Torching Pine News Today

Square miles, nearly 600 homes. national correspondent william la jeunesse gives us a close-up look tonight. >> oh, yeah. we dont want to go any further. >> high winds, a record drought. the caldor fire turning this california playground intraghost town. >> i promised my kid i would be out of here as soon as i saw any flames anywhere. >> im hoping at some point i can just nab that cat be out of her like a shot. >> moving west to east, firefighters struggled to keep it south of the homes and busi...

Mountain air now a billowing blanket of ash stretching hundreds of miles. >> basically a flame or an ember lands on the dry brush and it ignites. its not stopping it. >> torching pine needles in an overgrown forest that hasnt burned in decades. add in 40 mile-per-hour winds, you get this. >> to create whats called an active crown fire run where the fire goes from tree top to tree top. when it does that those ember casts that it throws out are going over a mile in distance. >> containment lines h...