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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Crews Battling New Fire On Border Of Los Angeles And Ventura Counties; Monster Fires In Los Angeles County, Mostly Uncontained; Race To Contain L.A. Fires Intensifies As Winds Strengthen; New Fire Getting Closer To Homes; Kenneth Fire Swells From 50 To Nearly 1,000 Acres In Just Hours. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired January 09, 2025 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[20:00:00]

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: My sons and I just and we stay in our house and hope for the best, and were totally fine. This, I mean --

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: But these new alerts that have come out but it turns out some of them are not real --

WATT: Yes.

BURNETT: -- have caused real fear.

WATT: Totally. So, I've been getting texts in the past hour from Santa Monica. People are packing up their cars, getting ready to leave because they've all got these alerts.

And so -- and no alert went out to at least Santa Monica to say this was a mistake. So, people are freaking out, people are on edge.

BURNETT: Yes, for sure and of course the winds anticipate to pick up. Nick Watt, thank you very much.

Let's hand it off now to Anderson Cooper also here in Los Angeles.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": And good evening. We are reporting tonight from a staging area along the Pacific Coast Highway in the Pacific Palisades, where we have spent the day. I want to show you some images from Malibu, from the Pacific Palisades and from the Topanga Canyon area, where my team and I were much of today.

You just get a sense of all the activity that has been going on in this area. And of course, this is just one of the fires. The Palisades Fire is one of the fires, zero containment at this point. The other, the Eaton Fire, zero containment at this point, 1,500 firefighters are focused on the Eaton Fire. That's the area that that hit Altadena where I was yesterday and that is still very active as well.

There is so much to tell you about over the course of the next hour. The National Guard have been called in according to authorities. There have been some looters who have been arrested. That is obviously a concern. Another concern, there are so many things that firefighters have to deal with now.

I want to -- we, as I told you, we spent the day up in Topanga, the Topanga Canyon area. It is a very different terrain, obviously, than in Altadena. It is mountainous terrain and it presents a lot of challenges for firefighters. I want to show you some of what we saw over the last eight or so hours.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: As of this afternoon, the Palisades Fire, which we are right now on the northern edge of, is the one that concerns fire crews most. Obviously, they are battling all the fires that are going on. You can see a helicopter that's used to drop water flying over this area. We're in Topanga right now.

And, what is happening here is there are two smaller fires which are moving up this hill and have been over the last hour or so. The firefighters here have been watching this. Just tracking its progress as they prepare.

Over the ridge, there is a community. There's a residential community, there's homes. That is, of course, what they are trying to defend. This is just one small part of the Palisades Fire, obviously.

But what they are trying to do for the entire Palisades Fire is use bulldozers, in some cases using shovels, whatever they can to build a perimeter around the fire.

So, we've seen three drops from these helicopters of water just on this one spot in the last ten minutes. There's a number of helicopters with water circling, trying to find the best locations for them to actually put down some water.

But this is a persistent fire that's been moving up this mountain. It looked like the helicopters had put it out, but it keeps flaring up again. There's also spotter aircraft, spotter helicopters which go around trying to assess where it is they should put water down.

Over on this ridge, a large crew of firefighters. Those are actually inmates who have volunteered to learn firefighting skills. They are working, clearing -- you see, the road they're on, that's a road likely created by bulldozers earlier to kind of create a fire line. They are now widening that road, clearing out more underbrush, and then they will move to other locations.

But this is a very active spot. This is the northern edge of the Palisades Fire. And they are certainly -- because the wind has died down today, they're able to get a lot more air assets in the sky and a lot more water coming down.

They've dropped a lot of water from helicopters over in the last hour or so. It seems like the wind shifted and suddenly the fire just erupted.

JEFF GILBERT, WILLIAMS FIRE PROTECTION AUTHORITY, CHIEF: Exactly, you know, afternoons they get the wind shifts up here. So, that's exactly what's happened and they had to vacate the line that we thought were going to put in. So, back to a contingency line. Come down around these houses and just try to cut this bowl off.

COOPER: You guys are doing incredible work. Is this the worst you've seen?

GILBERT: We're from Northern California, so this is a little bit different down here.

COOPER: There's another fire now. There's a residential community right over here. But there is another fire, as you can see on the other side of it. So, there's a lot of different areas that crews are trying to work on. They're trying to kind of build a defensive perimeter around the entire part of this northern edge of this fire. But it is a very dynamic situation. It is changing.

The good news is the wind has died down. They're able to get a lot of these air assets. But, you know, just watching this one little tiny part of the Palisades Fire, seeing numerous water drops on it and yet the fire comes back. So, it is a very tough battle right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[20:05:38]

COOPER: So, we just left that area and right as we were leaving, that fire had started back up again. So even though there were multiple drops by helicopters, another crew was coming in to try to build more of a fire line.

To me, it is such a microcosm of the battle so many firefighters are facing in so many different areas. These are just very tricky conditions and they are working very, very long hours. As we said, the National Guard has been called in. Firefighters still coming from a lot of different areas as well.

I want to talk to some of the folks who have been most affected by this. We saw this video of a man named Aaron Samson and his dad using a walker. They evacuated from Aaron's dad's house in the Pacific Palisades.

As you know, for a lot of people getting out there was that traffic jam, essentially the fire moving fast. People were told by firefighters, you got to get out of your vehicles. You got to walk. I want to bring Aaron in now.

Aaron, I appreciate you spending the time with us. First of all, how are you and how's your dad doing right now?

AARON SAMSON, ESCAPED PACIFIC PALISADES FIRE WITH FATHER-IN-LAW: Thanks so much, Anderson. We are doing okay. We're both alive. So that's the most important thing.

My father-in-law is safe down in the San Diego area. I'm back home in the Berkeley area, and he did lose his house. We did confirm that, but the most important thing is that we're alive. COOPER: Your dad, I understand, has Parkinson's. He is recovering from surgery. I can't imagine how concerning it must have been for you dealing with your father-in-law, getting him to safety. Can you just talk a little bit about your evacuation?

SAMSON: Yes, it was probably the most intense thing I've ever dealt with in my life. So, I was staying at his house. I was taking care of him because he recently had surgery just a few days ago. And I was alone. We didn't have a car because my wife took the car and the kids to go back to Northern California.

We get a ping about the fire, but it was an evacuation order. It was, you know, there's a fire in the area.

So, at first I'm just casually, "Hey, dad, we might need to go," and I'm packing a bag, and then I go look up outside and I see flames not far from his house. I'm like, "Dad, we've got to go. We've got to go."

And my father-in-law, he didn't want to evacuate at the time. And then I got my wife on the phone and she said, "Dad, you're putting in danger the father of my children's lives. You need to leave now."

So, at that point, I'm scrambling to try and call an Uber, I call 911. Nothing is working. So then I go outside on Glenhaven where he lives, and I just start running, trying to find neighbors. Can you please help? Can you please help?

And a lot of neighbors were frantic and they were packing and getting their family in order, and there weren't that many people left. But I found this one Good Samaritan neighbor who we didn't know, his name is Jeff, and he pulled up his car and he said, "Hop in."

So at that point, I got my father-in-law, you know, got the walker ready. Grabbed his medicine, his Parkinson's medicine.

COOPER: And by the way, Aaron, I think we have video of you doing this and getting it. Let's just play that.

SAMSON: Yes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAMSON: There's a fire, Dad, do you see it?

FATHER-IN-LAW: No.

SAMSON: There's one of the many fires.

FATHER-IN-LAW: Where is the fire?

SAMSON: Right here, look to your right, Dad, there's one of the fires.

FATHER-IN-LAW: I can't see.

SAMSON: Are you okay?

FATHER-IN-LAW: That's really close to my house.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: I mean, it's just so terrifying.

SAMSON: Yes.

COOPER: So, you got into one person's car, then what happened?

SAMSON: I got into Jeff's car and we're driving, and there were fires. As you can see, it got worse and worse. And as we got toward the bottom of the hill, the cars were just stopped. And that's what you see on the video here. Everything was stopped.

And at that point the fire leaped and was like 15 feet away from the cars. And the cops were like, "Get out of the vehicles, get out of the vehicles."

They started just running up and everyone, that's where my video started, another video started, and everyone just started getting out of the car. There were some frantic people yelling, and I was trying to get my Dad just safely down that hill, you know, toward the PCH so we can get out of danger.

At that point, the flames were so close, my father-in-law turns back. He said, if they get any closer, you just run. He said you just run, and I was like, we're not going to get there, Dad. We're not get there.

And, then he sees me struggling another person.

[20:10:12]

So, Jeff, I said goodbye to, you know, we quickly said goodbye and then another person, a kind man, saw my dad and I struggling. It was apocalyptic. He pulls up his car. He was trying to get to his house in the Palisades, they won't let him through. His pets were there but he couldn't do anything, so he said, "Can I help? Get in the car, let me take you somewhere."

Another kind man, Andrew, just helped us. We got in the car. He was in shock. We were all in shock. And he's trying to get past and get us out of there. It was -- you don't really realize the danger of the situation until you're in it. You don't realize the gravity until well after.

But I certainly realize it now. And I'm so grateful to both Jeff and Andrew. They saved our lives. They really did. And I'm very grateful to them.

COOPER: Well, I think there's video of you moving, trying to get your Dad down the hill. I just want to show that.

SAMSON: Yes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SAMSON: We got this. We got this, Dad.

FATHER-IN-LAW: Slow down, now, slow down.

SAMSON: I can't do this. Look at this. I got him in the wheelchair.

FATHER-IN-LAW: Don't talk anymore. I don't know how far, Aaron. If it turns out. As the fire catches up, run for safety. Don't worry about me.

SAMSON: No, Dad.

FATHER-IN-LAW: There is some sand on the bottom -- don't go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: I mean, it is so heartbreaking. I'm so glad you guys -- it's just hard for me to listen and hear that. To hear your father-in-law's voice. I mean, it's incredible. And it's incredible that you were able to get out.

SAMSON: It is and I'm very grateful, and my father-in-law, he's been bedridden for about a week. This was amazing that he was able to move like this in this situation himself. But without, you know, Jeff and Andrew, I really would have been stuck up top of that hill and contemplating that. And, you know, Andrew ended up, you know, that was a ride -- Andrew met us toward the bottom of that when I was pushing him down and Andrew ended up pulling over on the PCH because it was just shocked with the gravity of it all.

And, I just want to call out one thing because we're all in this together. Me, Jeff and Andrew and everyone in the community, they've all really shown up and everyone's had unbearable loss. But I reached out to them after and wanted to just say thank you for saving our lives. We wouldn't have done it without you.

And you know, Jeff, we found out and Andrew, they probably -- Jeff definitely lost his house. It was the same street that my father-in- law was at. His car that we were in was burnt to a rubble, and everything in the car was burnt to a rubble.

And I texted him, I said, you know, I am so sorry we're indebted to you. I will make it up to you. And Jeff wrote me, there is nothing to make up more important than our lives, and that's what's important.

He's a remarkable individual and then, Andrew the same likely lost his house. Doesn't know yet, but I just spoke. I just texted with him earlier and I said thank you so much. And he says, Aaron, maybe we make this world a better place. Hope has always been the wild card for humanity. We've always been able to pull it together. And so, among the flames and the ashes, we have these two men who saved our lives. I'm so grateful.

COOPER: Yes, mentions indeed. Aaron, well said. Thank you and my best to your father-in-law and to your whole family. I'm so glad you guys are okay. And what Aaron said, I think it is so -- and what those people said as well is so important. I mean, we have seen that. We've seen -- I saw that today up in Topanga, small communities, people banding together, helping their neighbors. I mean, it's -- you know, you don't see that on TV a lot. It doesn't make headlines on the news but it's happening, it's happening up there right now.

Bill Weir is in Malibu. Bill, what are you seeing?

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, the devastation along the strip of Pacific Coast Highway is really hard to describe. We're watching what is a really lovely sunset, otherwise, through the haze of this smoke here. But these are the multi-million dollar views that has this as some of the most valuable real estate in the country.

But this five-mile stretch between Topanga and Carbon Canyon, I'd estimate 75 percent of the homes have been turned to ash. This pushes the price tag, obviously, these are people's lives. These are families that lived on this little strip of land and loved this place so much.

There's also restaurants that are iconic on the west side of Los Angeles. Moonshadows, Reel Inn, the funky beautiful little seafood place where people got engaged and celebrated, lost their jobs.

[20:15:12]

So, it is devastating. I was up in the Palisades yesterday and thought that was something like I had never seen. This reminds me of Lahaina and Paradise combined and expanded.

It is really unreal, but coming up later in the show, we are also up in Topanga where you saw that little amazing community banding together there, watching that line -- hold the line and we asked for what their impressions are of the first responders who are catching a lot of heat these days. But I'll be back with you later in the show to share that.

COOPER: All right, Bill, we'll look forward to that. We're going to take a short break. We'll have more from a number of spots. As we said, there are six fires. The two major fires, zero containment on those, the Eaton Fire and here the Palisades Fire, a lot ahead, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: And welcome back, we are coming to you from the Pacific Palisades along the Pacific Coast Highway, where we have spent much of the day.

I want to show -- the video you're seeing right now is of the Kenneth Fire. That is the newest fire that happened today.

[20:20:12]

It went from about 50 acres to several acres just within a matter of hours. It is growing fast. It's now at 800 acres, I'm told, that's between Los Angeles and Ventura. So, just north of the 101, I believe.

So, that is the newest fire. Six fires now burning and as you said, it's the Eaton and the Palisades Fire here where we have spent the day.

I want to go to CNN's Kyung Lah and show you what she saw today. She was in Altadena, which is where we were broadcasting from yesterday, which was just a scene like I've never seen before, just block after block of houses, just burning in front of us for hours and hours. This was what happened when Kyung was there today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

YVETTE ANDERSON, ALTADENA RESIDENT: Right over here is my kitchen, my living room. Oh my God, pots and pans and stuff right there.

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh my God.

TONY RICH, ALTADENA RESIDENT: Hey, 25 years I've been here. Easy, 25 gone, less than three hours.

LAH: When you look out at your neighborhood, what happened here?

RICH: It just looked like a war zone here. This is a war zone. Looks just like a war zone.

ANDERSON: I saw the fire at two o'clock, I took a picture, and at four o'clock, my phone went off and it says evacuate, evacuate. And that's what we did.

There's nothing, there's nothing left. I literally just have the clothes on my back, there's nothing. Things that my grandmother gave me, my granddaughter. She's always making me something. And I put it in a frame. You know, I don't have those no more.

LAH: Yvette said that this guy's house was touched by God.

RICH: It had to be because it didn't burn.

LAH: But if his house is touched by God, what happened to the rest of the neighborhood?

RICH: God didn't care about us. There it shows it right now. But I'm going to let this go, and I'm going to close my gate, and I'm going to get out of here because this is making me sick.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: And Kyung Lah joins us now. What was the scene like all over Altadena today as you were going around there?

LAH: Well, Anderson, you really saw that fire. You really felt what was happening in Altadena. Let me show you what it looks like 24 hours after you were here.

This is just one small block of Altadena. Just one small block. And this is really just even half a block. Each one of those chimneys represents a family home, and I'm sure you noticed this yesterday, Anderson. These are small homes. These are working class, middle class families. I'm very familiar with this community.

There are young families, retirees, people who bought these houses many, many years ago. These are homes built in the 1920s. And so these homes have been here. They were built. A lot of these families have been here for generations. None of them thought this far away from the mountains would wildfire impact these communities so badly.

This is Robert Lara's home, one of the many houses that you saw yesterday. And so, a three-bedroom home. You can just see he came here hoping that he might be able to find some of his grandmother's jewelry. He had it in a fireproof safe. There was nothing left. It was simply ash. You can see some mangled metal, but really, that's all that's left here.

And so, the big question for all of these people who have to now dig through all of this is, is there anything that they can do? Is there anything that they can find? And what do they do if there's nothing left -- Anderson.

COOPER: Yes, it's so sad to see that. It's just incredible.

Kyung, thank you very much.

You're hearing some noises. We're in a staging area, so there's fire crews, there's police. You know, coming in and out. So, that's some of the noise.

I want to introduce you to Scott McDonald. He is living in Topanga Canyon. This is an area we were at throughout most of the day, which you saw earlier in the piece.

Scott, I understand -- talk a little bit about what you went through. You were able to save your home, yes?

[20:25:02]

SCOTT MCDONALD, USED WATER BUCKET AND HOSE TO SAVE HIS HOME: Yes, Anderson, a group of us decided to stay knowing that it was the only way to save our homes. We don't get fire trucks or any rescue vehicles up there in a short period of time, sine we are pretty isolated.

And from previous fires from people who have lived there a long time. They said, if you want to save your house, you have to stay. And my wife, Helen, decided to leave, shortly before the fire started coming over the mountain. And, my neighbor, Lars, went down to his house and started his prevention.

I got my fire hoses out and got my pump started. That failed pretty quickly, then I was stuck just pulling water out of our pool. The pool cover had melted, and, uh, I didn't have any electricity to wind that back up, but luckily, I was able to access the water, and I just kept running back and forth, putting out small fires against my house. One fire started in the back of the house, another off the living room. On the video there, you see, off the living room, I ran outside, um, and one of the hoses, garden hoses, had enough pressure that I could knock that back. My neighbor, Lars, came back up to help me. He went back later after we got that fire under control. And then I just kept running around putting out small fires around the house.

We got some cracked glass, firewood caught on fire that was too close to the house. Luckily, I had it covered up. There's a picture there of the firewood. All that side of that building, flames were lapping up against that. That was probably where it was going to come in the house the most and the back porch, which was made out of wood.

Embers got underneath it and it just kept igniting throughout the night. I just kept having to stay up and put it out. And the video you see there, that's a view of a dog rescue area. Nobody lives there and they have some ponies. And I ran over there in my little truck and, some police officers showed up. They rescued the dogs, we released the ponies. And that's the last I saw of anybody for hours.

And I kept going back and forth to another neighbor and he was taking pretty good care of the fire around his house. But the house across the street, some friends of ours, they lost their house. Everybody lost their house around us, and there was nobody to help us. We were all on our own, and it was really sad.

COOPER: I mean, it's just incredible that you were able to do this and, I mean, and I'm so sorry for your neighbors who weren't and -- I mean, it's such, you know, I've never been up there. I spent the day up there. It's so beautiful, the area you live in. And I understand why you would live up there.

But those roads are so small. I mean, now thinking about you staying there, had you decided in the midst of this to try to get out, I mean, you may not have been able to get out. Those roads are really tough.

MCDONALD: I'm very familiar with the roads. So, I had a plan to get out, and I watched where the flames were going. And I knew, if it came over my house, or if it was going to come over my house, I was going to leave and just let it burn. But I was going to take Stump Road, which leads to Mulholland. And I knew that was still open, and, I just stayed, and it looked okay. It looked like I was going to make it.

We lost an art studio, some containers full of lots of valuable material. But at that point, I didn't care about that. I just stayed at the house. This is, you know, we worked so hard, like everybody. We worked so hard to save this, you know, we're all out on a limb on our own.

We know the risks, and we try to prepare ourselves the best we can. And this time it worked for us, but for many others, it didn't. And the houses that burnt were people that left and the ones that survived were the people that stayed. And, you know, all our neighborhoods are pretty close.

Every Saturday, lots of us get together and have dinner. We talk about these things, and we all know it can go wrong and even the best laid plans go wrong as they did. Hoses broke, fire just came from every direction and you know, we just tried as hard as we could and I did and it worked for me. For other people that didn't, my heart goes out to them, I feel really bad.

[20:30:38]

COOPER: Yes. Well, and again, I mean, Laura's coming over to help you. Again, we've seen -- we've heard so many stories of that, of neighbors helping neighbors. And I mean, I said this earlier, it doesn't get enough attention, you know, on a day-to-day basis in this world today.

But to just -- I think it's worth emphasizing tonight what neighbors helping neighbors and helping you get through something the worst time of your life. So, Scott, I really appreciate you --

MCDONALD: Yes.

COOPER: -- being with us. Thank you. And I'm so sorry for so many in your community.

MCDONALD: Well, thank you.

COOPER: And I wish you well.

MCDONALD: Well, thank you for letting me talk.

COOPER: Take care.

MCDONALD: Thank you.

COOPER: Yes, yes. Well, it was a privilege to be out there today and learn about Topanga. It's incredible.

We've just been told the death toll now has risen to seven, five in the Eden -- from the Eden Fire and two now from the Pacific Palisades, from Palisades Fire. So the death toll now at seven. Expected to rise but that's where it is right now.

We're going to take a short break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:35:49]

COOPER: And welcome back to our continuing coverage. We're coming to you from the Pacific Palisades from a staging area for firefighters and police and other personnel.

You're looking at live pictures of the Kenneth Fire. That is the newest fire started earlier today. Started about 50 acres within a couple hours. It's now at about 800 acres is the last estimate. And now the death toll is officially seven, five confirmed dead from the Eaton Fire, which is where it hit Pasadena and Altadena. And also two now confirmed dead from the Palisades Fire.

I want to check in with our Natasha Chen who spent the day at an evacuation center in Pasadena. She is in Altadena tonight. Natasha.

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Anderson, the evacuation center was full of people who used to live in these neighborhoods. And these are their homes that are no longer here. I met so many of them who are just heartbroken, exasperated. They're angry. They're trying to figure out what their next steps are.

They were there just to get a toothbrush, to get some clothes, because they, in some cases, left with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

One woman we talked to said that she actually stayed behind in a neighborhood really close to where I'm standing, trying to protect her 100-year-old house. And she said she did that for so long, past the point where her neighbors had all fled, that firefighters removed her from the premises.

Here's what she said about what she left behind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAYA REYNAGA, LOST HOME IN EATON FIRE: Everything I've ever worked for my entire life was there. My work equipment, my brother's ashes, my daughter's momentums, my keepsakes, my deceased mother's photos and belongings that she passed down to me.

It's all I have. I have nothing. I can't even teach. And I'm a first responder. I teach people to save lives. And I couldn't even save my house. And I'm just shattered. I'm broken for my family, the community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN: Anderson, there were 1,200 people staying at that shelter, but she was one of several who have a place to stay tonight, but they just needed to go there during the day and get some toothpaste and get some resources.

So many people just have nowhere to turn.

COOPER: Yes. Natasha, I appreciate your coverage. Thank you very much.

I want to go to Pasadena where Chef Jose Andres is. If you don't know him, he has done incredible work all around the world for the last several years since he created World Central Kitchen.

Jose, talk a little bit about what you are seeing, what you are doing right now.

JOSE ANDRES, FOUNDER, WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN: Well, I'm right here in the convention center of Pasadena. We have two food trucks outside, making sure we take care of the needs of the people that they feel they need to be around people, to feel comfort, to feel heard, to feel loved. It's people that are displaced. They don't even know if their homes are burned. People are obviously inside the shelter.

We help also feed the shelter at night when sometimes the numbers go up or down. I spent my day today going from the different fire staging areas.

I was very near where I think you are right now, where we have also two food tracks, making sure that 24 hours a day we cover the needs of the firefighters, of the first responders, of the police, who they don't stop working and when they have a break to have a piece, a sandwich, an apple, some water.

We need to make sure that as they keep moving, we are next to them. So when they have that break, we can be doing what we should be doing, which is taking care of the first responders that don't stop working.

COOPER: You know, Jose, one of the things that just strikes me, you know, you and I are often in areas together where an entire, you know, city is in conflict or at war or a disaster has occurred.

[20:40:11]

What's so strange here is you can be in, you know, some place in Downtown Los Angeles or in Beverly Hills. And there are coffee shops open and then you just drive a few blocks and people's worlds have been destroyed.

It's this strange -- it's just a bizarre situation. And obviously these fires now, we now have this -- the Kenneth fire, which has now grown. That's the newest fire.

Just how did this -- what stands out to you about what you have seen in the last two days?

ANDRES: Well, sometimes what you're describing is what becomes more chaos, right? Because seeing some parts of the city are perfectly functioning. And then across the street or half a mile north, everything is chaos. And that's why it's so important to have organizations, in this case, like World Central Kitchen and others that are able to adapt.

You cannot have a plan that you follow. You have to be able to adapt. You are in Palisades right now. I was all day in Palisades yesterday, all night, all day today. And what we do is adapt. Because in a situation like a fire, you don't know what is going to happen next.

And therefore, if the firefighters move to a new location, hundreds of them, there's not going to be food or water waiting for them. So you need to have organizations like ours adapting to the new situation.

And so as people are going back to their neighborhoods, when they are able to go back and they give them permission, we need to make sure we are there next to them with water, with food. Not because sometimes the food is not available to them, but because sometimes people, they need to feel that somebody out there is there to care for them, to show them love, to show them empathy. Adaptation in these moments is the most important in emergency.

COOPER: Yes. And I think we have some of the food distribution points, the locations of them that we can -- that we can put on the screen. Jose from World Central Kitchen, really -- obviously so admire what you -- what you always do and what you are doing in these very difficult circumstances. Thanks, Jose.

ANDRES: Thank you.

COOPER: We're going to take a short break. Our coverage continues in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:45:50]

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COOPER: It's a very dynamic situation here in Topanga. You can be driving along a road and you see blue skies and then you suddenly turn a corner, there's a switchback, and all of a sudden you're in a battle and firefighters are battling.

They've dropped -- we've watched two water drops so far on this location, but the fires keep coming back. So it looks there's a number of spotter aircraft as well as helicopters that have water. We'll see if they decide to drop more water to that. They're trying to put that out.

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COOPER: And we watched them battle just that blaze, two blazes actually on kind of a lull between two mountains for about an hour and a half, maybe two hours, multiple air drops of water. That fire kept coming back.

But when we were leaving, it just erupted again when the wind shifted. Again, just a sign of just how difficult it is.

I want to bring in several other guests, Dr. Annie Harvilicz, her brother, David, as well. And David's daughter Penelope as well as his son, Leo. I appreciate all of you being with us.

David, I've learned that your house has been destroyed. I'm so sorry. Can you just talk about what happened?

DAVID HARVILICZ, ESCAPED PALISADES FIRE, LOST HOME: Sure. And thank you for saying that you're sorry about it. And thank you to everyone that's been reaching out to us.

Tuesday, we followed the evacuation orders, around one o'clock and left our house on Mount Holyoke in the Palisades. And we were going to rendezvous with our kids who were coming home from school in Santa Monica.

We didn't have much time. We grabbed just some documents like passports and birth certificates. But the main thing we did was get our three pets. I'll introduce them to you now. This is Falcor (ph).

PENELOPE HARVILICZ, DAUGHTER OF DAVID HARVILICZ: This is Winston and that's Oreo.

D. HARVILICZ: And so we have -- we have a --

P. HARVILICZ: That's Oreo.

D. HARVILICZ: -- a rabbit named Oreo, a cat named Winston, and a dog named Falcor. All three of them together are -- you know, were rescues, so they were worth, you know, not much.

But for -- to us, they were invaluable and we walk past many -- much more valuable things in order to save these things that are the most important living creatures to us.

So we're all together. And as opposed to some of the other folks you had on, when I think about how I'm feeling right now and how we're feeling, it's three things. And you might be surprised to hear this, but we feel lucky.

We feel very lucky that we're together, even though we literally have nothing, in a real way, we have everything. And it's right here in this room together. So that's one thing.

And the second thing we feel is love. We feel a lot of love for all of the friends and family that have reached out to us, our neighbors that all lost their houses too. We love them all. And we love all the people that have been reaching out to us in these times that you really find what people are about. And I can report to you that people are good and we feel a lot of love.

[20:50:22]

And the third thing --

COOPER: Yes.

D. HARVILICZ: -- the last thing, we're very hopeful. We're very optimistic and we're going to come through this more resilient than ever. And, you know, we're very optimistic about the future.

COOPER: And, Annie, I understand you have taken in a lot of animals and have some advice for homeowners in the future about bringing animals with you, even though you may be concerned about, you know, can they be brought to a shelter.

What -- how many animals have you taken in now?

ANNIE HARVILICZ, FOUNDER, ANIMAL WELLNESS CENTERS: Well, I've spent most of my time connecting animals and owners that need help that are evacuating with people who are willing to foster to help them take care of their dogs.

The majority of the people that I've been helping with, they actually don't even need to bring the dogs to us because so many places are becoming pet friendly.

All the hotels that -- COOPER: Yes.

A. HARVILICZ: -- normally don't allow pets are now allowing pets, you know, rental, apartment rentals, Airbnbs. People are understanding what's going on and they're letting people stay with their pets.

So currently, you know, we've been kind of having transient numbers here, but this is an abandoned veterinary hospital. And I've been using it to house animals.

I think currently we have about 40 animals here, about a dozen cats and about a dozen dogs and a bunny.

COOPER: Wow. That's awesome.

A. HARVILICZ : But the important part is it's really amazing how many people have been reaching out to me that want to help, like the number of emails that I get from people who say, you know, I'll take a dog, I'll take a cat, you know, I'll help however way I can. I'll bring you food. I'll bring anything.

And the message that I want to give to people --

COOPER: Yes.

A. HARVILICZ: -- is please, please, I beg you. Take your animals with you. You're not -- you're probably not going to be able to come back to your house for a long time. So don't think you can leave and come back with your animals. Take them with you now.

COOPER: Yes.

A. HARVILICZ: You're going to have support. There's so many people in Los Angeles. It's not just us here in Marina del Rey. Other veterinary hospitals are now taking in animals with free boarding.

COOPER: Yes.

A. HARVILICZ: We're all trying to help out. We're all -- we're all doing our part. But please, take your animals with you.

And another thing is --

COOPER: Yes.

A. HARVILICZ: -- trust that the places that you're going to find to stay are going to take your animals as well.

COOPER: Yes. Well, listen, Doctor, I so appreciate what you are doing and David and Penelope and Leo. And I don't remember the name of all your animals, but I thank you all --

P. HARVILICZ: Falcor.

COOPER: -- for being with us. You -- it's the first time I think I've smiled talking to you guys and hearing you guys talk. So thank you for all. I'm so glad you are together and for the message that you gave tonight. Thank you. I wish you -- I wish you the best.

I want to check in for a quick update. I want to talk to Captain Sheila Kelliher, who's joining us now. Captain, appreciate you joining us. What's the latest that you can tell us?

SHEILA KELLIHER, CAPTAIN, LOS ANGELES COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: 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 in the West Hills, Calabasas area, up in the Victory Trailhead.

That started off as 50 acres, is now at 791. But our crews are doing an incredible --

COOPER: That's the Kenneth fire?

KELLIHER: -- job trying to get the arms -- that's the Kenneth Fire. Yes.

And the -- they've had a ton of air support. They are striping that by the homes with the fire retardant. And they're doing an incredible job.

But they have -- 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.

COOPER: You know, it's so remarkable how from the air you can see embers going and another fire starting, you know, a mile away from a fire like this. I was watching this last night and there were some of the fires that were in the Hollywood Hills and elsewhere.

You could see these spot fires just flare up. It's terrifying to see how quickly this can spread.

[20:55:59]

KELLIHER: It is so real. And what you're saying is so true. And I just got a notification that says that they just got a spot over off of Las Virgenes. Now, I live about four miles from there. So I know exactly that terrain. I know exactly what they're up against and that's spreading a bit west.

So I promise you, they got a bunch of people on that. And we're really trying to get that to, you know, shut that down as quickly as possible because there are a lot of homes in that area, kind of a south of the -- that park where all the hiking trails and everything are.

COOPER: Yes. Well, I know -- I know, you know, for those pilots who are flying at night, I know they're using night vision goggles. It's very specialized flying. They're doing incredible work. It can be very, very risky. I appreciate your efforts. Thank you for giving us that update on this Kenneth Fire. Went from 50 acres to 800. That's just exploding over the last several hours.

I want to go back to our Bill Weir, who's been -- who's in Malibu. Bill, talk to us about what you've been seeing.

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WEIR (voice-over): This was some of the most unique and valuable real estate in the nation. That iconic strip of homes between Pacific Coast Highway and the sea.

But now, it holds mile after mile of smoldering ash and twisted metal. The result of Tuesday night's blizzard of embers that came howling down the hills to the beach.

WEIR: If I had to guess, I'd say 75 percent of the mansions along this five mile stretch of coastline look like this, utter, utter devastation. We've been watching as a crew from Kern County in another part of the state has been spraying water on the hot spots around this former mansion.

There's obvious water pressure here, but so many questions about water pressure around L.A. County as multiple crews try to tap in.

As we speak, there are flames up in Topanga Canyon where nervous locals are watching and hoping.

Oh, there's a little drop there. What's going through your mind?

TYLER STOCK, TOPANGA CANYON RESIDENT: Well, it's been a long couple of days.

Until this morning, it's been really hard for us to get resources up here, especially in the air like you're seeing now.

WEIR: Yes.

STOCK: Yes, so.

WEIR: Do you chalk that up to the fickle winds or --

STOCK: Yes.

WEIR: -- fire management?

STOCK: I don't blame this on our elected officials and the fire management. There's just no way you can plan for an event like this.

I think everybody's doing the best they can and trying to get through it.

WEIR: Yes.

STOCK: You know.

WEIR: How would you grade the response just by what you've seen?

STEIJIN VANVEEDEGHEM, TOPANGA CANYON RESIDENT: I think the response is enormous. And I think the firefighters that we have here are absolutely the best in the world. Initially on Tuesday, when the fire started, then I drove around at night and it was burning all across here, I did not see any firefighters at all. The only thing that I could see is a flashlight. So I assume there were some people but no helicopters, no planes at all. But now it's a totally different situation.

WEIR: You chalk that up to the winds or do you blame planning? There's a lot of anger from folks in the Palisades. Like, where were you?

VANVEEDEGHEM: There's a lot of anger, but, you know, the fire spread so fast and there were a lot of winds. It was night at that time, so I think it was too windy for the helicopters and for the jets to come in.

WEIR: There's so much height in the motion, right? You want somebody to blame, you want to say, where's the cavalry, right? Yes.

STOCK: Yes. That's a totally understandable emotion to feel right now. But I think it's better to just focus our energy on doing what we can for each other --

WEIR: Yes.

STOCK: -- and supporting our firemen who have been incredible. These guys are heroes. And we need to support them the best we can and save the politics for later.

WEIR: Chin up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Yes. It's incredible to see the efforts of these firefighters. You know, 24-hour shifts, 48-hour shifts in some cases. I mean, these folks are working.

And, you know, there's inmates as well, firefighters who are working -- doing really important work up in Topanga and elsewhere. I saw a number of those inmate crews as well.

How does it, Bill? I mean, you covered Maui Fires, Paradise. I'm not comparing one to another, but what stands out to you what you saw today?

WEIR: As you saw there, Anderson, a real sense of community in Topanga Canyon Village. These folks are no strangers to fire, as you know. They talk about whether to stay, how to defend these sorts of things.

A lot of gratitude and a lot of hope up there tonight that those winds don't shift for the worse.

COOPER: Yes. Bill Weir, thanks so much. Appreciate all your coverage.

I want to show you if you want to -- there's -- you want to contribute to the efforts here, to figure out a way to help people here, go to cnn.com/impact. Well, there's a list of organizations that are doing work on the ground here. That's cnn.com/impact.

I want to show you just a live picture also of the Kenneth Fire, again, which we are following closely. As I said, it's gone from 50 acres. It's now at a thousand acres.

So that's an update that I just got. It had to been 800 the last I heard, is now up to a thousand acres. And that is something they are going to be working on, probably all night long.

They are able to fly and drop water even at night, but it is -- it is very difficult and it's very specialized as I said before.

That's it for us. I'll be back at ten o'clock Eastern Time with more. I want to toss it over to Kaitlan Collins and the Source.