you talk about horror, paris hilton actually posted on social media that she watched her house burn. she said she was heartbroken beyond words. sitting with my family, watching the news and seeing our home in malibu burned to the ground on live tv is something no one should ever have to experience. the devastation is unimaginable to know so many are waking up today without the place they called home is truly heartbreaking. and likewise, john, billy crystal put up a really heartbreaking post as well, talking about what his home meant to him and his family, the home that they lost. he said janice, his wife and i lived in our home since 1979. we raised our children and grandchildren here. i mean, just so much pain. every inch of our house was filled with love, beautiful memories that can never be taken away. i mean, it's just unimaginable. john, what's happening to so many people? and we're getting a firsthand view of it because of celebrities and their long reach.

>> hopefully they have those memories. lisa france, obviously the fires, they don't care about, about class or job or anything, they are simply raging out of control. thank you so much for being with us. a new hour of cnn news central starts right now. >> i saw a big ball of orange with the smoke, so it looked like it was here. towards the top of the hill. >> i went outside and i seen everybody running back and forth, and i looked to my left and i'm just seen a fire. >> have you ever seen anything like this in hollywood? >> no, nothing like this. i never think nothing like that would happen over here in this area. this. >> this hurts and it hurts. seeing the scale of it, i've lived here in l.a. area my whole life. 32 years. it's never been this bad. >> 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. >> nothing like this has ever happened. los angeles county is a hellscape. a scene like no one has ever experienced before. there are now five major fires ravaging several cities. not a single one of those fires is under control this morning. satellite images show the enormous scale of the populated areas that are burning at this hour and overnight, another major fire exploded in the iconic hollywood hills, forcing more evacuations. cal fire says the winds have died down, but those santa ana winds are forecasted to pick up again, leaving no home safe. cnn's julia vargas jones starts our coverage this morning. what are you seeing there? i think you're in altadena. after another night of fires. >> we are. sarah. this is altadena. >> every street that we've been on has been like this

just total destruction. this house. yesterday, i was here as it was catching fire. sarah, i actually, i stopped on my tracks. we were going somewhere else and i was like, oh, my god, look at this. i wanted to come back here today because i wanted to see what had happened. this is it's not just the one street that we were on. and every street and you can see in the background here, there's still some hot spots. this is what. please be careful here. we're still seeing hotspots burning in the distance. and look, firefighters are doing what they can and making really tough choices on when to leave a scene and move on to the next thing, to the next hot spot that needs their attention. you know, they've been working 36, 48 hour shifts trying to fight this. but another thing that's been going on, sarah, is that we're seeing residents helping each other. and we saw this all through yesterday, and we're seeing the results of that today, yesterday. let's go over here. yesterday i saw as i saw this house on fire. i saw

volunteers doing everything they could to try to help save this house. i spoke to that and i played that soundbite just about an hour ago with the resident of this house, gail. 3 or 4 volunteers, she said, had just showed up at her house and the garden hose is still here. there's still wet spots. this is the impact that these people had. they helped save this one woman's house her entire life, she said. she's been living here for more than ten years. everything is inside this house and it is heartwarming to see how people have been coming together. but also the desperation sarah, as they're coming and pleading with authorities. you know, some people say, look, i've called, i've told the fire department that my house is on fire. there's not that much that they can do for me at this point. so taking matters into their own hands to try and stop this fire from spreading even further. >> julia, you are in altadena,

about 35 miles away in the pacific palisades. the fires are still raging as well. thank you for taking us through that. i appreciate it, john. >> all right. with us now is incident commander for cal fire. jim hudson. commander, thank you so much for being with us. we've been checking in with you periodically throughout this blaze. and we talked to you overnight about the palisades fire burning in pacific palisades. sarah was just talking about that. what is the status this morning? >> well, this morning, the fire is approximately 17,234 acres. currently the winds we still are getting an offshore flow in the santa ana winds, but they have subsided since what we saw the first day and a half of this incident. you know, we have firefighters deployed throughout the communities all around the perimeter and are really looking to make some headway today as we start to see the winds subside and really take an opportunity to extinguish any ignitions around structures, as well as

establishing perimeter control around the incident. >> the people should know that the pictures on your screen right now are live from pacific palisades. you can see those fires raging right now. commander just told us 17,000 acres burned. talk to us more about the conditions today. you do expect today to be more favorable? >> yes. we're still going to see, you know, threatening winds. i don't think they're they're not predicted to be that the magnitude that we saw the first day and day and a half of this incident, when we were seeing sustained winds up to 50 miles an hour gusts, you know, over 90 in some areas of the fire up at the ridge tops. so, you know, the challenges that were presented the first two days of this fire, day and a half, roughly where we're getting a massive ember cast and just spot fire ignitions ahead of the main body of the fire and around structures as the winds subside. we expect that to reduce today, but we'll be prepared and we're continuing to bring resources in from across the state, as

well as outside of the state of california, through mutual aid and to really hopefully, as the winds die down, we could start to get a little bit more progress on perimeter control today. >> do you anticipate more evacuations will be necessary? >> uh, that's a continuous evaluation throughout. it will be throughout the course of this incident until we, you know, have really solid containment doesn't necessarily mean that it will occur today, but we are always in the planning phase. we'll have messaging early if that does occur. but if the winds do die down today, um, we're hoping to make some significant progress. >> how is water availability at this moment to fight these fires? i know in some places you are taxing resources. >> yeah, we we did tax the water system the first day and a half. we worked with the local water agencies. um, they've been able to provide some supplemental water through water trucks or what we call water tenders. um, it was a

challenge early. no reports overnight of any issues with water. water pressure. um, we're bringing a lot more engines in. um, ahead of the initial attack in that first day to which allows us to be more mobile, move water around the incident, as well as requesting more water trucks. so we've worked around some mitigations for that. and the water system is starting to stabilize. >> well, that is good news. and we just showed pictures before of fighting these blazes from the air. a helicopter there. i know the fires were so fierce and the winds so strong at certain times that you were not able to do that. are you able to get those air resources in at this time? >> yeah, we've had. uh, helicopter water dropping helicopters up, working all night. um, you know, the first day it was very challenging. there was aircraft up, but we really have to gauge the safety and the effectiveness of what they're able to accomplish. so, um, last night, we had, uh, seven helicopters up. water dropping is where, as well as some aerial supervision and

intelligence platforms. so that was a bonus as and really helpful as the winds died down or were not at the scale they were. the first day and a half of this incident. >> again, that is good news. seven helicopters out working overnight. what is your biggest concern this morning? >> it's just going to be continued. uh, the continue to be the winds, even though they might be predicted to not be sustained winds like they were. any gust could throw an ember across the line. we could get ignitions around structures that were not impacted. so we'll do our due diligence, make sure that we continue to staff the areas of the fire that have the potential for structure loss heavily, and really look for those opportunities to gain perimeter control on this incident. >> all right, jim hudson, i know it's been a long few days for you will be a long day ahead. thank you so much for sharing all this new information. >> kate, as we know and as is very clear, weather conditions are so critical in this fight and

the fight that we were just talking about there with john, especially when it comes to the wind. let's get a new update on that from meteorologist derek van dam. derek, what are fire crews up against right now? >> okay, so i was so encouraged overnight and to wake up to this morning to see helicopters were flying. and now to hear it from the incident command chief. they're talking with john. >> just moments ago, seven helicopters up overnight. >> there's one of which fighting this fire from the air. this is an effective way to fight and contain blazes like this. we need it desperately. so what will the wind do? it did relax. from yesterday's torrent of wind that brought the hurricane force gusts. you can see this morning it will be a lot calmer than what it was 24 hours ago. but i want to advance this by six hours because we do anticipate the winds to pick up once again today. the typical vulnerable areas to santa ana winds. we'll see the ridge top 60 mile per hour plus down to the valleys and coastline below, perhaps 30 to

45mph. so the potential for further ignition certainly exists before friday's relaxation of the winds. and we get an improvement in the fire conditions. it is bone dry. relative humidity levels between 5 and 15%. still a critical fire danger today. that becomes an elevated fire danger tomorrow. so that's a lesser scale. and of course, we're breathing in all this toxic air from the wildfire smoke, not to mention the urban interface here that is interacting with all the chemicals that are being released into the atmosphere, making pasadena and surrounding locations in western l.a. county some of the most hazardous air on the planet. >> kate, derek van dam, thank you so much, derek. really appreciate it. coming up for us, it was a very, very long night, similar to today, lack of resources, lack of water. >> you can't prepare enough for something like this. it's impossible. >> more than 2000 structures have been charred to the ground as these raging wildfires are just scorching thousands and

thousands of acres with little containment. so far. federal government. what is the federal government doing to help? fema's chief will be joining us and watch as a man escapes the fire, about to engulf his friend's home. he was trying to save, going to check in with him. as the fires continue to rage unabated. all right, dude, let's get out of here. >> we tried, we tried. bro. i'm sorry. >> kobe believed in himself at the youngest possible age. >> it's one of the most remarkable stories in sports history. >> i want to be remembered as just a basketball player. >> kobe premieres january 25th on cnn. >> five mornings. cough congestion. >> i'm feeling better all in one and done with mucinex. kickstart. headaches better now. >> mucinex kickstart gives all in one and done relief with a morning jolt of instant cooling sensation. it's comeback

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>> all right the breaking news. just moments ago we heard from an incident commander that conditions in and around los angeles overnight, they have improved. the winds are not as fierce as they had been. they were able to get helicopters up overnight, dropping water, which is a huge, huge help. still, the worst of the fires not contained, 0% contained, especially around pasadena and altadena. cnn's anderson cooper was right in the middle of it. >> in altadena, the fires are still just out of control in so many, so many areas. >> this house has been burning now for quite some time. we've been watching. it has just spread to that tree. i don't know if you can see the entire tree is just incinerated within seconds. but the important part is look at all these embers, all these embers in the trees. they're now going through the air. they're now flying down the block to a number of houses which have not yet burned. and those embers. now, look, those embers have caught in

that tree and that cascading effect. there's a lot of trees on this block. there's a lot of bushes. there's a lot of logs. >> whoa. okay, so there's a lot of explosions also, obviously as vehicles, as gas tanks, as vehicles ignite gas tanks explode. >> that car exploded probably about 20 minutes ago when we first got to this location. >> the situation is so unpredictable. with us now is fema administrator deanne criswell. administrator, thank you so much for being with us. i know you've been monitoring this around the clock. what's your understanding of the situation as people wake up in los angeles this morning? >> i think the most important thing right now, john, is for people to remember that while there may be some improvement in the wind conditions, which is great for the firefighters, it's still a very dangerous situation and people need to make sure that they're listening to their local officials and that they're keeping themselves safe. if they have not found a shelter, they can download the fema app.

they can find shelters that are close to them. they need to really focus on making sure they're staying out of harm's way so the firefighters can do the critical work that they need to to contain these tragic fires in that battle is still very much on. >> in some cases, it's just beginning. have you been able to assess the amount of damage to this point? >> we have not. i mean, we are hearing the reports of more than a thousand structures that have been impacted. i don't know how many of those are homes that have been impacted, but we know that there's several hundred potentially homes, if not more than that, that are probably destroyed if not having significant smoke damage. and so we know that there's going to be lots of families that are going to be in great need. and so with the presidential disaster declaration that was declared yesterday, president biden opening up the resources for these families, this gives them a chance to really now start their recovery process. and so

if they're in a safe place, if you're in a safe place, then you can contact fema, go to disasterassistance.gov and you can start that process of your recovery. >> you deal with many different kinds of natural disasters at fema. what is unique to fires in terms of the immediate recovery? >> yeah, i mean, i think they all certainly have their own unique characteristics, but i think with the fires that i have gone to, you know, what affects me the most when i go there and i'm on my way there right now, is the fact that they've lost everything. they've lost all of their memories, all of their belongings, nothing for them to really even sift through. and so this makes the recovery process both from a physical standpoint of having to rebuild, but also the emotional standpoint. so difficult for so many people. and that's why we're going to have those services. we're going to support the state. and governor for his needs and making sure that we're bringing in all of

those resources, whether it's crisis counseling, long term housing, short term housing to help people manage, you know, what they're going through, what they're feeling and what they're going to need to do to rebuild. >> it's only been very recently, over the last few hours, that firefighters were even able to get close enough to these blazes to try to push them back in terms of recovery teams and officials, when might they be on scene? when might they be on the. >> so we are going to have people now that we have the presidential disaster declaration, we will have people going into the communities, into that local area and where we will start is we'll start in the shelters, because that's where we know people will be, and we want to be able to start to talk to people, help them register for assistance. but i have already had people staged in and working side by side with the state emergency operations team in sacramento, making sure that we are moving the resources in at their request for what they need to help support this. i've been coordinating with the

northcom commander and the president of the american red cross, so we can ensure that we have all of the right resources there, but people will start to see individuals in fema shirts helping them register. starting in the shelter areas where people are. and we'll try to find people if they're in hotels so we can get them started on this process. >> one of the ways to make response easier is, is prevention and warning. what can be done to give people more warning, give them a longer runway before an incident like this. >> you know, i think, you know, we saw that there were red flag conditions early. the governor, he moved resources in ahead of these fires because of these red flag warnings. we need to be able to communicate this information out to individuals. but the part that we can't do is tell them exactly where something like this is going to start. we don't know where that fire starts going to be. we don't know how strong the winds will be and where it's going to push it. and that's

why it's so important for individuals as they're building their preparedness plans to know where they're going to get information and know how they're going to evacuate and where they're going to go. when something like this does happen. >> i know these situations can be violently unpredictable, but what is your anticipation over the next several hours and days in terms of the possibility for improvement? >> i think it all depends on the weather, right? the firefighters need to be able to work in conditions that they're not putting their own lives in jeopardy, and the weather conditions are going to be one of the biggest factors that influence that. and so as they monitor the weather, they take advantage of the, you know, reduction in the winds that they're seeing today to start to put some some fire retardant on the fires, to continue to put out the fires. but if the winds change, you know, they're going to have to ensure that they're protecting themselves so they can continue the larger fight of containing all of these fires and eventually

extinguishing all of them. it's it is, as you said, john, just really unpredictable because we don't know what the weather is going to do for them right now. >> fema administrator deanne criswell, we know you're headed out there. please check in with us when you arrive. we appreciate your time. and for more information about how you can help wildfire victims, go to cnn.com/vote. impact. kate. >> still ahead for us, a storm chaser covering the fires is forced to run with seconds to spare. >> just let it burn and god protect this house in the name of jesus. protect this neighborhood, god. in jesus name i pray. amen. >> a man is our guest. next. and a new phone call by donald trump under serious scrutiny. why was he on the phone with with supreme court justice samuel alito the same day, the day, the day before, the day right around at the same time that trump's lawyers petitioned the high court to step in and

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to caregivers, find all the senior care you need at care.com. >> as the new year starts. follow cnn. >> president carter will be remembered for his lifetime of service, reporting the events shaping history. >> follow all the changes in 2025. >> i, donald john trump, follow the facts. >> follow cnn. >> i ran downstairs, went to the backyard and saw flames in the canyon facing my backyard, and we just went to work. >> we turned on all our hoses we were trying to spray into the canyon, trying to dampen it as much as we could. then all of a sudden, the flames just grew exponentially and i turned around and i was yelling at my family. i was like, we need to go now. i'd never seen anything. i'd been living up there since i was, you know, eight years old. i have never in my life seen anything like that. >> that was cnn's nigar mahmoudi, who was among the thousands of fire evacuees forced to leave everything behind as these five major

wildfires are burning this morning in the los angeles area, the fire burning around pacific palisades has burned more than 17,000 acres. one of the incident commanders who is there told us they are getting relief from the high winds this morning. they had helicopters flying overnight, seven of them, and they were able to get some water and retardant onto those blazes. >> as we continue to follow this major and still developing story, we have another major story we've been watching as well. a new phone call by donald trump under scrutiny today on the phone with he's on the phone with supreme court justice samuel alito the day before donald trump's lawyers petitioned alito and the other justices to step in and delay his upcoming sentencing. now, justice alito says the call was about a job reference for a former clerk of his who wanted a position in the trump administration. cnn's steve contorno picks up the story for us from here. what are you hearing this morning, steve?

>> kate, as you said, justice alito saying this call was relatively benign, that he was simply making a job recommendation on behalf of a former clerk, something that supreme court justices often do on behalf of the people who work for him. but it is not very often that they make those calls to an incoming president of the united states. and the timing of this call is certainly a note, because it came just a day before donald trump petitioned the supreme court to intervene in the sentencing of his new york hush money case, which is scheduled to be tomorrow. now, justice alito saying he had no idea that that petition was coming. let me read to you what he told cnn in a statement, quote, we did not discuss the emergency application he filed today. and indeed, i was not even aware at the time of our conversation that such an application would be filed. now, this comes at a time when there are already questions and concerns about

the politicalization of the supreme court of late, especially some of the conservatives on the court. samuel alito, for example, was the subject of controversy in recent years for some of the flags that flowed out, flown outside of some of his properties in virginia and new jersey, including an upside down american flag that neighbors spotted outside of his virginia home around january 2021. kate. >> much more. i'm sure we will hear much more about this going forward. and also, donald trump is talking quite a bit about what the major breaking story, which is the wildfires out in southern california. but he's casting blame on california's governor for the wildfires that they're still battling. >> that's right, kate. and he has been laying the foundation to criticize governor newsom over potential wildfires. really going back years, even to his first term as president. we saw him over the summer in his

interview with joe rogan. once again bringing up criticisms of newsom's stewardship of wildfire management. and yesterday, speaking on capitol hill, took serious aim at newsom's handling of this and calling for him to resign. take a listen it's very sad because i've been trying to get gavin newsom to allow water to come. >> they had no water in the fire hydrants today in los angeles. >> it was a terrible thing. and we're going to get that done. it's going to finally be done. >> obviously, this is a playbook that trump has followed in the past. we saw him make a lot of very critical comments about the biden administration's handling of the colossal and cataclysmic flooding in north carolina over the summer, and he has been someone who has politicized these types of disasters in the past. and once again, we are seeing him do that. as these wildfires continue to rage in california.

>> kate, but specifically to the point that he made the argument that he made and the claim that he made there while he was standing on on capitol hill, we spoke with the battalion chief of cal fire, who says that they have the water that they need. overall, the water situation is good for firefighters, though there was some water pressure issues at least yesterday. so just putting it all together there. steve, thank you very much sarah. >> all right. we have been seeing those heart stopping videos as people tried to save homes and their businesses from fires in l.a. county, but ultimately they were forced to leave, including our next guest, who is a professional storm chaser who was trying to save his friend's home and shared this terrifying moment. i did say, yeah, let's get out of here. >> we tried, we tried. bro. i'm sorry. i'm sorry. let me get the door. we tried our best. >> yeah, and when this tree falls over.

i'm sorry, bro, i'll get out of here. >> no. >> extremely dangerous. you look there. the tree is burning from the inside out. the fire is coming right up to the house and starting to burn. the home. they were trying to save it themselves, but they had to flee. tanner, charles and his friend orly israel spoke to our anderson cooper earlier about their final escape. >> you know, every time i watch this video, i got to watch myself running away from the battle of a lifetime. >> you know, the the sound of these fire alarms going off everywhere in the house. every time this video plays is just crazy. and then we fought the fire until we, you know, my eyes are burnt. my face is burnt. we gave it our all. and also we stayed there way longer than anyone should have. and still lost. so yeah, you know, i feel like we fought

a losing battle, but we fought it and i'm glad we made it out alive. >> were you able to get things out? i mean, things that were important to you. >> only the most important things. you know, this was a great experience. and going, like, i guess i don't need those suit jackets. you know, those basketballs or signed shoes. we got what we needed. and i don't think we'll need the rest i have what was it like? >> i mean, running out like that. what was it like getting out? because, i mean, some of the stories of people, you know, having to abandon their vehicles. and what was that that like? >> you know, we're running out with the you can see the sparks in the air. it's like a like a snow storm, but the snow hurts your skin and your eyes. and, you know, i'm running to get in the car because there's two trees on either side of the road that look like they're going to crash into the road.

and, you know, we are just trying to get out of there as fast as we can by then because it that junk is bunk. dude. >> and, tanner, i understand you're a storm chaser. i know you went over to help orly. what's this? what was it like for you? >> yeah. for me, i was just happy and glad to be there. just to help him in a time of need. um. uh, i don't know. i haven't been friends with orly too long, but i know him enough to to know that i just really appreciate who he is as a human and who he is in general. and so just being in the proper place at the proper time to help him was just, you know, like this, like when natural disasters happen like this specific fire they were fleeing is around pacific palisades. >> we just heard from an official 17,000 acres have burned there, and that's just one of the five blazes in los angeles county right now. let's get to pacific

palisades. cnn's maribel gonzalez standing by there. what are you seeing at this moment, maribel? >> yeah, john. good morning. well, we're here in this very block in the downtown area of pacific palisades, just around ten hours ago. and this shop that you see behind us, it was still standing at that time this morning when we were driving up, we saw completely burned to the ground. there's debris, there's rubbish, a few embers between that debris, some fires also still active nearby. and this scene, john, is the same one repeated block after block in this downtown area that you know, as you know, is a very picturesque neighborhood, but now looks more like a ghost town. >> 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. >> and that was california governor gavin newsom. that was california governor gavin newsom. he was here on the scene, actually a couple blocks away. we saw him and his staff surveying the area. they were here just to check out, you know, the devastating damage, not just here, but in several areas of los angeles county. >> john, it's got to be so incredibly difficult. maribel gonzalez, thank you very much for that. you can just imagine watching these flames approaching your home. if you're monitoring your security camera, if you're thousands of miles away. that happened to one california family and funeral services are set to begin for president jimmy carter at the washington national cathedral. cnn's special coverage begins at the top of the hour. >> the whole story with anderson cooper is a five time emmy winner for long form

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>> it's been a week. >> so many ways to save life. ready? wallet. happy. that's 365 by whole foods market. >> 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. >> it's armageddon. i'm driving through a war zone right now and i don't even know what to say. i'm speechless. i'm shocked. i'm just so sad for our devastated community. we lost 600 fire homes in the woosley fire, one of which was mine. and now i don't even know how we're going to be able to recover from this. >> that is just one resident of pacific palisades who had just finished rebuilding her house after it had burned to the ground in a previous wildfire. she broke blockades to get in to see the damage in her street, and of course, she saw

all of those homes destroyed. you can barely even see anything around her. it's the smoke is still so serious there. so the most destructive fire in l.a. history. that's the palisades fire now. and it has now burned more than 17,000 acres. and take a look at this video from 2000 miles away. one southern california homeowner watched helplessly as flames started moving toward her home. you can see them right there, starting to lick up, and then you see the wind kicking up, watching this through her home security camera video. and then came the alerts, a heat warning at the front door and a sprinkler alarm alerts. then zibby owens and her family are safe. she's right now traveling in new york, and zibby is joining us right now. thank you very much for being here. zibby. you did not know what all happened after the camera went out. have you been able to get an update on your home if it's still there? >> so i will say last night there was a man on a bicycle who drove by and we caught a tiny glimpse and it looks like it is still there. i don't know

in what shape. and we only saw a sliver, but we have some hope. but it almost doesn't matter. like it's not even about our home. it's the whole community. i mean, i live full time in new york, but i split my time with l.a. i own a bookstore out there called debbie's bookshop. all of our friends, everyone we know, has lost their homes. it's like the most surreal thing. even just as i was turning off my phone for this, i got another text from a friend saying, our home is gone. how are you? it's just the magnitude of this and the devastation emotionally is just i can't even. and our whole town, everything is gone. everything, all the stores and restaurants. and i know you know this because you see all the videos. it's just when it's your place, it's. i can't it's, i don't know, i have trouble not crying, but that's understandable. >> i mean, it's there one day and literally overnight with those gusts. so much of it is gone. i mean, i

saw i saw you write that it's just the way you put it is our community has just been destroyed overnight is the fact that our community has been destroyed overnight is inconceivable. and the reality that that has happened, i can't imagine that you or any of your neighbors have even been able to begin to process this. >> no, it's so true. everyone is just so raw, numb and shock. like, i woke up this morning and was like, wait, maybe that didn't happen. maybe it was just a bad dream, but it's not a bad dream and i don't know where anybody goes from here. and i will say, you know, for so many people, they're such well intentioned advice, right? like, it's okay. like we're going to rebuild. it'll be better than ever. and i don't think the people who have been immediately affected are quite there yet. i think everybody is in a processing mode, like just trying to accept what is happening. and i think for all those people who want to reach out to friends and loved ones and the people who have lost their homes, just to say you're

thinking of them, you're here for them. if there's anything they can do. but i think the optimism and it will come in time. but it is so new and so raw, and this grief is just yeah, it's just visceral and so raw and, you know, even if we are lucky with our own home and, you know, as i said, i do live here, this isn't about me as my role in this, right? it's about everybody else. and, you know, firefighters did come. we watched on the nest cam as we saw firefighters in our backyard, um, you know, putting out the flames. so we are so indebted to the firefighters. and just watching what they've been doing is so heroic. and our hearts, we are just so thankful. but this is it's just i can't even believe it. >> it's kind of what you're describing is something i'm hearing from more than one person, which is just like this almost insane mix of emotions. you're so thankful. of course, the most important thing you have, which is, you know, your

life and your health. but this mix of emotion, of like, it's almost like grieving a literal, actual death because it's like a community completely evaporated. but still, you're so grateful that you have to be grateful. at the same time, it seems a real horrible mix of emotion. >> it is. and there's something about the community and neighbors, and, you know, you don't necessarily like pick like, oh, these are the people i'm going to deal with in my day to day life. you know, it's just this is the way it is. so are you all going to pick up and move together? it's not like that, right? it's the everyday stuff of life that is going to be lost in all this. and that is so tragic and all the memories like, i think that's another thing when everybody's losing their childhood homes or where they raise their kids. and all my friends who have just like, spent their whole lives there. and then it's like, you know, it's just gone. everything. and i don't know it. it's so emotional. it's not about the stuff. it's it's about what

does life mean? and yes, you're right, of course we have our lives. but as as people, you know, we take for granted that we are alive every day. and obviously it is a gift. but when something like this happens and it's like, yes, thank god we're safe. phew. that is usually like the baseline of our days when we wake up is that we are all okay. and in a huge tragedy like this. yes, of course, you know, god forbid everybody had been home or something terrible. and these are homes, but our homes are where we we find all the love in our life, and we connect with people and our communities and the restaurants and stores that make up the fabric of our of our lives. and every day this is these are the things that give our lives meaning. and when that is ripped away, it's something that is, it has value that you can't assess from insurance. right? this is this is the value of our memories and our lives and our communities. and you can't replace that. >> you're putting it away. that i think i haven't heard yet, which is these are the they may be things, but their

interactions, their it's a life that these are the, the things and places that have given your life meaning have been the fabric of the memories that you and so many have created. and it's just completely ripped away. zibby, i'm so sorry. and i'm sure when you get back there, have an opportunity to get back there, it's going to be a whole 'nother round of reality setting in. but thank you very much for coming on. and our heart is like absolutely breaking for you and your community. thank you so much thank you. thank you. >> yeah, i mean, she is one of thousands of people going through this watching this happen. >> it's not over. >> it's not over. it's still happening. the only bit of good news we heard from cal fire is that the winds have died down. so they can get up into the air. there are so many fires. that doesn't mean that they all get put out. we will be watching this very closely. thank you so much for staying with us. cnn's special coverage of president jimmy carter's funeral begins at the top of the

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