>> play. blink. z's bakery is looking to add a pizza oven, arissa's hair salon wants to expand their space, and steve's t-shirt shop wants to bring on more help. with the comcast business 5-year price lock guarantee, they can think more about possibilities for their business and not the cost of their internet. it's five years of gig-speeds and advanced security. all from the company with 99.9% network reliability. get the 5-year price lock guarantee, now back for a limited time. powering five years of savings. powering possibilities™.

dollars a year on things you don't need. take control of your money. download rocket money today. kobe. the making of a legend premieres january 25th on cnn. >> closed captioning is brought to you by nutrisystem. lose weight and live healthy. >> check out what's new at nutrisystem. get new diets for high protein and low carb created to support your own weight loss approach. nutrisystem has a solution for you. >> and good evening. we are coming to you yet again tonight from a staging area along the the pacific by the pacific palisades, along the pacific coast highway, where law enforcement officers, firefighters and others, some national guard members. now the national guard has been called in. there are some here on the ground are all using this as a staging ground for battling the palisades fire, which is one of two the two biggest fires which are still

about 10% or so contained. there is a lot of work being done. you can see just over the hill right here and it's i'm told it's it's some distance over that ridge. there is another fire that has really, really sent off a lot of smoke into the air just over the last 30 or so minutes. um, it is incredibly active. we spent the day out in topanga canyon in a number of areas, and we're going to show you that in a moment. the official death toll now stands at 11. that's up from seven at this time last night. and obviously that number is expected to rise as well. some 30,000 acres have burned in all. there's a lot of concern today. there was some good news, which was the winds had died down or were relatively calm. there is a lot of concern about what happens this weekend, particularly saturday afternoon into sunday morning. it's expected that

the winds are really going to pick up. we have a lot of reports to show you in the hour ahead tonight. i want to begin with what we have spent the day doing just up in topanga canyon, driving around with fire crews. we came upon a community called fernwood, and we saw more aerial assets being brought to bear fighting, trying to put out these spot fires in that area. it was extraordinary to witness. take a look. the mountains of topanga. the battle rages on. by air and on land. firefighters are trying to save the community of fernwood. they've been hitting this fire here in topanga with a number of aerial assets from fixed wing aircraft. there was a large one. there was a smaller fixed wing aircraft. they just

dropped retardant, uh, fire retardant on it. it was that. that's what the reddish pink color is. they've also brought in helicopters have been dropping water on this spot as well. they have a lot of assets in this area on the ground. they're also putting water on it from from fire trucks down there. um, but this is a spot that they are focusing on right now one after another, choppers swoop in. they sound an alarm to let anyone on the ground know water is coming. you can hear the sound of a siren going. that's the warning that they're about to drop water. this is probably the, i don't know, the fifth or sixth water drop. we have seen just over the last ten minutes. i'd say they're devoting a lot of resources trying to trying to nip this in the bud. it looks like from this vantage point, i'm told it is likely a

structure fire. and you can tell because of the black smoke, new fires pop up all the time. there's one also in the distance near entrada. it looks like from this vantage point that there now may be another issue, another fire over this ridge. you can see the dark smoke rising from there as well. so there's a fire that they believe is a structure down off to the right. and then over that, that ridge looks like there is now another fire to deal with. and obviously on the horizon you can see some other smoke trails as well. so they're they're they are trying to save this community. that is where the battle has been joined. a lot of air assets, trucks on the ground, fixed wing aircraft like this.

wow. i mean it's extraordinary. it is extraordinary to be standing here and feel the power of that aircraft go right over you and watch it just swoop down so low. it is rare in life. you see an aircraft swooping that close to houses. we watch three choppers drop their loads in quick succession. it's a sign of how vulnerable this neighborhood is on medley lane and fernwood, we find james larson, a firefighter from orange county. he's been doing this for 30 years now. >> we're setting up a defensive stance. uh, there's some fire coming up the ridge here. we're protecting these properties. of course, our main priority is life safety for not only the citizens here, but for the firefighters. >> nearly everyone who lives here has evacuated, but adam weber and some others have come back to try to save their homes. what is it like for you to see this? >> i mean, um, it hasn't hit yet. it's it's a very surreal

and devastating to watch. and at the same time, i have so much respect for the fire and really taking in the medicine of what's happening. it's a very it's a moment i've never experienced before in my life. it feels like l.a. is having its 9/11 moment. >> firefighters will likely stay here all night. the situation changes with the wind. as we leave, we notice a new fire is now raging on a distant mountain. there is no end in sight. and that new fire that we saw on that farm mountain. i can't tell if it's the same fire that we are now seeing over there, or if this is a different one. it is. i mean, there are just spot fires still going, popping up, and that crew that you saw up there, they are probably going to stay in fernwood overnight asleep there. if they can get some sleep, if they're not able to be relieved by by another crew. but they need to have people there have people pre-positioned because they know with the i mean, the wind just keeps changing. and if the

wind change, and particularly this weekend, that's what i keep talking about. this big concern, they need to have the crews pre-positioned there. because just to get up to some of these communities and small communities like fernwood, you know, it takes a while. these roads are very windy. they're difficult, especially for big vehicles. when we left, they were bringing in a bulldozer. it's just it is remarkable to i just can't get over how many, how much water they dropped were able to drop from the air today because the winds had died down. they were really getting getting able to get those aircraft in there. i want you to meet richard jennings and his son alex. they have battled to save their home in the pacific palisades. richard, alex, i appreciate you guys joining us. can you just talk about what you both have been through to save your home? >> yeah. look, anderson, thank you for having us on tonight. it's not just us, our entire community is working to try to save a small group of about 80 houses that are up off of palisades drive and, you know, um, for us, it's a very

emotional piece. um, we personally went up there and i have to say, if not for my son urging us to go, i don't know that we would have had a house today. >> yeah. i mean, we wouldn't have been able to forgive ourselves and live knowing that there was a chance to save our house and we didn't go for it. so i just said, let's go up there and try. and that's what we did. we fought for our community and our home. >> and we're showing video of, of of some of your efforts, you guys, i mean, you did all night long you were doing this. >> yeah. >> we got there about nine and we stayed till 530 in the morning. um, the it's it's a tough situation up there. you know, the firefighters are there's not as many of them given all of the fires around the city, the fire hydrants were running out of water. and we just thought, let's go up and use our pool water. let's use everything that we can to fight this. the video that you're seeing now is us trying to take care of our neighbors pool house that sits between

our two homes, and we knew that if we could just get that out and stop that fire, we could, you know, potentially save our two homes and maybe save others in the community. so we were really fortunate. we took on, um, five small brush fires that were above our house on the hills. um, we had the help of one of the l.a. firefighting teams that came help put out that structure that was near the home. and now after we left at three in the morning, exhausted, you see photos of the other neighbors coming up and just continuing the work, throwing buckets, you know, down the hill, walking up with the nets and just drenching every small fire. it's been an effort of all of the community coming together to try to fight this thing. and i just wish we could be up there now. um, you know, anderson, it's really tough. but if i could ask for three things, i just wish one we could, you know, all get back to our homes and help those firefighters. uh, take this on. i know that we've got to leave those serious firefighting to to the professionals. but when it

comes to brush fires or embers, we can help. two i'd love to see the public services like, you know, water and power be turned back on for those residents who do want to be there to try to save their homes and and maybe three for the people who just can't be there to fight the fires and help the people. it's been so many people in our community who've lost their homes, who've lost everything. help them. help them find a way through this tragedy. >> richard, let me ask you, your neighbors, did you know all of your neighbors before this? i'm wondering. i mean, are these people you've you've known or these are some of these people you didn't necessarily know, but they just saw you guys in need and did what they could. >> you know, i think we have a very special community that has an annual block party and gets to know many of the people in the neighborhood. but, you know, with 80 homes, you can never know everyone. and what i know is that right now, the people that are out there are putting out fires of people's homes that they don't even

know who it is. they're just looking to help anyone and everyone in that community to try to save as many homes as we can. we know we've already lost some, and we're really saddened for those families who couldn't be saved or whose homes couldn't be saved. but we're truly doing everything we can for the ones that are still there. and i think together we can try to control this. >> it's so i mean, alex and richard, it's so what you did, you know, putting out these little tiny fires, i mean, with buckets is just incredible. but it may seem futile, but it's really not. i mean, you put out one little spot fire that can prevent some embers from going and hitting the roof and and then spreading to the roof. so, i mean, there's a lot of people can do if they have access to, to, to water. >> absolutely. and we had to get creative. look, we were using pool water and pool pumps and putting a pool pump together with a garden hose and

a car sprayer that's meant for, you know, washing your car. we made a makeshift fire hose and we took on all the fires that we could. on the hill. you can see a few of the photos there. we the first night we got there, it was really bad. there were five fires that really we fought them for hours. and, you know, at 1.1 of our neighbors, jesse, came from top. we were fighting that fire that you see on the retaining walls of these hills. and he came over the top and just started dumping buckets. and without him, i don't know if we would have gotten that one under control wow. >> well, richard. alex, i'm so sorry. we're talking in these circumstances, and i'm just glad you guys are okay. and it's incredible to see what you and your and your neighbors were able to accomplish. and i know you said you want to get back there. you want to you want to pitch in. and there's others who are up there. thank you so much. i wish you the best. i hope you get get there soon. i appreciate it, you take care. i want to go to bill weir, who has spent the day in

another community. um, let's take a look at what he found. >> this tree, like the fire, came right up to the property. yeah, like that tree torched out for the last five years. >> miralax carroll freed was a hotshot putting out wildland blazes around southern california. and all the while, he knew his own home atop a sierra madre ridge was a ripe fire target. >> i've been doing, like, fuel reduction and defensible space. so i've been, like, lifting all the trees and, like, cutting everything back. so in case a fire does happen, it can't get up into the trees and like, torch out the building. >> um, and that paid off. >> paid off. if i didn't do that, this would have all this would have gone right. >> but he never imagined he'd have to defend his own neighborhood from a moving hellscape with a garden hose and a chainsaw. he says that during repeated trips over multiple days, he had to beg for help from passing fire

crews and even evade a police barricade. >> told me i looked tired and i should go find somewhere to sleep and then threaten to put me in the cop car so i know sierra madre. i know another way to get in. so i snuck back up here and put out a bunch of fires and saved 4 or 5 homes from burning. >> when fire crews from arizona finally arrived, muro found himself in command. >> i've been, like, telling them what's going on and, like, telling them what to do. it's been crazy. and, like, i'm not even paid for this. like i always said, for the forest service. like i like to do it, not for the money. it's like a great way to be outside and be of service. but i never thought i'd be doing this for free. like it's insane. >> insane. >> do you feel like you're in the clear yet? >> i mean, can you even relax here? >> we're fine. there's going to be another wind event, but the damage has been done. like, everything has burnt and there's nothing left to burn. yeah. >> what does that feel like? have you been able to process that yet in terms of. >> yeah. last night, um. i was up here by myself and like, the

lights were out and just crying. just. we drove through. it went by my dad's house, and we were just crying the entire time and just. yeah, called a couple of my crew members that i work with that are laid off and yeah, just cried to them and yeah, it's unreal. it's crazy. >> and bill weir joins us now, bill, uh, it's just remarkable the efforts people have been able to, i mean, have gone through and some of them very successfully. >> yeah. you're hearing these stories where it's literally blood, sweat, tears, luck that determines the fate of an entire neighborhood. here's mira's house over here. he, by the way, has left the hot shot. he's going to go into private business helping people defend their homes against wildfires, he tells me. and he's actually got some help. now. we've got a cal fire crew down in the brush. look at this work. the sun is going down and these folks, men and women down here clearing this just to make doubly sure that they're in the clear up

here in this part of sierra madre. but for every house that burned, what is 10,000 structures? anderson, there are so many stories of people who tried to save their places to varying success. but now the psychological toll of what comes next when the other half of your neighborhood is gone. >> yeah, yeah, bill, it's you've seen this firsthand. i mean, it's crazy how much it's the vagaries of the wind determining where these crews have to go, where they have to then shift resources. it's it's like a whack a mole. it's i mean, it it's exhausting for for these crews. yeah, absolutely. >> and and for los angelenos, for southern california as both the new transplants. you don't know how this wildfire thing works. and for people who've been here forever and think they know wildfire, i'm hearing again and again from people like i'm a fourth generation. i've never seen anything like this. it's surprised us. it

moved so fast. so this is sort of real time survival of the fittest. adapting to these new conditions on this overheating planet of ours right now. but it's evident that the systems that are in place right now aren't going to cut it. if this is a new normal. >> yeah, bill, we appreciate it. thanks very much. to that point, governor gavin newsom today was saying that he wants to see an independent investigation about the water issues. i talked to him about that, actually about two days ago, in the midst of the altadena fires. i'll show you what he said about it then, and we'll talk about what he's calling for. now. we're going to take a short break. a lot more ahead. we're going to hear from more homeowners, from firefighters. amanda gorman is going to be joining us as well. the poet with a poem about what is going on here. this is california. los angeles is where she is from. we'll be right back with a lot more 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. >> it's one of the most remarkable stories in sports history. >> i don't want him to be remembered as just a basketball player. >> kobe. the making of a legend premieres january 25th on cnn. how does it feel? a complete unknown is one of the best films of the year. you look good on your own like a rolling stone, a complete unknown rated r go, friends, gather kiki, chris, jason friends. >> let's go, let's go. >> friends, hold on to your dice. >> nice frosting. pratt. >> thank you. how are we doing, kiki? >> it tastes like money to me. i can't go back to jail.

>> wait. did you rob my bank? diddy. are we winning? oh. it's money, power, friendship. let's go. look out, cause here i come. >> have you always had trouble with your weight? same. >> discover the power of wegovy with wegovy. >> i lost 35 pounds and some lost over 46 pounds. >> and i'm keeping the weight off. >> i'm reducing my risk. >> wegovy is the only weight management medicine proven to reduce risk of major cardiovascular events such as death, heart attack or stroke in adults with known heart disease and obesity. >> don't use wegovy with semaglutide or glp one medicines, or in children under 12. don't take if you or your family had mtc men2 or if allergic to it, tell your provider if you plan to have surgery or a procedure, are breastfeeding, pregnant, or plan to be. stop taking and get medical help right away. if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or any of these allergic reactions serious side effects may

include pancreas inflammation and gallbladder problems. call your prescriber if you have any of these symptoms. wegovy may cause low blood sugar in people with diabetes, especially if you take medicines to treat diabetes. call your prescriber about vision changes. if you feel your heart racing while at rest, or if you have mental changes, depression or thoughts of suicide may occur. common side effects include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, stomach pain, flu or upset headache, feeling tired, dizzy or bloated, gas and heartburn. some side effects lead to dehydration, which may cause kidney problems with wegovy i'm losing weight. >> i'm keeping it off and i'm lowering my cv risk. >> wegovy ask your prescriber about wegovy. >> we're carvana, the company who invented car vending machines and buying a car 100% online. now, we've created a brand new way for you to sell your car, whether it's a year old or a few years old, we want to buy your car. so go to carvana, enter your license plate, answer a few questions, and our techno wizardry calculates your car's value

and gives you a real offer in seconds. when you're ready, we'll come to you, pay you on the spot, and pick up your car let's say you're deep in a show or a game or the game. on a train, at home, at work. okay, maybe not at work. point is at xfinity. we're constantly engineering new ways to get the entertainment you love to you faster and easier than ever. that's what i do. is that love island?

once again, nine tablets for just $7 is tri friday plans.com. >> i'm meteorologist derek van dam and a wintry atlanta. and this is cnn. >> i'm told by a firefighter depending on the wind, it's very possible if that house if flames jump to other houses or to shrubbery around there, that fire could very easily come up this mountainside and just go through all of this. i mean, you see all this vegetation here. it could just move up here again, so much depends on the winds. they have died down today over the last several hours since this morning. and that's certainly good news. but this is an area of real concern. and there's a lot of firefighters devoted to this area right now. and that's the small community of fernwood in

topanga. and a couple of people who had evacuated. adam weber was one of them. we met there. he has come back. others have come back, and they're trying to help fire crews by essentially spotting and sending out information about what they are seeing. i'm with captain sheila kelliher. you and i have been talking every night. you were in this parking lot the first night you had to evacuate. first of all, i want to ask you about this. i mean, this looks like a pretty big fire that is now happening over a pretty big flare up. >> you were there today. that was right at fernwood. and as you go up a little bit further and try to. so that's all part of that topanga canyon area. they did a really great job inserting crews over there and getting dozer line around it, because their goal is to really protect those homes up by fernwood. so which is good. so they they're accomplishing that goal. but we're not out of the woods yet. this this wind you can feel is laying down a little bit. so we have a little time to get the upper hand before the winds kick back up later this weekend. >> i was so impressed by just watching the operations around fernwood today. i mean, this is a community we're talking maybe, i don't know, 10 to 15 homes. it was hard to tell. uh,

there were there must have been 30 airdrops of of retardant and water that that i saw maybe 25 that i actually physically saw. >> that air attack is is so critical for us, and especially with the retardant. that's what really stopped that fire in calabasas the night before. so it didn't get into the homes. so them doing that is really keeping it away from the community for when there's a lot of homes up in that hills, there's a lot of assets up there. so pushing it that way, the air support is critical. yeah. >> medley lane, the medley loop was the area that that we were on with, with the homes that we saw. just big picture, you know. how concerned are you about what's going to happen this weekend with the winds? >> if we do what we're supposed to be doing, we keep working through the night and the weather is is cooperating right now. i think we can really make some headway. and and then we're just dealing with normal red flag conditions, which is totally different than the monstrosity that we've been dealing with. we have all the units in place. we've got over 3000 firefighters on this fire. we've got over 350 engines, 54

crew busses, helicopters, dozers. we've got the world out here working on this. so with that said, everybody's pre-positioned. so we're in a great place to really do everything that we can. >> yeah, i appreciate all your efforts. yeah. really good. thank you. um, i want you to meet, uh, chris maddox and. uh, thomas. uh, kelliher. sorry. thomas renaud and chris maddox. guys. i'm sorry. uh, christian renaud, uh, a little bit sleepy, i apologize. um, first of all, how are you guys doing? you decided to evacuate from your place in altadena for viewers who are watching. two days ago, we were in altadena. when? when it was just completely decimated. you evacuated early. what made you decide? when did you realize you should get out? >> we. pretty early. i mean, what happened was we knew it was going to be a weird day. there was the santa ana winds were were blowing through and and our friends chris and elizabeth from down the road called us saying there was a fire in eden canyon and they

needed to evacuate. they came over and and so we realized that, well, we're we're safe. you know, we don't have an evacuation notice in our area, but then we could see a fire growing along the ridge coming toward us from our front porch. and so we decided what to do. and so we packed our bag, um, because they had offered us to go with them to their son's school, apricot lane farms in moorpark. and so we, you know, got the deed to the house. we got passports and i packed a pair of jeans and that was it because we thought, you know what, we'll be back tomorrow. >> yeah. we weren't really expecting the fire that we were seeing on the ridge two and a half miles away to even sweep into our part of town. it wasn't really until the next morning when we woke up and we were looking at this watch duty app, which tracks all of the fires in the area. we realized that the evacuation warnings had extended into our neighborhood, into most of pasadena and la canada, and we realized, well, maybe this is a

little bit worse than we originally anticipated. um, you know, and then we and before and after pictures. >> yeah. >> yeah, it's devastating. >> i mean, i mean, it's extraordinary. just, just it's horrific to see this. but but what you said, i think is so important, a lot of people in altadena, i mean, it's unprecedented. there was not the expectation that this eaton fire which is happening, you know, a mile or two away that that embers of it would come and ignite fires in altadena. >> now it's blowing. the wind was blowing east. and so not west. and so we thought we would be settling in for the night. we just left because, you know, why not? you know, uh, it's moorpark is far away. and then thomas ended up, you know, coming back and checking in on the house the next day. >> yeah. it was, you know, we had some word from our friends house that they were fine and they wanted to get back to the neighborhood to try to pull some more things out. so i

offered to drive them in, really wanting to check on our house as well. and, you know, i left them at theirs while they did their thing. and as i was making my way through the neighborhood, i realized the closer we got or the closer i got to the house, just everything around was in flames or in ashes. and when i rounded, you know, the corner to our block and just saw the devastation, it was really just heartbreaking. like, you know, and it's not just us, you know, it's our entire community is leveled, you know, and it's altadena is a working class community filled with artists and public servants and musicians and writers. and, you know, i think we focus so much on celebrities and these mansions and people that have lost their homes in the palisades. and all of that is terrible. but there is a huge community of working class americans that have lost everything where we are. and it's it's really terrible. >> and this is not just a house, you know, this is a home that, you know, i saved my life savings and a tv and film

writer to, to purchase. and, you know, we had thomas's grandmother's artwork hanging on the walls, my grandfather's ashes on the mantel place. and and when he called me, telling me that the house was burned down, it it to realize all of that is just gone. and we have nothing we left with nothing, no keepsakes. um, and, you know, we have pool parties every year. we our house was a refuge for all of our artists. writer, actor, you know, ceramic friends and and and to see that it's no longer there. it's just it's literally devastating. yeah. >> yeah, yeah, i'm seeing these side by side images. thomas and chris, i'm so sorry for all you guys have been through. and i wish you continued strength in the days ahead and so many in your neighborhood. as you said, it's just we saw it ourselves. we saw it. it was happening. it was just it's just devastating. um, i appreciate you being with us. thank you. we're going to take a short break. we'll have more from the fire lines.

>> from starting strong two. it's been a week. so many ways to save a life. ready? wallet. happy. that's 365 by whole foods market patients who have sensitive teeth but also want whiter teeth. >> they have to make a choice one versus the other. sensodyne clinical white provides two shades whiter teeth, as well as providing 24 over seven sensitivity protection. patients are going to love to see sensodyne on the shelf. >> buying a car is kind of a big deal, but you use the cargurus app. that's a price drop alert, so the deals come to you. no big deals, right when you need them. cargurus the number one most visited car shopping site. >> are you 50 or older? well, this news is for you. the cdc now recommends you get vaccinated against pneumococcal pneumonia. why? if you're 50 or older, even if you're healthy, you're six times more likely to be hospitalized. so schedule

at vaccine. com. >> these delicious pistachios are absolutely wonderful. literally it says so on the bag. see wonderful pistachios of the pistachios that are wonderful with the word wonderful on them. >> touch can mean so many things, even for children with moderate to severe eczema. touch can stir a sense of wonder can make a ride go smoothly and make a smile. stretch ear to ear. dupixent can help your child stay ahead of eczema with clearer skin and noticeably less itch when a touch is all in good fun. dupixent helps block a key source of inflammation inside the body that can cause eczema. to help heal your child's skin from within. severe allergic reactions can occur. get help right away for face, mouth, tongue or throat swelling, wheezing, or trouble breathing. tell your doctor of new or worsening eye problems like eye pain, vision changes or blurred

vision, joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma or other medicines without talking to your doctor. dupixent the number one prescribed biologic by dermatologists and allergists. help your child feel the heal and see the difference. reach out to your child's eczema specialist today. >> 36 hours of steady rainfall has left many homes in the metro area. who knows what tomorrow will bring? >> maybe sunshine and maybe rain. but as for me, i'll wait and see and maybe it'll bring my love. you join

and get paid. when you say closed captioning is brought to you by nutrisystem, lose weight and live healthy. >> check out what's new at nutrisystem, get new diets for high protein and low carb created to support your own

weight loss approach. nutrisystem has a solution for you. >> and welcome back to our continuing coverage. governor gavin newsom, as i mentioned, has called for an independent investigation into the water issue. obviously, as you know, in the palisades, firefighters reported that the hydrants went dry when we were in altadena. even there, uh, the the block i was on, at least i don't know about the whole neighborhood, the block i was on, the captain fire of the the firefighter i was talking to, a captain said that their hydrant had just gone dry about two minutes before i started talking to him. i want to play for you. what? when i spoke with governor newsom at the altadena fire, he was going out with fire crews. we met up with him. i asked him about the water issue, and he. he seemed to indicate he thought it was a local issue. let's play what he said. what is the situation with the water? obviously, in 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. >> eva mckend. uh, certainly that has this is a big focus for a lot of people here. there's a lot of anger about this, a lot of questions about it. how could this happen? how can it be fixed, how can make sure it never happens again? so he's the governor is now saying he wants an independent investigation into it. nick watt has more on that. >> yeah. well, anderson, the governor wants to know what went wrong. >> i can tell you a little bit of what went wrong here in the palisades. is that the the the pipes here in the palisades are at the end of the city water system. they're slightly narrower, less pressure. so they have tanks in the hills, 3 million gallons that are

supposed to help keep the pressure high. but, you know, i've spoken to some experts in this field, anderson. and they say however much. if you had 10 million gallons in those tanks, you weren't going to be able to keep up with the demand from the firefighters just trying to keep this fire under control. so he's going to ask questions. hopefully we'll get some answers. you know, as you mentioned, a lot of people are getting a bit angry. and one of them is the l.a. city fire chief. she chief crowley was pulling no punches today. she said, listen now. between 2010 and now, we're dealing with 50% more calls, but we have fewer firefighters, she says. they've got 100 pieces of crucial equipment in the shop right now because they don't have enough mechanics, she said. they need 60 more fire stations. she said that we cannot we just cannot sustain this. but the other thing she said that was interesting, anderson, was she said even if we had 100 more engines, we were never going to catch this palisades fire it was just too brutal. >> yeah, yeah. i saw her interview with jake tapper and

it was fascinating. i mean, she was being very blunt about, you know, what she was saying was directly seemed to contradict what the mayor, karen bass, had said when she returned from her trip to ghana at a press conference where she was saying that the the budget cut did not impact their ability to fight the fire. the fire chief was saying it did impact, right. yeah. >> absolutely. she directly contradicted. she said absolutely, yes. those budget cuts to overtime and to civilian employees. you know, the other thing that she's said is that, you know, brush, as you and i have been talking about for days now is key. that's the fuel. so, you know, around here it's mandated that you cut brush back from, from buildings so that buildings don't catch fire. chief crowley said that their budget just hasn't been big enough for them to send the people out, to inspect the brush, to make sure that people are actually cutting it back. yeah. i mean, she was pulling zero zero

punches. yeah. >> a lot of questions to be answered. appreciate it. jennifer and marcus errico are joining me now. both of you i understand you feel you saw the beginnings of the what became the eaton fire. can you just talk about what it was you saw when you saw it? >> yeah, i came home early from work. >> i work on the west side, and i left early because jen said that the winds were really picking up, and, uh, it was about ten after six when i pulled off the 210 freeway onto altadena drive, which leads right up to our house. we're right against eaton canyon fire. and as i was driving up, i saw a glow in the hillside right above our house. and given everything we've been through with the bobcat fire in 2020 and knowing what was going on in the palisades, um, i was really concerned. and i just kept my eyes focused on that. and as i got closer, i could see right across from us on the

hillside in eaton canyon. there are a series of transformer towers, uh, with power lines stretching up into the mountains and at the base of one, there was just a small ring of flames around the whole base. and i, i knew with the way the wind was whipping that i needed to get get home right away. so about 615, i, i pulled into our, our house, into the garage, and i ran into the door and i said, jen, there's a fire on the hill. we we got to go. and that's when jen leapt into action. >> yeah, i mean, i just called 911. they said they had just started receiving calls and then we grabbed our go boxes and we rang every doorbell on our street and within 15 minutes the there were five fire trucks in our neighborhood. and we were all gone. and evacuated. um, and then obviously, just first of all, it it it says a lot about

you that you it says a lot about you that you took the time to ring other doorbells on your street, uh, to, to warn everybody, um, the i know that the power company has not made any comment about that. >> the images we were showing about the idea that that is where it began. and obviously there's investigations going on. but you you believe that that is the first the first, uh fire that ultimately created the eaton fire. yes. >> i, i can't say definitively that it was the power lines that caused it, but i can say definitively that the first fire in pasadena, altadena, um, eaton canyon is right on the edge of altadena in pasadena. uh, that's where the fire began. it was under that tower, um, on on tuesday night. uh, it was it began as a small little blaze underneath. and within

ten minutes, the whole hillside was engulfed in the in the fire was just channeling right down the canyon in our backyard. >> yeah. well, that's that's incredible. um, how is is your house i mean, it's still there, and we can't believe it, but the devastation is just it's just too much to bear. >> yeah, we we we pulled out of our driveway tuesday night. um, we backed out. we backed out around a fire engine that was parked basically in a perpendicular to our drive. uh, they were laying hoses into our into our backyard, into our neighbor's yards. uh, there was a crew in our back yard pointing their their hoses into the canyon as the flames were coming. and when we left that night, we didn't think we'd ever see our house again. and somehow they held it. um, we're forever grateful to those firefighters. they came in,

responded within minutes. they they saved most of our neighborhood, um, in the immediate area. but just a few hundred yards in either direction. it's a moonscape. now. >> yeah, yeah. i mean, i saw it myself happen. it was just unbelievable. jennifer and marcus, i really appreciate your time tonight. i wish you both the best. um, we're going to take a short break. ashes are actually starting to kind of sprinkle down here, which is why i just now put on on my mask. i think it's from, uh, from the fire that's happening now. just over the ridge. we're going to take a short break. we'll have more ahead. on the tempur-pedic adapt mattress was designed to help make aches and pains a thing of the past, because only tempur material eases your pressure points in a way no other mattress can save up to $500. >> now on select adjustable mattress sets.

>> upset stomach iberogast indigestion iberogast bloating iberogast. thanks to a unique combination of herbs, iberogast helps relieve six digestive symptoms to help you feel better six digestive symptoms the power of nature iberogast. >> hi, susan honey. >> yeah, i respect that, but that cough looks pretty bad. try this. robitussin, honey. >> the real honey you love. >> plus the powerful cough relief you need. >> mind if i root through your trash? >> robitussin with real honey and elderberry like a relentless weed. >> moderate to severe ulcerative colitis symptoms can keep coming back. start to break away from uc with tremfya with rapid relief at four weeks, tremfya blocks a key source of inflammation. >> at one year, many people experienced remission and some saw 100% visible healing of their intestinal lining. serious allergic reactions and increased risk of infections

may occur before treatment. your doctor should check you for infections and tb. tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu like symptoms or if you need a vaccine. healing is possible with tremfya. ask your doctor if tremfya today. >> your best defense against erosion and cavities is strong enamel. nothing beats it. i recommend pronamel active shield because it actively shields the enamel to defend against erosion and cavities. i think that this product is a game changer for my patients. it really works. >> many facts. health care information. >> looking for a moisturizer that does more than just moisturize? try olay regenerist for ten benefits in every jar. olay visibly firms, lifts and smooths wrinkles by penetrating the skin to boost regeneration at the surface, cellular level. trial prime's exclusive wild card playoff game is coming. >> the steelers, the ravens they're a prime super bowl contender. >> what a night. >> front exclusive wild card playoff game. steelers. >> ravens on prime.

>> over the years, you've talked about the winning seasons and the losing seasons. >> now it's time to talk about your next season. for more than 30 years, right at home has provided seniors the care they need to stay at home. call right at home. today. >> vicks vapor stick provides soothing non-medicated vicks vapors easy to apply for the whole family. vicks vapor stick and try new vapor shower max for steamy vicks vapors. >> can a personal loan unlock your ambitions? oh yeah. take a swing at your kitchen rental meant that literally. sofi personal loans low fixed rates. borrow up to 100 k. no fees required. watch your step. >> oh, that's why visionworks makes it simple to schedule an eye exam that works for you. >> even if you have a big trip to plan around. >> thanks, meghan. >> see you right now. that's convenient. visionworks see the difference?

>> oh, what a good time we will. >> have. you can make it happen. again. >> voltaren for long lasting arthritis pain relief power etrade's easy to use tools like dynamic charting and risk reward analysis help make trading feel effortless. >> and it's customizable. scans with social sentiment help you find and unlock opportunities in the market. e-trade from morgan stanley with powerful, easy to use tools, power etrade makes complex trading easier. react to fast moving markets with dynamic charting and a futures ladder that lets you place, flatten or reverse orders so you won't miss an opportunity. e-trade from morgan stanley. >> and welcome back to our continuing coverage. i want you to meet jessica rogers. her son joshua, and elijah. her daughter. um, talk about what happened to your house. >> uh, it's to the to the

ground. my house is gone. as well as thousands and thousands and thousands of homes of all of my neighbors. >> what do you want people to know about what happened here? >> um, it shouldn't have happened. however, here today, i'm bringing a message of hope. i'd like for everybody to. to remember that what we need to focus on is that the love in our heart lasts forever. and it is enduring. and what's amazing about our hearts is they can expand and receive more, and they can also give more. and so today, i'm here to deliver that message of hope. with hope you can create. we have an opportunity to rebuild. and so regardless of what happened, we can move forward. >> it's extraordinary that you are saying this and your home is gone. i mean, you have a a rock. yes. explain. this is is this one of the few things you have from your house? >> yes. so i, i, we lost everything. everything burned to the ground. and, um, we love

nature and we go on walks and we go to the beach, and we do our trails and everything, and and we find hard rocks everywhere we go. and so, yeah. and so when i wanted to support my children and give them hope, i decided i had to go out. and so i, i got caught at the barrier. i called chief batista of santa monica and he said, give me a minute. and he put me in touch with the fire chief in santa monica, who promised me that he would bring back a message of hope for me. and he said, what do you want from your house? i said, i don't know anything. i have. i have rocks everywhere. and he presented he came to me last night at my hotel in venice, and presented me with this rock so that i could give my children hope and remind them that this is a memory of our home that we can cherish forever. and life goes on and we can rebuild and we can recreate new memories just like we are right here with you tonight. >> how are you guys doing, joshua? how are you? >> uh, you know, it's scary. >> and the house is gone, so

not great. >> but you found something, though, in the wreckage today from your grandfather. is that right? >> yeah. we found, um, little, like, um, horse dolls. metal horse dolls that were my dad's grandparents. i think. >> well, i wish you the best. i'm so sorry. we're talking under these circumstances, and, um. yeah, i just. yeah. and i'm so inspired by. by your your optimism. when, for all rights, you you could not be optimistic in this moment. >> the choice is always choose love. love is all that we take with us when we go. you choose love. all we have in this world is the relationships that we create, the memories that we're willing to build and create. that's all we take with ourselves. so we're going to build up. i have more love today than i have ever had before, and i want everybody who's suffering out there from these fires to know that they can choose love. and i know they are, because i met places with i run into these people and we're sharing love with each other, and we're seeing

that people reaching out, helping neighbors. >> i mean, it's been extraordinary what we're seeing. thank you so much to to all of you. we're going to take a short break. amanda gorman will join us next. we'll be right back. >> so what are you thinking? >> i'm thinking about our honeymoon. what about africa? safari? hot air balloon ride. swim with elephants. wait. >> can we afford a safari? >> great question. like everything takes a little planning. >> or put the money towards a down payment on a ranch in montana with horses. >> let's take a look at those scenarios. >> jp morgan wealth management has advisors in chase branches and tools like wealth plan to help keep you on track when you're planning for it all. >> the answer is jp morgan wealth management. >> for more than a decade, vasagar has been trusted again and again and again for s. e. cupp. ask your doctor about vasagar. >> have you seen the papers?

>> apparently it's already decided this year. >> one choice leaves no doubt the conclave is director edward berger's stunning cinematic achievement, ralph fiennes, in a stellar ensemble cast, burn up the screen. now, afi has named conclave one of the best pictures of the year, and conclave is nominated for 11 critics choice awards, including best picture of the year. wasn't the outcome i expected? no, but it's wonderful all the same. your choice changes everything. conclave rated pg in theaters now. >> an alternative to pills, voltaren is a clinically proven arthritis pain relief gel which penetrates deep to target the source of pain with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medicine directly at the source. voltaren the joy of movement. >> you don't stop being you just because you turned 65. but you do face more risk from flu and covid. last year alone, those viruses hospitalized nearly 1 million

people 65 and older. 1 million vaccines lower your risk of getting really sick so you can keep doing you. >> i wish my tv provider let me choose what i pay for and pause my subscription when i want, and have hundreds of free channels. >> sling lets you do that. >> choose and customize your channel lineup or watch for free. >> sling lets you do that. >> gum problems could be the start of a domino effect. periodontics active gum repair breath freshener. clinically proven to help reverse the four signs of early gum disease. a toothpaste from periodontics. the gum experts. >> oh, our car's value went up. >> maybe we should track all our car's value on carvana. we need more trackers. >> ooh, i'm getting a value update. >> do you see which one is going on? >> how is it tracking? >> some dips, some rises. >> now what? >> hold. sold. track your car's value on carvana today.

>> the tempur-pedic adapt mattress was designed to help make aches and pains a thing of the past. because only tempur material eases your pressure points in a way no other y frid

once again, nine tablets for just $7 is try friday plans.com. >> i'm hanako montgomery in tokyo and this is cnn. >> and welcome back. coming to you from a staging area in pacific palisades, where it is now dark outside. so you can't even see the smoke from a large fire which is over a ridge. basically, i'm not sure how much in the distance, but it is really brought a lot of smoke over in this direction. some ash was falling a short time ago that seems to have stopped, and there's a slight breeze coming off the the water, which is why i've removed my my mask. i want to bring in a poet, amanda gorman. you all know who she is. um, amanda, you are from los angeles. and i

know you have written a special poem, which you are going to which we are very excited that you are going to to read for us. but before we get to that, i just want to i mean, how are you seeing all what is going on, seeing this the images of of this city that that you were that you were, you know, you grew up in what's what's it been like for you? >> oh, it's been heart wrenching. i'm actually in new york right now, just by an odd turn of fate. i was here for work, and then i started seeing all the news in los angeles. and it's just heartbreaking. i'm a proud pacific palisades resident. and so seeing neighborhoods and areas that i love torn to shreds, it's gutting. >> what you've what went into, i mean, how how did you write this poem that that you are going to recite? i mean, what how do you go about doing that? >> oh, i mean, i let my heart break and i let it pour and i let it bleed. i think i had to

write the poem because i myself am just trying to process what i'm seeing, since i'm not in the city in person. i was feeling so helpless and so powerless, and so the only thing i felt i could do was to turn to what i always do, which is language. >> well, if you already, i would love to to hear your your poem. >> all are angels have gone this smoldering dawn. we soldier on. we've proved ourselves strong. not from how badly we've burned, but how bravely we bond. apocalypse does not mean ruin, but revelation in devastation. this inferno has endured us, but it cannot endure us. even in the surreal. we do not surrender. we emerge from the embers. the hardest

part is not disaster, but the after scorched earth is where the heart hurts, where we restore first, where we start. the work today. we mourn. tomorrow reborn. we end the burning. befriend the hurting, mend those who face the flame. we reclaim our cities. name a revelation that only this place tells to find our angels. all we need do is look within ourselves to find our angels. >> all we do. all we must do. is look within ourselves. you know that is beautiful. and i think it's so important. you know, we just had on a woman whose house has been destroyed, and she was speaking about love. and, you know, in the, in this small

little hamlet of fernwood eawahed firefighters who are probably sleeping there tonight if they can sleep at all, work just constantly trying to save a handful of houses on one street, dropping plane after plane and helicopter and helicopter. and there were neighbors there who had evacuated, who came back to try to help out their neighbors. so we have seen that. we have seen the best in people over the last several days. and and i think your poem speaks to that. at least that's what i take from it. thank you so much. >> thank you. thank you, thank you. >> i wish you the best. you take care. you too. um, there is a lot going on right now at this staging area. as i said, the sea is there. the fire is there. the firefighters are here. police officers are here. national guard members are here. they have been have been called in. now, there is a lot of of trepidation about

what may come saturday afternoon, what may come sunday morning in terms of wind. and that's something we're going to be watching very closely. and a lot of people here are going to be watching very closely, because it is all about the wind. if the wind can stay, if the wind does not pick up over the next several days, it will really allow a lot of more air assets to put fire retardant on the ground, to put water on the ground. that's one of the things they were doing up in fernwood today was, was they did have a truck up there just pouring water out onto some structures and also until the ground all around these structures, so that even if the wind does pick up and the embers do come and the flames spread, that there will be enough water soaked into the ground. and so if the wind can stay, as it has been somewhat still today, they can get a lot more water in there onto the ground and get things soaked. so let's just hat