Page 215 - Dan Simon News Today

Overnight. lets get straight to dan simon who joins us in paradise. the irony in that name cannot be over stated looking at the devastation behind you. what are officials telling you? >> reporter: there was concern when this fire first broke out that you would have a high number of fatalities. in fact, they were concerned it might break records and in fact it has. were looking at 42 people dead. the concern they were concerned about it is because it spread so fast. and the fact you have elderly ...

Control for number two decades. in florida a recount under way in key cases there ahead of thursdays deadline and tensions continue to flare prompting a judge to urge both sides to, quote, ramp down the rhetoric. theres a lo tofr we want to din with dan simon who is live in that devastated town of paradise, california, in northern california, with more of these developments. dan? >> reporter: good morning. there was fear at the very beginning that there was going to be a very high death toll wit...

Its just absolutely overwhelming. john? >> dan, let me ask you, where firefighters think they stand in this battle. are they beginning to contain this blaze? >> reporter: well, fortunately over the last couple of days this fire has grown only modestly. right now its standing at about 117,000 acres and its 30% contained. it appears that the fire is burning away from populated communities so they feel like they have a handle on things right now at least as far as paradise is concerned, the main fo...

Family members whom they suspect may have lost loved ones to provide a dna sample so ultimately these remains can be identified. in the meantime, erica, let me explain where i am. you can see these shopping carts here, we are at a save way grocery store. this is an example of what has been lost here. it underscores how much has been lost in this community, we are talking about schools and churches and restaurants and motels. its just so overwhelming. this cleanup is going to take years. john? >>...

To begin with dan simon who is live in the devastated town of paradise, california, with more on that breaking story. dan? >> reporter: good morning, erica. there was always a concern that you would have a very high death toll with this fire given the fact that it came in so fast and that you have a lot of elderly and retirement folks who live in this community. well, now here we are, 42 people dead and we know that there are going to be more search and recovery crews out today, there are also g...

And a couple walls and things like that. over here, youll notice the neighbors house looks just like it. same with the house next door and the one on the other side as well. whats amazing is that youll have a couple houses that were completely wiped out, and then next door, you have a couple more that are completely intact. its certainly a bizarre sight to see. the big worry is the hot dry winds coming from inland. theyre expecting them to be in fact, the red flag warning in effect until tomorro...

That was a church. again, emphasis on was a church. a kfc no longer after that. more than 110,000 acres have burned. more than 200 people are unaccounted for, and many more are sharing their stories of getting out, the terror, running for their lives in many cases. >> ive never been this scared in my life. >> its okay, mama. >> oh, god. >> just horrible. in southern california, high winds are expected today. which, of course, could make the fires even more dangerous. today, thousands of homes ha...

For everybody who is not there, not known where they are right now. in southern california around los angeles, malibu, thousand oaks, simi valley, separate wildfires there are spreading fast pushed by strong winds and almost completely out of control. the fires are just too large, too fast for firefighters to contain them, at least for now. cnn cameras and correspondents are all over the fire zones right now. dan simon is in the completely devastated town of paradise. youve been talking to peopl...

On this property. again, the concern is that when the wind kicks up, some of these fires might reignite. they are red-flag conditions, ideal conditions for wildfires to start or to grow until tuesday night. even then, though, firefighters are going to have a difficult time getting a handle on this because the last word, just 10% contained. >> were looking at live pictures, in fact, from the woolsy fire near where we are reporting from tonight. scott mclean, thank you very much. our thanks to dan...

Wanted. >> reporter: like thousands of others, they are staying at a hotel trying to figure out whats next. with them is susans father. hes an 82-year-old korean war vet. hes really terrified. he says hes homeless for the first time in his life. and quite frankly, they dont know if they will ever come back to paradise. this tells the story of what happened here in paradise that morning. all these cars just seemingly abandoned here on the side of the road. there was so much traffic when people we...