Storm Winds Fuel California's Wildfires; At Least 23 Killed As Wildfires Spread In California; North Korea Foreign Minister: Trump Has Lit The Wick Of War
ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.</s>JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead this hour, California's deadly firestorm is getting worse driven by strong dry winds forcing entire town to evacuate, and officials warn the worst may be yet to come.</s>SESAY: Plus, Donald Trump picks a new fight with the American can media after a report claims the U.S. wants a dramatic build-up of this country's nuclear arsenal.</s>VAUSE: And more women coming forward accusing the Hollywood mogul, Harvey Weinstein, of sexual misconduct.</s>SESAY: Hello and thank you for joining us. I'm Isha Sesay.</s>VAUSE: I'm John Vause. Great to have you with us. You're watching Newsroom L.A. California's wildfires are on their way to becoming the deadliest and most destructive in the state's history. Nearly 8,000 firefighters have so far been unable to contain 22 separate fires. There's been a return of dry gusty winds and low humidity in the region.</s>SESAY: At least 23 people are now dead, hundreds more are missing. The fires have destroyed tens of thousands of hectares and forced more than 20,000 people from their homes. These wildfires are also devastating the state's renowned Wine Country, destroying the livelihoods of so many who live and work in the region. Well, Jeff Okrepkie joins me by phone. His home in Santa Rosa was destroyed in one of the fires. Jeff, thank you for being with us. I am so sorry for all that you and your family have gone through this past few days. How are you guys doing?</s>JEFF OKREPKIE, RESIDENT OF SANTA ROSA (via Telephone): We're maintaining. We're lucky enough to have a good group of friends and family around us and community support. And we consider ourselves to be very lucky and very fortunate, all things considered.</s>SESAY: Yes. I know that on Sunday you saw the fires advancing on the news; you're watching T.V., this is around 11:00 p.m. But at that point, you thought that you guys were safe. Explain to our viewers what happened next?</s>OKREPKIE: Yes. We saw -- and we didn't think it was a big deal because it was over in another county in Napa. And so, I started to get ready for bed, my sister called me and she said, hey, there's another one in Calistoga, which is in Napa County, but it's on the county line with where we are. So, I was like, well, it's not that big of a deal, it's still pretty far away, so don't worry about it. And then, maybe an hour later, she woke me up and said, you know, mom and dad are evacuating, call them. I called them, they said, yes, we're under mandatory evacuation. So, I said come to our house. I woke my wife up. We got the guest room ready, and during that process, I saw my neighbors outside, walked outside, and it was a scene that I can't even describe. Just smoke and ash blowing through at 60 miles an hour. When you act like, turn your back to it and cover your eyes, you know, it was some of the debris. And while I'm talking to my neighbors, another one comes running around the corner and yells, it jumped the freeway, hopper, which is the street that runs into the subdivision, is on fire. At that point it was, and we just kind of looked at each other and yell like we got to go and just turned, ran back inside and got everything and got out as quickly as we could.</s>SESAY: What were you able to get -- I mean, we're talking about -- I'm imagining, just minutes here. What were you able to pack up to take with you?</s>OKREPKIE: Well, we got -- me and my wife, my son, our two dogs, a duffel bag of clothes split between the three of us, and some photo albums.</s>SESAY: Jeff, tell me about going back to the house on Monday and finding it in this state that we're looking at on our screens.</s>OKREPKIE: I mean, devastating, heartbreaking. In all honesty, it was really hard to fathom. While we were out on the way, we couldn't in front of it, and see for ourselves, there's kind of a denial. And then, once we saw, it was just, everything became real, came crashing down. So, it became very emotional and very hard to just even be there.</s>SESAY: You know, what been -- it's all so awful, but I'm wondering for you as you try to process all of this, what's been the most difficult part of all of this for you?</s>OKREPKIE: The difficult part for us is, so far, is just remembering all the things that we weren't able to take with us. Whether it's old pictures or my wife, whose father passed away, we had some of his stuff in the house that's now gone. And then, just like the heart-wrenching stuff of remembering where I was standing and what I was thinking and knowing that if I just turned to my left, I could 've grabbed something that, you know, a picture us, and I forgot to do that and run out of the house. That's the hard stuff. It's the stuff that while they're just things, there's a ton of sentiment and emotional weight behind them.</s>SESAY: Yes. No, I totally understand. I also know you that guys have renter's insurance. I know you plan to build in the neighborhood, and we are wishing you the very, very best through this difficult time. Our hearts go out to you and stay safe out there.</s>OKREPKIE: Thank you very much.</s>SESAY: Thank you.</s>VAUSE: OK. Let's go to Pedram Javaheri at the CNN center with the weather forecast here. Because Pedram, we were hoping that there is going to be a return of humidity, these winds were going to die down, but it's quite the opposite now, and that's what the problem is here.</s>PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it was very short-lived. You know, it was early this morning, late last, that was when we had the humidity in place, the winds had calmed down briefly. They're back up; it's very dry, and, of course, the steam's playing out like this. And you know, it is as explosive as a fire weather situation as you see here, really across anywhere in the world. But in California, in particular, we'll break down exactly what's happening because look at the deadliest wildfires in state history. The tubs fire alone, the one just outside of Santa Rosa County are, now the fifth deadliest all time. Of course, you look at statewide, 23 fatalities known so far. With that said, that would move it right up since the deadliest, since the 1991 Tunnel Oakland Hills fire that took with it 25 lives. So, the perspective kind of puts it into eerie region there as far as the fatalities are seen. But we started the year with tremendous rainfall and tremendous snowfall. That was January across the state of California, just about everyone saw precipitation. In April, still very healthy; for May, June, into July, it began shutting off, as you would expect in the dry season. But what occurred is a tremendous growth in vegetation in that few months of heavy rainfall. With that said, of course, the vegetation flourishes, the rainfall shuts off, it instantly becomes now fuel that's in place there for these fires to absorb. And 35 large active fires seeing an area; six times the size of San Francisco now consumed across the state, much of it around the northern portion of the state with five million people underneath the fire weather concerns of red flag warnings, red flag watches. A critical risk in place now that is -- on a scale of one to three, that is a two right there putting Napa, Santa Rosa, parts of Sacramento in place as well. Look at these videos coming out of -- from our viewers there across portions of Northern California not far from Santa Rosa. What you want to look for here is the elevated terrain because that place has a significant role in why the firefighters often have a hard time keeping the upper hands on these flames. In fact, on a 20-degree slope, which much of California's rolling hills, very much sloped. But fire will want to travel here around 20 kilometers per hour but bump that slope up to 30 degrees, that doubles the fire's speed. So, essentially, I often use the analogy of taking a match, holding it straight out against your finger, it gradually burns towards your hand, give it a slope, it instantly begins burning up towards your fingers. That's precisely what's happening here with this elevated terrain that firefighters have to keep with. And unfortunately, looking at the models, John and Isha, rainfall, the best bet for that would be about seven days away, and it's not a good bet either -- just barely makes it into the forecast seven days from right now. And the winds, of course, are going to be high, the temps want to warm up as well into the weekend. Guys?</s>VAUSE: OK. Pedram, thank you.</s>SESAY: Pedram, thank you. All right. Shifting gears now, and U.S. President Donald Trump has "lit the wick of war." That's according to North Korea's foreign minister following weeks of increasingly heated rhetoric between the two countries.</s>VAUSE: North Korea says the tipping point came last month at the U.N. when Trump warned the U.S. would totally destroy North Korea is forced to defend itself or its allies. And on Wednesday, the U.S. President said, when it comes to dealing with North Korea only one person's opinion matters.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think I have a little bit different attitude on North Korea than other people might have. And I listen to everybody, but ultimately, my attitude is the one that matter, isn't it? That's the way it works. That's the way the system is. But I think I might have a somewhat different attitude and different way than other people. I think, perhaps, I feel stronger and tougher on that subject to other people, but I listen to everybody. And ultimately, I will do what's right for the United States, and really what's right for the world.</s>VAUSE: To San Francisco now, and Paul Carroll, a Senior Adviser with N Square, a group working to eliminate this threat from nuclear weapons. You know, Paul, we had this NBC news report that this past July, the U.S. president -- we showed a graph showing what was dramatic fall over the past few decades in the number of U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons. Apparently, Mr. Trump points to the peak in 1969 when the U.S. had 32,000 nukes. He said, he wanted that many, up from the current 4,000. OK. Is there any strategic reason, is there any threat facing the United States right now that would require an increase in the nuclear stockpile to that extent?</s>PAUL CARROLL, SENIOR ADVISOR, N SQUARE: Absolutely not. It's as simple as that. There are several reasons why it was sensible to reduce those ridiculously large arsenals from the height of the cold war, and frankly, continue to reduce the lower levels we have today. You'd be hard-pressed to find a thoughtful military leader, foreign policy expert to come up with a situation where the use of a nuclear weapon would be a sensible thing to do.</s>VAUSE: And with that in mind, when most people look at that graph and the falling numbers, they see a success story, right?</s>CARROLL: Absolutely. I mean, the height of the cold war -- I mean, we almost joke about it now. There were nearly 70,000 nuclear weapons on the planet. Nearly all of them owned and operated and deployed by the United States and the Soviet Union. We barely got through that and several secretaries of defense and secretaries of state who served both Republicans and Democrats said, you know what, we were more lucky than smart. Well, do we want to play that movie again? No one thinks so.</s>VAUSE: The sort of the paradox of having a nuclear arsenal is that it's there not to be used. And with that in mind, you know, there are a lot of good reasons apart from nuclear -- you know, avoiding nuclear annihilation to reduce that stockpile, just the costs alone of maintaining it.</s>CARROLL: You're absolutely right. In fact, I would go a step further. Those who believe that nuclear deterrence, in fact, works are one school of thought. It's not a proven fact. It's a theory. It's been a national posture over the years. It's really unprovable. Now, deterrence with a small "d" is something there's more evidence for. You know, if you hit me, I'm going to hit you back. Well, that makes you think twice. When you get into the realm of nuclear weapons with their devastating effects and long-lived effects, you're in a whole different realm. And I would actually, John, respectfully correct you, over the years U.S. policy has, in fact, considered using nuclear weapons. We went through years where our doctrine and our policy envisioned using them in warfighting scenarios, that was very scary. And that's what the president's comments harken back to. Let's have more nuclear weapons? Let's consider using them? It's quite frightening.</s>VAUSE: Well, just on the flip side of all of this, is the U.S. in any position to increase its nuclear stockpile back to the degree of 1969, 32,000 nukes, from 4,000? And even if it tried, what impact would that have globally?</s>CARROLL: Right. So, putting aside the fact that it's completely preposterous to do so, that you wouldn't want to do so, could you do so? Well, it would require a lot of things. It would require an awful lot of money, it would require basically capital improvements in some of the most toxic and dirty sites in the country. The former production sites in Hanford, Washington and Savannah River, South Carolina, all over the place where we produced plutonium, highly enriched uranium, chemical poisons, and constituents -- it would be like recreating the Manhattan project on steroids.</s>VAUSE: Good way to put it. You know, Donald Trump was talking about nuclear weapons long before he became president. Back in 1984, he was developing. He told the Washington Post, he thought he could negotiate a great deal on arms control with the Soviet Union. He claimed, he would know exactly what to demand of the Russians, though, he conceded his lack of experience in the technical field of nuclear weaponry. "It would take an hour and a half to learn everything there is to know about missiles. I think I know most of it anyway," he said. "You're talking about just getting updated on a situation." Given everything else he has said to about nuclear weapons here, does this paint a picture of someone who just doesn't fully understand, you know, what a nuclear war could eventually look like and what a nuclear missile actually does?</s>CARROLL: Absolutely. I mean, the reports we have been reading in the past few days, particularly the one based on several sources. You know, whether or not it was precise, I want 30,000 nuclear weapons or not, the fact that someone would suggest greatly increasing the number of nuclear weapons to me demonstrates a complete and utter lack of appreciation for what these weapons can do. And the fact that when you talk about nuclear bombs and warheads, you're completely in a different room than when you're talking about a conventional war when you're talking about conventional explosives, that is extremely troubling to me. So, these comments and the rhetoric he's used with North Korea, the rhetoric and the sort of the threats he's made on the Iran nuclear deal, lead one to conclude that he just doesn't get it when it comes to nuclear weapons.</s>VAUSE: At this point, there are still those around him who do. So, that is some comfort, I hope. Thank you, Paul. Good to see you.</s>CARROLL: My pleasure. Thank you, John</s>VAUSE: As for that report by NBC news, claiming the president wanted a ten-fold increase in the nuclear arsenal, not only did Donald Trump denied, but he also hinted the government should consider shutting down the network because of it. "With all of the fake news coming out of NBC and the networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their license? Bad for the country." That seems to be an empty threat because NBC doesn't actually have a license. As Jessica Rosenwatch, a member of the Federal Communications Commission, pointed out, "Not how it works." According to the FCC Web site, we license only individual broadcast stations. We do not license T.V. or Radio Networks such as CBS, NBC, ABC, or Fox." Despite that, the president followed up with another similar threat just hours ago. "Network news has become so partisan, distorted and fake that licenses must be challenged, and if appropriate revoked. Not fair to the public." President Richard Nixon tried a similar tactic during Watergate when his close business associates targeted the licenses of two local stations in Florida owned by the parent company of the Washington Post, which was in full investigation mode. Only this time it seems, the president doesn't understand how the FCC works. Besides that, he has made no demands for NBC to back up the report. He has offered no evidence to prove it is wrong and said strongly suggesting the network should be silenced. And during a photo op with Canada's prime minister, he added this.</s>TRUMP: It's frankly disgusting the way the press is able to write whatever they want to write, and people should look into it.</s>VAUSE: Which seems to remove all doubt if ever there was any. The president does not value a free press, nor does he understand how a free press works.</s>SESAY: Well, we're going to take a quick break now. In Hollywood, insiders say Harvey Weinstein's reputation after sexual harassment was an open secret. Just ahead, who knew about and why they didn't speak up?</s>VAUSE: Also, while people were running from a spray of bullets in Las Vegas, there was a frantic search for the gunman. Just ahead, one account from inside --