next, see you at 6:00, have a good one. on this saturday night, burning up. the battle against raging wildfires. hundreds of homes threatened, as millions try to find relief from scorching temperatures. travel chaos. long flight delays and cancellations after a computer glitch strands thousands. flying high. donald trump descends on iowa as only he can, while hillary clinton tries to get beyond her latest challenge. lost years. a record number of people set free after being wrongfully convicted. can you put a price tag on lost time? and a sweet spot like no other, getting the royal treatment at a dairy queen, where time stands still. "nightly news" begins now. >> announcer: this is "nbc nightly news." reporting tonight from

washington, peter alexander. good evening. it's already been an epic summer of fierce wildfires and punishing heat with temperatures again soaring into the triple digits out west. right now at least 17 fires are burning across drought-stricken california, that state already well ahead of last year's pace, and the most dangerous months there are still to come. the situation in california is so dire that the u.s. forest service pulled firefighters from all 50 states and puerto rico to help, a move that even veteran firefighter officials say they have never seen before. we begin with gadi schwartz on the front lines. >> reporter: scorching heat in the west means even more wildfires. in southern california, the heat wave stoking two separate fires near los angeles overnight, one threatening 500 homes, the other torching cabins and scattering wildlife. >> it's brutal. when you get the temperature involved and the steepness of some of the slopes, it makes for very

challenging physically. >> reporter: along the fire lines, more triple-digit temperatures as 13,000 firefighters now battle 17 wildfires. these crews are working in extreme heat right now. it is 103 degrees. they are carrying about 60 pounds of gear, and it's only expected to get hotter. around the states, temperatures are cooler but not by much. >> how hot is it? >> 100. >> reporter: the sun stifling everyone forced to work outdoors. >> it's pretty hot, yeah. we're trying to take breaks when we can. ♪ >> reporter: and as school starts up again, this marching band practicing how to stay cool. in arizona, a high school football team packed up and moved into a gym because of the heat. >> it does put us at a disadvantage, but still, you've got to go with a healthy group of kids, and that's number one. >> reporter: blistering temperatures baking not only california, but most of the southern united states. >> the peak of the heat is really this weekend. so, saturday and sunday, the main thing is to keep hydrated, drink plenty of water. >> reporter: the

temperatures sending thousands of families straight to the beach. >> it's worse than normal. yeah, suddenly, summer has started for us in southern california. >> reporter: while crowds look for relief from historic temperatures and record drought, it will be a long summer for firefighters gearing up not only here in california, but across the west, battling what already seems to be a never-ending fire season. now, the fire burning here in angeles national forrest is still at 0% containment. and peter, we are just getting reports out of washington state where four massive wildfires are forcing massive evacuations. we're told 1,500 homes may be threatened and 50 to 100 of those already may have been destroyed. peter? >> gadi schwartz, in southern california tonight. thank you. tens of thousands of travelers faced long delays or cancellations today caused by major problems at an air traffic control system in virginia. what started on the east coast quickly

spread well beyond. nbc's kristen dahlgren is at laguardia airport tonight. kristen, good evening. >> reporter: good evening to you, peter. the faa says the system is back in service. things slowly getting back to normal. i just checked the board inside here at laguardia. only three departure delays but more than a dozen still on arrival. and tonight, up and down the east coast, there are many passengers still stranded. at d.c. reagan national this afternoon, the only thing going up was frustration. >> it shouldn't be like this. >> reporter: planes weren't going anywhere. according to the faa, the glitch was in a tracking computer system based in leesburg, virginia. it's supposed to help route high-altitude traffic near the nation's capital. so, this is what the airspace looked like for several hours -- planes not allowed to fly in or out of the usually busy region. >> not a good day to fly. so, stay home, if you can. >> reporter: new york, d.c. and baltimore were especially hard hit, bwi reporting

three-hour delays. but the misery quickly spread to miami, chicago and beyond. more than 2,000 delays and hundreds of cancellations. the haskey family is traveling from new york to seattle. >> there's a lot of other things i could do on a saturday than sitting in laguardia all day. >> reporter: on social media, posts about flightpocalypse multipli multiplied. this woman asked delta for a free drink, while blake jones shared his thoughts on claustrophobia and screaming kids. >> i've been here for two hours stuck on the ground. so, hopefully, this gets resolved soon. so, fingers crossed. >> reporter: by midafternoon, the faa was able to reboot the system and begin resuming flights, but for many, it's already too late. >> i will not be able to make it to my family reunion. so i am deeply, deeply disappointed. >> reporter: now, the faa says it doesn't believe that the problem was caused by any accident or hacking, but its investigation into exactly what did cause

all of this, peter, is still ongoing. >> many of those people still trying to get home tonight. kristen, thank you very much. it's a rite of passage for anybody who wants to become president, the iowa state fair. and today several leading 2015 contenders tried to score big points there, but once again, donald trump may have stole the show, this time from his own ride. we have more tonight from nbc's katy tur. >> reporter: donald trump trumping the iowa state fair. >> give them hell, donald! >> reporter: landing with a flourish in a helicopter, leaving no doubt as to who it belonged to. leading the media on a slow-speed pursuit on a golf cart. >> we love you, donald trump! >> reporter: and mugging for selfies, all the while sporting a bright red "make america great again" hat, and ever the salesman, tweeting repeatedly this week -- "you can buy your own online." >> it was like meeting one of the beatles. >> when we heard trump was here, we thought, we've got to see this circus.

>> reporter: and after weeks of dodging specifics, the billionaire outlined his immigration plan for "meet the press." >> you'll rescind that one, too? you'll rescind the dream act executive order? >> we have to. we have to make a whole new set of standards. and when people come in, they have to come in -- >> you're going split up families. you're going to deport children. >> chuck, no, we're going to keep the families together, but they have to go. >> reporter: basking in the glow of his poll numbers, trump is being treated more like a rock star than a politician, both in iowa today and new hampshire last night. while candidates like chris christie and carly fiorina have done 60-plus stops in new hampshire, trump has done 16, shunning the intimate gatherings republicans there are used to. but despite outward appearances, signs that trump is building a conventional political machine, at least in iowa. ten campaign staffers and already some caucus leaders, not to mention a royal blue bus. again, no question whose it is.

monday trump takes the show to court, summoned for jury duty in new york. >> are you looking forward to it? >> yeah. i'm looking forward to it. i think it's fine. >> reporter: taking a break from the trail and serving the system, which he argues only he can fix. katy tur, nbc news, hampton, new hampshire. >> you can see more of chuck todd's exclusive interview with donald trump, including the last time trump says america was great, right here tomorrow morning on "meet the press." hillary clinton was trying to get her message across in iowa as well today as she feels the heat from bernie sanders and from lingering questions about her private e-mail accounts. nbc's kelly o'donnell is in iowa tonight. >> reporter: the flavor of the fair always delivers a wallop, from sugar rush to fried delights. >> i'm eating my vegetables. >> reporter: but today there was a different kind of sensory overload, all about the politics. for democratic challenger bernie sanders, a crowd for his speech that by its

very size defined his upstart success with voters. >> are you ready? >> reporter: while hillary clinton did not address the crowd but made her rounds slowly. locked in a crawling swarm of humanity. seen from any angle, a crush of cameras and iowa voters. >> how are you, bill? >> reporter: some friendly, some not. >> are you worried about going to prison? >> reporter: clinton had other business to do here. >> i'm going let whatever this inquiry is go forward. >> reporter: on the examination of her private e-mail server and whether classified material was improperly handled, clinton insisted she did nothing wrong but also acknowledged today that information not marked as secret may have been on her server. >> i am repeating the facts, and the facts are, i did not send, nor did i receive material marked classified. >> reporter: some voters here are skeptical. what do you need to

see from hillary clinton? >> just mainly concerned about those e-mails. if anythieverything is on the up and up, then yeah, i'd probably be likely to vote for her. >> thank you, thank you. >> i think she knew better and she shouldn't have done it. >> reporter: adding to the spectacle, clinton brushed off a flyover by donald trump's glitzy helicopter. while sanders says his momentum is real. >> is your campaign a summertime insurgence, or can you transition to being a real threat in this race? >> they will have the money, but i think we have the people, and i think people will defeat big money. >> reporter: hillary clinton also told us she believes that republicans in congress and in the gop race have made questions about her private e-mail server a partisan issue, and she won't get involved in that. today she also would not take a couple of questions about what she thinks about the possibility of joe biden getting in the democratic race. peter? >> kelly o'donnell on the ground in iowa

with the funnel cakes and the candidates tonight. kelly, thanks very much. a memorial in chattanooga, tennessee, today for the five servicemen killed last month by a gunman who attacked a recruiting center there. john biden was those paying respects. the shooter was shot and killed by police and has raised new concerns about security at recruiting centers and other military sites. in china, the toll from this week's devastating explosions in the port city of tianjin became much higher today. authorities now say the blast killed more than 100 people, among them 21 firefighters. hundreds more were injured as those toxic explosions ripped through the area. nbc's ian williams has our report from china tonight. >> reporter: in the smoldering wasteland that was once a thriving industrial zone, more small explosions saturday, several cars bursting into flames. as a sign of the fear and confusion in the area, residents told us they had been ordered to leave. "the government told

us to move. it's not safe here," said this man. but later, another city official denied this had been ordered. state-run media reports say highly toxic sodium cyanide has been found near the site. but three days after the blast, officials say they're still unsure precisely what other chemicals were stored there. the massive explosions late wednesday were captured by cell phone cameras. this the terrifying spectacle from the roof of a nearby apartment building. >> let's go down! >> reporter: decimating a vast area around tianjin's port. yet, incredibly, they found another survivor today. he was pulled from inside a charred shipping container just 160 feet from the blast's epicenter. there are reports that the blasts might have been triggered when firefighters attending an earlier fire used water on volatile chemicals. 21 firefighters are among the more than 100 people now confirmed dead. hundreds are injured and an unknown number still missing.

frustration boiled over saturday. distraught families of missing firefighters disrupted a government press conference, demanding information on their loved ones. "it's been three days and three nights and still no information on my son," said wang leang. she said her son had been one of the first to reach the blast site. with the credibility of the authorities increasingly under question, the government has ordered a nationwide check on hazardous sites. but still no answers as to why a warehouse full of dangerous chemicals was allowed so close to residential areas, apparently breaking china's own laws. peter? >> all right, ian williams. thank you very much. and when "nightly news" continues on this saturday, putting a price on years lost for those who were wrongly convicted.

they paid a huge price for crimes they did not commit. so far this year, 75 wrongly convicted inmates have been released from prison, a record pace as part of a growing trend across this country. but can any amount of money make up for years behind bars? for almost 20 years, he was inmate number 501130. sabine burgess was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his girlfriend, michelle dyson, in his baltimore home. >> i love michelle. i didn't kill her. >> reporter: burgess insisted he came home one night and found michelle dying of gunshot wounds to the head. >> reporter: when they charged you with murder, what do you think? >> i couldn't believe it. i thought a mistake.

>> reporter: the tests showed that you fired a gun. >> that's what they said. >> reporter: did you fire a gun? >> no, sir, i didn't fire no gun. >> reporter: you told them you were innocent. >> told them i was innocent from the beginning. >> reporter: it turns out burgess was innocent and a judge released him from prison last year, but instead of relying on a state program to compensate him, burgess is suing the baltimore police department, alleging a pattern of pursuing wrongful convictions. he claims the crime lab fabricated gunshot residue tests to make it look like he fired a gun. the detectives withheld a witness statement that would have cleared him, and finally, that another man confessed, writing "i was the one that killed his girlfriend." a jury award would likely pay burgess much more, and his attorney says it would hold police accountable. >> you can imagine that the damage is enormous. he's essentially walked out of a time machine and fast-forwarded two decades, and he has to piece together a life for himself. >> reporter: his exoneration was 1 of a record 125 nationwide last year, but only 30 states and washington, d.c., guarantee compensation, and the payouts vary widely.

for instance, texas pays $80,000 for every year behind bars, but wisconsin pays $5,000 a year with a cap of just $25,000. the innocence project's rebecca brown says some states claim they don't have the budgets to pay exonerees. >> i feel it's the moral responsibility of a state to provide compensation for the wrongfully convicted. after all, these people have lost everything. >> reporter: today, sabine burgess scratches out a living rehabbing row houses. more money would bring back peace of mind, but it wouldn't bring back the years lost with his daughter. >> there's no dollar amount could pay for the 20 years i missed out on my daughter's life, you know, everything that she went through, the ups and downs of growing up without a father. >> reporter: and he faces a tough, new court battle for compensation. while not commenting on the lawsuit, baltimore police have moved to dismiss his case. >> and one more startling fact -- those proven innocent by dna alone had spent on average more than 13 years behind bars. we're back in a moment with a

milestone in rock and roll history half a century ago.

50 years ago tonight, this was the scene as the beatles took the stage at new york's shea stadium. they had been introduced to america just 18 months earlier and played to more than 55,000 fans on that humid august night. at the time, it was the largest crowd in music history, and we're told at times it was almost impossible to hear the music over all those screaming fans. and another kind of classic has

withstood the test of time, the sweet delights served at dairy queen. some of those famed treats are, of course, no longer on the menu at your local dq, but you can still find plenty of the old favorites at one spot. we left it to nbc's harry smith to find out. >> reporter: we hold this truth to be self-evident -- man, do we love ice cream. a drippy cone on a summer's day, that is the pursuit of happiness. >> thing of beauty, i think. >> yeah, it is. >> reporter: at the dairy queen in moorhead, minnesota, they've made a declaration of independence. they still serve the stuff the corporation put an end to. like the dearly departed raspberry soda or the oh, so awesome banana supreme. troy de leon and his wife, diane, bought the business 20 years ago from the people who started up here in 1949. their old contract allows them to flout authority. do you get any blowback from corporate headquarters? >> um, we haven't yet, no.

>> reporter: troy says, if they did come by, they might learn a thing or two. >> they'd see how to run a business. >> reporter: from march to october, there's almost always a line. the portions tend to be larger and the prices cheaper than the corporate stores. regulars say the ice cream is better, too. >> this is good stuff. >> reporter: and august may be the best because ice cream with peaches, peeled by hand when the good ones come in from colorado. when you taste that, what do you taste? >> tradition. >> reporter: here they double down on minnesota nice, and the customers come back again and again. >> people can be the grouchiest people in the world, but when they come up here and they walk away and they've got that cone and they lick that curl off the top, i mean, that's -- you did your job. >> reporter: here's to the rebel dq that is gleefully out of compliance. harry smith, nbc news, moorhead, minnesota.

>> bet you're ready for dessert. up next, lester holt on the man behind some iconic images of another president long demonized by the united states.

finally tonight, one day after the american flag was raised outside the u.s. embassy in cuba for the first time in 54 years, we're reminded of the man who ruled cuba most of that time, fidel castro. some of the most

memorable images came from an american-born photographer. lester holt has his story. >> ever see castro without a beard? there you go. >> reporter: roberto salas's collection of work has been nothing short of revolutionary. >> i started in photography i don't remember when. you might say a little bit after the day i was born. >> reporter: born in new york, salas started working with his dad, a photographer with cuban roots. >> one day in 1955, i'm 15 years old at that time, he receives a request to do a picture story on this small group of political activists. the guy in charge of that group was castro. >> reporter: that first meeting with fidel castro launched salas on a historic path. >> this is castro in new york in 1959. >> reporter: over the next 50 years, salas's point of view would create epic images, like this one. >> this image for me is the one i like the best. and i like it because it was taken under very difficult conditions, taken by

match light. >> reporter: salas sent a small group of photographers were given what he calls privileged access to fidel castro and his inner circle, chronicling the cuban revolution. >> they played baseball. >> reporter: salas also captured castro in rare -- >> that was taken at 2:30 in the morning. >> reporter: -- more intimate settings. >> here's one that fidel says is a paparazzi shot. he was a magnet for cameras and photographers, for everything. where do you see a leader of a state without a shirt like that? >> reporter: one of salas's most iconic images was in 1961 on the day the u.s. severed ties with cuba and closed the embassy in havana. >> this guy was selling newspapers around there, but he was bugging the people, you know? so, i bring him over, i pulled him over, i said let's take a picture of you with the newspaper. >> reporter: the last time salas photographed castro was in 2005. for half a century, one man, a camera, and an eye for framing history.

lester holt, nbc news, havana. that's "nbc nightly news" for this saturday. i'm peter alexander reporting from washington. for all of us at nbc news, thank you for watching. goodnight. nbc bay area news starts now. right now at 6:00, you can see it, oh boy, and you can smell it. smoke filling up bay area skies and the heat baking many people in the bay area, what's behind today's weird weather? good evening everyone, peggy bunker is live at the humane

society in silicon valley, she's going to join us later with our clear the shelter campaign. right now let's step outside and a live look at san francisco, believe me, you can't tell by looking at this shot, but this is san francisco's camera, very, very hazy. smokey out there. winds are blowing smoke south from fires a long way up north, and that is everywhere. all the way down to the south bay. sight and smell are so strong, some people are thinking that it's a nearby fire, they're calling 911. tonight we have team coverage, meteorologist anthony slaughter standing by to explain where all the haze is coming from, and you may be surprised where it's coming from, i was. but first, nbc bay area chuck live in san jose, not the best day for sightseeing. >> reporter: not at all, kerry, the haze and smoke has only gotten worse. behind me, you ought to be able to see the santa cruz mountains, they've all but disappeared. meanwhile firefighters on the peninsula and other firefighters in nearby