>> they discuss how laws for human may apply to these robots. kind of creepy. that's it for "the lead." i now turn you over to wolf blitzer. he's right next door in "the situation room." breaking news. san diego under siege. raging infernos bearing down on california neighborhoods. 10,000 acres have been charred. even a military plant is threatened. crews fight desperately against the flames. we'll go live to our correspondents on the front lines and i'll speak with survivors. is arson to blame? plus, sterling divorce bomb. the wife of the l.a. clippers' owner has a secret weapon that could sabotage the nba chances of separating donald sterling from his team. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room."

>> this is cnn breaking news. >> the dramatic battle to save homes and lives in southern california. right now at least nine major wildfires are burning across the region. more than 23,000 people have been evacuated. dozens of people have lost their homes. officials are begging people to follow evacuation orders before it's too late. our correspondents are on the firelines. i'll speak with california's governor jerry brown. first, gary tuchman is in san marcos, about 35 miles north of san diego. gary, what are you seeing there? >> reporter: wolf, it's a fire war zone. firefighters are everywhere. this is in san marcos, california. you see those flames up there?

those flames, as we speak, are engulfing a house. in the air, a helicopter carrying water about to dump the water on the smoke and flames in the hills outside the city. when we arrived here a few hours ago, there were no flames in this neighborhood whatsoever and now this is what we're witnessing. it's a very bad situation. >> oh, my god! oh, my god! >> reporter: multiple fires burning in california. it's barely contained. houses have already been destroyed. the flames and the winds spread the ash and the embers. this area right here ten minutes ago, nothing at all. now we're seeing the smoke and the flames start to form. it's very likely that within the next couple of hours, these trees, this vegetation will be gone. right down the hill from where i'm standing here in san marcos,

california, northeast of san diego, this is the cal state san marcos campus. it's been around for a quarter century. it's now been evacuated. they are hoping that the fire does not spread down there. and in this area, within a five-minute walk, there are unhads of homes, businesses, condominiums, and lots of people. firefighters thought they were starting to make headway but then, all of a sudden, a fire-tornado forms. it's a whirlwind of flame caused by the turbulence of the wind and intense heat. seconds after we see the tornado, the fire starts blazing in new spots. the blaze is now very close to a neighborhood. evacuated residents can only watch. >> it's scariest at the moment where the fire is now 100 yards from the homes and i worry about the embers jumping into the grass next to the homes. >> reporter: it's frightening.

>> it is. very. >> reporter: the fire is getting even closer to the houses. helicopters swoop in with water troughs, firefighters work on the ground with precision and professionalism and at least for now they have met success. the flames have not reached the houses. it is supposed to cool down in san diego county tomorrow and this weekend it's supposed to be in the upper 60s. right now it's about 97 degrees. very dry conditions and firefighters really have a battle and a war on their hands. wolf? >> they certainly do, gary. we'll check back with you, the san marcos fire chief. what are your crews facing right now? >> they are facing an extreme heat right now. actually, the winds have not gone as strong as yesterday and then not gone as predicted. but due to the dry weather and the brush dries it out so we are

not getting rain. we've got a battle ahead of us. >> do you have enough equipment? do you have enough equipment to deal with this? >> we're still ordering equipment and due to the amount of fires in the region right now, we're having to pull from northern california and we're still waiting to gather all of the resources. >> can you compare these wildfires in your area, chief, compared to what is going on in recent years? is it more of the same or is it worse? >> i would say that it is more of the same. we live in an area that has not had a lot of dry and urban interface and the population gross into the brush areas and it makes it much more difficult for us to do. we're fortunate. we only have lost three homes and damaged one up to this point

and i would say that's due to some learned lessons from the past and some policy of keeping people at 150-foot clearances and people preparing better. >> how many people in your town have been evacuated? >> i don't have a number of people but we believe we've cleared around 5,000 homes. >> and how close are those flames to subdivisions, to homes, to neighborhoods? >> they are -- they are skirting some divisions and we are just doing our best to kind of guide it along through the path of least resistance, you know, trying to skirt around homes. >> do you have any advice for anyone who may be watching in your community? >> it's frustrating, i'm sure, to get moved from your home, but each time we have to go up and deal with a problem when somebody gets stuck, it just diverts us from what we can be

doing and put the fire out. it causes a delay and a tough situation for all of us. >> does it look, chief, like the fire was started by arson? >> we have investigators out here and it's difficult to say. we're looking into it. >> all right, the fire chief brett van wey joining us. good luck, chief. he's in san marcos, california. let's go west a little bit to carlsbad, california, where dozens of people have lost their homes to these flames. o what are the conditions where you are right now? >> reporter: wolf, i can tell you that the winds have started to pick up in the last few minutes. it's bifl to kedifficult to kee open. there are tender dry conditions. this is the view from the west side. you see the plumes of smoke

carrying the fire across the hillside and we start to see the conditions change over the last few hours. this morning it was the left side of the hill. now we're seeing the smoke cover the entire hillside. what you see over there is what we saw here on the ground yesterday. take a look at the aftermath here. tender dry conditions. everything is scorched on this side. this is all that is left. we talked to the homeowners earlier today who came to collect all that they could. they were not here at the time but they say the fire took off in just seconds. so this really gives you a sense of what crews are dealing with over in san marcos. in fact, we saw the fire crews putting out the hot spots earlier today but they have all, most of them, pushed towards san marcos because the resources are needed over there but i can tell you homeowners are just now starting to pick up the pieces and we're getting a sense of what all of the crews out there are dealing with.

>> so heartbreaking to see those destroyed homes there, akiko. thank you very much. we'll check back with you very much. temperatures are topping out 20 and 30 degrees above normal. 93 degrees in carlsbad. 102 degrees in southern california. 102 expected for the high and that's incredible. we're gathering records all the way down the coast. and we are finally going to get

an onshore flow. what that is going to do is raise the humidity, bring moisture in and really help those firefighters out to be able to get this under control. the fire danger is still extremely dangerous. san diego all the way at the coast in los angeles, anywhere that you see the hot pink shaded areas, breezy conditions, hot conditions and dry from the santa ana winds. 100% of the state of california. and this is going to be a long season, wolf. we mentioned yesterday that in a normal year. >> thank you very much.

there are raging wildfires in california. more than 20,000 people have been forced to flee their homes. we're going to hear from survivors and witnesses who escaped the flames. and is arson to blame? i'll get the latest from governor jerry brown. mine was earned in korea in 1953.

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we are following breaking news at this hour. a very dramatic development. the battle to save homes and lives in california. right now, at least nine major fires are burning across the

state. more than 23,000 people have been evacuated. joining us now is the governor jerry brown. these pictures we're seeing, these live streams, the video is just awful. >> well, the heat is terrible. the last few years have been the driest in recorded california history. they think they've got this thing contained or about to. but they've got fires all over the place and most serious of all, california now is a fire season that is 70 days longer and the most serious fires have occurred in the last decade. so things are getting worse and despite what you're hearing in washington, climate change is a factor. we've got to live with it. it's not about theory or

politics. we're adapting and it's quite a challenge, let me tell you. >> just to be precise, you're saying that climate change and humans' involvement in climate are causing these horrible fires. is that what you're saying? >> i'm saying that, you know, any fire is caused by wind, by the fuel that happens to be there, by how dry the timber and the grass is, whether there's any moisture or not, right now there is almost none and, yes, though conditions are definitely caused by climate change, global warming induced by the 7 million people generating this. we are dealing with, as we are talking now with the consequences and we're handling it the best way that we can. our fire department, volunteers, they are doing an excellent job. >> what about arson? there's been some suspicion that

some of these fires were started by arson. what can you tell us about that? >> i don't know that directly but i do know that people do stupid things, throw a cigarette butt out of a car or doing a little fire somewhere and a spark gets away. they don't realize that an ember in these dry conditions, it's all fuel. it's all kindling because of the conditions and they are very dry. if someone wants to intentionally create fires, it's a pretty unfortunately and tragically it's a very easy task. >> we heard over the past 24 hours or so that these fires obviously in the san diego county area and southern california, but there could be similar episodes elsewhere, maybe in oregon, idaho, montana. what are you hearing about that?

>> it's hot. like 120 degrees, something i've never seen. the humidity is below 10%. there's a wind that is 8 to 10 miles per hour. i mean, these are perfect conditions for fires all over the place. we just hope and pray that a little more cold weather comes along and we have the equipment. but we get a fire in the south, fire in the central valley, got a fire in the north and we can easily be over capacity. over our capacity as it currently exists and the federal government doesn't have these planes that can drop the water and chemicals that we need. so, yeah, this is real serious stuff. it should be taken in that spirit. >> thank you, governor. governor of california, jerry brown. more breaking news just ahead. we're staying on top of the southern california wildfires.

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we're following breaking news. wildfires rage across san diego county. there are evacuation orders. joining us on the phone from san marcos, california, she and her husband were among the thousands that were told to evacuate. you live pretty close to these fires and were told to evacuate. i know you sent us some pictures, some video. how close to these homes did the fire get? >> we are on the west side of the road and when you're watching the footage on cnn, you can see that turnip valley road is a major road that runs along to cal state san marcos. we are on the west side of turnip valley road. so last night, when we were

given an evacuation notice, we had some big flames on our side of turnip valley road. now, those over the nighttime were contained so today, now that we're able to kind of get back into our neighborhood, we can keep a close look on those flames but they are just on the other side of twin oaks valley road. they are on the east side of twin oaks valley road. that's where you are seeing the structures burning down. >> what was it like when you were told to evacuate? how worried were you? >> that was a very -- that was a very frantic time because we have children and this is an area that is highly populated by families. so what essentially ended up happening is you've got these big black plumes of smoke coming up from our housing development and everybody is rushing to their cars to get out of the neighborhood and we're talking without even moments to gather

much of anything. i got my computer, the kids, the dog, we got in our car and sat in gridlock for 20 minutes just to get out of our housing development. so that was a little bit scary. we spent the night at my parents where we could get a little more sleep but they are being evacuated now. they are in escondido where things are not looking great either. so we got back into the neighborhood today. we're just keeping a close look on the scene and we have our car loaded up and the minute that we hear any embers crossing over to twin oaks valley, we'll be out of here. >> elisha exon, good luck to you and your family. we appreciate you joining us. >> we just want to say you thank you so much. our love and gratitude is going out to those that are fighting so fearlessly. we wanted to add that. many love and thanks to those

who are fighting. >> elisha, thank you so much. joining on the phone is another eyewitness. he's been getting incredible images from this disaster. you shot some video. walk us through what we're about to see. >> okay. well, i got there at about 5:00 p.m. yesterday and i just saw some people sitting down in lawn chairs and watching, which is pretty surprising. and then i got up there, went up the hill and saw a firefighter on break and i was watching the fire and the helicopters and the planes dumping out the payloads and it was an incredible sight. i was just watching it with him. he was in charge of the evacuations in the area. >> have you ever seen anything, sinjun, like this before? >> in person, no. on video and in the news, plenty. >> what was it like getting close to these flames?

>> it was just amazing. i couldn't believe it was like that and seeing it up close, yeah, i just couldn't believe it. the firefighter i was talking to said they couldn't do anything about it because the flames were 30-foot tall like skyscrapers so they decided to wait it out. >> has it eased out in the areas where you've been walking around and driving around today? >> i'm in san marcos now and there's fog from the flames everywhere and ash and it seems like they have a handle on it. it's hard to tell. there's so much smog everywhere. >> what are they telling people, just stay away from these areas? >> pretty much, yeah. i saw some people with horses trying to get out of the equestrian center. cops are driving by and saying

evacuate, evacuate. a lot of people are just staying. they just want to stay. but it's -- yeah, because they can't force anyone to leave. all they can do is tell you that it's a good idea to leave and that's pretty much it. >> you should heed the advice when people say to get out. they know what they are talking about. >> thanks so much for sharing the video with us. thank you. >> thank you, wolf. >> let's go to carlsbad, california, dozens of people have lost their homes to the fames there. akiko fujito is joining us live. >> reporter: this morning it was the scorching temperatures and now it's the winds kicking up over the last hour. you combine that with the tender dry conditions and you see the hillside over here, that's where the san marcos fire is burning right now. we've seen the flames carry across the hillside but then

walk over here with me and you see another fire. that's near camp pendleton and then to the left, one more fire just in our vantage point, three fires and we've really seen the winds shift. those plumes of smoke you see there, we didn't see that a few hours ago. that's really started to kick up again. that gives you a sense of how these conditions are changing with every hour. now, you look over here and the flames were engulfed in this house yesterday and this is what is left of it. we saw the homeowners come back to pick up the pieces but the concern is on the other side to the east of us in san marcos and the other fires that you saw there. this is what they are going to see when the flames die down and crews out here trying to get an upper hand because the conditions are changing with every minute. the winds kicking up, temperatures, tinder dry conditions and, wolf, just standing here you really get a sense of the challenge here because the weather conditions

really changing with every hour. >> akiko, we'll get back to you. i know you met with the people who live in that house. what was once a house behind you and they have a very, very moving story to share. akiko, thanks very much. up next, we'll have more on these tornadoes that are bearing down on california communities. a desperate battle, as you can see under way right now. much more of the breaking news coming up. also, other news we're following including the nuclear option to donald sterling's wife. what happens to the clippers if they divorce? and russia may be able to keep the u.s. out of the international space station. stay with us. how did we do it last time? i don't know... i forget.

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we're following the breaking news. look at these pictures. a wildfire emergency. multiple major blazes raging across san diego county. in just a few moments, i'll speak to some of the residents watching this disaster unfold. but there's some other news i want to follow right now, including the battle for control of the l.a. clippers. donald sterling's wife may have a secret weapon that could make it tough for the nba to change the team's ownership, at least potentially. our national correspondent suzanne malveaux is joining us. she has the details. >> wolf, we're calling this the nuclear option that could blow up the nba's chances of stripping donald sterling from his team. if shelly sterling files for divorce, everything could come to a screeching halt. while the l.a. clippers continue to push forward in game six of the playoffs, shelly sterling

has the ball in her court. >> she drops the bomb when she files papers because the case, including all of the sterling's vast amount of property become the jurisdiction of a divorce court in california. >> reporter: because california is a community property state where things are divided 50/50, figuring out who gets what, including the clippers, could take years, leaving shelly sterling in a strong position and she knows it. she recently revealed to barbara walters, while she wants a divorce, she's strategically holding off. >> i filed these divorce papers, i signed them, i was all ready to file, my attorney and my financial adviser said now is not the time. >> reporter: not the time because analysts say delaying could give shelly sterling the leverage she needs to negotiate with the nba to maintain some ownership of the team. >> i think that the nba will try

to offer her as much as they can to either get her to not file the divorce papers or get her to give up her interests in the team. they could certainly give her the opportunity to be a passive owner. >> reporter: that would strip her of her rights to manage or be involved in day-to-day operations of the team but allow her to go to clippers' games. while donald sterling insists he doesn't want to sell the clippers. >> money is not what i'm interested in. >> so why not walk away? >> i want to show all the people that are associated with basketball and the world i'm not a racist. >> reporter:s had wife's five to get something out of this mess. >> she loved the team and always helped me with everything. if for some reason i can't have the team, i think that she

should have her interests. i mean, she didn't do anything. i brought all this on her, the poor girl. >> reporter: shelly sterling's attorney says she wants to remain a passive owner, doesn't want to manage the team. as for the nba, their spokesman, mike bass, sent out a statement saying under the constitution, if a controlling interest is terminated by the three-fourths vote, all other team owners' interests are terminated as well. it doesn't matter whether the owners are related as is the case here. the nba is making it crystal clear she has no legal standing. wolf? >> suzanne malveaux, thank you very much. our legal analyst jeffrey toobin is here, rachel nichols is here, don lemon is here as well. what about this law as far as no legal status? >> i think we are somewhat overstating what a problem this is for the nba. the nba is an association. it has bylaws.

it is not a corporation. this is a group that controls its own membership. if they want to throw these people out, they are going to throw them out. divorce, single, remarried, whatever. yes, it's a complication but, you know what, money solves everything. someone will come around with an enormous check, as you said, up to a billion dollars, and they will just go away. >> rachel, you had an exclusive interview with lebron james and you asked him about this is sterling scandal, this fiasco. what did he tell you? >> a couple nights ago, roger mason went on tv and scared a whole lot of people. he said that if donald sterling was still the owner of this clippers' team in the fall, that the players would boycott and he said that lebron james is not playing if donald sterling still owns the team. this created a lot of hubbub.

i went to lebron to get the story. he said it's not a date timeline for him. it's more about whether the nba is acting in good faith. take a listen. >> i think we need to understand that adam silver is moving forward and he's not just for the owners, he's for the players as well and the direction that he's going in, we're all for it. we look forward to the next step and we'll take it from there. >> is there a point where you feel that boycott to be an effective position for the players in. >> i think at this point, the direction that the nba and adam is going, there shouldn't be a need for it. we trust those guys and we know that they are going to take care or what needs to be done for our league and we understand that it's not going to be tomorrow. you know, the system will not work tomorrow but there's a direction that they are going in and we're all for it. >> so you heard lebron there say

that he understands this is not going to happen tomorrow and he and several other key players in the nba assure me that they are willing to give the nba room on this. they know that they've got to cross all of the legal t's and cross all of the i's. in the coming months, sterling has a history of delay tactics. if there's some sort of a delay here, please notice, lebron did not say i would never boycott. he's certainly holding that open as an option. it's more that it's not going to be tied to a date but it's more about the faith that he has in the nba and adam silver and so far they have faith. >> they certainly do. don, you had an amazing interview with someone who recently recorded a conversation with donald sterling, explained his unique relationship with donald sterling. share the details for those that missed it. >> yeah. you know, you have one of those interviews where you're like, i can't believe this is happening because this story goes from one

thing to the other and to the other and keeps ongoing. so i interviewed this guy. he's an aspiring rapper. he lived in vegas at one point and became friends with don snanald sterling. this is all according to him. so that tape that came out by v. stiviano, the ones that were released to radar and tmz, those are from him. he said, i was friends with him and i met him -- i said i met him in vegas because he worked at a -- you know, he worked in a place where he would hire -- where donald sterling would hire girls from him. right? so he is saying that he's donald sterling's self-proclaimed pimp, basically. over the years, donald sterling would hire girls from him, he usually liked women of color but light-skinned. i asked him, did you ever think

he was a racist before then and i said no because he always liked black girls. after he heard those things from the v. stiviano tapes, he said he called him up and then donald went crazy and said more things that were racist and said this guy is not my friend anymore and started to tape him and then the whole thing rolled out from there. so people are saying, you know, don, why would you interview someone who is a self-proclaimed pimp. here's the interesting thing. it shows judgment, the kind of people that donald sterling surrounded himself with. and it also shows -- it gives you insight on the relationship between shelly and donald sterling. shelly is saying now that she went to her attorneys and her attorneys said wait for a divorce. this guy is saying that he's known donald sterling for at least five or six years. so they've been having issues for quite some time where she could have filed for divorce and she knew about some of these things, i would assume. it gives you insight on their marriage and the kind of people he surrounded himself with.

>> it certainly does. that was reflected in don lemon's interview with this guy last night. >> well, that's for sure. and also i think lebron said something very important to rachel. he said, look, we're looking for good faith from the nba. so we will see in the next few weeks, i am confident, based on my own reporting, they are moving the pieces forward to try to remove the franchise from the sterling's. now, it is true if it goes into court, it will not be under the control of the nba, especially the timing. but they will make the effort. they will make a full fledged effort and i don't think there's any chance the players are going to be able to say, well, you're making kind of a half-baked effort so we're going to boycott. the key issue is good faith and as far as i can tell, the nba has shown that. >> rachel, what are you hearing from players -- and i know you've been talking to a lot of them -- that if shelly sterling

has some continuous relationship with the l.a. clippers, how will they react to that? >> well, that's the other thing that lebron told me. he said in no way are the players going to be happy if shelly sterling, any of the sterling children, any of donald's friend from this brothel that don lemon found out about -- >> allegedly. >> -- what has happened to this league but anyway, my point is, that nobody associated with donald sterling is going to run this team as far as the nba is concerned, you heard in suzanne's report, the statement from michael bass from the nba and nobody, according to the players, because lebron and other players i spoke to were very firm. nobody with that last name or a friend is going to be able to run that team as far as they are concerned. they want them all gone. >> rachel, thanks very much. jeffrey, thanks to you. don, we'll see you back anchoring a special report at

10:00 p.m. later tonight. as the 2014 political campaign begins to heat up, a debate like you've never seen before. four republican candidates for governor of idaho squared off last night. i want you to watch this. >> i went to jail for homeschooling and my kids turned out pretty good. i had four sons that made pro rodeo cowboys and one daughter. >> i don't like political correctness. can i say this? it sucks. it's bondage. i'm about as politically correct as turds in a punch bowl. >> what would you do if they came out to take your kids? well, shoot them. what else would you do? >> and you have your choice, folks, a cowboy, a biker, or a normal guy. take your pick and thank you for leaving it up to you. >> this is a debate in idaho and it's already going viral out

there. just ahead, much more coverage of the infernos bearing down on homes in the san diego area. russia hitting back at american sanctions with a brazen move that could drown the u.s. space program. ♪ norfolk southern what's your function? ♪ ♪ hooking up the country helping business run ♪ ♪ build! we're investing big to keep our country in the lead. ♪ load! we keep moving to deliver what you need. and that means growth, lots of cargo going all around the globe. cars and parts, fuel and steel, peas and rice, hey that's nice! ♪ norfolk southern what's your function? ♪ ♪ helping this big country move ahead as one ♪ ♪ norfolk southern how's that function? ♪

we're following the breaking news out of california. new evacuations are being ordered in san diego county. multiple wildfires are burning out of control. we'll go back there in a few

minutes. in the meantime, russia is retaliating for american sanctions over ukraine with a move that could ground the u.s. space program. our chief national security correspondent jim sciutto has been looking into this. >> this is an example of what's happening in eastern ukraine has an impact far beyond the internal politics of eastern europe because, you know, we forget that the u.s. space program today relies on russia to get to the international space station and to launch some military satellites. now, russia is threatening in effect to ground american astronauts and satellites in retaliation for economic sanctions scuttling decades of what had been very promising u.s./russian cooperation in space. >> give it a final farewell. >> reporter: they were all smiles in the international space station this week, but could this be one of the last times american astronauts and russian cosmonauts journey together through space? russian officials are taking the battle over ukraine into orbit,

vowing to abandon the space station four years early in 2020. >> liftoff. >> reporter: and banning russian-made rocket engines to launch u.s. military satellites. deputy prime minister suggests astronauts use a trampoline. this is no small problem because since nasa retired the shuttle in 2011, american astronauts have no other way up or down than hitching rides on russian rockets. >> the russian announcement means we need to rethink our reliance on them because it shows we are dependent on them in ways that might have made sense ten years ago but doesn't make sense anymore. >> well, you do the talking, moscow. >> reporter: the u.s./russian space partnership has thrived for decades. one of the most recognizable symbols during the cold war and new peace after the fall of the soviet union. it was very much a win/win.

the u.s. saved billions on the shuttle. russia made billions as a high-tech taxi service. >> okay. copy that. >> reporter: u.s. officials express hope the russian threat is just bluster. >> we've had a long cooperation on our space program with the russians and we're hopeful that will continue. still continue to cooperate on a range of issues. >> reporter: it's most likely the u.s. will depend on private space companies such as space-x to develop. the u.s. has stockpiled engines that supply good for about two years of launches. it is some coverage, but, you know, you talk to a lot of analysts and it is a reminder they need a longer term solution. you cancel the space shuttle, you have these brewing tensions with russia that don't seem they're going in a good direction. they have to find a better way. >> serious problem. very serious. jim, thanks very much. jim sciutto reporting. back to the breaking news

straight ahead. live to the fire disaster zone. multiple wildfires burning homes. they're raging out of kro contrn southern california right now. also new details of a near disaster. two passenger planes on a collision course thousands of feet over the pacific. are you ready grandma? just a second, sweetie. [ female announcer ] we eased your back pain, you turned up the fun. tylenol® provides strong pain relief while being gentle on your stomach. but for everything we do, we know you do so much more. tylenol®. we know you do so much more. i live in a world oi am totally blind.. i've been blind since birth. i lost my sight to eye disease.

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happening now. breaking news. red hot danger. a wildfire spiraling out of control. flames shooting into the air. we're live at the scene of the most threatening blaze in southern california. it's closing in on houses, businesses right now. thousands of people are afraid this will happen to them. their homes reduced to smoldering ashes. we're talking to families who lost almost everything in this terrifying fire disaster. and we're also learning about another close call in midair. two planes at risk of colliding over the pacific ocean. we're looking into what went wrong. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around

the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." this is cnn breaking news. >> wow, there it is right there. there it is right there [ bleep ]. [ bleep ]. [ bleep ]. oh, my god. oh, my god. [ bleep ]. >> horrifying inferno. neighborhoods engulfed in searing flames and choking smoke. thousands of residents hit the road desperate to escape. firefighters are waging an intense battle against numerous blazers in southern kra ccalifo right now. unprecedented fire dissaster early in the year. an out of control wildfire that's threatening the city of san marcos and college campus right there. our correspondents are in the hardest hit areas. we're tracking weather

conditions that could ignite new flames literally at any moment. let's go to national correspondent gary tuchman, first joining us live from the fire zone in san marcos. gary, what's the latest there? >> reporter: people here in san marcos, wolf, are very unnerved. this is a community of 83,000 people. take a look at what's behind me. see those flames shooting up in the hillsides here in san marcos, california. what's been very stunning about this fire, wolf, is that yesterday morning, there was nothing and it just came all of a sudden all these fires in san marcos. then it died down a little bit this morning. the afternoon came and it's picked up again. we've already seen houses today here in san marcos destroyed from these flames. so far, nobody's been killed. no serious injuries, but people here are very scared. a lot of people have never seen anything like this before. eight years ago they had some wildfires. right now it's a very volatile situation and people are very concerned here in this town northeast of san diego. >> gary, i want to show our

viewers one of the neighborhoods in san marcos near where you are right now. we all watched in horror as the fire rolled down near the intersection of via del campo. we wanted to show the viewers the same view before the fire from google street view then what we saw just a little while ago as the twisters of fire began swirling. you can see how different it is. gary, you're there on the scene. how are the folks coping? >> reporter: well, you know, people here when they live in this part of california know that they're vulnerable to having wildfires, however, the strength and the suddenness of the wildfires caught people off guard. the firefighters who you see right now have come from all over southern california. we saw the santa monica fire department here a moment ago. they're working very hard. there's pressure because the fire is spreading so quickly. wolf, what is so unusual, we're

used to covering wildfires in the heart of the summer, beginning of the fall. that is fire season. this is only may. it's still springtime. it's been so dry here in california that everyone here is very vulnerable and there's so much concern right now as the flames on the to shoot up. the good news, wolf, we must emphasize there is some good news, it's supposed to cool down tomorrow, get a bit more humid. this weekend the highs are supposed to be in upper 60s here, the typical high in san diego county in may. right now it's in the upper the 0s. 30 degrees more than normal. >> a hot day there. gary, thank you very much. let's go to carlsbad, california, now. that community is suffering from some of the worst fire damage. our reporter is on scene for us. tell us what you're seeing. >> reporter: well, wolf, it's been one problem after another for firefighters here on the ground. scorching temperatures in the morning. the winds starting to kick back up again. just take a look at what we're looking on the ground here. tinder dry conditions.

what you see here scorched overnight. i'm going to take you to the hillside here. that's where you see where gary tuchman was, the san marcos fire. you don't see the plumes of smoke we saw earlier today. that's not because the fire isn't burning. it's that the strong winds are carrying the blaze to the east of the hillside. look to the west here. see one fire there, another one to the left on camp pendleton. that one has really started to kick up over the last few hours and, again, it's the strong winds carrying the fire this time to the direction that we're in right now. i can tell you we have been speaking to homeowners out here. they are concerned. the area we're in right now, the blaze is about 60% contained but we've seen homeowners come up here. look at this house because they know that this could be them. one homeowner i spoke to said he has neighbors out here with hoses in their hand watching the hillside over here because they want to be ready to go when those flames pick back up again. >> you spoke with the mother,

the wife of somebody in one of those destroyed homes earlier today. that was a very emotional interview. >> reporter: absolutely. we saw sherry payne and her family coming through here just digging through the rubble. this is what's left of their home. you know, they came here last night. all they saw was all the rubble here. she told me they bought this house in 2006. they built it from the ground-up. just last week, she hosted a wedding reception for her daughter and now this is all she sees. listen to what she had to say. >> it was a three bedroom, four bath. everything was in its place. i had everything i possibly could want. it was absolutely gorgeous. and now it's all gone. all gone. what can i say? it's absolutely all gone. finished. >> reporter: and i want to correct that her name is sophie payne, not sherry payne. i can tell you there's one bit of good news for that family. when they came out here yesterday, they went looking for their dog and found the dog in the back of the house.

they were able to rescue him. he's in good condition. right now, that's all that they have left. >> entire house burned down with all their possessions inside. thanks very much. check the forecast for the fire zone right now. one shift of the wind certainly can take these sparks to new levels. our meteorologist jennifer gray is joining us from the cnn severe weather center. what's the forecast, jennifer? >> yeah, wolf, we've had strong santa ana winds and not good when you're talking about wildfires. we are going so see the winds start to shift and should get an on shore flow toward the weekend with more moisture and humidity. temperatures are also going to start to climb down just a little bit, or go down. los angeles, 98 today. 90 tomorrow. temperatures should be dropping almost 10 degrees. if you look at the averages, temperatures are running 20 to 30 degrees above normal. very, very hot. shattering records across southern california. relative humidity, 63% as we go through tomorrow, that should

slowly start to increase. of course, it will go back and forth a little bit depending on day or night. we should relatively start to get that humidity up just a bit as we go into the weekend which is good news. still a very high fire danger, obviously, though. anywhere from l.a. all the way down to san diego and points east. we're going to see the very dry conditions remain. but at least with temperatures coming down and the wind starting to shift just a little bit, it should help those firefighters start to contain these fires a little bit better. the drought monitor came out today. 100% of the state of california in a severe drought. exceptional drought, 25% of the state. that's highest category that the drought monitor goes, so this is only going to get worse, wolf, as we go into the middle of the summer. by june, you can see all the areas in red and then the striped red and yellow, those are the areas that are going to be in the most intense fire danger. and then as we go into july, you can only expect that to get worse. it's going to take a lot of rain to reverse this and we're not seeing any rain in the near

future. >> jerry brown, governor of california told me in the last hour he's blaming climate change, global warming for exacerbating these problems. let's get a live update right now on the fire danger. the fire chief ken pimlat is joining us, director of department of forest tri and fire protection. thank you for joining us. i know that we spoke yesterday. is it getting worse, getting better? what's the forecast from your perspective? >> good afternoon, wolf. you know, as governor brown indicated earlier today, we made excellent progress on many of the fires overnight and this morning. but as you've been reporting all day, the afternoon here in california, during fire season, it warms up. we sort of call that the hour, clockwork, in the early to late afternoon hour, fire activity picks up in intensity. that's what we're seeing. particularly on this fire in san marcos, it's been the fire we've been watching most closely all day. we're seeing as you're reporting

and showing, you know, intense fire behavior on areas of that fire. we are tracking the weather just as you've been reporting. and what we're looking forward to with the change in the wind so that it becomes the on shore influence hopefully later tonight or sometime tomorrow. that will bring with it higher humidities and better opportunity for firefighters to get a handle on this fire. of course, that also brings with it a wind change. we also have to be concerned about fires going in a different direction. so that's why we have over 2,600 firefighters in san diego county in the greater area right now battling these fires. we're also getting reports, again, we talked about the ongoing fire danger today of a new fire on camp pendleton at the las polga strs gate. we're getting reports of evacuations of marine personnel. we're working on getting the confirmations. this is an indicator as you're reporting, the conditions out there continue to be dry. the vegetation as governor brown talked about is just absolutely tinder dry. it's kindling.

we're going to continue to see these kinds of fires all summer. >> looks like tornadoes, those firenados, whatever you're calling them. how unusual are they? >> fire whirls as you saw earlier today, they're not uncommon. we see those, that kind of erratic fire behavior on many fires. a result of uneven heating as the day warms up. those are the things that we look for very carefully. safety issue for firefighters because they can move fire very quickly and also grow the fire very rapidly as it pushes the fire across fire line. >> director of california department of forestry and fire protection. good luck to you and the men and women battling these blazes. thanks very much. still ahead, we'll keep you up to the minute on the fire danger out west. we have dramatic new pictures. new information coming into "the situation room" all of the time. stay right here for the very latest. we're also getting very scary details of a close call. two planes came dangerously close to colliding over the pacific ocean. we'll share the details with you.

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we're following breaking news out of southern california. an all-out assault against at least eight fires burning across san diego county. the main focus right now, a blaze closing in on homes in san marcos. 10,000 acres already have been scorched across the area. we're told the biggest fire at the camp pendleton marine base is only 20% contained right now. we're staying on the story. we'll get back to it. i want to get to a major development now on the terror front. we have new video that drives home the deadly brutality of one of al qaeda's most dangerous

affiliates. we want to worn yarn you the im you about to see are very graphic. cnn's mohammed jamjoom is in "the situation room" with details. >> as the battle continues intensifies, yemen's army is doing all its can to convince the population they've gotten tough on terror. at the very same time, al qaeda is going above and beyond trying to present a kinder, gentler face to the population. here's why. this shocking video shows the dead body of a yemeni man accused of being a spy for the u.s. he was crucified in remote provinces taken over by al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, committed horrific abuses against civilian populations. public executions, amputations, beheadings. ruling by absolute fear. then last year, aqap attacked a hospital at yemen's defense ministry and killed 52 people.

this surveillance video shows patients and staff huddled in a hallway. watching as an attacker walks toward them, then lobs an explosive in their direction. outraged was so great, aqap released an apology, an extremely rare move. promising the group would compensate relatives of the victims. >> what we're seeing with al qaeda in yemen now is a recognition that they need to, you know, "a" now kill muslim sieve vilcivilians and "b" if k it as a propaganda tool against the government or united states saying, hey, we're not responsible for these civilian casualties. >> reporter: now, as the battle between yemen's military and aqap intensifies, so does the propaganda war. yemen's government releasing clips highlighting the heroism of their fighters. aqap producing videos displaying a softer side. a clear change in tactics. "the situation here is miserable" says this man.

"what we need is security. we don't need the army to enter our area. we're afraid for our wives or children if they come in." the message in this glossally produced clip is simple, it's the people they should be afraid of. >> a controlled territory is doing terrible things to the population. now they're sort of on the back foot and using propaganda to say, hey, we care about civilian casualties. we can protect you from the government. >> of course, we should remember that in a war this murky, it's hard to know just exactly what's going on. but if these videos are any indication, aqap which is the most dangerous of all al qaeda networks seemed as emboldened and confident as ever. >> gruesome. these images. awful, indeed. mohame mohammed, thanks for that report. just ahead, more on the breaking news on the terrifying fire emergency ongoing in california. president obama is getting briefed. cnn is live. some of the most dangerous hot spots. how did it happen?

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let's check back with the breaking news. state of emergency in southern california right now. multiple wilefidfires are ragin. fire officials say their top priority at this moment is the

racing fire in san marcos. at last word it was only 5% contained. more than 20,000 homes have been va evacuated along with the california state campus in that city. evacuations are widening to the residents in the widening city of escondido as well. other news we're following. learning more about a scary close call in midair between two jets that came dangerously close to one another. let's bring in our aviation correspondent rene marsh. she has details. >> wolf, we now know the planes were eight miles apart. as one pilot put it, at speeds of roughly 500 miles per hour, they could have been on top of each other within seconds. we just learned tonight that the ntsb and the faa investigation team is en route to honolulu. the air traffic control center there. which had jurisdiction over those two planes. terrifying moments thousands of feet above the pacific. >> i thought, oh, god, this is

it. >> reporter: united airlines flight 1205 from hawaii to california cruising at 33,000 feet on april 25th. the 757's collision alert system goes off. flight 1205 in danger of colliding with a us airways jet. the plane plunged 600 feet in 60 seconds. without warning for passengers like kevin town swsend. >> i'm looking down the aisle. there are hundreds of people in front of me. people start screaming. noises of things that weren't secure falling around. >> reporter: close calls usually come down to pilot or controller error but disaster is almost always alerted thanks to avoid dance technology and controllers. >> you're going to run into the situatio situation. unfortunately nothing is perfect. i know that's not a comforting answer. >> reporter: last year, three planes were on a collision course near reagan national in washington, d.c. >> we were clear of the river

back there, what happened? >> stand by. we're trying to figure this out, too. stand by. >> reporter: in 2012, a radar tape shows a japan airlines plane nearly slammed into a cargo jet. >> 72, heavy traffic, 12:00, half mile. >> reporter: a new controller blamed for the mistake was sent for retraining. townsend wants to make sure near collisions are thoroughly investigated. >> i don't think there's some epidemic of near accidents that's occurring, but it was a jarring experience dodging another plane. >> reporter: united says it's working with ntsb which is reviewing this most recent incident. >> the passenger onboard this flight feared that because the disaster was averted, it wouldn't be thoroughly investigated. we do know the faa told us today they started investigating immediately and their investigators along with the ntsb will arrive in honolulu today. interesting timing, wolf, considering this event happened some 20 days ago.

we did reach out to ntsb today to find out what was with the gap, why it took so long to send investigators over there. this person, this individual with the ntsb not able to provide an answer to that. >> rene, thanks very much for that report. unprecedented study has been released assessing anti-jewish views around the world. the results are pretty stunning. here's cnn's tom foreman. >> reporter: a vicious spray of gunfire outside a jewish community center near kansas city, all the victims are christian, but authorities say the alleged gunman has a history of hating jews. >> officially, we believe this to be a hate crime. >> reporter: hatred, mistrust, and misunderstanding of jewish people and their faith fills the new worldwide survey by the anti-defamation league. >> it was sobering. very sobering. >> reporter: abraham foxman is the director and said the poll found anti-semitic attitudes in

26% or 1 out of every 4 people. asked if they've ever heard of the holocaust, just over half, 54% said yes. even among those who have heard of the nazi slaughter of 6 million jews -- >> what's even more disturbing is 1/3 believe it's a myth or exaggerated. >> reporter: anti-semitism appeared highest in largely muslim nations in north africa in the middle east, lowest in english speaking countries like the united states. and protestant christianaries were the most welcoming for jewish people. generally more educated communities were less anti-semit anti-semitic, but longstanding stereotypes persist. 35% said jews have too much power in the business world. 41% believe jews are more loyal to israel than to the countries they live in. and when researchers asked what part of the world's population is jewish, more than 10%, 1% to

10%, or less than 1%? the last one was chosen by only one out of five people. tom foreman, cnn, washington. >> that's it for me. thanks for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." republicans are on a witch hunt going after the one guy who's trying to clean up the vv va. >> excuse me for not feeling sorry for eric shinseki. the debate starts right now. >> tonight on "crossfire," scandalous mistreatment of america's veterans. >> makes me mad as hell. >> waiting lists. patient deaths. manipulation and cover-ups. >> could you explain to me after knowing all this information why you should not resign? >> on the left, van jones. on the right, s.e. cupp. in the "crossfire" lawrence, a

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