good evening everyone. tonight with washington talking war, we'll talk about what military action against syria would actually mean to american interests, american lives and millions of syrians living and dying under a dictator. >> and part two of america's worst charity when it comes to how much money they raise for dying children, and how little they actually spend on them. we're keeping them honest. the people that say not vaccinating their children is a matter of faith, putting everyone at risk of childhood diseases that we sometimes forget can kill. dr. sanjay gupta weighs in. we begin with syria. the drums of war growing louder but tough questions what kind of military action it might be. defense secretary hagel says american forces are in his words

ready to go if ordered to strike. four navy destroyers have targets within range of missiles. a number of submarines believed to be in the mediterranean. the obama administration is promising to release new intelligence shortly. speaking to members of the american legion today, vice president biden sounded 100% convinced. >> no one doubts that innocent men, women and children have been the victims of chemical we pops attacks in syria. and there is no doubt who is responsible for this heinous use of chemical weapons in syria. the syrian regime. >> there is ample evidence of an atrocity on the ground. cnn has obtained exclusive video.

fred, what's the reaction from the assad regime to continued strong language like that from the obama administration? >> reporter: i think they are hearing it. i was in with the information ministry of the country, who is a powerful figure. he spoke differently than i seen syrian officials speak in the past couple of days. before that you would hear them say if attacked, syria would fight back. the syrian people would rise up. you still hear that rhetoric but a lot less bold, and it comes of course after statements like secretary of state kerry yesterday and the one from vice president biden today. right now what i'm hearing them say is the u.s. ought to give the u.n. weapons inspectors on the ground here more time to do their work and wait for their assessment. of course, the u.s. has gone a step further and it seems the syrian government is starting to realize it's a less of a

question if the u.s. and allies will strike and more of a question when. that is the mood i got today with the meeting with the information minister of this country. >> fred, you obtained exclusive video from an area allegedly hit with chemical weapons. what does the video tell us? what does it show? >> reporter: it was taken by an independent film maker, shows the district of these alleged chemical weapons attacks with the highest death toll. more than 400 people killed. it shows a lot there, that it was used as a mass grave. it was plowed over. there was graves made there, a lot of bodies placed in there and very little space left in that area to put more bodies into. the thing is that the filmer that went on the ground there said inside the makeshift field hospital they had there, there are still a lot of bodies laying in there that have not been claimed. they can't find the relatives of those people.

so there is a lot of dead bodies and a lot of them are children still inside that field hospital. so a lot of death, a lot of destruction down there. the people told the filmer that a lot of people died in their sleep because it hit at 2:00 in the morning and they died before they woke up. there are tails of survival. there was one man that made a makeshift gas mask out of a cup, a piece of cotton and a piece of coal to make a filter out of. that's how he survived. a very surreal scene where many hundreds of people died. >> fred, appreciate the report. be careful. we're looking at what president obama might do ant syria, how and where, when. we'll focus narrowly on the pluses and minuses. first, the broad strokes the staff writer, peter for the daily beast and editor of the daily beast blog and fran

townsend and john king. we were told the u.s. would release a declassified report on syria, perhaps with information about this attack. you're hearing there is a debate in the administration. >> there is a debate what to release. look, there are memories, right, of the failed intelligence prior to going into iraq about wmd. so i think the administration feels compelled to release some information that, you know, under scores and verifies what you heard president biden say today, absolutely the regime absolutely used chemical weapons. the question and debate becomes, anderson, how much do you reveal? what is enough to convince the international community you really do have solid proof of the regime's use of these awful weapons versus how do you protect the sources and -- >> so that's the concern, whether it's interception of signals intelligence or

something like that or an operative on the ground. >> correct. >> they don't want to reveal that? >> that's exactly right. so you want to give as much detail as you can without revealing sources and methods. >> in your reporting, everybody focuses on this attack and the knowledge of one smaller attack before. in your reporting you've seen there were as many as 35 other chemical attacks. >> yeah, yeah, i mean, i talked to a number of -- i talked to somebody and a number of syrian exiled groups that have been trying to tack these things. and what you had, basically, over the past several months is a series of low level attacks, maybe 30 or 35 and the total number of people killed, total is only about 150. >> prior to the last attack. >> prior to the last one. this last one is completely different. >> we don't know the exact numbers at this point. there is people buried and names not known and people who still haven't been buried. >> it looks like maybe more than a thousand dead but the strategy

until now i think is we use this and use it to cause panic and and prepare the battleground for when the troops go in, and they got away with it by in large and so obviously, he decided to go big. >> because i mean, president obama's red line comment was about a year ago if memory serves me correct. >> yes. >> and you find this move by assad interesting because the reports were that the tide of the battle had turned in favor of the regime. >> you would think somebody who did what apparently the regime did last week would be desperate, and by all accounts his situation is much less desperate than six months ago. >> what would be the strategy in why do it? >> i think he thought he would get away with it. if you look at the red line, president obama laid down the red line a year ago. if in fact there has been as many as 35 attacks, what price has assad paid for that?

the obama administration decided a couple of months ago to send basically rifles and bullets to the rebels, but there isn't any evidence that any of that has arrived yet. >> we were reporting like a big change of policy but in fact, not much on the ground changed. >> or nothing on the ground. >> or nothing. >> so far for assad there is no price to pay. >> john, we heard from secretary kerry yesterday, secretary hagel this afternoon, biden this afternoon, is it likely we'll hear from the president before any kind of an attack? in memory, we don't usually hear from a president before the attack. >> that's a debate within administration and the conversation you're having under scores the credibility challenge for the president right now. there was plans to release more intelligence today, perhaps satellite images, there is a tug of war within the administration over how much to do. we hear from the prime minister of great britain and france and some are saying when will we hear from the president of the united states. one of the things they're trying to do is get more people publicly on their side.

a lot of phone calls into the arab world and in the arab world they are getting a lot of go for it, good luck but not public endorsements from these countries right now. at the moment with the exception of great britain and france, when it comes to a military perspective and people willing to stand with you as public allies and public endorsements, it's a lonely job for the president trying to build this coalition. >> it's interesting, nobody can say that they haven't known what has been happening in the ground in syria. it's been documented in cell phone video from the first demonstrations in dara and 100,000 people have been killed, but 1,000 people dying from a chemical attack that spurred the u.s. does that make sense to you? >> this is really different from kosovo and libya in that we're not trying to end the conflict here. if you look at what kerry said a couple days ago, what is amazing is he said nothing at all really about the larger syrian civil war other than the chemical weapon strike. they were trying to isolate it and say we're trying to make a

statement globally about non-use of chemical weapons but one might think the lesson to dictators around the world could be butcher your citizens in other ways. so i mean, obviously, it would be terrible to have a taboo on this chemical weapons but if this is successful as possible, assad doesn't use chemical weapons, there will be a day syria will spiral toward a more and more horrendous civil war. >> they aren't talking about changing the calculous on the ground. it's just a warning not to use the chemical weapons. >> you can't hit the chemical weapons themselves or storage sites because you release chemicals. the indications are, we don't know yet, but they will attack some units that used chemical weapons. that's not going to change, that's not going to materially change the nature of that conflict at all. >> is part of that a reflection within -- of the concern within the administration and around the world after assad then what?

the al qaeda inspired groups? >> right, i think that's exactly what the concern is and they are saying -- they are not doing this to tip the balance of power because it's not clear where it goes. >> they don't want to break it or own it. >> president obama has a clear vision throughout the presidency. he'll get out of the two wars and rebuild america's strength at home and doesn't want to be too distracted but we're facing a big test whether in fact, america cannot be districted. we're being brought into this. what happens if jordan next door starts to teeter? if this gets worse and worse america remains the hegemon in that region and itself defeating to stay out because you get pulled in at a later and worse point. >> the president runs the risk, frankly, of even if he launches a cruise missile strike, the analogy after the east africa bombings when the clinton

administration did the same thing into afghanistan and sudan and we still end up with 9/11. so a cruise missile strike all by itself -- >> regan fired cruise missiles into gadhafi's tent and a few people were kid but that was about it. >> john, what is also so interesting, i don't hear from anybody -- there is no enthusiasm about this in any quarter in the united states. nobody really wants to go down this road. the population -- you know, the voters included. >> the american public is tired after 12 years in afghanistan and iraq from the finance call cost and human cost. the president helped shape that public opinion in his presidential campaign. it's time to get out and focus elsewhere and not have a military presence in this part of the world. in congress, he'll have some supporters. the left of his own party will be muted because he's a democratic president. but what is their bipartisan agreement on across the board? skeptical, you can do this. what the administration is

talking about, look at a map. this is not delivering blunt force trauma to nebraska knowing you won't impact california. look how close lebanon and israel is and iran and will be looking to take advantage there and skeptics, experts i talked to, retired generals and how will you do what they try to do without there being a ripple effect? >> dexter, there are legitimate concerns what happens if he does fall and what kind of retributions for their actions over the last two years. >> yeah, you can just imagine what is going to happen when assad finally goes and it's not going to be pretty, yeah. probably they will all go to lebanon. they will run for the borders, or it's just going to get really ugly for them. >> dexter, great to have you on the show, peter, as well, fran.

what exactly are the military options and the likely choices peter and dexter mentioned could leave the chemical weapons untouched. let us know what you think on twitter. part two of our special report on the charity that earned a spot at the bottom, playing on your sympathy for dying kids. >> so they wanted sick kids? >> uh-huh. that's what will make them the money. >> and who told you that? >> yeah. >> the boss? >> uh-huh. >> this is so outrageous. they raise tens of millions to help dying kids. they spent about three cents on every dollar to help kids. we're keeping them honest. you're going to get sick when you learn where most of that money really went. we'll be right back. for pain and swelling? apply cold therapy in the first 24 hours. but not just any cold. i only use new thermacare® cold wraps.

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these are serious days, america's fighting men and women could be days away from action against syria. there are four cruise missiles in the mediterranean. in addition, there are british forces and there may be a number of attack subs, as well. the navy does not traditionally disclose locations. the question is whether and how to use assets. what kind of action to take and

towards what strategic goal. sources have been hinting at a limited campaign. pentagon officials saying that the aim would be to deter the assad regime from using chemical weapons again. not targeting the stockpiles or regime itself. general marks, let me start with you. no u.s. troops on the ground. likely no attempted regime change. was the message out of the white house today -- that's what we heard from the white house today. the leading options appear to be an option involving cruise missiles. what does that look like, and what does that entail? >> well, specifically, it's a confusing message if the message is we want to attack assad's ability to conduct military operations and there will be a punitive operation through the use of precision strike, whether they are from sea base ordinary

submarine or land based capabilities. but at the same time, we're trying to decouple regime change from this operation, and it's very difficult to do that. so it will be very, very precisely coordinated, nato has done this before. i would imagine they will do this again, and we'll see contributions from other nations against very precise known command and control intelligence naval forces of the syrian regime to eliminate that very conventional capability. >> and unlikely, i mean, how easy would it be to take out the syrian anti-aircraft capabilities? without that we wouldn't see nato or u.s. or european fighter jets over syria, would we? >> right, no fixed wing if that were the case. you would see unmanned vehicles for intelligence collection and for precision strike, but you've go after the iads, the integrated air defense capabilities at the top of the target list.

whenever you conduct an operation like that it blinds assad's ability to respond and get a sense of what is being done against him at that very moment. then you go after his command and control, he can't communicate with forces and some of his forces that could take the initiative and respond independently like naval forces and air forces, as well. >> chris, you authored a study while making a case for intervention and it outlines how the u.s. could degrade assad's military can cruise missiles. i know you've since changed your thinking. you said a limited strike wouldn't work. >> the limited strike in the absence of a strategic is the limited options. if we go in to punish assad that doesn't make sense. we need objective. i offered that study before the use of chemical weapons and it was specific to degrading or destroying the syrian air force. that mission is a very easily accomplished mission, but that's only part of the mission we have

now or part of the options we have. our strategic interests go far beyond seeing assad stop using his air force to attack civilians. we have to deal with the issue of chemical weapons and the issue of proliferation of chemical weapons and i don't see what the point is if we're not going all in on one side or the other. >> but -- >> they are just trying to level the playing field, we'll extend the mystery. >> can you do that, though? can you tell -- you can't hit the chemical weapons facilities because won't that detonate the chemical weapons? >> yeah, there are bad options, there are worse options, and there are horrible options. the horrible options to let the chemical weapons disburse and wind up in the hands of al qaeda or other foreign terrorist organizations that have no restrictions on their willingness to use them. it may be a bad option to attack chemical weapons in place that will cause some civilian collateral damage but that's a far preferable out outcome to seeing them disbursed among hezbollah and al qaeda. the cruise missile attack is a great option to defeat an air

force. the assad air force is prime to be taken down in one strike. past that, if we're going to do that, we should go all in on the mission of completely destroying syria's chemical weapon capability, otherwise stay out. >> andrew, you're a former special operations officer. how do you see this? what do you think the best options are, and in terms of -- they aren't even talking about ending the conflict at this point, which is not possible to do simply from the air or even if it was american boots on the ground, not even clear that's possible. >> well, i think coming at this from a slightly different perspective i've been doing interviews with syrian refugees and deserters and all the options i hear people talk about, what i'm seeing is these young men deserting from a syrian military who were as much hostages of the regime than anyone in syria. they're as much victims of what

is going on. whatever happens in the next couple days, they will suffer and be underneath american bombs and missiles and whatever the strategic objectives, i think it's clear we're not talking about ending the war. so all these -- the syrian young men that will die in the next few days, i guess the question is whether the reputation of america's promises are worth what it is we're about to do on the ground in syria. >> so what -- you're -- you don't support this idea of a strike? >> i -- if it's not -- i find the situation to contain too many unknowns for any military option to reasonably ending the war. if we're not talking about ending the war, i'm not exactly sure this is a worthy objective. so just in -- just in light of ending the mystery in syria, i don't think it will put us

forward one bit and it will just complicate whatever the next chapter is. >> general marks, do you see this as ending the misery in syria or as even a step in that direction? even -- >> no -- >> cut out chemical weapons, 100,000 people have been killed by means other than chemical weapons. >> anderson, here is the confusing part is that if we want to be punitive against assad and we're going after his ability to employ his conventional military forces and to deliver chemical weapons, that will do nothing to eliminate assad and his regime. we learned this lesson in iraq when our initial mission was to remove saddam. the mission then crept into replace saddam. what's about to occur from regime change of some sort leads to a discussion on having boots on the ground so you can separate warring factions, you can make sense of the chaos that's on the ground, and you

can hopefully move in the direction of eliminating some slaughter. this is, as has been discussed, a series of bad options for the united states. that doesn't mean the united states should not act. >> thank you all for being on. a lot more to talk about in the days ahead. tonight a charity that collects millions to grant wishes for dying children. sounds great. turns out, they spend next to nothing on the wishes. two more whistle-blowers are speaking out and a shocking message that a pastor at a faith healing church gave members and now they're in the thick of a measles outbreak. dr. sanjay gupta says it's plain dangerous. what you need to know about vaccines. he joins me ahead.

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welcome back. keeping them honest, more tonight on a charity that pulls on strings and opened wallets raising money from donors but spending nearly nothing on children they claim to care about, children that are sick and dying. we reported on a rogue of shady charities but they are in a class of their own. we've identified it as the absolute worst charity, the rock bottom when it comes to how little out of each dollar they raise they actually spend helping those they claim to be raising money for. last night we told you about a former employee who blew the whistle on kid wish network and paid a steep price.

the fbi showed up at her door. tonight, two more whistle blowers are speaking out here is part two. >> reporter: they are afraid of showing their faces because they are afraid on getting sued for what they say is the real truth behind the kid's wish network. the charity raises millions and millions of dollars, $22 million last year according to the most recent tax filing. but uses less than 3% of that cash to fulfill wishes of sick children. the kids wish network does fulfill wishes, but these employees say not by buying them with cash, the trips, airline tickets, amusement parks are donated and that includes toys and school supplies and clothes given away when kids wish network holds events for sick children. >> whatever we had in the warehouse we would try to fit it to that age group we were giving it to. >> reporter: was it company's leftovers, basically? >> that's what it seemed like, yeah.

>> reporter: what happens to the donated money? in ten years kids wish network raised $127 million and nearly 90% of that went to professional fundraisers, not sick kids. the sick kids, they got at most 2.5 cents of every dollar raised. the charity's attorney says there is nothing illegal about the fund raising. maybe not but this former marketing associate said there was something wrong to him about how they did it. at events where sick children were given the surplus goods, his job was to photograph those kids for promotional purposes, and he was told the sicker, the better. >> they wanted the most sick kids, and i can understand a little bit where they were going but my view maybe they should show the kids being satisfied not just showing the upset and sad kids. that was my thought process, just never heard. >> reporter: so they wanted sick

kids? >> uh-huh, that's what will make them the money. >> reporter: who told you that? >> anna. >> reporter: the boss? >> uh-huh. >> reporter: the boss, anna runs the charity we've rated as the worst in the united states, and no, she's not talking. hi, drew griffin with cnn. >> hey, drew, nice to see you. >> reporter: nice to see you. can we just ask you some questions about the ratings that have come out -- >> no, i'm sorry, there is so many misleading reports that have been made we asked our attorneys to look into everything. i'm note going to be doing any interviews. >> reporter: bad press is nothing new to them. local news channels and the tampa florida area have done several reports. last year the city of savannah, georgia cancelled an event after the mayor criticized the charity's practices. still people give millions and millions believing the dollars will help sick children when in truth, it is literally pennies of the dollars being used.

does it surprise you that after all the reporting done on this group they are still in business? >> absolutely. >> it surprises me every single day. >> i mean, it's just so sickening listening to -- they raised $127 million over ten years, and are giving 3 cents on the dollar actually to kids and basically getting the donated things and giving to kids. there is a lot of reporting on the kids wish network from us and "tampa bay times," wfla kept close track. have state regulators done anything? >> reporter: anderson, a spokesperson for the florida department of agriculture and consumer affairs, which in florida regulates these non-profits. confirms there is an investigation on going into the dealings of the kid's wish network. the state got lots of complaints but we've seen it time and time again the investigations open up and close. at most they get a small fine. that's largely, anderson,

because, you know, the laws regarding charities, they don't really punish you for being a really, really bad charity. so you can continue to be a bad charity. you're not breaking the law. the kids wish network has faced fines before in utah and mississippi. the fines, all those fines added up to a little more than $6,000. >> unbelievable. how that woman sleeps at night and she's there shaking your hand and acting like everything is proper. this kid's wish network, they have been around a long, long time. >> since 1997, and listen to this, this is interesting. it began with a different name. the fulfill a wish foundation, which sounds a lot like make a wish, right, anderson? >> yeah. >> the folks at make a wish actually sued forcing fulfill a wish to change the name. that's how they got to the kids wish network. we found that as quite common, too. the less than forthcoming charities they want names that sound very much like respected charities. >> the bottom line, there are good charities out there.

people can go to charity navigator to find out actual ratings of charities. >> you really should. the last thing you should do is have the phone ring and find a telemarketer on the other end asking you for money and telling you all the great things they're going to do with that money. you should hang up the phone. >> that's how they raise money, the telemarketers are just hired guns, asking for money. >> unbelievable. >> if you have a story idea for drew and the investigation team let us know at cnn.com/investigate. a measles outbreak at a texas mega church has dr. sonja gupta speaking out. he says time to debunk the vaccines and autism myth. the giant rim fire in california is still growing. gary tuchman is back on the front lines tonight. if you have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, like me,

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against vaccinations but officials didn't stop there. they played on parent's fears about autism even though claims about vaccines causing autism have been debunked. many church members were sitting ducks when the virus hitched a ride from halfway across the globe. >> reporter: it started with a visitor from the mountain eagle church a. visitor that traveled overseas, then at church hugged parishioners and handled babies in the church daycare. unknowingly, spreading a dangerous measles virus. terry piersons is the pastor. >> we've had a few families affected by this, so we want to shut this thing down. >> reporter: more than a few, 16 cases of the measles originated including seven adults and nine children. the youngest is just 4 months old. health officials say 11 of the victims have never been vaccinated.

not surprising considering the pastor's televangelist father has long spoken out getting immunized, suggesting a link to autism. listen to the recent broadcast posted. >> as parents we need to be a whole lot more serious about this and being aware of what is good and what isn't and you don't take the word of the guy that's trying to give the shot about what's good and what isn't. you better go read the can or read the thing. find out what is going on there. >> reporter: medical officials have found no link between vaccines and autism. as one expert put it, measles has a way of finding people that aren't vaccinated and not just texas. this past spring 50 children in an orthodox jewish community got the measles. none had been vaccinated, either because too young or their parents refused the vaccine.

in 2011 there were 21 cases reported in a somali community in minneapolis. concerns about the vaccine being linked to autism drove vaccination rates down to 57%. other measles outbreaks have been reported in recent years in san diego, indiana, north carolina and elsewhere among unvaccinated people. back at eagle mountain international church, the pastor released this statement online. it reads in part, some people think i am against immunizations, but that is not true. she's now urging members to be vaccinated at a free county clinic. >> if you read the old testament, you find it's full of precautionary measures. >> reporter: as long as the precautionary measures are in line with the church's belief of faith healing. >> go in faith. don't do anything you don't do in faith. do it in faith. do it in faith. do it in faith. now, if you're somebody and you know that you know that you know that you got this covered in

your household by faith, and it crosses your heart of faith, well then don't go do it. >> reporter: on its website, the church urges anyone with a medical condition to first seek the wisdom of god, then appropriate medical attention, including vaccinations from a professional they trust. randi kaye, cnn, new york. so it's interesting. on one hand it sounds like the pastor saying go get vaccinated and she's saying if you think you got it covered, don't do it. so they aren't doing a complete 180 on vaccinations. the pastor is sending mixed, possibly dangerous messages. chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta is a neurosurgeon, father of three. he joins me now. sanjay, you have the pastor saying seek the counsel of god first and then a medical professional after that. given how fast measles can spread, is that dangerous? >> look, we know a lot about measles. the vaccination has been around a long time. it's very contagious. if kids are not vaccinated and

come into contact they will get it, almost assuredly. of 1,000 that get measles, about one to two will die from it. you can trace the trajectory and you have people with it and clusters of people unvaccinated in the united states, you see increases in the numbers of measles cases, you see increases in the number of deaths. we saw nit the late '80s. it's one of the clearest examples i think of vaccines with the specific disease providing benefits. >> and this misperception that vaccines cause autism, it's been around for awhile, not just pushed by religious leaders but well-known people and stuff. i mean, is there any reason not to get your children vaccinated? >> there is no reason not to get your child vaccinated. >> not only as a doctor but father. >> i say that as a father. i got my kids vaccinated on schedule. the notion to delay vaccines and

push them off because we think the kids are getting too many at once. that doesn't have scientific merit. first of all, we used to provide a lot more in terms of the types of vaccines to kids years and years ago, decades ago. if you think this is too much of an insult to a child's body, i understand that but we used to do far more and didn't have the rates of autism that we have now. they used to create a more antibody response as a result of things like polio for example. you get a more robust response which is one of the concerns that people have raised. it doesn't seem to translate. the vaccines themselves, the schedule, the components, none of them seem to have a link to autism. people need to say it that clearly. there is so much wishy washiness, even along colleagues. they say it's okay to delay vaccines, but it's not okay. if your kid gets exposed during that time, you can get a very sick child from a preventable

disease. >> so why do you think this misperception why it's still out there? >> i think there is two reasons. one, there is this now widely discredited paper in the late '90s that made this link. we spoke to dr. wakefield about some of his findings at that time. he subsequently lost his medical license a few years ago. he probably had good intentions dr. wakefield but the science did not make any sense. there have been hundreds of studies that have looked is there a link between vaccinations and autism. they looked at 1,000 children at american academy of pediatrics and followed the children over years and put a final sort of, this notion to rest that there is some link. the american academy of pediatrics, looking at the real science here have been able to say that. >> sanjay, thanks. >> you got it. thank you.

up next, the fight to save yosemite. gary tuchman gets an upclose look at the fire threatening the park in san francisco's water supply and a sad end to a search for a teenager who had an obsession with the movie "into the wild." [ female announcer ] it's simple physics... a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function so moving is easier. celebrex can be taken with or without food. and it's not a narcotic. you and your doctor should balance the benefits with the risks. all prescription nsaids, like celebrex, ibuprofen, naproxen and meloxicam have the same cardiovascular warning. they all may increase the chance of heart attack or stroke, which can lead to death. this chance increases if you have heart disease

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the beach on your tv is much closer than it appears. dive into labor day with up to 50% off hotels at travelocity. the california wildfire

that's already scorched more than 180,000 acres is now burning in parts of the yosemite national park. luckily, it spared the yosemite valley, the most popular spot with visitors. that said, the fire doubled in size within a day and threatening thousands of acres not to mention the water supply in san francisco. gary tuchman is there. >> reporter: the helicopters are now swooping in because dangerous smoke has started billowing. you're looking at a fast-growing fire on a canyon rim. we know it's fast growing because we arrived an hour ago and you barely see any smoke at all, and now you can see it's out of control. helicopters flying around dropping water on it. the reason this particular fire is so important, nobody lives on that ridge but that ridge in this canyon is all that separates this fire from a neighborhood. the woman that lives in this house is a wildlife rehabilitator.

she and her husband will leave if the fire gets much closer. >> to be this close and scared. we're ready. we're packed. we already evacuated most of the animals. we can leave if we have to, but it's amazing to sit here and watch it. >> ready, ready, drop. >> reporter: piloting the helicopters and planes that drop the water and fire retardant is dangerous business. it's a mess, but relatively few houses have been damaged. at this canyon fire officials said the situation is tenuous. they are in place in case the flames arrive here. >> if it flops over that line further and gets established into the canyon below us, it would have a straight shot towards the community. >> reporter: the murphys are grateful for the people working to save their home. >> they are incredible. what can you say? they are just so on top of this.

they are so coordinated. >> reporter: and they are also exposed and vulnerable. >> it is dangerous for them right now. everything is a calculated risk when it comes to firefighting, but any time you're establishing a line on top of a ridge and the fire is below you, that's one of the recipes we have for disaster. >> amazing. gary joins me live from groveland, california. what is the latest for the fire damage in yosemite park? >> reporter: 6% of the park, anderson, has been consumed by flames, 41,000 acres, but it's not the part of the park where tourists go. we mentioned before the yosemite valley and the southern part hasn't been touched yet. also not touched yet are groves of sequoia trees. these are some of the tallest and oldest living things in the universe. some of them are up to 300 feet tall and up to 3500 years old. >> gary, appreciate the reporting. stay safe. isha has the bulletin.

>> the body of 18-year-old jonathan has been found in the mountains of oregon. his father said he became obsessed with the movie "into the wild" about a young man who drops out of society to live off the land. police believe he took his own life. mayor nadal hassan rested his case without calling witnesses in the sentencing phase of his court-martial. tomorrow the closing statements and the jury begins deliberating. he was convicted on all counts of the fort hood massacre. he could be sentenced to death. two florida man are in custody after a chase in south georgia. police tried to pull them over for speeding and they bolted. they were driving a stolen car. a store in new jersey is looking for a few good men that shopped there on sunday evening. a camera shows they paid for the item, though the clerk was not on hand because the store was closed but the shoppers didn't know that because the lights were on and the front door was

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phillips'. live the regular life. "stubborn love" by the lumineers did you i did. email? so what did you think of the house? did you see the school ratings? oh, you're right. hey babe, i got to go. bye daddy! have a good day at school, ok? ...but what about when my parents visit? ok. i just love this one... and it's next to a park. i love it. i love it too. here's our new house... daddy! you're not just looking for a house. you're looking for a place for your life to happen.

we ran out of time for the "ridicu-list" tonight. that does it for us. thanks for watching. erin burnett starts now. "outfront" next, gearing up for a military strike against syria. as the white house is ratcheting up pressure, the stock market takes a dive. also a massive outbreak of measles in america. while some people are blaming some christian teachings. and a montana teacher is convicted of raping a 14-year-old student. why did the teacher only get 30 days in jail? let's go "outfront." >> >> i'm jessica yellin in for erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, breaking news, stocks dive as the