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 from new york.

jose diaz-balart picks up our coverage now. >> reporter: and good morning, we go right to that news conference. the los angeles fire department, holding a news conference at this hour. >> members of the press. our first speaker is los angeles county board of supervisors chair, katherine barger. >> thank you. i'm going to make my comments short. because i know you want to hear from be our fire chief and people that have the information in realtime. but let me just say, this is a dynamic situation. we have fires throughout the entire county, which is spreading resources very short. one of the things people ask me is what do you want to convey to the public? and that is, heed the advice of first responders. when they ask you to evacuate, evacuate. this is not a drill. this is in realtime. so i want to thank the city of pasadena, who has opened up the pasadena convention center, for those impacted by the eaton canyon fire. i also want to acknowledge our faith-bailed fire.

all saints is evacuating. but again, it's important for us to recognize that while the firefighters are there to protect structures, life is, first and foremost, front line. we need to make sure people heed the advice of our first responders. with that, i'm going to introduce our l.a. county fire chief anthony merony, to give you an update on what is going on. but i want to thank chief merony, as well as chief crawly, for the work they are doing to make sure our first responders have all the resources that are necessary. chief meroni. >> good morning. thank you, supervisor barger. my name is anthony marony.. i am the coordinator for fire and rescue. i'm going to give an update to the palisades fire, as well as the eaton fire, although i am aware there are four fires

burning in l.a. count at this time. we are in command with the city of los angeles fire department, in addition to cal fire. we have well over 5,000 acres that have burned, and the fire is growing. we have no percentage of containment. we have an estimated 1,000 structures destroyed. and also no reported fatalities and a high number of significant injuries to residents who did not evacuate, in addition to first responders, who are on the fire line. we have over 1,000 personnel assigned, and the cause of the fire is unknown. however, it is under investigation. for the eaton fire, it is located in both the angeles national forest, the altadena area of l.a. county, and pasadena.

l.a. county is in unified command, with both the angeles national forest, and the pasadena fire department. we have over 2,000 acres burning at this time, and the fire continues to grow, with 0% containment. we have over 500 personnel assigned and unfortunately, we have two reported fatalities to civilians. unknown cause at this time. and we do have a number of significant injuries. we have over 100 structures destroyed, and the cause of the fire is unknown and under investigation i will ask that l.a. city fire chief kristen crowley update you on thehurst fire, after i am finished with my remarks. the l.a. county fire department operational area consists of 29 separate fire departments in

l.a. county, and all of those fire departments are at drawdown, with no fire apparatus or additional personnel to spare. as the region one coordinator, i have requested mutual aid, from the five counties of orange, los angeles, ventura, santa barbara, and san luis obispo counties. additionally, last night, i contacted the state office of emergency services and requested 50 engine strike teams, 50 engine strike teams is composed of 250 fire engines. and over 1,000 personnel. we have also requested resources from out-of-state. as well as northern california. thank you to the first responders from nevada, oregon, and washington state, that are

already on the road, coming to l.a. county to assist. lastly, the national weather service has predicted a continued red-flag weather event, with strong winds and low humidities. placing all residents of los angeles county in danger. to all of our viewers, please prioritize your safety as well as the well being of those around you. as we come together to continue to get through this widespread disaster, los angeles county firefighters will remain on the front line until we reach full containment. and we ask that you keep all of los angeles county in your thoughts and prayers. i would now like to invite up, los angeles city fire chief, kristen crowley, to give her briefing. thank you.

>> good morning, were. my name is kristen crowley. los angeles city fire department, fire chief. i'd like to start with just a moment if we could, of gratitude. a moment of gratitude for our first responders, our boots on the ground, that are battling this intense and multitude of fires. and like chief marrone said, we are going to continue to work hard to ensure that we save people, lives, and property. with that, i'll be touching on a couple of major points with the pacific palisades fire, we know that it continues to demand a significant amount of resources and attention a second major brush fire, now

referred to as the hurst fire is in the sylmar area of los angeles. together, these fires are stretching the capacity of emergency services to their maximum limits the los angeles city fire department is battling these two major fires, while also maintaining, i want to focus on these as well. 911 services for the city's p4 million residents. now, despite the severity of the conditions, our department remains fully committed to safeguarding lives and property. next, i want to focus on what we've done over the last 24 hours. and with that, even within the city of los angeles, with these two major brushfires, our department has responded to 3,624911 , 911 services. just under. in addition, we've responded to an additional 32 structure

fires in the city. we've treated and transported an extensive number of medical emergencies, well extending our transport to number of local hospitals. when it comes to the pacific palisades fire, as chief marrone he said, this is over 3,000 acres at this point, and continues to grow we will confirm the exact acreage later. so we will make sure to communicate that to the community and the media. last night, all aircraft were grounded due to the high winds. aircraft will be able to continue to resume their water drops and acreage mapping today, when the weather allows us to do so. a total of 3,398 civilians, and 15,105 structures are in the evacuation zone. and again, the evacuation zones are the following. north of pch.

west of kentor avenue, south of mulholland drive and east of topanga canyon boulevard. there are multiple evacuation centers, which are supported by the american red cross. injuries. of course, there's a lot of interest in injuries. we have several firefighters and civiliantian civilian patients have been injured. chief marrone did speak about a specific number. we are still vetting that through on the city side. so more information to come, and we will message that as soon as we can validate that. approximately 400lafd firefighters have been deployed to the palisades fire. we have many hundreds of law enforcement officers, partner agency responders and public works responders engaged in supporting our overall operations. we are going to be transitioning to cal fire this morning, to manage this

incident at 0800 hours. next, i'd like to talk briefly about our hurst fire, which is located in sylmar. last night, at approximately 10:10 p.m., the fire erupted in the sylmar area, in los angeles, adjacent to the los angeles national forest. it has rapidly expanded to 500 acres. prompting the evacuation of more than 3,000 residents. this fire is burning within the footprint of the historic saddle ridge fire. now, despite the extreme winds and significant risks, and that's what we're going to be talking about from today and probably throughout the next few days, there's always that significant risk of life and property, and we'll continue to focus on saving lives and protecting property. the exact anchorage at this point will be confirmed later. and we'll make sure we communicate that to you as well. lastly, we want to make sure that everybody understands, we are absolutely not out of danger yet. with the strong winds that

continue to push through the city and the county today, i will tell you, and we are all committed to our first responders. our firefighters will remain focused on protecting lives and property. the lafd continues to stand with top priority being life safety, ensuring that the evacuees, and residents that are in harm's way, it will continue to be our primary focus in this wind-driven fire event as it continues. thank you for your cooperation, your support and your vigilance. and today, we continue to stand with our partners to protect everyone. next up, i would like to introduce sheriff luna. thank you. oh. sorry. next up -- oh, we moved it. >> we're just moving around. having l.a.

unified superintendent, alberto carvalho. >> thank you very much. thank you, chair barger, county and city leadership, in addition to the leadership of our first responders and our great community for the very, very important work you continue to do to protect our community, to protect the assets, and first and foremost, the health and well being, lives of members of our community. los angeles unified is the second largest, representing the interest of 540,000 students and 75,000 committed employees. we make decisions regarding closures of schools, in a very methodical and science-driven matter. after a great deal of consultation overnight, with experts looking at the data, and considering, the fact that air quality conditions deteriorated significantly overnight, we have made the decision to shut down a number of schools, particularly in the eastern part of our school system. i will define what those

boundaries are. school communities, beginning with leadership, workforce and families have been informed about these areas. and as of now, those schools, within the boundaries of the area that i will define, are closed. this accounts for about 10% of total schools in our district. about 100 schools out of 1,000 schools. the areas that i'm speaking about, are schools located north of manchester boulevard, firestorm boulevard. east of tenth avenue, west of i- 710, and south of highway 134. any school within that area, and that accounts again, for the eastern part of our district, where the air quality met or exceeded levels that are not appropriate for employees or students to be around or

effectively shut down. we will be making decisions about what will happen in those schools, going into tomorrow, by 4:00 p.m. today, based on the evolution conditions. in fact, since we made the decision to shut down those schools, air quality conditions have improved significantly, despite the fact that they worsened significantly, overnight. i want to speak specifically about schools surrounding the palisades area. as of last night, we had to shut down five schools as a result of mandatory evacuation conditions. those were kinter canyon elementary school. canyon elementary school. marquez elementary school, palisades charter elementary school, revere middle school, and topanga elementary school, in addition to palisades high charter high school. we have reports that palisades high sustained significant damage as a result of the fire.

we are working with state and federal entities to quickly access resources to address the issues facing this community. i want to very briefly address our work force. we know today is not going to be a perfect day. a number of schools are shut down. however, localized conditions may make it difficult for our work force or parents and students to access schools. air quality conditions may vary. and in fact, may not necessarily be appropriate beyond the area, where we closed schools. please use your discretion. we will utilize grace and be flexible, regarding attendance, and for students and employees alike. specifically, students and employees face chronic respiratory and other health conditions. we will be flexible, regarding these individuals. we will provide additional

updates, later on today, regarding conditions of schools going into tomorrow. for the schools that are open, recognizing the work force needs of the parents of our children. beyond activities, care for children in those schools will continue to be provided today. today is not a typical day, we need flexibility, patience, and grace, and we shall extend that to our work force and certainly our parents and students in our community. once again, our hearts go out to those who have been impacted and our eternal gratitude to the first responders in our community, for the fantastic, difficult work they've done over the past 24 hours. thank you very much. >> good morning. a lot of information to pass on. but please know this. this is a very difficult and challenging situation. but we're surrounded here by people who really care.

and we're going to get through this together. that means with all of you as partners in our community. our top priority continues to be the safety and well being of our impacted residents, first responders, and all of the individuals involved. but understand that this is a very fluid situation, specifically in the altadena area. and a lot of our personnel, our deputy personnel, are involved in life-saving measures, as we speak now. we are working very closely with local, state and federal agencies to provide necessary resources and support. we have been in constant communication with both our fire and law enforcement partners across l.a. county, and beyond to ensure that all available resources that are needed are being deployed strategically and effectively. but we are prioritizing life over everything else. there are over several hundred sheriff department personnel working around the clock to

evacuate residents in danger, assist with road closures, and respond to multiple missions that are given to us, and they do change periodically, depending on that life mission, to ensure that everyone is going to be safe, or safe as possible, additional personnel will likely be assigned to this fire, as this continues to go, and you heard from our fire partners, that there is no containment here. i do want to split it up into two. i want to talk about the eaton fire first. irt currently, there are evacuation orders in pasadena, altadena, and sierra madre. evacuation orders. there are approximately 32,500 residents, under evacuation orders, and approximately 13,186 structures that we deemed at risk. and that could grow. evacuation warnings, approximately 38,600 residents

are under evacuation warnings and approximately 14,342 structures are at risk. at 4:00 a.m. this morning, the evacuation orders did expand to parts of the city of duarty, monrovia, and la canada. and again, we continue to assess that. that's evolving. that's going to change. so i encourage you to consistently pay attention to all sources of information, so you're ready to go when you are given that order, if that does come. as information is changing, even as i was driving up here. even as i was walking up to this podium, i'm getting messages about several of our employees who have lost their homes in the last several hours. i don't know how many because we are still gathering that information, but like all -- we all live here in los angeles county. so we are impacted. so we are going to make sure that within our department,

we're wrapping our arms around our employees, just like we do with community members. again, as i was coming up here, i did find out that we did have two fatalities in this area. i don't have any specifics. there is a lot of damage out there, we're still in the process of doing these assessments. trying to still save lives, so this information is going to change. the altadena sheriff's station itself was evacuated. and it was at least limited on fire. there was some fire at the altadena station. but we do have to clear outula of our employees out of there. i'm hearing some miraculous stories and they're just barely coming in of our deputies who were rescuing from the altadena station, and residents were running there, asking for assistance, in getting them out

of their structures. from what i understand, they were barely able to get these people out before destruction. there are just heroic stories out there. i want to assure people that deputies are working to assist in evacuating and continuing to make evacuation notices as we're speaking. they are securing areas that are evacuated. and it's always sad when i have to say this, but part of our responsibility is to make sure that no one loots or steals from our residents, our community members, who are already being impacted. and i'm sad to report, we made two arrests this morning for looting already. so if you are thinking about coming in any of these areas, to steal from our residents, i'm going to tell you something, you're going to be caught. you're going to be arrested. and you're going to be prosecuted. don't do that. stay out of these areas. it's only for emergency workers and people who live there. we are, at this point, unable to clearly determine the extent

of damage at this point, because conditions are rapidly evolving. and the destruction needs to be assessed. as the daylight hours have come forward. i do know that i've lost at least one sheriff's black-and- white to a fire. thank god that the deputy is okay. but deputies continue to be on patrol throughout the road closure areas, to ensure evacuation areas remain closed to the public. all schools in the pasadena unified school district are closed. there is a road closura the altadena drive. for those who need shelter, please please head to the pasadena convention center, locatedda the 300 east green street in the city of pasadena. and we're working with them and unified command. for animals, there are established shelters at animal shelter rose bowl stadium at 1001 rose bowl drive in pasadena.

small an mawill shelter, pasadena human society at raymond avenue in pasadena. i'm going to switch gears now to the palisades fire that we have been heavily involved in with our partners at lapd and l.a. city fire, and everyone else that is working. as of this morning, the fire was still burning in naarea. that's impacting our residents, evacuations are in effect. continuously in effect for the city of calabasas, the city of malibu, los angeles city, pacific palisades, and unincorporated area of los angeles county, and topanga canyon. evacuation is approximately 37,000 residents. under evacuation orders and approximately 15,000 structures at risk. again, that's specifically for the palisades fire. evacuation warnings, approximately 20,000 residents are under evacuation warnings, and approximately 6,500 structures are at risk. there have been minor injuries,

and our partners, like the fire department, have talked about those. and several unfortunate structures that have been lost. and we're still assessing those. bear with me. i'm almost there. there's a lot of important information. there are several road closures, which could change rapidly. the 10 freeway, lincoln boulevard. southbound pch atlas flores canyon. coastline drive at southbound pch. westbound pch closed from pch and malibu canyon. we have established shelters up for that fire in the following locations. westroad recreation center, which is at 1350 south sepulveda boulevard in los angeles. pasadena convention center, which i already mentioned, we can go there. and 300 east green street in the city television pasadena. and el camino real charter high school, 5430 valley circle

boulevard in woodland hills. animal shelters. large animals, l.a. equestrian center at west riverside in burbank. large animal shelter, pierce college, winetta boulevard. large animal shelters rose bowl stadium. small animal shelter, agoura center. and small animal, pasadena humane society as well. we've got to take care of our pets. as i wrap up, a reminder, and you've heard it from several of us. you need to be prepared. if you are in the warning area, make sure you have the essentials, your important paperwork, medications, things you can take, phone charger, to survive are if at least a week. but if you are told to evacuate and given an order, there is nothing worth your life. please listen to the police and fire officials that are out there, and be prepared to evacuate. if you have more questions or

there's -- about evacuations, evacuation centers, or road closures, go to l.a. county.gov/emergency, or our sheriff's department, social media. now it's my honor to introduce my partner to the police department, jim mcdonald. >> thank you very much. and as you look at the group assembled behind me this morning, each -- each of those, and everybody that we represent who is out in the field, all have families. many are impacted directly by the fire. but they leave those families to come and try to be able to help everybody else who is out there. so i owe a debt of gratitude to irv who is putting it all on the line for everyone else. this is a tragic time in our history here in los angeles. but a time where we're really tested and see who we really are. and it's critical that at these times, we be patient. that we come together.

that we focus on saving lives and to be able to do the very best job that we can, so that when we look back on this, we know that we did what we could for others. i look at the people who were out there on the line last night. the winds were like something i had never seen before. firefighters, police officers, deputies. they're out there, sheltering in their vehicles, trucks and cars, so they don't end up getting burned from the fire that was being driven by 75- plus-mile-an-hour winds. they were there until they could get out of the car and go back to doing their work. as you can imagine, a very difficult circumstance to deal with. these are, as i mentioned, unprecedented conditions, but also unpredictable. as the fire continues to spread and pop up in different locations. none of us know where the next one is going to be. so i would ask you to be vigilant. to look at your neighborhood. to talk to your neighbors, to have everybody on board. so if they see something start up, we get on it quickly.

we get fire resources out there. because with these winds, once it starts small, it will be very big, very quickly. so i would ask for everybody's help, cooperation and vigilance in that role. as you heard before about evacuation, that makes the difference between living and not. so i would ask you to take these warnings, these orders to evacuate very seriously. as you've heard over and again. you know, be ready to go. pack what you need up. but then please comply with these orders. we don't put them out lightly. when you believe that you're in the path of the fire. we're going to order that evacuation. and we really, really need your compliance on that. because if we have to send people in to try to make rescues, those people are putting their lives on the line directly for something that could have been avoidable. sheriff luna mentioned looting. that's something that we also have to watch out for. that is incredible that we each have to talk about that during these tragic times. but we are going to take that also extremely seriously.

and we will follow up with that in the strongest way possible as far as traffic goes, that's something that we're used to dealing with here. this will be an extra test of gridlock in many places, due to people not having access to their normal roots. i would say that if you have an ability to be able to stay out of the west side today, to commute or to work from home, as long as your employers are good with that, to take advantage of that, the air is very tough today, for particularly those who were challenged medically. if you can stay home and work from there, i would recommend that. we would continue to support our partners and the fire service and our other law enforcement partners. but to all in the public who are watching this, sincere thank you to all of you for your cooperation and your patience, as we all get through this together. thank you. >> now we're going to introduce my colleague, supervisor lindsay hor vaghts, who

represents the palisades area. >> thank you, madam chair. this morning, we woke up to a dark cloud over all of los angeles. but it is darkest for those who are most intimately impacted by these fires. it has been an immensely painful 24 hours for communities i represent. the palisades, the hurst, and woodley fires are all in the third district. but our strength is in our togetherness. and that will determine how we make it through. we need your partnership in this time of crisis. it is difficult to process the immensity of the destruction and loss. and we extend our hearts and every resource we have to all of our impacted residents. we know when we talk about these structures, they aren't

just structures. they aren't even just houses. they're homes. this is our home. these are places where we built community. where we raised families. where we made memories that we will never forget, even if we can't go back to these structures. these are our home. losing home is simply devastating. and i know that we are all here to support you and to stand with you in this time of need. aggressive winds and fire know no jurisdictional boundaries. nor does coordination and action. across our l.a. county agencies, with president biden and governor newsom, as they unlock support through fire assistance, management grants for palisades, eaton and hurst fighters so far. the talent and tenacity of our first responders is nothing short of extraordinary.

and i've said it before. these people on the front lines are doing this because this is their calling. this is not simply a job that they came to, to have an occupation. they are called to this work to keep us safe, to keep our community safe, and to do all they can in this time of crisis, to protect our los angeles county. overnight winds grounded our vehicles, and we have red-flag conditions through the end of day tomorrow. but we know that because of these fearless warriors on the front lines, we are doing all that we can to contain this fire. thank you for your work to keep los angeles county safe. including the third district communities, pacific palisades, to topanga canyon, sunset mesa, malibu, santa monica, sylmar, grenadda hills, lake balboa and surrounding communities. our number one message to

everyone in impacted areas is to follow all evacuation orders and warnings and to stay where you are safe as long as the evacuation order is in place. we have places for you, your pets and animal sheltering sites as well. these orders are not just to keep you safe and to keep your community safe, they are also to keep those on the front lines of this devastating crisis safe. and the longer that you wait to evacuate, the more you are putting people in danger who are putting their lives on the line to protect your homes. please don't do this. please evacuate. there is also an evacuation order in santa monica, the northern border of the city to san vicente, the warning is north of montana, to san vicente as well. we have an evacuation order, as well as a warning there.

barry j. nidorf, juvenile hall is in sylmar. and that is under evacuation warning because of the hurst fire. our probation department has evacuation plans in place, should that move to an evacuation order from a warning and our priority is to keep our youth in our care safe. >> santa monica unified school district is closed today. and as you heard from superintendent carvalho, lsusd has updateless. and while this is knight quite early in this emergency, we do have some initial guidance from his office, from evacuated households on reimbursable insurance expenses. to be found at insurance.ca.gov. obtain policy. take note of additional expense

limits. track additional expenses, document conversations with your insurer or adjustor, and don't rush any decisions. if you have any questions, call 800-927-4357. please continue to check emergency.lacounty.gov for the latest information. and i know, we will see brighter skies by working together. los angeles county will continue to be unrelenting in our response. and i know we have only the finest on the front lines fighting this fire. it's our duty to see them succeed. thank you. >> all right. now, we are going to hear from l.a. city council president and mayor pro tem. marquis terrence dawson. >> thank you very much. good morning, everybody. on behalf of the city of los angeles, i want to begin by

thanking and recognizing the great work of our fire department. last night, we all witnessed doing heroic work in the face of grave danger. last night was one of the most devastating and terrifying nights in our city that we've seen in any part of our history. firefighters. and our public safety officials, created an environment where injuries were kept to a minimum. fatalities were kept to a minimum. and we wake up this morning, to a renewed for the that we can defeat this fire and move on to a greater day. i also want to recognize councilwoman tracy park of the

11th district, who i think, probably has about 90 minutes' sleep, to my count. because every time i looked at the television, you were there, knocking on doors in neighborhoods, in community centers at the shelters, making sure the community was okay. and then an absolute professional, someone who, since i have been on the council with her, has had to fight a fire almost every year. so is a pro from the san fernando valley, the councilmember from the 7th district, monica rodriguez. and again, all the men and women, the firefighters are in the front. but our dwp workers are out there, making sure we don't have additional fires from power lines. and countless folks, d.o.t., making sure the flow of traffic stays so that folks who want to evacuate can do so. are out there as well. so they're literally thousands and thousands of people working together to make this work. i want to announce a few more closures to add to the school

closures that we heard and the closures that the sheriff and the supervisor read to us. griffith park, closed today, including lake hollywood. runnion canyon, closed today. the los angeles zoo closed today. the hollywood reservoir closed today. the hollywood sign closed today. as well as all the roads through the sepulveda basin in the san fernando valley. so nobody should be going those places today anyway. i will amend what chief mcdonald said. not only if you're on the west side or in the valley. anywhere in this city, if you can stay off the roads, please do so. i live in south l.a., a long way away from the fires. visibility is less than one block. because of the smoke. so if there is not a good reason for you to be on the roads, we ask that you -- that

you leave the roads open as possibly as you can to the public safety professionals that have to do their work. and will lead us out of the crisis that we face here in the city of los angeles and the county of los angeles today. also, lastly, just grateful for the work of the president of the united states kick the in for us late last night, who happens to be in southern california, the governor was with us. and the pacific palisades last night. and has helped out in a range of municipalities around the county. and outside the county, have come in to help, where they can. and we're extremely, extremely grateful for their help in this time of crisis for our city and our county. and with that, i will ask the director of the office of emergency management for los angeles county, kevin mcgowen to come to the mike. >> thank you for the introduction. i'm kevin mcgowen. i'm the director for the office of emergency management.

as my warn partners up here have said before. we're facing a historic, natural disaster. and i think that can't be stated strong enough. this is not a normal red flag. we have been in partnership with the national weather service for days prior to the arrival of this severe wind storm. there has been amazing communication by the national weather service. and they should be acknowledged for all of the communication put out days in advance. what is critical about that is it partnered all of our emergency organizations throughout the county to begin preparations for this. and a lot of the successes we saw over the laforts 18 to 20 hours, is a direct result of painstaking preparations that had gone into place for the last 48 to 72 hours. we still have a long road ahead of us. our county is known, with wildland fires. we just finished working on the

franklin fire. we've had the bridge fire, the post fire. this has been a very destructive fire season. this is -- this is just going to add to it. our eyes are on mitigating the impacts from this emergency. working with our community partners, and then charting a course for what will be a long recovery effort. with that, i would like to introduce our department of public works for l.a. county director mark pashow. >> good morning. thank you, kevin. my name is mark pastrell, director of the largest public works department in the united states. we're coordinating with the city of los angeles in this event today. i'm going to talk about our focus of infrastructure, then i'll move on. before i do that, i want to acknowledge all of the residents who have lost a home or who are being evacuated. i do personally understand what

that is about. and understand what kind of fear that can put into you. one thing i would recommend to you before you leave that home, close that home up tight. close any openings, completely tight to the home. and make sure there is access for the fire department to come onto your property. that's one thing i've learn side important. l.a. county is focused on water supply. the road safety and transportation system and preparing our flood control system, for the inevitable post- event, with flows of debris and mud. there has been quite a bit of talk about the water system that we are using for suppression. let me make the following statement. there have been quite a bit of comments. about the local water supply. and firefighting efforts. there is collaboration over this region. over 200 water retailers serve the region.

l.a. serves the eaton fire. l.a. city serves the palisades area. we also serve the palisades area in the unincorporated water supply through the hydrant system. >> the municipal water systems that service our homes and businesses, continue to work effectively. however, they are not designed to fight fire -- wildfires. a firefight with multiple fire hydrants, drawing water from the system for several hours is unsustainable. this is a known fact. that's why air support is so critical to the firefight. and unfortunately, wind and air visibility have prevented that support. county -- however, county and city water reservoirs, available and on standby, once that support becomes available. we will be having fixed wing as well as helicopter draw of water from our system. we also need customers to understand that it is really quite futile to attempt to

fight fire with a hose at your house. i would ask that you turn off your water and your gas, both things, before you leave the residence. so we can continue to have that water supply for the hydrant system. the transportation system is operating with many, many closures. those closures are meant for evacuation. as well as fire suppression efforts. so we're asking residents not to abandon vehicles in streets. to not park vehicles in streets. but to leave those vehicles on your property. and we ask that you drive very carefully, because we also have the other event of wind right now. and we have numerous, numerous signals across the area. we need people to drive very consciously in the street system. and then the third piece in the road system and in our homes is, the wind is causing massive tree fall. we have numerous, over hundreds of hundreds of trees that have fallen in the area. and we expect more of that to occur. this is a safety has forward for you and your children. so we're asking that you avoid walking outside.

avoid being under trees. avoid parking cars under trees. all of the things, as you can imagine, that a tree can do. a tree can be just as devastating to a home and to yourself as a personal fire. so please be aware that the wind is going to continue. and the wind infrastructure is going to be prepared to do that. we are removing trees as they fall, where it's safe to do so. there will be a mass debris removal system that the county is coordinating. but we will be working to remove the mass debris that is going to occur. not only from the structures that have been damaged but all of these trees that were down. please, one of the things is, make way for our utility workers, who are in support of the very, very, you know, brave firemenning and sheriff and police force that are out doing their job. we are in full support of them. so lastly, on the flood control system. this is a quick note that yes, in fact, we will have a lot of

debris. the flood-control system has been impacted that covers the entire region. by the fire. in fact, many of our facilities have been burned. one in eaton area. eaton yard, where there is a debris down there. and its facilities are currently threatened. we are looking at that, and going to raise up those systems. as we enter into post fire, our department will be available to do a review of your individual properties, to make sure that you're safe from debris, a flow as another event that may occur in l.a. county. with that, i'm happy to turn over the microphone to my partner, from the department of water and power. the general manager, jenise kianis. >> thank you, mark. i am janiece quinones, for lawp. i want to thank everyone for their response. the claksz i've seen in this has been incredible. especially first responders. i want to thank our crews that

have been working on high winds as fast as possible. and also, county, city council, mayor's office. the mayor's office has been in contact with bhee all the time. and also other utilities in california have been practically reaching out to us to help us with the restoration. so we're in the process of contacting them to ask for more support. i want to continue the thought processes that mark had about water supply in palisades. we had a tremendous demand on our system in the palisades. we pushed the system to that screen four times the normal demand was seen for 15 hours straight, which lowered our water pressure. we were pushing 75cfs on our trunk line to try to keep water pressures in the water system. if there's a message to take, way from me today, is i need our customers for the whole

system. we are fighting a wildfire with urban water systems. and that is really challenging. >> what happened in palisades? we have three large water tanks, about a million gallons each. we ran out of water in the first tank about 4:45 p.m. yesterday. we ran out of water on the second tank, about 8:30 p.m. and the third tank, about 3:00 a.m. this morning. those tanks help with the pressure on the fire hydrants, and the heels of palisades. and because we were pushing so much water in our trunk line, and so much water was being used before they can get to the tanks. we were not able to fill the cans fast enough. so it was faster than we can provide water in a trunk line. i want to make sure you understand, there is water on the trunk line. just captain get up the hill because we cannot fill the tanks fast enough. and we cannot lower the amount of water that we provide to the fire department, in order to supply the tanks, because we're balancing firefighting with water. so we have -- we have our

operations on the water side, and the command post with the fire department, helping with tactics to ensure that we can provide as much water as we can find to our first responders. what are we doing now? we're sending about 20 water tanks for our construction crews, full of water to the fire department. we identify other areas in our system where our tankers can refuel. and we're constantly moving that water to the fire department to get them as much water as we can. i would also ask, for the people on zip code 90272, because we're pushing the water system so hard. our water quality is decreasing. so we're going to be issuing a boil water notice this morning. and that will extend -- >> so there's talk of this boil- water notice this morning for some of the residents in the palisades fire area. and this official was talking

about the fact that the enormous amount of water to battle these fires that are still 0%. contained. they have three, one-million gallon, essentially wells that have been run dry. i want to go to nbc's liz kreutz in malibu. liz, these fires are so massive, there's more than three 0% contained, and we know that two people have lost their lives. there are many injured. what are you seeing at this hour? >> reporter: i mean, jose, the only word that comes to mind, truly here, and we're on the pacific coast highway in malibu is apocalyptic. let me show you here. to my left. this home destroyed. and this is home after home after home. this burning behind me.

if you look this way, we should be seeing the ocean. but it is a wall of smoke. and usually, what we see are homes. and it is not just this section of the pch. it is up and down the highway here. we are seeing mass destruction in malibu. what happened is the winds pushed the palisades fire from the pacific palisades north overnight. came into malibu. and there were people who did not heed those evacuation warnings. also a firefighter injured, who had a serious head injury, trying to battle this fire. this is a massive fire and this is a serious wind storm. so the worst may be still to come. >> liz, thank you. appreciate it. i want to bring in this morning

from los angeles, bobbi oliver. who evacuated her home just last night. bobbi, thank you so much for being with us. if you would, take us to last night. >> thank you for having me. >> yesterday, we had a wind advisory. and i had gone out, it was very windy. but as the night went on, it got crazy windy. and we live a couple of miles from eaton canyon. we actuallyive well near that mcdonalds you showed. and we could see, it never comes our way. so we were paying attention. we were cautious. we went out to our porch, because our blinds were slamming against the window. and things were going everywhere.

smelling smoke, which we had never done. we closed our porch door. and then we noticed, we could still smell the smoke in our house. we've never been evacuated before. we got our dogs. my dad who passed away, was a wood worker. and i gathered up my favorite items that he had made and we came out to our business. we don't have friends in los angeles. luckily, my husband and i own a comedy studio in los angeles, which was an hour away from the fire. we brought the dogs. thought we were evacuating from

smoke. i didn't bring as many things as i would have had i realized the situation. and the video we're showing, my neighbors, we were all furiously texting until about 4:00 in the morning and the worst part is not knowing. it could be fine or could be gone. we just don't know. >> and i'm wondering, bobbie, the moments you had. it's fortunate you had moments, right? because so many people are having to just get out immediately. >> but it was very quick. >> yeah. >> and how do you choose what to bring out? how do you choose what to take with you, obviously. you know, your pets. and your family. but how do you choose what you

bring out, that's something that could very much be the last times you have that option. >> right. and i think really -- i mean, i know this is always the lesson. but i really think we should have been more prepared. we should should have anticipated that something like this could have happened. we just, all of a sudden, we heard a bullhorn. i'm not sure if it was a fireman or police officer, and they said "evacuate now." so we had gathered a few things. but at that point, we had just got everything we had gathered and left. and i feel like, in the future, you know, for something like this, i should have had a go bag. i should have -- we left with the clothes on our back. we're very lucky that we're alive, and our dogs are alive. but we don't know what is happening with our house. we don't know if we've lost everything. it's really terrifying. and i know so many people are going through this at the same

time. >> hey, bobbie. my best to you and to your family. i just want you to know, these are so -- these are such difficult times. but you know, where there is life, there is hope. and i just want to thank you for the time and wish you and yours all the best. >> thank you. i appreciate it. and joining us now is david acuña, public information officer for cal fire. david, thank you very much for being here with us this morning. what is your team seeing right now? >> well, thank you for having me on. so the entire southern california area is being affected by an extremely strong wind event. we're used to red-flag warnings. this is actually a red-flag warning with a special annotation of a dangerous situation, where we've had winds from 60 to 100 miles per hour, affecting the region from ventura, all the way to san diego. so these winds will pick up any

small amount of fire, and we do know that 95% of all fires are caused by humans. so any small fire grows rapidly. we have three major fires running rampant right now, and we continue to see small fires get started. and we still have resources deployed across the entire state, prepared to respond to those new small fires. >> yeah. i mean, the fact that none of these fires, or i should say, that all of these fires are 0% contained. and that -- that new fire that essentially, just started up, you know, last night. and then talking about the hurst fire in the area of sylmar. how do you deal with something like that? it seems as though, you know, forecasters have been talks about the possibility of the strong winds coming in this week. how do you deal with that now, when you have 0% containment? >> well, the first thing is preparedness, like everything else. so what we did is we started

moving resources down from the north part of the state, where they have sufficient rain and snow to mitigate the fire risk. so that they could be here for the initial attack phase. and then we continue to request additional resources from local and government state agency, to bring more firefighters, equipment, and hand crews to the firefight. >> just for the folks that maybe aren't from the los angeles area or don't, you know -- it's tough to really kind of understand how massive, how widespread of an area, is being affected right now by these different fires. >> yeah. so it is an extremely large area. we're talking about everywhere from ventura on the coast, north of los angeles, through los angeles, through orange county, through riverside county, parts of san bernardino county, all the way into san diego county. so it is an incredibly large area. and we stand ready to fight

every single one of those. >> and so david, what is your message to the folks? and i think that i presume. i know that you all have also been speaking to our spanish language community in the area. what's your message to the folks around the area. >> the most important thing is, if you're in the area, first of all, be prepared. if you can navigate to wildfire.org, you can find resources for how to prepare an evacuation bag. what evacuation plans you need to make. not only for yourself but for pets and livestock. and then also, keep an eye on our incident map at fire.ca.gov, in order to find out what the latest evacuation warnings and orders are. >> david, acuña, thank you very much for being with us this morning. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose dias ballard. thank you for your time. r your. >> goo