up next on a second look, a tv news career that has spanned nearly three decades in the bay area. and includes covering sop of the biggest stories here -- some of the biggest stories here and some of the most compelling stories in the year. we say goodbye to reporter craig heath next on a second look. good evening i'm gasia mikaelian. welcome second look. this coming friday, craig is retiring. over the years he's covered some of the biggest local stories in the bay area

including the loma prieta fire as well as international stories. he told us about a fire in shata county and the sudden flair up that had him wondering if he would make it out alive. >> i'm craig heaps. the year was 1992. the place shasta. reporter cruz and i were covering the story. this fire is moving erratically. it's moving with winds that cannot be predicted. it is in fact, one of the scariest things i've ever seen. one of the scariest things i've

ever seen was no exaggeration. here is part of the story the viewers at home didn't get that night. ben and i had stopped along a two lane mountain road right at the edge of the flames. suddenly the wind stopped blowing against our backs and started blowing into our faces. the trees behind us that had not been burning, exploded into orange flames. both sides of the road for as far as we could see were on fire. we jumped in the car not sure if we would win the race with the fire around us. finally we made it clear of the burning forest and made it to a cross roads. but as we looked back at the road the road disappeared into something akin to dante's inferno. as scary as our situation was to the viewers at home it looked like just another live report. >> the problem is that the fire is creating its own weather.

its own atmosphere. creating its own wind. >> reporter: the fire continued to burn burning everything in its path. i'm craig heaps for a second look. >> reporter: the other thing people did not know about craig is that he's legally blind. last july after years of using a white cane, craig received his first guide dog, chase. a purebred black labrador receiver came from guide dogs for the blind. along with his classmate, craig officially received his guide dog in an emotional graduation ceremony at the end of his training. >> i realized we were here on july 4th, is there a more fitting day for us to be here

than independence day. because, that's what these dogs are all about. they're about independence. chase has become a fixture in the ktvu newsroom. guiding craig to and from work and happy greeting all the colleagues that come to see craig on daily basis. they thought they had it out. but the next day, sunday october 20th, easterly winds would whip up the embers of that fire into an inferno that would destroy thousands of homes. on monday, craig heaps looks at the destruction it left blind. >> reporter: when the sun came out, the devastation was unbelievable. block after block of homes burned to the ground. chimneys stand as mute sentiments over the ashes. a fire hydrant silently blocks

the house that left behind it. nobody has had time to count the homes that were destroyed. >> we do not have a firm count. >> it's not just houses it's literally communities in some cases. >> reporter: among those who died in the fire, a police officer and a fire department battalion chief only weeks away from retirement. the weather cooled substantially monday and winds were light. that helped firefighters get a line around the blaze and contain immaterial but not control it -- contain it but not control it. it also gave them a chance to catch their breath. there's thousands throughout the state. investigators say the flames exploded sunday when high winds whipped up the retains of a small fire that firefighters thought they had put out sunday. >> we had engine companies that

were rotating around. yes, there were none that were put in place. >> reporter: as the fire flaired in some areas sunday more people were forced to evacuate. thousands had now been chased from their homes, many returned to their neighborhoods to find their dreams intact. >> a white cap. >> reporter: or their nightmare realized. >> all gone. >> reporter: it's a scene of stunning contrast. on one side of the street every house destroyed. but over here on the other side of the street, some houses were burned and some weren't. and down the hill those houses not one of them was touched by the fire. governor pete wilson has declared oakland a state disaster area. the president has been asked to declare a federal agency. some things returned to normal monday. a section of freeway reopened. jammed with traffic. and commuter trains began running through the fire area

on the tracks of the bay area rapid transit district but for some one terrible day means life will not be normal again for a long time. >> still to come on a second look, bringing world news to bay area viewers. craig talks to uganda's children of war and the people dedicated to helping them. >> and a bit later have you ever had a cuban cigar. craig took us inside a factory in havana where so many of them are made.

[♪]

welcome back to a second look. tonight we say goodbye to craig heaps who's retiring after two decade here. craig brought us the story of the uganda children. >> reporter: these are the faces of uganda children of

war taken from their villages at gunpoint by anti government rebels, snatched from the safety of their parent's arms. most of the boys become soldiers the rebels who call them the lord's resistance army kidnapped this boy when he was seven. now at 12 he can disassemble an ak47 like a grown man. >> i don't know whether to kill people or not. >> reporter: the girls particularly the teenagers are raped and given as sex slaves to commanders. she cannot forget the man who kept her as a wife for the past two years. >> i hate that man. if i could see him, it would be

killed and i would ask him. if i could kill him, i would kill him. >> reporter: rebels have abducted 10,000 children out of villages like this one. they are then taken into the bush where the rebels steal their childhood and innocence from them. their stories have been confirmed by the united nations and an alliance of human rights organizations. in the chaos of a shooting war many have escapedded. they treat them until they can hand them over to nongovernment organizations or world vision. world vision has set up a organization. 5,500 children have arrived wounded, depressed and highly brutalized. they force the children to walk

thousands of miles without shoes. those who cannot keep up are often killed sometimes by other children. >> i was within other children who were abducted. >> if you didn't do that what would happen? >> i would have been killed. >> if they told you to do something, they would kill you. >> these children are forced to kill their peer. yeah they have to kill their village children. some of them have to drink the blood, human blood. at times a child will be forced to drink the urine. >> so many children have gunshot wound infected and dirty. >> reporter: this nurse's handwritten medical log line the wall. the psychological healing may be even tougher. >> a boy will see a mother and

father being murdered. or you are forced to kill your own brother, you're forced to kill your own sister. you can imagine what comes out of the children. >> reporter: in group counseling sessions, the children sing a song that says, i suffered so much in the war it was only god who delivered me. the leader talks of forgiveness. laqueur works with these children. her own 17-year-old daughter was abducted four years ago, florence has not seen her since. >> when i sleep sometimes i dream of talking to her but i forgive them. i even forgive the rebel leader. i think by forgiving, release the pain that is within me. >> reporter: there are so many world vision can keep each

child only 45 days. some find family waiting to greet them when they come home. an uncle and grandmother waited for 12-year-old yeffes who they had not seen since his abduction three months ago.. but for others the future looks dim. they've missed years of school. their parents have been killed. their bodies have been maimed. some girls have given birth. >> when they tell you how they got that pregnant, some of them don't even know the father of the baby. and some of them don't even want to touch their children. >> reporter: some of these children have sexually transmitted diseases, even aids. in uganda, craig heaps for segment two. when we come back on a second look, a rare look inside

cuba's most famous cigar company. see how workers learn how to make cigars like these. follow second look on facebook and twitter.

really... so our business can be on at&t's network for $175 dollars a month? yup. all five of you for $175. our clients need a lot of attention. there's unlimited talk and text. we're working deals all day. you get 10 gigabytes of data to share. what about expansion potential? add a line anytime for 15 bucks a month. low dues& great terms& let's close. our best ever value plans for business just got even better. now with free broadband for a whole year.

17 year ago it was highly unusual that a local television news operation in the united states could gain admission to cuba. but after months of work, craig heap was able to get visas for himself, a photographer and producer to gain access to cuba. he gave us an inside look at the most famous cigar factory. we bring you that report one more time. >> reporter: to a cigar lover there's nothing better than puffing on a good stogey. and no cigar carrying the romance and reputation of a cuban cigar. no place has produced cougar

cigars longer than the cigar factory on barcelona street in old havana. one presumes this is not the original building but it takes you back in time when everything was done by hand. >> no, there are no machines. production here is completely by hand. why? because the assumption that a product like this is the highest quality. it has more value that way. >> >> reporter: between 300 and 400 cigar rollers work here every day. making a little more than 200 cuban pesos a month. the equivalent of $10. they sit for 10 hours, pulling

tobacco leaves apart and wrapping them tight. the rolled cigars are then squeezed in a hand cranked press. a good roller can turn out more than 100 cigars a day. once rollers reach a certain quota usually around 100 they get extra pay for every cigar after that. but quality counts just as much as quantity. every step of the way inspectors make sure the cigars are up to top cuban standards. >> their weighing them. they do them in bundles of 50. they measure it by length and with. if they find a defect in the cigar they call the worker in and he doesn't get paid for that bundle they only get paid half. >> reporter: as they work a painting of francisco perez herman watches over them. he's a cigar roller who died fighting in cuba's revolution. there are daily lessons in

political or social indoctrination. today's lesson is on sexually transmitted diseases and impotence. to be a cigar roller is a proud profession. they bring in much needed hard currency for the cuban economy. every cigar made at this factory is bound for export. some of them will even end up in the united states. even though they are still illegal. at the factory store a box of 25 monte cristos goes for $125. that same box smuggled into the united states would sell here in the bay area for $500 or more. that's $20 a cigar. this $285 box of cohiba's might go for more than $1,000. forty dollars a cigar. that's one reason the u.s. customs service is confiscating

more and more cuban cigars all over the country. and why cigars in the unite have adopted cuban names. the cubans defiantly say that you cannot imitate their products. >> they try to imitate us but it's too difficult. they can dress it up but once you smoke it you can't fool somebody who knows his cigars. >> and with all of these cuban cigars going out of the country what do the cubans themselves smoke? the ones made by the apprentices two floors below. working in the escuelita the little school for 85 85 pesos a month. some day that will finish the training program and move upstairs where they will send cigars to the world. craig heaps for segment two. when we come back on a second look.

a cat with a job. hear the tale of diablo's stamp licking cat. [doorbell rings] hey. hey. what's this? it's u-verse live tv. with at&t u-verse... you can watch live tv from your device. hey. hey. anywhere in your home. [doorbell rings]

hey. hey. so you won't miss a minute of the game. call now to get a u-verse bundle for the same great price for 2 years. guaranteed.

tonight on a second look a tribute to our colleague craig heaps who's retiring. craig brought us this report on those killed during a world war ii explosion at port chicago and the controversy that followed the survivors for decades. today they sat together black people and white remembering a time 46 years ago when official navy policy kept them apart. this is the annual memorial for the 320 people kill in the explosion at concord naval station. july17, 1944. no one knows for sure what went wrong but something touched up an explosion. it demolished the peer and rocked the town of port chicago.

202 of the victims were black sailors in segregated units. their job to load depth charges and bombs aboard navy ships. to with dameson was in the barracks at the time of the explosion. >> the first explosion knocked me from the bed to the ceiling and i hit the floor. right after that, i was a petty officer in my quarters at the time. i asked the rest of the men that were on the floor and stay there. and before i could get that out everything just collapsed. >> reporter: after the explosion 258 black sailors refused to work at the docks. threatened with courts marshal all but 50 returned to work. the 50 were convicted of mutiny and sent to jail. 24 members of congress have asked the secretary of the navy to pardon the 50 black sailors convicted in the port chicago mutiny. neither the bases white commander nor the memorial black guest speaker mention the

mutiny but both spoke of changes, changes that might now make the pardons possible. >> there's no segment of american society that has achieved greater degree of integration or going further in removing the sigma of racism. >> i'm proud to say that that was then and this is now. some were just for fun. such was the story of the stamp licking cat. a feline with a job that he performed when he was good and ready. craig first brought us this story in 1999. diablo is a beautiful little community nestled at the foot of the mountain that shares its name. the little houses share everything except one thing, mail delivery. so they all come to the

postoffice and cher the mail cat. now people who don't like cats will tell you they are little more than furry paperweights serving no useful purpose. >> thank you for calling the diablo postoffice. >> reporter: but cher has a job here, she licks stamps. or at least that's what they told us when they got us to come here and do a story. >> she can't sort mail too well. too bad she can't lick stamps or something. so i just, casually held up a stamp and, it certainly wasn't anything that i trained her to do. it was just, she just did it. >> reporter: and so at 9:30 on a beautiful monday morning we waited for cher to do her job. postmaster katie yates takes the stamp. >> please go baby. come on. >> reporter: but cher seemed to

have other ideas. and so we took a little pause. the workers sorted the mail, cher hid among the mail sacks and after an hour, we tried again. >> 33-cents. >> reporter: cher is very popular with the people who live in diablo. and we wondered if anybody of them had seen her lick a stamp. >> yes, i have seen her. >> reporter: we have not seen her do it. >> that's because its a cat and they don't cooperate. >> reporter: now two hours, by now an audience had gathered. then she did it. >> that's it for this week's second look.

i'm gasia mikaelian. thank you for watching. really... so our business can be on at&t's network for $175 dollars a month? yup. all five of you for $175. our clients need a lot of attention. there's unlimited talk and text. we're working deals all day. you get 10 gigabytes of data to share. what about expansion potential? add a line anytime for 15 bucks a month. low dues& great terms& let's close. our best ever value plans for business just got even better. now with free broadband for a whole year.

hi, everybody. i'm beth troutman. great videos are coming your way, "right this minute." >> a dad's out on his harley when he motions for his boy to grab the handlebars. get the story behind the video from the father and son who love to ride. >> my middle name is harley, legally. i've been around motorcycles my entire life. it is just in his blood. >> after we showed you this ultimate selfie fail. >> i want to talk about this vid video, who this guy is. >> we talk to the instant legend who swear it is not a hoax and reveals what really happened. >> i was just super confused.