this morning on "early today." out of control, scorching wildfires in california show no mercy for homes,land, or lives. brazen break-in, a frustr e frustrated georgia homeowner keeps t cameras rolling as teenagers bust into his home. what r & b singer chris brown is saying now about beating his ex-girlfriend rihanna. captions paid for by nbc-universal television

hello, and good morning, everyone, i'm dan kloeffler, and today we begin with the inferno. this fire continues to blaze a very charred past through kinder drive southern california, and forcing mass evacuations. for the latest, we're joined live by janna kim. i understand there's eight fires out there, but one that's got a lot of attention from those firefighters. >> reporter: absolutely. this is what everyone here in los angeles is talking about. it is called the station fire, as you said burning in the foothills above los angeles county, and dan, you would think a week into a fire things would start to calm down, but it has been absolutely the opposite here in lv.a. and let me show you what i'm talking about. that orange glow you see behind me is what we have been seeing continuously since wednesday, which is when the fire began in those foothills. right now it looks pretty calm, but most of the time you see the

flames flaring up. it has so far scorched 164 square miles and destroyed 52 homes and cabins. two firefighters died when their truck overturned as they tried to flee advancing flames, and one of those firefighters was expecting his first child to be born in just a few weeks. absolutely tragic. at a news conference last night firefighters did not sound optimistic. they say the fire is now spreading north and south towards large metro areas threatening 12,000 homes and forcing several thousand more to flee and evacuate. and among those is a los angeles dodger. now the firefighters -- the latest estimate they have given us is that this fire will not be completely under control for at least another two weeks. so we'll just be here for a while, dan, i think. back to you. >> that is almost indescribable for two weeks. thank you. live for us this morning, thank you.

describing the situation as serious but winnable. the top american commander in afghanistan is laying out his long awaited assessment of the u.s.-led war there. general stanley mcchrystal's classified report comes nearly eight years into that war, which has seen a resurge in taliban a poorly run and often corrupt afghan central government. calling for a revised strategy. it's largely seen as the ground work for requesting more troops. that request could come in the next few weeks. the assessment also urges greater participation from nato allies who have repeatedly declined additional forces or to lift restrictions on those already deployed. a special election will be held in massachusetts on january 19th to fill the remaining three years of the late ted kennedy's senate term. that is unless the state's governor can convince lawmakers to grant him the power to appoint an interim successor. deval patrick says the state

would benefit from quickly filling that seat. it has national implications as even one vote could impact the outcome in the senate debate over health care reform. although often mentioned as a potential candidate, ted kennedy's widow victoria says she's not interested in the job. now here's a look at some other news making news in america. a band of burglars chose the wrong house to break into it. the security cameras detailed the robbery outside and inside. the homeowner was previously robbed and upgraded to some high-quality cameras. clearly right move. caught the faces of those thieves. the resident hopes posting the video on youtube will help catch those crooks. a college transfer student in florida had quite a first day taking on the phone with his mom. suddenly found himself staring down the barrel of two guns as cops rushed toward him. they mistook him for a suspect

that stole a motorcycle earlier that day. the shocked student was released when police realized their mistake. elsewhere in florida, a dump truck was hung up in orlando. it caused it to plow into an overpass, accidentally left the truck's cabin wedged up in the air trapping the driver. fortunately, though, he was not seriously injured. and connecticut students had a frightening start to their first day of school. the waiting for the bus -- a large bear you just saw there wandered into the neighborhood. that guy lurked from yard to yard. didn't bother anyone, though. unfortunately for the kids, though, not only did the bear fail to get school canceled, recess was held inside for good reason. now for a look at the national and regional weather, here's bill karins with the weather channel forecast. bill, you always look for that lively story to start the school year off. and that would do it. >> what are the odds of the person taking that picture.

they're probably taking video of their kid going to school and there happens to be a bear. >> a story for years to come. >> let's talk about that fire forecast. in los angeles, it's been very hot for the last week straight and that's going to continue today. so we've had the five-year drought. now it's this warm. and it's going to be difficult for firefighters over the next couple of days. 96 today, 93 wednesday, and 87 on thursday. we don't see any big cooldown until we get to this upcoming weekend. that's why they were saying maybe two weeks before that fire is really under control. temperatures in the east are cool, the weather pattern is nice and calm. it feels like fall. feels like the middle of fall. maybe more like the end of september instead of the first day of september. it's 59 in new york, 57 in boston, much of northern new england and the great lakes. there's areas in the 40s this morning. the only true tropical air left is down here in florida. that's where our front is hung up here, and that's where we're going to see more showers and storms during the day today. so just a picture perfect beautiful fall-like day through much of the ohio valley and the

northeast, but down here in florida, watch out for showers and storms. that's your national forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. after a cool morning, albany, new york, seeing a nice afternoon, same for you in providence, pittsburgh, beautiful, louisville, 78, chance of showers and storms along the south carolina and georgia coast this afternoon. dan, when i come back, we'll talk about jimena, a huge major hurricane going to make landfall in mexico in about 24 hours. >> all right, thank you for that, bill. china stabilizes, oil falls, and disney swoops in. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, four decades later, the rolling stones find themselves smack in the middle of a possible murder mystery. sports with perfection, and brett favre cracks, but doesn't break. you're watching "early today."

good morning. and welcome back to "early today." here are some of your top headlines this morning. the international space station has that brand new addition of a giant chest of drawers. on monday, astronauts used a robotic arm to hoist the chest from the space shuttle discovery on to the outpost. it contains a brand new freezer, sleeping compartment, and treadmill. former miss california usa carrie prejean is suing pageant officials. she lost her crown three months ago for various alleged breeches in her connecticut. claims she was fired. astronomers claim they found the best place on earth to star gaze. it's the terrain that's located on a on antartica.

scientists say they could take as good as pictures as the hubble space telescope, but a much cheaper price. and a disabled woman is being hailed as truly inspirational after becoming the first female quadriplegic to sail solo around britain. it took her 40 days to beat the odds. what's more, her record trip also raised nearly $50,000 for charity. now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day today. the dow opens at 9,496 after shedding 47 points monday, the s&p dropped 8, the nasdaq, 19 points. this morning in tokyo the nikkei gained 37 points, and the hang seng gained 148 points. for the last 40 years, september has spelled selloff on wall street, and if august was any indication, this september will likely be no different. after suffering its biggest loss

in 15 years monday, chinese shares were steadied today by upbeat economic data shows china's economy maintained upward momentum in august. the threat of a slowdown in global energy demand spilled over into u.s. markets monday sending oil prices below $70 a barrel. that sent chevron and exxon down 1% on the day. financial stocks struggled yesterday after one analyst said citigroup and aig shares were overpriced. citi was down 4%, aig lost nearly 10% after doubling in price last week. disney announced a $4 billion buyout of marvel comics. the house of mouse hopes marvel's long list of bankable super heroes, that includes spiderman and the x-men will provide a boost to the market. marvel shares soared 25%. also oil field services company baker hughes said on monday it would buy the smaller bj services for $4.8 billion. b.j. stock rose 4.1%, baker

hughes shares fell 9.6%. keep an eye today on ebay, the "new york times" reports the company reached a deal to sell skype to a group of privacy investors. the bigger headline will be the institute of supply management manufacturing survey. that's expected to rise above 50. it's also an indication the economy's growing. finally, a museum in amsterdam that houses the likes of rembrant has learned a treasured piece of moon rock is not lunar object, be just a piece of petrified wood. that means they've been paying premiums on a policy to insure a piece of wood since 1969. that's when it was gifted to the dutch prime minister by a u.s. official. i don't know if you get a return if you don't keep a receipt. the williams sisters open strong in the open, and brett favre has a crack in the armor.

plus, for a while last night, it seemed like fate and perfection were on the side of andy pettitte, your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. it's going to be a beautiful day to start this september in so many areas. still hot in los angeles. your regional forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, the new york yankees have been relying a lot on their big bats this season. but last night it was an old familiar arm. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all of your sports headlines. >> good morning, the achilles heel has been pitching, but that wasn't the case last night against the oriels. struck out eight had a pfgt game going into the seven. harrison given an error, and just like that, the perfect game was gone. but no hitter was still intact. that didn't last long, the next batter with a shot past harris ston down the line, filling in for rodriguez, given the day off, pettitte gave up two hits over eight innings. yanks won 5-1. blue jays, if you like runs, this game was for you. first career grand slam, blue

jays up 10-0, but the rangers came back. it's 11-7, toronto. rangers would get within one, second homer of the game, blue ja jays won. texans brett favre admitted he's playing with a cracked rib, but healthy enough to play for the vikings. a touchdown run on the first play of the game. fantasy football players got to love that. favre played two quarters, the vikings beat the texans. serena williams picked up where she left off last year. sister venus was nursing a sore knee and it showed. she dropped the first set and committed ten double faults but rallied to win the next two sets and advanced. roger federer was also a winner. >> thank you, fred. chris brown's odd first

public statements since his conviction for beating rihanna. your entertainment headlines straight ahead. speaking of odd, we'll introduce you to a kid who spends his time dreaming of suction turbines and filtration bags. you're watching "early today."

welcome back on this tuesday morning. here is a very powerful, strong, almost category five hurricane jimena. this is the mexican coastline

here, this is the baja peninsula, and the storm is going to brush cabo and make landfall probably just to the northwest of there. it's going to be a devastating storm over the next two to three days. pretty nice day about everywhere, almost feels a little bit like fall, or maybe a lot like fall. well, if you're watching us in orlando, florida, bring the whole family to the edge water library for a night of reading, games, laughter, and learning. that's fantastic family fun night. that's your eastern event of the day, dan. >> thank you, bill. now an early look at this morning's headlines and entertainment. chris brown rather than lie low has decided to launch a post conviction public relations campaign that's gotten off to a bit of a rocky start. excerpts released by "people" and larry king, brown who pleaded guilty to beating his ex-girlfriend rihanna says he still loves the singer.

later he claimed he was misquoted about having no memory of the assault. the staff are staying and fighting an oncoming wildfire rather than try to relocate the 64 lions, tigers, and other animals that live there. finally 40 years after rolling stones guitarist brian jones was found dead in his swimming pool. police said yesterday they will review the presumed accident in light of new evidence of possible homicide. he was the prime organizer and legend has it he chose the band's name from a song title on a muddy waters album. apparently some investigative journalist had hundreds of pages of information they just now turned over to police and police say hold on, this might not have been an accident. >> well, a pool, you always kind of wonder. >> and at the time, apparently, it was ruled -- i think it was misadventure i think is how it's characterized by british police instead of possible alcohol and

drug involvement. now four decades later could be some new information. >> i look forward to ann curry's dateline episode. this comes to us from wamd 17 in springfield, illinois, where one young collector is kind of an unlikely obsession. a lot of kids collect baseball cards, comic books, but gregory, though, all about vacuums. he's been hoarding hoovers ever since he was 3. now 10 years ago, he can repair busted vacuums, and even recognize the specific model all by the way it sounds. not surprisingly when he grows up, his dream, to own a vacuum shop. >> do you have try to change the belt on the bottom? >> i have, actually, i've successfully done that. >> you have? >> so has the 10-year-old. i bet he's changed more than we ever will in our lives. i'm dan kloeffler, this is early today on your nbc station.

>> top of this tuesday morning to you. nice, dry, quiet weather conditions. it is pretty cool right now. thus take a look at our water vapor in madrid. -- imagery. we have an incredible labor day weekend heading our way. let's take a look at the temperatures out there. 62 downtown. 59 at the airport. maybe a light jacket for the bus

stop today. 63 in ocean city. we are typically warmer than that. mostly sunny skies today. 72-75 degrees. i have more on this a nice start to september coming up for you. when next thank you see you in a bit. here's a look ahead at 11 news today. >> afghanistan is bags in the news. , they are calling for more troops. that story next. >> if you are traveling any time soon, there are too early morning accident. no

[captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- good morning. >> thanks for joining us. this is 11 news today. >> let's check on the