[ cheers and applause ] this is "nightline." >> tonight, state of emergency. hundreds of thousands forced to flee wind-whipped infernos up and down california. >> this is brentwood. homes of multimillion dollars. lebron james among others had to evacuate. >> the powerful and the powerless caught in the crisis. >> the wind picks up, the smell of smoke, it really kicks in the anxiety. >> one family fearing history repeating itself. >> this is the front walk where you guys just walked up. >> now the race against time to wrangle wildfires exploding in size. plus, inside the raid. the most wanted man in the world. >> he died like a dog.

he died like a coward. >> how one of his wives helped the u.s. military. the heroes behind the top secret mission and what the families of victims of the terrorist group are saying tonight. but first, the "nightline" 5.

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good evening. thanks for joining us. tonight, huge swaths of california in flames. multiple wildfires threatening everything in their path. abc's will reeve on the fire lines, where the threat of more violent winds has people on edge. >> that's fine. >> i have the car keys. >> reporter: stephanie and nick stower are grabbing supplies from the northern california home they've evacuated for the second time in two years. >> i hate to say it, we're experienced. you shouldn't be experienced in something like this. >> reporter: in 2017 they lost their home to the tubbs fire. >> sheets. >> reporter: one of the deadliest in the state's history. their family and pets safe but a lifetime of memories destroyed. >> this is when we were driving up. this is after 2017. and everything looked fairly normal. >> until -- >> we took care of the underbrush. it's all gone. >> this is the front walk where you guys just walked up. >> reporter: what did that feel like? >> i don't think i could

describe it. just the pit of my stomach. what are we going to do? people would ask what can we do to help? and i would ask them please look through your pictures and see if you have any of my children, i've lost everything. i don't have any of their pictures. >> reporter: they were able to rebuild. >> where's this going? >> reporter: moving into this home just three months ago. now reliving a nightmare. >> you turn on the news, the wind picks up, the smell of smoke. it really kicks in anxiety, what are we going to take, this maybe the last time i see this house, what is important to take. >> reporter: with winds forecast to pick up early tomorrow, the stower family joined the nearly 200,000 californians forced to evacuate. >> look at that. >> reporter: a state of emergency in california as multiple wildfires rage. nearly 200,000 people forced to evacuate. dozens of homes destroyed. tonight more than 2 million residents without power. in northern california's wine

country the kincade fire doubling in size over the weekend. >> winds are the most vexing and most complexing parts of our suppression intervention challenges. >> we're working hard to defend this structure. you can see the propane tank's already venting. >> reporter: wind gusts exceeding 90 miles an hour on sunday. with the winds picking up, the flames are encroaching on this vineyard. the fire snaking all the way up the property. and two new fires sparking northeast of san francisco. >> those homes are very much in danger right now. >> reporter: our rob marciano near the sky fire. >> look how low he got. this is precision. these choppers have been coming in every five minutes. >> reporter: and this morning flames breaking out in los angeles near the iconic getty center, a massive museum prized for its priceless art and located right off the 405, the nation's busiest freeway, part of it shut down. >> there is nobody traveling south. this is one of the most traveled areas in our area, in the country, and to see nobody on

this roadway is almost a shocking sight. >> reporter: the getty fire forcing 25,000 to evacuate in the middle of the night. >> i'm just beneath the getty center, one of the most famous museums in the world. there are helicopters in the air, fire crews pretty much everywhere. >> reporter: our matt gutman in the fire's path this morning in the affluent brentwood neighborhood. >> this is brentwood. homes of multimillion dollars. lebron james among others had to evacuate. you can see this is obviously still a very dynamic situation. >> reporter: the fire racing through the canyons here. los angeles mayor eric garcetti calling this his worst fear. single year.ing this every the fires get bigger. every single week there seems to be we're shifting winds even more. if people doubt that this is real, climate change, ask a firefighter on the line. we see this time and time again. this year we had a ton of fuel because of extreme rain, now extreme dryness. >> reporter: students from nearby mt. st. mary's university

racing out in the wee hours. >> this is too close to our school. >> you have several hundred teenage kids that are -- have no way of getting out. >> oh, my gosh. >> reporter: ambulances hustling students to safety. soon reuniting with their families. >> it was pretty scary. you know, 2:30 in the morning you don't expect a phone call from your daughter at school. >> reporter: by daybreak firefighting aircraft dotting the sky. 1,100 firefighters responding. this afternoon the chief describing the scene. >> very literally overwhelmed. we had to make some tough decisions on which houses they were able to protect. >> reporter: the getty fire coming on the heels of the tick fire, north of los angeles, erupting last thursday. about 40,000 residents ordered to flee. >> currently families screaming and dozens and dozens of families on this block here. >> preventing this fire from getting up to these houses. jumping house to house. all of us are getting drenched from hoses.

the smoke is overwhelming. >> reporter: multiple aircraft pounding the flame from above. down below our teams on the front lines with those first responders. >> this is what firefighters go through. it is completely wet here. all choking because of the smoke. but they're trying to save these homes, at best they can at this point. you can see the fire all in that valley coming up here. it is very hard to breathe right now. >> reporter: firefighters racing from one blaze to the next. at the college of the canyons using a buzzsaw and then crow bars to gain entrance. the flames quickly approaching this ranch. these horses galloping for their lives. >> are you okay? >> reporter: and then running up the road, estella. >> your kids are in the house? >> yes. >> reporter: her car was blocked in the roadblock, so she set off on foot to get her cars and animals out. >> i

it. >> reporter: estella sxher family getting out. the tick fire is now 70% contained. and in the north the kincade fire started last wednesday in a mountainous area of sonoma county. intense winds quickly spreading the flames. early last thursday the calls coming in. >> yeah, copy i'm willing to give up the back side for now. >> south side of the bridge but it's gotten into in-some critical pg&e infrastructure. it's going to be a mess. >> reporter: this fire has burned dozens of structures like this one. pg&e cut four to nearly 30,000 customers in the area, but last night the company admitted they didn't cut power to a nearby transmission line which malfunctioned just minutes before the fire erupted. this region part of california's famed wine country. this historic vineyard now destroyed. morning's light revealing the scope of the damage. firefighters bravely working to contain the flames.

the kincade fire now 15% contained with more than 74,000 acres burned. those flames capable of wiping out so much. >> there are the steps that went up to it. >> reporter: in stephanie stower's case it took her family's treasures two years ago. >> i had all of the family mementos. i had the hand-carved desk that great grandpa made. i had your great, great grandfather's steamer trunk with his monday o'gram. i had it all. and it's all gone. >> reporter: this time their home is still safe and the family's spirit holding strong. >> we bend but we done break. >> life's going to knock you on your butt. right? it's going to happen. but as i tell my kids it's what you do when you stand up and move forward that defines you as a person. there's time for grieving but there's times that you know, what we've got to hold this together. you know, we're family. let's do this. >> reporter: for "nightline" i'm will reeve in sonoma county, california. >> our thanks to will. up next, inside the top secret u.s. mission that brought down the world's most wanted terrorist.

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he was the face of evil, the ring leader behind a gruesome empire of bloodshed and brutality. now inside the u.s. military operation that killed the leader of isis and the families of countless victims of the terrorist group speak out about the death of a butcher. here's abc's pierre thomas. >> my name is kayla weaver. i need your help. it's very terrifying here. >> reporter: that's american kayla mueller in 2013. held hostage by isis and

brutalized by its leader. >> al-baghdadi and his organization captured our daughter, held her for 18 months. they tortured her. she was held in solitary confinement. she was raped by al-baghdadi. we know that to be a fact. she was murdered by him or someone or someone in his organization. >> reporter: also among his victims, three other americans captured in syria. aid worker peter casic and journalist james foley and steven sotloff. under baghdadi's control isis spread its gruesome campaign of terror on social media, to a degree never seen before. barbaric beheadings, hostages burnt alive. but now a moment of justice after a u.s. military operation killed kayla's captor. the man who for many the world over was the face of evil, abu bakr al-baghdadi. on saturday president trump with vice president pence gathered in

the situation room with military brass, all watching a live step-by-step feed of the top secret mission. >> we had absolutely perfect, as though you were watching a movie. >> reporter: eight chinook helicopter took off from kurdish territory in iraq, flying low and taking on gunfire before landing in northern syria. just after 5:00 p.m., 100 u.s. delta force soldiers arrived at al-baghdadi's compound, where they blasted through a wall in case the front door was booby trapped. al-baghdadi fled into an underground tunnel with three of his children. a military canine and soldiers followed in hot pursuit. >> he died after running into a dead end tunnel. whimpering and crying and screaming all the way. he died like a dog. he died like a coward. >> reporter: but before the special operations team could get to him, al-baghdadi detonated a suicide vest. the three children killed alongside him. >> his body was mutilated by the blast. the tunnel had caved in on it in

addition. but test results gave totally positive identification. >> reporter: delta force operators were on the ground for roughly two hours in the firefight with baghdadi's men. at 7:15 p.m. after dna testing on site, the call came in to the situation room from those on the ground saying 100% confirmation, jackpot. over. >> we took highly sensitive material and information from the raid. much having to do with isis. origins, future plans, things that we very much want. >> reporter: today the president tweeting a photo of that heroic dog. >> i'm joined now in studio by defense secretary mark esper. great to have you here this morning. we have a lot to talk about. >> reporter: my colleague martha raddatz was reporting key details this weekend as the story broke. >> this had been weeks in the making. some time ago they had gotten a tip after the arrest of one of

baghdadi's wives and a courier about where baghdadi might be. >> reporter: then spoke to defense secretary mark esper about it sunday. >> the u.s. has been looking for him -- >> for years. >> for years. what was the break here? >> good, very good intelligence work. >> they began tracking it for weeks and weeks. of course in the middle of this we have u.s. troops withdrawing, which a senior official told me made them have to do it now as soon as possible before our troops got out of there. >> reporter: the world learned the name al-baghdadi in 2014, when he announced him as the leader of the islamic state, proclaiming his caliphate. >> when al-baghdadi was really known for was taking a terror group and actually gaining control of territory in iraq and syria and governing that territory, establishing what he called as a caliphate. >> reporter: isis has inspired or claimed responsibility for horrific acts of terrorism here in america and around the world. there was the bataclan concert

hall and nearby cafes in paris in 2015, where 130 innocent people were slaughtered. san bernardino, california. 14 people shot to death at an office holiday party in 2015. 86 people were killed celebrating bastille day in nice in 2016 after a truck plowed into them. and in one of the world's deadliest terror attacks since 9/11, eight bombs killed 253 people on easter sunday in sri lanka earlier this year. >> under baghdadi's leadership isis created a highly sophisticated, highly expansive online presence. they specifically targeted disaffected people across the west, and they sought to inspire these people to conduct attacks on behalf of the isis cause but independent of the organization itself. >> reporter: around the world and here at home the threat of isis is real and ongoing. this year isis suspects were the tarlt targets in 1,000 of the 5,000

active fbi terror investigations. >> it is very easy to get drawn into continued conflict if our objectives are not clear. >> reporter: meanwhile, officials saying u.s. forces will continue their counterterrorism mission in syria. >> baghdadi's death will not rid the world of terrorism or end the ongoing conflict in syria. but it will certainly send a message to those who would question america's resolve and provide a warning to terrorists who think they can hide. >> reporter: an effort that relies heavily on allies. this weekend's raid was launched from kurdish territory in iraq. but earlier this month president trump had pulled u.s. troops out of northern syria. >> as the u.s. reduces the number of military and intelligence resources in the region, counterterrorism officials have to be concerned that that will greatly diminish our ability to collect intelligence. >> reporter: the administration's decision drew criticism from republican and democratic lawmakers alike. who said america was abandoning its kurdish allies, one of the most reliable partners in the

war against isis. >> it's always a good day when a terrorist leader like al-baghdadi dies. but historic tells us a new leader will emerge. the group will reorganize itself. and the key question here, will the u.s. be in a position to address the next leader? >> reporter: families of americans killed by isis say they are thankful that al-baghdadi is gone. the parents of james foley speaking to abc affiliate wmur. >> we're grateful that our country has recognized the need to continue to find the leadership of isis. >> while the victory will not bring our beloved son steven back to us, the significant -- it is a significant step in the campaign against isis. >> reporter: the muellers also hope that they will learn more about their daughter kayla's fate. >> someone that they've captured in that group that was close to al-baghdadi knows what happened

to her. >> all along my only real goal was to bring kayla home. back to arizona, where she grew up and was born. she never gave up hope, though, from what we were told. she never gave up hope. on us getting her home. >> reporter: for "nightline" i'm pierre thomas in washington, d.c. >> our thanks to pierre. up next, the tearful thank you warming hearts across a football field and the internet. so nice to meet you june, jay, ji, kay, raj, and... ray! good job, brain! say hello to neuriva, a new brain supplement with clinically proven ingredients that fuel five indicators of brain performance. neuriva. corrupt president in our nation's history. when i called for his impeachment two years ago, washington insiders and every candidate for president said it was too soon.

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and finally tonight, the greatest play. 6-year-old jayden of richmond, indiana has a sweet surprise for his football coach. first a mug and then this handwritten note. >> dear coach richard, you have been the greatest coach of my life. >> greatest because of one important reason. >> you helped me love football again. thank you for being my favorite coach. love jayden. >> the coach saying "i held it together when jayden was reading

to me, but after i watched it i couldn't hold back my tears. this was something that i felt so lucky to have an opportunity to do." they were both very lucky. that's "nightline." you can always catch our full episodes on hulu. thanks for staying up with us. good night, america.

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