lilia luciano has that story. >> reporter: in altadena alone, almost 2,000 students have nowhere to go now. it's hard to make sense of the rubble, but this is the remains of what was the auditorium of a magnate middle school in altadena, one of many that have been completely destroyed. here we've seen parent students, and alumni show up and stare in disbelief. just a mile way, that is the shocks some fair oaks academy students were experiencing today. where is your classroom? >> right there. >> reporter: 7-year-old lucy can't wrap her mind around losing her school. when you close your eyes and you think about your school, what are you picturing in your mind? >> i'm just really saddened, because i loved that school. >> reporter: what did you love about it? >> i loved my friends there. i loved my teacher, i loved the playground and p.e. >> reporter: she says evacuating her home felt like a bad dream. >> i was really scared. i mean, it was in the middle of the night when it was happening. so i'm a little bit scare to have had dark. >> reporter: when 10-year-old hudson and his 7-year-old b

here's cbs' lilia luciano. >> reporter: in the devastated town of altadena, licensed wildlife rescuere wildlife and pets left behind when their owners evacuated. >> if a pet's in need we're going to take it. >> reporter: over the last week, fire officials have called on her team to catch and care for animals. they've gone to great lengths to reach them. even digging up tortoises in hibernation. >> my heart goes out to all the families that have lost their houses and their -- i'm trying to do what i can do to help them reunite them. >> reporter: watts has brought the animals to the pasadena humane society including goats and a pig that suffered burns on its belly. the shelter says it's now five times over capacity as vets care for animals with burns to the paws and skin, their whiskers singed. most are pets that now homeless residents can't care for at the moment. >> we're also very aware that thousands of people's homes are no longer there, and that's got to impact a lot of the pets who are in our care right now. >> reporter: jose hermoso hopes someone will find his family's two cats,

>> tony: lilia luciano with black smoke and flames still -- oof -- large there in altadena. on fire, lilia, thank you, that eaton fire is so large we have actually two crews on that since we are going to turn to cbs's kris van cleave to show how quickly the fire developed and the terrible toll it has already taken. >> reporter: the battle against the deadly eaton fire is now an around-the-clock fight. the wind-driven blaze exploded to more than 10,000 acres, ripping through homes, burning cars, and torching houses of worship. nearly 33,000 were forced to evacuate. there is so much wind right now, and these red-hot embers coming from all over. wherever they land, they can spark a fire. if it lands on a house, that house can go up in minutes. >> reporter: police scrambled to save lives. >> they were barely able to get people out before these structures started burning. >> reporter: more than 1400 firefighters from across california and several western states are struggling to beat back the l.a. county fire storm. residents of this nursing home had to be rushed to safety. >> thi

lilia luciano, thank you so much.oining us now to discuss the federal response to this disaster is "face the nation" moderator margaret brennan. and, margaret, this is expected to be one of the most expensive disasters ever in california. we know the federal government is offering its help. do we have a sense of what that's actually going to look like? >> margaret: we don't have a number yet, no, maurice, but we do know president biden has pledged that the federal government will provide 100% of funding for the first six months, but he's only president for ten more days, and it is not clear yet if donald trump plans to change the policy when he takes office. he's been publicly critical of california governor gavin newsom this week. during the first term, he threatened to withhold disaster assistance to newsom, but ultimately did approve it. late today, governor newsom invited mr. trump to california to work on the recovery effort together. here in washington, republican leaders tell cbs they are not opposed to putting

lilia luciano has more. >> reporter: in the new jersey city of inglewood, mayor michael j.unity are on edge. >> people are very concerned. even people who already achieved the golden grail, the greencard or citizenship are worried that there is somebody in their home. >> reporter: somebody who is undocumented and subject to a mass deportation campaign. tom homan, president-elect trump's so-called border czar told "the washington post" the administration will build tent structures capable of holding thousands of migrants at any given time. >> we need at least 100,000 beds. i'm not going to put a limit on it. at a minimum 100,000 beds because we have a big population to look for. >> reporter: it would give undocumented parents the choice of leaving children born in the united states behind or being deported with them. >> we're dealing here with american citizens who can't speak for themselves. >> reporter: is it constitutional? >> i don't think so. the administration is going to say we're not going to separate mom and dads. mom and dad, it's their privilege if they want to le

here's cbs' lilia luciano. >> reporter: in the devastated town of altadena, licensed wildfire rescuerretrieve wildfire and pets left behind when their owners evacuated. >> when the pet is in need and injured, we're going to take it. >> reporter: over the last week, firefighters have called on her team to catch and care for animals. they've gone to great lengths to reach them, even digging up tortoises in hibernation. >> my heart goes out to all the families that have lost their houses. so, i'm trying to do the best i can do reunite them. >> reporter: watts has brought the animals to the pasadena humane society, including goats and a pig that suffered burns on its belly. the shelter says it's now over five times capacity as vets care for animals with burns to the paws and skin, their whiskers singed. most are pets that now homeless residents can't care for at the moment. >> we're also very aware that thousands of people's homes are no longer there, and that's got to impact a lot of the pet who in our care right now. >> reporter: jose hermoso hopes someone will find his family's two cat

lilia luciano has more. >> reporter: the shocking increase in the number of people living without housingsurprise to cynthia english, who spent ten years experiencing homelessness. >> low-income housing is not truly affordable for those of us who make the least. >> reporter: according to the government's latest data, more than 770,000 people were unhoused in a single night in 2024, up 18% from the year before and the highest number ever recorded. >> it can happen to anybody. >> reporter: steve berg is the chief policy officer for the national alliance to end homelessness. would you say that the stigma around homelessness takes away from the priority to solve the issue? >> i believe it does. what we really need is we need communities to be committed to actually solving the problem and not just blaming people who are homeless. >> reporter: the united states department of housing and urban development blames the record-breaking increase on the rising cost of living. >> it costs more to rent a modest apartment than people make in a modest job. >> reporter: devastating natural disasters like t