let's bring in olympian gary hall jr. gary, thanks for being with us. you are smiling. i just want to ask, are you okay? and where are you now? i'm safe. i'm in encinitas with my sister, staying in a guest room, and i've got my dog cuddles and i'm safe. i lost all worldly possessions. i lost my home and i lost my business. and instantly. and i'm one of so many people in this boat and just trying to wrap my head around what has happened and plan out next steps. i remember my sportscasting days following you around the world, watching you compete. you've always had a really good perspective and it sounds like you still have that. what was going through your mind when you first heard that you had to evacuate? did you see flames? did you see smoke? yeah, i got the notice to evacuate about 10 to 15 minutes after the fire came racing down the hill and took my house. so i was one of the earliest ones, i think probably to see the flames and be in that proximity where i was able to get to safety. before the rush, i thought i was had reached a safece and the heart of the pacific

they facetimed with gary hall jr, showing him firsthand the destruction.ow, keep in mind most residents aren't allowed back to their properties yet, but journalists are. and there is some good news her the ioc has vowed to replace his medals five gold, three silver and two bronze to have the olympic committee, the international and united states olympic and paralympic committees organize this and such an expedited way. i'm really touched. it took a lot to do that, and it's extremely unusual for them to, you know, do that. and so that that solidarity with the olympic committee really makes me feel supported in this time of need. pretty nice. gary hall appearing on our 7 p.m. news tonight. the ioc keeps a reserve of non engraved medals from each of the olympics, which can then be engraved and distributed at a later date if needed. as for the 2028 olympics in l.a, it's unlikely the games will be moved, soo things are moving forward. so far, none of the marquee arenas or stadiums or athlete housing complexes have been damaged by any of the flames. the chairman

. >>> ten-time olympic medalist gary hall jr.he palisades fire but he will be getting his hardware back. the decorated swimmer says the international olympic committee will replace the olympic medals he lost. hall, who is now 50, won five gold, three silver and two bronze olympic medals during his career. >>> and coming up on "cbs mornings," in our series "three meals" vlad duthiers talks with voters in delaware about joe biden's presidential legacy. i'm michael george. this is "cbs news mornings." legacy. this is "cbs news mornings." lov. so, what if we lived tomorrow in the same place as we did yesterday? with help, we can. home instead. for a better what's next. ♪♪ taffy is a traveling dog. she just loves to go. her hip pain showed up when we would go on walks. she was diagnosed with osteoarthritis pain. our veterinarian recommended that we try librela. veterinary professionals administering librela who are pregnant, trying to conceive, or breastfeeding should take extreme care to avoid self-injection, which can cause allergic

meanwhile, one of the victims of the palisades fire is gary hall jr, a former olympic swimmer. he says he lost all ten of his olympic medals when the home he was renting burned down. as the fire approached his home, he started filling his car with all the essentials and after the first trip to the car, he felt hot. embers start to rain down on him. hall, who has diabetes, grabbed two final things before fleeing. his insulin and his dog, puddles. >> you find out a lot about yourself in that moment. and what was more important to me? the olympic medals or my dog? i, i guess my dog means more to me. >> he said it was hard to leave behind the medals that took a lifetime of work to win. according to a gofundme, hall ran a business out of his home, using his pool to teach children how to swim. now, as southern california struggles with the devastating wildfires, millions of people across the south are dealing with unprecedented levels of snowfall. arkansas measured 14in of snow. oklahoma saw up to a foot. parts of texas reached ten inches. memphis recorded 7.5in on friday, the most s

now, one of the victims of the palisades fire is gary hall jr, a former olympic swimmer. he says he lost all ten of his olympic medals when he was when the home he was renting burned down. and as the fire approached, he started filling his car with essentials. after the first trip to the car, he felt hot. embers start to rain down. hall, who has diabetes, grabbed two final things before fleeing his insulin and his dog, puddles. >> you find out a lot about yourself and that moment. and what was more important to me, the olympic medals or my dog? i, i guess my dog means more to me, he said it was hard to leave behind the medals that took a lifetime of work to win. >> according to a gofundme page, hall ran a business out of the home he lost using his pool to teach children how to swim. well, as southern california struggles with those devastating wildfires, millions of people across the south are dealing with this unprecedented levels of snowfall. arkansas measured 14in of snow. oklahoma saw up to a foot. parts of texas reached ten inches. memphis recorded 7.5in on friday, t

that is olympic gold medalist gary hall jr.. now one of the tens of thousands of people in california who have had their lives turned upside down, losing everything. so many in a matter of moments to these fires that are still raging across los angeles county. so many other people are facing the exact same horrible realityf a home in altadena. and then beautiful home, that it was just days ago. look at that side by side. this is what has been lost for our next guest, florence kearns wilson. she joins us right now. florence. thank you. we were just talking in the break. we are so sorry to see what has been lost by your family, you and your wife. you just moved into that home three weeks ago, right before christmas. i mean, how are you guys doing? >> that's right. yeah. i mean, how you expect we're lucky to be safe. >> um, we got out just in time with our baby and our two cats and my parents, who had actually evacuated to our house from their house. >> um, so, you know, in some ways, we're lucky, but we we lost absolutely everythi

. >> that was olympic swimmer gary hall jr., detailing onehart this hour. five wildfires are still raging across los angeles county, burning through nearly 36,000 acres. that's larger than the entire city of miami. but the nightmare is very far from over. as the most destructive palisades fire is just 8% contained. here's what mayor karen bass said moments ago i want the residents of los angeles region to have faith in what we are doing 24 hours a day. >> i can say on behalf of our first responders from the fire department, the police department, we are doing everything we can to bring the situation under control and success has been reported. >> i want to get straight to cnn's stephanie elam, who is in altadena, california, one of the many neighborhoods that has been absolutely decimated by one of the five fires that's out there. stephanie, how is it looking now? >> yeah, it looks worse by daylight. dana, when you see it, i'm looking here at this area where you have almost this entire block taken out, but then you've got one house that made it so that's a

. >> one of the victims of the palisades fire is gary hall jr. he's a former olympic swimmer.lost all ten of his olympic medals when his home that he was renting burned down. as the fire approached his home, he started filling his car with essentials. after the first trip to the car, he felt the hot trip embers rain down. hall, who has diabetes, grabbed two final things before getting out of there. his insulin and his dog puddles. >> you find out a lot about yourself and that moment. and what was more important to me, the olympic medals or my dog. i, i guess my dog means more to me. >> he said it was hard to leave behind the medals that took a lifetime of work to win. according to a gofundme. hall ran a business out of the home he lost, using his pool to teach children how to swim. the san francisco spca is hoping to make room for animals impacted by the wildfires in los angeles. they have more than 50 puppies in need of forever homes right now to help make space for animals in need. down south, they say they are waiving adoption fees for all puppies, which is pretty rare, so