breaking news on "ana

cabrera reports" an unprecedented disaster around los angeles. a state of emergency as multiple wildfires burn uncontrolled, fueled by santa ana winds, up to 100 miles per hour. 80,000 people evacuated. dozens of homes destroyed. thousands more threatened. plus, the forces that combine to create what is being called a perfect storm. dry conditions, difficult terrain, and winds so powerful, they are keeping fire fighting planes on the ground. more breaking news on donald trump's bid to halt friday morning sentencing in his hush money case. he's taking that fight to the u.s. supreme court. hello. i'm ana cabrera. it is 7:00 a.m. in california where we are following major breaking news. multiple wildfires burning uncontrolled around los angeles this morning. the fire department set to give an update next hour. right now we can tell you

hurricane-force winds are fueling these fast-moving wildfires that are engulfing the hillside community of pacific palisades and burning oceanfront property in malibu with the peak of those winds still to come. 80,000 already under evacuation orders this hour. our nbc affiliate knbc caught this moment when a local assisted living home had to be evacuated in the middle of the night. some of those patients in severe condition. one man screaming he couldn't breathe through the smoke. the wind spreading those fires so quickly, so unpredictably that people fled for their lives with a moment's notice, barely able to take anything with them. >> is this your house? >> yes. >> which is your house? >> this is our house. the backyard is on fire. i'm out of here. >> what happened? is there anything we can do to help you, sir?

>> you can take these paintings, i guess. i can't ride with these. i work at nbc. i'll make sure you get them. >> let's get right to jacob soboroff in pacific palisades, california, and meteorologist angie lassman tracking these hurricane-force winds the firefighters are facing. start with jacob on the scene. what is the situation where you are right now? >> anna, this is first light here in pacific palisades, a beautiful coastal community of about 23,000 people. everywhere you look it is sheer and utter devastation. this used to be a house. now it's a pile of rubble. these beautiful sycamore trees throughout this community are the only thing left standing. every street you go down in the huntington palisades the neighborhood i was born and raised in, i grew up in a little house a couple blocks away from here on 500 frontera street, i

don't know if that house is still standing. this is one of many that make up the patchwork of the city of los angeles. 30,000 people received orders to evacuate here, and there are fires burning everywhere you look. in this town, the staples of the community are gone. the two grocery stores, doctors' offices, the dry cleaners, the local public library, several schools are gone, and countless homes. i dread to know the number when it's all said and done. i think that many people wonder what a worse case scenario would look like in the event of something like the big one, the earthquake. this is far beyond what i imagined as a lifelong resident of los angeles. let me show you what's going on. let's just take a look. we're going to walk through some of these charred bushes here. this street is right at the intersection of shah chautauqua

sunset boulevard. another house charred to ruins. if we have a second, anna, i want to show you what's happening up sunset boulevard. every home on sunset boulevard between here and what's called the palisades village has been destroyed on sunset. on the left and the right of the road, on the ocean side and up into the foothills of the santa monica mountains. that's one thing everyone should know. this is a community in between the pacific coast and the santa monica mountains. what happened yesterday was in the palisades highlands, a community with very few ingress and out points, a fire started and thousands of people ran for their lives. people abandoned vehicles. you saw some of that footage yesterday. the idea that hurricane-force winds would come at a time with such dryness, at a time when there was so little rain this season after two very rainy

seasons here, i don't think it could be a situation that's worse. that's why you're seeing a mutual aid effort. cal fire is here. governor newsom has been on the ground. los angeles county fire department. the city of los angeles police department. the lapd is on a tactical alert, meaning officers from all around los angeles are coming to this community right now. this is going to be a massive rebuilding project. there are a lot of questions about how this could have happened, but i'm not sure, certainly not in my lifetime or anybody's lifetime living today, have we seen winds of the magnitude -- excuse me. as you can see, these are still very volatile situations. i don't know if that was something from the kitchen, but a little bit of an explosion here. there are a lot of questions about how this could have happened to so many homes in so many places in one of the most vibrant communities in los angeles. it's a very sad day here. >> and, jacob, it's just jaw-dropping, frankly, to see what you're showing us and to see the continued images of

things, of flames and hillsides glowing orange. just your initial reaction when you got there? you talked about being a lifelong resident. >> reporter: i cooperate believe it. to drive down the main thoroughfare of pacific palisades, such a vibrant place with such amazing people. to see all up and down sunset boulevard, not a house standing in what's called -- e me for people who aren't from this area, both sides of the canyon, homes ablaze, knowing up into the palisades highlands, santa monica mountains, stretching down to sunset boulevard, pacific palisades is situated between santa monica and malibu along the coast. it is -- it's one of the most beautiful places i've ever been, and many people who would come here would say the same thing. i don't know how long it will take to bring this place back. the schools that the children go

to are gone. the doctors' offices are gone. the library where i've taken my son and daughter are gone. the park where i grew up playing was on fire last night. literally there's not a supermarket left in town. what do people do when they come back >> it's not -- this is not something a local government or maybe not even the state government can solve on its own. there are questions about who had fire insurance and what insurance will pay. whether or not the federal government will step up to pay for this. you know, i got no business estimating these things, but i would imagine it's in the hundreds of millions or billions of dollars. an entire community essentially has been wiped off the map of los angeles, one of the most vibrant urban cities in the world. >> jacob, we don't know how many businesses, homes, other types of properties have been destroyed at this point, but you're seeing with your own eyes a community that has truly

crumbled because of the power of these fires and the winds. just in your vicinity, how many buildings would you say are gone? >> reporter: oh, easily dozens. maybe more. you know, i think about all of my friends and my family and our colleague katy tur who grew up here in pacific palisades with me. katy, and i have known each other since we were 16 years old and katy grew up and went to school living in this community as well. to see -- let me swing around to show you what's going on over here. right now you've got fire units from all over the southern california region coming in advance to try to protect the remaining homes that are here. i think that's the mission right now. the mission is to preserve all life, preserve property, and this is the first daylight that we've seen, really the first sky we've seen, even before the

sunset last night because of how furiously the winds have been shifting. we're getting another shift of the wind. i can feel the heat from the fire behind me on my face. it's going to be a door-to-door, street-to-street mission here in terms of the recovery. god willing, people got out. >> right. >> in time. because this is -- this is a -- this is a catastrophic situation. >> and recovery still a ways out because it's still an ongoing emergency where these fires are burning -- >> reporter: the fires will be burning certainly through the day, if not days to come. >> jacob soboroff, you stay safe. you and your crew, everybody, please stay safe, first and foremost. thank you for that reporting. angie, as we talk about this being an ongoing situation, we woke up with three fires after going to bed with two last night. >> yeah. >> now we're up to five. more fires popping up. more winds expected. talk about how unprecedented this wind event has been? >> i think jacob put it perfectly, this is something he, who has lived in that area, has

never seen. worse case scenario, we have a couple of seasons where we had a whole lot of rain. we were running above normal for our rainfall. that means vegetation is growing. we've got now another season coming about where we're running way below normal when it comes to rainfall, and that essentially means that you have tons of dry fuel. that on top of those very strong winds, on top of the very low humidity levels, these are all the ingredients that basically came together to create the devastation that you saw there and the ongoing conditions that we're going to see through the day today. there is some improvements that are going to come, but let's talk about what we've got right now. 19 million under these red flag warnings. ventura through extreme southern california, right down to the border. we've got these three main fires we've been looking at. additional fires, which is no surprise with the embers flying and very strong winds. it's not going to take much to see more of these fires spread quickly. these are the three we've been watching closely. let's talk about the pacific palisades fire where we have

seen already winds closer to the coast 90 plus miles per hour. we've had wind gusts closer to mammoth mountain, our highest wind gust reported in the overnight hours 170 plus miles per hour. that tells you how intense the gusts are. sustained winds closer to 40 to 50 miles per hour. when you have all of the ingredients there, these conditions are going to last through the day today. we will still be watching for those winds gusting close to 100 miles per hour across this region today. we've got the relative humidity values continuing to fall. single digits is what we're talking about there. there's no moisture in the feature. notice these winds are coming offshore. if you have onshore winds you can get a little of that moisture working in. unfortunately, this is not going to be the scenario. we'll see those extreme fire -- the extreme fire behavior continue through the day today specifically in the areas with the extreme and critical risks extending down to the border. >> angie, you've got your hands full. thank you for bringing us that.

joining us is cal fire battalion chief. thank you, chief, for taking the time. we won't take too much of it. we know you're working hard there. we understand the fires are 0% contained. we heard from an affiliate reporter, her talking to a fire official who said there's no containment in sight. is that your assessment this morning? >> yeah. that's correct. overnight we had those hurricane-force winds, the santa anas. we weren't able to get any containment. we were just trying to protect lives and as much property as we could. right now it is still windy, but it's not like it was last night, so i think we can dig our heels in and try to get some containment early this morning. >> we hope that's the case. at this hour, what kinds of resources are being used, and do crews have the manpower they need? >> yeah. we have a lot more crews en route to this incident. we have a lot of crews here. i still think we can use all the

help we can get. we should be getting our aircraft up this morning, which will help a lot, so it's all hands on deck out here. >> have you ever experienced something like this? >> it's been a long time. i was in san diego for the 2003 fires, and it was very similar. again, you can't really get containment on a fire like this when it's that windy. you're just trying to save people's lives, get them out of harm's way, and protect whatever property structures you can. >> is everybody out of harm's way this morning? >> from what we can see, yes. i hear over the radio once in a while someone calling that did stay behind that has decided to leave, and that ties up our resources. that's why we encourage people when they're asked to leave, please evacuate then. >> we have seen some reports about concerns of low water pressure or even water shortages. is that something you guys are contending with? >> yeah. i haven't seen any of that.

everywhere i've been so far has had good water, plenty of water. it's just the wind is just taking fire and throwing it wherever it wants to go. >> i know the strong winds have actually forced aircraft to ground that would normally be used to help fight these fires. do you have any idea when those aircraft might be able to fly again, and how is the lack of aircraft affecting your efforts? >> right. normally we have some aircraft that can fly at night. last night it was just impossible with those 80, 90-mile-an-hour sustained winds. right now it has called down a little bit, so i expect to see some of our aircraft back up in the sky this morning giving us a hand on this fire. >> and lastly, what do you want to share with folks? what do they need to know right now to stay safe from these fires? >> you know, i heard there's 19 million people under this red flag warning. i jacob soboroff ust want to sa

evacuation plan planned out before the event. have your go bag ready. when a fire like the santa ana wild land fire burns like this, you're just running for your life. >> chief, thank you so much for joining us. thank you for your efforts. sending you the very best and strength for the journey ahead. >> you're welcome. tens of thousands evacuated. still unclear how many homes or businesses have been damaged. vanessa is among those evacuees, co-owner of a palisades restaurant, real estate agent in the area. vanessa, i'm so story for what you're going through. i know you evacuated. you're out of the fire's path. how are you processing what's happening right now? >> well, we haven't slept. we've been watching most of the morning, all night. we don't know if our restaurant is still there. i have been talking to friends, family.

they've lost everything -- homes, businesses. the whole city has burned to the ground, and there's nothing we can do. nothing. there's nothing we can do. >> that's got to be so hard, and you must feel very powerless right now. this fire did come on so suddenly. it's now multiple fires. what kind of warning time did you have? >> not much. we had staff at the restaurant who were at least able to get in and close everything up and shut everything down. we let everybody go about 12:00 yesterday afternoon. it took them -- and these are staff members that live in, you know, downtown l.a., torrence area, it took them about six and a half hours to get home with the traffic, but they were safe. i got a text message at 2:00

a.m. from a friend sam who lives about 100 yards away. he was putting out fires at markez elementary, and he was forced to leave, and he doesn't know if his house is left. i have my friend holly who lost a home, her business, everything. we have friends who are staying with us here who have lost their home, family home. we have no information. there's -- nobody knows anything except that everything is burned completely. it's the most devastating thing we've ever been through. >> i'm so sorry. what is that like, to just not know? >> i don't know. i mean i would love to get in my car, but who -- you can't get through the roads, can't get out

there. you know, we just celebrated 40 years in the palisades. my mom started it, and we're just hoping that it's -- it's still there. i mean it's a neighborhood restaurant. we've catered to people, generations, families, for 40 years, and you just -- you watch your life's work just go up in flames and you just don't know -- we don't know what to do. we don't know where to go. we don't know what to do. >> so what is your plan now, vanessa? i know it's a state of shock right now, and you can't go back to your home or your restaurant at this time because of the ongoing fire fight. what do you do? >> sit and wait.

hope that they update these fire maps so we can at least see something and pray that, you know, everybody -- everybody we know, thank god, is okay. it's just stuff. right. it's just things. it's really a true testament to that, you know, to that mantra, which is you can rebuild. i will tell you, the people of the palisades are strong and they are resilient and they are amazing humans and they will rebuild. >> well, you're among them, so stay strong and, yes, you will get through this. vanessa, thank you for taking the time and sharing your situation with us. best of luck to you. >> thank you. much more on these wildfires all hour and the warnings that the worst is still yet to come. we will hear from the l.a. city council member serving as acting mayor during this wildfire outbreak about the top priority right now. plus, a disaster reporter will help us understand how

climate change is creating longer and more intense wildfire seasons. and a race against the fire. tens of thousands of people have been evacuating as these blazes spread, we'll talk to the american red cross about how they're helping with shelter and supplies. you're watching "ana cabrera reports" on msnbc. rera reports" on msnbc. mortgage payment every month. it allowed me to live in my home and not have to make payments. if you're 62 or older and own your home, you could access a portion of your equity to improve your lifestyle. a reverse mortgage loan can eliminate your monthly mortgage payments and put tax-free cash in your pocket. it was the best thing i've ever done. really? yes without a doubt. these folks know, finance of america can show you how a reverse mortgage loan uses your built-up home equity to give you tax-free cash. it's a good thing! so look, why don't you get the facts like these folks did

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we are back with our breaking news coverage of the five wildfires now raging through southern california. the palisades fire on the coast is the biggest, sending smoke billowing and flames e way to tu can see in this time lapsed video taken over several hours yesterday. now the fires in the los angeles area have collectively burned through nearly 5,000 acres with 0% containment so far and tens of thousands of people are evacuated. today 19 school districts are closed in l.a. county. here's nbc's liz kreutz in malibu moments ago. >> reporter: the winds are really picking up right now, and i have to say i've never seen anything like we've seen overnight. the winds pushed the pacific palisades fire up north into malibu. we are on the pacific coast highway here where we have been watching coastal homes right there burning, engulfed in flames. you can see the smoke and we're starting to get the damage as the sun comes up. we're seeing homes on fire up in the hills.

the firefighters have been trying to get a handle on this, but they are simply overwhelmed with multiple fires burning across l.a. we're learning of another fire that just ignited, all driven by the life threatening hurricane-force winds. >> liz kreutz in malibu moments ago. we're joined by l.a. city councilman acting as mayor until karen bass returns from a trip abroad today. thanks for joining us. how would you describe what is happening in your city this morning? >> it is absolutely cataclysmic. it is terrifying. it's bigger than anyone we've ever seen. we live in fire county. we're used to having fires everywhere, since the onset of climate change, but what we see today, three full-scale fires and two smaller fires, all at once in southern california, is one of the most outlandish things that we've seen with regard to fire. at the same time, we've got

absolutely the best people in the world working on the ground to get us through this. we're happy that dawn is finally here. we can see now and we can get into neighborhoods and into areas when we couldn't when it was dark. between the darkness and the smoke and the wind, we just couldn't make much headway. so we're getting reports by the minute as to what's happening on the ground throughout southern california, but especially here in l.a. >> so what is the top priority right now for the city? >> the top priority is to do an assessment and make sure everybody is safe, make sure we can respond to the rescue calls that we are getting. there are folks who stayed back, did not evacuate in time, and so we got to make sure we prioritize human life. then we do everything we can to save every structure we can, understanding that structures can be rebuilt, but we want to save as many as we possibly can. then create the environment on our streets and roads that

emergency vehicles, emergency personnel, can get around the city because they're going to need to be a lot of different places in the city today. >> we mentioned that mayor bass is returning from a trip overseas, but she has been communicating on social media and she shared some information about emergency shelters in los angeles. is everybody as far as you know who needs to be evacuated, evacuated at this point, and what kinds of resources are needed at these shelters? >> you know, at the shelters we need everything that you need at a shelter -- you know, food, blanket, places for people to sit and lie, activities for young kids. i want to indicate that our shelters are very, very well prepared, and we were well prepared for this disaster, as well prepared as you can be. there are places for seniors, there are places for kids, there are places for adults. we do need toys, i'm understanding. i think video games would be a big hit inside some of these

shelters. the other very, very important thing to know about southern california is that there is shelter for large animals out in the san fernando valley and shelter for small animals as well. we feel like we've got places for people to go. we just need people to raise their hands and try to follow the evacuation orders as they came. sorry, i had to wave to the chief of police who just joined us in the emergency center. >> well, if they want to join us too, feel free to bring them into the conversation. while i have you, some of these images we've been seeing taken by people in their homes with fire surrounding them, the reporting about people having to get out of their cars as they're trying to evacuate because they're stuck in traffic, but the flames are getting closer so they're getting out and trying to run on foot to safety, we haven't had any reports so far of deaths. can you confirm that? still no confirmed fatalities? >> i am here in the center

emergency operation center getting up-to-the-minute reports. we've got no reports of fatalities, and we have very, very few reports of serious injury. we had a firefighter last night have a serious injury, but beyond that, there isn't much yet. we may learn more in the morning. so far our personnel has been great, and people have been great. people have mostly evacuated when they've been asked to or when they felt like they should. some people have been smart enough not to wait for an evacuation order and we've been able to work around the traffic jams that we have. one thing i would say to everybody, if you see fire, evacuate. don't wait for somebody to tell you that you should evacuate. for goodness sake, it's one thing to stay and try to protect your home. it's another thing to stay to try to shoot video for tiktok or social media or something like that because when we have to go rescue, that pulls resources away from other things like

structure fires, and so, again, folks are doing great, our personnel is doing great, but we've got to stay on it to get out of this disaster with as little loss of human life as possible. >> again, it's just about 7:30 there local time, so the sun just coming up. this battle is really beginning today. what is being done to keep this fire from spreading to the heart of l.a.? >> well, the -- our fire personnel strongly believes that now that they have visuals, we can work to contain the fire and begin to get some containment. as you know on all three of these big fires we have zero containment at this moment. even with the bad winds our ability to see into these neighborhoods will help us begin to get some containment. >> all right. councilman dawson, thank you so much for your time. best of luck in the efforts to get these fires under control and keep everybody safe. we appreciate you.

please keep us -- in touch with us. some breaking news now in president-elect trump's fight to stop his sentencing in the hush money case scheduled for friday. the president-elect's legal team just filed an emergency petition to the supreme court hoping to halt that sentencing scheduled for just two days from now. it comes one day after a new york appeals court denied his request and moments ago, new filing from the justice department, the doj saying it has transmitted jack smith's final report to attorney general merrick garland. those are the federal cases. garland intend, he says, to publicly release the part of the report on election interference, but will not release the volume that deals with the classified documents case. much to discuss on these breaking legal developments. joinings now, nbc's vaughn hillyard, covering the trump transition from west palm beach, and msnbc legal correspondent lisa rubin. vaughn, what more can you tell us about this emergency petition filed by trump's team this

morning to the supreme court? >> reporter: right. we're less than 48 hours until that sentencing in lower manhattan for president-elect trump is set it take place. instead of going to the new york supreme court, trump's legal team that includes john sour, the man, the lawyer that argued the immunity case in front of the supreme court earlier this year, and todd blanche and emil bove who argued the hush money case in lower manhattan, have filed a petition to the u.s. supreme court to put a stay and effectively stop the sentencing from moving forward on friday. of course, late yesterday afternoon, appeals court in new york dismissed the stay request from trump's legal [ inaudible ] as judge merchan did himself, but in this petition to the u.s. supreme court, they are requesting that the justices step in under the argument that an automatic stay should go into effect until the appeals court in new york is able to hear the

case presented by trump's legal team, the appeal of the jury verdict back in may, but also arguing that this is a particularly moment in time, the transition, especially coming after the certification on january 6th, that formally will make donald trump the next president, that this is a time that amounts to donald trump being the president. under the immunity decision of the supreme court, of course a president while in office cannot be prosecuted. trump's legal team arguing to the supreme court that that time period should also include the transition period after not only been elected but certified by the congress. >> vaughn hillyard, thank you. lisa, is this the last legal maneuver trump's legal team can pull here? i guess what is it that the justices are considering? >> never say never, and also i want to flag for you and our viewers trump's team actually filed two things simultaneously. they did go to new york's

highest court last night and seek an emergency stay from them, but in a footnote they say, given that it's highly questionable that new york's highest court -- which is called the court of appeals, i know it's confusing -- will act in the next 48 hours, they're simultaneously going to seek that release relief from the su court. the manhattan's d.a. office has until 10:00 a.m. to respond tomorrow. stay requests are given to a single justice. the justices take responsibility for different areas of the country and are called circuit justices. the circuit justice for this area is justice sonia sotomayor, who used to be a federal judge in this area. the application could be considered by her alone if she chooses. however, in all likelihood, given the gravity of the situation and importance, i would expect sonia sotomayor to refer it to the whole supreme court. they don't have to act. they could let friday come and go if they can't reach a resolution. >> if they don't reach a resolution or a decision that they make public, what happens?

the sentencing goes on? >> the sentencing goes forward. of course, then former and future president trump will still have an appeal in the new york system of that conviction, but what that would mean if the sentencing does go forward, he would enter office on january 20th officially as a convicted felon, a label that we can't yet apply to him because he has not been through the final act of a conviction, the sentencing. >> bring us up to speed on this latest justice department filing related to the reports from jack smith's team and election interference and the classified documents. what do we know? >> similarly to this situation where you have parties seeking relief at the same time from two different courts, yesterday donald trump's co-defendants in the mar-a-lago documents case went to two courts -- they went to judge aileen cannon who dismissed that case and went to the 11th circuit. they got the relief from judge cannon. she has stayed the release of the report and the release of any information from the report. at the same time, the 11th circuit asked the department of

justice to respond by this morning to the application that was made to them. in their filing this morning the justice department says, hey, you should vacate what judge cannon has done here. you should allow us to release volume one of the report, the one dealing with federal election interference. we intend to do so as quickly as we can. with respect to the other volume, we want the ranking members and the chair of the judiciary committees of both houses of congress to be able to see it with appropriate redactions for grand jury materials and other things that legally we can't share, but we'd like to give them at least a purview into that. >> okay. well keep us posted. thanks for staying on it for us. lisa rubin, we appreciate you. you are working overtime now, back to what's happening on the west coast. we're getting more dramatic video from these wildfires in california. look at this, evacuees abandon their cars to escape, and then officials had to bring in bulldozers to move those cars to clear the roads for emergency

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the already devastating wildfires in los angeles area could get a dangerous boost from even more extreme winds this morning. overnight some places already got above 100 miles per hour wind gusts threatening to spread the fires beyond the roughly 5,000 acres and really exacerbate these incredibly smoky conditions you see here. this was just after sunrise in pacific palisades. nbc news national climate reporter chase cane is joining us now. chase, evacuation orders, smoke advisories and power outages and more extreme conditions expected today. please stay safe. do what you need to do. talk us through what you're experiencing there right now.

>> reporter: anna, as you were bringing us into this conversation we got another one of those big wind gusts. as you mentioned, several wind gusts overnight, well above 100 miles per hour. it feels like we're covering wildfires inside a hurricane. that video that you were showing was just a few moments ago from where we're standing as the sun started to come up and the smoke was in a different direction. we could see daylight. now it feels like it's getting dark again. you can maybe see some of the peeks of sunlight through the thick smoke. it's difficult to even see across the road. you're looking across the pacific coast highway, that is the famous sunset boulevard there. there's a couple condo buildings and office buildings across the intersection where there have been hot spots that have popped up over the last few hours. firefighters got in there and tried to tamp it down and save one building at a time. that's all they're able to do. they can't get containment on any of these fires with winds like this. when a hot spot pops up, if it's next to one of these large

buildings like this they go in and try to save what they can. >> it is so eerie to see the images behind you, how it looks dark even though it's daylight now. we can hear the whistling of the wind in you r live shot. i find it fascinating it's buildings along the ocean that are burning. water so close. are there unique challenges when it comes to containing a wildfire that reaches the coastline? >> i mean, certainly because the topography here in los angeles, we're basically in los angeles. we're not in some remote area. this is a avily developed area. you have canyons that winds down to the coast. you have buildings and homes tucked back into the canyons. you're looking across the road. you probably can't see across the road right now. imagine, you know, a fire starts burning down through one of those winding canyon roads. the winds pick up. it starts a new fire. that's what firefighters have been dealing with overnight and

now you're just seeing, gosh, it feels like it is in the middle of nighttime again. we had sunlight a few moments ago. the big thing that they are hoping for, yes, the sun is up, but it certainly doesn't feel like it here. the really important thing will be when these winds die down and they can get their helicopters and airplanes up, that's when they'll actually be able to get a better handle on how bad this is and contain these fires a little bit more. >> chase cain, thank you for being there for us. please stay safe. those winds whipping the southern california coast are fueling the palisades fire, wreaking havoc on beach houses, oceanfront properties, even lifeguard towers. take a look at some of the frightening scenes out of malibu in the last 12 hours or so. blanketing that famous coastline in malibu and santa monica. we're joined by the mayor of santa monica, lana . the northern part of that city

has an evacuation order. about how many people live in that evacuation zone, and has everybody gotten out safely? >> so we've evacuated roughly 30,000 people. the mandatory evacuation remains the same as it was throughout the night, which is north of san vicente boulevard. the voluntary evacuation zone remains, which is montana avenue to san vicente. we're advising people to prepare themselves if they have, you know -- they need extra time in those zones to prepare voluntary to evacuate. that has not changed. i'm here at the hoa. we're going to be getting some additional updates this morning. so far our evacuation has not changed and it has not touched the santa monica canyon, but as you know, we are providing regional support in terms of firefighters and we are receiving regional support in terms of law enforcement as well. >> what is your biggest concern right now, and what's your plan

for today? >> i mean, my biggest concern is we do not have ways to predict which way the wind will shift and what these gusts will bring. embers can travel up to a mile. i mean somebody -- a firefighter called me and said he thinks maybe a thousand homes have burned. i mean palisades is unrecognizable and my heart breaks and goes out to all those impacted by this fire. for santa monica, we are providing free bus shelter rides to the recreation center. my concern is just getting the community the information quickly enough and that we get the resources we need. a lot of residents have asked for the national guard and rightfully so, people are also concerned about people taking advantage of this opportunity and looting and robberies not just of homes but businesses who decided to close for today. i'm a small business owner, so i can totally understand. i have those same fears myself. >> in terms of the smoke that we're seeing, i know there's a

smoke advisory in effect there in malibu as well as the santa monica area. how bad are the smoky conditions where you are, and is that impacting emergency resources when it comes to people going to hospitals with respiratory issues? >> right now i've been in communication with our nearest hospital st. john's providence, and they are getting information as this is an l.a. county fire and incident. we receive -- our eoc receives information from them and the hospitals are then taking -- they have not decided to evacuate yet. they are fine. nothing has changed since last night. but they are watching very closely. we're communicating closely. the air quality, the schools are closed in santa monica as well as many private schools. driving into downtown l.a., i was actually surprised the air quality felt worse. i was driving into a big -- i could start smelling it and i had to make sure my air conditioning was not turned on. i couldn't smell it in santa monica. you could see the billowing smoke. driving east on the 10, i'm out

here in downtown l.a., you can really see it in the air. but we're asking people to use our santa monica.gov website to get the most up-to-date information whether it pertains to evacuation, maps and air quality. we are asking people if you have masks, please use them, especially if you have breathing issues, but as of now, evacuation orders remain the same. our hospitals are not evacuating. as i said, schools are closed, and we're just asking people to please stay updated. keep your phones charged, as there will be power outages. we're asking them just to stay safe and follow those orders. >> okay. we'll let you go. santa monica mayor, thank you very much for joining us and wishing everybody in your community safety this morning up next here on "ana cabrera reports" how much of a factor is climate change playing into this wildfire and the conditions out west? we'll talk to a climate reporter on the ground in california and her own personal connection to

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welcome back. as we continue to monitor these intense wildfires in southern california -- we're getting more eyewitness accounts. just moments ago we got an interview from our los angeles affiliate knbc on a neighborhood street in altadena where fires are still blazing. watch this. >> what's going through your mind right now? >> right this minute? i could use a cup of coffee, actually. but this is unbelievable. never thought it would happen to us. >> i saw you on the roof. i talked to your wife mary. you guys evacuated last night. >> yeah. we went across town to pasadena, a friend of ours, didn't think we had to, but figured better

safe than sorry, and then we got back this morning. we had to zigzag our way across town to discover that, and then, you know, what little damage happened here. we're just trying to save what we have, if we can. >> and here's exactly how evacuees are coping and what they're facing as they leave their homes. "washington post" climate reporter brianna sax is from the area and took videos from her car showing flames squeezing the highways there and engulfing the hills above the road. you can see how smoke cut visibility really leaving drivers just a few feet of, you know, sight in front of them as emergency crews navigate, roads littered with abandoned cars, and some drivers forced to escape the fast-moving flames on foot. brianna is joining us now. thank you for joining us. last night you also shared this

video of smoke filling the street where your 80-year-old father lives. you write that initially he didn't want to evacuate, but ultimately did. if you don't mind, just take us inside your conversations with, and what is it like to have a family member, especially someone elderly, in this kind of danger so quickly? >> sure. thanks for having me on. i saw the fire pop up, and i immediately just had this sense of dread that it was going to be bad. i saw it was a few miles away from his home and i called him and was saying, hey, i think you need to pack up, start getting ready. it's this psychological game i think that a lot of us in california play with ourselves, that it won't happen to me, it's not going to be that bad. we were trying to coordinate getting him moving. he lost his phone for a second. he doesn't have a to go g. it is very disconcerting. luckily i have a family friend that works for him, who was able to get in past the police

barricade and helped him get his stuff more together and they both left. yeah, i took that video that was less than half of a mile from his place, and just imagining him still being there was pretty sobering for me. >> oh, wow. i'm so glad he got to safety. how is he doing this morning and other family and friends who may be in the area? >> he's fine. you know, i grew up in malibu. we're used to these evacuations that come out of nowhere and are very traumatizing. i had several cousins who also had to evacuate. one family, they evacuated their home near sullivan canyon. they went to a hotel and then the hotel had to evacuate. everyone's just like really tired and on edge, and it's very painful to see a place you love burn like this. >> yeah. do you know -- do they have any idea about damage to their

homes? >> i drove by my dad's house a few times on sunset boulevard yesterday afternoon. it was fine. but then the fire moved very quickly through there again and just engulfed a lot of that area. the video you showed -- one of the videos you showed earlier, i was driving up and down canyon drive, which is right by pch on the coast. palm trees were on fire and there was fire from the coast all the way back up to the hillside area. i'm not really sure what that looks like right now. >> we're still seeing these very dramatic images of more destruction this morning. these are live pictures we're showing our viewers as we continue to visit here. brianna, in addition to your personal history in this area, you've been covering wildfires since 2017. how does the scale of this fire, the dryness of the terrain, the speed of these winds, compare to some of the other fires you've

covered? >> it sounds so cliche because i feel like i say this a lot, but i've never seen anything like this. it reminds me of the wolsy fire but worse, the one in 2018, that swept through malibu and parts of thousand oaks. to see fire -- we have three concurrently right now move this quickly into such densely populated areas and to have portions of santa monica and entire places like la kanada and flintridge is stunning. we're so good at this in california. we prepositioned assets. firefighters came down from northern california and they were ready, and just listening to the fire radio i don't think there's anything that they could have really done to try and get ahead of this. >> brianna, thank you very much

for joining us. i'm so glad that your dad is safe and please keep us posted as you continue to cover this story. we'll continue our breaking news coverage right here on msnbc. evacuees telling the american red cross they are in shock. some barely escaping the fast-moving fire. up next, what the organization is doing to help. is doing to help that you'll definitely want to hear. depending on the plans available in your area, you may be eligible to get extra benefits with a humana medicare advantage dual-eligible special needs plan. most plans include the humana healthy options allowance. get $1200 a year. that's $100 each month help pay for eligible groceries, utilities, rent, and over-the-counter items like vitamins, pain relievers, first-aid supplies and more. the healthy options allowance is loaded onto a prepaid card each month. and whatever you don't spend, carries over from each month. you pay nothing for covered prescriptions, all year long. even name brand

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. p we are back with more on the response to the wildfire in california. again, live images. you see these homes aflame right now, continuing destruction. more than 80,000 people have been evacuated. residents were forced from l homes with little to no warning. i want to bring in sean inway. he is emergency director. sean, thank you for taking the time. the red cross is always there in every emergency. i know you've quickly opened emergency shelters across the city. what are you hearing from some

of these evacuees who are coming in? >> this is -- thanks for having us. it's hard to see. it's heartbreaking. right? we are seeing folks who are leaving in the middle of the night. they're getting evacuation warnings. we haven't seen much loss of life. but folks are leaving with things in their car or a backpack if they packed one. and heading to an evac center or one of our shelters. what kind of capacity is there at the shelters? >> right now, we have pretty significant capacity, about 1500 people. we've seen closing to a thousand people in pasadena. we've got close to 100 to 200. >> i know these fires erupted quickly. how did the red cross mobilize? >> like you said, we knew these fires were coming. we r and the collaboration between the county, the city

and the state, has been phenomenal. so our volunteers, our donors are showing up.. >> can you describe what people will experience when they come to a shelter? if people are worried about not having the creature comforts, or the unfamiliar. there's always fear of the unknown. what can people expect if they seek shelter with you? >> our focus is always going to be on safety, food, water and comfort. both physical and immediate health needs. they're go to be greeted by volunteers, local workers. we'll find them a cot to sleep on, we'll have food, three times a day. of course, you don't have to stay at one of our shelters to receive any of these. so if folks want to just stop in and do a status check, charge a phone and grab a hot

meal, everyone is welcome. >> once this fire is contained, many of the families will return home to what will likely be total destruction, sadly. what kind of need are you anticipating in the weeks ahead? >> yeah. until we really know what the damage looks like, we're seeing a lot of the images of the destruction we're expecting to see. and we're expecting to be widespread. once the fire is extinguished, we'll switch to what is called the recovery operation. to make sure that folks are able to navigate what this recovery looks like. these needs are going to be dynamic. we're asking anyone to collaborate with these needs. >> sean inouye, thank you so much. if you'd like to donate. visit red cross. that does it for us. but we have our eyes on los angeles. officials are about to speak in just moments about the wildfires. for now, i'm anna cabrera, reporting