sheila kelliher. this has been truly unbelievable to watch. just last night there were less fires to contend with. now there are even more and it is spreading and they are continuing to rage. what is the status of now? these six fires at this hour? >> you said it and i might say bill did a great job explaining all of that. he nailed it on the head. uh, the six fires, the hollywood hills. i used to work in that district, uh, in the early 2000. and we did fight a few fires in the hollywood hills. it's steep. it's rough terrain. and the only thing we, i think have going for us now this evening is that the wind is definitely starting to die down a little bit. um, we'll take anything that we can get based on what the weather predictions say. it's supposed to even lay down a little bit more by tomorrow. so we're hoping for that. that lets us get an upper hand on some of these fires, and we can really start to go to work without battling the erratic winds. that's what we're up against in every single one of these fires. >> how do you capitalize on th

sheila kelliher. it's good to see you again, captain. i know that you have been informing the public about all that's happening, and we appreciate that so much. and we're learning that, i mean, really, these these fires are nowhere near contained. what is your top concern at this very hour? >> yeah. thank you for having me again, laura. and yes, i think our top concern is going into the next two days. we have more high wind warnings coming. our red flag conditions kick in through tomorrow and maybe a little bit beyond. so it's that constant battle of the winds flaring up that make this incredibly challenging, especially in the palisades and the eaton canyon fire. >> you know, the national weather service is warning that the winds, the dry conditions could complicate further the efforts into even next week. i mean, fighting against these wildfires has been your mission for, what, 25 years? do you think it's possible to have a more effective firefighting system when these winds continue to happen and they're still on the horizon? >> i thin

uh, kelliher. i'm sorry. thomas reno and chris maddox. guys, i'm sorry. uh, chris reno, uh, a little bit sleepy, i apologize. um, first of all, how are you guys doing? you decided to evacuate from your place in altadena for viewers who are watching. two days ago, we were in altadena. when? when it was just completely decimated. you evacuated early. what made you decide? when did you realize you should get out? >> we. >> pretty early. >> i mean, what happened was we knew it was going to be a weird day. >> there was the santa ana winds were were blowing through and and our friends chris and elizabeth from down the road called us saying there was a fire in eden canyon and they needed to evacuate. they came over and and so we realized that, well, we're we're safe. you know, we don't have an evacuation notice in our area, but then we could see a fire growing along the ridge coming toward us from our front porch. and so we decided what to do. and so we packed our bag, um, because they had offered us to go with them to their son's school. apricot lane farms in m

county fire fire captain sheila kelliher, who we've been talking to pretty much every night that we've been here. appreciate you being back with us again. um, a couple of things to get to. let's talk about the winds. first. anticipated winds tomorrow. kicking up tomorrow morning. obviously, that's a big concern all across this area. putting up on screen, sort of where the winds may be worse. what are your what are your concerns? >> just know this. if this is an incident wasn't going on, we'd be all preparing for a red flag warning right now. >> so the rest of the county that hasn't been impacted by these fires, that's what they're up against. so not only can that flare up what we have going here, we've got a lot of people in place. they're ready. they've got their their game plan and their mission. on how to keep that from exacerbating. but the rest of the county really is ready for red flags, not even just the areas where the fire has already been that it might kick up. >> that's correct. something from the ground that would become an ember. it's fresh areas that have not been burned

fire department captain sheila kelliher barco. captain, thank you so much for joining us and for keeping us constantly up to speed for well over a day now. i wonder what you can tell us right now about the latest fire to break out. >> so we have that sunset fire, which is in kind of the hollywood hills area. and right now, the last reports, it's still sitting at about ten acres. i did see some video footage, and there is some pretty extreme fire and flame links right there. so they may have hit a really strong fuel pocket in there. all i can hope is that the wind is really starting to die down a little bit now, compared to 7080 mile an hour winds that we had yesterday, even 40 mile an hour can still cause a lot of damage. so, um, they're throwing a bunch of resources at it and pulling everybody so they can contain that, because there is definitely in the path, you know, moving down with the wind is struck. so that's really concern. so they're really trying to do everything they can to catch this one quickly. >> and with things get

. >> captain sheila kelliher, please be safe. the images that you have on your phone that we're seeing behind you are just so scary. please be safe. >> thank you. you guys take care. >> we've got back cnn's nick watt, who is in pacific palisades. nick, we were just speaking to the fire captain. unbelievable images. and here you are with the blaze behind you. what are you seeing? >> well, laura, for the past few hours, we've been driving up around these little narrow roads through the mountains in the pacific palisades. and pretty much every street you drive on, you find a scene like this. we stumbled upon this house. five minutes later, the fire crews arrived. they're going to go in and see what they can do. i mean, obviously, they're not going to save this house, but those flames, those embers are dangerous. they will be carried on the wind, and they can start fires a mile, two miles away from here. so that's what they're trying to do here. obviously, this house is a goner. we have seen so many houses up here just destroyed, and

i want to go over to captain kelliher.m, who we talked to last night about what was going on in the pacific palisades. at that point, she was talking about possibly evacuating the the the place where they were. captain, i appreciate you taking the time to talk to us. what is the situation now in the pacific palisades? >> listen, we still have an active fire fight. we have 0% containment. we're at 15,000 acres, so we are not out of the woods on this one. it's going to take a while to get our arms around this one. the good news is the winds are starting to slow down a little bit, that they're not gone by any stretch. but compared to last night, what we endured last night from 10:00 on, it was brutal. those winds were hurricane force winds and the embers that your guest was talking about, it was like sleeting fire. that's how much it was. and they were just casting off and and, you know, in every direction miles down the road. so it has been a long 34 hours for sure. >> i know you shot some video shortly after we talked. did

sheila kelliher. this has been truly unbelievable to watch. just last night there were less fires to contend with. now there are even more and it is spreading and they are continuing to rage. what is the status of now? these six fires at this hour? >> you said it and i might say bill did a great job explaining all of that. he nailed it on the head. uh, the six fires, the hollywood hills. i used to work in that district in the early 2000, and we did fight a few fires in the hollywood hills. it's steep. it's rough terrain, and the only thing we, i think have going for us now this evening is that the wind is definitely starting to die down a little bit. um, we'll take anything that we can get based on what the weather predictions say. it's supposed to even lay down a little bit more by tomorrow. so we're hoping for that. that lets us get an upper hand on some of these fires, and we can really start to go to work without battling the erratic winds. that's what we're up against in every single one of these fires. >> how do you capitalize on that sl

. >> reporter: captain kelliher berkoh is with the fire department. >> we come up with strategies andtics on how to fight this fire, wind is every way, which with is it blowing, swirl around and how high is it going to get? >> tony: and rob marciano is with us now. rob, you know, weather is enough to win or lose wars, so it makes sense it is enough to win or lose a fight against a fire. >> reporter: it looks like a war map. 20,000 acres and the red around it is the perimeter. any black is containment. there is zero black right now, that is what we're up against, and my new friend rich tells me the winds are going to get hired tonight. that is what we have in store. critical fire danger and red flag warnings remained up in super dry conditions with winds that will increase -- we are already started to feel them a little bit, but they come up another ten, 20, 30 miles per hour overnight. the next 24 hours is pretty critical, could have new fire starts and maybe some spreads, as well. on top of that, the smoke the next 24 to 48 to 72 hours through the weekend will be very intense, and wh

mother nature just has to cooperate. >> well, our prayers are with you, captain kelliher. the fire and the first responders have been just incredible during this. >> thank you, thank you. >> we will tell folks how they can help out. >>> and right now let's turn to that breaking news in the middle east, progress towards a hostage deal. the most significant in months is now being reported. what does it mean for captives held for more than a year including americans? nbc chief correspondent richard engel joins us once again from the region this morning. richard, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, craig. well, we have been down this road before. but i'm told by a senior arab negotiator, someone i have known for a long time, he's directly involved in these talks, that the sides are closer now than they have been in many months. that this came after the qatari prime minister, and these talks are taking place in qatar, has been working on this 24/7 in the last two weeks. and particularly when he was joined by president-elect trump's envoy joined this process, they've been m

i'm with captain sheila kelliher. you and i have been talking every night. you were in this parking lot the first night you had to evacuate. first of all, i want to ask you about this. i mean, this looks like a pretty big fire that is now happening over a pretty big flare up. >> you were there today. that was right at fernwood. and as you go up a little bit further and try to. so that's all part of that topanga canyon area. they did a really great job inserting crews over there and getting dozer line around it, because their goal is to really protect those homes up by fernwood. so which is good. so they are accomplishing that goal. but we're not out of the woods yet. this this wind you can feel is laying down a little bit. so we have a little time to get the upper hand before the winds kick back up later this weekend. >> i was so impressed by just watching the operations around fernwood today. i mean, this is a community we're talking maybe, i don't know, 10 to 15 homes. it was hard to tell. there were there must have been 30 airdrops of of retardant and wat

uh, i want to talk to, um, uh, captain sheila kelliher, who's joining us now? captain, i appreciate you joining us. what's the latest, uh, that you can tell us? >> listen. we're here. i'm at the palisades base camp, and we got notification about two hours ago. we have another fire on the other side of this canyon, uh, in the west hills calabasas area up in the victory trailhead. let's start off with 50 acres. it's now at 791, but our crews are doing an incredible job trying to get the arms. that's the kenneth fire. yes. and the. they've had a ton of air support. they are, uh, striping that by the homes with the fire retardant. and they're doing an incredible job. but they have, um, they, they are dealing with spotting fires. so that's going to be something that we're paying attention to all night. so we have got our hands full on all sides of this county. >> you know, it's so remarkable how from the air you can see embers going and and another fire starting, you know, a mile away from a fire like this. i was watching this last night and with some of the fires t

. >> captain sheila kelliher, burko, thank you so much, and thank you for all that you and your colleaguesthese fires. and right now, 13 million people are under the highest fire alert level in southern california. as you just heard her talk about it, another santa ana wind event combined with low humidity is about to sweep through the region. now, this morning already winds peaked at 72mph north of la. they're expected to weaken slightly this afternoon, but then again, ramp right back up here with us. nbc meteorologist bill karins. so give us the idea about exactly where the biggest threat is and what we're expecting tonight. >> yeah, this is la county. >> this is outside of the downtown area. so that's why we're not talking about la city proper, the downtown area like the last time. and we're halfway through this event. it's about a 48 hour event. we're 24 hours in. but last night the winds kicked up. we had those gusts of 50 to 61. case 72, but no new fires have started. we have visible satellite imagery. we could see if there's any smoke plumes. there's none. right now. the air quality

. >> los angeles fire department captain sheila kelliher, with a long week ahead.or you and all the members of the fire department keeping us safe. we appreciate is and appreciate all of you folks. >>> much more coverage still to come with a malibu city councilman, who was forced to evacuate. >>> plus, more of the devastating scenes emerging on the ground. >>> it's just incredible, guys, as we look at this. just -- just deeply saddened. there are no words. this is just like an inferno. you see the palm trees sway, as these winds continue to intensify. we just hope for a little mercy. i had to take cover behind the car, because the winds were so bad. the winds were so bad, it burned my helmet here. it flew away. and fortunately, i had a second one. ♪♪ well would you look at that? jerry, you've got to see this. i've seen it. trust me, after 15 walks, it gets a little old. ugh. i really should be retired by now. wish i'd invested when i had the chance... to the moon! unbelievable. stop waiting. start investing. e*trade ® from morgan stanley. nice to meet ya. my name i

i want to go over captain kelliher. who's we talked to last night about what was going on in the pacific palisades. at that point, she was talking about possibly evacuating the the the place where they were. captain, i appreciate you taking the time to talk to us. what is the situation now in the pacific palisades listen, we still have an active fire fight. >> we have 0% containment. we're at 15,000 acres, so we are not out of the woods on this one. it's going to take a while to get our arms around this one. the good news is the winds are starting to slow down a little bit, that they're not gone by any stretch. but compared to last night, what we endured last night from 10:00 on, it was brutal. those winds were hurricane force winds and the embers that your guest was talking about, it was like sleeting fire. that's how much it was. and they were just casting off and and, you know, in every direction miles down the road. so it has been a long 34 hours for sure. >> i know you shot some video shortly after we talked. did y

. >> captain sheila kelliher, as always, thank you so much. >> appreciate you for having us. >> if you want to know how you can help, you can check out cnn.com/impact for a number of information on organizations that are doing good work here in the los angeles area that cnn.com/impact. that's it for us. the news continues here on cnn. >> it's tuesday, january 14th right now on cnn this morning never, never, never, ever give up. >> the verge of an agreement israel and hamas may be making progress in hostage and ceasefire talks. >> officials say a deal could be imminent. plus, breaking overnight, special counsel jack smith's election subversion report detailing what it says is donald trump's, quote, criminal efforts to retain power and the danger has absolutely not passed. bracing for explosive fire growth, dangerous winds picking up overnight in southern california as a new fire sparks. then later, this is a uniquely unqualified, dangerous nominee in the hot seat. trump's pick to lead the pentagon, pete will sit before senators today. does he have enough support to win confirmation? all

uh, captain sheila kelliher, who's joining us now? captain, i appreciate you joining us. what's the latest, uh, that you can tell us? >> listen. we're here. i'm at the palisades base camp, and we got notification about two hours ago. we have another fire on the other side of this canyon, uh, in the west hills. calabasas area up in the victory trailhead that started off as 50 acres. it's now at 791, but our crews are doing an incredible job trying to get their arms. that's the kenneth fire. yes. and the they've had a ton of air support. they are, uh, striping that by the homes with the fire retardant. and they're doing an incredible job. but they have um, they, they are dealing with spotting fires. so that's going to be something that we're paying attention to all night. so we have got our hands full on all sides of this county. >> you know, it's so remarkable how from the air you can see embers going and and another fire starting, you know, a mile away from a fire like this. i was watching this last night and some of the fires that were in the hollywood hills and elsewher

captain kelliher. thank you. new fire video that we have, i believe, from the hollywood hills. um, that this is the new fire. i believe that's that's begun. uh, not sure the extent. it's runyon canyon. i'm being told 10,000 acres was the last estimate i heard very active. the smoke here is thick. it is dark and there's a lot of fire crews here. they are working these incredible shifts. i want to toss it over now to kaitlan collins and the source. >> this is cnn breaking news. >> good evening. this is the source live from capitol hill tonight, where president elect donald trump has just wrapped up a critical meeting behind closed doors with senate republicans attempting to hash out a plan that could make or break his agenda once he retakes office in a matter of days. it's not an exaggeration. and one of the senators who was in that meeting is going to join me live here shortly. but we start tonight in los angeles, where there are six wildfires now raging right now at this hour. five are four of those are fires that i should note that we are seeing here. out of these, six are sti