>> businesses like summer lucille's clothing boutique in charlotte. >> i get 80% of my business from tiktok. i know it will cripple me and i will be devastated. >> the tiktok ban in the u.s. could take effect on january 19th, unless tiktok is sold to other owners once a ban takes effect, experts say. if you buy a new phone, you won't be able to download tiktok. if you already have it on your phone. >> if you already have the app on your phone, it's not just going to disappear, but you'll no longer be able to update it, which means that eventually it would become buggy. it might have security vulnerabilities, and eventually it would become unusable. >> if tiktok is taken off the u.s. market, who stands to benefit? where would tiktok users go? analysts say instagram, snapchat and youtube would likely pick up a lot of that business because they already offer short form video feeds similar to tiktok on their platforms, wolf. what's at stake? >> all right, brian todd, thanks very, very much for that report. and to our viewers, thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in the

situation room. erin burnett outfront starts right now. >> and outfront next, live from california, the death toll rising as heavy winds are in the forecast here. i'm going to show you the bird's eye view that i just got of the massive fires raging across los angeles. >> we'll be speaking to a firefighter on the front lines of one of the fires that we understand is only 3% contained. >> after four days. >> plus, picking up the pieces, we're going to take you to a restaurant that's been a mainstay of this community for 40 years. >> you met the owner here out front on the day that she learned her family's business had burned to the ground, and tonight she went back to it with us for the first time. >> and a cnn investigation this hour, as more people ask whether the widespread destruction could have been prevented and weather warnings were ignored. >> let's go out front. and good evening. >> i'm erin burnett, live from pacific palisades, california, and out front tonight, the breaking news, the sheer devastation. officials right now are bracing for the winds

to pick up here in southern california again. >> and i will say right where we're standing moments ago, and you can see the smoke now. >> moments ago, though, there were they were pumping water on that for just to try to stop any sort of a re-ignition. and that's, that's a lot of what we're seeing here. >> even places that seem to be just burned are still smoldering. there's still heat coming up. firefighters, you still have to keep all of these streets clear, and people are still not able to come home. lines and lines. people sitting for ten 12 hours in line in their car to try to get an escort up to come and see if their home still stands. this comes as we have brand new images of the out-of-control wildfires that, as of now, have killed at least 11 people from a helicopter ride that i just came from before we came on air with you. right now, what we saw from about 7000ft up was striking america's second biggest city. parts of it are just completely gone, and from

the air it strikes you. parts of the palisades still on fire. columns of smoke rising into the sky as crews are trying to douse the flames from above. and we were able to see that from above and from below. an entire communities leveled something that, you know, we see in war zones, and we can see countless firefighters still trying to fight those flames at this hour. their work now growing even more urgent. and that is because officials fear that those wind gusts could once again pick back up. earlier this morning, there was a period of a lot of wind. about an hour goes away. they are forecasted to come back significantly over the weekend, adding new energy to the flames and erasing any progress that crews have made so far. which is very concerning because when you look at this destruction that the wildfires can cause, it is a complete and utter death zone. if you look at california's coast and we'll show you there this pacific coast highway in malibu on the left, that's what it looked like a few days ago on the right. that's what it looks like now. the world has

changed, and you can see the white building just to get you yourself oriented, is actually in the background of both videos. but as we'll pan to the right, the ocean is clearly visible where just days ago it was blocked by beachfront homes. and as we flew over malibu, we're going to have all of that for you in what we saw in just a few moments. but first, i want to begin tonight with bill weir because he's out front, live in altadena, california, where you see neighborhoods leveled. and bill, what is the very latest you're learning about the state of these fires? you know, standing where i am, you know, you realize you've got fly fires actively burning and you also still have fires and smoldering in places that seem to already be leveled. >> absolutely. you can feel hot spots just radiating as you walk around. >> we're actually in sierra madre, northeast of pasadena, up in the hills where the fire raged. >> actually, wednesday through this area, we just saw rotary wing aircraft going just on the other side of this ridgeline is the front of the eaton fire that they say they're hoping to

make progress in this respite from the wind. >> it is just almost dead calm right now. >> blessedly right now. but this neighborhood, thanks to the will and blood, sweat and tears of people here with garden hoses, saved themselves. not all the houses survived here, but tonight we're waiting for those winds to kick back up. >> it is interesting that now, altadena, as you saw from the air, as you saw the the just the hellscape below, they have to go house by house with cadaver dogs. >> so the deadliest fire in california history was 85 souls lost up in the camp fire up in paradise, california. now, as they start to go through that death count of 11, they're worrying may climb when you see the devastation you can imagine. >> not everybody got out of there right now. >> but other concerns. people have the insurance commissioner today, erin, says they will freeze insurance companies hoping to keep them from dropping or canceling people who have lost their coverage. as the crisis intensifies. >> there's also a real estate crisis in this town.

>> before, 10,000 structures were lost in these fires. so rebuilding and finding near term solutions for people who have lost everything is a mounting, pressing concern here today. and those arrests for looters, erin, today they announced another dozen or so people caught trying to burglarize in these evacuation zones. and once again pledging no tolerance for that going forward. erin. >> all right, bill, thank you very much. and i was just a little difficult to hear you there for a second, because there was a fire truck going by. and as i said, they still come. you have to keep these streets, which do have a lot of debris in them, clear, because they are still trying to come up and down. and as i said, we just saw that behind us. brian anderson joins me now because he's leading a crew of hotshots, and that's what they call here, the men and women who are on the front lines of fighting these fires. and he's fighting the eaton fire joins me now on the phone. and, brian, i'm grateful that you're even able to take a moment to

do this because i know you're in the middle of fighting this fire. you're in the mountains there on the actual front lines of this. what are you seeing? >> right now, not nearly as much fire activity on on the ground and up on the hill where our folks are working, as we did a couple of days ago. >> so we're grateful for that. >> and that's that's a hugely significant thing to say, obviously. thank goodness for that. all that fighting you've been doing to try to establish that perimeter, how significant is the damage that you've been able to see? brian? >> well, so far the the extent of the damage is what what everybody else has been able to see. >> a lot of the towns down in the front country along the 210 corridor have been devastated, as everybody knows, and. >> uh, yeah. >> so, uh, quite, quite a bit of devastation. >> not anything that we're used to, uh, in southern california here, at least to this magnitude. >> we are certainly no stranger

to large fires, but not nearly to this magnitude. >> are you hearing from people who have moved here saying they've just they've never seen anything like this? i know that you have made some progress. and with that eaton fire. and it's so important to hear what you said tonight about that. what are you most worried about right now as you see it right there on that front line? >> yeah. >> our biggest concern overall is the potential for the winds to the northeast winds, the santa ana winds to come back. we do have red flag warnings in effect. and in the forecast. uh, looks like early next week. so we're trying to make as much progress as we can while we have a little bit of a lull in the winds to to try and get around this fire as, uh, as quickly as we can while the weather is somewhat in our favor before the red flag warnings go back in effect. uh, here, uh, toward the end of the weekend and into next week. >> and, brian, i know you had to get up to where you are now. you know, you had to get up the mountain. i know a lot of those

roads can be narrow and twisty. it makes it difficult for people to evacuate. also difficult, though, for you to get in and to get out. what was it like getting up there? >> uh, we're because of the resource that we manage. we're pretty used to to navigating over pretty rugged terrain. >> uh, about an hour and a half hike into where the resources on our division are currently working on this fire. >> and that's pretty common in the, uh, in the business that we're in. >> all right. well, brian, i am really appreciative of you just taking a few minutes out to speak to us. thank you so much. thank you for having me, brian. as i said, one of the what they call here, the thank you, they call the hotshots. and it's the shorthand of they call those frontline firefighters that are so much a part of the fabric of life here and now. literally, the difference between life and death for so many communities. and there have been thousands and thousands of homes and businesses now gone. and vittorio ristorante and pacific

palisades is one of them, a small business founded by an immigrant family 40 years ago. earlier this week, you met vanessa pellegrini. it was her mother who immigrated to the u.s. from brazil, and she started the family business 40 years ago. it has become an integral part of that community, and we spoke to her on the day. she had just found out the restaurant was gone, but she had found that out from someone else. she had not been there, she had not seen it. so today she and her mother and her husband returned to their restaurant for the first time today. because you can't get into this area unless you're a first responder or media. so they were able to come in with us and come up through their neighborhood, which is gone for the first time. and this is what we saw. >> it's okay. >> it's okay. vanessa, we are healthy. we're here. we have everything. >> we have our lives. >> that's all it matters, okay? >> it's like your heart's been ripped out. we and stomped on and thrown away. >> and you're just trying to

find a piece to put it back together. you know, the the outpouring of love and support from everyone has been amazing. and that helps that really helps but no, nobody will ever know unless you've lost something that you've been here for decades. you you'll never really understand it. and i hope nobody understands this. this is awful. this is awful. >> it's just carnage. >> frank, is that you? yeah. sad. it's also sad. >> it's hard for me to, you know. >> because i started this. >> but you know something? >> god does things for a reason. and i think because i'm very catholic, that god has a plan for all of

us. there's a reason for everything. and that's it. we're lucky we're here talking. about. so i got this. >> great. >> i'm glad that cesar is still here. >> your boxwoods. >> yes, those are my plants. nobody thought to imagine what lasted and what i can't. >> i just can't believe these. >> how that could have been so boxwoods are just i can't believe yes, i planted them. >> i watered them every day. she loves her plants, hey, tracy, weren't we just here? >> i love the crying session. >> one of her friends. yeah. customer. great. yeah. >> okay. i cannot lose 40 years of work. right? i have to rebuild and my landlord told my vanessa

and his son. but they're going to rebuild everything. >> would you have expected this about yourself? that you would be so strong? is it your faith? >> that is my faith. >> this community is their strong. >> maybe not. >> not me, but they're strong. and they will. >> they will get through this. >> and there's going to be a lot more tears and it's just it's going to be it's going to be a long road. >> and that is the the painful situation that so many are in. and just the, the suffering that they never thought i'm sorry. as i deal with the mask here, the air is pretty bad here right now. but the suffering that they never thought they would be facing, and now they realize no one but others in their situation can truly understand. our breaking

news coverage continues here. we're going to speak to someone who actually, right now, is hunkered down in his home in one of these completely flattened areas. his home is still standing, but around it. desolation. there are, of course, warnings after warnings, curfews. get out, get out. but he has chosen to take matters into his own hands, not just fighting back the flames, but also afraid of looters. and that is a serious issue. plus, one man questioned for possible arson near one of the fires. i'm going to talk to the l.a. district attorney about that next. and authorities now confirming at least 11 people have been killed by the fires as cadaver dogs are going through neighborhoods and smelling. i want to talk to one man whose father he knows perished in the home that he had lived in for more than 50 years. >> kobe believed in himself at the youngest possible age. >> people who may never even know what a basketball looks like felt his presence. >> he wants the opportunity to make his own mistakes. he's going to end up making them. >> that's when the black mamba was born.

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>> breaking news. we are here tonight in this part of pacific palisades. a fire still raging, the palisades fire and not a single home here is is still standing. not a single home where we are in this area is here. they have all been ruined by the fire in one neighborhood, though. up the mountain from where we are standing right now, there are a few homes still standing, and that may be thanks to one man, a man who right now is refusing to leave, is vowing to protect his home out front. now andrew turf, his wife and his two children did evacuate, but he has stayed and he's been using buckets to scoop water out of swimming pools, protect his home. and andrew, you're up in the highlands. the high, high part of pacific palisades palisades fire still raging. the palisades, of course. areas where i'm standing gone. but you have been here since the fires started. only leaving. i know if i'm right for only a couple of hours. when the fire was at its peak and the fire was raging. when you finally

decided to just get out, even only for a couple of hours, and then you went right back. can you explain why? what made you go back like that? >> uh. good question. >> i think just because it's it's, you know, it's our family's home, um, it's just where we create everything, right? >> as a family. so, um, going back and protecting what i love and what we've built is obviously very important to us. >> so, um, what else am i going to do? >> sit in a hotel room? no, i'm going to go back to to my home and make sure that, uh, you know, that if i can protect it, i can, and i'm going to go back. okay. >> so when you left and you, as i said, your wife and your children did evacuate. but but you left only for a couple of hours. and we showed those images of the flames coming in as you did that. then you went right back in that time frame. what happened? what did you find when you went back? >> um, i came back that morning

at about 630 in the morning after getting to the hotel at, say, two, 230 to see rach and my boys. um, you know, and the whole neighborhood was on fire. there was nobody around. uh, there was no firefighters around. and those guys have been incredible and overstretched. those guys are angels. um, and, you know, i'd say 70% of our neighborhood up here in the highlands is has been burned down to the ground. and there was just fires, spot fires and brush fires raging around my home so that you just grab buckets of of water from the pool and with with, you know, with the help and, uh, and you extinguish them as fast as and as quickly as you can. >> so where you are, i know, you know, you're up at the top. it's isolated. i know what i understand is it's just you and one other person, and you've been trying to save the houses that survived and prevent more fires. and even as we've seen where i'm standing below, there was, you know, they just had to come put

something out here. right. there's re-ignition there's heat patches. you feel it? um, do your neighbors haven't been able to come back in? people aren't. it's very difficult to get back in here. so do you think that it is safe for more people to be there, to be able to come back? >> um. i wouldn't say the air quality is amazing, even though it's gotten better. and i'm sure you're down at the bottom of the hill, so you're getting a sense of it, right? but, um, most of the homes are gone, so i don't know what you know they would come back to. but the ones that do have homes are having more people up here to look after their homes and keep the looters away. yeah, of course, i think that's probably a better solution than keeping people stuck in hotel rooms across the city. >> and of course, looting is a is a big concern. and we know there have been some instances of it, a lot of a lot of fear of that. thank you very much, andrew, i appreciate it. i hope

that you stay safe up there. i know that is an evacuation zone. so you are isolated up there. thank you. nathan hochman is with me now. he's the los angeles district attorney. thank you. andrew and nathan. i know you live in a nearby area. your sister lost her home here. like like everyone in this city. someone told me earlier, a little part of everybody is burned. so i know you feel it personally as well. you hear andrew, he's not the only one. i mean, just the the passion, intense intensity people feel for their homes, right? people feel for their homes. he's an evacuation zone, right? he knows he shouldn't be there, but he's chosen to be there. do you think there's other people like that? are you worried about not knowing where everybody is? >> very worried. you know, i'm one of probably 180,000 people who've actually been mandatorily evacuated. my sister lives about a mile from here in pacific palisades, and her house, very sadly, was burned to the ground. you know how she'd been in for 15 years. she raised her four boys with

her husband there. and it's not just her house. i mean, it is an apocalyptic vision where all these houses are razed to the ground. now, we do not want people being in these areas fending for themselves. it's very dangerous, as you point out, these fires can erupt in any one to see it all of a sudden. >> i mean, we can see the smoke there, but that's just because they just were here putting it out. right? you might have it might have been right as you came up. but they were. i mean, all the hoses were out. >> oh, it's not only that. i mean, when these houses get destroyed by fire, the toxic levels on the places themselves can rise through the roof. yeah. and again, we don't want people fending for themselves. that's why the police have issued a curfew. the sheriff has been very clear that starting 6 p.m. tonight, anyone who comes into these fire evacuated areas will be arrested. and they're doing that to protect not only the people who might be coming into these areas at night, but protect the people whose houses are still here, who are counting on the police to to make sure that looters will not do it.

>> and how worried are you about looters? i mean, i know people are concerned about it. i know there have been a few instances of it. i know being in these areas, it's when you do see people, you don't know who they are. some of them will come over and say they live here. some of them, um, look somewhat not connected to the areas. i don't know who they are. i don't know what. but are you worried about this being a bigger issue? evacuation zones that didn't burn right away. people. people coming in and looting. >> we are absolutely worried about looters. and i want to send the looters and people thinking about looting and unmistakable clear message that we are not going to. we view your actions as despicable. you will be arrested, you will be prosecuted, and you will be sentenced and punished to the full extent of the law. this is not a situation where we're going to take this lightly. it's not a situation where we're going to worry about your confusion later as to what the penalties are. this is your warning shot. do not come into these areas. do not loot. do

not steal. do not rob. do not commit burglary. and when we get to actually the recovery efforts, if you want to go ahead and scam people who have suffered from these tragedies, we saw it already with gofundme pages that are scams. we're going to see it with insurance scams, government benefit scams. we are going to come after you and we're going to use every tool in our in our in the book and throw the entire book at you. so don't commit these crimes. >> one thing i must ask you about the fires, but not the looting, is how they started. i know that there has been discussion. was there was a person maybe maybe arson involved with the kenneth fire questions about that. do you think there's arson involved in these fires? >> so right now we're not at the point to have any evidence to suggest one way or the other, that the fires were either natural or man made, and if man made intentional versus accidental, i will tell you that that type of causation analysis will be done by the fire department, will be done by the police, will be done by the d.a .'s office, but not

when lives are still at risk, not when property and homes are still at risk. that's their primary duty. they'll be time afterwards to do this. causation analysis. and if it shows that people engaged in arson, they will be maximally punished. >> all right, nathan, thank you very much. i appreciate appreciate your time. thank you very much. all right. thank you. and next i'm going to show you what we saw in a helicopter just about an hour or so ago over the fires, homes and businesses just leveled as far as the eye can see. even when you look at the iconic landmarks of los angeles, you just see it all blanketed. we'll show you from the air. plus, governor gavin newsom now calling for an investigation into why fire hydrants are running dry. we'll be back. >> this part changed my life, superman. >> crazy. just that simple little thing over the horse. >> she came flying in and she just yelled, i love you. >> superman was in a wheelchair and was willing to go public with. >> it was huge.

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i'm natasha chen in los

angeles and this is cnn. >> breaking news. we're back live here behind me. just one of so many examples of utter destruction across los angeles. there was a fire put out here right before we came on air. fire trucks actually just going by. now, we've been seeing a few of them over the past few minutes. it comes as governor gavin newsom just called for an independent investigation into why fire hydrants were dry, saying in part, i quote him, we need answers to ensure this does not happen again. and we have every resource available to fight these catastrophic fires. well, newsom and other officials are now facing growing questions. right now, it's questions and they're getting loud about what could have been done to minimize the death and destruction, or whether this is just simply the way it's going to be to live here. nick watt is out front. >> did it really have to be this bad? no one was caught

unawares here. strong santa ana winds were forecast and after months without significant rain, bone dry vegetation was obviously primed to burn. number one, were there enough boots on the ground to fight the flames? easy answer. >> no, we don't have enough fire personnel in l.a. county. between all of the departments to handle this. >> in a memo two years ago, l.a. city's fire chief kristin crowley said more staff were needed with increased risk due to climate change and increased construction in danger zones. just last month, chief crowley told mayor karen bass that eliminating some civilian positions and cutting $7 million from firefighters overtime severely limited the department's capacity to prepare for, train for, and respond to large scale emergencies. clearing brush, which is basically fuel, is crucial and mandatory. chief crowley says budget cuts

mean they couldn't inspect to make sure the clearing was actually happening. >> there were no reductions that were made that would have impacted the situation that we were dealing with over the last couple of days. >> number two, was there enough water to fight the flames? again, easy answer. >> no. >> multiple homes threatened. >> i need about 2 or 3 water tenders. and there were some engines. we got dry hydrants. >> three huge water tanks help boost pressure in the hydrants around here. >> but we were not able to fill the tanks fast enough because demand was overwhelming. >> and the palisades is at the end of the city water system with narrower pipes with reduced flow. some hydrants ran dry at absolutely critical moments, like 3 a.m. wednesday. >> we've lost most of the hydrant pressure. >> why was there no water in the hydrants? >> governor, it's all literally is it going to be different next time? >> it has to be. >> but experts tell cnn there's not a city water system in the world that could

have flawlessly handled this. >> now that we're in the 21st century, i think we have a new climate and we need to rethink our infrastructure. >> number three, our building codes to blame yes and no. anything built after 2008 is subject to some of the strictest fire proofing codes in the country, but only about 5% of structures around here were built after 2010, according to cal fire. and those codes generally do not require retrofitting. so the new mall and palisades village is okay, and the 100 year old mall just across the road is gone, and acres of devastation with the odd new build home still standing. number four power line problems. six years ago, the devastating woolsey fire just east of here was lit like many wildfires by sparks from above ground power lines in a santa

ana wind, you could have 80 mile an hour winds, but if there's no spark, there's no fire. we don't know what ignited this week's fires, but according to whisker labs, there were multiple power line faults and sparks around the palisades, eton and hurst fires in the hours before they broke out. if power lines are below ground, they cannot start fires. the town of paradise, destroyed in 2018 by fire. right now rebuilding with the power lines underground. now this was, as some officials say, a perfect storm. the high winds meant they couldn't fight this fire from the air. for those first crucial hours. and in terrain like this, without air assets, you have a hand tied behind your back. >> rest assured, we will absolutely do an evaluation to look at what worked, what didn't work, and to correct or to hold

accountable anybody. department, individual, et cetera.. >> and the air here, obviously, you and i were just saying right now, it's particularly noxious and toxic. there is a lot of finger pointing, and it seems that more and more of it's pointing at elected officials and decisions that were made on budgets. >> sure. >> i mean, so chief crowley came out today and she was pulling no punches. the fire department chief here in l.a. she said she's a public servant, not a politician. her job is to make sure that her people have the equipment they need to fight fires. and she says they don't. 2010 till now, she says they're dealing with 50% more calls, but with fewer firefighters, fewer fires. they need 62 more fire stations, she said. should this past week, they had 100 pieces of equipment in the shop because they don't have enough mechanics. so she is saying, absolutely. budget cuts got in the way of their ability to fight this fire. but here's the other thing, she said. even

with 100 more engines, erin, she said that they weren't going to be catching this fire. no, this was just getting away from them. >> and as you said there, they will come up with what they say, started it. maybe maybe it was arson in some cases. but there were also those sparking fire lines, and that very well could have been it. and that is, you know, that there's nothing they could have done about that except for ages ago when they could have made, you know, how many billions of dollars did this cost? >> how many billions of dollars would it cost to put the power lines underground? i don't know. >> yeah, well, certainly one of the first costs a lot more than actually doing it. right. all right. nick watt, thank you very much. and the extent of the human loss is still unknown. bill weir. earlier the show was talking about the cadaver dogs that are going now from house to house, because they're trying to figure out the extent of the damage. families, though, are beginning to face unthinkable tragedy as they are not just losing their homes and dealing with the incredible tragedy all around us, but also finding out that those that they love most did not survive. i want to bring in eric nickerson. he, his father,

rodney, died. he died in the eaton fire and the altadena home that he had owned. he had lived in for more than 50 years. and eric, it is an unthinkable, unthinkable loss that you are facing. i'm so sorry to even have this conversation with you. days ago, we never would have even crossed paths. and now we are talking about this. i know you spoke with your dad every single day. you were so close. at what point did you realize that something was wrong? >> when you can't get phone communication, which is normally usual, you can't get a text message, which is normally usual. um, when you can't reach friends and family, which is normally usual that live in the same neighborhood, which is a daily thing that we do. you know, it's just saying good morning or sending a heart text or the praying hands, which everybody in america and around the world does.

>> yeah. >> and those, those just small touch points that connect you to a person. i know you actually spoke to your dad on tuesday afternoon, and that was just hours before this happened. yes. do you remember every word of that conversation at this point? i mean, was he worried at all? >> i was sitting i remember who i was sitting next to at work. what seat i was in, what time it was. i remember everything. >> yeah what happened in that conversation? >> it was a normal conversation. like most mornings. you know, i'm sitting at work. yeah. a good coworker of mine, sean donahue. and i'm talking about football and asking dad who he likes. and how are you doing? how you feel? yeah. and, dad, i love you. i'll talk to you later. and before we hung up, he said, son, the winds are picking up really, really bad and considering where we grew up

at, we grew up in altadena, pasadena area. the winds blow all the time, but the winds never blow like that in january. they never blow like that in january. normally the winds are calm in january because the rose parade comes and we enjoy the game. and it's a new year and everybody starts a new year with family and friends. but he said, son, the winds are picking up really bad. really bad. and i said, dad, i talked to you later and sometimes i talk to him later and then sometimes i'll talk to him the next morning. but that night i didn't talk to him. that night i talked to him. i tried to talk to him the next morning, and the next morning i couldn't talk to my dad. >> and he didn't answer. when you're then, then your sister and i know a friend from from the neighborhood. they go to check on your father. right after the fire came through. so then what happened? when did they

realize? and what did they tell you? >> it was. it was kind of a situation where they didn't know what to tell me when i couldn't talk to dad. um, i couldn't communicate with them. i couldn't communicate with dad. other neighbors that we grew up with, and even those that were trying to communicate with me, they didn't really know what words to tell me because of the situation. you know, you don't know what to say to a person at that time when it's your dad. you know, when you're so used to talking to him, you. the winds were terrible, terrible. from what i heard on tuesday night, they were like hurricane force winds with fireballs in the air and the resources of the water shortage and the water pressure. and everybody's home is destroyed up there. everybody's home is destroyed. we're talking about

a working class community that's been here since the late 60s. that's that's totally gone. totally gone. it's devastated. it looks like a movie set, you know, it looks like a movie set. like i'm looking for film cameras to be filming a movie. >> eric, i'm so sorry for your losing your father. thank you. thank you. and we're going to continue with our breaking news coverage of these fires. they are still burning those winds that eric is talking about predicted to pick up again soon. and we'll have more of what we just saw from the air when we took a helicopter tour over the fires and could actually see the scope of this, plus one family with nowhere to turn after losing three homes. >> my uncle was on this street. his house is gone. my mom's house is gone. i'm

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>> when a tough cop finds you on the go, it's sirup would be silly. hey, trying to rob sa'ar juice pack with the power of robitussin and every bite easy to take cough relief anywhere. chew on relief. chew on a kobe. the making of a legend premieres january 25th on cnn. >> and welcome back. exhausted firefighters not getting a break tonight. they are bracing for stronger winds to return and propel those flames towards more homes. and in just a short time ago, i actually wanted to see this devastation from another perspective. we've been seeing it on the ground here, street by street. we went up to see it from a helicopter to see all of los angeles. the homes and businesses that are gone for as far as the eye can see. and here is more of what we saw so right now we're south of the palisades and the fire, uh, looking up, you can see this is pch right here, pacific coast

highway, running right along the pacific ocean. yes. >> and then leading up into malibu, i'm seeing your picture. and once again, i guess you're not hearing. and even here, it's almost impossible to see with all the smoke yeah. >> flying into this, it is like you're flying into a complete wall of fog. it almost doesn't even look like that. it just looks like an actual wall. like a white wall? yeah. that we're flying into. >> there's a fire bomber just dropped retardant right there. >> all right, so that that red that we're looking at is is fire retardant. there we go. yeah, we're zooming in on it. >> this is live right now. >> that plane is dropping that there. >> so that is an active area. then in the palisades fire. >> yep. that's their way of setting a defense wall from the fire. progressing any further. and when they are referring to containment this is what they're talking about is where have they set up their defense. and 100% containment pretty much means that they've set up

set up their defense in a circle around the fire. and the circle is complete. >> and that is really important to understand that containment doesn't mean it's not burning. it means that they've been able to establish a perimeter, essentially that they can defend. i mean, it's using words like, again, war zone words, right? but that's exactly what it is. you're setting up a line that you're going to you're going to make your front line. >> yeah. you're you're containing the threat. you're not eliminating the threat. >> so this is the plane that just dropped the fire retardant that we saw, and now it's going out as it was doing that one thing that you could see being in a helicopter and all of the altitudes are. is that the right. is that how i say it? >> yeah. altitude. >> so when you see that plane flying, that dropped the fire retardant as that was happening, there was a commercial flight that you could see nearby it. and all of this is happening in, you know, an incredibly busy airspace there it is dropping more fire

retardant right now, all of this is around the perimeter of the palisades fire, where they're trying to establish that defensive line. >> so there's the entrance into the getty. all right. >> that is the getty museum, one of the the getty family and one of the preeminent art museums in the country, certainly in l.a. and they had right in the in the middle of the fire area, but had established a perimeter and were able to safe. but look right there, right there next to it, complete devastation. >> here's the wind. >> total devastation. and then can we swing back over to the getty? there you go. swing right back over to the getty. and you see right there, they were able to save that. >> this is the past. >> the palisades fire in the distance saw another giant fire retardant plane flying through that. and then as we pan across you can see the smoke over all

of l.a. here. and coming in here, you're going to see it finally, the iconic hollywood, which you can barely see now because of the smoke behind that is the eaton fire. so what we're looking at there just over the hills and just that, that volume of smoke that is the eaton fire. this image is absolutely incredible. this looks like the aftermath of some sort of a bomb. yeah. and that's just the sun shining back through the palisades. yep. it does though. it looks as if some a bomb had been dropped there. and you know, on that helicopter flight, our pilot, ryan, it was actually he's a helicopter pilot, but it was the first time he had gone up to look over this fire since it began. and, you know, he was talking about, along with josh, the photojournalist, how they felt a little part of everybody in l.a. had burned. inside. he, the pilot, had gotten

engaged on one of the hills that was completely burned out. the photojournalist josh, we he said he was able to tell what house was his in-laws house in the palisades because of the curves of the road, because every single house had been totaled. just touching everyone but doing it from the air. such a different perspective than here on the ground. next, there are three family members, all of whom have lost their homes in the deadly fires. an entire family. that's next. >> are they really going to spend all day streaming college football on directv? can you blame them? >> they've got the biggest rivalries and bowl games. >> speaking of frank, run a slant to the bowl of chips. bobby buttonhook to the salsa. >> what are you going to do, coach prime? >> don't question your work. play. >> blink relief work. >> play blink relief. >> the only three and one extended relief formula for dry eyes. blink. >> it's mesmerizing.

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cooper. >> 360. next on cnn. >> tonight, one family is trying to stay resilient in the face of such overwhelming loss. three different family members all had their homes burned down and kyung lah is out front i feel helpless and i feel like i need the help and i don't know where to go. >> robert laura believed it was a blessing to have his entire family all in altadena, california. the eaton fire it became a curse. >> my uncle was on this street. his house is gone. my mom's house is gone. i'm gone. >> quedaba la recorded as fire engulfed his street, his home and his uncle's home on the same street. burned. his mother had already seen her home a few blocks away. go. >> i had my last little dinner here. >> we had. there was no power. and i still said, i'm holding

the fort. i'll be the last one to leave. my house is not burning and it's gone. it's gone. this was all i really wanted to get to. and all i found was nothing. >> what is that? >> this. this. this was a a passport so now i don't even have a passport. this was a passport book. and it's gone. yesterday i had it all. i had a roof. i had a lawn for my dogs. >> and now i made a little confined square, not knowing where i'm going to go next. >> domitila hinojosa is laura's mother, a diabetic who cares for her disabled son. >> this morning when i wake up, i say, oh, i need to go back to

my house. >> what happened while my home? i want to go back, but i can't. >> but i can't go back. >> i'm coming. >> come inside. this is what aftermath looks like. donated clothes and living in a relative's airbnb for just 12 months. dealing with the maze of home insurance. >> this is definitely going to take a lot longer than 12 months. >> and money. a lot of people outside of california think it was celebrities who lost homes, rich people. is that true? >> this is your everyday hardworking. i work in construction, gardening, housekeeping here every day essential workers with nothing. we still have to cover our mortgage. i called my lender and i still have to continue paying. >> this family of faith is left

grasping for meaning. >> i hear the voice that god told me. >> i gave it to you. >> everything and i lasted one second. >> you need to follow me, only follow me. i believe in god and i. i think one one day i'm going to have a house and i'm going to have everything. >> they only hope god is listening. >> now, if somebody's going to help us, are we helpless? what do we do? who do we call? i don't know. >> now, those three families did apply for assistance through fema, and we were actually interviewing them when they got this response. all three of them got the same response that their housing assistance and personal