darrick phillips didn't have to be asked twice. salvation army shelter. >> what it is out in the cold for someone like you when the weather gets this cold? >> for me it's scary, dangerous. i know i can get frost bitten, wind up limbs getting amputated or even die. >> reporter: such is the reality throughout the midwest. firemen battling a blazing house and freezing waterlines in hammond, indiana. michigan's governor declared a state of emergency. so did the governor of illinois and wisconsin. back in wisconsin, a former darrick phillips says last night things became very simple. >> you have to survive. you have to figure out ways to stay alive. >> reporter: this midwest bitter cold is so bad, a minneapolis trauma surgeon said he is seeing fourth-degree frostbite that goes all the way to the bone. as for the postal service' unofficial motto of neither rain nor snow, et cetera, well, evidently that doesn't apply to the polar vortex. >>> in washington, president trump is taking aim at america's intelligence agencies again. he branded