the devastation across california unimaginable. wildfires force thousands of people to evacuate, many now living in tents, and we are hearing heart breaking stories of how they survived. plus, the u.s. president again praising the u.s. ties to saudi arabia, but as for the recording of murdered journalist jamal khashoggi, mr. trump says he will not listen, that it's too terrible. the leader said his forces are ready for the fighting to end in yemen but only if the saudi-led coalition really wants peace. live from cnn world headquarters in atlanta, we want to welcome our viewers here in the united states and all around the world.

i'm george howell. the cnn newsroom starts right now. at 3:00 a.m. on the u.s. east coast, we start with these wildfires in the state of california. the death toll there continues to rise. presently now 80 people who have lost their lives there. on a map, you can see where these fires are burning in both the north and southern parts of the state. scorching land there for more than a week. so far the fires have destroyed an area larger than the city of chicago. the so-called camp fire in the north, it's about 65% contained. the woolsey fire in the south, almost 90% contained. and across the state, thousands of people now displaced. in one walmart parking lot, take a look here. you can see survivors. they have set up tents, turning the area into a makeshift village. in the aftermath of so much chaos, so much destruction, there are some incredible

stories of survival that we are hearing. one of them involves a school bus driver praised for helping 22 students to escape the camp fire in northern california. our paul rakamen reports how a man was able to navigate a bus and its passengers through pure hell. >> we had a bus driver from heaven. >> good to see you. >> reporter: as the camp fire raged, kevin mckay, a few months into his job for the paradise school district, braced for the bus drive of his life and the lives of two dozen others. >> well, it was time to go. >> reporter: stranded children and two teachers jumped on. >> there were 22 kids and my first thought was just getting them on the bus and getting them out of there because the sky was really menacing. >> it was so crazy and, um, there were like fires left and right. everywhere you look there was smoke everywhere, and people

trying to get out, and it was like really hard. >> reporter: were you scared? >> very scared. but i tried to just like calm down because that would just make it worse for everybody else. >> we started getting fire on both sides of the bus. kids started to get pretty antsy. at a couple points i think we had some honest discussions about, is this the time to get out of the bus? >> reporter: smoke seeped into the bus, children started inhaling and falling asleep. >> i ran to the front of the bus. i said, kevin, these kids are telling me they're tired right now. and kevin, without even thinking about it, took his shirt off and tore it into little pieces and we just started tearing it up as quickly as we could to make filters for these kids to breathe. >> reporter: they dipped the rags in water. the harrowing continued. they drove in the middle of the road to avoid burning trees and buildings. coming down the hill, the sky becomes lighter, the tension eases, the adults intentionally

make some light comments about having pancakes and a black bear surviving at the black bear diner. >> it was great. i mean after all the tenseness we needed a joke to loosen everything up. >> reporter: then back between walls of fire. >> when we turned the corner, there we were, back again. and it was awful. um, i just felt like this was never going to end. >> just being gridlock trapped in the road. there was nowhere for us to go. the traffic wasn't moving. and then our last stretch, too, i think that was the -- that was the moment i thought that we might not make it out. >> reporter: abby's home burned. so did charlotte's and kevin's. mary's still stands. homes were lost. but in the end, everyone on the bus survived. >> safety is such a important part of a bus driver's role, and, um, you know, i must have

paid close attention. >> reporter: a reference to the class he took on how to keep his precious passengers safe. paul, cnn, paradise, california. >> safety is part of a bus driver's job. safety is paramount driving through something like that. ivan cabrera, our meteorologist here, to tell us about what is in store now for california. they've dealt with the fires. that's still in bloom. >> still going. >> the smoke is a problem. now rain on the way. >> so, rain on the way which is going to be a good thing because it's going to help the fire fighting efforts. it's going to extinguish the fire. it's going to be that heavy. the problem is because it will be that heavy, we could be dealing with some mudflow issues here just like last year's. let's talk about that and absolutely heroic efforts have been underway in california. a grandmother there that needed to get out, garbage man came by and picked her up. incredible stuff from the most destructive fire ever. these are the kind of fires people don't have enough time to get out. this is excellent news today.

the humidity is going to come down. we were at 5, 10, 15%. it's critically low. those valleys will be increasing. the temperatures will be a little bit cooler and then we're going to get ready for some rainfall that's going to be moving in. here's the latest from cal fire. 65% containment now. we have been north of 50% for quite sometime now. so this is good. the problem is that 65 has been stuck all day because we did have gusty winds through sunday. those are the winds that are going to subside for monday. 150,000 acres of course have been burned so far. incredible amount of structures. thousands of homes lost. there is what george had been talking about, the air quality index has been just horribly low here. not just for sensitive groups. we're talking everybody. i mean, i have folks and friends been out to san francisco for a quick trip there. couldn't see in front of them. that's how bad it has been across california because of these fires. there you see the red dots, not good. we're in the middle. unhealthy. but we're going in the right direction. this is from the noaa satellite up above. take a look at the plumes of

smoke. the hot spot in northern california. but then you see the smoke. it's going down to mexico, the wind shifts, it goes up to canada and the northern plains. we have been sharing that part of stothe story unfortunately across the west. no worse than california. how much rain do we need? half an inch of rain to stop the spread of the fires. that would be great. we need 2 inches or more to basically extinguish them. we're going to get that. i think it's going to be too quick. it's not going to be a light rain on and off throughout the day. it's going to come in rather quick on wednesday, one punch, another one on friday and then perhaps even through the early part on of next week. as that rain hits those burn scars, that's the concern there, it basically is going to fall on cement. and so that is going to trigger the mud flows that, of course, can be quite deadly in california. so we'll be following that part of the story next week. >> it's a big deal. ivan, thank you. all right, turning to another story we're following this day, the murder of journalist jamal khashoggi. the u.s. president spoke about

the investigation on sunday. he said that he doesn't know if the saudi crown prince lied to him when he claimed that he wasn't involved. the saudis have firmly denied that crown prince mohammed bin salman played a role in the murder last month, but sources say the cia believes he personally ordered it. the u.s. government has yet to reach a final conclusion on it. mr. trump says, though, he is due to get a full report come tuesday. he's already been briefed on some of the evidence, including an audio recording, though mr. trump says he does not plan to listen to that audio. >> i don't want to hear the tape. no reason for me to hear the tape. >> why don't you want to hear it, sir? >> because it's a suffering tape. it's a terrible tape. i've been fully briefed on it. there's no reason for me to hear it. in fact, i said to the people, should i? they said, you really shouldn't. there's no reason. i know exactly -- i know everything that went on on the tape without -- >> what happened? >> it was very violent, very vicious and terrible. >> following the story live in turkey, our jamana karacha is

live in istanbul. mr. trump described it as a suffering tape. he acknowledged he is aware of it, has not listened to it. this comes ahead of tuesday. he is due to see a full report from the cia regarding this investigation. if what we have heard of that cia assessment is true, jamana, where does this leave the u.s. president? >> reporter: well, you know, george, here the president is saying he doesn't want to listen to it because of the content of this recording. of course, we don't know what is on this recording. if there are multiple recordings, but by all indications from what we have heard from whether it's leaks or the feed of information from turkish officials, it is quite horrific as being described by the presidents there, being violent and vicious. some will be very critical of president trump, george, not listening to something like this. this is a key piece of evidence coming at a critical time.

it could impact his decision when it comes to how things move forward with saudi arabia, a critical juncture in relations between these two countries. but i think, you know, president trump has made it clear over and over again saying that saudi arabia is a spectacular ally in this region. he has prioritized what he's saying is jobs, money, the business deals with saudi arabia over this murder and over this case, and many will be very critical of this, but we'll have to wait and see what happens next. you know, some will tell you, if you look at where we are right now, it has been nearly 50 days since the killing of jamal khashoggi. and one would expect that a lot of this intelligence would have been gathered in the past few weeks. we know that the cia director gina haspel was here about four weekends ago. we know that the turkish

authorities did share the evidence they have with her. she listened to the recording, so some would wonder why is it taking the u.s. administration so long. yes, we have seen the sanctions that were announced last week impacting the 17 individuals, the saudis that were -- some of them were also -- we expect were also under investigation or under arrest in saudi arabia over this killing. but some would say there hasn't been real significant meaningful action from the united states or the international community when it comes to this case. and now there is something that is very worrying and, you know, very disturbing for many in this region who think that this is the time for the international community to act when it comes to saudi arabia, especially that they have, to an extent, turned a blind eye to a lot of the human rights and allegations over the past year. and that is why, george, we are

hearing a lot of calls now for an independent international investigation into the killing of jamal khashoggi. >> and, again, jomana, you pointed out turkey has opened this up to other nations, this investigation, waiting on the u.s. response and that response could be mixed between the house of representatives and between the president. we'll see how this goes. thank you for the reporting. khashoggi's death could, in fact, impact the war in yemen. iranian backed houthis are locked into fighting with a saudi-led coalition there. a houthi leader now says his fighters are ready for a cease-fire. facing pressure from the u.s., the saudi-led coalition might be forced to accept it. a top u.s. official said last month there needs to be a cease-fire within 30 days. cnn's sam kiley following the story live in abu dhabi this hour. sam, with this latest peace offering and actions taken to reduce violence, is this truly being seen as a real opportunity

to change this years' long war? >> yes, george, i think it is. there is a glimmer of hope amid the misery yemen has been suffering, a war four years old. 400,000 children on the brink of starvation, according to the u.n. children's fund. tens of thousands of casualties and a proxy war that until the last couple of weeks was going nowhere from anybody's perspective. but now, more or less overnight, the houthi spokesman, the leader mohammed al houthi put out a statement saying the houthis would respect this call for a cease-fire and would offer some unilateral signs of good will by offering to end, for now, a long-range missile strikes and the use of drones against not just the saudi-led coalition inside the yemen, but perhaps more importantly outside of yemen.

they have targeted in the past locations in both saudi arabia and the united arab emirates. both, of course, these two gulf countries leading members of this coalition fighting them. they have the backing of iran, but over the last couple of weeks, there has been certainly over the last week, a reduction in the level of combat after a severe spike around the town of hadeda, a port city, which is a part of yemen critical to the lives of some 14 million people. that is their route for food. it is held by the iranian backed houthis. they have dug in very hard but they have been under heavy attack. and perhaps this latest response is a reaction to that attack. but also moves by the united nations to try to bring the two sides together at cease-fire talks perhaps in sweden later on this month, george. >> sam, on the part of saudi arabia, how does that play into their decision, given the murder of journalist jamal khashoggi,

their decision in what comes next with this war? >> well, that's been very interesting indeed. there was an assumption that the level of frustration fell towards saudi arabia had reached a critical point with the alleged murder of jamal khashoggi inside the saudi embassy in istanbul. but jeremy hunt and the top civil servant from the united kingdom visited saudi arabia last weekend, a little bit before, and to propose a cease-fire plan that they were going to put towards the -- to the u.n. security council. and were brushed off really pretty effectively, and angrily according to some reports, by the saudis. so it's clear that the saudis are feeling pretty robust at a time when the international community was hoping that perhaps a degree of contrition over what happened to mr. khashoggi might be transferred into an understanding that the world is really pretty askance and horrified but what is going on

in yemen. there are signs of diplomatic moves in the right direction as far as cease-fire is concerned. and they may ultimately lead to talks. there is also an effort by the saudis to agree the medical evacuation of 50 wounded houthis which was in the past a block to future talks. george? >> sam kiley live for us in abu dhabi. thank you for the reporting. israel's government is intact, but it may not last much longer. the latest on a cabinet crisis for israel's prime minister. still ahead, also facing political troubles at home, the british prime minister trying to sell her brexit plan to her country, but it's getting tougher. as the exit date, it's getting closer. there are so many toothpastes out there which one should i use? choose one that takes care of your gums and enamel. crest gum & enamel repair cleans below the gum line and helps repair weakened enamel. gum & enamel repair, from crest.

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the israeli government is barely holding together. the prime minister of that nation, benjamin netanyahu, is fighting off calls for an early election after a controversial cease-fire with hamas. his defense minister has resigned. other cabinet members are threatening to leave. mr. netanyahu says a snap vote right now would be irresponsible. following the story live in jerusalem, cnn's oren liebermann on the story.

oren, there are several pressure points on the israeli prime minister to save his government. what's the latest at this point? >> reporter: well, george, in just a few minutes at 10:30 local time, two key ministers, the right wing education ministers and justice ministers have their own press conference where it is possible they will announce their own resignation and that would mark the collapse of prime minister benjamin netanyahu's coalition. that is an eagerly awaited statement, and would cap what has been a turbulent week for netanyahu, the most difficult, most challenging week since the last election in early 2015. we'll be looking carefully at what they say, how they say it and how the process goes from here. late last week, the fight was between netanyahu and his finance minister. he seemed to manage that one okay, and now it's between netanyahu and his own education minister who has demanded the defense portfolio after the defense minister resigned last week. so that brings you this idea of pressure points with a lot of demands made on netanyahu and his government. it could be just a few minutes

here, the end of netanyahu's coalition. so we'll certainly keep you posted there. meanwhile, the opposition, main opposition party, designed as union as they are known, will introduce a know confidence vote against netanyahu this afternoon. they have said the defense minister's resignation is a sign of the failure of netanyahu's government. so all of this puts pressure on netanyahu. meanwhile netanyahu said in a late night press conference last night he will take over the defense portfolio himself. in that new job which he just assumed, he was in the foreign affairs and defense committee this morning. he said there it is irresponsible now to topple a government. it is a sensitive security situation right now that is continuing and he basically called it his coalition partners to stay in the government. we'll see how they respond here in just a few minutes, george. >> and the context here is important, oren. this cease-fire with hamas, tell us how all of that plays into this. >> reporter: that began what has been an incredibly difficult week politically for netanyahu. the cease-fire with hamas was announced on tuesday.

it was an unpopular cease-fire especially among the right wing here in right wing politicians. the defense minister announced his own resignation a day later. the education minister who has a press conference in a few minutes demanded it be given to him or he would withdraw from the government which would topple it. a day later two key ministers called for early elections. so all of that just builds up this pressure on netanyahu and makes early elections more and more likely. meanwhile, images of hamas celebrating the resignation of the defense minister and certainly, if the government collapses here and they celebrate the collapse of the government, those images are very damaging to netanyahu and could play some sort of role in the next elections as hamas is seen celebrating the political movements of the israeli government, george. >> oren liebermann live for us in jerusalem. oren, thank you. now to the united kingdom, the nation's prime minister standing by her brexit plan as she faces critical talks in brussels this week. later monday, theresa may will try to convince british business

leaders to back her brexit plan. also this week she will meet with the european commission jean claude younger in brussels. there have been days of political turmoil and resignations and widespread criticism but still a defiant theresa may presses on saying she is not going to quit. let's go live to london. cnn's nina dos santos. it seems she is stuck between a rock and a hard place, the sell of an unpopular plan and the european union that seems uninterested in making any major changes to this deal as it stands presently. >> reporter: good morning to you, george. yes, she's also stuck between the hard brexit faction in her own party and very tricky parliamentary arithmetic that doesn't look in the current deal, system that we have is likely to work in her favor. as you mentioned over the course of the weekend, she's been

embarking on this charm offensive, trying to sell this deal to the broader british public. on friday she was trying to sell it to members of her conservative party rather than just elected members of parliament of her conservative party, approving so tricky there. she's going to be trying to sell it to the business community as well. she is about to embark in an hour or two to a big speech, one that has put a positive spin on this deal, essentially saying this is the best we're going to get. what it's going to do is create at least some certainty for the business community here to sure up jobs, and also she is going to say that this will give the u.k. the right to control its borders in the way that they will be able to issue visas to people who are skilled for the kind of jobs that are required in this country. that also she is going to make the argument will help to make sure that british workers get back on the job ladder as well. it is expected that this business lobby group is going to

back her deal. that will give politicians in her own party food for thought. what is interesting over the course of the weekend, george, many political commentators will say that that hard brexit faction inside her own government that had been tabling letters to the special 1922 backed bench committee that could potentially amount to no conif i dns vote in her, if they had the numbers, they needed 48. so far only 20-odd mps have made their letters public. it looks as though the second time in less than a year, theresa may has managed to so far hold off the threat of that no confidence in her leadership, and she continues to plow on, saying this is my deal, it's the best we're going to get from brussels. george? >> but the pressure continues to mount. nina dos santos live for us in london. thank you. the u.s. president said highs answered robert mueller's russia questions himself and is prepared to hand the questions -- the answers over. but one question remains. will he sit down with mueller's

team for an interview in the investigation? we'll look at that ahead. plus this. >> i said good-bye to my husband and just told him to tell our kids that i love them. and that i was sorry, i'm sorry, i wouldn't be there. it was very, very hard. >> the scramble to evacuate a hospital as california's deadlyest wildfire broke out. we'll have that story for you as newsroom continues. ♪

[ neighing ] [ neighing ] [ sigh ] it's bring your own phone, not pony. so i could've taken the bus? yeah. bring your phone. switch your carrier. save hundreds a year with xfinity mobile. call, click or visit a store today. welcome back to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. you are watching cnn newsroom live from atlanta. i'm george howell with the headlines we're following for

you this hour. the state of california ravaged by wildfires, a vigil was held sunday for the victims. -- who died in those fires. at least 80 people have been killed. hundreds more still unaccounted for. the so-called camp fire in the north now about 65% contained. the woolsey fire in the south, almost 90% contained. in recent interview, the u.s. president indicated we may never know if the saudi crown prince was lying to him about his involvement in the murder of journalist jamal khashoggi. mr. trump also says that he won't listen to a recording of the murder because he called it violent and vicious. a houthi militant leader in yemen says his forces are ready for a cease-fire, this if the saudi-led coalition wants peace. mohammed houthi, i should say, says the iran-backed militants should end missile and drone attacks. u.s. officials said last month they wanted a cease-fire within 30 days.

the u.s. president sat down for a wide ranging television interview on sunday. he answered questions about the special counsel's ongoing russia investigation, and went after a retired navy seal commander who led the operation that killed osama bin lauden. our boris sanchez has more. >> reporter: president trump making news on a multitude of fronts this weekend. first with an interview on fox news in which he criticized retired admiral william mcraven. mcraven previously had criticized president trump suggesting that he was unpresidential, and saying that the president's comments about the press being the enemy of the people are a threat to democracy. the president, during this interview, shot back, saying that mcraven was a hillary clinton supporter, a backer of president barack obama. the admiral spoke to cnn about this, providing us with a statement saying that he did not back hillary clinton or anyone else. he also said, quote, i admire

all presidents regardless of their political party who uphold the dignity of the office and who use that office to bring the nation together in challenging times. he went on to say, when you undermine the people's right to a free press and freedom of speech and expression, then you threaten the constitution and all for which it stands. the president also talked about the russia investigation during that interview, revealing that he probably would not sit down for that one-on-one in-person testimony with special counsel robert mueller, something he said in the past he was looking forward to. listen to this portion of the interview. >> i think we've wasted enough time on this witch-hunt. and the answer is probably -- we're finished. >> one and 100? >> i don't do odds. i gave very -- you're right, and very successfully actually. we gave very, very complete answers to a lot of questions

that i shouldn't have even been asked. and i think that should solve the problem. i hope it solves the problem. if it doesn't, you know, i'll be told and we'll make a decision at that time. but probably this is the end. >> reporter: now, president trump did say that he would be handing over his written responses to mueller's questions sometime this week, likely before thanksgiving. boris sanchez, cnn, at the white house. >> boris, thank you. let's talk more about this now with natasha linstadt, a professor at the university of essex. thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> let's start with the president's attacks on the retired admiral william mcraven, casting him in a political lens as a sympathizer of democrats. this is the architect of the bin lauden raid, a very significant figure certainly for the united states, given his background, his reputation. how does an attack like this run the risk of backfiring on the president? >> reporter: right. well, these attacks are just

incredible because i don't think there's really anyone in the country that would have a criticism for this commander because, you know, to run this operation was incredibly brave and took incredible amounts of planning. but this is one of the things about president trump that is so interesting. he has had a history of going after the military, going after gold star families, going after john mccain. and with his base, it doesn't seem to really matter. it would be unheard of for a republican president or any president to attack the military in a way that he has. but whatever he says his base just actually doesn't care. >> now to the russia investigation, mr. trump says that he has answered questions from the special counsel himself. he says that he did it without the help of his attorneys. but he's also indicated in this most recent interview that he most likely wouldn't sit down with the mueller team.

remember before, he had said he would be open to sitting down with mueller and his team, so in your view, what is the change of heart? what's the reason for it? >> well, trump has been contradicting himself about the whole mueller probe all the time. on the one hand, he is -- he appears to be incredibly worried about it, constantly tweeting about it, and indicating that it's some sort of witch-hunt and hoax in order to dee -- de-legitimatizing it. he said he didn't need help from his lawyers, but on this viewpoint that he doesn't want to be questioned directly, his lawyers have advised him that would be disastrous because he could perjure himself. and so, i think he's heeding the advice of his lawyers. but in spite of what he's publicly saying about how incredibly easy it was to answer these questions, this has been a

very tedious process for him to just even answer the written questions. and he probably very privately is very worried about it. >> looking ahead now to this coming tuesday, the president says that he will receive a full report from the cia, an assessment on the investigation of the murdered journalist jamal khashoggi. we've seen these saudi stories shift several times. mr. trump, though, still seems unwilling to reach any conclusions. does this further push his hand, force his hand, especially when this assessment comes out? >> i don't think it's going to change his mind about what to do. he does not want to rupture the relationship with saudi arabia. he has very strong personal ties with the country and individuals running the country, and he believes that the country -- that the united states has very strong military and financial ties to saudi arabia. and i think ha he's going to try to do is play it off as if other

individuals were responsible for this and that he doesn't believe the reports coming from the cia which have been stating, basically, that the crown prince himself was the one who ordered this horrible murder. and so he may just leave it up to congress to decide what to do about it. >> you know, i'd like to ask you one more long-lens question here. president trump pre-midterms and post-midterms, compare the two. we've seen the president since the midterms. we've seen him in paris, saw him in california. he's spoken out publicly in this interview on the russia investigation. what changes do you see? >> well, i think post-midterms, president trump is in a terrible mood. he is incredibly worried about what has just happened with the results in the house. and every day there seems to be another seat that goes to the

democrats, and that the midterms were an indictment on his presidency thus far. it wasn't this tremendous success he originally touted. so, i think he's growing increasingly anxious. when he gets anxious, he starts to whine more, starts to go on the attack more, and then sometimes starts to retreat more. we've seen all these different types of behaviors taking place into the midterms. i think he's just incredibly worried about the implications of what's going to happen. >> natasha lindstaedt there live for us via skype. we appreciate your time. >> thank you. >> all right. we were talking about the midterms. well, we've moved past the midterms. a contentious senate race and recount. florida will now send a new senator to washington. current u.s. senator bill nelson on the right conceded to republican challenger rick scott on sunday. the margin was just over 10,000 votes. now that florida is settled, here's where things stand in the u.s. congress. the house of representatives, the democrats have a majority

there. 232 seats. the republicans have 200 seats. three races still undecided, but no matter what happens, that won't swing the balance of power there. in the senate, republicans keep their majority. 52 seats. democrats have 47. one undecided race in mississippi, that will decide later this month in a runoff.

devastating wildfires that broke out in california this month, one hospital was forced to evacuate its patients. our affiliate ktxl reports, spoke with some of the people who managed to get out of these flames. >> reporter: six-day-old halle was the last baby born at the hospital. after she arrived, the camp fire began to surround the building. >> it came over the speaker, evacuate the hospital, all patients need to be moved. >> i went to the patients rooms,

grab your baby, there's no time. >> reporter: in the scramble to evacuate, heather had been separated from her child, put into an ambulance and driven away. her ambulance made it about half a mile before it began to literally melt in the flames. her c-section surgery left her lower half of her body numb. she couldn't move, and made what she thought would be her last phone call. >> i said good-bye to my husband and just told him to tell our kids that i loved them, and that i was sorry, i was sorry i wouldn't be there. wow, it was very, very hard. >> i heard the ambulance in front of us is on fire. >> reporter: nurse tamara ferguson was in an ambulance behind heather's making the same last phone call to her family. >> they kept telling me, no, you're going to be fine. i kept trying to convince them, no, you don't understand. i'm not going to be fine. there's no way i'm going to survive this. there's fire blowing at me. >> reporter: as the fire was consuming homes all around they have, a stranger helped heather

get out of her ambulance and wheeled her up this driveway on chloe court. nurse tamara followed. eventually they ran into david hawks, paradise's fire chief. >> there's a dog door here one of the paramedics made access to. we unlocked the garage, sheltered them in place. i said, hey, if you follow directions, which is to clear this home of pine needle, we would be safe here. >> reporter: what happened next was nothing short of amazing. emts and nurses became stand-in firefighters. some getting on the roof of this home, clearing gutters of brush, hosing down the outer edge of the property, saving this home all while their patients were kept safe inside. >> and he said, you do this. you do this. you do this. and all of us shifted our minds to what do we need to do for survival mode here. >> they followed directions. they did exactly what i asked them to do. >> reporter: amid a neighborhood devastated by the camp fire, this chloe court home survived.

so did all of the patients and medical staff inside. >> i am so happy that my home was spared, so that their lives could be spared. that was that home's purpose, for us to save those people >> reporter: desiree board enowns this home with her husband. not long before it was used to save the lives of people she never met, she was fleeing from it with her 17 month old daughter in the car. >> i was singing nursery rhymes to her, trying to keep her calm, although she was very calm. i don't know if i was singing the nursery rhymes for her or for me. i just knew that our story couldn't end that way. we couldn't burn alive in a car. >> reporter: it wasn't until one of the nurses sent desiree a facebook message that she learned her home was still standing. she'd assumed like her neighbors' homes, it was gone. now these people, all strangers a few days ago, forever bonded through one common story of

survival. >> we're all here. we're able to talk about this and it's absolutely extraordinary. >> it's humbling to know that your life was spared when so many aren't and so many are unaccounted for. >> you can find out of course how to help the victims of the california wildfires at our website cnn.com/impact. there you'll get a list of vetted charities that are helping people there in need. it's great when you see a hundred orders come in, a hundred orders come in, but then you realize i've got a hundred orders i have to ship out. shipstation streamlined that wh the order data, the weights of , everything is seamlessly put into shipstation, so when we print the shipping ll everything's pretty much done. it's so much easier so now, we're ready, bring on t. shipstation. the number one ch of online sellers. go to shipstation.com/tv and get two months free. take care of the hands that take care of you.

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tensions between the united states and china played into the outcome of this weekend's apec summit in papua new guinea, so much that the annual event ended without a joint communique. the first time in the summit's 25-year history. china's president xi jinping defended his country's trade practices and military buildup in the south china sea. the vice-president of the u.s., mike pence, also attended the summit and said that his country's trade war with china won't end until beijing changes its ways. let's bring in cnn's ivan watson following the story live in hong kong. again, we saw this rivalry on full display there, ivan. >> reporter: that's right. this was a failure, the first time in a quarter century, that

consensus was not reached and a routine of final joint communique was not published. and it's widely attributed because it was of viechlal visio -- rival visions between the future of trade between china and the u.s. there were undiplomatic moments, george, because the source with this incident tells cnn that on saturday, four chinese officials barged in as the source put it, essentially forced their way into the office of papua new guinea, the host country, their foreign minister in an attempt to try to influence the joint communique which ultimately was never published. now, this is after that foreign minister refused a meeting with these chinese officials. the chinese foreign ministry denies that such an intrusion did take place. that was against the backdrop of the chinese leader, xi jinping, and the u.s. vice-president mike pence, lobbying thinly veiled

criticism and insults at each other's governments and policies. take a listen to an excerpt from their speeches. >> translator: history tells us to take the road of confrontation whether it's in the form of a cold war, open war, or trade war, it will produce no winners. [ applause ] >> know that the united states offers a better option. we don't drown our partners in sea of debt. we don't coerce or compromise your independence. the united states deals openly and fairly. we do not offer a constricting belt or a one-way road. >> reporter: this was sharp criticism from mike pence of china's ambitious one belt one road policy where it has been lavishing loans of foreign aid for infrastructure projects. countries all around the world. pence arguing it is something like a debt trap and china's leader called this -- he defended one belt one road,

saying there is no ulterior motive, no hidden agenda behind this policy. and, of course, there is a trade war. both countries have put tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of each other's goods, and there is the threat that that number could increase dramatically in january coming from the u.s. there is a possible way out, george, and that is that president trump and xi jinping are due to meet each other face to face in argentina at the g20 meeting. we'll be watching. george? >> listening to those two sound bites, ivan, back to back, you do hear competition, in fact, a message trying to sway a nation's one way or the other. >> reporter: that's right. and they are competing for the favor of countries like papua new guinea, small pacific island countries that have in recent years received a lot of chinese investment assistance.

and pence brought news that he was going to embark that the u.s. was going to be providing some aid as well to some of these countries. papua new guinea, for example, a pledge to help build its electricity grid. and another message that was pretty striking. pence announcing that australia and the u.s. would be building a military base on papua new guinea's manis island, and that is clearly part of the larger competition on military fronts between china and the u.s. and their allies over influence and control of the pacific. george. >> ivan watson, live in hong kong. thank you. and finally this hour, we want to take you inside india's first elephant hospital. this opened up last week in south of new delhi. elephants are an endangered species and the hospital uses cutting edge technology including wireless exray machines and ultrasound to treat injured and sick or aging elephants.

the nonprofit behind the hospital's rescue of wild animals across the country, of course, activists say elephants are revered in india, but can also be abused or hunted. thanks for being with us for cnn newsroom. i'm george howell at the cnn center in atlanta. early start is next for viewers here in the united states. for viewers around the world, my colleague max foster kicks it off live in london. you're watching cnn, the world's news leader.

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text "listen5" to 500500 to start your free trial today. if whitaker decides to limits or curtail the mueller investigation, are you okay with that? >> it's going to be up to him. >> he's called the investigation fishy and false. president trump says the acting attorney general will decide how to deal with the mueller probe. mike bloomberg donates $1.8 billion to the alma mater for financial aid. 2020 hopefuls no doubt taking notice.