over 4 million people have rushed to get the vaccine in france since president mack ron made that announcement just 15 days ago. and here in britain, the authorities are hoping the same thing will happen. david? ian pannell, thank you. back here at home, now to the extreme fire danger in the west at this hour. more than 13 major fires now. and the air quality alerts all the way to the east coast. in fact, one just issued inrom west. abc s will carr on the front lines tonight, he s in plumas county, california. reporter: tonight, california lge fires now six times the size of san francisco. the dixie fire merging with the nearby fly fire burning through steep, rugged terrain, forcing more than 8,000 to flee, threatening more than 10,000 structures. more than a dozen already destroyed. the fire at times creating its own weather patterns. that fire dwarfed bring the massive bootleg fire in oregon, now scorching over 400,000
wants americans to get a vaccine. they see this as just a, you know, a one in a million situation. they feel strongly that people should get vaccinated and not use this as an excuse or a reason for fear. reporter: the number of americans getting their first dose of the covid vaccine has been dropping for several days now. just to give you an example, david, on friday, the u.s. was averaging 3.35 million shots a day total and today we re averaging just over 3 million. david? all right, stephanie ramos with us tonight. steph, thank you. and we do have one more important note on the virus tonight. overseas and the crisis unfolding right now in india. hospitals are overwhelmed, the highest daily death toll seen yet. reports patients are now being forced to share beds. and concern over a fast-moving variant. here s our senior foreign correspondent ian pannell tonight. reporter: tonight, india is in crisis as a second devastating wave of coronavirus sweeps this nation.
arriving from the country now has to stay in special quarantine hotels. and that s because more than 100 cases of this new worrying variant have been found here in the uk. david? all right, ian pannell with us tonight. ian, thank you. and back here in this country, on the eve of president biden s climate summit with world leaders, the president is expected to make a big announcement, to commit to slashing carbon emissions in half by the year 2030. tonight, our series of reports, beginning with ginger zee in the mojave desert, searching for what s called white gold, lithium, used to power laptops, phones and electric cars made in america. could it help make a difference in fighting climate change and creating jobs in this country? here s our chief meteorologist ginger zee. reporter: tonight, we go into the mojave desert. searching for lithium, which could be the key to america s clean emergency future. see, lithium powers our laptops, our phones, our electric vehicles. esmeralda c
watch as norwegian rescuers, helmet cams rolling, swoop in by helicopter, plucking most of the crew off the deck and up into te relative safety of the chopper. the vessel supposed to transport yachts and boats around the world, now listing perilously, tossed around in giant 50-foot waves. this crew member forced to leap into the rough, frigid surf. the water temperature in the low 40s. lucky and grateful to be alive. david, tonight, two tug boats are racing out to that ship to prevent it from sinking. that could lead to tons of oil and diesel spilling into the north sea. david? ian pannell with us tonight. ian, thank you. and back in this country, arkansas has passed the first law of its kind in the u.s., the first state banning youth treatment for transgender minors. enacting a ban on treatments and surgeries for transgender youth. the law prohibits doctors from providing gender affirming medical care including certain
five weeks, so still a long road ahead for that little boy. david? matt gutman live in california tonight. matt, thank you. next, families near the site of that toxic waste water lake near tampa, florida, are now going home tonight. florida officials have lifted the evacuations now and have opened most of the nearby roads. pumps have siphoned off millions of gallons of that waste water, reducing the risk of catastrophic flooding. a submersible device will be on site tomorrow looking to plug the actual leak. authorities acknowledging some of the water has drained into tampa bay, now raising concerns about damage to the environment. overseas tonight and to dramatic images of a rescue in rough seas off norway. a dutch cargo ship in danger of capsizing. some crew members jumping overboard to escape. here s our senior foreign correspondent ian pannell tonight. reporter: tonight, a daring, dangerous rescue mission on the high seas. a dozen crew members stranded on this dutch cargo sh