paul vercammen. what are you seeing, paul? >> well, you can see right now, flame. an active flank of flame on the southern edge of the fire. a fire captain is using a road flare to set a backfire to cut off the advance. we're on the southern flank. one house burn sod far in san diego county. if we can pan around just to the right here, you'll see what we call a california conservation crew, an inmate crew actively digging out fire lines here to protect the neighborhood off to the north. another wall of flame coming up right here. go ahead and turn right here, if you could, please. at 12:00, this is where they're making the stand. this is a fairly new community. a lot of houses with red tile roofs and stucco. a good sign for them. when the fire can spread through burning embers, you have a whole lot less to catch. it's a grund fight right now. captain miller, a quick question. can you talk to us about your strategy? >> right now, we're trying to put in a fire break between what is actively burning and

the flames all the way up at the bottom of the hill here. >> let's get the latest now from our paul vercammen? >> reporter: john, christine, call it the devil's pitch fork, because you had humidity that was less than 10%, you had these winds and you had hot temperatures. the evacuations included legoland, a nuclear power plant, parts of a military base and untold residences. and behind me, the fire burning right above cal state university san marcos. not only have they canceled the rest of the week here, they had to postpone the graduation ceremonies. and we watched the firefighters doing the very best they could to stay in front of these flames. at one point, there was an inmate crew that was digging line, and it came so close to us that i had to race out during a live shot and grab my cameraman's battery bag and get it out of there. it was surprising to me just how quickly it shifted. and of course, multiple parts of san diego county burning. and the overarching theme, as i talked to a federal fire official, he says they are most concerned right now about almost all of california, almost al

paul vercammen is on the frontlines. paul, what are you seeing right now?'re here on aviara parkway, a major road in carlsbad, california, where, again, they had to retrench and make another stand. they put a lot of engines and even helicopters, excuse me, into this neighborhood, and just beyond in the smoke is another one of those vast canyons where you have this dry, dry, dry brush, translation, fuel for a fire. it raced up toward this hill. as we said earlier, there have been 15,000 people evacuated. legoland and schools here in carlsbad. and right now, they're trying to hit this fire on the southern flank with everything they have. it's so smoky, we're trying to pick out this helicopter above us. go ahead. see if we can see it. it's critical to this fire fight right now because it's going to a nearby lagoon. it's actually dropping some murky brackish dirty water on the fire, so that's what's going on right now here in carlsbad, california. one of four spifires burning inn diego county. >> we'll of course stay on top of the breaking news throughout the n

paul vercammen is in carlsbad, california, and paul, when we hear the headlines, how threatening is the fire right now. obviously with you even wear that eyewear. >> here is how threatening it is. it is setting up the embers, and the embers are always dangerous. not only can they land in your eye, this is how fires skip from house to house. just a short time ago, a fire in this canadian right here. they made a stand along javier parkway in calabasas. this is the southern flank of the fire. they were able to contain it in the canyon by a variety of measures you. tell by looking at a fire truck, they have dumped something unusual on them. what it was, they came from the air, erin, and they picked up a bunch of water and sort of brackish mud from a nearby lagoon and dumped it right on the fire here. as you pointed out, they say some 20 buildings in san diego county. on this fire alone three buildings completely burned down. at least 12 more damaged. we have not heard silver lining in all this gray smoke of any serious injuries. they've been able to get at this fire by making stands along b

back to you now, john and christine. >> our thanks to paul vercammen on that. we will stay on that all morning as developments coming in. >>> now, more of cnn's exclusive interview with donald sterling, including parts of his conversation with anderson cooper you have not heard before. sterling insisting he's a giver, not a hater, showing remorse, a lot of remorse for what he's done to his estranged wife, shelly, and seemingly in complete denial about his chances of keeping the los angeles clippers. listen. >> you believe you will be able to keep the team, then? >> well -- >> because the advertisers certainly, you know -- >> the advertisers are all coming back. let's not be crazy. the fans will all come if you have a good team. if you don't have a good team, the fans won't come. >> even if you're owner? >> what am i, a frankenstein? what am i, some kind of an ogre? i'm a good person. i'm a warm person. i say hello to everybody who comes to the team. >> there's some players, though, who have talked about a boycott of the season. >> well, that's talk. the media p

paul vercammen is in san diego. fire officials say it's a matter of time now. makes them so confident? >> reporter: if you look over here you can see a faint wrestling of these leaves. it's a huge improvement from what we saw earlier when these fires were wind-whipped and being driven all around. so now the focus is make sure is that none of the hot spots flare up and i was talking to one fire public information officer and he said the key is to try to spot these places by getting up above in the air. let's hear what he had to say. >> we have crews still in all areas of this fire that are cleaning up areas where there is still some hot spots. we had infrared flyovers that we are happening out as far as the areas of greatest concern. obviously, the winds can pick up at any moment and we want to try to get it while the winds are calming down today. >> reporter: those calm winds, a good sign. but certainly devastating sight. a house lost here. to give you perspective, these are $2 million homes and you can see the entire canyon scorched below me and many canyons th

paul vercammen is in california. this is not a good sign for the rest of the fire season. they could use some rain out there, yes, paul? >> joo they could. i remember a piece you did when you were walking the central valley in california. extreme, exceptional or severe drought throughout california. the good news this san marcus fire is 70% contained and most of the san diego fires in the right direction. the drought is getting worse. when you look at the vegetation they say it's stressed. the vegetation can come back. but you need? rain. we are just not getting any rain in the west. i was talking with a top federal fire official and they said where are the areas of concern? almost all of california, almost all of oregon and parts of nevada. of course, if they do get any rain you look down in the canyon and there is a house that miraculously survived this fire. but if they get some precipitation, some moisture, look how exposed the hillside is and the next thing they have to think about in the winter is mudslides. >> much of the west under fire threat this fire season. what

paul vercammen is live at the scene in carlsbad. paul?er: look over my left shoulder the most active fighter the san marcus buyer. foreseen the evacuation and they postponed the commencement ceremony that would have taken place this weekend. in all eight fires burning 20 buildings officially week destroyed and others partially damaged. not only that university and that neighborhood lego land part of the military base and businesses and some of the homes cost a lot of people finding themselves on pants and needles. keenan in new >> pam: how is that affecting all this? >> healed impact and connected to northern california all of californian and clothing nor california. those are the bone dry spots that it really feared could be trouble spot. gniezno what whensan francisco police raided (male announcer): now, here's stanley roberts who found some people behaving badly. >> reporter: when not in this to the sound of shares that it was as a set before the politics for removal would that is what exactly was calling on here oakland public works a

cnn's paul vercammen is north of san diego right now. san

cnn's paul vercammen is in san marcos, california, what's the picture out there?? >> reporter: right now it's getting better by the moment. the humidity is up finally after being less than 10% earlier this week. the winds have calmed down. the temperatures are down and you can see behind me at this vast landscape here this is where the fire tore through. in talking to officials they said one thing that happened overnight these cooler temperatures really allowed them to make some headway. let's take a listen. >> we have crews still in all areas of this fire that are cleaning up areas where there's still some hot spots. we had some infrared flyovers that we're mapping out as far as the areas of greatest concern. obviously the winds can pick up at any moment and what we want to did is try to get it while the winds are calming down today. >> reporter: and so they are in that mop-up mode actively looking for hot spots. residents not allowed to return to this neighborhood yet. let's 57 ygive you a sense of te randomness of the fires as they hopscotch from one house to a

paul vercammen is on the scene. what do you know?leading flanks of the blaze burning in a neighborhood here in carlsbad. this is all brush. let me give you perspective. it burned all the way through here. you can see right down in this canyon, another flare-up. the blaze breaking out this morning. hot, windy, dry conditions. a wind-driven fire being whipped up right now. we're going to give you more perspective. one home so far destroyed. mo smoke indicating in that area that we have several flanks of flames. firefighters using roads and everything else possible to make a stand here. they've been able to hit this with helicopters. via the air. but, it's difrlt to gficult to of the crews and engines in the canyons. the firefighters have moved further on up the road to go into full structure protection. we think this is 1 of 4 fires burning now in a very dry, very hot san diego county. >> paul, is it windy? you said dry and hot. is it windy? >> reporter: yes, about the best indicator. these are thin eucalyptus trees slightly blowing. i

cnn's paul vercammen is north of san diego right now. san marcos, california, where some homes were lost, others spared. paul, what's going on there right now? >> reporter: well, as you can see behind me, this is one of those homes that was lost in this fire, in this cocoa fire as they call it in san marcos. but the good news is we got 70% containment today and they say that number is sure to go up on this fire as well as other fires throughout the county. the largest on camp pendleton, for example, is a 15,000-acre fire and that's now 40% contained. not in this neighborhood but we are starting to see a trickle of residents return and our andrew peterson caught up with someone earlier today who is getting back into her home. >> right as we finished packing our suitcases we heard a helicopter overhead saying get out, get out now! walked out the door. helicopter was hovering right over you saying you need to evacuate now. and you could see a plume of smoke and flames coming down the corridor, flying down the corridor this way. like, when yo