California Wildfires: Loss, Resilience, and Hope

Last week when we heard about fires in California we didn’t think much of them because, frankly, there are fires in California all the time. But, as the pictures started coming in, we could tell that these fires were different. They were called “wildfires,” but they were burning in urban neighborhoods. Neighborhoods I had visited. Neighborhoods where friends lived. 

At CNN we started making phone calls.  To the Fire Department, local Mayors and City Council Members. But it still wasn’t apparent how bad the damage was. 

By the time our show was on at 11pm ET / 8pm in California, we had pivoted to wall-to-wall coverage. Because of the strong winds, we had trouble even getting our CNN reporter shots up live. The Public Information Officer for the Los Angeles County Fire Department Capt. Sheila Kelliher showed our viewers just how strong the winds were using her phone. At one point she had to escape to her car just to be able to talk to us.  The winds were relentless, and they just fueled the flames as they jumped from house to house.

Actor Steve Guttenberg had spent the day trying to clear cars that had been abandoned as people quickly fled the fire. Without getting the cars out of the way others could not evacuate, and crews could not get in to try and save any structures.  He joined us to tell us what it was like saying, “I haven’t seen anything like this in my entire life and I don’t think many people have. At 9 o’clock in the morning, it was an idyllic Pacific Palisades, and then by 10 o’clock, 10:30, the sky was dark as if it were nighttime.”

The nightmare continued as the fire spread to other neighborhoods: Altadena, Pasadena, Malibu. The embers could fly anywhere and nobody felt safe in the nation’s second most-populist city. As friends sent me photos of the ashes of their homes, we booked people to tell our audience about the devastation. Whether they were celebrities like Cameron Mathison or Eric Braeden who spoke lovingly of the homes they had built and lost or regular families like the Storc family who had spent holidays hanging stockings on fireplaces that were now piles of rubble, the stories were devastating. Everyone spoke not only of a loss of home and safety but also of community.

https://thebiginterviews.com/videos/Laura%20Coates%20Live%20-%20Cameron%20Mathison.mp4https://thebiginterviews.com/videos/Anderson%20Cooper%20360%20-%20Altadena%20Community%20Lost_%20Wildfires%20Devastate%20Family%20Home.mp4https://www.thebiginterviews.com/videos/Laura%20Coates%20Live%20-%20Dalyce%20Kelley.mp4

Dalyce Curry had been a fixture in Altadena. She was lovingly known as Mama Dee by her friends, family and neighbors.  She had been dropped at her home by her granddaughter and died there from the fire. But her touching voicemail message lived on to help her granddaughter and the rest of the world smile at her memory.

Chuck Hart jumped to action when he heard about the fire headed toward his family’s home.  He is a contractor so had hoses and spent hours battling the flames on his own. He watched the church his dad had built burn to the ground.  And then he refused to leave the burn zone for fear that they wouldn’t let him back to continue helping those who needed it. We finally caught up with him when he was able to connect via Starlink and share his story of loss and heroism. 

https://www.thebiginterviews.com/videos/Laura%20Coates%20Live%20-%20Chuck%20Hart.mp4

We also spoke to a Rabbi whose home was lost but whose Temple somehow withstood the flames.  He saw it as a beacon of hope for his family and congregation.

Night after night we produced 1-2 hours of fire coverage. We spoke to fire officials, local officials, and homeowners. We even showed the viewers what the planes that were brought in to fight the fires. But at the end of the coverage I can’t help but struggle with a question I am sure many of you are asking – how can I help? I have friends who lost their homes and have spoken to so many remarkable people who will struggle to rebuild.  I still struggle with exactly how to help but CNN has teamed with local organizations and you can donate here:

https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/08/us/help-los-angeles-residents-during-unprecedented-wildfires/index.html

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Another American Tragedy

School shootings are always tragic. As a mother it is my worst nightmare. We send our kids to school as a safe space for learning. But each year there are more and more kids that get a hold of firearms. Each kid is trying to outdo the Columbine killers as if killing their classmates will make them famous. In the media we are always struggling with how to cover these stories. Do we publish the shooter’s name? Photo? Are we making them famous? We have to call the people who witnessed the shooting, the people who knew those who were killed and those who knew the shooter. Hearing their stories is always devastating. There are always heroes and there were always warning signs.

So this week when we heard about multiple fatalities at a Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin my heart lurched. We started by calling the usual law enforcement experts to tell us about the response and what the investigation will entail. We booked a father who had run to the school where his son attended when he heard the sirens. And his son told us about what he experienced at school that day. An all too familiar story. 

Then we booked the girl whose locker was next to the shooter. She was so thankful that her life was spared, that the shooter hadn’t pulled the gun out of her locker and shot at her. She had been kind to the shooter and felt like that may have spared her life. She was strong and brave in sharing her story.

I spent hours on the phone with her mother and learned so much about their community. It was a small school and a tight-knit community where everyone knew everyone. When they had arrived to pick up their kids everyone described it as one big family reunion. Siblings were running to hug one another, and parents were consoling each other. They told me that “the kids went through hell” that day. This scene has played out too many times in too many schools across our country. It has been estimated that 31,000 kids have been impacted by school shootings in America. That’s 31,000 kids whose lives will never be the same. And that’s 31,000 kids too many. I know it is only a matter of time before we have to do this whole familiar routine again. It has almost become routine. And that is a tragedy. Our kids deserve better!

Covering the 2024 Election

Full of Suprises!

The 2024 election was full of surprises! At first it felt like it was going to be the most boring election in modern times. Two old foes face off once again. Candidates that we already knew. No skeletons to drag out of their closets. No October surprises. State by state the voters chose the same old candidates – Biden and Trump. Until CNN invited them both to a debate in June. The debate laid bare Biden’s old age. He struggled to talk as long as the time allotted. His answers meandered. He lost his train of thought. It was obvious that he wasn’t up to the task. Afterwards everyone headed to the CNN spin room and Biden supporters said it was a great performance. But everyone knew that it wasn’t.

Just two weeks later a lone gunman took a shot at President Trump in Butler, PA. That certainly wasn’t on my election bingo card. I was away on vacation with my husband when the call came in. It was late on a Saturday night and we had to do special coverage on Sunday night. We put together great shows to talk about this new twist in the election.  The next day Republicans gathered for their national convention and Trump was hailed as an American hero. 

The next weekend Biden caught COVID. His momentum was gone. Trump felt unstoppable. And Biden dropped out of the race. This was unprecedented. Again we at CNN put together Sunday night special coverage as Kamala Harris made over 100 phone calls to rally her supporters. By the next day it seemed inevitable that Kamala Harris would be the new democratic nominee.

When election night came nobody knew what to expect. Polling showed a dead heat. And CNN staffed four shifts so that we could do 24 hours of coverage “as long as it took to announce the next President.” As the night went on state by state turned red on the map and Trump crept closer to the magic number of 270. Our team was #2 and we didn’t even go on the air until the election was called for Trump. By the time the rest of the world woke up we had a new President.

CNN had been there for every twist and turn. From the CNN debate that started the Biden exit to special Sunday coverage of the assassination attempt and Biden’s exit from the race, our team was at the forefront. We could never have guessing the outcome but I am proud of our coverage!