here's carter evans. >> reporter: major news from pfizer, the pharmaceutical company says it should know by the end of october whether its vaccine works. pfizer's vaccine is one of two now in late-stage testing. the cdc is already preparing for a massive vaccine distribution effort. cbs news obtained documents that were distributed to state public health officials that indicate some vaccines require sub-zero cold storage. it could be problematic because it requires equipment not usually found at doctor's offices and pharmacies. a bigger question -- once a vaccine is developed, are americans prepared to take it? a new survey shows 78% say they're worried the covid vaccine approval process is being driven more by politics than science. >> if the public perceives that shortcuts have been taken, they are much less likely to take this vaccine. >> i wish it was only me who tested positive, but it was my entire family. >> reporter: even "the rock" can't avoid covid. he's recovering. he says his young girls were better in days. >> generally babies and little children can often have little to no

carter evans, thank you. with parents, students, and teachers struggling with new covid outbreaks, today joe biden accused president trump of failing to come up with a plan to safely open schools. biden's criticism comes as both candidates turn their attention to the battleground states that will decide this election. here's cbs' ed o'keefe. >> president trump still doesn't have any real plan. >> reporter: joe biden tore into the president's response to the pandemic response today and said federal disaster money is needed safely open schools. and following a briefing with school and health officials in >> president trump may not think this is a national emergency. he's offering nothing but failure and delusions. >> reporter: in another wilmington, this one in north carolina, the president again gave the impression the pandemic is nearly over. >> i think we're rounding the turn on this china virus. we're rounding the turn. >> reporter: he hammered house speaker nancy pelosi on twitter for getting her hair done

cbs' carter evans is going to lead off our coverage tonight from berry creek, california, that is nowhe epicenter of one vening, carter.res. good evening, carter. >> reporter: good evening, norah. there is really nothing left here. it's devastation everywhere you look. this used to be a gas station market. you can see where they stacked up the sodas here. it is now gone, like just about everything else in this town. a wall of flames and unimaginable destruction. this is all that's left of berry creek, north of sacramento. this is an elementary school reduced to ashes and ironically, there's a fire station right across the street. it also burned to the ground. both fire trucks still inside. people who fled here had very little time to escape. >> i would say probably most of them were running for their lives. >> reporter: an unprecedented year. six of california's largest wildfires ever have occurred in 2020, a record three million acres destroyed. it's gotten so bad, that on our way up to berry creek-- we found this fire burning along the side of the road, but firefighters are stretche

cbs' carter evans is going to lead off our coverage tonight from the scene of one of the largest wildfires in california history. good evening, carter. >> reporter: good evening, norah. when the fire raced through here, it burned so hot, the only thing left standing is the chimney. but it's not just these homes. home after home, block afters block, town after town, the amount of destruction is staggering. now flames are closing in on the suburbs of portland, oregon, where there's a state of emergency. officials say they're now preparing for a mass-fatality incident. >> as of now, there are early reports from our state police that there are dozens of missing persons related to the fires. >> reporter: in oregon, half a million are under evacuation orders, more than 12% of the state's population. those fires are also creating choking smoke all up and down the west coast, from los angeles to seattle. the worst air quality in the world is now in oregon. and in california, this fire north of sacramento is now the largest in state history. in the town of berry creek, california, this used to be a

norah. >> o'donnell: carter evans, thank you. so much has changed in our lives because of the pandemic. we've all had to learn how to be more patient about things we've taken for granted. voting is one of them, and, this year, that patience may be tested on election night and in the days after. here's cbs' major garrett. >> reporter: north carolina starts mailing out ballots tomorrow, earlier than any other state. mecklenberg county, home of charlotte, initially sent out 6,000 absentee ballots in 2016. tomorrow, they'll send out a record 77,000. >> i expect that we send out over 150,000-160,000 ballots by the time it is all said and done. >> reporter: that will happen across the country. some 80 million voters are expected to cast ballots by mail, testing election officials' and voters' patience as never before. >> it is a process of opening an envelope, processing a ballot through a reader instead of doing it in one action when you go vote in person. >> reporter: that may mean a potentially nerve-wracking delay in results on ele

here's cbs's carter evans. >> reporter: tonight new video shows the wounded 31 year old female deputy covered in blood applying a tourniquet to her 24 year old partner's bleeding arm. and she is shot in the face. >> she is one tough mom. actually they were both shot in the head and the fact that they weren't gravely disabled from it is just a miracle. >> reporter: l.a. county sheriff alex villanueva says the department now has 14 homicide investigators working to track down the shooter. >> we have some good leads that we are working on right now. and i am not going to divulge them but they are promising. >> reporter: in this surveillance video you can see the gunman walk right up to the patrol car and fire several shots; both deputies were hit multiple times. on the job just 14 months each but the sheriff says the male deputy still tried to return fire. >> he tried to grab his gun but his right hand was disabled. >> reporter: this is the female deputy calling for help after for h shot in the jaw. >> reporter: what is it like for you to see this happen to two of your own? >> it breaks

he's also praising the wounded deputy's response as carter evans reports. and we remind you, the video of this shooting may be upsetting. >> reporter: new video shows the two injured deputies moments after they were ambushed. the 31-year-old female deputy shot multiple times is covered in blood and tends to her 24-year-old partner. she applies a tourniquet to his bleeding arm. and she's shot in the face. >> she's one tough mom. they were both shot in the head and the fact they weren't gravely disabled from it is just a miracle. >> reporter: l.a. county sheriff villanueva says both deputies with just over a year on the job took life-saving actions to help each other. the female deputy, the mother of a 6-year-old, even managed to radio in her location after being shot. >> her voice is garbled because she has a wound right in her jaw. but she was able to get off her location. >> reporter: surveillance video from the saturday shooting in compton shows the gunman walked right up to the patrol car and fired several shots at point-blank range before running away.

carter evans is in butte county, california, where those lives were lost. ures you don't see very often. this is a local fire station. the fire truck still inside, it's burned to the ground. it's so bad right now that california is getting help from canada and they're even bringing in some firefighters from israel. now, this is some video that we shot this morning on the way in. we saw a fire crew trying to beat back a flare-up. as we were driving here to berry creek. there are 14,000 firefighters battling at least 29 fires in california, more than 3 million acres have been burned so far. in oregon, this is all that's left of one community in eagle point. president trump has approved an emergency declaration in that state as wildfires have scorched nearly 1 million acres. now for some perspective, that's nearly double its yearly total, and it's happened in just the last three days. nearly half a million people have been forced to evacuate. in all, so far, 16 people have been killed by these fires. including a 1-year-old child. now, that baby's parents surviv

correspondent carter evans i in berry creek, california. >> reporter: never in the american west hasquickly or so destructively.çó escaping the flames often meant driving through them. and every day brings more heartache, news of those who cannot get out. this was a week of extremes, record-shattering heat, bone-dry humidity and powerful winds. from washington state to southern california, entire communities were wiped out. this is malden, washington, and what's left of the post office. >> approximately 90% of the town is completely gone. >> reporter: in eagle point, oregon, block after block leveled. this is how a neighborhood in phoenix, oregon, looked until it was obliterated. in berry creek, california, the so-called bear fire came througxr so fast it overran a fire station, two trucks still inside. this used to be a beautiful, lakeside community, with homes nestled in the woods, and now you look and everywhere there is destruction. the homes here have been incinerated. the fire that ravaged berry creek is now one of the largest ever to hit the state. six of the biggest wildfires

carter evans, thank you very much. >>> the drug company astrazeneca has paused global trials of its promisingoronavirus because of an illness in one of its lu allow for the review of safety data. it cn return to school amid alarming virus. the american academy of pediatrics says covid-19 cases in kids have 500,000. in hard-hit the issue of school safetys being fought out in the courts. david begnaud is fol good mo in the city of des moines the school system went to a judge and essentially said give us permission not to follow the the court said no. and the school system essentially said well we're not going to follow least for the time being. iowa's governor said unless you have a test positivity rate of 15%, you need to offer in-person learning half the time. in des moines it's roughly 10% right now.at really high when you consider the fact that the white house coronavirus task force hasaid communities should not consider reopening until they have a positivity rate below 10% and the world health organization says it should be below 5% before you think about reopening. here's the des moines s

carter evans is following this story.ou should know some of this video is very upsetting to watch. >> reporter: video released by the l.a. county sheriff's office shows the gunman walk up to a patrol car and fire several rounds into two deputies inside before running away. both were hit multiple times. it happened at this transit station in compton. the 31-year-old female and 24-year-old male deputies are now in critical condition after undergoing surgery on saturday. >> our female deputy was hit at least once in the jaw and at least twice in the arm and i think th male deputy was hit at least a couple of times in the arm also. might be more. brings up a lot of emotions for me. we almost lost at least one and could have lost both. >> reporter: in a news conference saturday everywhere, l.a. county sheriff alex villanueva angrily denounced the shooting. >> that was a cowardly act. the two deputies were doing their job, minding their own business, watching after the safety of the people on the train and seeing somebody just