tonight -- >> it's okay, you guys. it's okay. just keep going, keep going, baby. keep going. >> inside one family's journey through hell, escaping the flames of california's deadliest, most destructive wild fire ever, the devastating first look at paradise lost and families found. after days of separation and worry. >> glad you're good. and the new aerial assaults to fight the latest ferocious >>e e i mic city, what do you say we get right to it? >> ahead of tomorrow's cmas, a look at country music's biggest stars through the years. >> the winner of is carrie underwood.

>> f ckeith, how nashville's powerhouses found their fame. but first, here are the "nightline" five. five. >> and number one in just 60

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closing in on them. california in a state of emergency tonight and abc has the latest now on the deadliest and most destructive wildfires in that state's history. >> reporter: the golden state fire fight now a nearly week long ground and air campaign against the most devastating collection of wildfires in california's history, two of the largest blazes t woolsey fire outside los angeles in the south and up north, the campfire outside sacramento. across california, at least 50 people now confirmed dead, thousands of structures burned to ashes, a handful of cities still evacuated. it all began last thursday in the northern california town of paradise where michelle simmons and her husband, daniel, filming their desperate escape from the inferno. >> oh my gosh. >> we are stuck in it. >> it's hot. >> it's hot right now. >> calm down, guys, it's fine. >> in the backseat of their car, their four young children. one has asthma.

>> just breathe. breathe, breathe, breathe. >> breathe. put your shirt over your mouth, you guys, and breathe. >> little breaths. >> reporter: the couple describing their harrowing journey to my colleague, will carr. >> i think the worst part for me, personally, was seeing the community, seeing everybody panicking. >> just watch for trees, babe. >> i will. >> there was a woman on the side of the road running with her baby. i just replay the image over and over. she was barefooted, just trying to get to a police officer's vehicle just so they could escape. >> reporter: as people frantically try to drive away, the intense heat begins popping car tires. >> come on. >> oh, my god. there's explosions everywhere. oh my god. people's tires are popping. the wind is blowing so hard. >> reporter: at one point, with flames leaping from the side of the road, michelle tries to keep her family calm. >> oh, my god. it's okay, you guys. it's okay. just keep going, keep going,

baby, keep going. oh my god. >> reporter: finally, relief as they make it to safety. >> okay. oh my god. oh my god. that was so scary. >> we drove through hell, but we're lucky. there's so many people who went through worse. >> reporter: to date, this is what remains of michelle and daniel's home. they say their family, more than 50 people, are all safe. >> it's that fine line between being so incredibly grateful to be alive and so, so sad because that was our life. >> reporter: first responders in their town are now faced with a grim search and recovery, finding bodies in what used to be homes and cars, a town once home to 27,000 residents now piles of charred debris, block after block, aroucarnage and destruction. >> we had no idea how fast it

would come. >> reporter: they say the smell of smoke and falling ash was their only warning. >> if there hadn't been a big siren like a tsunami warning or something. >> or even an amber alert thing. there wasn't even that. >> reporter: they say all they could do was hop in their car and go. at one point, the heat so strong they abandoned their car and ran. for others, cars became death traps. >> the first five people that died did die in their car on our street. >> take it each day and live it like it's your last because some day it will be your last. >> reporter: this video, taken from the neighboring town of chico on friday, showing the fire apocalypse, clouds of smoke turning day into night, the campfire reaching over 125,000 acres, 200 people are still missing in paradise. the number of deaths expected to climb, adding to what is already the deadliest fire in california's history. officials now bracing for the unimaginable, bringing in portable morgues. cadaver dogs now roam from house

to house. so many families now homeless, taking refuge in tents in a parking lot. >> if we just stick together and have a fun time, it will get this off our minds and we'll try not to be stressed out. >> reporter: this family spent four days searching for each other. >> glad you're good. >> reporter: their reunion, a reminder of what's irreplaceable. in southern california today, an all-out aerial assault on the woolsey fire outside los angeles. >> the terrain is too steep. you can't get hand crews in here. >> reporter: dc-10s and chinook helicopters attacking a new flare-up after a week of intense fire fighting. authorities say these fires will impact survivors long after the last wisp of smoke. >> we have people that are displaced that are going to be displaced for weeks and months ahead and so the cameras are going to go away, the tweets may simmer down. reporter: more than a goingsta thousand stede. manyik wdyn, arrin

hay thes on >> all of my belongings were there, memories from when my children were babies, pictures, all of -- everything. so, i have the clothes on my back. >> reporter: today at this red cross shelter in woodland hills, evacuees found help in this disaster supply depot, everything from toothbrushes to t-shirts to toys, free to anyone d. what's hit you the hardest about working in this room? >> it's really when someone just looks at you and you see the look on their face. it really lands on them that they've lost everything. they have nothing. >> reporter: marcella opened her home to her niece and great niece just a month ago when they had nowhere t go.ndirouse is go. >> i have to pull myself together for them. and i haven't been able to do h much as i'm helping them.

they just don't know it. that house was the only home i've ever had. it's the only home they've ever had. >> reporter: some people who lost homes now face a mountain of red tape from filing insurance claims to finding a new place to live. how you holding up? >> i want to go home. >> reporter: but for 97-year-old ruth cook, who we met here yesterday, there is nowhere for her to go. >> this is darlene from the little angels project. >> reporter: volunteer darlene has been trying to find a home for ruth and her only possession now, her dog, maggie. her heart tells her they might not survive if they get separated. >> wherever i go, she goes. >> reporter: you guys are a pair. >> yeah. that's all i have is her. >> reporter: she finally found cility.or ruth and her besten l >> we'd like t mov hurdles meanhe may he to spend moruncomfortae night home

>> reporter: well, these guys are finding you a place to live. >> i know. >> reporter: you and maggie. >> i love maggie. >> she's doing good. she just wants out. right now, she just wants to get out of that place. she's on a cot. she's 97. she need to be in a bed and hopefully in 48 hours, we will be going to her new home and showing her her new place and maggie will have a nice little grass patch. >> reporter: red flag fire weather warnings continue from l.a. to san diego through tomorrow. in the north, no rain forecast until next week as the threat of fire remains for so many californians, we're now learning the names of some of those who lost their lives. 65-year-old musician earnest foss, carl wiley, and 48-year-old jesus hernandez, known as zeus, who passed with his beloved dog. many must begin a new struggle to rebuild their homes and lives

how will you get through it? >> magic of love. when people come together, it's the most beautiful thing in the world. >> reporter: for "nightline," woodland hills, california. >> our thanks to clayton and our teams in california. next here, country music's big breaks and bigger heartbreaks, why there must be something in the water in nashville. ville. ♪ there must have been something in the water ♪

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♪ there's nothing in theikco >> tonht we're coming home with country music's biggest stars like keith urban. on the eve of the biggest night in their business, a look inside the moments of the lives of these singers that drove them to stardom. >> reporter: good evening from nashville and from what is arguably the most famous stage in country music. this is the home of nashville royalty. as a southern girl, i've always been very proud of my southern roots, and for years, i traveled from state to state, speaking to some of country music's biggest stars. since we are in music city, what do you say we get right to it? >> i love robin. i thought she and i had a thing, you know, like a really special thing but then i realized everybody loves robin, so she's like friends with pretty much everybody in nashville now. >> my first broadcasting job was spinning country music for a small radio station in louisiana. but so many legendry country

music careers were launched on tv. this adorable young ozzie. urmbt and chris young on "nashville star." but today, "american idol" is the bona fide star maker for country talent. one of the show's biggest stars, carrie underwood. ♪ i feel right at >> before her reign, she was just another kid in line, aching for that big break. >> okay. that was very good. carrie, you're through to the next round. >> welcome to hollywood, girl. >> i've never been in an airport before. my dad, on the way to the airport, i was about to cry, and he said, you know, if you want to go home, we can go home and you don't ever have to think about this ever again, and i was like, oh, but i will think about it. so, i have to. >> the winner of "american idol"

2005 is carrie underwood. >> reporter: bring back memories being here on the football field? >> it does. i was a cheerleader up until my freshman year of high school. >> reporter: i visited carrie's hometown in oklahoma, just four years after she was crowned "idol" winner. how has it changed? >> the town? >> reporter: in recent years. >> there are things that are different. we got another stoplight. we got a new walmart. we got a new stoplight because of the new walmart. >> reporter: back then, carrie opened up about her plans for the future. do you have a time line that you're thinking about marriage and kids? >> oh, gosh, as far as a time line now, it really just depends on what god has planned, you know? it's not -- i can try to make my own plans, i've been doing that my whole life and it's never worked out so i don't know why i'd start now. >> reporter: but she did make plans. a year later, she was married te

tw in her life,nd hding whaver kn ilways >> reporter: and i feel that these two really inspired that track. >> they did. >> reporter: tell us about it. >> it's called "what i never knew i always wanted" and that kind of sums it up, both of them, the men in my life. now i couldn't imagine my life without either one of them. >> reporter: she's expecting her second child. >> carrie underwood. >> reporter: recently, she was named cmt's artist of the year. >> thank you. >> reporter: and she's getting ready for a tour promoting her sixth studio album, "cry pretty." p >> reporter: for ten years, we've seen that carrie underwood has a lot to cry about, tears of sorrow, tears of joy, tears of

gratitude. >> i'm definitely a very blessed person and try to make the most of those blessings and opportunities as they come and god's just been really good to me. >> reporter: as one of country music's biggest talents, keith urban also counts himself among those blessed. >> i just come out ready to play. i wait around all day to play. that's what i do. ♪ when the sun goes down and the stars come out ♪ ♪ can you feel it >> reporter: keith urban is as at home in brooklyn's barclay center as he is in the global arena. he's new zealand born, australian raised, and 100% nashville. >> the ground floor of what i do, the base foundation of who i am is a country artist. it's what i grew up playing, so it's the deepest in my dna.

>> reporter: it was in 2011 that keith first invited us home for our third cma special. is it a struggle to stay sober? >> it was a struggle to live the life i was living before. yeah. that's what the actual real struggle is. >> reporter: throughout that struggle, his wife, actress nicole kidman, has been by his side. if someone who hadn't met nicole, how would you describe her to them? >> extremely pure spirit. a really, really extraordinarily rare, i think, pure spirit. i'll spend the rest of my life trying to find the right words because it's, you know, words are limiting. >> reporter: keith and nicole celebrated their 12th wedding anniversary this year. >> we have a real life in the sense that we do the most normal things, and we don't live on social media all the time. we don't read to abloids so it just floats by us all the time but we don't give it any attention.

we just have a real life. >> reporter: this year, kei earned three cma award nominations, album of the year, male vocalist of the year, and entertainer of the year. >> i mean, all three, good lord. i mean, they represent absolutely. entertainer is, like, that's -- i've been performing live since i was 7 years old. it's extraordinary to get those nominations. ♪ when the sun goes down and the stars come out, can you feel it ♪ >> the best feeling i have is going off and then coming back out for an encore and everybody's still here. if you want a sign if you've connected with an yaudience, that's it right there. >> our thanks to robin and the 52 annual cma awards will air tomorrow night at 8/7 central right here on abc. next here on "nightline," we should all start our days like

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and finally here tonight, the morning routine in one american classroom going viral tonight. >> kindergarteners in this wisconsin class start their day by choosing hugs or handshakes. every morning, one child is the greeter and has the job of welcoming everybody with the gesture of kindness they choose. on 5-year-old collin baker's day, a majority of the students go in for the hug. baker's mom says that's because he puts his heart into every one he gives. and a reminder, in case you've" episodes of our in depth ors. " and go night.

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