All the way from New York...(Jeff Pegues)

''You're from New York? Thanks for coming all the way out here to cover this.''

Photojournalist Jerry Lago and I have been hearing that a lot this week. We've also heard a lot of ''nice to see you'', and ''how can I help''? Southern Californians have been incredibly gracious and accomodating to those of us who've flown in to cover the wildfires.

It reminds me of New Yorkers in times of loss and heartbreak. Always so strong and resilient. I have seen those qualities in so many people this week in San Diego County.

Even those whose homes have burned to the ground have been polite as we asked questions. Sometimes questions that perhaps probe too deeply at a time when the last thing they want to do is tell me (a stranger) how they're doing. As a reporter we have to respect people's privacy even as we pursue the story. It is always a delicate balance.

I have discovered that there is something new I can learn from almost every person I interview. This week I was reminded about how generous Americans can be in times of loss. Just as New Yorkers have come together so many times in the past, San Diegans are showing their true colors. So many good people living through difficult times. But they still have time for a reporter from New York with a lot of questions.

Looking danger in the eye...(Jeff Pegues)

I was as close to serious danger as i've ever been at any other time in my career. On the front lines of the wildfires. The problem was the firefighters weren't there. It was just the four of us, two homeowners who were protecting their homes in San Diego county and photographer Jerry Lago and me. What an intense battle against mother nature's fury!

We showed you some of the photographs on Tuesday's Eyewitness News at 5,6 and 11. But what we didn't talk about (because of time contraints) was the situation leading up to the pictures. Down the hill from Owen O'Conner's home, firefighters had knocked down the wildfire. It looked like everything was under control. Then, just as we began to let our guard down, the flames sparked up again, perhaps fueled by the wind. In a matter of seconds a serious wildfire was threatening Owen O'conner's home. The flames jumped abou 25 feet in the air!!! We were right there and it was hot, with choking black smoke. With his water hose, Owen pushed ahead, knocking back the flames. It looked like he was fighting a losing battle. But his home appeared to be safe when we left. He had escaped danger. The home he has lived in over the last three decades was still standing. A close call for another Californian, amid the growing number of homes that have been destroyed.

Tomorrow I hope to talk about the generosity of San Diegans. These are difficult times, but they are as gracious, helpful and optimistic as ever.

Avoiding the flames...

-- Eyewitness News' Jeff Pegues

I've covered wildfires before, but these wildfires are extremely dangerous. Back in the late 1990's while working in Miami, I followed the wildfires of Central Florida as they chewed up real estate. But there is something different about these Southern California fires. They are being fueled by the strong Santa Ana winds that are blowing in from the east. So far roughly three-hundred thousand people have been evacuated from their homes, as houses and apartments fall into the path of the fires.

We have been running on this assignment since our arrival late last night at 2 a.m. eastern time. Photographer Jerry Lago and I have had very little sleep as we meet with some of the evacuees at shelters and near their homes.

We hope to bring you more information as we get closer to the front lines of the wildfires.

Images from the Fires

Streaming Video

Captain Smith's family remembers...(Shannon Sohn and Donna Smith)

Funeral Services for Captain Paul Smith were held on Saturday, and you have never seen such a big turnout to say goodbye to someone.  I knew how much Paul had touched my life, and the life of his boys, Cory and Cale, and his wife Donna ... to them he was the world's greatest father and husband.  To me, he was MY pilot and father figure.  But when you see several hundred people gather to bid farewell, you really find out how many lives he touched.  People in the aviation industry flew in from across the country to pay their respects, which tells me how much more Paul was than even I realized.  We teased him endlessly about being "Captain Safety," but he really was a prominent figure in the helicopter world, and will be sorely missed. 

After speaking with so many friends and family at the service, I found out how many people have turned to Channel 7 to keep updated on how the family is doing.  So this is for them. 

I am speaking with the boys, and checking in on Donna, and they are doing as well as can be expected.  While the road to recovery is still a long one, Donna is getting some of her fiestiness back.  She is still in some pain, but every day is better than the last one.  Of course, she is still in the hospital, and was unable to attend the services.  But the boys bent over backwards to make sure she could be a part of the services, and have a chance at closure.  Paul would have been so proud of how his boys handled all the arrangements.  I don't even think he realized how well he raised them.  With a little help from me, and a lot of help from John, they managed to get a video feed to Donna at the hospital so that she could be there, even though miles away.  And we were all touched at the service when Paul's nephew took out a piece of paper with thoughts on it, written by Donna earlier in the day.  The family asked that I share her sentiments with you, because while most Channel 7 viewers were not at the services, the family has been well aware of your thoughts and prayers, and her words were meant f or you as well:

I want to thank all of you for your support and care.  Along with myself, Paul, Cory and Cale have been blessed with loving family and friends.  You came to us without hesitation, and guided Cory and Cale to do what they have to do.  I can't thank you more for helping them through this difficulty that's in front of them.  I am so proud.  The value of friends and family can't be expressed enough on a piece of paper.  It needs to be shown every day.

THAT day, while we were taking the train to NYC - when Joel Olsen's poster came into sight "Have a Better Life," Paul turned to me and said "I'm  your Joel Olsen.  I have that positive attitude.  I laughed again and he said, "No, really.  I'm that best thing that happened to you!"  I looked into his eyes - really looked, and said, "Yes, Paul, you are."  I added, "You know why that is?  Because we remained friends.  Somehow you can get through if you have stuck together as friends."

Paul was a great guy.  Sometimes annoying, and sometimes silly ... for instance, walking around with his IPOD singing off tune to songs, or going to EVERY occassion wearing his ABC jacket (not again)!!  "But, Donna, it's a GREAT jacket!!" Paul would say.

I could go on and on, but I won't.

Thank you all again for being who you are.  We love you deeply.

Love,

Donna and Paul

Paul, I'll miss you with every beat of my heart.

I hope that sharing this with the viewers will help you understand what a close knit family Paul, Donna, Cory and Cale are, and how much they meant to each other.  Flying with Paul for ten years, and seeing these words from Donna, has made my husband and I stop and take stock.  They really did live life as best friends, and it did get them through everything.  I think we could all learn a little from them, and maybe all be in a happier place if we take their philosophy with us. 

As for me, I am getting back in the air today.  I'm nervous about it, and am afraid I am going to hate doing this job without Paul.  But Cory has a best friend named Anthony, and his Dad gave me the inspiration to get back up there.  He pointed out to me that Paul and I were fortunate enough to have learned the job together, and Paul would have wanted me to take the knowledge I gained with him, and impart it on someone new.  That's how I can make sure his legend lives on.  I know it'll never be the same again ... but it will be, and that's what Paul would have wanted.

What people don't know about Captain Paul...(Shannon Sohn)

In the wake of this tragic accident, I am learning a lot about how the viewers at home felt about Captain Paul, and it warms my heart to know that John Delgiorno and I had an impact on bringing him into your homes, even just a little bit.  Now that I can no longer say, "along side Captain Paul Smith," I'd like to tell the viewers at home a little about what it was like to fly with Paul, and bring him into your homes one last time, but on a more personal level.

After a decade together, Captain Paul and I were more than a pilot and reporter to each other.  We knew each others idiosyncracies, and could really read each others minds. He always thought it was funny that I don't know my east from my west without drawing the compass directions with my finger in the air.  And knowing that, he also knew which way to go when I would tell him east and meant south, because I randomly assigned the way we were facing to be north, even though it wasn't.  We flew together for so long, he would always know what I meant, and I didn't have to try as hard to get it right, because he understood me best when I didn't make sense.  Sometimes my directions to him would be "go to the intersection of light and dark," and two minutes later we would be on the air, bringing you breaking news. Likewise, when he was on the Gowanus Expressway and would call me to see why the Cross Bronx was so heavy getting to the Verazanno Bridge, I could laugh at him, and still give him an acurate traffic update, even though we were miles apart.

It was just last week that we were laughing about a time early on that I was on the air trying to say "Matinee Day," and got completely tongue-tied. Instead of whispering in my ear "matinee," Captain Paul turned his head toward me and gave me the funniest look, as if to say "easy for you to say," and watched me struggle.  While I thought Channel 7 would never take a live report from me again, I will never forget how we laughed about it.  He even suggested that we switch seats for the next hit. 

He would also try to get me to laugh on the air.  Sometimes, as the anchors toss it to me, he'll tell a joke, or tickle me, or knock my arm that's operating the camera.  On a particularly confusing story, he'll actually say "good luck getting through this one," as Diana, Sade, Bill or Liz are in the middle of tossing it to me.  But when the story was tough, there was no one who could get me to the scene faster, understand where I needed to be better, or want to me to succeed more. 

You probably don't know that Paul was a bit of an instigator, as well.  We affectionately called him "Captain Spoons," because he was always trying to stir up trouble. My husband was the brunt of a lot of it, simply because he worked under Paul at Helicopters Inc as the morning reporter in Chopper 4, and because I talked to Paul so much about him.  But in addition to dishing it out, Paul could really take it, too. When he got back home after being involved in a helicopter crash a few years ago in

Colorado

, John and I met him at NewsCopter 7 wearing full crash-gear, and the

Linden

Airport

crew turned everything in his office upside down. 

I even made a cake for his triumphant return, complete with a crashed helicopter in Colorado and a helmet in New Jersey (Paul always wore a helmet so that he wouldn't suffer a head injury in case of a crash, but he left it home for his trip to Colorado ... the one time in his lengthy career he could have used it).

We always joked that I was closer in age to his sons than to him, but acted more like his wife.  We had a rule that whatever happened in the cockpit, stayed in the cockpit, so we could talk freely to each other about anything and everything. 

With a rule like that, a lot of counseling happened aboard  NewsCopter 7.  So inbetween what you see on TV from our home in the sky, Paul and I would be sharing recipes, recommending places to eat, laughing and joking, pouring our hearts out, and seeking advice.  And that's just in one flight. 

Then there's the down time in between flights.  We would counsel some more.  And we loved to share books.  In fact, we've gotten to the point where we don't even know which James Patterson books we've read and haven't read, and Patricia Cornwell is tired of trying to keep up with our reading habit.

You may be curious to know, as well, how much Paul disliked flying with me when I was pregnant with my son, Zachary.  I was sick for the entire 7 months the pregnancy lasted, and threw up after every single flight.  He claimed I was 'miserable to be around,' (really, I was just miserable) but never let on until long after the pregnancy was over.  I think he finally owned up when I became pregnant with Mackenzie (which he said was a much better pregnancy for him). 

Captain Paul's son, Corey, would ride with us occcassionally.  Usually, it was to bring his new girlfriend to seek my approval.  I was surprised when I went to Paul's house to celebrate the college graduation of his other son, Kale, and Corey's girlfriend arrived as a brunette (I know Corey to be a blonde man), but she's my favorite one yet. In fact, they were supposed to fly with us next week, so I could give my stamp of approval.  But Meredith doesn't need it ... she already won my heart the first time I met her, along with Corey's.

So am I going to miss flying with Paul?  You can't even imagine.  I don't even know how to do the job without him.  But I can still smile thinking about him, and knowing that it brought him joy every time I said his name on the air.  I know that I was responsible for one of the things he was most proud of ... Paul and I won an Emmy together ... and you have NEVER seen anyone more excited than him and his family. In fact, they were all there for the awards ceremony.  Even his sister, Gloria, flew in for it.  And when we won, his family was as happy for me as they were for Paul.

For those of  you wondering, Donna is surrounded by family and friends, and they are all doing as well as can be expected.  I saw the family at the hospital yesterday, and they are overwhelmed by the coverage they are seeing on Channel 7 and the other stations in the city.  They are truly touched by the support they are getting from their Eyewitness News family, and from the viewers.

This is a huge loss to anyone whose life he was able to touch. I hope you'll be patient with us up there as we try to regroup after our loss.  I, for one, am not ready to fly without him.  But I know he would want me to, and whether he is physically with me or not,  I know that I will always be "reporting live alongside Captain Paul Smith."

A fallen captain...(Diana Williams)

All of us here at Eyewitness News are feeling a huge loss over the death of Newscopter 7 pilot Captain Paul Smith. You never saw him on the air. He worked behind the scenes, but he was a vital part of our daily broadcasts. Remember the chopper shots from the crash of Cory Lidle's plane on the Upper East Side? That was Capt. Paul Smith's video. He covered the Staten Island ferry accident, the Chopper 4 crash, and the steam pipe explosion. If there was a major story, Capt Paul Smith was most likely in the cockpit of Newscopter 7 flying overhead and gathering the pictures for Eyewitness News. He flew everywhere for us and for our viewers.

He was also there for his co-workers. He and reporter Shannon Sone were joined at the hip: working closely together every day. When Shannon signed off after a breaking news report, she always took care to include "Captain Paul Smith." She trusted him with her life. But more than that, he was her confidant and her advisor, comforting her when she lost her father. It was the same for reporter John DelGiorno. John says he learned about priorities and perspective from Capt. Paul. The two worked together on 9-11. John was scared out of his wits, and it was Capt. Paul Smith who told him it was all going to be okay.

No TV station in New York city is flying today. All the cities news helicopters are in the hanger in Linden, New Jersey lined up side by side, their engines silent. It's out of respect for Capt Paul Smith, and it speaks volumes about how his co-workers felt about him. The city's chopper pilots and their reporters are a tight group-- consider the risks they take every day, and you can understand the closeness. I can't begin to imagine their grief. In our newsroom, most of us are just numb. We can't imagine what it's going to be like flying without him.

Covering the Isiah Thomas, MSG Trial...(Kemberly Richardson)

-- Eyewitness News' Kemberly Richardson

(New York-WABC, October 2, 2007) _  So ... When was the last time you sat in a courtroom, heard a federal judge curse, the plaintiff use profanity and the defendants freely utter four letter words?

That's easy: Just about every day for the last three and a half weeks. The shocking language was a large part of the sexual harassment trial against Isiah Thomas and Madison Square Garden.

It was a sometimes uncomfortable look at the behind the scenes antics, behavior the jury found unacceptable. Each morning I arrived to court ahead of Thomas, who once he arrived often laughed at all the elbow throwing going on outside, photographers trying to get their shot of the former NBA star.  Once inside Thomas would stroll up to the courtroom exchanging small talk about the action out front and then head into the courtroom guarded by his security and attorneys.

It was a trial where taking notes, lots of them, was challenging. It was a "He Said, She Said" situation, often feeling like a ping pong game times ten, with rows of attorneys and one juror who often fell asleep during testimony.

The courtroom also often broke out in laughter. Judge Lynch has quite a sense of humor, appropriate and a welcomed change to the note taking. But everyone knew what was at stake: The very serious issue of sexual harassment and retaliation.

During deliberations reporters talked amongst themselves, attorneys also chatted. One was a diligent solitaire player staring at her laptop while moving playing cards.

We wondered when the jury would reach a verdict and what it would be. Once word got out that jurors had reached a decision, it was non-stop, the usually lighthearted Thomas now very serious and Browne Sanders anticipating a win, smiling. Attorneys for MSG and James Dolan were deep in thought.

In the end all parties had their take on the verdict: A mistake or a victory.