help some homeowners get out. so just i mean, first thing is rescue operations. we want you out. houses can be replaced. all that lives cannot. >> our thanks to anderson for that report. joining me live now is david acuna. he is the battalion chief and public information officer for cal fire. david, thank you so much for taking a bit of time here on what has been just an incredibly busy 30 plus hours. now as we see some of the live images also from the scene, what can you tell us right now about where things stand as we speak? >> so we're a little over halfway through this wind event. i would love to say that it's going to be over tonight, but it's not. >> it's planned to go through wednesday into thursday. we're hoping that it begins to taper off on friday. with all of that said, not only can these fires

grow, but the bigger concern is that there will be a new fire. we do know that 95% of all wildfires are started by humans, and so it is up to the public to make sure they create one less spark in order to help firefighters and the public in their efforts. >> i was going to say at this point, it certainly is likely too soon to tell. david, is there any idea how some of these fires may have even started? >> uh. that's correct. all of our law enforcement and firefighters are busy with the life safety, which is our number one priority. so we have not, uh, fully delve into the investigation process, but we will certainly do that. i know that our investigators are talented. and even when there's a lot of destruction, as you see out here, they are able to determine many times what caused the fire. >> right. priorities are still understandably on preserving life and property. how about

your firefighters? obviously fatigue and exhaustion for for some of these men and women on the front lines, it has to be top of mind. it also has to be setting in some of them, maybe even having their homes also at risk. is there relief on the ground already? is it on the way? what can we expect on that front? >> so we made a move on monday to move additional personnel from the north part of california, where we've had sufficient rain and snow to mitigate the wildfire risk, and we moved them down so that they could be prepared. and indeed, they were used and have been used. so not to mention that i know los angeles city has done a recall of their personnel, and there's so many different elements that we just dig in and begin to bring people in. it is our winter staffing, which means in cal fire we have a lower number of engines available, but we will still be committed to making sure that we address all these issues while not leaving things chop at home.

because keep in mind, cal fire is an all risk fire department, which means we go to fires, we go to vehicle accidents and medical aid. so that's all being taken care of at the same time. >> yeah, those medical assistant calls, those don't stop while your firefighters are working on this. you mentioned the prediction that this wind event may hopefully soon be over. when that happens, as expected, how much of an upper hand will that give your crews? >> well, absolutely. well, because then it's going to allow us to get our aircraft in to really mitigate those large, um, jackpots of fire and to allow us to go direct on these fire lines. but it's still going to require a lot of work. you know, when we create all of these, uh, dozer lines and other equipment lines, we have to repair that before we leave. otherwise, we'll end up with a mudslides similar to what happened in montecito after the thomas fire. >> yeah. we cannot have any more devastation than we've

already had there. finally, you mentioned also the what we could potentially see more fires, especially since it just takes one spark. so right now, what is your message to people who have not received any evacuation orders? but they're also dangerously close to the affected region. should they wait to hear from you all, to be told to leave? >> and so we definitely will encourage anyone that wants to leave the area to certainly do that. one of the major issues in these foothill areas is that the roads are narrow and windy, and so when you have a thousand people trying to leave downhill, while at the same time we've got large fire engines, bulldozers, other heavy equipment trying to go uphill, it creates a traffic jam very, very quickly. >> yeah. we saw that video yesterday of having to use bulldozers to clear the path for your for your crews to get where they're badly needed. david acuna, we thank you so much for keeping us posted, not only today, but also yesterday and in the days ahead. do be safe. thank you. >> will do. thank you. you bet.

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cheers, everybody knew your name. i mean, you walked in, you saw kids, you played soccer with, you saw people that you did business with, clubs, um, neighbors. it's. i mean, it really was just a. community. it was just a community place that people came together, you know? and i know a lot of people see the palisades as a rich celebrity, famous, you know, person driven type of location. but i'm going to tell you that the people who live there are people and they're hardworking palisadians they own laundromats, they own liquor stores, they own restaurants. they, you know, they come together, they play bocce ball in the park. they are just like you and me and even the celebrities which we have, they they celebrate their birthdays with us, you know, their anniversary, their celebrations

of life. it is a it is a home to so many people. and, um, i, you know, i want to tell everybody who's ever watching who's ever in the palisades that we will be back. we're not going anywhere, and we're going to help the entire community rebuild. however, whenever, however that looks. >> kinds of emotional stories bound to repeat themselves along main streets in the affected area. just heard from a restaurant owner there reflecting on the loss of her neighborhood business to the raging wildfires in southern california this week, crews are now battling five major fires across the los angeles area. the newest is on top of the hollywood hills neighborhood, where new evacuations have already been ordered. overall, about 150,000 people have been told to leave their homes. many have most of these fires not even contained at all. they're still being fueled by this wind event that is still not over, according to officials on the ground who just spoke to us. at

least five people have died and more than a thousand buildings and other structures have been destroyed, including many people's homes and, of course, businesses. as you just heard our own, cnn's lee waldman is following developments. she is from the site of the palisades fire lee. we just spoke in the last hour. thankfully, you don't have civilians to talk to, meaning that many people heeded those warnings and left. so walk us through what you're seeing there now. well over 30 hours after this fire that started only as about ten acres, but now tens of thousands of acres charred. what do you see tonight? >> well, paula, once we got here this afternoon, obviously the sun was up, but we saw at least three businesses go up in flames. that was down this building. the last of those buildings just embers now, still smoking, still smoldering, but block after block. looks just like this behind us. it looks

apocalyptic. it looks like a scene out of a movie. so many of the same scene replayed again and again as you drive into the pacific palisades. it takes your breath away. you can tell this is a beautiful community that was absolutely devastated and destroyed by this fire as it swept through here, and we're experiencing those gusts of wind kicking up the ash and the air tonight, as there's nothing left to burn, because all of these businesses, people's livelihoods, people's homes have already been destroyed. but it's heartbreaking to see. now we're thankful. like you mentioned, there's no one here for us to talk to. obviously it's late. we're seeing fire crews still driving through, patrolling through this area. but once people come back, they're going to see that there's essentially nothing for them to come back to. so many businesses, so many buildings absolutely destroyed by this fire. >> what's so tellingly, as you panned over is the only thing that's recognizable at that

property is the number of the address painted on the curb with the l.a. dodgers logo. aside from that, i think the owners of that property would have no idea that's where their structure once stood. tell me about the firefighters. what are you hearing from the crews on the ground? clearly, they're probably there. we know they're exhausted. do they know if there's any backup coming their way? >> you know, these crews are obviously exhausted. we know that they're working 36 to 48 hour shifts. they've been stretched incredibly thin. the l.a. fire chief has said if there was two wild fires, they could deal with that. but there's over six wildfires that are burning in l.a. county right now, fueled by these winds that are gusting on us right now and by the dry conditions. thankfully, there are fire crews coming from other states to lend aid. the navy is bringing in helicopters to help with the aerial response. governor gavin newsom said over 7500 firefighting and emergency

crews are dispatched right now to try and get these fires contained, but the fire weather conditions are going to persist through friday, so that's a dangerous situation for so many people who live here and call this area home. but we spoke to some firefighters who actually came here and checked on our crew and offered us pizza tonight and asked if we were doing okay and gave us advice about being in this area. so, you know, even though they're exhausted and they're working to protect this area and to protect people, they're still showing their heart and their love to people who are doing our jobs, trying to inform people about what's happening. it's truly heartwarming what's happening in the state of such devastation. >> yeah, those heartwarming stories do offer some hope and no telling when the residents of that neighborhood where you are will be allowed back in to pick up the pieces. cnn's lee waldman in the middle of the devastation. thank you so much for for walking us through that. be safe. all right. check

out this video that was taken by a cnn team of a plane descending into lax. as you can see, the view completely obstructed by that smoke that's rising from the scene there. from the from where the wildfires are, that smoke could be potentially dangerous. you saw our only woman wearing that protective equipment to keep herself and her team safe. and although ucla health is treating patients for fire related injuries, the fires could be causing even more potential harm. a recent study out of stanford university claiming that wildfires like these can release cancer causing chemicals into the soil. though there is no evidence to suggest that that is the case with these fires that are still raging in california. let's talk to an expert, though. joining me now is anne rimoin. she is a professor of epidemiology at the ucla fielding school of public health. i should say, professor, thank you so much for offering your expertise to this conversation. these are the sort of side angles that we

also try to talk about. i wonder if you can tell our viewers, especially those living in and around the area there in california, how can folks draw a distinction between, let's say, a woodland fire, which is typically organic vegetation and wood, as opposed to an urban fire that's sweeping through through neighborhoods? how much more toxic is that for people? >> we really don't have data on specifically on how this kind of fine particulate matter really changes the risk when it comes to urban versus a fire in a in a forest. but the bottom line is this, this fine particulate matter can penetrate deep into the lungs and become a real problem. it can even enter the bloodstream. and the bottom line is that it's very, very dangerous for people, in particular people who are older, people who have chronic

conditions, young people, people who are pregnant. you know, it's the same list of people who tend to be vulnerable, who may be at greater risk. >> we heard from some of our from some of the people on the ground, including our own cnn colleagues who work and live in the region, some of them reporting that even though they live miles away from the devastation, they woke up this morning and the inside of their home smelled like smoke. so could you speak to just how far this sort of particulate matter could, can potentially, can potentially travel? doesn't have to be an exact distance. but why should people be sort of on guard as well and take protective measures, even if they live far from the flames well, this kind of particulate matter can can go long distances. >> and so it's very important to consider the air quality. and so what i like to to tell people to do is to, to treat this as a very important situation that you want to

avoid being outdoors for prolonged periods of time. if you do need to be outdoors, i would wear an n95 mask, which can help in terms of decreasing inhaling some of this particulate matter. i would also, inside the house where possible, and this comes again, you know what what what you can do under very extreme circumstances. you know, i say. run the ac. with where it's cycling air inside. you don't want air coming in from outside. close your windows, close your doors and and really do make an effort to avoid inhaling it. if you do have air filters. and of course, this is a luxury. and you know, some people don't have power. so this is all if you can do these things, you know, use use an air filter and, and this kind of particulate matter can stay in the air for a period of time. so it's going to be very

important to be monitoring the air quality. but but in the interim time period where people are really in a crisis situation in so many places here in los angeles. i mean, i think that the best thing for people to do is stay indoors. if you can avoid physical activity outdoors, if you can wear a mask, if you can, outdoors. >> some wonderful advice for people who don't necessarily live in the area, but do have the potential risk to inhale whatever is coming from these flames, especially that smoke that, as you say, carrie could travel far distances. professor, thank you so much for your time and for lending your expertise to this. again, some really important advice for our viewers in the u.s. and around the world. take care. have a good night. >> my pleasure. >> all right. still to come here on cnn newsroom, we will hear more from the people who made dramatic escapes from the l.a. fires. our breaking news coverage continues in just a moment

also on the way here in the cnn newsroom. much more on this devastation that people are dealing with in california, including hollywood celebrities that are impacted by the fire. some of them, including actor steve guttenberg, now doing what they can to help their fellow neighbors. much more on the way. >> everybody needs help right now. there are 10,000 people evacuated in the highlands alone, and so many of them are infirm. and and then there are people still in their homes that maybe don't have friends and don't have family and aren't able to get out and aren't able to use their, their, their, their telephones or something to that effect. so i'm just going to see what i can do to help. >> this part changed my life. >> superman. crazy. just that simple little thing over the horse that is tough because i can feel him, but he can't feel it. >> i needed to do something for everyone else in the

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and this is cnn. >> at this hour, we are following developments out of southern california, where at least five wildfires are now burning nearly 27,000 acres. dramatic time lapse video actually shows the spread of the palisades fire as it moves through some of the most expensive real estate in the country. cnn's natasha chen and her crew were covering that fire on tuesday, when the situation became too dangerous for them to continue. here's a look at their harrowing journey to safety. >> crazy times. >> can you hear me now? we finished our live shot right at the spot where people in pacific palisades had been coming down the hill to evacuate. i already knew there was going to be a problem getting out. i even remember saying on the air, i don't think we'll be able to get out the way we came in. this is cnn. we wrapped up the last live shot in the midst of really strong wind gusts, pulled out of the parking lot. me driving one car and our photojournalist tom larson and

producer kat jaeger and a second crew vehicle right behind me. i saw a fire truck at our intersection. asked the firefighter, what's the best way out of here? knowing that there were roadblocks in both directions on pch. he sort of shook his head and said, try going south. so we drove south toward santa monica for almost a mile, and then i knew this was going to be an extremely dicey exit. thankfully, we spotted an emergency crew vehicle going the same way, so we followed very closely behind that car. oh my god. flames surrounded us on the right and left of the highway. embers jumping into the lanes on the pavement, across our windshields. at one point we heard a loud boom on our right while a house on the left was fully engulfed just yards away from us. we could feel the heat from inside our cars, all the while not being able to see clearly in front of us because of the smoke. there were brief stretches there when i honestly did not know if this was going to end well. i just held my breath, followed the emergency vehicle, and kept moving forward. there really

was no other choice. it was keep going or get trapped in flames. it wasn't until i could see the famous santa monica pier ferris wheel in the distance, that i knew the air in front of us had cleared up and we were going to be okay. >> absolutely unbelievable. we're glad natasha and her crew are safe tonight. earlier, cnn's anderson cooper spoke with california governor gavin newsom about efforts to contain the fires and the eventual recovery process. >> we've depleted all our resources in northern california. we've already pre-positioned on sunday, hundreds of personnel, special units, water tenders, dozers, engines, helicopters. and it wasn't enough. and now we're getting to mutual aid system, the emac system, governors from all across the country are calling oregon, sending a few dozen engines and arizona, utah. we're just grateful for all the support. >> a lot of these firefighters i was talking to on the street, they've been working, you know, 26, 27 hours. are they? that's just going to continue. i mean,

there's i mean, there's not enough folks here. >> yeah. i mean, we got a few thousand people working on this, and luckily we were fully staffed. the u.s. forest service is not as staffed up traditionally at this time of year. remember, we're in january. >> it's supposed to be wet this time of year. it's supposed to be wet. >> i mean, so this is, you know, this is anomalous. even. you know, i remember paradise happened in november. i mean, so there's no fire season in california. it's year round. but to have this level of the acuity of fires is without precedent. these winds are without precedent. and the challenge is these winds are going to continue on and off a little bit less intense. last night you got 80, 90 mile an hour winds. these guys were just up there to try to mitigate the embers. going two miles and getting just to go a quarter of a mile to try to save some. >> what is the situation with the water? obviously in the palisades. it ran out last night. and the hydrants. i was talking to the firefighter on this block. they left because there was no water in the hydrant here. >> the local folks are trying to figure that out. i mean, just when you have a system that's not dissimilar to what we've seen in other extraordinarily large scale fires, whether it be pipe

electricity or whether it just be the complete overwhelm of the system. i mean, those hydrants are typical for 2 or 3 fires, maybe one fire. you have something at this scale. but again, that's going to be determined by the local. >> finally, your message to the folks here to this community, i mean, we have their backs. >> we're going to be back, and this is going to be a long, a long, long recovery process. but look, we have residents moving back into paradise, california. i've seen remarkable recovery efforts. i've seen remarkable sense of community and purpose, resilience. so, you know, i'm not just playing the politician role of optimism. i really am long term optimistic. but the devastation to hear people wailing and crying and concerned about their pet, their family, they're just bewildered about what's just what they're experiencing. and again, not just experience. i was not talking past tense. this is happening in real time. >> all right. let's go now to tanner charles. he is actually a storm chaser who was working to save a friend's house from the palisades fire. he joins us live from los angeles. tanner, thank you very much for taking

the time to share your story. you went over to help a friend fight the fire until you both had to retreat for your own safety, which is obviously the right decision here. talk me cided to, rather than n you evacuate and leave the scene, to stick around and help somebody who needed that help. >> yeah. so actually, i was on my way to just to document the fire and just to see if i could help anyone. i knew i had some friends in the palace. um. palisade area, but, uh, the person i ended up meeting was my friend. uh orderly. and so orderly came up, and he was just he was in his car, and he was, um, preparing to evacuate and that kind of thing. and i was like, hey, man, um, would you want to help me? kind of just like, document what's going on and like, just, you know, keep tabs on the fire. and so he said, yes. and so we went up to the ridge just to watch the flames and where things were going. um, and i, you know, i report

on what's going on, uh, to people who follow me on social media and that kind of thing, just kind of helping people know what's going on. uh, as the flames were getting closer, i also realized that his house, that his house was actually right down the road. and so as the flames were getting closer, i was like, hey, man, we should we should head to your house. and we should actually start, um, doing what we can to prep your house just to, you know, to fireproof the house, if you will. and so as we went down, we met a few other folks down there. we, uh, um, were on the leading edge of the fires. and so when embers would come down, we would try and douse them out or put out the embers as much as we could. uh, we tried to just, like, just do what we could on the edge of the fire, uh, to keep homes safe and that kind of thing. uh, but eventually it got it. it was. yeah, it got too much. um, as you saw in the video, there's there was just a point where i was hosing the front yard. he was hosing the backyard. we met

in the middle of his house just to reconvene and see how we're doing, just to like, a check in. um, and then as i looked over, i saw that just a bunch of these embers went into his yard and just engulfed the whole the whole yard, like the whole fence just went up. the brush went up, everything in his yard, just like, engulfed in flames. and so we went out there for like two seconds. and as we went out there, i was just like, we can't, there's nothing we can do. like it's not safe anymore. we have to leave. and so very tough. >> my, my thoughts are it was it's difficult because, you know, my, my friend grew up in this house. >> you know, this was his like, you know, it's him and his family. you know, this is where they grew up and everything. and so it's really hard. but also it's not worth losing your life over. and so, um, making the right decision to leave was it was the right decision. >> as we begin to hear more of these stories of resiliency, of neighbors helping others, is this really quite common where you live? and can we expect

more of these stories to emerge during the recovery yeah, all throughout the neighborhood, especially in the palisade area, there was just i just saw neighbors helping neighbors. >> there was even one specific person that had his whole like he had like a whole homemade hose, uh, that he, like, hooked up and was able to, like, douse his house and his neighbors houses and that kind of thing. i saw, um, other neighbors just helping other neighbors, like, pack up their cars and that kind of thing. and so i think one of the silver linings when it comes to these disasters is that, uh, community really rallies around each other, you know, they really try and help each other when they can. and so even my friend o'reilly, he was just saying, uh, earlier today that he just feels so, um, loved and taken care of because his phone keeps blowing up for of people just saying, hey, if you need anything, you know, my my house is here. you know, you can stay here for however long you want. if you need food or water or anything, if you need like extra clothes.

so like, just like seeing the community come out and seeing friends come out just to help out each other is really encouraging. >> how long have you lived in the region? >> and so i am originally from minnesota, but i lived here for about six months. and so, um, orally has lived here for more than 25 years. and then his parents have lived here even longer. and so, um, just coming up here and just being around everyone has been really encouraging for me. um, i come from a place called it's called minnesota. nice. you know, but i really feel like that also extends down here, that there is there is a california nice that that happens when disaster happens less than a year living in the region. >> what an experience. but we're thankful that you're you're around to tell us about it, and especially that you were there for your friend charles. we thank you for for sharing your story and for for documenting other stories like these as a storm chaser. do be safe. >> yeah. thank you. thank you so much.

>> some hollywood celebrities have also lost their homes in the fires, and some of them are also sharing their stories. actor mandy moore, she's expressing gratitude that she and her family managed to escape, but she says her children's school was destroyed, as were other community fixtures in altadena. actor james woods, sharing video of the palisades fire closing in on his home. luckily, he and his wife did manage to escape, but he told cnn earlier that he's unsure if the house is still standing. >> sarah was on with her eight year old niece last night and. she came out. i'm sorry. just, you know, one day you're swimming in the pool and the next day it's all gone. but yeah, she came out with her little yeti. piggy bank for us to rebuild our house i'm sorry. i'm. usually. i thought, i thought, i thought i

would be stronger than this. i thought i'd be stronger than this. but you know. >> actor billy crystal and his wife. also quite emotional right now. the two lost their home. he told, quote, words cannot describe the enormity of the devastation we are witnessing and experiencing. janice and i lived in our home since 1979. we raised our children and grandchildren here. every inch of our house was filled with love, beautiful memories that can't be taken away. cnn's bill weir has more on how climate change has impacted the region, making these fires especially dangerous today. >> this is just one of over a thousand buildings that have burned here in the town of pacific palisades, a community that is now utterly devastated by this latest storm of wildfires. here. this community, home to some very affluent residents, but also working class small business owners, many of whom have lost

everything in this part of los angeles county on natural disasters, on an overheated planet heated up by fossil fuels has created this drought conditions. in january. this is typically one of the wettest months of the year in los angeles, but it hasn't rained significantly in months. last year we got a lot of water all at once in california, created a super bloom of weeds and other vegetation, which is now bone dry. fuel up in these canyons and with 6070 mile an hour winds as this thing broke, spreading it out, the winds died down a bit overnight, but it also spread into runyon canyon. this is an area right above the hollywood walk of fame. the famous handprints and stars, those hills just north of that area were evacuated last night as the fire crept over the canyons there. this is extremely difficult terrain for first responders to fight in, and they weren't able to fly fixed wing or even helicopters

to fight these flames. during the first 24 to 36 hours of these blazes. but now from the altadena area up north of pasadena, here in the palisades, now in the hollywood hills, it is an all hands on deck moment here in southern california for a wildfire storm few have ever seen. back to you. >> it is truly historic, bill. firefighters are still hoping that the winds will eventually calm down. there is hope that that will happen eventually as they work to get a handle on at least five fires burning in the los angeles area. you see where they are. we're going to have the latest on them in just a second. >> kobe believed in himself at the youngest possible age. >> it's one of the most remarkable stories in sports history. i don't want to be remembered as just a basketball player. >> kobe premieres january 25th on cnn.

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is cnn. >> welcome back. the los angeles fire chief says residents are not out of danger yet, as five wildfires are still burning in the area. and the national weather service is warning that while much of southern california may soon see a brief lull in the wind gusts, winds are expected to pick up slightly throughout the day on thursday. here's cnn's meteorologist chad myers with that forecast. >> the wind forecast is better. i mean, better than this, better than hurricane force wind gusts. but we're still going to be 20 to 30 with a gust of 40. but unlike yesterday when we had the perfect setup out here with the high pressure over the great basin, the cold air, because of the clear skies coming down at night, the entire high pressure getting higher pressure and exhaling through the canyons, through the mountains and making all those winds of those almost hurricane force. certainly in some spots there were hurricane force and above. not going to get there tonight. so 20 to 30. but the fire starts are already here. so the problem we would have had

damage with the wind anyway, but it wouldn't have been such damage had we not had the sparks. had we not had the fire starts. well, now there are millions of hotspots on this map, so any fire, any ember, any additional fire push could actually make more fires. of course. still extreme for tonight all the way through the morning hours. but then by later on this afternoon, things do go down to only critical. and i'm not saying that tongue in cheek, but 20 to 30 with the gusts to 40 is better than 60 to 70 with a gust to 80. so today will be better. as the sun rises, things will be better out there. and with the firefighters with the lesser winds, they will be able to get the air assets up in the air and help them out with those water drops for sure a promising forecast from chad myers. >> let's go to washington now. the incoming u.s. president blaming california's governor for the deadly fires while visiting the capital on wednesday. donald trump accusing gavin newsom of not

allowing enough water to flow into the fire hydrants of los angeles. here's how newsom responded to trump's accusations. >> i hate to even ask this question, but the president elect chose to attack you, blame you for this. >> it's one can't even respond to it. i mean, it's. people are literally fleeing. people have lost their lives. kids lost their schools, families completely torn asunder. churches burned down. this guy wanted to politicize it. i have a lot of thoughts, and i know what i want to say. i won't. i stood next to president of the united states of america today, and i was proud to be with joe biden. and he had the backs of every single person in this community. he didn't play politics, didn't try to divide any of us. >> while current president joe biden, who was in los angeles yesterday, or i should say on tuesday for personal reasons, he also canceled the last overseas trip of his presidency

due to the tragedy in california. the u.s. president was planning to visit rome to meet with italy's prime minister, as well as the pope. president biden said the federal government will do anything and everything as long as it takes to contain the fires, and also rebuild. while at the capitol on wednesday, president elect trump and incoming first lady melania visited the casket of former u.s. president jimmy carter, who was lying in state in the rotunda of the capitol. trump expected to attend the state funeral service on thursday with former u.s. president bill clinton. george w. bush and barack obama. president biden will deliver remarks at that funeral for former president carter, who died last month at 100 years old. the president is set to deliver a eulogy for the man that he called a dear friend and remarkable leader, whom he said, quote, lived a life measured not by words but by his deeds. mr. biden said that when his son beau died from cancer, jimmy and rosalynn

carter were actually the ones to help them heal. details now on the funeral plans for the hours ahead from cnn's brian able funeral services fit for a president. >> the nation remembering the life and service of its 39th president, jimmy carter. today's funeral service at the national cathedral in washington is its sixth presidential state funeral, bringing together five living presidents bill clinton, george w. bush, barack obama, joe biden and donald trump to honor carter, the longest lived commander in chief. asked by carter before his death, president biden will deliver a eulogy and given by their sons are eulogies by former president gerald ford and carter's vice president, walter mondale. written before their deaths. today's service, capping off days of pomp and circumstance in d.c. for carter's passing with ceremonies at joint base andrews, the u.s. navy

memorial, and in a remarkable homage, the procession following the same route, carter and his family walked the day of his inauguration in 1977 before a service in the capitol rotunda. >> may his life be a lesson for the ages and a beacon for the future. >> may god bless president jimmy carter. >> in washington, brian abel reporting. >> and we thank you for watching the last hour. i'm polo sandoval in new york city. cnn newsroom with rosemary church is next. >> the whole story with anderson cooper is a five time emmy winner for long form journalism. this week is overtourism threatening venice? the whole story with anderson cooper sunday at eight on cnn. >> safelite repair safelite replace. >> nobody likes a cracked windshield. but at least you can go to safelite.

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