16/05/2014 ABC World News with Diane Sawyer

woman. Mike Embley will be in the chair

here at 2am, but first we will show you ABC World News with Diane

Sawyer. Welcome to world news, tonight, wall

of fire. Marching through southern California, incinerating home after

home. Tonight, we show you the added danger, the twisting torture is

called firenados. The president tells the story of American courage

in the face of terror. Nothing can ever break us. Nothing can change

who we are as Americans. A health alert tonight. A new warning about a

popular sleeping pill. And, surprise! What happened behind the

scenes of our big celebration for Barbara Walters?

We begin out west where the wildfires are raging, and families

are on the move. People pulling together to beat back wall of

flames. One man, armed with a garden hose, refusing to let his house

burnt. A little girl in pink cowboy boots, her home in cinders.

Firefighters battling the blaze, a full moon filling the sky as houses

are burning below. Tonight, this is the map. Multiple fires, including a

big one right there in San Marcos. That is where our reporter is on the

front lines. We have a fire burning behind us right here, with flames

reaching up to ten feet tall. Firefighters standing guard over

here. They are protecting this house. Every minute counts out here.

In the last few days during these fires we have seen more than 10,000

acres torch. A school under siege. Flames coming

within feet of the school building. Firefighters working to keep the

blaze at bay on a hillside, while two university workers picked up

poses and fought flames as well. I think you guys might be here as? No,

no, there are no heroes here. Except a fired up at. Reg Waite and

cancelled, the campus evacuated, as the fire burns dangerously close ``

graduation cancelled. You can see that this helicopter is about to

drop water on this hillside. This is the problem, this fire is only feet

away from this school. Nine fires raging in San Diego. Investigators

are now looking for records, including the of arson. This and all

fires treated as a crime scene, and now, in this torch land, it is a

scavenger hunt for clues, from looking at are marked on trees and

rocks to finding out if a neighbour cut grass recently. Anything a

potential spark, and a hint that could point to the Origin of the

fire. It is a heat and Winfield battle that southern California has

been fighting for days `` wind fuelled. Plumes of smoke rising into

the air. Firefighters struggling to see what they can. What they tried

to save with hoses yesterday, today looks like this. A business engulfed

in flames, now unrecognisable. These firetrucks are ready to go to moment

's notice. The biggest issue today is the temperature, it hit 99

degrees. So far today, 13,000 new evacuation notices. So far, this

fire is just 5% contained. Now, we want to focus everyone's

attention on some of the startling images. Here is one of them. A tube

fire stretching into the sky, some people call it a firenados. Danger

compounded by speed. How do they form?

Swirling tubes of fire erupting out of the wildfires in California again

today. Sometimes called firenado. When a group of firefighters come up

and there is a firenado, do you attack it differently? You can't

really attack it. It has an energy of its own. Some only last a few

seconds, others, ten to 15 minutes. Some may only be four, five may be

six feet tall. Others could be hundreds of feet tall. So, how does

one of these get going? In wildfires, the atmosphere is hot and

dry by Peter Bridger within the fire can be thousands of degrees. That

difference in heat mixes and can start rotating. A firenado forms

when they come together with intense heat, rising very quickly. It can

even break off into space, starting other fires. They live embers into

the air, and that can be caught by the wind or cast out away from the

existing fire line. You can hear that crackling of the fire behind

me. The wind is blowing it so quickly and the temperature now is

close to 100 degrees. We need relief and it is on the way. Temperatures

on Friday in the 80s, I Monday and Tuesday, back into the 60s. It is

going to cool down, the wins will subside, and we are going to need

it. Today there was a solemn celebration

of healing. There, at the 9/11 Memorial Museum right here in New

York, dedicated by President Obama, who reminded the nation that

nothing, not even an act of terror, can break us. We were down there

this morning, a very sombre morning. The president was there to

honour those who were lost, those who survived, and the heroes who

define a country to today. This is a time and image of a site

transformed. Now, there are just two reflecting pools, and in the middle,

the Memorial Museum. It is seven stories below ground. He stopped to

see Big Read, the firefighter that stopped right there that day. The

president was he to honour the heroes that day. He spoke with a

group of injured office workers, huddled in the wreckage on the 86th

floor of the south tower. They thought there was no way out. Then

there came a voice, a young man in his 20s, strong, emerged from the

smoke and over his nose and mouth he wore a red handkerchief. He would

help carry the wounded down 17 flights of stairs, going back up to

do it over and over again. They didn't know his name, but they knew

their lives have been saved by the man in the red bandanna. All these

years later, that young man's mother, standing in the pink, fans

beside one of the women he saved. It is our greatest hope that when

people come here and see his red bandanna, they will remember how

people help each other that they. This is the true legacy of September

11. The true legacy, as she says. The museum is now open to the

families, survivors, and it will be open to the public later this month.

Now, we had to Washington, and the new survey of the outrageous

treatment of veterans at some VA hospitals. Treatment delayed and the

consequences up. Today, the heads of veterans affairs saying that he was

" mad as hell". A wounded Vietnam veteran himself,

has been under fire before. Today on Capitol Hill, it was his reputation,

not his life, on the line. Are people cooking the books? Have you

ever fired anybody when you find out they are manipulating the reckless?

The to the executives at hospitals across the country to hide patient

delays. A scandal that started in Phoenix were a whistleblower alleges

that as many as 40 veterans died. They never came in the door, we

never saw them. The first time he confirmed he has seen evidence of

cooking the books at some VA hospitals. Any adverse incident like

this makes me mad as hell. What he doesn't know he says until a report

this August is whether hiding those delays is to blame for any deaths. A

national scandal that would cost high level jobs.

Now we turn to our headline for our fleet of fried nation. A wake`up

call from the FDA. Experts worry that the starting dose of eight

popular sleeping aid is too big for many people. The result can affect

your life. BSD is saying that anyone who is starting on Lunesta should

start at half the dose. Instead of two mg, start at one mg. The effect

of the drug last into the morning. 7/2 hours after taking three mg,

many people have problems with memory and co`ordination. It

continues past that at 11 one half hours. Some people are still

impaired. 11 one half hours! To the bottomline for everybody? Start with

a low dose. For many people, a tiny dose is all you need. Now we turn to

the nationwide outcry about sexual assault on campus. So many

allegations that tonight, a secret avenger is on the move at Columbia

University. Mysteriously, a fly with the names of young men alleged to be

a sale and is appearing across campus along with graffiti on the

walls. Is this a spur to action or a witch`hunt?

In one of the nation 's most prestigious universities, a kind of

storm is brewing. I was raped by one of my close friends who is also a

student. She is one of 20 student at Columbia, many of whom say they have

been victims of sexual assault on campus. Now publicly complaining

that the university has not taken their cases seriously and has not

punished the perpetrators. What type of Justice are you seeking? I just

wanted him to get off campus. I see him around is an every time, I feel

triggered and scared. These ministration did not do anything to

even taken off is temporarily. One week ago, something extraordinary

happens. Someone took matters into their own hands. They sprayed

graffiti on bathroom walls and plastered the campus with flyers,

listing names of students who they identified as campus rapist. It has

caused an uproar with many, saying this is vigilantes Justice. They

have not been found guilty in a court of law and it is irresponsible

and dangerous to post their names. I understand why people would not

believe the list. I know for a fact, because I believe my friends

that all those men are guilty. Columbia University have scrubbed

graffiti walls and released a statement to ABC News.

Campus sexual assault is a huge problem in the country. One in five

women have been assaulted while in courage and two thirds of them are

sorted by someone they know. This woman says she has nothing to do

with the list. If I can stop one person from having to go through

what I went through, it will be worth it. Sexual assault is a huge

issue on campuses across the country. The government is

investigating the bite universities and colleges for allegedly

mishandling sexual assault. What about the young men on those

players? None of them have spoken publicly. No word from them so far.

Up next, that video of the house cat flying in to save a child. It

strikes a nerve across the country. We will tell you about the new move

the date against the unruly dog next door. `` today.