maybe dwp should prepare better for this, i don't know.e that will come out in the investigations going forward. i guess a little simplistic to blame one person for the lack of water pressure in these fire hydrants. >> todd: it will deftly come out in the investigation. william, to your point you can make a movie about it too and that was chinatown and that '70s and a lot of the same issue is not rectified. william la jeunesse live in an area which is the pacific palisades business district which basically before monday looked like central casting of main street and what you think mainstreet should look like an outlook look behind me, completely gone. >> carley: the nail salon, grocery store, laundromat and all that behind me, so, so horrendous and so sad. william la jeunesse, we will check back with you soon. there is a perspective that few people have witnessed. our next guest luanne to lax after united airlines flight rebounded and historic fires. >> todd: the passenger joins us now, mark, what is going through your mind when you look a

dwp is employing water — locations. augment water supply— water tankers to augment water supply firefighters. the emergency operations centres remin— emergency operations centres remain activated at the highest levet— remain activated at the highest level to — remain activated at the highest level to rapidly coordinate emergency response. as we prepare — emergency response. as we prepare for more wind, we are also _ prepare for more wind, we are also actively working to provide people with much—needed resources — provide people with much—needed resources. this week, it was said — resources. this week, it was said that _ resources. this week, it was said that our city and county will launch in person local assistance centres that are tailored _ assistance centres that are tailored to those affected by our specific fires. these local assistance centres are for angelenos impacted by the fires and they— angelenos impacted by the fires and they will open at the ucla research — and they will open at the ucla research park whi

, those ran out mayor bass said it did not happen in the dwp says it did. >> we were pushing so muchsed we were not able to feel fill the tanks of the consumption of water was faster than we can provide water. >> water remains available in the palisades through hydrants and water tankers that have been deployed. claims that the tanks were not full or false. hours ago dwp said don't use the water unless you boil it that's going to be odd because they don't have power in they don't have gas to run the generator because that was cut off they have no cell service or internet because elon musk said he will bring in starlings because people want to know how the goblins are doing admit he didn't want to leave because they can get back in. and one near pasadena the eden fire was 11000 acres and that's where the five fatalities are there not identify those individuals yet and they're trying to bring in canines to make sure there are not more by the leader hers fire north of l.a. that is 13% contain i'm going to send it back to you, things look better but the origin of the cause that remains u

we partner with dwp in regard to the testing. the dynamic situation where we are currently with the wildland season, if you may, there was a decision to postpone. we did not -- in regard to the january start date. we have all year to test them. our -- and also, mind you, our local fire stations are every single day going up and down the streets and looking at the hydrants, if there is any damage to hydrants, we report those, as well. we were just kicking off that time frame at the beginning of the year when we normally would, and we postponed that because of the call volume we were dealing with and we worked with dwp. i don't think it impacted our abilities in the specific area. thank you. >> thank you. >> and david zonheiser with the los angeles times. i have a two-part budget question. my first part is can you talk about the reserve fund. last year there was a lot of concern that the reserve fund had fallen below 4% and was heading toward that 2.75 number that i think becomes -- makes it difficult for the city to authorize spen

and so we're trying to get, you know, dwp to make sure they're filling them up as quick as they can because there's an extreme demand. it's a slower refill of those tanks. and needless to say that was a challenge for firefighters. >> and captain scott, in your experience in your career, how does this fire compare to those in the past? >> one of the worst i have ever seen, if not the worst. yesterday's winds were the worst i've experienced and that is absolutely evident by the destruction that we've all seen. and we're not done yet. we're going to have more fires. the fires are going to continue to increase in acreage, but we're doing absolutely everything we have. so we ask you this one thing. if you see smoke and fire near you, evacuate before we even tell you. we want people to get out and get out early. help us. later on when the winds calm down, do your brush clearance. but right now, make sure you heed evacuation warnings. >> as we've seen the last couple of days, these conditions can change so quickly that really, you know, you you need to evacuate if the fire is near you. >> and capt

it is going to be more thanjust dwp but all the water agencies here including the county.here with the burgundy and the - including the county. over here i with the burgundy and the mask. i can speak an operational size of the hydrants, we don't have a specific number on the hydrants, we do know it came in phases. ourfirefighters hydrants, we do know it came in phases. our firefighters always have primary plan, a back—up plan, contingency, an emergency plan... plan, contingency, an emergency lan... ~ . plan, contingency, an emergency [anml ., ., plan, contingency, an emergency plan... we are about to leave that news _ plan... we are about to leave that news conference - plan... we are about to leave that news conference that. that news conference that officials are urging people to conserve water. we were hearing early about the difficulties with the power and in that news conference it has been going on for nearly an hour, they have confirmed two fatalities so far, confirmed the fires are spreading, they are not under control and warning more people over 35,000 now, to fo

for the dwp to put an equity lens on everything. >> yeah.s the number one thing that attracted me to this role. it's important to me that everything we do it's with an equity lens and social justice and making sure that we right the wrongs that we've done in the past from an infrastructure perspective and that we involve the community in that process. if. rachel: you guys, i love this. what we should do now, conservatives who are against all this stuff, put up a picture of burnt-down l.a. powered by equity and social justice. because if that's her number one concern, that says a lot -- will: number one thing that a drew her to the job. charlie: and i get it, she said that at a time when l.a. wasn't burning. but, i mean, you have a job to do. you know, why -- [laughter] how, how is it possible that you looked at your job and you think that's your number one responsibility? rachel: it says water in the title. [laughter] it says water. carr shar exactly. there are actually physical things that you have to -- can. rachel: water manager. charlie:

claims that the tanks weren't full are false. >> you could hear there the dwp says actually they wereorrecting mayor bass. now, hours ago dwb also said however don't use your tap water it has to be boiled, right? that's going to be difficult because people here don't have electricity. they cut off the gas so your generator is not going to work. also, they don't have cell service or internet, although today elon musk promised to bring star link to the affected areas. that is going to help a great deal. other major fires you guys mentioned, the one near pass deanna, eat ton fire. five fates hurst fire is now 13% contained we are told. now all three are under investigation. 130,000 people do remain under evacuation orders. as for this fire. we're looking at potentially over $50 billion and that would rank as the most expensive fire in u.s. history. back to you. >> brian: william, quick question they keep saying zero percent contained, you are standing at a place, you were there yesterday and that's out. can you say that that area is contained? >> people think because if it is zero percen

so that's a failure, whether on dwp's part or another city agency. but this is basic stuff. this isn't high science here, and it's all about leadership and management that we're seeing a failure of. and all of these residents are paying the ultimate price for that. >> that isn't that was going to be. my next question is why aren't why isn't there water in the fire hydrants? that doesn't make any sense. >> you're right. it's a good question and i think you should start asking, why don't you call the mayor who's out of the country and ask her and get an answer from her? >> well, they say she's on her way back, and that that would be a great question to ask her tomorrow. if she's at this briefing at 8:00 in the morning, because i think there's a lot of people that are outraged by that fact tonight when they look at scenes like this, at businesses that people have worked really, really, really hard to build and homes that people's entire livelihoods are going up in flames tonight. so for you watching this and seeing those flames this close to your property is it describe how you

and following that, we'll hear from la dwp general manager jim, the skin giannis as well as superintendent about albert. oprah follow. the mayor will come back to the podium and open it up for questions. i'll call on questions from the left. and with that, we're best. thank you. >> good evening, everyone. i stand here today with incredible sympathy and concern about the devastation and the tragedy that our city and county are facing. and i definitely want to send my condolences to the families who lost loved ones to the families and neighborhoods who lost property. this firestone firestorm is the big one in magnitude. >> hurricane force winds are usually accompanied by rain storms. but these are hurricane force winds that are combined with extremely dry drought conditions to provide context at 10:20pm, am yesterday. the palace, 8 fire was at 10 acres. 12 minutes later, it was a 200 acres to those who fled their homes, especially those who have lost their homes. our hearts are breaking for you and we stand with you. i know the world is looking at images of our city's devastation. i have see

yeah, well, you can get in touch with the government, the dwp directly, and they run all sorts of helplines have lots of information on their website as well. 0ragain you can come to age uk. an awful lot of what we do nationally is to support people in firstly understanding what they might be entitled to do, to have, and then secondly to claim it. the one that everyone's been talking about recently is pension credit, because that's the only now real qualified benefit to keep your winter fuel payment, but it's not the only one. for example, there's another one called attendance allowance, which has a funny kind of name, doesn't it? so people often wonder what it is, but it is really there to support people who are older who have disabilities or mobility issues, things like that, and so an awful lot of older people actually are entitled to some help from it butjust don't know. and it can make a big difference and it's not means tested, so it is always worth having a look, and we can help you even claim it, work through the form if that's what you need us to do. caroline abra hams from carolin

we have talked about amount, why did city and dwp run out of water in palisades during middle of fighting a fire. and second l.a. fire chief warned 19 million cut to budget would be devastating in large-scale emergency like this one. instead of accepting blame, mayor karen bass, for a cut she called for, she said this last night. >> what we're seeing is result of eight months of negligible rain, it is a deadly combination. >> at least five have been killed in the eaton fire near pasadena, they are bringing in canines to see if that is the extent of it. last night in hollywood hills, they are getting a handle on that one with help of helicopters. since 1984, this is unusual. 1984, only four fires, major fires in january, last one being 2001, that was 10,000 acres. this is much larger than that. 130,000 remain under evacuation, and over 300,000 do not have power. that is frustrating and it will take time because they have to ifrnspect the lines, they will not get power back for several days. >> ainsley: a lot of this was uncontrollable, winds, dry ground, not getting rain in california. how

. >> william: dwp said don't bother -- you have to boil your water, that is difficult, people don't haveell or in internet service. elon musk says he will bring starlink to the affected area, that will help. the fire in pasadena, five fatalities there and hersh fire is 13 -- the most destructive fire in california history, camp fire 2018, 18 billion, don't be surprised if this fire exceeds that. back to you. >> carley: looking that way. >> todd: it will blow it away, that is horrible. california wildfire rage across los angeles, organizations are rushing in with aid. direct relief have been on the ground. emergency response manager joins us. what is the greatest need right now? >> good morning, thanks for having me on. the greatest need for those impacted are emergency medical equipment, so they need ppe, personal protective equipment and all things you wouldn't think about in a fire. essential medications and daily medications. people are leaving their home and cut off to their daily supply of medication, diabetes medication, oncology medication. if you don't have access to them, they c

. >> hours ago dwp indicated that people should not use the water. they should boil it first. that is ironic since people don't have power and the gas was cut off as well so they can't run the generators. also they have no cell or internet. elon musk he is bringing star links like we're using now to some affected areas in the fires to help people communicate to friends and relatives. the other fires burning we have the eaton fire that's 11 thousand acres, five fatalities there. hollywood fire started overnight. the one in hollywood is rather stubborn. we'll go there now. the cause of all these major fires remains under investigation. for context, the camp fire in 2018 cost $19 billion. most expensive fire in u.s. history. this fire, much smaller, that was 153 thousand acres, this is 20 or 30,000 acres, this will cost 52 to 57 billion dollars. reflecting the land values in palisades and malibu. >> bill: no cause yet for how these fires started? >> that's correct. no cause. >> bill: is arson a possibility? >> yeah, given that the first one, this started at 10:30. it's a possibil

i want to end this by thanking dwp crews and personnel for their commitment and efforts to support the restoration of l.a. thank you. >> thank you very much for that. now. >> i also want to -- we recognize president biden and governor newsom but we also have here with us today congress member george whiteside, gong member laura friedman, senator perez, assembly member rodriguez and malibu mayor. make no mistake we're all working together. i want to thank you all for being here. i know our congress representatives flew in and we appreciate it and we are all in this together. with that we'll take some questions. >> thank you, just a couple rules of the road. i will call on you when you get called upon announce your name and which media outlet you're with. >> jonathan, with cbs news for mayor bass, please. mayor, la county is in a panic state. it began two days ago with the palisades fire. my crew and i arrived shortly after it started and for several hours we watched as hundreds of homes in the neighborhood burned to the ground and did not see a single fire engine. we watched as good sam

dwp is deploying water tankers to augment water supply for firefighters. the emergency operations centers remain activated at the highest level to rapidly coordinate emergency response. as we prepare for more wind. we're also urgently working to provide people with much needed resources. this week, as chair, barger said, our city and county will launch in person local assistance centers that are tailored to those affected by specific fires. these local assistance centers is for angelenos impacted by the palisades and hearst fires, and they will open at the ucla research park, which was formerly known as the westside pavilion. it will operate from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week. these centers will help people who have lost vital records like birth certificates, driver's license, social security documentation. they will help people who've lost their homes or businesses apply for disaster relief loans, and they will provide referrals for mental health counseling and other services. we anticipate that there will be representation for. over city, over 20 c

dwp has three large tanks of 1 million gallons each. those ran dry. firefighters had no water after 11 p.m. last night. now no fatalities in the fire. some injuries, however, from those who chose not to evacuate. >> the congestion point, which looked like a war zone. there must have been at least 5075 cars pushed to the side, which we've seen images of. there's burning debris on the ground and, you know, fire hoses and blockages everywhere. >> and there are three large fires still burning in los angeles. you have the hearst fire that is north of los angeles. the valley fire, and of course, the eaton fire that's near pasadena. that one having 100 mile an hour winds burning about 2000 acres and 100 structures destroyed, including a nursing home that had to be evacuated. now, this is far from over. southern california gas cutting off gas to many customers. also edison cutting off power to 140,000, including 400,000 who have been warned they may lose power as well. then there's the question of rebuilding. many have lost their insurance, been canceled for

dwp is deploying water tankers to augment water supply for firefighters. emergency operation centers remain activated at the highest level to rapidly coordinate emergency response. as we prepare for more wind, we are also urgently working to provide people with much-needed resources. this week as chair barger said, our city and county will launch in-person local assistance centers that are tailored to those affected by specific fires. these local assistance centers is for angelenos impacted by the palisades and hurst fires and they will open at the ucla research park formerly known as the west side pavilion. it will operate from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. seven days a week. these centers will help people who have lost vital records like birth certificates, drivers license, social security. they will provide referrals for mental health counseling and other offices. there will be representation for over 20 city departments. there will be representatives from the state and federal departments and agencies. later today, we are also going to be releasing policies o

and i know that it's been really important for the dwp to put an equity lens on everything. >> yes. yeah. and that's the number one thing that attracted me to this role. it's important to me that everything we do, it's with an equity lens and social justice and making sure that we right the wrongs that we've done in the past from an infrastructure perspective, and that we involve the community in that process. and this this utility is serious about it. it's authentic about it. and so i'm just super excited to be part of that movement. >> it's about priorities. the water chief was focused on dei. the mayor of la, karen bass, was in africa, even though she promised voters that she'd never travel internationally as mayor. and here she is in ghana while her city was getting scorched. and instead of fire proofing their state, california today held a special legislative session and trump proofed it. newsom just approved $50 million to resist trump. 25 million is going to protect biden migrants from being deported. so the illegal alien caught with a blowtorch lighting a neighborhood on fir

department of water and power almost $400,000 more than the prior head of dwp. explain that. maybe she could have used some of that money to hire more firefighters. and if she had gotten her way with another $49 million cut to the fire department, guess what? 16 fire departments would have been shut down. and what about the santa ynez reservoir? is anyone investigating kin eurozone necessary and karen bass for allow -- karen bass for allowing that reservoir to have been drained 117 million gones of water? this isn't fiction, this isn't politics, this is human decency. she rowed -- allowed that a to happen on her watch. on tuesday night when i'm sitting in my home in pasadena and i'm hearing about winds predicted of 80 to 100 miles per hour, alicia, that's hurricane force. where was her team sitting there the with the electric grid across all of l.a. county trying to figure out where to potentially turn off electricity to make sure lines don't go down, because i think you're going to find at the end of the day lines went down causing these fires. how are you not there with you

but our dwp workers are out there making sure we don't have additional fires from power lines and countless folks dot, making sure the flow of traffic stays so that folks who want to evacuate can do so are out there as well. so there are 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, runyon 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 mcdonnell 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

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 re

dwp is deploying water tankers to augment water supply for firefighters. the emergency operations centers remain activated at the highest level to rapidly coordinate emergency response. as we prepare for more wind. we're also urgently working to provide people with much needed resources. this week, as chair, barger said, our city and county will launch in person local assistance centers that are tailored to those affected by specific fires. these local assistance centers is for angelenos impacted by the palisades and hearst fires, and they will open at the ucla research park, which was formerly known as the west side pavilion. it will operate from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week. these centers will help people who have lost vital records like birth certificates, driver's license, social security documentation. they will help people who've lost their homes or businesses, apply for disaster relief loans, and they will provide referrals for mental health counseling and other services. we anticipate that there will be representation for over city, over 20 c

but i think the big controversy has been around the palisades fire that's served by la dwp, which serves the entire city of la. in that case, there's been a lot of criticism around the lack of functioning of the fire hydrants around tank sizes. and now recently around a reservoir that's up in the area of being offline. i'd say largely, i know it's not a popular story that what public officials are saying about the capacity of an urban water system to fight a wildfire is true, and that they're not well equipped. they haven't been expected to fight wildfires in the past, and that the system may not have been fully equipped, or it certainly would have helped had the reservoir online, although that was mostly a matter of luck. >> very bad luck because it was offline to try to address public health issues. but even if there were, i don't know the exact number, but several times the amount of water that was available that wouldn't have made the difference in stopping the fire certainly would have helped. >> but this fire was fast moving, and water is only one part of the equation. and fighting

dwp says they filled the water tanks up. so what went wrong here?t mother nature having its way or was was the planning just a fail? >> i think it was a little bit of both. but in the end, when you have a job like that and your job is public safety, you have to imagine the worst. you have to be prepared for a low probability, high impact event. and in this case, they knew that they can get a fire that is this bad. we saw it happen in maui with lahaina, where that whole city disappeared in a matter of minutes or hours at most. they know this is possible. the brush conditions, the wind conditions here are identical to what we've seen in other devastating fires. yet when they talk about pre-positioning assets, you can't just pre-position assets. you have to have the right assets and the right quantity of assets. 1 or 2 planes is inadequate. you need a dozen planes or more. you need a whole fleet of helicopters, and you need thousands of firefighters on the ground ready to go at a moment's notice. what happened in this case? they had dozens of firefight

i talked really close with dwp today and we tried to figure out what they can do to help.luding three 1 million-gallon tanks that are in the palisades area. but it's really this simple, it's going to be impacted at the higher elevations. it's hard to get the pressure up when we are using so much water. it's made for domestic water supply. you are turning on your faucet and taking a shower, not pouring huge gpm's to fight countless structure fires. it's going to take an extreme demand, it's very difficult to refill them in time and so we have to triage those homes. do you have proper brush clearance? if not, good luck. >> trace: something chief that you would also recommend, the clearing of the brush? we talked about this earlier, we were on the air last night and they were saying the fire was at 2900 acres and now you are talking about 11,000. it's a pretty good clip and i know the wind is pushing that but also the brush. we had very wet years over the past couple of years and you see this brush, you see it's very green, it's very high and then all of a sudden we have seve

i know l.a., dwp, as well as water power. the water authority is ensuring that we can get the water we need, as well as we have, um, hundreds of water tenders in the area throughout the entire fire perimeter. of the 23,700 acres we have. you mentioned earlier, we are at 13% containment today. the fire activity was moderate. there wasn't much smoke in there, which is good, but we still have a lot of hotspots within the interior of that 23,000 acres. so it will be hot. luckily, today the red flag warning is pushing the winds back on to the fire. so that will be beneficial. so the winds are coming out of the north northeast. basically. >> got it. that's certainly if i may ask also about preventative actions, things that maybe you, the firefighters, have done the last couple of days trying to get the upper hand. can you just speak to some of those preventative, preventive, preventative actions that have been taken by firefighters to make it really essentially harder for fires to ignite or for current ones to spread? >> getting ou

early dwp _ under evacuation notice. early dwp is — under evacuation notice.wood recreation centre and adjacent to the — recreation centre and adjacent to the brentwood country club. please — to the brentwood country club. please continue to follow all drinking _ please continue to follow all drinking water advisories. la county— drinking water advisories. la county department of public health — county department of public health is also currently providing an 95 masks at all evacuation shelters and to community based due to ocean contamination, by the ireach— due to ocean contamination, by the beach at these locations, mate — the beach at these locations, mala point new melba terror three. — mala point new melba terror three. up— mala point new melba terror three, up and down the coasts, solstice — three, up and down the coasts, solstice canyon 100 yards up and down the coast from the creek — and down the coast from the creek in _ and down the coast from the creek. in camarillo beach in san — creek. in camarillo beach in san pedro. additional county resources