Anderson Cooper catches helicopters in active battle to save Topanga Canyon homes from wildfires

We are coming to you yet again t From a staging area along the th by the Pacific Palisades, along the Pacific Coast Highway, law enforcement officers, firefighters and others, some National Guard members. Now the National Guard has been called in. There are some here on the groun are all using this as a staging ground for battling the Palisades Fire, which is one of two the two biggest fires, which are about 10% or so, contained.

there is a lot of work being don You can see just over the hill right here. and it's I'm told it's it's some distance over that ridge. there is another fire that, has, really sent off a lot of smoke into the air just over the last 30 or so minu it is incredibly active.

We spent the day, out in, Topanga Canyon in a number o And we're going to show you that in a moment. The official death toll now stan That's up from seven, this time last night. And obviously, that number is expected to rise Some 30,000 acres have burned, i There's a lot of concern today.

There was some good news, which was the winds, had, died down or were relativel there is a lot of concern about what happens this weekend, particularly Saturday afternoon into Sunday m It's expected that the winds are really going to pick up. we have a lot of reports to show you, in the hour ahead t I want to begin with what we hav spent the day doing. just, up in, Topanga Canyon driving around with, fire crews.

we came upon a community called, for, Fernwood, and we saw more aerial assets being brought to bear fighting, trying to put out these spot fir in that area. it was extraordinary to witness, take a look. In the mountains of Topanga.

The battle rages on by air and on land. Firefighters are trying to save the community of Fernwood. They've been hitting this fire h in, Topanga with a number of aerial assets, fixed wing aircraft.

There was a large one. There was a smaller fixed wing a They just dropped retardant, fire retardant on it. Was that.

That's what the reddish pink col they've also brought in helicopters have been dropping w on this spot as well. they have a lot of assets in thi on the ground. they're also putting water on it from fire trucks down there.

but this is a spot that they are focusing on right One after another chopper swoop they sound an alarm to let anyon the ground know water is coming You can hear the sound, kind of a siren going. That's the the warning that they're about to drop water. This is, probably the, I don't know, the fifth or sixth water drop we have seen just over the last, ten minutes.

I'd say they're devoting a lot of resour trying to trying to nip this in the bud. It looks like from this vantage I'm told it is likely a structur You can tell because of the the black smoke. New fires pop up all the time.

There's one also in the distance near Entrada. It looks like from this vantage that there now may be another issue, anothe over this ridge. You can see the dark smoke rising from there So there's a fire that they believe is a structure off to the right.

And then over that, that ridge, it looks like there is now anoth to deal with. And obviously on the horizon you can see, some other smoke tr as well. So they're there, they're trying to save this comm That is the where the battle has been joined A lot of air assets, trucks.

I'm gonna fixed wing aircraft li Wow. I mean, it's extraordinary. It is extraordinary to be standi and feel the power of that aircr Go right over.

You and watch it just swoop down It is rare in life. You see an aircraft swooping that close to our house We watched three choppers drop their loads in quick succes It's a sign how vulnerable this neighborhood On Medley Lane in Fernwood, we find James Lawson, a firefighter from Orange County He's been doing this for 30 year We're setting up a defensive sta some fire coming up the ridge he We're protecting these propertie Of course, our main priority is life safety for not only the citizens here, but for the firefighters. Nearly everyone who lives here has evacuated.

But Adam Weber and some others have come back to try to save their homes. What is it like for you to see t I mean, it hasn't hit yet. It's it's a very surreal and devastating t And at the same time, I have so much respect for the f and really taking in the medicin What's happening?

It's a very it's a moment I've never experienced before in It feels like having its 911 mom firefighters will likely stay here all night. The situation changes with the w As we leave, we notice a new fire is now raging on a distant mountain. There is no end in sight.

And that new fire that we saw, on that far mountain. I can't tell if it's the same fire that we are now se Over. Over there.

Or if this is a different one. it is. I mean, there are just spot fires still going, popping up.

And that crew, that you saw up t they are probably going to stay in Fernwood overnight and sleep there if they can get some sleep. if they're not able to be reliev by by another crew. But they need to have people the Have people prepared position because they know where the I'm.

The wind just keeps changing. And if the wind change, and particularly this weekend, that's though I keep talking about this big co They need to have crews pre-positioned there because just to get up to some of these communities is small communities like Fernwo You know, it takes a while. These roads are very windy, difficult, especially for big ve When we left, they were bringing in a bulldoze it just it is remarkable to.

I just can't get over how many, how much water they were able to drop from the because the winds had died down and they were really getting, ge able to get those aircraft in th I want to go to Bill Weir, who has spent the day, in another, community. let's take a look at what he found. This tree, like the fire came right up to the property.

Yeah, like that tree torched out for the last five years. Muro sorrel freed was a hot shot putting out wildland blazes around Southern California. And all the while, he knew his o Top eight Sierra madre Ridge was a right fire tar I've been doing, like, fuel reduction and defensible space.

So I've been, like, lifting all and, like, cutting everything ba So in case a fire does happen, it can't get up into the trees and, like, torch out the buildin and that paid off. Paid off. And if I didn't do that, this would have that all of a sudden we're gone.

Righ But he never imagined he'd have to defend his own neighborh from a moving hellscape with a garden hose and a chainsaw. He says that during repeated tri over multiple days, he had to beg for help from passing fire crews and even evade a police barricad Told me I look tired and I should go find somewhere t and then threatened to put me in a cop car. So I know Sierra madre.

I know another way to get in. So I snuck back up here and put out a bunch of fires and saved 4 or 5 homes from burn When fire crews from Arizona finally arrived, Muro found himself in command. I've been, like, telling them what's going on and, like, telling them what to It's been crazy.

I'm like, I'm not even paid for Like I always said, for the Forest Service. Like I like to do it, not for th It's like a great way to be outs and be of service. But I never thought I'd be doing for free.

Like it's insane. Insane. Do you feel like you're in the c yeah.

Can you even hear that? He We're fine. There's going to be another wind But ever the damage has been don Like, everything has burnt and there's nothing left to burn What does that feel like?

Have you been able to process th Yeah. Last night. I was up here by myself, and, like, the lights were out and just cry Just.

We drove through, went by my dad's house, and we were just crying the enti And just. Yeah, called the coupl My crew members that I work with that are laid o and I just cried to them and yeah, it's unreal. It's crazy.