do you believe that the death t -- thedeath toll is not accur. >> based on the information i received in the last 8 hours. >> is it more than that? >> i want to be confident in the specific information we're getting. what i am doing now is going back through everything because you got to understand the urgency, the chaotic nature of what we're dealing with and we're still in the middle of that. so i want to make sure that as we go forward, at least for the sheriff's department, we're actually having our homicide unit involved because they do -- they not only do murder investigations, they do death investigations. i'm going to change the system and verify each number because i don't care if it's just one, that is somebody's family. that is somebody we love and care for. so i want to make sure that is solid before we start presenting that information. unfortunately, based on the

preliminary information i've seen, at least in both -- the two large fires that we're dealing with on each side of the county, unfortunately, i think the death toll will rise. i hope i'm wrong. but i think it will rise. >> thank you for that and over here right in the front. >> yeah, josh haskel, abc 7 witness news, and mayor bass, i have been on the fire lines the last few days, and i've never seen firefighters this desperate. at hydrants, the water not coming up, and the pressure so low, the number 1 tool they use to fight the fires not there. how frustrated are you about that and also i'm getting texts right now from the palisades highlands community and 24 hours after the fire started, no resources up there and the hydrants are not working and where is the national guard? where are miles and miles of water tenders, how are you addressing this? >> first of all, you asked me if i was frustrated by this. of course. because we all know it's an

unprecedented event. we also know the fire hydrants are constructed to deal with this type of massive devastation and that the number 1 problem, especially on tuesday -- i mean on wnesday was the fact that we weren't able to do the air support because of the winds. and so of course i am absolutely frustrated by that. i'm not sure that is correct that there are no resources up there. rest assured, as soon as we done here, i will follow up on that. >> but those homes -- the first day and a half there were homes protected by the fire -- >> that had been protected? >> basically had been saved, obviously, the fire is moving different directions. but when i went up there yesterday, there were not a lot of resources, we drove around and i know things got worse up there. i am wondering we move 48 hours past, how are we addressing the water problems that are continuing and is it acceptable that they continue?

>> well, let me just say that the water problems are a little better now because the winds are such that we can go up and have the air support. and you know that that was the reason that the devastation was so bad, the unprecedented wind. the strength of the wind and the fact that the air support could not go up. thank you. >> if chief crowley wants to talk to this, there are fires before where the air support is not available. and we depend on the ground resources and crews. was there a plan in place for that? and did the resources get here quickly enough? and talk about an update to air support today. >> right. thank you for that question. as we know -- and you heard all of the incidents that are occurring at this point. palisades was the first brush fire that we were attacking at that moment. you talk about specific pre-deploying and putting resources in place, predeploying, knowing that the winds were coming with that. and the fire did light and take off, rapid response.

very dynamic situation. air to ground resources coordinating. now with the winds, i don't think we can overstate that enough, there's no excuse in regard to the winds were too much. but the reality is the winds are so dynamic and at that tipping point, when our resources, air resources were grounded, that changes our strategies and tactics. we called for the world in regard to the number of resources and what we needed, who we needed, immediate need. every single resource that was available at that moment responded. you talked about 48 hours liter, where are we now, right. again, i already spoke on if we don't have water, we find water, we use water tenders, we draft water. the fire department, first responders, we're going to do everything in our te effort to do what we can with what we've got. the good news is with the winds subsiding, you're going to see water drops, you're going to see

rotary, you're going to see fixed wings all day. unless something changes. again, i did say 60-mile an hour wind gusts even today, so very, very dynamic situation, with that, also, you said about the other homes -- no fire resources there. as winds change, our resources change, we redistribute. we move. and that's the dynamic situation that we are in even in day 3. that's what i wanted to say about that. thank you. >> thank you very much, madam mayor, i have another question for you. bob decario from good day today fox 11. another issue, another concern about resources and in particular staffing as well. and we heard from firefighters even on the front lines expressing frustrations about -- you know, obviously it's a challenge right now, they're bringing in firefighters from all across the western region.

but can you address the criticism now over the budget issue and the slashing -- 17 million-dollar slashing of the budget. >> i think if you go back and look at the reductions that were made, there were no reductions that were made that would have impacted the situation that we were dealing with over the last couple of days. and then there was a little bit -- >> would more firefighters on the line helped -- >> -- there was a bit of confusion because money was allocated to be distributed liter on which was actually going to -- lit later on that we going to distribute and it was tough budgetary times, and the impact of the budget did not impact what we have been going through over the last few days, and again back to the unprecedented wind storm. wind at such ferocity that we have not seen in years is the

context in which we were dealing with it. thank you. >> thank you, let's go over here on this side. did you have your hand up with the blue? name and media outlet, please. >> hi, grace toeii with the los angeles times. i hope chief crowley could talk more about the start of the palisades fire. we heard -- i know we don't know why it started. but we heard it possibly started in a garden in someone's backyard. if you can confirm that. and how long do we know it took to actually reach homes and i know you said that resources were predeployed. but do we know if there were fire crews in the palisades when it did start. >> right, i'll start with the second question and go back -- actually, i'll start with the first one. as for the start of the fire was, in the palisades fire, currently under active investigation. we have our arson investigators out there right now as we speak and they are actively investigating. as soon as we have information

we will share that with all of you. i know there's obviously -- for the right reasons a lot of interest in that. so with that, we'll circle back. when we come to pre-deployment, we, we had the local fire stations assigned, fire station 69. fire station 23 in the palisades area. they were fully staffed. predeployment in the areas and we can share the exact locations of where they were, and how much we bolstered in regard to resources in the palisades area, and mind you, we predeploy in the very high fire hazard severity zones knowing that those are the communities most at risk during a wind event. not only did we predeploy in the palisades area, but also other critical areas within the city. i don't know exactly but we can get it to you. thank you. >> hi, dakota smith with the l.a. times. i have a two-part question for the two fire chiefs. first off, have drones --

unauthorized drones been a problem and have they hurt fire-fighting efforts? and secondly, in terms of the lafd hydrants, was there any scaling back of the inspection of the hydrants in the last year, and did that affect the firefighting effort to chief crowley? >> sure, as to your first question with the drones, i don't have any information on that. so i can't share anything with you on that. in regard to the hydrants, historically, january is our hydrant testing phase. what i can tell you is we work closely with the department of water and power. those hydrants themselves are dwp's hydrants. they are there to service the fire department. we partner with dwp in regard to the testing. the dynamic situation where we are currently with the wildland season, if you may, there was a decision to postpone. we did not -- in regard to the january start date.

we have all year to test them. our -- and also, mind you, our local fire stations are every single day going up and down the streets and looking at the hydrants, if there is any damage to hydrants, we report those, as well. we were just kicking off that time frame at the beginning of the year when we normally would, and we postponed that because of the call volume we were dealing with and we worked with dwp. i don't think it impacted our abilities in the specific area. thank you. >> thank you. >> and david zonheiser with the los angeles times. i have a two-part budget question. my first part is can you talk about the reserve fund. last year there was a lot of concern that the reserve fund had fallen below 4% and was heading toward that 2.75 number that i think becomes -- makes it difficult for the city to authorize spending. do you know how low it's gotten at this point and how quickly

you're burning through the reserve? >> do you want to go with your second question, too? >> sure. the second question is do you have any concern about blowing through the reserve before the state and federal money w will arrive? >> so let me just say as i said a few minutes ago, our number 1 priority right now is to save lives, to protect lives, to save homes. i'm not here to talk about the status of our budget. if you would like to do that on another occasion, that would be fine, in terms of the reserve fund. i don't have those concerns right now and i will say that after our first priority, then we will look back at everything that was done to do an evaluation to see what worked and what didn't work. thank you. >> thank you. we are over time. however, we will have one on one interviews -- >> cal fire wants to give an update on structures, et cetera, to get a clarification. i think it's important for you

to highlight. >> thank you. >> numbers. >> good morning. my name is todd hopkins. i'm one of the incident commanders for the cal fire incident management team. of the thousands of structures -- i want to clarify -- that have been destroyed, we get the initial intel from intel flights. and what they do is pick up heat signatures. we base off the heat signatures are destroyed. what stes what i want to clarify is that a structure doesn't necessarily mean that it's a residential structure or commercial structure. it could be a vehicle. it could be an outbuilding. so we do have people -- damage inspection teams that are on the ground that will go out to every single home. they will catalog whether a house is destroyed, if it's partially destroyed or just damaged, and all that information will be turned over to the city and to the county once the damage inspection teams get done. so although we know that there

are many homes destroyed, the thousands of structures can mean many different things besides just a home. so... >> is it thousands have been destroyed. >> thousands of structures, yes. but it could be a motor home. that could be a car. that could be a shed. it could be a residential structure. so i wanted to make that clarification. >> thank you very much. and we are end of press conference. one on one's. we also have spanish. we will conduct that over here to the side with sheriff luna and a representative from l.a. city fire. thank you. >> harris: you have been watching the los angeles officials news conference. it's an update and they do this and have done this the last couple of days during this time period, and we learn so much critical information about what people are facing out there. a few things that really stood out. moments ago, they closed down the angeles national forest until further notice. and you can see some of the damage -- that's it there. but there are fires that are still burning that are huge in the palisades mountains. if we go back to that live look,

you'll see it. they are dealing with a lot. at one point, we were told that the air is not healthy to breathe, particularly for those people who have health issues like asthma. the air is not healthy to breathe. because of what you see there still burning in the pacific palisades. a lot of smoke there. and fresh fuel -- not houses. now it is into those thick brush and treed hillsides and mountain sides of pacific palisades. a lot of fuel there and they're still not hitting it enough from the air yet. they're hitting it some. but not enough yet to really knock that back. zero percentage containment and the eaton fire which has turned out to be the largest out of all of them almost 11,000 acres that have burned there. the other thing that really stood out was the team 3 of the california search division that they have. they are almost solely tasked -- they'll be giving some other support to the teams that are

already on the ground. but their main focus will be on finding victims. and we were told to be ready for that number at least 5 people dead at this point to change. now they didn't say which direction. but they've got now a team primarily dedicated to look for people that didn't make it out during the evacuations. we got a better idea of just the toll that this has taken on people who are still on the ground. the utilities are crippled at this point. they're telling people if you can see or have access to water, you should be boiling it. well, i hope fema is there with as much water as possible because it's also warm around those fires, and that will be in the atmosphere. that warmth will be in the atmosphere. that heat, we learn from our senior meteorologist yesterday. and we learned in addition to the heavily damaged utilities, people will need some help with

housing and i've asked my team to put that information up on the bottom of the screen. there is an organization that is helping out there on the ground that was announced by the officials there with some free housing locally. a lot of times, of course, the electricity is out for hundreds of thousands of people. but you may be able to reach people -- friends and family -- on your cell. maybe they are near a tower outside of the area now, blessed enough to have that. and maybe you can send them that information. so they can get to it. now the warning about toxic debris also stood out. don't touch anything. people want to go back. they want to get what they can. they want to see if their house made it. they want to see, well, what about the neighbor's house, can we help them get their things. we were told today by the fire officials don't touch anything. there's a toxicity warning on the debris, don't touch it, don't move it. they want the chance to get in there. and of course questions to the mayor. i mean, she was peppered. she kept reading and quoting

from those prepared remarks. there were -- they were about 4 minutes long. 4 minutes and 5 seconds, to be exact. i timed it. the woman who leads millions of constituents in los angeles, mayor karen bass spoke just briefly off the top, and later during this hour and 10 minute long news conference, she got peppered with reporter questions. mainly anticipating her presence after staying so silent yesterday when questioned at an airport on her way back from africa about cutting the fire department funding by $17.6 million. in a city, in a state that has been actual fire season. she uttered not a single word. it was weird. and unexpected from such a political campaigner. this went viral. >> do you regret cutting the fire department budget by millions of dollars, madam mayor?

have you nothing to say today? >> can you back up, i appreciate it. >> have you absolutely nothing to say to the citizens today. no apology for them? do you think you should have been visiting ghana while this was unfolding back home? >> excuse me. >> harris: if you have a clock on it by now, you know at least a minute has gone by. this goes on for 2 minutes. then she is seen walking -- obviously very briskly. trying to get away. as she anticipates more questions and she should. how do you cut 17.6 million from the fire budget? let's watch. they have to let her out that secured door. because she's going to leave. she's not going to say anything. >> madam mayor, just a few words for the citizens as you return

to deal with the catastrophe? >> can you take this down. >> harris: determined. and she was determined today not to answer those questions. saying that her focus was on the people and keeping people alive. and then one reporter -- i've got the transcript here chirped back, well, that didn't happen. wow. images of the devastation. beyond belief now. palisades charter high school also a popular spot for hollywood productions was engulfed in flames. now destroyed. palisades resident who owns tutoring business described the pain and anxiety. >> i'm worried about all of them. you know, i keep getting texts from parents. there's a lot of kids who don't have homes. you know, the lucky ones live a little outside of town. but all of my students have lost their schools. so it's...

it's incomprehensible. >> harris: you know, i want to say a little something because i know people have talked about all of the rich and privileged people in malibu. palisades, pacific palisades. i know it well. that is a place that has a conglomerate of people, of every ilk. and many of those communities hit today and yesterday and the day before -- eaton, those areas, they're everyday americans. and you know everyday americans can have dreams come true and build million dollar houses along the beach. loss is loss. but for those people -- many of them didn't have insurance because of the fire seasons that they have lived through and had fires previously that insurance companies had pulled back on some of them. and that is just one of the more than 2,000 situations with buildings that we know of now. those homeowners. things destroyed.

look at your screen. shocking. heartbreaking. before and after pictures. just like we just saw. devastating, truly. the wildfire consumed this historic ranch. will rogers state park. kennedy, who has a home in pacific palisades joined me yesterday talking about the fire affecting everybody regardless of money. >> we have friends that are a couple blocks away and the fire is sweeping up the hillside. it has consumed trailer homes and -- you know, it's, like, this is not an enclave just for rich people. there are apartments and condominiums. there are people who have lived there for 50 and 60 years. who have paid off their homes who can't afford to move who have been dropped by their insurance companies and they have lost everything. and if they haven't lost everything, they -- in my situation, we don't know where we are. we don't know exactly where the fire is.

>> harris: an hour and 10 minutes those officials gave so much information. and it still will never be enough at this point. the mayor promising to pull forward and move ahead. but we do need to know where we've been. why wasn't there enough water in the hydrants? when did they know? what could have made a difference if anything at all? senior national correspondent william la jeunesse joins us. >> and they said they will arrest anyone regardless of the offense, and the top line and the eaton fire stabilized around

10,000 acres and for the palisade fire here and a thousand structures are destroyed and i want to show you where we are and this is main street and this is downtown pacific palisades, and it's town, and all of the shops, and this is the nail salon, this is the clothing boutique and the barber shop and it has been left to rubble at this point in time. as you mentioned, two controversys going on right now and one regarding why did they run out of water in the middle of the fire and the second is a letter written a month ago about the fire chief about slashing the budget by $17 million that the mayor supported and that letter said that the reduction in overtime will severely limit the department's capacity to prepare for, train for and respond to a large scale

emergency including a wildfire. she was asked about that today and she said, well, it was tough budgetary times. but it did not affect our response. here's what she said earlier, refusing to accept blame. here is a sound bite. okay, i don't think we have that. and other thing, you mentioned hazardous debris, and that tells me hawaii and that means time. if all of the stuff needs to be brought out in the manner that he said and all of the homes along pacific coast highway, you know what pch is like. it's a major artery. people can't wait a month to use pch. wwhile you pull out the debris. that is one issue and the other thing i want to say is the e-evacuations, and 180,000 evacuated and no mention of the

340,000 who do not have electricity, and the gas company cut off gas and many of people's generators don't work and trying to boil water without electricity, that is difficult. and communications, no cell, no internet, and elon musk said he will drop off those starlink so people can have cell. and if you wait for 3, 5 years before they get a permit to rebuild. i know what that's like, right. where are they going to go and what is going to happen to affordability in the town and what will happen to rent and prices and let alone the issue of insurance and whether or not people can get it. you touched on that. back to you, harris. >> harris: we both have been doing this a long time, and we lived out there, and we know how what to ask because we know how

long it will take. and we learned the hydrants, learning from chief crowley, january is testing season. does that mean they haven't looked at the hydrants in a year? how can anybody tell us what was going on with the hydrants. well, it's possible. and january is supposed to be the wet season, and we're not supposed to need them then. it might make sense, having said that, i don't know that the capacity to deliver the water had to do with the functioning of the hydrant, per se. it's the fact that the water is not there. >> harris: that is a bigger issue. one last one, and the mayor was asked about the national guard, what about the national guard, what about fema? what about those agencies coming in are you learning? >> well, i haven't seen any. and as that reporter from channel 7 mentioned up in the highlands, those people feel abandoned. and the question is going to be when are people going to get back in here, as you mentioned,

to see what they have or don't have. we have to check on several people's houses. they don't even know if they are there, and that goes to the issue of security and not letting people in and so forth, and getting through the checkpoints, and who can and can't get in. and that is a problem, and you want to balance not letting the bad people in and trying to let the good people in and trying to separate, and it's not easy. >> harris: look, people in the highlands, it makes me think of after hurricane helene, and this was inferno hurricane. that's what i call it. wind-driven and fire-powerful. that people in the highlands, that strikes my memory bank. people in ap appalachia. look, fema has to do it better and they've got to be faster. good to see you. thank you for the reporting. we appreciate it, william. attorney brian claypoole lives e that claimed the lives of five people that we know of. l.a. and city county officials

told us they sent a special team looking for victims, and doing the victims research and that number could change, and brian was forced to evacuate his home in pasadena, and brian, really, your area is coming into clarity now for how much you've been through. >> yeah, harris, i have to tell you after seeing that press conference, i am flat out heartbroken and outraged. we are sick and tired in l.a. county of having liberal political leadership play russian roulette with all of our lives. look at that -- look at these images. this was preventable, harris. i'm not saying it could have been stopped. but i looked on the news three days ago. i have a teenage daughter. you know i'm an single parent. i have a 9-month-old, as well, with a nanny holed up in a hotel. three days ago, we see on the news, there are winds expected of 80 to 100 miles an hour, harris. i looked at my teenage daughter, and i'm, like, are you kidding

me? that is hurricane-force winds. what is our city -- what is our county doing to try to help people understand what happens if these winds destroy our town and community? there was nobody -- nobody on the tv out here in l.a. except gavin newsom doing his dog and pony show talking about what we're supposed to do when this happens. nobody had done anything to remove soil and vegetation for the last year. nobody tested the water pipes. this was not brain surgery. it was predicted. these winds were predicted. don't believe karen bass when she says that an airplane with water could have saved lives in the palisades. it's pipes. it's proper water. it's not diverting water for fish in california instead of saving human lives. you want to save human lives then do your job and have a plan in place. harris, there was not an operational plan in place anywhere in l.a. county to help

with this. and by the way, let's not just pick on karen bass. what about these l.a. county supervisors? they are powerful. because i'm in l.a. county. those superviseors, harris, they show up at the press conferences after urban carnage, after kids have been murdered in l.a. county and they try to tell you, oh, we're going to do this and that. what have they done to prevent it? we're sick and tired of this. it's inexcusable. >> harris: brian, you and i have known each other for a while. we come together on a lot of different things. mainly legal. my heart is with you, and i am asking tough questions. you saw william la jeunesse we're on the ground, we're doing everything we can. this is going to take a mighty effort to get to the truth and i know you, you are grieving right now but you are intrepid in the legal field. you will get to it, as well. god bless you and your family. thank you for coming on and telling us.

>> yeah. >> harris: breaking it down. god bless you. >> thank you, harris, for supporting me. >> absolutely. we heard a lot of questions at that news conference as i was talking about, and i have my own about the lack of preparedness. no one had prepared us for how much truth we just heard from brian claypool. critics like brian are calling out a lack of leadership and pointing a finger directly -- because they know who the leadership are who are failing them at this point. >> it's a perfect storm of mismanagement and failure of leadership. these decades of just absolute terrible leadership, failure to prepare, insane regulations, bureaucracy. it's crazy. and it all came to fruition today. >> harris: my friend dean cane. he lived there for many years, as well. he knows the breakdown. president-elect donald trump says governor gavin newsom and los angeles mayor karen bass bear responsibility. steve hilton in focus next.

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>> harris: all right, this is a drum beat this hour, and i would imagine it will continue to be. loads of criticism surrounding the lack of water coming from fire hydrants to respond to the deadly wildfires in southern california, as well as personnel management and brush control. the new york post cover with this... "hell fire and fury as bad management leaves city without water." president-elect donald trump blames california governor gavin newsom and president biden's policies. here is trump yesterday. >> president-elect trump: it's very sad, because i've been trying to get gavin newsom to let water come in. no water in the fire hydrants today in los angeles. this was a terrible thing. it's a true tragedy and a mistake of the governor. >> harris: governor newsom wanted to clap back. >> what is the situation with the water?

>> local officials are trying to figure it out. you have a system and it's not like other extraordinary wild scale fires typical for 1, 2, 3, fires, and something of this scale. >> the president-elect chose to attack you and blame you for this. >> one can't even respond to it. i mean, it's... people are literally fleeing. people have lost their lives. kids lost their schools. families completely torn asunder. churches burned down. this guy wanted to politicize it. >> harris: well, he did leave his state against quarantine laws he put into place and ended up at some point at a 2 michelin star restaurant. so, i mean, you know, okay. newsom. several congressional republicans are pointing the control of democratic control at the state and local level in california saying there is major mismanagement across the board. we heard that from brian claypool and steve hilton lives

in california, as well. fox news contributor. steve. >> harris, let's take what newsom said there head on. first of all, what is this guy doing? when confronted with the absolute disaster about water running out in the middle of this catastrophe, waving his arms around and saying the local folks are going to figure it out. you're in charge. not some random bystander. and let's talk about his point on politicization. and what he does every time, for example, there is one of these dreadful mass shootings. before the bodies are even buried, he and all of the democrats are in there blaming republicans, demanding policy change. so, yes, it is the time to show why this natural disaster, of course, disasters happen. but they are made so much worse in places that are badly run. and there is nowhere worse run than california today after more than a decade of one-party rule.

yes, the water issue. exactly as president trump was saying. and i have been arguing -- we've been putting out policy papers on how to solve this problem month after month on the fire and forest management. that is all true. there's another aspect, harris. we talk a lot -- one of the most immediate points of crisis for people right now is this lack of insurance. we've talked about it a lot. >> yes. >> that is also the result of democrat policy. why? why are insurance companies pulling out of california? one, because of the elevated costs of rebuilding anything thanks to all of the regulations. the environmental regulations, the labor regulations. all of it. massively increase the price and cost of building anything in california. making it so expensive. that's why they're pulling out of the second reason is artificial caps on the rates that insurance companies can charge imposed by democrat politicians in california. so every single aspect of this disaster -- the long-term

failures that made it so much worse. the short-term failures of the warning and the response and the crisis response in terms of people trying to put their lives back together. every single aspect of that has been made worse by democrat policies. a combination of incompetence and ideological extremism. and that is why people who didn't realize it before now right across this city and this state understand we need change in california. >> harris: well, look, and top to bottom -- i mean, if -- if some of the focus has been on the wealthier people there, they are also paying taxes in those communities. >> yes. >> harris: and in many cases own businesses and employ so many other people. if they are stymieed for any period of time, that also affects the economy. locally there. >> of course. of course. and actually, it is true both in this immediate situation, but in all of the failures of policy that we've seen here in california. it is the hard working, working ass falies -- those that can least afford it who are hit the

hardest, and that's going to be a massive focus, and of course, it's true that we should approach this with humanity and understand the absolute devastation in so many communities. and we need to help people right now. that's what i've -- >> yes. >> why i've been talking to, for example, to faith leaders about how the faith community can step up right now in offering people help right now. of course we need to do that. but if we don't also make the point about the serious years-long failures that have caused the suffering in an unnecessary scale, on an unnecessary level. >> harris: yes. >> that could have been avoided, then we are failing in our responsibility right now. >> harris: i don't know if you can see it, these brand new live pictures now. >> yes. it's unbelievable. >> harris: showing the devastation. i have likened this to the worst of hurricanes that had rain that i have ever covered as a journalist. but this had fire with 1 00-mile an hour winds. >> can i make a point.

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>> wildfire continue to rage across california, leaving destruction in its wake, and we'll provide the latest updates as the devastation reaches unprecedented levels, and as

california property owners watch their properties burn, they are facing another battle, insurance crisis and if he fires weren't enough, the thick smoke from the fires are spreading fast. how dangerous is that for those nearby? we have very latest as "america reports" top of the hour. >> harris: steve hilton's final comments are up on my x right now, and i wanted to make sure he got his words in. we need to go straight away to this. thousands of structures now -- 2,000 plus. including homes and businesses have been destroyed and more are currently still burning in los angeles at this hour. fire crews are struggling to battle the worst inferno in the city's history. chief correspondent jonathan hunt with the latest on the ground. a lot of talk about water, jonathan. >> a lot of talk about water. a lot of talk about the resources that were committed to this fire. but when you look -- when you talk to people here, they're not talking about that right now,

harris. what they are really concerned about is coming back to scenes like this. this is the human toll of this. and it's easy to move on from that, and there is time for investigations. there are people who want to talk about that right now. and should be investigating that right now. quite seriously. but for the people on the ground, the people who live in this beautiful part of what we all think of as paradise, this is paradise upon paradise of pacific palisades. this is what they are dealing with now. they're just figuring out what do they do, how do they pick up their lives? and this, harris, is street after street after street as we pan slightly to our left there. and you can see the white picture fence and what was a beautiful home behind that white picture fence, and i want to bring brian back as he pans lefn awful lot of work over the last couple of days, but he's the best at it.

look across the street, and it's the same street, and if you go left, i don't want to go too far left because he's right into the sun. that is what is left of it. and pretty much nothing, and so many people are coming back to find that situation now and to work out how to deal with it. and you know i just want to tell a little story, and kennedy has been talking about this, so i know she won't mind repeating it. she got in touch with me yesterday, and she has a house here, and she said i have no idea if it's standing, can you check on it. we did. it was fine at that point. and i need to go again today. she said can you get a couple of things for me. and this speaks volumes about kennedy, but also volumes about every family who has a home that is going through this. kennedy asked me to pick up a couple of hand painted pictures by her kids. two photographs of her kids when they were much younger. those are the kind of things that people care about right now. and yes, there is anger. there will be anger expressed about water supplies, about

whether enough resources were donated to this. but what people really care about right now on the ground are saving their pictures, saving what they can of the memories of where their families have lived and grown up for so many years. harris. >> harris: yes. definitely. and what we learned in that very lengthy news conference is people don't want people going back to those areas because some of that debris is toxic. >> right. >> harris: definitely. all right. >> for sure. >> harris: jonathan, thank you very much, and joining me by phone literally... sorry about that. that is -- i'm just going to cry now. keaton osborn, a santa monica resident who was forced to evacuate his home, and both of keaton's parents lost their home to fire yesterday. when we look at the pictures on the screen, they do not take us inside the grief and the anxiety. please tell us how you're doing right now.

>> um, yeah, no, it's been a pretty rough couple of days. you know the fires came pretty quickly through malibu and palisades. and i think, you know, from the videos i was sending in, when i was first filming those, you know, it felt like it wasn't going to be too bad. and you know, now it's... everything's gone. so it's been, you know, a very rough few days, and i know -- you know, my dad and my mom are both feeling it. and i know a lot of californians are feeling it. and i feel for all of them. >> harris: what was your effort like in terms of your parents' home? i know you tried to save your mother's home. >> yeah. i was one of the last people behind in the palisades before the fire crews started pulling out. and i stayed as long as i could. tried to fight the fires.

they were coming right up to my mom's property line. and maybe it wasn't safe for me to be there. but... i think -- you know, a lot of californians feel that their homes are valuable, there's valuable things and family memories. and so i thought i would give it a try. and i had to leave when the fire crews started evacuating. i thought it was the right time to go. yeah, definitely sad to see it's gone. >> harris: we keep hearing the words apocalyptic and historic. how long have you lived in santa monica? >> i've been in santa monica a few years, but i grew up in the palisades. >> harris: so you know the area well. are those words fair about what this is? >> yeah. definitely. i think -- i'm still a little bit sort of shocked from everything that i saw and witnessed so close. the power of fires -- you know, it's not something to be messed with. and i think -- i think

apocalyptic is a pretty fine word to describe what is going on here right new. >> harris: the power of fires. the power of prayer must meet that now. keaton -- >> yeah, totally agree. >> harris: -- moving forward you hear words like water supply, no water pressure, and boil your water. many of them are not in a position, and they can't afford to go to free hotels because they can't get there at this point, and those resources will be gobbled up i imagine pretty quickly. talk about sustaining for people who are burned out of their houses. >> yeah, i think that's one of the most difficult things that people have to deal with now. i think -- you know, you've lost your home and you try to evacuate and you realize every hotel between santa monica and downtown is just about packed out because 30,000 people have had to book hotel rooms at the same time. so i think that's going to be an issue that we're going to have to figure out. and t all the people that are

displaced, i think it's going to be a really tough time. but i would advise everyone to stay -- you know, stay inside. and wear a mask if you go outside because it's definitely pretty dangerous conditions out here. >> harris: and we learned from the news conference that going back to try to retrieve anything, really, is not a good idea from fire officials. they're saying that the debris is very toxic. they need to test that. real quickly, next step for you? >> next step for me is figuring out how to rebuild alongside every oracle callns that is feeling and going through everything that we're going through. and you know, i feel for everyone who is going through devastating, and it is shocking and it's your life turned upside down. >> god bless you. >> at the end of the day. so i think -- yeah. i appreciate it. >> harris: yes, thank you. >> thank you. >> harris: absolutely.

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