tonight in arizona's deadly wildfire still burning out of control. 19 bodies have now been recovered, 19 heroes now identified. the first two people to question george zimmerman take the stand for the prosecution. question once again, did strong cross-examination turn their testimony to the defense's advantaging? another compelling day in court. we'll tell you about it. and later to egypt, a leading newspaper saying egypt is on the edge of a volcano. that's what it looks like tonight. millions protesting against the government and the clock now ticking before the military steps in. we begin tonight with the breaking news. all 19 firefighters killed in the yarnell hill fire still burning out of control north of phoenix. they've all been identified and taken to the maricopa medical examiner's office in phoenix. 19 members of an elite team called hotshots, the granite mountain hotshots based in prescott, arizona. every member but one pr risched.

more how it came to this terrible day. >> it began as a simple ordinary act of nature in the high desert. a lightning strike at an 5:36 friday evening igniting an 800-acre blaze. there were twin problems. scorching heat and low humidity. but that combination, the fire exloaded in into a monster devouring acres that had not burned in 40 years. first a few dozen homes. then 00 scorched. firefighters across the region including the hotshots from station 7 in prescott located 30 miles away jumped into action. the hotshots a team of 208 sent into the heart of the fire. to cut a line on the eastern flank and save other homes. >> they're highly trained, highly skilled. their situational awareness is very high. for this crew, it's very difficult to imagine what happened. >> it was sunday afternoon. the hot shot crew was behind the

fire line when like most afternoons a thunderstorm blew in. but this one was different. it packed with what the fire department calls monsoon winds and the crew was trapped on the wrong side of this em. >> late in the day, a thunderstorm developed over prescott. and the wind shifts 180 degrees on these firefighters and 40 to 50-mile-per-hour gusts instead of staying out of the way, the fire blew today him. >> theydried for such a disaster. in this video they show how to deploy a protective shield a last resort move. they dove under the shelters but it wasn't enough to save them from the ferocious wildfire. all but one were killed. the remains of 19 bodies found some still in their shelters. >> we've lost 19 of our family members. it's a nightmare right now. >> 19 heros between the ages of 21 and 43. taken from the charred fields

they tried to squish extinguish in a caravan after white advance, people lining the streets here and mourners lining the gate of station 7 with flags and flowers. the hot shot team's cars still parked where they pulled in three days ago. their families retrieving the uniforms of their fallen loved ones, wives, widowed in an instant. >> they're young guys. it's the top, top guys to do this. they've got to be in top shape and they knew what they were doing. something just really went wrong somewhere. >> it is an unimaginable loss. kyung lah joins me now live. do we know how the one was able to survive in. >> of he survived, anderson, because he wasn't with his crew. he's actually on the roster. it's a team of 20, but he was september to move some crew equipment. he was jockeying with that equipment. and that's why he survived because he just wasn't with them. everyone who was together in that crew perished. >> and we're going to talk to

the father of one of the men who perished, 21-year-old young man. they were all so young. it's so hard to imagine so many of them first time fathers or about to become fathers. in terms of the fire now, the homes, what are we hearing about the number of homes destroyed? >> well, the last figure we're hearing is that 200 hoexs have been damaged or destroyed. the acreage is now at 8400 acres. the important thing to realize about this is that firefighters are stressing this is not a final figure. they expected it to change. >> president obama spoke by phone today with jan brewer blejing all necessary federal assistance to state and local crews, expressing his condolences the families of the fallen. their names have just been released. we're learning a little about the lives some of them led. we want to tell you what we know about these young men. you hud know their names, eric marrish, andrew ashcraft, anthony rose, chris mack ken

zee, claden wittit, dustin deford, garrett zuppiger, grant mckee, jesse steed, joe thurston, john percin, robert caldwell, scott norris, sean misner, travis carter, travis it your byfill. we'd parker, billy warneke, kevin woyjeck. >> andrew ashcraft had a wife and four young children. he was 29 years old. chris mackenzie was like so many the son of a firefighter. he loved snow boarding, living life to the fullest. chris mack ken zee was 30 years old. clayton played football, knew what a ground battle looked like off and on the gridiron. dustin was 242, loved the

outdoors and loved to hunt. jesse steed served in the marines before becoming a firefighter in 2000 and became a hot shot in 2002. he was 36 years old and leaves behind a wife and two young kids. scott norris was 28, worked at a local gunshop, known as the ideal gentleman. sean was about to become a first time dad. he was 26 years old. travis carter at 31 was thinking about retiring this year. even younger at 22, wade parker was engaged to be married in october. billy had he live wod have become a father in december. he was 25 years old. kevin was born to be a hot shot. he is the son of a firefighter. earlier tonight i spoke with his father tonight by phone. >> i'm so sorry for you and your family's loss. i can't imagine what you're going through at this point. what do you want people to know

about your son, about kevin? >> my goodness, he wanted to be a firefighter like me. i come from a family of firefighters, and you know, we go to work. we foe there's a risk. and you know, you spend your whole life protecting your children and then knowingly letting him go into harm's way, i can only imagine how my parents felt when i became a firefighter. knew the risk was there, yeah. always laughing. great fisherman. always had a rod with him in his car. he loved the outdoors. you know, sleeping on the dirt was not eight big deal to him. he enjoyed it actually i think. just a great kid. not a mean bone in his body. always just you know, looking forward to become a firefighter like his dad. just words can't describe the

loss that our family is feeling right now. my wife and i and pie daughter, my other son have kind of sheltered ourselves from thenent. when the time's right, we'll dig if and figure out exactly what happened. but right now, i'm happy that i have my close tight family and i'm oh blessed that my family has my fire department family. it is absolutely amazing. i feel sorry for the other 18 firefighters and their families. and just a tragic loss, you know. it's real to me. and i've never been in a position where it felt like a bad dream but my wife and i both had a sleepless night last night talking. and nightmare is the word that kept coming up. a nightmare. it hasn't sunk in yet.

we're not going to get the phone call. he called me yesterday morning and said dad, we've got a fire in yarnell, arizona. i won't have service. i'll give you a call later. >> he had already accomplished an incredible amount to be 1 years old. this is a really elite unit. it's an incredibly difficult position to have. >> he wanted to be in the weeds because i started out as a firefighter, told him how hard it was. there's times if you can run, you get yourself out of trouble. if you get in that position. he worked out hard. he worked out as a cross-country runner and excelled in running till he graduated from high school because he knew the hot shot group, had you to be the best. >> there's also got to be an incredibly close bond between the family of firefighters who are together, your son and the people he's working with on that crew. >> that's correct. i -- because he just started

there on april 1st, i haven't had time to really stand with his crew. you build a bond with your crew and your team when you're out in harm's way that it's not -- there's no way to describe it. if you've never been there, you can't understand it. >> captain i'm so sorry for your loss and our condolences you and your entire family. we wish you the best in the days ahead. >> thank you for taking my call. >> such a loss. so many families mourning tonight. this still a very active fire. even as firefighters are mourning trying to come to grips with the reality of this, they can't stop working. joining us now is prescott arizona fire chief of dan ffreyho. so many of them were so young. seven of them under 25 years of age. talk a little bit about the kind of people who do this work. >> these are very special people that are dedicated to do good

things that are very, very physically fit. they're very dedicated. great sense of humor for the most part and just the type of people that don't mind going out into the forest and hauling 50 or 60, 70 pounds of gear, walking five or six miles, establishing fire lines or burning out areas trying to protect people. these are just outstanding people well conditioned athletic young men. >> how do you go about dealing with this loss and at the same time, you still have to fight this fire? >> well, we also have a great deal of dedicated people here in the city that despite the grief ta we're going through, despite the losses that took place and the sorrow that's extended, they're still ready to respond. the city's still covered. we're dealing with issues every day routinely. they separate their grief from their professionalism. >> i know it's very early and maybe you haven't been able to investigate this. are you any closer to

understanding exactly what happened out there? >> not really. anderson, one of the things that must be understood is that that fire is about 40 or 50 miles away. it's being handled by an incident command team at the national level with the forest service or through the state agency. we send our crews wherever requested. they can be engines or hot shot crew. once we end them, beak we're out of the picture till they come back. they're redeployed or the season ends. >> and in terms of these individual, i apologize, i don't know the correct term, but they're basically kind of individual little tents that are fire resistant, can you explain how those work and i mean, how strong are those? what kind of flames -- do they actually resist direct fire? >> well, what they do is they reflect the heat. when somebody has to deploy a shelter like that is an

absolutely there are no other options. we try to get as close ot ground as we can. they're silt in such a way to where our hands and feet feet in them. we try to tuck them in as close as we can and have the fire go over the top. if it's a fairly fast moving fire, your survivability is greater. if it's a slower moving or dense area, it woimz much more serious. deploying the shelter is a very, very last risk mode that people take when there's no other options. >> one of the firefighters sent word all the men were deploying the shelters. was anything else said in that message that you can say? >> i'm sorry. i didn't understand your question. >> did you receive any other kind of communication from the cell about what was going on? >> the only thing i know was that the crew had said that they're deploying the shelters and then there was a long period of silence to where the incident commanders could not did not get information. >> chief, again, our condolences

for your loss and our thoughts are with all of you still battling the blazes. thank you. >> thank you for your concern and for allowing us to talk about thissing >> thank you very much. we'll be talking about this story on twitter on the commercial break. follow me @anderson cooper tweeting throughout the night. just ahead, george zimmer pan's own words took center stage on day six of had his murder trial. today's key testimony ahead. plus our legal panel. later, take a look at the heart of cairo, egypt. a very ominous night. hundreds of thousands of people in the streets. the offices of the ruling muslim brotherhood have been overrun. the military issued an order that some are saying amounts to a ticking time bomb. we'll take you there. we've had this farm for 30 years. we raise black and red angus cattle. we also produce natural gas. that's how we make our living and that's how we can pass the land and water back to future generations.

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with tender loving care. amazing client satisfaction: it's a quicken loans family value. call 800-quicken or go to quickenloans.com to experience it for yourself. welcome back. this is week two of the george zimmerman trial.

today jurors heard zimmerman give his version of what happened the night he killed trayvon martin. this was all on video. the prosecution played an audio recording of the statement he paid to police just minutes after he shot the teenager. a detective testified about the written statement he gave later that night. the lead investigator also took the stand. the prosecution tried to use zimmerman's own words and to back up their claim that he profiled martin from the moment he spotted him. defense tried to show that zimmerman's statements were credible. just ahead, our legal panel is going to weigh-in on who had a better day in court. first cnn's martin savidge wraps up the day's testimony. >> reporter: doris singleton was the first to interview zimmerman the night he shot trayvon martin, and said he seemed surprised to learn the teen had died. >> yes, at some point, i had said that we weren't able to identify the victim. and he said, well, what do you mean you haven't been able to identify him? >> i said, we don't know who he is.

and he said, he's dead? and i said, i thought you knew that. i thought you knew he was dead. and he kind of slung his head and shook it. >> in a recording of that interview, zimmerman again repeats the line prosecutors say went to his state of mind. >> there were a few times where i've seen a suspicious person in the neighborhood. we call the police, the nonemergency line, and these guys always get away. >> the state contends zimmerman instantly profiled martin that night. pointing to his written statement, in which zimmerman repeatedly described martin as the suspect. and prosecutors attempted to show how zimmerman's account changed. changed with each retelling. in his first interview, zimmerman said martin attacked him after jumping out of the bushes. >> i was walking back through to where my car was. and he jumped out from the bushes.

and he, what the [ bleep ] is your problem, homie? >> in the re-enactment, zimmerman makes no mention of martin jumping out from bushes. >> that's right about here, he yelled from behind me. he said, yo, you got a problem? i turned around and said, no, i don't have a problem, man. >> where was he at? >> he was about there, but he was walking toward me. >> coming from this direction here? >> yes, sir. like i said, an i was already past that. so i didn't see exactly where he came from. >> the state entered into evidence another police interview, in which investigators challenged zimmerman's account of events. >> but your account is that you don't see him at this point. here's the pavement. directly looking down that way, that passage. where were you at? >> once he told me not to follow him -- i wasn't following him, i was going in the same direction he was. once they -- >> that's following

>> but each time on cross-examination, defense attorney park o'mara always came back to the same point, that both investigators found zimmerman credible. >> were there any questions that you asked him or any changes in his story along the way that caused you concern? >> not significantly, no. >> you think he was telling the truth? >> yes. >> martin savidge, cnn, sanford, florida. >> martin's going to join us in a little bit to talk about what went on in the courtroom today. i want to get our legal panel's take. joining me is senior legal analyst jeffr toobin and sunny hostin. on the defense side, criminal defense attorneys danny au ser ral los and mark geragos author of "mistrial." i want to throw this question out to all four of you, do any of you believe that the prosecution ha a particularly good day today? does anybody believe that the

prosecution is a step closer to proving their case? mark, go ahead. >> anderson, i have a theory about this. i think that was has happened here, this is -- and, jeff, i have no evidence of this, so i'll say that as a disclaimer, but i think when the police did not arrest him as mark o'mara elicited, they found him to be credible. they thought that they weren't going to file. i think that what has happened here, is that when the state's attorney filed this case, they feel like the police were thrown under the bus. and i think the police are now engaging in payback, and when those questions that o'meara asked to get those answers out of the officers, to me is stunning. and anderson, i assume your question was almost a hypothetical, because, no, they're not -- they're not a step closer, this was a disastrous day. >> go ahead. jeff >> for the first time in history, i can agree completely with what mark said. i had a feeling that the cops were really going out of their

way to be sympathetic to zimmerman today. you know, of course -- he didn't ask for a lawyer. he -- he immediately talked to us, he was truthful, honest. we tried our special investigative techniques. they even asked him about the inconsistencies and he said, i didn't think they were really such big inconsistencies, everybody tells a story somewhat different. they sounded like defense attorneys. >> let me play one more piece of an interview with the female police officer talking about whether george zimmerman exhibited any ill will or malice. let's take a listen. >> did he evidence that he was angry with trayvon martin? >> no. >> that he had hatred for him? >> no. >> spite or ill will? >> no. >> that he had anything that would suggest to you some type of bad attitude toward trayvon martin? >> no. >> rather he seemed to be affected by the fact that

he realized that trayvon martin had passed? >> he seemed affected by that. >> that's a state's witness. >> this is brilliant. it's so nuanced. what mark o'mara is doing is literally reading out of the statute. the statute defines -- the state the has the burden to prove depraved heart. what is that? they have to prove three separate things, one of those is ill will, evil hatred, that's where those questions come from. he's literally getting his closing argument prepared by asking about that evil or ill will. so now he's establishing that at least one witness is going to negate that ill will, if you negate one, this is a giant jenga game. if you negate one of those elements, the entire case fails. and it is florida law that an impulsive overreaction to a fight or an attack is not ill will or evil. ? unsunny hostin, did you see anything different there? anything positive there for the prosecution? >> yeah, i did. i'm going to agree with mark as well. certainly, you have to remember that these are the same police

officers that the investigation was taken from, and their power was usurped, i'm sure they were a little bit upset about it, some of that came across on the witness stand. when you look at george zimmerman's statements, he did call trayvon martin repeatedly a suspect. he also said these guys always get away. i think something that's very interesting to take away, as well is that he talked about serino said he didn't feel george zimmerman's injuries were life threatening. he also said he didn't believe george zimmerman went down with a single punch. i think what's most important is we got out those inconsistencies when it talks about who was the first aggressor. that's going to be the most important issue here, i think it was clear that at first he said, well -- he told singleton, i got out of the car to get an address. you know, there are only three streets at this retreat at twin lakes. so the fact that the neighborhood watch coordinator

didn't know one of three streets incredible. he finally admitted sort of, that listen, he got out and was following him. and i think that when you look at it all in context, yes, maybe his statements were consistent, they are his statements, his self-serving statements, there was a lot for the prosecution to work with, given those statements. >> very briefly, is it possible -- i mean, second degree murder is what he's charged with. is it possible for the jury on their own to say, we don't think it's second degree murder, but maybe it should be manslaughter? is that within the power of the jury to -- >> if the jury has to go with what's called a lesser included, they get a jury instruction. if they give lessers, the jury can, they have to work from top to bottom, but if they acquit on second degree and they get a lesser of manslaughter, yes, they can find him guilty or not guilty of that. >> you will find prosecutors who believe that you should always charge the absolute most you can and let the jury compromise to something you could live with. >> doesn't that make the closing

argument in the prosecution's case harder to argue? >> that's what other prosecutors think, which is if you overcharge, you wind up discrediting your entire case. you can argue either way. the problem here is, they're not establishing any kind of case at least on a day like today as far as i can tell. but again, i don't think we should overemphasize one day. there's a lot of evidence in this case. >> just ahead, mof of george zimmerman in his words. do all of his statements and interviews match up? sunny talked about some inconsistencies. we'll show you what he said and plus we'll take you inside the dangerous world of the granite hadn't hotshots. what it takes to join their ranks. [ whirring ] [ dog barks ] i want to treat more dogs. ♪ our business needs more cases. [ male announcer ] where do you want to take your business? i need help selling art. [ male announcer ] from broadband to web hosting to mobile apps, small business solutions from at&t

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welcome back. as we said, george zimmerman's own words took center stage at his murder trial entered its second week today. zimmerman spoke to police multiple times after the shooting. the prosecution wants to expose inconsistencies in what he told them. today they played a video of police questioning ziler man three days after he killed martin. here's some of what the jurors themselves heard today in court. did you at that time -- [ inaudible ] >> did it not occur to you? >> no, i said i don't have a problem and i started backing away from him. >> did you a problem. that's why you were following him, right? >> well -- >> you were afraid to tell him that? neighborhood watch, an you were afraid to tell him that? >> yes, ma'am. >> i'm not trying to put you on the spot. these are the questions you answered.

>> i don't recognize you. are you staying here? >> like i said, he came up out of nowhere. i didn't see him. i walked back to my car, thinking i was going to need a police officer there. when he popped up, he caught me off guard. >> can you see how that would frighten him, he had been following -- >> what do you mean? >> you're watching him -- >> he makes it -- >> he may not make it clear to you, i recognize you're following me? >> i didn't know if he was doing that, or he was doubling back or what he was doing. >> george zimmerman didn't appear to have any obvious reactions, as he listened to his own words played in court today. at least not when the cameras were on him. you have to be inside the courtroom to actually see the jurors' ookz. martin savidge and jean casarez were in the courtroom, they join me now. we got a firsthand account from

zimmerman without him having to take the stand, didn't we? >> yes, pretty interesting. by my count there were five different versions of george zimmerman giving a statement as to what happened on the night he killed 17-year-old trayvon martin. i'm thinking four were recorded in some way, and one was written, and each one of them was introduced into court. it was george zimmerman, not quite taking the stand, but very much having a strong presence in everything that took place in testimony today. and what was also interesting was to see the progression. i mean, from the very first interview that he gives to authorities, about an hour, hour and a half after he shot the teen, where the officer questioning him really doesn't ask many questions at all, until the final session, which you just played right now, where you see that these investigators are now grilling him and going back over the inconsistencies and saying, wait a minute, this doesn't seem to match up.

to watch that evolution was very interesting. >> in addition to the sound from the police interview, the jury also saw zimmerman's re-enactment of the events which took place february 27th, the day after the shootings. i just want to play a chunk again of what jurors saw. >> i tried squirming again, because all i could think about was when he hit my head, it felt like my head was going to explode and i thought i was going to lose consciousness. i tried to squirm so that i could get -- because he only had a small portion of my head on the concrete. i tried to squirm off the concrete. when i did that, somebody here opened the door. and i said, help me, help me, and they said, i'll call 911, i said, no, help me. i need help. >> that person who opened the door has already testified i was curious -- i mean, being inside the courtroom, could you tell, what was the jury's reaction? >> you know, they had been writing notes all day, and looking up and writing notes. when this was played, anderson,

the pens were down, they were so focused on the screen, and there is a mystery that we still have here, though. because george zimmerman says i believed that he was using a brick to pound my head. so when i shot him, i thought he was still alive. i got on his back, because i wanted to find what i thought was that brick. i put his hands up. that's in several statements. but his hands, trayvon martin's hands were found underneath him almost from the beginning. and that's a mystery how that happened. >> i heard a lot of analysts say there's no way now, given these tapes, the multiple statements he made that were entered into evidence, there's no way that he's going to take the stand to give testimony. do you agree with that? >> you know, this morning, i would have said, i think he will take the stand possibly now, i think i have to agree with you, at the end of the day, i have to tell you the lead detective was saying, did you think he was profiling him. he said i asked george, well, if he was white. would you have done the same thing and he said yes. and then the lead investigator

said in front of the jury and once i found out he was mentoring african-american students, i realized george zimmerman was not profying have a von martin. coming up, a look at the hotshots, in the wake of the tragic death of 19 people fighting fires yesterday. also, we're going to take you to egypt, another kind of front lines. what's it going to take to get egypt to pull back from the brink and save their young democracy from a military takeover. we're live from tahrir square.

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there you see it. the fire north of phoenix has now destroyed 200 homes and bodies of 19 firefighters have been identified. for those 19 members of the hot shot team, the entire was likely unsurvivable, is heat too great for the tents thermequipped it. as you heard the fire chief describe earlier this evening, the tents are made with lightweight aluminum covered fabric that can often but not always save a firefighter's life. listen to a survivor of another fire tell his harrowing story. >> for a period of probably three to five minutes i was sure that was it, i was going to die, and that i would not survive this. there's no question in my mind. at that point, it was just a matter of when. i remember thinking very clearly at that point, should i just ride this out and make this last maybe an hour or whatever time it takes for me it die from this, or should i maybe just

push this shelter off, sand up and take a deep breath and get it over with. at that point i started to think about my family, i have a wife, two daughters and i remember thinking i need to do everything that i possibly can to go home and see them. so that's really what kept me in the shelter. >> 19 firefighters will never see their families again. incredibly tough training for one of the toughest jobs on earth. we want to take a look now at the hotshots, the people who risk their lives to help us all. more now from randi kaye. >> reporter: when hotshots get the call, they head to the center of a blazing wildfire. an inferno that often times only they can stop. hotshots go where equipment can't. these elite firefighting teams are specially trained to use chain saws and pulaskis to clear brush and cut a fire line

through the dirt. a line that could stretch a mile long. it's their job to hold that line. john seger is a former hotshot. >> when the fire burns up to that line, the fire is going to put out embers, and some of those embers actually doll cross the line, and the hot shot crew or any of our fire crews will patrol the line and they look for those embers and try to get to them. >> seger likens his hot shot teams to military special ops units. they are the best of the best in wildfire suppression. highly motivated and highly trained. which is why they get the toughest assignments. >> their physical fitness training prior to the season and if it's a slow season during the season includes running, long endurance hikes, any type of push-ups, situps, the whole aerobics, cardio, physical fitness routine.

>> there's a rigorous physical test to qualify as a hot shot, including a three-mile hike in 45 minutes while carrying a 45-pound pack. and a mile and a half run in ten and a half minutes or less. because of the physical endurance required, most hotshots tend to be younger, in their 20s and 30s. >> it's certainly not an easy gig. hotshot crews are on call 24-7 during fire season, about six months out of the year. they're sent to where the terrain is most severe and the weather is typically hot and dry. they're exposed to wind and dust and all kinds of poisonous plants. crews sleep on the ground and if they're lucky, they get to shower every couple of days. the job keeps them away from home for several weeks at a time, working 14 days on and two days off. the hours are long too. often stretching into 16 hour shifts. >> they travel all over the country.

so it is very difficult. it is very difficult to maintain a family life. our firefighters adjust to that. families adjust to it just like families in the military service adjust to it, but it is not an easy life. >> the u.s. forest service says hot shot crews began. southern california in the late 1940s. they got their name, hotshot from always being in the hottest part of the fire. and this isn't the first devastating loss they've suffered. back in 1994, nearly 20 years ago, nine members of the prineville, oregon, hot shot team were killed when they were trapped fighting a colorado fire on storm king mountain. some firefighters try to survive by wrapping themselves in fireproof shelters like these. just like the 19 killed in arizona. while all hotshot team members tend to love the outdoors and thrive on a challenge, they know the dangers and what can happen

when the wind shifts. randi kaye, cnn atlanta. >> i'm joined now by someone who knows the danger firsthand of the training that prepares you to face it. kyle dickman is a former hot shot, these days associate editor of outside magazine. he profiles california's hot shots in the current issue. kyle, thank you for being with us. this is so horrific, what occurred in arizona. what's your understanding of what happened and the conditions that led to it? >> well, you know, much of the southwest has been experiencing a pretty extreme drought over the past few years, and i think that's one major condition. the other is they were having thunderstorms. in this case, there was a thunderstorm that developed over prescott, arizona and it started to move from the northwest to the southeast toward the fire, when that happened, it was -- there were 40 to 50 mile per hour winds blowing down the canyon, and the fire essentially just exploded.

>> i read your article when it first came out. in outside magazine. the physical conditioning of these firefighters, their training, it is incredible tear veng and the positi-- their str and the positions that they willingly put themselves in. >> yeah, it's -- i mean, the physical fitness is a matter of safety. they put these hotshot crews, they strive to make these guys in as good a shape as possible. the idea being, hopefully you'll be able to outrun a fire in the event that something happens. and physical fitness is sort of your first line of defense. >> what kind of firefighting tactics was this crew likely attempting when the situation got out of control? >> yeah, i don't -- i'm not entirely sure, my guess is that what they were doing would be called building direct lines. in a case like this, they were trying to protect structures, and the idea is to build -- to remove all the fuel right next to the edge of the fire. that means using chainsaws and pulaskis and shovels, whatever

you've got to clear that fuel away and then the fire runs into that line and theoretically, it stops. so in the case of this fire, you can see that those winds pumped it up and they were throwing -- embers were thrown over the line, once that happened, they were really in a fight for their lives. >> it's believed they all deployed these fire shelters that they will carry. have you ever used one of these? exactly how does it work? >> well, the -- every single firefighter in the country carries one of these fire shelters. of course, i've used them in training. it's actually pretty rare that they're deployed. the way it works, it sits behind you, you carry a backpack. it sits right behind your backpack. if you're -- if something happens, there's a spark or a spot fire or something, god forbid you have to use these, you throw the pack aside, and you grab a liter of water, you grab this be shelter and you run to a place where there's nothing that can burn, no fuel and then

you flick out this tent, you climb inside of it, and frankly you just hope for the best. >> but a direct flame on this, it's not built to sustain that for long? >> it's not actually built to sustain a direct flame at all. the way they work, they reflect the heat. it's basically, they're aluminum foil so that heat is reflected off. as soon as the flame touches it, the structure is compromised and it no longer provides the safety you need. >> it's still so unbelievable. and obvious, there's a lot more we need to learn about the situation these firings were put into. kyle dickman, it's a fascinating look at the hotshots. i appreciate you coming on. thank you. >> thank you. up next tonight, egypt, gripped by angry protests again. against the year old morsi government. now egypt's military has issued morsi an ultimatum. we take to you cairo after the break. irring ] [ dog barks ]

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we want to take you to egypt now, where the military has given president mohamed morsi 48 hours to answer the demands of angry protesterses who have taken to the streets or it will step in and restore order, they say. to give you an idea of how many egyptians are fed up, take a look at this, tens of thousands rallied in tahrir square today as they have the past few days. many calling on morsi to include the moderate political elements into his government, and try to reduce the growing influence of the conservative muslim brotherhood. other egyptians say he's ineb demand he resign immediately and threaten civil disobeidence if he doesn't. protesters have stormed the headquarters of the muslim broo broord -- brotherhood.

clashes with police across egypt led to at least 16 deaths, hundreds have been wounded. and late word that five government ministers resigned today. it's the middle of the night. thousands of protesters are camped out in tahrir square at this hour. it's the same tactic they used in 20811 to dislodge president hosni mubarak from three decades an of rule. the area is on the edge of a volcano. does that sound right to you, based on what you're seeing? >> that's about right. what we see -- what you see behind me, of course, is tens of thousands of people, it's 3:00 a.m. in the morning here. calling on mohammed morsi to step down. in other parts of cairo, there are demonstrations by not so many people to support the president. the real worry is, that these two different camps are going to meet and blood could be shed. last night you mentioned the storming of the headquarters of the muslim brotherhood.

in a cairo suburb. eight people were killed there. eight people sunday elsewhere in egypt and certainly that is the worry that these two groups are going to come together, and it could be very nasty. >> ben, while you're speaking, i don't know if it's possible for your camera operator to show some of the shots in tahrir square to get a sense of what it's like at this time of night. but if it is,ed that be great. >> step out of the camera. is there a sense of what the military's going to do? they have given this ultimatum, what exactly does that mean? >> basically, this is pressure not just on the muslim brotherhood but also on the opposition to put their differences aside and rye to start running the country properly. analysts will tell you that what they're looking for, the military at least, is a more inclusive cabinet. and as you said, five minsteres

have resigned from the government today. they would like early presidential and parliamentary elections. at the moment, egypt does not have a parliament. but the problem is, the opposition and the muslim brother hood-led government are so far apart at this point, it's very difficult to envision them coming together. and certainly we heard -- saw a statement from the presidency today saying that they were not consulted prior to the issuing of this you the mate tum. -- ultimatum. clearly there's a broad gap between the president and the military and let's not forget, it's really the military in egypt that is the biggest, strongest, most powerful institution here and when they tell the government, when they tell the politicians get your act together, they're serious. >> fascinating days, ben wedeman. stay safe. let's get caught up on some of the other stories we're following tonight. >> we begin with breaking news. a statement tonight from nsa

leaker edward snowden, and he's not backing down. snowden blasts the obama administration for trying to block his efforts to seek asylum in another country, calling it a scare tactic and says he's unbowed in his convictions. the stock market kicked off the beginning of the second half of the year on the upside. the dow jones rose 65 points. the nasdaq and s&p scored gains, as well. >> you've got see this one. talk about an excellent one. this video showing robert gill the rookie wide receiver for the arizona cardinals, running on a treadmill at 25 miles per hour. while he's apparently in tip top shape as you see, he's not a kid in nfl years. he's 29 years old, but i think he has bragging rights now. >> that's crazy. >> i watched that a couple of times. is that real? it is. >> wow, do not try an that at home. >> do not. >> i ran on the treadmill four miles today. i would not try that in a million years. >> susan, thanks very much. we'll be right back.

welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world, george zimmerman in his own words. and fallen heroes in arizona. two big stories that america's talking about this evening. in arizona, 19 brave firefighters lost their lives battling the yarnell fire. deadliest fires since 9/11. >> it's unbearable. i know for many of you. but it is unbearable also for me. >> i'll talk to jan brewer later, and one of the firefighter's best friends. george zimmerman describes what happened moments before trayvon martin's life ended. will the jury believe him?