and orly as they returned to their palisades home of 20 years for the first time since the fire. >>to my house and be there and see it in person and mourn it in person, and i wanted to do it with orly. >> maurice: you said mourning in person. >> yeah, i loved this house. this house was really a member of the family. and just to see the destruction is just... it's just gut-wrenching. >> maurice: hidden in the rubble, memories. >> this is crazy. it survived! >> bennington, vermont. we've had this for probably 40 years. >> maurice: the israel family has had to move to three different locations since evacuating, living essentially as nomads. what are you going to do now? >> that's a really good question, and i don't know. >> maurice: but not all is lost. >> i'm really sad for my community. that everybody, everybody has lost everything. i've just had so many wonderful times here, and the good news for me is i still remember those times, the times aren't gone, the memories aren't gone. the house is gone, but the love that was in the house, that is still in me. >> maurice: david told me he

orly is a house in the palisades. there's some video of. believe it shows i haven't seen it myself. of orly. uh, just trying to do what he can to. to save the house, to water things down. let's take a look and then we'll talk to them. bro, i don't know, all right, dude. >> yeah. let's get out of here. we tried, we tried, bro. i'm sorry. sorry. um, we tried our best. >> yeah, and when this tree falls over. >> i'm sorry, bro. i'll get out of here. >> oh, holy if that tree falls with it, no. >> just let it burn. and god protect this house in the name of jesus. protect this neighborhood, god. in jesus name i pray. amen. >> this tree is going to kill us. >> i there's nothing we can do now, bro. nothing we can do now. >> orly and tanner joining us now. how are you? how are you guys doing? i'm so sorry. we're talking under these circumstances. >> you know, every time i watch this video, i got to watch myself running away from the battle of a lifetime. you know, the the sound of these fire alarms going off everywhere in the house. every time this v

tanner charles and orly, israel also has a house in the palisades.re's some video of, i believe it showed. i haven't seen it myself of orly. uh, just trying to do what he can to. to save the house, to water things down. let's take a look and then we'll talk to them. bro, i don't. >> oh, all right, dude. yeah. let's get out of here. we tried, we tried, bro. i'm sorry, i'm sorry. we tried our best. >> yeah. when this tree falls over. >> i'm sorry, bro, i'll get out of here. >> oh. holy. >> if that tree falls with it, no, just let it burn. and god protect this house in the name of jesus protect this neighborhood, god. in jesus name i pray. amen. this tree is going to kill us. i. there's nothing we can do now, bro. nothing we can do now. >> orly and tanner joining us now. how are you? how are you guys doing? i'm so sorry. we're talking under these circumstances. >> you know, every time i watch this video, i got to watch myself running away from the battle of a lifetime. you know, the the sound of these fire alarms going off everywhere in the house. every

just being in the town, knowing orly was living in this neighborhood.o document the fire but ended up running into him just out of happenstance. so we went up and saw the fire as it current closer to the neighborhood. as things got closer, we ended up going to his house and another friend's house who is a couple blocks away. we were just preparing the house. we were just, like, putting water on all the bushes and all over the house. we were taking cushions off, anything that was flammable, just trying to do our best to make sure the house was as fire proof as possible. but then, as you can see in the video, it got to be too much and we just -- you know, we had to leave. it wasn't safe anymore. >> robin: you had to leave. tanner, i heard you saying, we tried, we tried. as you all described, did everything you possibly could to help your friend there. orly, what was going through your mind when this all was happening? >> i fought as best i could. you know, i was blazing that fire with a garden hose until i couldn't get close to it. my eyes are still sting

this is orli's home. there is -- there is literally nothing left. >> david: while back at that home in pacific palisades, that father telling me he is grateful that he has his family. they lost everything, but they have each other. and he also believes tonight that every one of his immediate neighbors were saved, too. i think it's impossible for people around the country to look at this and understand the scope of this devastation. >> right. >> david: where everything is gone. but you've got your boys and you've got your wife. >> yes, exactly, exactly. and we figure out the rest. >> david: i'm glad you're here. >> thanks. >> david: and that you're okay. >> thank you so much. >> david: thank you. you know, that father like so many we have spoke with here, incredibly resilient. they've lost everything, but their strength here is really quite something. it is hard to truly grasp the staggering damage right here behind men, but kabc helicopter pilot scott rife flying above us, describing to me what he saw. >>

i know you went over to help orly. what's this? what was it like for you? >> yeah. for me, i was just happy and glad to be there. just to help him in a time of need. um. uh, i don't know. i haven't been friends with orly too long, but i know him enough to to know that i just really appreciate who he is as a human and who he is in general. and so just being in the proper place at the proper time to help him was just, you know, like this, like when natural disasters happen like this specific fire they were fleeing is around pacific palisades. >> we just heard from an official 17,000 acres have burned there, and that's just one of the five blazes in los angeles county right now. let's get to pacific palisades. cnn's maribel gonzalez standing by there. what are you seeing at this moment, maribel? >> yeah, john. good morning. well, we're here in this very block in the downtown area of pacific palisades, just around ten hours ago. and this shop that you see behind us, it was still standing at that time this morning when we were driving up, we saw completely burned to the

[no audio] alicia: and it sounds like we have lost connection with orly israel. but we do appreciate his time and wish the best to his family. >>> moving on, president biden remaining in washington this weekend following a q&a with reporters last night on a range of topics including how he thinks the election would have gone if he had stayed in. lucas tomlinson is live9 from the white house with the latest. hi, lucas. >> reporter: good afternoon, alicia. that's right. first, we heard over the holidays if from anonymous sources that that biden thinks he should have stayed in the race, maybe could have won, then he said the same thing to susan page of "usa today," and and last night if biden told reporters he thinks he would have won the race. >> i think i would have beaten trump, could have beaten trump, and i think that kamala could have beaten trump and would have beaten trump. it wasn't about -- i thought it was important to unify the party. and when the party was worried about whether or not i was going to be able to move -- >> reporter: it's not clear what bi

. >> and pray that this neighborhood god tanner charles and his friend orly israel barely made it outisrael's burning home alive. the two friends tried to save orly's home, but finally had to flee. >> you can see the sparks in the air. it's like a snowstorm, but the snow hurts your skin. every time i watch this video, i got to watch myself running away from the battle of a lifetime. we stayed there way longer than anyone should have. and still lost. >> many los angeles residents armed with garden hoses, pool pumps and buckets, tried heroically to save their homes. but getting out with the fires close wasn't easy. it's time to get out of the house. >> where are the car keys? oh. mom. turn around. no! turn around, turn around, turn around, turn around. >> oh my god. turn around. mom! >> people just abandon their cars. >> and people running down the streets with their babies and their dogs and running towards the ocean. >> there's only one road to get out. but at the time that we needed to evacuate, there was more fires on that road. >> for natalie mitchell and her family, we got to get

our next guest his name is orly israel. he lives in the palisades with his parents he is 30 years old. when the fires broke out tea and different tried to come up here. tried to come up here had to save their home and fight to save their home in the heat. he will tell us how the fight went and how he finally got out and could not save his home. his story is next. >> got to get out of here. nothing we can do now, nothing we can do now, bro. can do now. can keep coming back. start to break away from uc with tremfya... with rapid relief at 4 weeks. tremfya blocks a key source of inflammation. at one year, many people experienced remission... and some saw 100% visible healing of their intestinal lining. serious allergic reactions and increased risk of infections may occur. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tb. tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms or if you need a vaccine. healing is possible with tremfya. ask your doctor about tremfya today. ♪ at betmgm, everyone gets a we

also being there for orly and his family. they are going through a lot right now.g there emotionally. whatever i can help donate, my time or energy, i am here. i was originally supposed to go back to minnesota, where i'm from, yesterday, but i decided to stay so i can help. to be honest, i just want to help everyone who has been affected. annita: good luck with that and thank you for talking to us on bbc news on "the context." as i've been chatting to tanner, you'll see on the screens images of the firefighting planes in the air. originally, this was part of the reason why flames were able to take hold, spread so fast because of the high wind. the planes were not able to get up and drop water strategically on the flames but there has been a bit of a lull in the wind, so planes have been able to get up which is why we are seeing some progress, although modest still in containing a couple of the fires. forecasters come as we mentioned, are predicting the wind could strengthen again through the weekend, so that raises all sorts of questions about the ability to hold t

. >> tanner scharff, a storm chaser, was at his friend orly, israel's home. >> we were just like, youer on all the bushes and on all over the house. we were taking, you know, cushions off anything that was flammable, just trying to do our best to make sure that the house was as fireproof as possible. but then, as you can see in the video, it's just it got to be too much. all right, dude. >> yeah. let's get out of here. we tried, we tried, bro. >> i'm sorry. >> running away. the homes, the trees all around them. on fire, too. >> there's nothing we can do now, bro. >> and then they pray. >> god protect this house in the name of jesus. protect this neighborhood, god. in jesus name i pray. amen. >> my eyes are still stinging from the smoke and the flames, and just praying that my house is still there, and knowing that so many people i know and love have just lost everything. >> 30 miles east of the palisades. the eaton fire killing at least five people, according to the l.a. county sheriff, the pasadena jewish center completely engulfed senior citizens in nursing and assisted living homes

. >> capture the moments when tanner charles and his friend orly israel made their escape from israel's burning home. >> you know, i feel like we fought a losing battle, but we fought it. >> and i'm glad we made it out alive right now. >> frankly, we don't know yet. we eventually will. >> but worry is growing across the region. at least five deaths have been confirmed, but officials stress those numbers may rise. >> at one point, we'll be able to do a more thorough search of these impacted areas. some of them look like a bomb was dropped in them, where we will be able to bring in canines and other things to help us. um, hopefully not discover too many fatalities. that's our prayer. but this is a crisis and we don't know what to expect. >> we don't know. back here, live in altadena. what is happening here? but it looks like some of the residents in this neighborhood who are returning home. they found an injured dog. um, you know, so as people come back into altadena and into the pahome. t injured dog. um, you know, so as people come back into altadena and into the palisades to try to fig

orly israel, how much time — out of there. orly israel, how much time did _ out of there.of there. orly israel, how much time did you have - out of there. orly israel, how| much time did you have when out of there. orly israel, how- much time did you have when you made that decision that you had to get out? give us a kind of timeframe. to get out? give us a kind of timeframe— to get out? give us a kind of timeframe. ~ ., timeframe. well, we were told to evacuate — timeframe. well, we were told to evacuate around _ timeframe. well, we were told to evacuate around 10am, - timeframe. well, we were told to evacuate around 10am, mayj timeframe. well, we were told i to evacuate around 10am, may be 11am: _ to evacuate around 10am, may be "am, but — to evacuate around 10am, may be 11am, but we probably didn't leave — 11am, but we probably didn't leave until 5pm because we are battling — leave until 5pm because we are battling the fire. we had garden _ battling the fire. we had garden hoses and we were fighting until we couldn't stay there — fighting until we couldn't stay there an