some residents were allowed to return to their homes in the town of glencoe. one of the residents was interviewed when he saw his house starting to go. >> no one was hurt. >> you consider yourself lucky. >> oh, no, no. >> investigators are trying to figure out what touched off the fires. they believe one of the cases may have been arson. >>> tropical storm ernesto swipes by honduras today. the storm is churning in the caribbean with 50-mile-an-hour winds. it could turn into a hurricane before making landfall tomorrow. it's on track to move across the yucatan peninsula. the water in jamaica was so choppy yesterday several fishermen had to be rescued. >>> new details about a midair disaster in new york. mistakes led to an extremely close call last year. an american airlines boeing 777 with more than 250 people on board was barreling straight at a military cargo get at about 22,000 feet. an on-board collision avoid dance system warnd the pilots to make last-second maneuvers. >>> secretary of state hillary clinton will have lunch with the former south african pres

mike boettcher, abc news, glencoe, oklahoma. >> there's some of the heartbreaking stories. that's the tough part about a fire, it destroys everything. in a flood, maybe you can salvage some things. in a tornado, your stuff gets scattered potentially miles but at least some of it's retrievable. in a fire, like the pictures you heard in the story, it's all destroyed. >> it's all gone. so many people are saying, how do these things begin? apparently in luther, oklahoma, investigators say the fire was deliberately set. five dozen homes destroyed there. that i just don't understand. >> why would you set it? there must be some sick joy in the destruction or the attention, one of the two. can't control the lightning, that's mother nature. but some idiot, deliberately destroying people's lives and homes. >> unbelievable. >> don't get it, don't get it. all those folks in oklahoma, thoughts and prayers. >>> we're getting new details how a mid-air disaster was narrowly averted off the coast of new york. federal investigators blame errors by a distracted controller for the extremely cl

from glencoe, oklahoma, this evening. >> reporter: once more, fire had everything in its disposal, heat, winds, no rain. oklahomans fought back with futile effort. >> it gets scary out there. >> reporter: heat so ints tense, it creates a rare weather system. pyrokl pyro cumulus clouds. a lot of people lost a lot of stuff. it's heartbreaking. >> reporter: a neighbor whose son died two years asuffered the worst in the ashes. tyler spoke to him. >> he lost every picture he had of his kid. he has nothing to remind him of his son. >> reporter: nearby, brothers fish in the pond that demonstrates oklahoma's problem, heat and drought. in a normal year, they should be waist deep in water. >> it's hot. >> reporter: their father has their best face. >> you don't know what is going to happen. >> reporter: marion blankenship, whose home is spared by a few feet, works to get a generator started. he was luckier than his neighbors. >> the lord 4 to his his hands on you. >> reporter: despite the fire and heat and drought, the people who live around here, who call themselves oki essay say they are stayin

some residents were allowed to return to their homes in the town of glencoe. where at least 50 homes were destroyed. one of the residents was interviewed when he saw his home start to go. >> nobody was hurt. >> right now, you consider yourself lucky. though we have a flare-up going on right there. >> yeah. oh, no, no, no. >> investigators are trying to figure out what touched off the fires. they believe one of the cases may have been arson. >>> tropical storm ernesto swipes by honduras today. with some drenching rain there. the storm is churning in the caribbean with 50-mile-an-hour winds. it could turn into a hurricane before making landfall tomorrow. near the belize/mexico border. it's on track to move across the yucatan peninsula. into the gulf coast. the water in jamaica was so choppy yesterday several fishermen had to be rescued. >>> new details are being revealed about a near midair disaster off new york. federal investigators say mistakes by a distracted controller led to an extremely close call last year. an american airlines boeing 777 with more than

a lesson about the laws but decide who gets to be in the united states in who gets glencoe. the translator instructed, sir, raise your right hand. i swear, garcia, he said in spanish. his voice was a low rumble. on the record, pedro victor garcia sounds calm and respectable. he speaks spanish and a smoky voice. the product of a three cigar a day habit. a habit he maintained into his 80s. he asked people onto political party in cuba. >> we don't have political parties, he said. so he really became a guiding spirit while working on this book. you probably know how this hearing ended. ended with him being being deported from the united states. and he really caught a break, though, in those days you are not necessarily put on the plane and sent back right away. you were ordered to leave and you are expected to do so. here is how he got lucky. a few days after this hearing, and maybe we hadn't thought about this before, i talk a lot about his grandson having good timing. this man was born under a thatched palm roof and rural cuba and his mother was illiterate and had polio when h

and in glencoe, 600 people forced to flee for their lives leaving homes. >> memories. from being a small kid. everything's gone. >> reporter: the fire in luther, oklahoma, just 25 miles northeast of oklahoma city, literally swallowed streets and homes whole. and it's believed to be the work of an arsonist. this morning, a manhunt is on for a black pickup truck and the driver, they say, is to blame for burning more than 56 structures, including a day care structure. >> i'm 82 years old. i have never seen anything like it before. >> reporter: as the firefighters gain some measure of control, families are beginning to struggle with what remains after smoke clears. >> in a tornado, you pick things up. you find things that are salvageable. you come here, you move anything and it turns to dust. >> reporter: conditions have definitely improved as a cold front moved through overnight. even rain from tulsa to wichita, picked up a quarter of an inch. behind that front, you got some moister and cooler air, they'll drop into the mid and upper 90s. they have been above 100 for 18 d