Raging Yosemite Wildfire Grows in Size
BLITZER: A desperate race against time for thousands of firefighters battling a massive wildfire threatening Yosemite National Park. The raging Rim Fire has now ravaged close to 180,000 acres and is barely contained. CNN's Casey Wian got an up close look at the inferno. He's joining us now from Groveland, California with the latest. What are you seeing over there -- Casey?</s>CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we've seen a lot of hot spots that are still burning in this area surrounding Yosemite National Park. We did get a very up close view earlier today. I went there with photographer David Lake, my producer, Jack Hannah. We got uncomfortably close to some of those flames. I think you can see the pictures right now. One of the biggest issues right now, these giant trees that have been damaged, but not knocked down by the fire. They are called snags. That's what firefighters call them. They're a big danger for firefighters. Where we were, we heard several of them fall, perhaps four or five of them crash to the ground. That's one of the big challenges that firefighters are facing. Let's listen to what one official had to say about that.</s>JOHNNY MILLER, PIO, RIM INCIDENT: One of the biggest concerns is that, obviously, you see these large trees out here. So we have a lot of those trees that are dropping. They're falling in isolated areas. So our firefighters really have to be heads-up while they're out there, putting water on the fire. They have to be looking up, looking down, looking around, making sure that their -- all their safety points are in check.</s>WIAN: Now, you can see over my shoulder some of the damage that this fire has already caused. As you mentioned, 180,000 acres have burned in this area. We're showing you a live picture right now, where you can see the visibility is not very bad. Four or five hours ago, you couldn't see 100 yards down into this canyon. There is an inversion layer that comes in in the morning and holds the smoke into these valleys and canyons. And it absolutely is choking -- very, very difficult to breathe in the mornings. And that's happening almost every day now. The good news, though, is that humidity that causes this smoke to stay down in these areas is actually helping firefighters manage this firefighting effort better. There's also some more good news. Yosemite National Park itself, Wolf, only about 3 percent of the park has burned. So the valley that so many people are familiar with, where all those landmarks are and all that scenery is, that, officials say, is still safe for visitors -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Let's hope it stays like that. Casey Wian on the front lines for us. Thanks very much. Coming up, Senator John McCain shares what he's hearing about an apparently looming U.S. military strike on Syria. Plus, cars that drive themselves. One auto maker plans to start selling them in just a few years.