Investigators Believe California Station Fire Was Set By Arsonist
HOLMES: Well, hello again. Welcome back to this CNN SATURDAY MORNING. I'm T.J. Holmes.</s>BALDWIN: Good Saturday to you. I'm Brooke Baldwin sitting in for Betty again this weekend. Thank you for starting your day with us. Want to start with one of our top stories here we're staying on top of: an arrest here in the killing of eight people in rural Georgia. He's 22-year-old Guy Heinze Jr. He is the man who has been charged with last weekend's killing at his father's mobile home. That's just north of Brunswick, Georgia. Heinze's father was among the victims. A 3-year-old is the only survivor from the incident. That toddler at latest check remains hospitalized. Funerals for seven of the victims will be held.</s>HOLMES: Well, a 4-year-old boy is in a drug-induced coma in Ohio after being hit by a foul ball during a minor-league baseball game. Now, the boy - you see him there - he was sitting on his dad's lap in the front row when he was hit by this line drive. He was taken to a hospital. Doctors say it may take five days for the swelling in his brain to go down.</s>DR. JAMES BESUNDER, AKRON CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: It caused a fracture or break in his skull and actually the bone was depressed and down into the brain.</s>NICOLE HOLKO, VICTIM'S MOTHER: He's always happy and he's very affectionate; he -- 50 times out of nowhere, he goes, I love you.</s>HOLMES: You hate to hear that, kid just enjoying a baseball game. The boy's mother, you saw there, says, they are not going to stop going to baseball games. Won't stop sitting in the front row. Even says, she doesn't blame anybody. Things like this just happen. Unfortunately it happened to her son.</s>BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR, CNN SATURDAY MORNING: Just a couple of minutes ago we were talking about sharks off of Cape Cod, now we're talking cougars. Seattle's largest park off limits this holiday weekend, after cougar sightings. State wildlife agents have now set two traps to try to capture the cougar. There have been four sightings just in the last week. In fact, one woman who was driving home said she saw the cougar next to her house. Yikes! She drove toward it until it ran off. Toward it?</s>HOLMES: Trying to hit it, or something?</s>BALDWIN: I don't know.</s>HOLMES: She was trying to take care of the problem.</s>BALDWIN: Yes, I guess so. I guess so.</s>HOLMES: Lot of stuff on the loose this weekend. Out in California, meanwhile, they think an arsonist is on the loose. The latest on that massive wildfire is that it has grown to over 200 square miles in size; 76 homes and dozens of other buildings have been destroyed by this thing.</s>BALDWIN: But the biggest piece of news, here, investigators are saying that it was set on purpose. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has now offered a $100,000 reward for information on the suspected arsonist. CNN's Brian Todd has more on what investigators are now looking for.</s>BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The remains of a fallen firefighter are driven past his saluting colleagues. His death, and that of another firefighter, mean the biggest wildfire in Los Angeles County history is now a homicide case. That is because investigators are now calling this arson. The incident commander adds another phrase.</s>CHIEF MIKE DIETRICH, INCIDENT COMMANDER: Any act of arson in the wild consists of domestic terrorism. That's my personal opinion. I believe that other folks have said that, because it affects communities, citizens, firefighters, law enforcement officers. And what else could it be?</s>TODD: This could be ground zero, mile marker 29 on the Angeles Crest Highway in the Angeles National Forest, roped off with red flags carefully placed. Veteran investigators tell us it's likely they believe this is the point of origin. Officials here are not commenting on a "Los Angeles Times" report that incendiary material was found here. The source for that information didn't specify what material that is. Tom Fee, a former Pomona fire chief, who has investigated thousands of wildfires all over the U.S. says it could be a range of things.</s>TOM FEE, WILDFIRE INVESTIGATOR: Probably they either found the match that was left there, the lighter that was left there, the incendiary device that was left there. The road flare used to start this fire.</s>TODD: Fee takes us through the CSI of wildfire investigations. Clues, he says, are everywhere.</s>FEE: Paper on the ground like this, also becomes good indicators.</s>TODD: These, he says, are indicators of the direction the fire burned in at the point of origin. And investigator on scene elaborates.</s>RITA WEARS, U.S. FOREST SERVICE: Indicators can be things such as burned rocks. It can be soil that has been damaged.</s>TODD: Fee says while these clues reveal the direction, arson is revealed by anything from something on the ground to a confession. But another key question: (</s>On camera): In a territory that is the size of a major city, burned acreage for as far as the eye can see, not only finding that point of origin but determining that it is arson, really fairly quickly, in a matter of a few days? How do they get to that point in just a few days?</s>FEE: Well, each fire is a little bit different. But the things that we use are early on aerial photographs, sometimes satellite photographs, witness statements, the firefighters that first arrived, they will know what the area involved was, at the time they arrived.</s>TODD: And with those methods, he says, they can narrow down the point of origin to an acre or less, maybe even a man-made object, like this burned out bottle. He says they comb through the area with everything from sifters to dogs. And then, of course, they look for witnesses. Brian Todd, CNN, Tujunga Canyon, California.</s>HOLMES: Here with Reynolds, now. You were out there covering those for a few days.</s>REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: In that canyon.</s>HOLMES: It's amazing to think somebody started this thing on purpose. Who knows what might have been going through that person's mind. They certainly think somebody started it on purpose. Maybe they didn't want it to get this big. Why start the fire?</s>WOLF: It's crazy. It really is. There's no explanation for it at all. But that being said, you have to remember that wildfires in this part of the world, doesn't make it right, but it is a natural occurrence. It does happen naturally out there. But to know that this did happen at the cause of someone's hands it is beyond belief.</s>HOLMES: They are starting to make some ground firefighters, now, on this thing, no doubt about it. We were talking last week when the thing first started, about are they going to get any help? Any rain? You said wasn't coming any time soon. So, we are a week out. We are starting to getting a little help, weather-wise?</s>WOLF: A little bit. Over the last couple of days there has been increased moisture, during the evening hours. Talking about higher humidity. Today we're going right back into the ' 90s, maybe some 100s out in those canyons. Winds are picking up, to around 20 to 30 miles per hour. Stronger than it was when the thing originally started. I mean, shoot. You think about the fires, normally Santa Ana winds are a big component of them. But that wasn't really the case when these things first popped up. It is something that is going to be quite a mess. We're going to walk over and show you a forecast. As you look at this video at home. Let me tell you, man, these canyons, especially a place like Tujunga Canyon, where a I spent a couple of days, it is just brutal to deal with. And very quickly, let me show you what you have right now. Temperatures along the coast mainly in the 60s and 70s, back inland, like in spots like Pomona, just north of Santa Clarita, high temperatures will be later on today, not in the 60s, but going into the 90s, and possibly in the 100s. So they certainly have a mess. No question about it. It is just amazing to see these fires and see these flames, in some points going up about 100 feet, in the air. Just to see it firsthand is just an amazing thing. As I mentioned I had a chance to head out and visit this, see this, the carnage firsthand.</s>WOLF (voice over): Take a look at this house over here to my immediate left. You can see there's not much left. You have the chain-link fence and but off there in the distance, one of the signs that this was indeed a home. You can see the chimney. It is just a scene that we've seen played up and down this stretch of roadway; a scary thing to see. Watching for traffic. Running over on the other side, here, Kyra. Wait until you see this, too. At one point, just a few days ago, we had a wood beam that ran of course of these areas here where you have these cinder blocks. You had 21 mailboxes. The fire came through, super heated at 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, the wood is gone, the mailboxes remain. And boom, they fell to the ground. There was a fellow that came by, a local, wanted to check and see if he had any mail. Thankfully no power bills. Certainly, rough times. This is, again, just a testament to the extreme heat we've been dealing with in this area. If you want more signs of that, you can look to these houses, or even these trees. You can look at these hills, where the topography is just crazy. We often talk about the fires that we fight, out in place like Oklahoma, Kansas, even parts of Texas, where things are relatively flat. That's tough enough to battle, but when you're dealing with terrain like this, mountainous conditions, the San Gabriel Mountains. My gosh, man, I mean, how do you fight this thing?</s>WOLF: You know, the weird thing is when we were back in the studio, with had people asking to white balance our camera, and give more like, give the skies a better hue. We had to explain to them, that's the color out there. We had that orange color because you had so much smoke that was in the sky. The sun trying to filter down to the earth below. I mean, you just had this weird hue. The smell out there is indescribable, you have not only the smoke, but there is this awful smell of death. There are animals all over the place, in ravines trying to escape the heat. In other situations where animals have been trapped in -- say, cages and what not, when people were trying to evacuate very quickly. It was just a nightmare situation. You have two firefighter that's lost their lives. You have 42 percent containment. This thing is far from over. And with the winds accelerating again today, 20, 30 miles per hour. They got a way to go. They do think they've turned the corner on this fire, you really can't let your guard down on something of this magnitude. They've been able to keep most of the flames away from Mount Wilson. It's great news. That's the key communication point for not only parts of the city but really for the southern half of the state. And you see just the footage there, they attacked us on the ground below, from the skies above, with helicopters and all kinds of airplanes. They have a DC-10, a 747 at their disposal. They are going to be using to really try to get -really pin point the hot spots today. It is going to be a huge endeavor and they are certainly up to the task. Amazing men and women. The last thing to mention. You know, these guys are tired, they are covered with soot, they are covered with smoke. There is no other place they would rather be. They are there for the fight. It's amazing to see the dedication and we owe them a debt of gratitude.</s>BALDWIN: You did a very good job as well.</s>HOLMES: Really. Reynolds, we appreciate you, as always. Really bringing that perspective, some things that we don't think about. The smell, like you said, even the color of the sky.</s>BALDWIN: I never covered a wildfire, have you?</s>HOLMES: Yes, I lived in California for a while. I've covered those things. They are no joke. You don't realize, as well, it is always fascinating to me, you can't outrun them. You think about flames, they can go 30 or 40 miles per hour. You can't outrun them.</s>BALDWIN: The flames?</s>WOLF: As fast as the wind carries them, absolutely. That's something you have to really get training to be out. I know Reynolds covered plenty of it, but you have go through that training to cover a wildfire even. So, Reynolds, we appreciate you, as always, buddy. Talk at you plenty more this morning.</s>WOLF: You bet.</s>BALDWIN: All right. Poll numbers going south. President Obama's popularity is not what it used, but the surprise may be, who is changing their mind.</s>HOLMES: Yes, health care is at the center of the popularity problem. But now the GOP has a plan of their own, kind of, sort of. They want a do over.