DENVER — As Colorado deals with bone-chilling temperatures and snow, fires continue to rage across Southern California.

At least five people have been killed and 70,000 people have evacuated, as of Thursday afternoon.

Officials said more than 1,000 structures have burned in the fires. The largest of the fires is the Palisades Fire, which has grown to about 12,000 acres in the affluent Pacific Palisades neighborhood.

Denver7 is speaking to Colorado agencies, some of whom have already been called to help battle the flames. While others say, they haven’t been asked to assist yet but are on standby in case they’re needed.

Colorado’s Division of Fire Prevention and Control said they are sending one of their Multi-Mission Aircraft (MMA) to California on Wednesday afternoon.

The MMA can provide critical intelligence, images and communication capabilities. It can aid in making sound tactical decisions and improving the efficiency of the fire response.

Jeff Rasmussen, the MMA’s Program Manager said the aircraft helps battle fires in a unique way.

“When you’re on the ground on a fire, you’re only seeing what’s in front of you, and so what we provide is a full picture of what that fire is doing and what’s going on,” Rasmussen said.

He said the aircraft does this by utilizing infrared technology.

“With the infrared camera, one of our biggest advantages with that is, we’re able to see through smoke, right? And so the naked eye can’t see through smoke and be able to determine exactly where a fire perimeter is or which way it’s progressing. And so we’re able to do that with our infrared camera and map specifically where that fire edge is, you know, in relation to homes, structures or values at risk,” he added.

LA wildfire latest: 2 dead, thousands of structures destroyed

The fast-growing fire, Rasmussen said, is being highly influenced by the winds. “As far as wildfire goes, it’s probably, you know, worst case scenario,” he said.

Denver7 also spoke with Westminster Fire, crews there have not been requested to assist in California but are available.

Emily Peek, with Westminster Fire said they have 21 members on their wildland team that are deployable.

“If our team is requested, they have a two to three hour window where they have to activate for deployment. They then have to get to the other state as quickly as possible. Usually that’s driving with one of our apparatuses. But occasionally we will fly out the members as well. They then will be on a 14 day deployment, but can be extended up to 21 days,” Peek said.

Chris Pizzello/AP

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Although Peek added that it’s more likely they’d be sent to other states first – that have already been called to California.

“California has a really robust wildland program where they’re able to use a lot of in-state resources. If it exceeds that capability, they would first contact the surrounding states, and then it’s more likely that Westminster would be contacted to visit those surrounding states, to be on a backfill situation there,” Peek said.

Colorado crews that are heading to California now with the infrared technology said, they’re prepared to stay as long as needed and will check to see what other support is needed.

• In the video player below, watch as a mom, daughter flee the wildfire.

Mom, daughter record video fleeing CA wildfire in car

A high-surf warning issued in parts of Hawaii advises potential beachgoers to avoid the shore, as waves stretching up to 40 feet pound the Aloha State.

Why It Matters

Large breaking waves could cause damage in infrastructure near certain shores in Hawaii this week, with the high-surf warning remaining in effect until 6 p.m. Thursday. Swimmers and beachgoers also could be at risk of injury, as the surf hit 40 feet in some places.

What To Know

The National Weather Service (NWS) office in Honolulu first issued the high-surf warning on Friday, with the alert saying an “extra-large” swell was expected to peak on Wednesday, which would produce “dangerously large surf” on north- and west-facing shores.

Affected beaches include north- and west-facing shores of Niihau, Kauai, Oahu
and Molokai, as well as north-facing coasts in Maui. The surf was highest, up to 40 feet, on north-facing shores, and waves up to 30 feet were expected for those facing west.

The swell is expected to gradually diminish on Thursday and Friday.

Average surf for this time of year is 12 to 16 feet. The dangerous waves are often caused by long-period large swells generated by a storm system near Alaska.

A small craft advisory is also in place, warning inexperienced mariners, especially those operating small vessels, against navigating the waters, as seas were expected to be hazardous.

What People Are Saying

NWS meteorologist Genki Kino told Newsweek: “We have just been really active in the north Pacific with a series of storms off to the northwest. We get into these active patterns with back-to-back swells. January is on average our biggest time of year [for waves] on the north shores.”

While discussing 40-foot waves, NWS meteorologist Tina Stall previously told Newsweek: “Those waves are nothing to mess around with. If they’re high enough, we can also get some overwash up the beaches and onto the roadways if they’re nearby.”

Stall previously told Newsweek: “[High surf] is pretty typical for this time of year. We are getting into the winter season, which is north shore season. So we get a lot of swells out of the northwest from storm systems up in the north Pacific.”

NWS Honolulu, in a high-surf warning: “Expect ocean water surging and sweeping across beaches, coastal benches, and lava flows creating the potential for impacts to coastal properties and infrastructure, including roadways. Powerful longshore and rip currents will be present at most beaches. Large breaking waves and strong currents may impact harbor entrances and channels causing challenging boat handling.”

The warning added: “Stay away from the shoreline along the affected coasts. Be prepared for road closures. Postpone entering or leaving channels affected by the high surf until the surf subsides.”

What Happens Next

The surf is expected to drop below warning levels by Friday.

Chronic Wasting Disease, or CWD, is a deadly and incurable neurological illness. Idaho just received its second confirmed case in domestic elk.

What is Chronic Wasting Disease

CWD is a prion disease, a type of illness not caused by viruses or bacteria, but instead by misfolded proteins called prions. When enough prions enter the body, they can create a chain reaction of damaging normal proteins in the body which leads to cell destruction and neurological damage, and inevitably, death of the organism.

Prion diseases are currently incurable and the only known ones occur in mammals. CWD affects animals in the deer family (cervids) such as but not limited to: moose, caribou, mule deer, reindeer, red deer, and elk. CWD was first found in Colorado in 1967, but through the years has been detected across the globe.

“It’s in Asia, Europe and North America,” said Professor Mark Zabel with the Prion Research Center at Colorado State University

How is it spread?

Zabel said that the disease can be transferred directly–for instance from a sick moose to a healthy moose–as well as transferred indirectly due to the prions’ infectious properties,

“…unlike many most other pathogens, it’s very stable in the environment. So it can remain infectious in the environment, in soil and landscapes. For years to decades.”

Prions get into the environment (soil, water, plants, etc) through excretion by infected animals, such as through their urine, feces, saliva, and decomposing bodies. Then, due to the prion’s very stable protein structure, they’re able to stay infectious for up to 20 years. This means other animals can pass through the environment, and pick up the prions laid decades past, and still get infected.

CWD is difficult to detect because animals may be infected for long periods of time without showing signs due to the disease’s incubation period. On average, the time between initial infection and first signs of it is 18 to 24 months long.

Concerns of the Disease

Not only is CWD an ecological concern due to the difficulty of combating it, but it is also a severe economic issue regarding wildlife and agriculture governmental agencies. The most recent data shows the government as spent $280 million dollars on CWD from 2000-2021. A majority amount of that was spent by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

Idaho first saw CWD in wild mule deer in 2021. Within the past two months, there have been two confirmed cases of domestic elks that were from different elk farms, meaning, they couldn’t have infected one another. In Idaho’s 2021-2022 fiscal year, wildlife agencies spent close to $225,000 trying to combat CWD.

Zabel told me his main concern as a scientist is “…this disease could spread to humans, you know. So it has some zoonotic potential, similar to another prion disease that people might be aware of called bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE. Probably more commonly known as mad cow disease.”

When someone eats beef contaminated with Mad Cow disease, a variant of the prion disease from the cow can be made to infect a human. For now, CWD does not have the ability to change to infect humans, but since it is a prion disease, it is possible that it could develop one.

What you can do to stay safe and help

Zabel encourages hunters to follow state practices to reduce the possible spread of CWD and to test their harvest before eating. There’s no evidence yet that CWD can transfer from cervid to human but Zabel told me,

“I would definitely not want to be the reference case. I don’t want to be patient zero.”

This past year, Idaho Fish and Game released hunting guidelines to reduce the spread of CWD . The agency also offers free testing kits for hunters to help track the disease by sending in samples of their game.