earth. that would make it suitable for liquid water, a critical condition for life. >> she had her calculator out. >> i couldn't calculate light years fast enough. >> lester holt is joining us. thanks. tonight, blazing fast. dramatic escapes as wildfires explode across the west. >> fast, dad, go. >> families flee for their lives with no time to spare. homegrown terror, startling new warning from the fbi director as armed americans stand guard to protect our troops. trump threat as he visits the border. a new possibility emerges. would he run as a third-party candidate? why it's a nightmare scenario for the republican party. the rising cost of cancer, for many patients getting treatment means spiraling into bankruptcy. tonight the nation's top cancer doctors say enough is enough. they are urging patients to fight back. and earth's cousin, nasa makes an amazing discovery.

is there life out there? "nightly news" begins right now. >> announcer: this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt reporting tonight from washington. good evening. all the warnings and fears of a hot dry summer are coming to pass in the drought stricken west where dangerous wildfires are ranging in no fewer than three states from northern california where residents are fleeing threatened neighborhoods east of the napa valley to montana. where fire has flushed vacationers from picturesque glacier national park. with still months to go, the western fire season has already far outpaced last year's. leaving a lot of americans on edge. nbc's hallie jackson is covering it for us tonight from winters, california. >> reporter: in california wine country, nine square miles torched, flames and smoke so thick they blocked out the sun. >> we've got carriers

involved at this time. the wind shifted. >> reporter: what started as a brush fire exploded fast, wind whipping it across steep rugged hills destroying a trailer and barn. >> it's fire season. you never know what will happen. >> reporter: 200 homes under threat. two neighborhoods evacuated >> it came right up to my dog run. >> reporter: including melinda's, the fire burning within a few feet of her front door. >> it's just burned into my memory. i'll never forget it, the smoke, the flames, all the fire trucks, running back and forth was very, very scary. >> reporter: more than 1300 firefighters attacking this from the ground and the air in an area where a record-breaking drought turned brush and trees into tinder. >> if the drought wasn't so bad, would you see this fire moving so quickly? >> probably not. >> reporter: so far the west has seen almost 1200 more wildfires this year than last, including one burning now at glacier national park in montana. >> fast, dad, go! >> i don't want to die in flames. >> reporter: dakota duncan and his family had to run

from the fire. >> i had my iphone hanging out the window, and the flames was so hot, i could feel the heat off my arm. >> reporter: most of that fire is still not under control, and neither is one near washington state, now threatening a town's water supply. near napa, crews are getting ready, bracing for the worst. and the landscape here, lester, proving when it's hot and dry, a single spark can destroy so much, especially this time of day, late afternoon, early evening when the winds start to pick up. you can see the smoke coming over the ridge here. investigators are trying to pinpoint what started this fire which is still only 15% contained. lester? >> hallie jackson in winters, california to start us off, thanks. ever since the 9/11 attacks, it has been another attack by al qaeda we have been conditioned to fear most. but now the head of the fbi reminded us how much times and circumstances have changed, saying that isis now poses a bigger terrorist threat in this country than al qaeda.

the face of isis increasingly younger and its sights firmly set on staging attacks on the american homefront. we get more on this from kristen welker. >> reporter: this video is the latest in a series of dozens distributed by isis online, some featuring children as the group steps up its campaign to target teenagers and young adults. it comes on the heels of a stark admission by fbi director james comey on wednesday. isis now poses a larger threat to the u.s. than al qaeda. >> isil is not your parents' al qaeda. it's a very different model and by virtue of that model, it's the threat that we're worrying about in the homeland most of all. >> reporter: comey's words underscore a growing concern that isis wants followers to carry out attacks in the u.s. the fbi arrested 56 people in the past year and a half for isis-inspired plots. 40% of those arrested are 21 or younger. today homeland

security secretary jae johnson acknowledged a weakness, the u.s. is lagging to counter isis on social media. >> i believe that message is being developed, but it needs a broader platform. >> reporter: unlike al qaeda which is secretive and hard to contact online, isis wannabes can send direct messages to the group which monitors computers 24 hours a day. >> isil is buzzing on your hip. that message is being pushed all day long. if you want to talk to a terrorist, they are right there on twitter direct messaging. >> reporter: counterterrorism experts says the u.s. needs to do a better job discouraging young people from buying the radical message. >> there is no doubt that countering extremist messages, whether al qaeda or isis has been for the past 14 years the weakest link in the u.s. government's counterterrorism arsenal. >> reporter: law enforcement officials say they've arrested nearly a dozen radicalized americans over the past several weeks including some of those who were planning attacks during the july 4th holiday. lester?

>> quite a reality check. kristen welker, thank you. one week since that shooting rampage in tennessee took the lives of five servicemen, we're witnessing a remarkable response. americans answering a call to duty. some honoring the victims of the terrorist rampage by joining the armed services while others take up arms across the country to protect those who protect us. nbc news national correspondent miguel almaguer has the latest from chattanooga. >> reporter: carrying semiautomatic rifles armed with handguns wearing bulletproof vests, this is what they call "operation protect the troops." >> we could stand out here and just be a deterrent. >> reporter: it's happening outside strip malls across the country from washington state to utah, colorado to virginia. civilians taking up arms, wanting to protect military recruiters. >> i don't think i'm a gi joe. i don't think i'm a vigilante. i'm just an american that's wanting to protect the people that protect me. >> reporter: the navy

and marines say they appreciate the show of force, but tonight are asking these growing numbers to stand down. it's been a week since bullets shattered lives and windows in chattanooga, the right time for jonathan brown to enlist in the army. >> this is way too close to home. >> reporter: brown says he knew the gunman, and now he knows he wants to serve. >> once i saw the news, it was 100% i'm ready to go as quick as possible. >> reporter: recruiters say one week after the shooting, the numbers are up. today danny cross signing his paperwork for the army. tomorrow brother ben, a family man will also enlist. hear they honor the fallen in more ways than one. today the body of marine corps skip wells arrived home in georgia. for public one last salute. for his family, one final good-bye. in chattanooga, five bells for the victims, a moment of silence and the resolve to go on.

tomorrow just outside of chattanooga, they will pause again, the first of those five funerals will take place not far from here, marine sergeant david white will be buried with full military honors. lester? >> miguel almaguer as we see the crowd still leaving their tributes, thank you. in south texas, preliminary autopsy results were released today about sandra bland, the woman who died in jail last week after being arrested during a traffic stop. some had questioned whether foul play was involved but the district attorney said the cause was suicide by hanging and that there was no evidence of a violent struggle. he also said toxicology tests found marijuana in bland's system but that more tests were needed to determine when she ingested it. to politics now, no one could ever accuse donald trump of not knowing how to orchestrate political theater. today it was a visit to the u.s. mexico border to highlight illegal immigration and border security issues that have propelled him to the top of the polls.

but it isn't what trump did today that has republicans worried, it's what he said, opening up the possibility of running as a third-party candidate, which could be very bad news for the gop. nbc's katy tur has details from laredo, texas. >> reporter: making good on his tough talk, donald trump took his campaign to the border today. >> the wall will save you a tremendous amount of money. >> reporter: people in laredo, texas, didn't embrace him as he had hoped, stepping off his plane to protest and into controversy as the border patrolmen's union which initially invited him dropped out early this morning morning saying an endorsement was never discussed for any presidential candidate. >> they are petrified and afraid of saying what is happening and they are the ones that invited me. >> reporter: trump came anyway, instead getting a tour from the mayor. for those who live here, immigration isn't so cut and dry. do you think the people that cross over are criminals or -- >> some are. some aren't.

but you can't paint them all with the same brush. >> my grandfather is a mexican, and my grandfather worked hard to put his children through school and put food on our table. >> reporter: trump's visit a chance to once again control the message, moving the focus away from john mccain and back to his rallying cry on illegal immigration and with the possible and potent threat he could mount an independent run if he feels he's being unfairly treated by his fellow republicans. >> i want to run as a republican. i think i'll get the nomination. we'll see soon enough but i think i'll get the nomination. >> if he thinks he's not treated well and threatening to tromp off and be a third-party candidate that will guarantee hillary clinton's election, it says an awful lot about this man. >> reporter: the polls on his side and press following his every move, trump continues to campaign his way, all leading up to the first republican debate exactly two weeks from now. as for that border wall that trump wants to build, the

border stands four states about 2,000 mails long, and experts say a wall would be billions of dollars, trump has said that he's going to have mexico pay for that wall. still no word today on how he would do that. lester? >> thanks. >> our political director, the moderator of "meet the press," chuck todd is here with us. let's game this up, trump runs as an independent, how could that affect the race? >> it depends on what kind of support he has. there is two recent examples to go through. number one he has to get on the ballot. this is where he's most alike he's probably the most famous third-party candidate of our generation, ross perot. being a billionaire, he could finance getting on the ballot. that's the hardest thing to do. he gets on the ballot and starts campaigning as hard as he is now, you could argue he can end up pulling votes from both sides in some ways. he is appealing to this sort of populism that could appeal to even some on the left, depending on what kind of candidates who run. and the true 50 state election. the most likely is he ends up

like ralph nader if you think about the ralph nader candidacy in 2000 that really just took votes away from al gore and flipped a few states. back then new hampshire and florida and handed the election to george w. bush. in this case, donald trump getting 3 or 4% could flip an arizona from red to blue, could flip a texas from red to blue. bottom line like the analysts said, it would change this map to a sea of blue for hillary clinton. >> we're not the only ones gaming this tonight, i suspect p >>. >> no, we're not. >> a lot of people doing the math. an amazing discovery by nasa to tell you about. the space agency found what it's calling earth's cousin, the most similar planet to our own they found and as peter alexander reports, it's generating a lot of excitement about the possibility of life far, far away. >> reporter: home sweet home, earth, this new image from a million miles away, but houston, we may have company. most earth-like planet ever found, its official

name keppler 452-b. >> makes me feel like there is a solar system like ours. there is another earth out there. >> space, the final frontier. >> reporter: it's a search that's long captured our imagination. >> mr. data, the federation has charted but not explored several class "m" planets in that area. >> reporter: nasa may have found the real deal nicknamed earth 2.0. that's us on the left, the bigger, older cousin on the right but not exactly next door. 1400 light years away spotted by the powerful keppler telescope. like earth, the new planet orbits a sunlike star. it's a goldilocks planet, not too cold, not too hot to hold water needed to sustain life. nobody knows if life is actually there or what the kepler planet looks like. but one artist has already taken a stab. and the timing's good. just this week stephen hawking himself announced a $100 million hunt for alien life. >> it seems quite likely life is

out there. >> reporter: and last week nasa mesmerized us with this unprecedented picture of pluto, the best yet. with more than 1,000 confirmed planets, at least one that might look like home. peter alexander, nbc news, washington. >> it does stump the imagination imagination. still ahead tonight, the skyrocketing cost of cancer treatment driving so many patients to the brink of bankruptcy. tonight the nation's top cancer doctors say it's unfair, and they're urging americans to take action. also, a big reboot of sorts today for an american classic. we've got it here for you coming up.

anyone whose ever had cancer or seen a loved one or friend go through the fight knows first you get hit by the diagnosis, then hit by the huge bills for the treatment. the cost of cancer drugs has soared in recent years pushing so many patients to the brink of bankruptcy. tonight, more than 100 of this country's top cancer experts are fighting back. nbc's ann torch nbc's anne thompson has our report. >> reporter: this is the future steward and ken dream of, walking his daughter kathrine down the aisle. >> let's go! >> reporter: but this is his present. the seventh year of stage four cancer. >> end of the line. we've gone past circling the drain to clinging to the wreckage. >> reporter: the cost of keeping stuart alive has taken almost everything. >> bills, bills.

i'm depressed. i worry all the time about money. >> reporter: with their insurance maxed out, a foundation picks up the co-pay for stuart's chemo and increasingly stuart feels pressure to choose between their home and stopping treatment. >> we've had the conversation, my wife and i, should i do that? because our choices are lose the house or lose my life. there's no third choice. >> reporter: their dilemma and those of cancer patients nationwide is why today 118 leading cancer specialist say drug companies must lower prices that can top $100,000 a year. >> the card holder saw the drug companies, they put in a price based on what the market can bear. >> reporter: in response, doctors want patients to ban together signing an online petition at change.org to speed up access to generic drugs and let patients import less expensive drugs from other countries.

john heads the drug industry trade group pharma. how much responsibility do drug companies bear for the price of cancer drugs? >> you look at the long period of time, the difficult science, the high cost of developing them, we have to do it in a way that keeps investors willing to give us the money to do that research and development. >> reporter: the chapens are invested in each other, not wanting to choose between their money and their father's life. anne thompson, nbc news, new york. up next here tonight, a 911 call with silence on the other end of the phone leads police to a shocking murder mystery in the heartland.

a night of horror in oklahoma after five members of one family were killed in a suburb of tulsa. two teenage suspects are in custody and police say they are related to the victims. the question is why did this happen? we get more tonight from

nbc's stephanie gosk. >> reporter: a sergeant for the broken arrow police department claims the scene traumatic. officers responded to a silent 911 call placed from the home and discover add shocking mass murder. five members of the same family stabbed to death. among them 52-year-old david bever. >> someone murders their family members, you know, and as young as 5, i don't -- i don't see how there could be any type of a mental process to that. >> reporter: a 13-year-old was critically wounded, a toddler left unharmed. authorities say two teenagers in the family, 18-year-old robert bever and a 16-year-old fled out the back door and were tracked down by police dogs in nearby woods. both were arrested. >> i can't understand it. >> reporter: broken arrow is a well-to-do suburb of tulsa with a population of 100,000. this street runs alongside a local country club. crime here is rare.

murder almost unheard of. >> something like this of this caliber is unprecedented for broken arrow. >> reporter: if accused of murder, both teenagers could be charged as adults. 18-year-old robert bever could face the death penalty. for now, the horrific crime left this suburb in the nation's heartland reeling. >> it's green for new growth and the purple is for hope. >> reporter: stephanie gosk, nbc news. when we come back, for the first time in almost a century, a makeover for an american classic.

next at 6: a suspect is in custody -- but the investigation is far from over. ===take vo=== why police think this cacould be linked to the shooting dea of a hayward sergeant. ===jessica/take vo=== plus: the challenges facing crews battling this wildfire, near lake berryessa. ===next close=== the news is next. finally tonight, 98 years ago a certain star was born. the converse all-star sneaker. it would be come to known as chuck taylor after the basketball player salesman and the shoe's biggest promoter. these days cons are more fashion statement than serious athletic shoe. and while the originals are not going away a new version was unveiled today. here's nbc's harry smith. >> reporter: back in the day, if you played basketball, the only shoe to wear was converse chuck taylor all-stars. >> show me what you got. >> reporter: converse would change with the times, though.

>> the magic shoe. choose your weapon. >> reporter: with competition from nike and other brands, no real or pretend athlete would wear the old star's, not on a court, anyway. still, converse kept cranking them out in a rainbow of colors. indestructible and eventually hip. >> everybody loves converse shoes. >> i like the ones that go up there. i think they are super adorable. >> reporter: a billion pairs of chuck taylor all-stars have been sold over the years. >> the chuck taylor all-star 2 will move our brand forward to creativity and innovation. >> reporter: but today, converse now owned by nike unveiled the new all-star shoe a sleeker sneaker, more foot friendly and $20 more a pop pop. >> ushering in not just a new sneaker but a new way to unleash the creative spirit for consumers around the world. >> reporter: a reboot so to

speak of comfort and style, but for some of us, the old shoe was like wearing a '57 chevy on your foot. even if you could change it, why would you? harry smith, nbc news, new york. >> that will do it for us on this thursday night. i'm lester holt, for all of us at nbc news, thank you for watching and good night. resident in: 23:03 i looked up there and suddenly fire right over the ridge ... runs ==jess/vo== forced out of i looked up there and just fire right over the ridge. >> forced out of their homes because of a wildfire. people watch and wait as firefighters rush to save their homes. what they now need to gain the upper hand. good evening and thanks for joining us. i'm jessica aguirre. >> and i'm raj mathai. day two of this stubborn fire. not just napa county but solano and yolo counties also in the fire line. it's devouring brush and trees, but so far homes have been spared. now, it's a rural and rugged area making this difficult to

access. the steep hills south and east of lake berryessa. the communities of golden bear states and quail ridge have been evacuated. nbc bay area meteorologist rob mayeda is with us and tracking the wind but let's begin with mark matthews who's been on the fire lines throughout the day. mark. >> reporter: raj, the worst of it was last night for the people who live out here. the fire burned right up to the front door of some homes. now, they lost a barn and a tent trailer burned but all of the houses have been saved, and the 300 people who were evacuated from those two communities you mentioned are now waiting to get word to go back home. this is the barn that burned last night, caught on camera by neighbor christa hessner. >> i looked up there and fire just right over the ridge. >> reporter: the fire burned very close to houses here in the quail ridge community. residents still not allowed back in. livestock, like these pigs have water but there's no food. the 300 people who had to get out yesterday afternoon left in