And new view from the top. Only on cbs this morning, we go inside a major new upgrade of the Empire State Building, giving visitors a soaring new perspective. When you were down there, wait until you get here. Plus, how the iconic skyscraper has shaped american culture. Its friday, october 11th, 2019. Heres todays eye opener, your world in 90 seconds. The whole entire sky was red and orange, and there was smoke everywhere. It was just crazy. Wildfires rage across Southern California. This as criticism grows over power management. Whats happened is unacceptable. A powerful snowstorm is roaring through the great plains and the central rockies. In colorado, snow and freezing temperatures turned the roads into a mess. I thought wed getting a dusting. This is a lot more. I dont know about them. I dont know what they do. The president denies knowing the two Business Associates of his attorney Rudy Giuliani who finance violations. Ampaign buckle up. In minneapolis the president unloaded on joe biden. He was only a good Vice President because he was understood how to kiss Barack Obamas [ bleep ]. In Northern Syria tens of thousands of civilians are fleeing their homes as turkey escalates its military invasion. Boxing champion errol spence is expected to survive after crashing his ferrari. The vehicle flipped several times. Simone biles, shes done it again. The first woman ever to win five allaround titles in gymnastics. The patriots still undefeated after a battle with the new york giants. Out of the air, into the end zone and that you will matters swing and a miss, and that is the e ball game. The Houston Astros are headed back to the American League championship series. Everybodys got to come to our house to get to the world series. [ cheers ] reporter on cbs this morning. Got down, puts it in the washington mystics and the connecticut sun met in a winnertakeall game five nba finals. The wait is over for the very first time, the washington mystics are wnba champions approved we took all of that privilege. Lets go. [ cheers ] i love those goggles, too. Congrats. Congrats to the mystics. Welcome to cbs this morning. As you can see, tonys not at the table. Why . Because hes at the top of the Empire State Building. Well get to him in a minute. First were going to begin with breaking news that comes from Southern California. A dangerous wildfire exploded overnight putting dozens of homes in darin and prompting evacuations. High winds driving the flames are expected to last for hours. The fire started last night in sylmar, northwest of downtown los angeles, fueled by dry conditions and wind gusts up to 70 miles per hour. Its now burned more than 4,000 acres. Its one of eight active wildfires burning in california days after power was shut off to hundreds of thousands of people in an effort to prevent fires. Errol barnett is in porter ranch. Whats the situation now . Reporter this wall of fire really exploded in power in just the last few minutes. You can also see the winds and how they fuel the fires strength. Theres another component, as well, and those are the embers. The fire is carrying these embers, allowing in wildfire to jump across the street. Those embers landing on these homes. Thats why firefighters are taking defensive positions to try and protect this property, but theres only so much they can do. Wildfire flames jumping two major freeways, destroroying hos and burning vehicles. Giving People Living nearby little time to pack up and leave. You have to keep in mind as you watch this that we are witnessing one person or one familys absolute worst nightmare. Their home up in flames in a matter of hours. I dont feel like leaving my house, and and knowing whats going to happen. T spotsmes more than six hours after they began. The embers blew into more and more structures. 74 were destroyed. Some people shoveled dirt on to hot spots and pulled out their reportes to try and stop the fire from spreading. Just glad that we made it st. Nto myorter people escaping the flames say the fire spread so quickly, many had to leave pets behind. I just ran into my neighbor aste. Shes holding her dog, and shes missing two. Its reporter earlier thursday, a fire in fontana east of los angeles damaged two homes. Its unclear whether power was cut in this area. More than 800,000 california eustomers had their electricity turned off over the past three days to reduce the fire risk. Californias governor blasting the states utilities for not modernizing their grids. Hatits decisions that were not de that h have led to this moment. O this e to advance not Public Safety but profits. Reporter this area is under c mandatory evacuation. This aatching as residents pack up their possessions and leave. Manthe states largest utility, ehats pacific gas and electric, says theyve got no choice but to turn off the power because of the dry conditions and high stnds. They will restore power once the winds die down. And after theyve inspected some ut,000 miles of power lines. Athony . Eron barn wet those Errol Barnett with those frightening after tes in california. Thanks. Frighte morning the fbi and federal prosecutors are than investigating two men close to President Trumps personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani. The former new york mayors financial dealings with two at clients are in the spotlight iner prosecutors say those men htied to flee the country thoesday. To parnas and igor fruman ntryed giuliani dig up dirt on joe biden and his son, hunter. Lev pa they were charged yesterday with funneling foreign money, some of it from russia, to a super pac that supports the president s th reelection, a violation of to a al law. The reid is with us. Ction, aese charges hurt the lawident . The white house is already tder pressure from an impeachment inquiry, and this the raises questions about Rudy Giuliani. Under inquiry,president says he doesnt know these men, and the men, andt does not accuse him of any wrongdoing. At a rally, the ongoing investigations were clearly on the president s mind. Lets impeach our president , right. E presidthink so. Boos ] reporter at his first rally i don since the impeachment inquiry began, President Trump angrily bega presidegainst democrats. These people are sick. Ck. Telling you, theyre sick. Reporter and escalated escalat against former vice onlydent joe biden. He was only a good vice eporter hbecause he understood how to kiss Barack Obamas [ attorn bleep ]. Reporter his tax came after arre two men who helped his personal il attorney Rudy Giuliani investigate the bidens were luding d. Otrumptionals lev parnas and igor fruman were charged with lawgally funneling foreign ouse dems to political theaigns, including 325,000 to f protrump super pac. Ir ise defendants broke the law presin political influence. Nowreporter House Democrats res also subpoenaed the men as part of their impeachment aveuiry. Thpair is seen in pictures with President Trump and giuliani, as well as donald trump jr. Rep i dont know those gentlemen. Reporter youre in pictures en had lm ni, the possible i have a icture with them because i have opicture with everybody. I cant wait to come back. Firstorter cbs news has learned the two played a key part in linking giuliani with krainian contacts. V but ask ukraine to look into joe biden of course i did. Reporter hours before their arrest, the two men had lunch with giuliani, their former ttorney, at the trump hotel in washington. Circ predan fisher of the Campaign Legal center first raised the Campaign Finance violations last year. The two were central in bringing the narrative about biden and ukraine to the inner circle. The same that President Trump espoused with his call with president volodymyr zelensky. The two lobbied a former lawmaker to have the former in eflsident to ukraine recalled after allegations he blocked investigation into the bidens. He was recalled, causing upthooefl state department where th menerday mike pompeos Senior Adviser resigned. A lot going on. The pictures of Rudy Giuliani and the two men looked like they good t ere having a good time. R ambas may be having less of a thanks. In the months to come. The former ambassador that paula mentioned is scheduled to answer questions as part of the democrats impeachment inquiry. Nancy cordes has more. Vice can you tell us about her . Putationter well, that former wasssador is maria yovonovitch. Ie is a 33yearold veteran of the Foreign Service with a 2erling reputation, but she was suddenly recalled to washington in may after Rudy Giuliani complained that she was blocking his efforts to get ukraine to going igate the bidens. Is goicrats want to know if there was political retribution at play here. A so her name came up in President Trumps july 25th phone call with the president of ukraine. Ry, butmp said yovonovitch was, quote, bads,d that shes attendi go through things. One of the mysteries on capitol hill is whether she is going to show up this morning. A source close to her says that she wants to tell her story, but that study officials have been blocked from attending these nothertions. So we really dont know whats going to happen. Nancy, another witness due to te testify next week is a former member of President Trumps National Security council. What do we know about her . Her name is fiona hill. She is a russia expert. He left the National Security council in july, just before the pr president s july 25th phone call. And to cbs news has learned that gordonexpected to say that Rudy Giuliani and Gordon Sondland, the u. S. Ambassador to the ,uropean union, were essentially running their own ukraine policy, avoiding her and the normal Foreign Policy channels. F you remember, there were Text Messages showing that sondland pushed for ukraine to promise various investigations, even as he insisted there was no quid secretaryor military aid. Beyond all of this, the house he was new subpoenas yesterday eo Energy Secretary rick perry. Democrats want to know whether efitas trying to change the structure of a Ukrainian Energy company to benefit associates of that n er againliani. Gain ande coming up over and over again in this nvestigation. Again and again. Vernightu. Iran says two missiles hit n ofian tanker overnight off the coast of saudi arabia. Stat new escalation of tenses in the region, irans staterun news agency said the ship was sailing near the saudi port of jed jeddah. The screw crew is safe. This comes after attacks on the largest Oil Processing facility in saudi arabia. In july the u. S. Accused iran of attacking oil tankers near the strait of hormuz. Tehran denies any earponsibility. The u. N. Says an estimated 70,000 people in Northern Syria estimatedforced to flee because of turkeys assault on u. S. Bac u. S. Backed kurdish forces. Turkish warplanes and artillery overnigtargets across the thean border overnight, on this e. E third day of the offensive. Erne from syria. Servesrter were in Northern Syria, a very important city for the kurdish population. It sort of serves as their half administrative center. Were only about a mile and a half from the turkish border. That means its vulnerable to air strikes, artillery, and even mortars, and thats exactly what tspened here a couple of nights ed here it came under a mortar attack. Arsee mortars slammed into this neighborhood, killing one person on the spot, two more people were injured and are fighting moreheir lives in the hospital. Livesind of random violence in these neighborhoods that has sparked a mass exodus. We saw that for ourselves last night. A bottleneck on the main road teading south, away from these urkish air strikes and mortar hetacks. Ading southat didnt want to froma chance with their Young Children of attacks like this. Air strturkish government has defended the military operation t to g theyre clearing this w the turkrrorists. But more and more its starting to look more like a campaign of but mor ethnic cleansing. Forcing local area kurdish to l opulation away from the cities and villages and then instead putting in place many syrian arabs who sought refuge in turkey, people that dont come and rom this region. And that is now a point of discussion not only among the tocal population here but in the aternational community. Ngr cbs this morning, charlie pulation Northern Syria. The situation looking increasingly dire there. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded this morning to hope ets Prime Minister for ending for ending a conflict. He was honored for his effort to aw make peace with neighboring aratria after two years of war. He was cited for his political endincial reforms. He fried thousands of political isisoners after taking office just last year. Furious passengers disembarked a cruise ship in england overnight after a 14day voyage which they say was orarred by everything from missed stops to onboard sewage prlems. Thats never good. Ers passengers staged mass protests before the ship docked in southampton this morning. In response the cruise line is e the crua 25 credit toward a trip. E trip. Were told more than 1,000 people are now just planning to sue the company. Mola lenghi reports. We were very, very disappointed, and we were not alone. Reporter passengers leaving the norwegian spirit crude ship were quick to share their anger. Theres a lot of people aying never again. Eporter el like weve been scammed. 27 reporter the cruise left from the same port in england on september 27th. Passengers paid prices starting ludend 1,200 for a 14day trip that was supposed to include stops in holland, norway, iceland, and ireland. O be odont want to be on the ship we want off the ship reporter problems mounted quickly after what norwegian wlled Severe Weather conditions, within the heidelines of the guest contract, the ship canceled several planned destinations leaving irate passengers stuck on boards for days. [ chants ] the toilet just does not [ ch flush. The hallways didnt smell the very good. Smelled like sewage. Reporter Katasha Jones and her boyfriend left the cruise early amid additional concerns dditionaken plumbing. She says norwegians response leaves a bad taste. Egianefund would be nice, but a badount to spend more money but them is really just not d moreto cut it for people. Lly justter for cbs this peoping, im mola lenghi. Weve all seen disgruntled passengers, but ive never seen untled like that. We want off the ship. Er seenses a good point. A discount, i dont know. Might have to do better than that. Visitors to one of the mostics connick buildings most iconic buildings in the big apple will take on a new view. Theres a new observatory and this weekend it offers a 360degree view of new york city and beyond. Its just went part of the Empire State Buildings massive fouryear renovation. Cbs this morning got an exclusive behindthescenes look at the multimillion dollar project. Tony dokoupil just a couple of miles away from us, but more than 1,200 feet higher on 102nd floor of the iconic skyscraper. Lucky you. Reporter lucky me indeed. You can see 57th street from the y from window over your left shoulder. I can see that street and four other streets. A few of more than 80 miles in either direction. Im so high up that from my perspective the sun actually rose 30 minutes early, and we and the crew were among the first people in all of north america to see it. Where are we . We are 16 floors above the already worldfamous 86floor observatory of the Empire State Building. Were more than 1,800 steps up from street level if youre counting or looking for a workout. Every building, even ones that are taller, look smaller than the Empire State Building because of a trick of perspective, a curve of the earth. I should point out, this 102nd floor observatory is just one part of the Historic Buildings renovation. Later in the show well have an exclusive look at this skyhigh construction project and also take a tour of some of the other big changes here at the Empire State Building. People had already pointed out that the Empire State Building was the closest thing to heaven here in new york city. And i got to say, it just got a little bit closer. Now,e going to show how and why. But for now, back to you guys at ay dow level. L right. Own here. All right. Good friday morning to you. Calmer, quieter weather for today with that sunshine and warming up to above average for this time of year. Looking at 82 in concord for a high. 83 in livermore. 83 san jose. Upper 70s in oakland. And mid 70s for San Francisco. Cooling it down a little bit for your weekend but still very pleasant with that sunshine. Saturday and sunday, below average temps as we look ahead to next week. Have a great weekend. Frrdz we have much more ahead. An arizona official faces dozens of charges for allegedly luring an a pregnant