tonight on "world news," wildfires, we show you flames 100 feet high exploding. as a roaring fire now threatens thousands of homes. on alert. tampa police prepare for the unknown. new concern about protesters heading toward the republican convention. rosie's waerngs the mistake so many people make about heart attacks. it almost cost rosie o'donnell her life. we have new questions tonight. and magical quest, our reporter takes a visit to the edge of the world and finds a mystical animal in need of help. good earrings as we come on the air tonight, we have

pictures to show you what a wildfire really does as it tears through mile after mile in california. and not just the pictures, listen to the sound. that is the sound of the inferno, heading towards 3,000 homes. and it is not just there. it is one of ten states under siege tonight by dozens of fires abc's cecilia vega spent the day with families on the run and firefighters on the front line. >> reporter: look at these flames looking high in the sky, torching tall pines snapping the tip of trees making day look like night. our sacramento affiliate ktxtv shot the extraordinary images from the front lines of the inferno, so close up you could actually hear winds spanning the flames. >> free trees more than 100-feet tall.

>> reporter: with more than 3,000 homes in the path of these flames and the fire only 35% contained, firefighters are battling the blaze every way they can. on the ground and in the air. one of the most difficult things about fighting this fire is the deep terrain out here. you can see, take a look at how steep some of these hillsides are which is making getting to the fire difficult for the firefighters. also, they're relying on the helicopters to get in the hard-to-reach places to drop that water. and residents are doing all they can to get out of harm's way, no matter what or who they have to leave behind. >> come on, baby. >> reporter: last night, we met eddie hamerle. she told us she was sick with worry about her house and the pets she couldn't save. >> we pray that we can get back to them. >> reporter: firefighters check on her home. it's still standing. and the cat -- oh, there's a cat inside. today, we brought eddie the good news.

>> oh, that's such good news. thank you so much. >> reporter: but the worry is not over yet. i'm standing in one of the main hot spots that has firefighters concerned this evening. this is one of the focus, this ridge here, the flames at this hour continue to burn behind me. firefighter, the goal for them now is to stop the flames as they jump over the hill and the homes that sit only a mile away from here. >> all right. i won't get that sound out of my mind either, thank you. we move from the front to the american heartland where drought that brought the mississippi river to a stand still, vitality struggling to keep water nine feet deep, 100 boats virtually stuck in 11 miles of watery gridlock. here's abc's steve osunsami. >> reporter: crippling the mighty mississippi, water so low, ships are bottoming and backed up for 11 miles. it should look like an

interstate highway but tonight, all traffic is down to a one-mile lane where the water is deepest. >> it was a close call. >> reporter: this is the river last year. today, there's less of it. residents haven't seen it this low since the 1940s. outside memphis, they were racing to remove a car that poked out of the waters blocking river traffic that was sitting on the river bottom for years. there's a lot at stake here, this river is the nation's artery of commerce, and the goods on these barges alone fill more than 700 semitrucks and they're just sitting here. everyday products could soon cost products more. each day traffic stops, the u.s. economy loses $300 million. so they're dredging the mississippi. >> i'm running, works myself a big vacuum cleaner. >> reporter: just trying to keep the water at least nine feet deep, notice the river may need

to remain closed. steve osunsami, abc news, greenville, mississippi. >> and our thanks to steve. we now turn to the head line in this wild weather august. there is a tropical storm isaac. now packing 35-mile-an-hour winds and gaining steam and it could become a hurricane as early as thursday. and some computer models put it on a direct collision course with tampa, florida, site of the republican national convention just six days from now. and with that countdown on toward the republican convention, today there was word of a mysterious discovery just one mile of the site. bricks left on the roof of a building, officials calling it suspicious. and tonight across tampa, police are on alert. here's abc's senior justice correspondent pierre thomas. >> reporter: tampa police and authorities are planning for the worse, planning on an anarchy

group that may try to disrupt it. you can see police here some on horses as they protect up protesters. today, police confirm this troubling incident. someone made their way on this roof to store bricks possibly to throw off at convention attendees. >> there's those that come here bent on disruption those are the individuals we will deal with individually, those are the individuals that left those items on that rooftop. >> reporter: nothing is to be overlookeded. airspace is being restricted. streets will be closed and contingencies for mass casualties are in police. they told abc they have identified no notice about disruptions. like this in the 2008 party convention in denver and

minneapolis are anticipated. someone planning on being affiliated with the group anonymous has posted this online, saying members will be in tampa. authorities are concerned not only about the convention site but locations throughout tampa. diane. >> thanks pierre pap. tonight, the man who unleashed a furry about comments about women and rape is causing his republican colleagues to regroup because he is refusing to get out of the race. it's "your voice your vote" and ahere's abc's senior white house correspondent jake tapper. >> reporter: president obama was eager to weigh in on congressman todd akin yesterday, but today in columbus, ohio, he has moved on to other issues. >> my opponent now wants to go back to the way things were. >> reporter: after all, others are doing his work for him. running mate paul ryan and mitt romney in pennsylvania, an airborne look for what republicans fear, a banner,

romney, ryan, akin, wrong for women. >> what i understand from doctors, that's really rare. if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. >> reporter: a dozen republican senators have tried to shut akin's campaign down. a drum beat of calls for him to drop out has been deafening. sources tell abc news that paul ryan personally called akin that he think long and hard what's best for him and the party akin in a tv ad -- >> the mistake i made was in the words i said, not in the heart i hold. i ask for your forgiveness. >> reporter: but he's not going anywhere. the chairman of the republican party has asked akin not to come to next week's republican convention. after all, the obama campaign wants to use akin to treat romney and ryan as extremists at the very least to raise it to

divisive socialists. they talked about abortion with no mention of exceptions such as rape. the obama campaign called it the akin amendment. diane, at odds with romney's position on abortion, he has curved out exceptions for rape and incest. that's not ryan's position, he would only grant the life of a mother an exception but he's 'ss own while he's on the ticket. diane. >> jake tapper, thank you so much. good to talk to you tonight. now, we ahead overseas to afghanistan, we learned an overnight attack at the bagram air base while the nation's top military general was on the ground. his plane was damaged by rocket fire in the attack. two ground personnel suffered minor injuries. general dempsey was in his quarters. he was unharmed. officials say they do not believe his plane was targeted. they're calling it a lucky shot.

and back here at home, an undercover investigation has prompted action by federal investigators. they have shut down a supplier for a popular burger chain in-n-out burger whose tag line is quality in everything. here's brian ross. >> reporter: with the quality you can taste, the west coast in in-n-out burger. hollywooders caught miley cyrus and her family pulling in for their burgers. today, the fabled chain was fighting a public relations nightmare after an animal rights group shot this video in june and july of this year at a meat company that supplies at much as 30% of their meat. >> what our investigators posed

who could not walk out they are being prodded, jabbed. >> reporter: under federal law, cows not able to walk on their own are considered potential food safety rink and should not be used for food consumption. >> animals who are not ambulatory do not have a disease, there are word that mad cow disease may escape detection. >> reporter: after viewing the video, federal inspectors came to the plant yesterday and ordered it shut down based on what they said was inhuman treatment of the animals. the inspectors said they did not find any diseased animals nor did they order a recall of the meat from the plant. investigators said they were cooperating but surprised by the allegations because usda inspectors operate continuously at the plant and had not found anything wrong previously. >> it is true, in fact, that usda inspectors were onsite for this and that is something that the usda needs to answer for.

>> as for in-n-out burger, they told us they pay premium for their meat. that company has many other customers, including the usda's national school lunch program. and as of tonight, diane, no word what will happen with that contract eye were the usda. >> we'll be checking in. thanks so much, brian. and now, it is not how diana nyad had planned to end it, after 50 miles, not even quite halfway, the endurance swimmer ended her journey from cuba to florida. now, she says she probably won't try again. >> i'm not a quitter. but the sport and this particular ocean are different than it used to be. these jellyfish are prolific. for me, there's no joy in that. >> she was completing her swim

symbolically in florida, she thanked everyone, listen to the crowd sing "happy birthday" because she turns 63 tomorrow. and before she began her quest, she said once when i go sleep at night, i say how much more could i have put into this day? that's the way i want to live. and still ahead here on "world news," the mistake that almost cost rosie o'donnell her life. an important lesson about the few important steps to deal with a heart attack. you know why i sell tools? tools are uncomplicated. nothing complicated about a pair of 10 inch hose clamp pliers. you know what's complicated? shipping. shipping's complicated. not really. with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service shipping's easy. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. that's not complicated. no. come on. how about... a handshake. alright. priority mail flat rate boxes. starting at just $5.15.

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ask your doctor if spiriva can help. it is something so many people think will never happen to them. a heart attack, even though heart disease is the number one killer among women as well as men. and we learned yesterday that rosie o'donnell had a heart attack. and although she survived, she said she made one mistake that could have cost her her life. abc's amy robach tells us why. >> reporter: two new tweets today from rosie o'donnell letting the world know she's "feeling good" and tweeting this picture saying she's eating heart healthy. this following her bombshell blog detailing a heart attack she suffered last week. after feeling symptoms o'donnell writes, "maybe this is a heart attack. i googled women's heart attack symptoms i had many of them but really? i thought, na." o'donnell didn't seek medical

attention right away. instead of calling for help, she took an aspirin and waited until the next day to see a cardiologist where she learned her coronary artery was 99% blocked. >> ma! i think you're having a heart attack. do i look like the type of person who has a heart attack? >> reporter: this psa pointing out the potentially dangerous implication among women. >> they don't think it is going to happen to another woman. >> reporter: 1 in 3 will die of heart disease every year. >> believe it or not two, thirds of the women who have heart attacks die suddenly, never making it to the hospital so is this a big problem. >> reporter: o'donnell knows she's lucky and wants to make sure other women don't make the same mistake she did. though the symptoms, ladies. listen to the voice inside, the one we also easily ignore. call 911. save yourself."

amy robach, abc news, new york. >> dr. richard besser is here. what did rosie do, she got the symptoms, why? >> she recognized the symptoms seen more frequently in women like nausea and sweating and she chewed an aspirin, it gets into your blood quickly. >> and then she went to bed? >> she went to bed. time management when you're having a heart attack, you dial 911. you don't go to bed. >> you were saying to me, embarrassment keeps so many people from going to the hospital? >> that's a big one, particularly in women, people are afraid you were going to go to the hospital and doctors are going to say it's just indigestion. there's no doctor, every doctor would rather see 50 people who have indigestion than this one who is really having a heart attack. you have to get over that. >> that terms of what happened before here, we hear 99%

blockage. does that mean there's some symptoms she missed? >> here, you really have to listen to your body. if you're getting short of breath or tired going up the stairs or going for a walk and that's new, you have to go to your doctor. don't ignore that. >> again, don't let embarrassment keep you back. number one rule. coming up here, not even a cage can keep a crafty penguin in a zoo. i never meant to...

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if you're reaching for the salt shaker tonight having dinner, this one is for you. one of the america's most popular chains has decided to become a pioneer. we're talking boston market known for rotisserie chicken, they are removing salt shakers from the tables. from now on, if you want salt there, you have to walk over to the counter to get it. boston market says they're trying to get people to taste the foods before piling on more sodium. tell us what you think. the baby penguin at the zoo in japan is proving if at first you don't succeed, well, you know, he's escaped three times in ten days. first, he rode a water slide to freedom. zoo keepers shut down the slide. two days later, through a hole in the fence. they boarded up the fence. and this morning, he hopped over the fence. he was found swimming nearby. but tonight he's back at a private pond with walls where

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pictures? they are images, from massive satellites, that show a huge piece of frozen earth in greenland on july 8th and four days later, gone. it has thawed. tonight, we're going to take you to a rare trip to that region, the melting ice to find a truly mysterious creature the one that inspired tales of the unicorn. the kind of tale that needs human help. linsey davis went to find them in the arctic. >> reporter: i'm traveling to one of the most inhospitable places in the world the middle of nowhere baffin island deep inside the arctic circle. >> we're into our third hour of getting pulled by a snowmobile not another human being in sight. are we lost? >> reporter: this is the price of admission for a shot at seeing one of the most elusive creatures on the planet the narwhal. the naro. the so called unicorn of the ocean with that single tusk that

can be up to 10 feet long it's rumored to live to 90, it's the stuff of fantasy. the problem is the arctic see ice is melting faster than any other. s exposing the narwhal to predators. the ice is disappearing beneath our feet. welcome to the edge of the world, right? >> reporter: tom lennartz is out fearless team leader from arctic kingdom polar expeditions. we travel to the edge of the ice and then, arch back in distance. suddenly we hear a massive gasp of air. >> they're all around us now.

just as quickly as they appear, they're gone. they're among the most elite creatures on the planet and why scientists say they disappear before we ever get a chance to know them. linsey davis, abc news, baffin island, canada. >> and we thank you for watching tonight. and we're always here at abcnews.com. don't miss the rest of linsey's report, a special edition "an arctic journey." also, "new york med" will be here at 10:00 eastern. see you tomorrow.

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