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chief and exactly say justifiable what the fire department need to operate to meet the demands of the community. >> did they fail you? >> that is our job and that's why i'm here let us get what we need so our firefighters can do their jobs. >> did they fail you? >> yes. >> a stunning admission from the los angeles fire chief as city state and federal response to this crisis is front and center. welcome to hour two of fox news live i'm cheryl along with bill melugin on the ground in california, and bill. you know these county officials are about to hold this news conference we're going take that live when it begins. what are you expecting to hear? bill: cheryl, probably a lot about the evacuation olders that went out last night and this morning this fire made a run starting at about 6 to 8 p.m. and it's been ripping this morning. so it moved north it shifted to the north and to the east.

so it started threatening in spherngd like encino, 405 corridor, the sepulveda pass and it is burning there now, that is threatening the community of brentwood where there are some evacuations underway. we want to sending it out now to correspondent max gordon he's live in that mandeville canyon area last hour, we had scenes of big time flames moving through the area max, the smoke looks a lot better from our perspective over here. does it look to you like they're starting to get a little bit of a handle on it? >> absolutely. bill smoke has been laying down a little bit seems like the fire behavior has calmed slightly this morning. you know, we've seen a lot of air assets coming on in a lot of helicopters. we just talked to l.a. city fire department they say that all of their air assets are deployed here their fire fighting aircraft so they're bringing in

other helicopters from surrounding agencies. i want to show you what's been going on here, though, we have seen some flare-ups on this hillside here. and this is really indicative of how steep and rugged this terrain is and how fluid the situation is as well and firefighters can't get into this area just because of the steepness and that's why they are using these fire fighting helicopters. dropping waters, going to nearby reservoirs where they're picking up loads of water and then flying over to the flames, dropping them there. but you know, we have seen an improvement here. luckily where we are here, you know, the fire has essentially moved over the ridge and it is backing right now. you know, with a situation like this again very fluid but we have a press conference starting right now toipght toss it back to that. >> okay max we're going to listen in county officials this is, this is l.a. county board of supervisors kathyrn barger along with other officials let's dip

in and see what they have to say. >> emergency management kevin mcallen. >> thank you supervisor for the introduction i want like share important announcements the county alert system and progress we've made with the partners with addressing alerts that have been going out in air. late yesterday afternoon, we distributed a press release that details some of the immediate improvements that are now taking place. copies of this press release are available at the front of the room. first, we have made an initial determination that the erroneous alert that went out the first time on thursday from the emergency operation center was indeed correctly targeted to the right recipients. we believe that the problem occurred in the software system that accidentally blasted this alert county wide rather than to the targeted recipients who needed to get the information to safely prepare to evacuate.

as we drill down with our vender to establish the root cause, and apply corrected measures, we're taking the immediate step of changing our alert and notification system to partner with the california governors office of emergency services and the state alert and warning center. the counties emergency operation center is already tied in with the state's operation center and can actively issue emergency notifications in coordination with this state utilizing the state system. second, on the issue of the echo alerts, that continue to go out county wide yesterday, after the first erroneous alert was corrected, we've been working tirelessly with fema, fcc, the state, and our regions telecommunication providers and made the preliminary

determination that the echoalerts as cell towers came back online after knocked offline due to this disaster. that outdated alerts were cashed in the system and as they came back online started being released to the public. we're very grateful to our federal and state partners who are working with the cell phone providers to make sure that all of these outdated alerts are flushed from the cell phone towers so that this ceases we're working with partners and providers to ensure that there's not a reoccurrence of the alerts going out in air. this has been frustrating, unacceptable, and the public is in the most need of accurate information and we're moving forward rapidly to reestablish that. finally, the press release

spells out some of the immediate improvements that we're con currently making to make a robust multilayered notification system. we're enhangsing 211 call network to respond to the public's urgent need for information. technology it can be great. these emergency alerts helped us evacuate hundreds of thousands of people in the immediate life safety measures. we've undoubtedly saved lives. but the last couple of days have also reminded us that technology is vulnerable to the impacts of a disaster. especially unprecedented ones. so i will close by reminding everyone in the public, please for your safety, the safety of your family and friends, to receive emergency alerts, you can sign up for our local program which will be utilized by the state by going to alert l.a. county these are customized

alerts they're different than wireless emergency alert. when you sign up, you can put land lines, cell phone receive text and e-mail messages, go to la county.gov/emergency to sign up for alert l.a. county. with that, i thank you and i will introduce fire chief anthony maroon. >> so good morning. i will be prferredding an eaton fire update the fire is now estimated to be 14,117 acres with 15% containment. with over 7,000 structures damaged or destroyed. we have 2,832 personnel assigned to the incident and static at this time elevated to critical fire weather conditions are predicted to continue through

wednesday. moderate to locally strong santa ana winds will affect los angeles county and today, tomorrow, and then again on monday through wednesday. l.a. county fire will be prepared. these winds combined with dry air and dry vegetation will keep the fire threat in los angeles county high. i would like to take this moment to express my gratitude to board chair supervisor kathryn barger along with supervisor but also to all of the boards of supervisors, for their support of my personnel on my department and me as a department head and fire chief. to our first responders battling wildfires from the air and ground we rxz and commend their tireless dedication and

protecting residents and properties and finally, to our residents rest assure we will continue to battle wildfires until they're fully contained we stand alongside all of you as we begin to plan for the repopulation, the recovery, and the rebuilding. i would now like to invite up todd hopkins unified ic council management team for the palisades incident. >> good morning. the pal palisades incident 11% contained. it is being in unified command with cal fire incident management team to coordinating ferghts ground crews in aerial assets work through the night in

the mandeville canyon area for containment lines protecting structures continuing to full suppression effort approximately 100 engines were surged into that area for direct suppression efforts, infrastructure defense. six night flying helicopters were utilized all night initial night flying resources were also ordered. it was an approximate thousand acres and growth last night in the mandeville canyon area. early estimates from an aerial indicate approximately 5,316 structures have been destroyed. and please what i want you to remember structures does not mean homes structures can be home, outbuildings, rv, automobiles, or other types of things like sheds or outbuildings. the image inspection teams surveying properties as of this morning it is confirmed 426

homes have been destroyed. we still have over 105,000 citizens evacuated there's a fire weather watch being issued for the next 72 hours. and tonight, there will be a community meeting at cavalry westlake church at 6:30 p.m. tonight the address for the meeting is 5495 in westlake village. and next i would like to introduce l.a. county sheriff robert luna. >> thank you. and good morning. so this morning our staff at the los angeles county sheriff department has increased to approximately 700 we continuously bring people in. we've shifted to 12 on 12 off shifts in patrol. and we will continue to reevaluate that as the needs come up just not in our area

responsibility but the entire county of los angeles and our partner law enforcement agencies needs. just to reiterate our missions include hard road closures, traffic control, points roving security, welfare checks, evacuations as needed at the request of our partners at fire, and from what i'm told currently, we are not performing any evacuations but that can change at a minute's notice. and we're doing escorts for essential service needs, like animal recoveries, medications and things of that nature. now, i want to take a couple of minutes to explain this. so that hopefully everybody understands, an evacuation order verse warning and ept to put this out to our community some of them who have been significantly impacted, and we're trying to have as many empathy as we can but safety does come first.

i would like to reemphasize that evacuation order is a mandatory directive for residents to leave the area immediately due to imminent danger. wildfire floods, anything of that nature, failure to heed our warnings can put individuals at risk and potentially interfere with emergency response efforts. you've heard me say at the last couple of days. every miraculous story of a rescue or tragedies that were encountering the majorities are people who did not heed the warning to leave. or the order to leave. failure to heed these warnings i already talked about that evacuation warnings -- are precautionary alerts informing residents they should be prepared to evacuate as the situation may worsen, so you've got to be ready to go. a lot of people are coming back saying hey i need my medicine remember and i know it is chaotic stressful it is not

easy, important paperwork, your medication, your pets may be supplies for your pets. those kind of things have those ready to go while it is not mandatory it is strongly advised to prepare to leave the area to make other arrangements. now, please understand the decisions to evacuate or issue warnings are not made lightly. i have been a command post or other venues where they're talked about very seriously. we do not want to inconvenience people that we don't have to. but there's always a top priority, is your life in danger? that's what the priorities are made for. many orders have been downgraded or lifted related to the eaton fire such as glendale, lack monrovia la canada flintridge some in sierra madre we reevaluate these areas and will at adjust when the time is

appropriate. overall evacuations for the palisades eaton hurst kenneth and lidia fires numbers are both for the county and city area. evacuation orders are approximately at 153,000 residents. that are under the evacuation orders and approximately 57,000 structures are still at risk regarding evacuation warnings, approximately 166,000 or a little over 166,000 residents are under evacuation warnings. going to switch now to the curfew order that we have in place and curfew order was established for the palisades eaton fire areas, in all mandatory evacuation zones, that will be in effect from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. until further notice. that is something else we continuously will be evaluating. this curfew will be strictly enforced and is being taken to

enhance public safety, protect property, and prevent any crimes specifically burglary or looting in areas where residents have been evacuated. many times when we're trying to evacuate people number one concern is, is somebody going to break into my house they shouldn't have to worry about that because they're worried about so many other things. this is trying to assist them. we ask that all individuals comply with the curfew and stay clear of the affected zones unless you are authorized personnel or emergency responders. we have people driving up and around trying to get in just to look. stay away. anyone found in violation of this curfew will be subject to arrest for a misdemeanor offense. under the county code, and conviction may result in a fine of a thousand dollars or jail. we understand that this is extremely stressful and absolutely challenging. but we appreciate our public's cooperation our community's

cooperation as we work together to get through this crisis. and we will do it together. national guard deployment, we have roughly 400 national guard members deployed around the region that are assisting. not only us but our partners at the los angeles police department, pasadena police department, santa monica police department, azusa police department they're say cysting g with critical and infrastructure missions. i want to switch now to arrest and criminal activity. these numbers fluctuate and they do change. in total we have made 22 arrests between the eaton palisades fire, 19 arrests in the eaton area, and three in the palisades area. all of these individuals were in areas they were not supposed to be there meaning they have no business being there.

of the four arrested, last night -- two were arrested for unauthorized entry of emergency area. basically, we had two arrests for curfew violations. you heard me say it yesterday. we've directed our deputies that under these circumstances, if you get arrested for a curfew violation you're not going to be cited released those two individuals were actually booked at stations. so i'm just letting you know, you go out there, and you violate this curfew you are going spend time in jail. you're not going to get cited and released i want to make that very clear motion of the arrests were made for burglary looting including trespassing, possession of narcotics, identity theft, and one suspect was on active parole and charged with the possession of a concealed firearm. these are the kind of folks that are deputies are encountering stopping investigating some of

them lead to arrests some don't, these did. switching gears on you again. something that we're starting to do this morning. search and rescue task force. through unified command, the department has committed 40 members of its specialized search and rescue teams to work jointly with our partners at los angeles county fire, urban search and rescue team coroner office fema office of emergency services, and the use of cadaver dogs to search for remains and reunite families. they will conduct systemic grid searcheses, that will commence this morning. to locate missing persons, and reunite families due to safety concerns we are unable to safely search the impacted areas during the hours of darkness. so this will only be taking place while there's light. we will be staffing a joint family assistance center at 300

east greenl street in city of pasadena from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. people will be greeted by deputies along with providing them with the additional resources that they may need if our residents need to take a missing report our deputies will do that at that point. i encourage you if you believe somebody is missing go there, talk to the deputies, we will assist you in any which way that we can regarding deaths, at this point and again, this information continues to change, be patient with us. we have confirmed 11 deaths in our jurisdiction. again that does not include lapd and pasadena. this is just l.a. county sheriff area of responsibility. eight in the eaton fire, and three in the palisades county area. we also have reports for 13 missing individuals. are those related or not? maybe. maybe not. we hope to find everybody safe.

we want to bring closure to the family. families -- family assistance centers are open to provide information to people looking for missing and family and friends and they will be compromised of the office of emergency management sheriff personnel los angeles department, red cross, medical examiner and the department of mental health for the department of los angeles the centers will provide information to families and victims regarding this mass casualty event. couple of other things, and i'll wrap up here. it is a lot of information. but there's a lot going on and we're really, really busy. donations, we talk about arrest, we talk about the sad things going on but i have to tell you i've been getting ton of phone calls inquiries from good people who want to help. they want to donate. so they want to help the people impacted in the disaster if you are in a position to be able to

lend support to countless people who have been left with little please contact the emergency network of los angelesy visiting www.enla.org the last two things more. one, if you haven't heard, we were scheduled to have an nfl playoff game here monday night at sofi stadium rams verse vikings, decision was made to move that game. it is now going to be taking place in glendale, arizona. i would really like to thank the nfl and stan kroenke who looked at the situation and understood that that would be a draw on more resources both from the l.a. county sheriff's department, inglewood police department, l.a. county fire and other law enforcement partners or in the crisis those resources need to go elsewhere. last thing i will mention is if

you need more updates on evacuations or road closures, please visit l.a. county.gov/emergency. and with that, i will now be introducing board chair supervisor kathryn barger. >> thank you sheriff luna. yesterday morning, the federal government declared a federal public health emergency. and in align wment the federal government los angeles county public health has done the same. among other things, this emergency will assist with staffing ratios at our medical facilities, both residential and at our hospitals. and ensure displaced residents have access to the necessary medications and prescriptions, in addition there will be a focus on the health and safety of our first responders to ensure that they remain healthy, while they are protecting our communities. all of the emergency proclamations i have signed as board of chair as the chair of the board along with our local public health emergency declaration, will be ratified on

tuesday in our motion that i coauthored with supervisor lindsay, we have received an overwhelming amount of support and outpouring of assistance from all corners of the county, state, and quite frankly the nation. it is pair mount that we appropriately harness and utilize resources to maximize benefit to the impacted residents to address these most needs when i got home one of my dear friends lost everything and i went on gofundme page that was set up by his family. and i was shocked to find out that to give $500 they were going to charge me $95 so i'm going to be reaching out to the ceo of gofundme to find out at the least they can cut the cost in order to ensure that the money goes directly to the family. i think it is important for us to recognize that i know it is a company and they deserve to be able to pay for their overhead

but at the same time, we are in a crisis these families have suffering, so again, i'm going to be reaching out to ceo of gofundme to ask him at the very least slash the amount of money that's costing to give to people in need. to that end, with the -- with the fact that we are looking at how to best harness utilize these resources, a motion which is going to be coauthorized will include a directive to our chief executive officer to immediately work on the development oversight, and draft parameters of a fund to be managed by a third party fiscal sponsor to provide flexible spending that supports the most impacted individuals in the communities that have been devastated by these fires. on that note, i also want to take a moment to emphasize to our constituents that we will be here during the recovery process every step of the way. i've talkewhen they can be

i'm directing our county departments to set up local asce centers for residents who have lost their homes. these will be one stop shops for resources on the ground and in the community. we are here for you and we will be here for you throughout the entire time it takes to restore our neighborhoods impacted by the fires we are going to rebuild l.a. and we're going to rebuild it in a timely fashion. lastly, i want to mention an important resource for those who have been displaced in need to begin the claims process. all our l.a. county libraries and staff are available for displaced residents to use computers and internet access to complete the fema and assessor claim forms. we have also engaged assessor to provide a warm for the library to get questions quickly

answered and resolved for residents. i continue to work with fema to address the problem that is occurred when people apply and they check the box that says they have insurance. their claim is automatically denied fema is aware of this dplich glitch and is working to correct it as soon as we get an update, i promise you we will provide that information and i encourage anyone to go to libraries or go online with access to a computer, to begin the claims process with fema and if you have any issues be patient. we're working day and night to make sure that we get you the answer with that i would like to turn it over to my colleague lindsay hour -- >> thank you madam chair i appreciate your strong clear, and resolute leadership and people are concerned and the yiepghted united partnership of

everyone standing here this morning is essential to ensuring everyone remains safe and that we are able to move forward towards recovery in the united fashion. l.a. county had another night of unimaginable terror and heartbreak and even more angelenos evacuated due to the northeast expansion of the palisades fire. i want to tharng all of you who have and are swiftly evacuating. your cooperation is essential to keeping you, your loved ones and our first responders safe. the evac north to encino reservoir from the 405 freeway west to mandeville canyon. the evacuation warning area is the south border is sunset boulevard east blasio road north mulholland drive west 405 freeway.

on the south mulholland drive and sepulveda boulevard and east luis avenue that includes encino reservoir new evacuation shelters are now open and van nuys and canoga park to provide immediate support for those who have been displaced. including our veteran community from the north v.a. campus. overnight, the american red cross and field teams from every city, county, state, and federal district were mobilizing on the ground to help move safely our evacuated residents into safety. it was simply astonishing seeing people come together in these wee hours to protect our residents. i want to thank those who are on the frontline who is work tirelessly to respond to fires that threaten our topanga community. the past few days including aerial support and boots on the

ground your swift actions have made incredible difference for our residents and this focus has been necessary, critical, and impactful. i specifically want to thank chief marrone making topanga a top priority in fire fighting efforts in response to the ongoing fire, we've declared a local health emergency as the chair shared and this is effective county wide. this also includes producting use of power air blowers, which can spread harmful ash and smoke particles. and the motions that supervisor barger indicated also include a funding program for those impacted. we know that while we are fighting on the immediate term, we also know longer term we have to start getting those systems in place. we are hearing the concern from our residents that we won't be

able to move swiftly so we're working in a coordinated fashion to ensure the systems that need to deliver for our residents are working together and that we are securing the resources to swiftly get them to our residents. we're also urging residents to avoid ocean waters from surf rider beach to dockweiler state beach, due to contamination caused by fires. please prioritize your health and follow these guidelines. also as chair barger mentioned we introduced a local proclamation of emergency to be ratified at the border of supervisors meeting on tuesday. this will also cut through red tape, so county departments can respond more effectively give kral oes ability to provide recovery assistance under assistance act and unlock critical state and federal resources. at my request yesterday, senator shift reached out to secretary mayorkas and fema to investigate

the emergency alert issue that director mcgallen spoke about i want to thank the senator, secretary fema and the white house who communicated directly their immediate partnership with us to diagnose and address the telecommunication errors. we know this issue is serious. it is frustrating, it is added chaos to already catastrophic crisis some have confirmed that the issue is cleared on their systems, we are waiting for that confirmation from additional mobile carriers. and we will continue to fix this issue. i know these are incredibly challenging and devastating times for our community. but i want to remind everyone, we are here for you. you see partnership in every shelter, incident command post, and across a resilient and beautiful county. together we will rebuild and recover. remember all mandatory evacuation orders and warnings

in addition to all emergency information can be found at emergency.la county.gov and some of the statistics that you've heard on arrests and acreage and others are focused on the statistics that l.a. county provides. we also know that our local partners in the city of los angeles, city of pasadena, city of santa monica and others have their additional statistics as it relates to arrests. and the work that they are doing on the ground, we are working in a unified command situation, and we want to make sure that the information we're providing you is accurate. we appreciate our partners who are working with us collaboratively to ensure the safety of all. please continue to check and follow all evacuation orders for the safety of you and your loved ones. thank you.

>> thank you we want to recognize a few individuals that joined us at today's press conference state board of equal chair antonio vazquez and ben alan joined this morning by u.s. fire administrator dr. lori thank you for being here. we will now transition to question and answer with the press. does anyone have a question? >> sorry. this is for the sheriff. can i just take this -- so it is on camera? okay, thank you. some communities that have been closed off such as altadena aren't letting residents back to collecting important items from what we remains of their homes they need important paperwork to get back in and some have lost those documents in the fire. what should those residents do to get back to their homes? >> well welcome number one, i feel for anybody who was impacted by this event.

so i would recommend that they go to the family assistance center that we've set up. i can give more information at the end about the location i think i gave the address sooner. but please go there engage our employees, and i can assure you we will do everything we can to assist them. with their critical needs, but i do want to repeat something. i know people are frustrated, any of us would be frustrated if you want to get back to your own home. when we say you can't do this, it is based on their safety. and the safety of others trying to get in and out. so be patient -- be patient with us as soon as we can get people safely back in, it will be a ton top priority for us. thank you for the question. >> here in the middle and please when you're asking your name and immediate outlet you're with -- >> network news a couple of questions in the days and

advance of, excuse me catastrophe on tuesday the event was described as a potentially life-threatening event. with catastrophic potential outcomes i'm curious to know if there are efforts taken on behalf of county officials especially when's happened in advance to the event to request assistance other municipalities to send fire apparatus to us and done and then i have a follow-up question. >> thank you for your question. yes, i've communicated at the press conferences actions that the l.a. county fire department took in advance and during this fire siege. we did communicate with state agencies, we did communicate with our region partners. we communicated with the l.a. county fire departments. we did upstaff the department. we did preposition we resources,

as a matter of fact on tuesday morning the 7th prior to 7 a.m., i gave permission to hold over the offgoing shift of the county los angeles fire department. every day we staff 900 firefighters throughout our communities out of 176 fire stations. and at 7 a.m., or thereabouts we have 8,000 firefighters we staffed reserve apparatus prior to the start of the palisades fire. i did everything in my power to make sure that we have enough personnel and resources before the first fire started. i alerted my board via memo regarding the situation prior

and on wednesday i recalled all l.a. county firefighters back to work. not only two shifts, all the three shifts. i was the one that made the call to the state office of emergency services. i requested 250 additional engine companies consisting of 1,000 personnel. the state oes went to outside state, the western united states for additional resources. to be brought in to california to be brought in to l.a. county. we have national and international firefighters, mexico, canada, all of our surrounding states are here right now fighting this fire. so it wasn't for a lack of preparation. and decision making that resulted in this catastrophe. it was a natural disaster. >> thank you we have sheriff

luna. we'll get to your follow-up. >> thank you chief marroen i want to add from the county family side and i'm going to start off by -- really talking about kevin who is back here because he's our director of emergency management with all county departments on a phone call as we were getting the weather updates. and as we were getting them, they were getting worse. so obviously. we did everything that we could to plan for the worst. i don't think any of us anticipated it was going to be this bad and as you see we're making history here. and not all for the right reasons from a weather perspective, climate perspective all of those things. but from the law enforcement perspective, we made sure that we had our resources in place. i was on the phone with the chief of the office of emergency services for the state. we're in communication with the california highway patrol, we were already putting things in

place along with our other partner law enforcement agencies in l.a. county which includes my multidaily conferences with jim mcdonnell from the los angeles police department so there were a lot of things going on. a lot of moving parts. but remember this, for anybody who was watching. we weren't dealing with one fire. we weren't dealing with two fires. we were dealing with multiple incidents all around our county and i have to tell you from a first responder perspective we're still answering 9-1-1 calls we are still responding to people who are asking for help throughout the entire county of los angeles, so i just like to throw this out and you're going to ask tough questions we need to answer those tough questions. but man i'm telling you i'm so proud and i can speak from the policing side of it. our deputy sheriffs because most of them haven't had a day off. most of them haven't seen their families. but they're out there, i've run

across many of my employees who have tears in their eyes because they're seeing the devastation and it is impacting them. it is impacting their families. not to mention i've spoken to at least four of my employees who have lost their houses total losses and that's -- i'm the getting more of that every day so i want to throw that out as we're talking about our preparedness and what we're doing and next steps. this event is unprecedented and i'm really proud to be part of this county family and partnerships that we have in the region and the state. i believe our mutual aid systems are second to none in the entire united states. >> follow-up -- >> add one more thing chief you touched on it i was at the rose bowl yesterday and that is the command center where all of the different agencies bring -- are positioned and i had the opportunity to talk to firefighters throughout the state from cal fire, but also from kern county from

st. clara they were talking ab year round situation. and they stand ready at a moment's notice to drop everything. and they commit to what i was told 14 days at any incident so this is -- an example of mutual aid but this is going on constantly. and we are always prepared and to chief marrone before the fire broke the they were preparing knowing the the santa ana winds were coming so we were prepared. for what we believed to be a very dire situation, and so i also want to thank you chief marrone because you alerted us and had all hands on deck working with the sheriff so i want to make that point clear. >> thank you supervisor did you have a follow-up question -- your follow-up question -- did you have a -- okay. over here. in the back. >> hi, morgan with abc news, my question is for sheriff luna. can you provide an update on the

ongoing investigations into the fires into the cause of the fires and also are you able to share what potential ignition sources investigators are looking into right now? >> yes. as i stand here right now, from the last update i have, it is still absolutely an extremely active and fluid investigation and what i mean by that is not only are -- do i have assigned detectives working on the multiple fires, but we are working in collaboration with l.a. county fire, l.a. city fire, the los angeles police department, the fbi, and the atf. and they are meeting as respeak and i can tell you this, that we don't want any gaps and information and any and every clue is important. and it does give me an opportunity at this point to say

this to 5u68 you. if anybody out there has any information on anything suspicious, maybe there's a conversation, maybe there's a social media post. something that you think just doesn't sound right, get it to us. we are not going to leave any rock unturned if this is a criminal act. if i'm not saying it is going to be -- if it is, we need to hold whoever did this or a groups responsible. but we're not there yet. this could have been caused by other causes. but everything is absolutely on the table. >> thank you one last question here in front. >> hi kirsten with k cal news is it required to go sign up there's no automatic alert some

people don't have power or access to the internet to do that process. will they be automatically notified at all if they are in that zone? >> yes. the system that we're partnering with the california office of emergency services still has the ability to issue wireless emergency alerts through their process. that is the push notification that goes to cell phones. if people have -- right now the best way if you don't have access to sign up directly with -- through the internet on to the alert system would be to call 211 and get assistance through that source. >> thank you. that's the end of our press conference -- >> to be clear if i may i want to be clear you don't have to sign up. you'll get the alerts automatically. anything that you want in addition, i think what director is saying any clarification that people need you can go online if you can't go online, you can

call 211 but alerts are automatically being sent. and you also can't unsubscribe which i know has been frustrating for people they want to shut alerts as they've been disturbing through that repetitive process. >> yeah. >> thank you for that. thank you for joining us today. that's the end of our press conference see you tomorrow 0:800. >> you hear it there that includes press conference with l.a. county officials. notice whetherably ab sent l.a.y mayor karen bass and chief of the los angeles fire department kristin crowley. the two of them have been a bit at odds with each other over the last 24 hours. there's been some friction there contradicting statements so notable that neither were there and let's digest some of what we heard you heard the l.a. counties sheriff announce they have 11 confirm deaths as a result of the wildfires. with another 13 people who are reported missing right now. the announce that had the sheriff's department is putting

together a search and rescue task force which will include the use of cadaver dogs go into burned areas and try to find any more bodies or people missing we have the latest numbers on these fires this one here where we are palisades fire at 21,500 acres with a staggering 5,316 structures destroyed. we learned there were another 7,000 damaged or destroyed structures in the eaton fire so we're talking over 12,000 structures between the two fires which have been destroyed. or damaged. the palisades fire where we are at now 11% containment and for the viewers at home who hear that and wound wheres it means containment does not mean the active flame that you see what containment means is firefighters ability to get around that fire and dig what they call a line. dig up the earth move the earth and stop that fire from moving past a certain area. so what that means right now is they've got line dug around the

fire about 11% of it right now. as we continue to watch the active flames cheryl what did you make of that presser? >> the problems with that emergency alert system and failure of technology that started on thursday something that you reported in the last hour here on fox news, that you know, basically these are -- emergency alert system there was false alerts going out. we know that there have been cell phone towers that have been down in the area bill we also know that we also heard a lot more about the arrests and the looting which i did pick up from the sheriff there. sheriff robert luna they've had 44 arrests now. and in different, you know, particular in the palisades and eaton area as well and then also that federal response. you know, all of the helicopters that were over in particular mandeville canyon overnight own max gordon has been this morning that was there overnight, but

you know it is still sounds to me in particular with all of the structures, you know, 7,000 structures just in the palisades area and then you know evacuation orders you've got what, 153,000 people under evacuation orders, and then more are potentially going to have to evacuate, bill, today. they're saying 166,000 are in are under evacuation warnings. so it just seems to me that the concern for the residents and still some of the lack of communication on the ground continues to be a problem for these fires, bill, that began on tuesday. bill: and emergency alert notices that went out for were huge for the viewers who aren't in california didn't hear about it essentially whaptiond the other day, is l.a. county accidentally sent out an evacuation alert notice to every single person in l.a. county we're talking 10 million people who got alerts their phones

buzzing making that startling sound saying prepare to evacuate you're under evacuation warning, obviously, that caused mass pangic people wondering if they have to evacuate nowhere near the fire and then sent out alert saying oops that was incorrect. it was only for one fire. then they sent out another accidental alert after that. so you heard l.a. county officials saying it was a software issue and it also had something to do with the cell towers coming back online in some of the fire prone areas regardless it was a huge problem and embarrassing for the county and there's probably going to be some heads that roll over that. we want to sending it out to correspondent robert ray live in pacific palisades where we are. i don't know if you've been watching that smoke plume over the hill but it is getting a little bit better. but here in palisades everything has been wiped out. >> yeah. it sure has, bill cheryl everyone watching indeed. yeah yet another neighborhood that is destroyed by the

palisades fire and interesting to listen to that press conference. i thought it was also notable to hear the sheriff talk about the origins or potential origins of these fires. and a call to action as he said as if there's anyone out there that has heard anything or spoke to someone or watched social media post read a social media post as to someone up to nefarious intentions that should alert authorities because that is a discussion that you hear amongst a lot of the angelenos here talking about, you know, how did this all start and get here beyond santa ana winds hurricane force winds on tuesday and into wednesday. so interesting to see if anything comes out of that. but yeah. in the meantime, bill, you know as i stand here with cars that are decimated, by the fire neighborhoods destroyed. i look down up through pacific coast highway behind the camera

in the pacific ocean and you just see convoys of emergency vehicles continuing to come through and then head up into the hills to try and either a, fight the fire or b, do investigations as we heard in the press conference. as well, it is interesting to note ashes from the fire continue to fall even though there's no active fire where i'm standing right now ashes are falling as the wind kind of blows that smoke out to the west and over the pacific ocean, and over lays over towns like santa monica, and brentwood you know, your description of the containment so important, right? the containment is yes. those lines that they're drawing in order to, you know, stop where the fire is so it doesn't jump. right jump canyons, hills or even into structures. and that's just superimportant for people to understand. as they are beginning to fight this again from the air, this

morning and will all into the evening and the ground. yes there's 11 confirmed deaths between not only here in the palisades fire, but to the north, and it is going to be a very long next several days with these santa ana winds going to kick up again yet again -- and they will last all the way through tuesday, wednesday, could see wind gusts up to 40, 50 miles per hour, and anything that is burning, that is just beginning to put fuel to it, and sending those embers around. that's why it is really a fight against time right now. for all of these thousands of first responders on the ground to try to get this done in the meantime shelters open up. are opened all around this area for people that are just have nowhere to go. lost everything, and evacuations continue. bill. back to you. bill: yep. as we just heard from the l.a. county officials this palisades fire at 11% containment

certainly like to get that number a lot higher. by the end of the day ahead of these santa ana winds which are expected to be coming in we thank you for the live report. cheryl. >> you know, the frustration is palpable it really has been growing for several days. these residents demanding answers over the state, the federal response and these fires. you just heard from the officials in l.a. county i want to bring in fox news contributor steve hilton and liz pique on the major recovery efforts and steve i want to start with you you're a california resident to you first, 13 we now know 13 confirmed missing and search and recovery begins today, steve. >> well, great to be with you cheryl and bill and these terrible circumstances. and liz good to see you as well. look i've been there in l.a. pretty much sings the beginning of all of this, bill, i mean we know how unbelievable and shocking it is that there's just a scale of it. it is just so unbelievable,

however, we -- it is absolutely appropriate to make the point that pretty much all of this is -- was avoidable because you have those long-term policy failures that led to this situation being so much worse than it could have been and then you have the catalog of failures in the short-term both of preparation and the response they're making it so much worse and what it all adds up to a terrible combination that we have in california such a vivid example it have. of incompetence and ideological extremism and those two things have come together in the incredible absolutely catastrophic disaster and this is the moment for people to wake up say we need to go in a different direction and make changes on monday my policy organization together we are publishing a list of things that we need to do in the short-term to help people and medium longer term to help with reforms that we need and crucial and rebuilding we're starting to talk about rebuilding unless we make massive environments to environmental regulations, labor

regulations, endless bureaucracy around permitting and zones with all of the things need to change if we're going to get back to what we want to see in california and los angeles. >> and -- you know -- >> bill go ahead, sorry. >> go ahead cheryl. >> no i wanted to pick up on something steve said about the issue with the permitting bill is the concern about the rebuilding. i know that that's something that liz wants to talk about. but you know these lines in los angeles to get a permit to build anything -- it will take you a year to get a permit bill it is very worrisome. >> was that a question for me or to bill? bill: oh, to me. yeah, no -- [laughter] we'll turn it into a question for you, but she's talking about the red tape and bureaucracy, and give us your thoughts on the

governor and the mayor not being at the press conference. your reaction to that and the red tape that focus have to deal with out here. >> well, i think the sad thing is there's a lot of blame throwing, and who can deny that everyone so to blame? steve is totally right, there's been a massive coming together of policy failures that really go back years. i was going to talk about the insurance problem. i mean, this is a heart-rending situation for so many people. obviously, people have lost their loved ones. the lose everything you own and find out you have no insurance coverage whatsoever, and that's totally on the regulators and the people running the state of california. it is the only state where insurers have not been able to price in the costs they face

with reinsurance, for example, in setting their rates. also there's been a cap onaise e than 7%, you have to get approval, and that the approval can take a year. so the whole, i mean, insurers have been fleeing the state, hundreds of thousands of home policies have been dropped, major insurers like state farm and allstate have been pulling out and particularly, sadly, tragically, in the palisades region. so everything about this is just an incredible mess. steve's right, burn it down, forgive the the expression, in terms of all the regulations because we also know to cheryl's point the permitting in california is a catastrophe. and one of the major reasons why everything takes so long to build and costs so much. so there's a lot of reevaluation that has to go on. cheryl: steve, i only have about 30 seconds left, but if you look at what happened with state farm in particular, they withdrew and they canceled nearly 70% of the

policies that they were covering in the state of california. that's happened over several years. insurance companies are are leaving california, steve. >> and it's a direct result of democrat policies. absolutely disgraceful for kamala harris, who's been totally absent from this. the only thing she said of note was attacking the insurance companies. they're leaving because of democrat policies. there's a total absence of any kind of competent governance in the state of california. that's the change we need to see, and people are waking up to that right now. bill: steve and and liz, we thank you both for joining us. that's going to wrap up our coverage for now of these wildfires which are tearing through los angeles county. the latest numbers, 11 dead, 13 if missing, and the santa ana winds coming back. cheryl, it's been great to be with you. cheryl: bill melugin, thank you for your incredible work in los angeles. "fox news live" continues. anita: