at least 2,000 residents remain evacuated. hundreds of homes are still threatened. it s one of nearly 20,000 fires nationwide this year alone, the most in at least a decade, as much of the west suffers from severe to extreme drought. in tinder-dry conditions, a wildfire in colorado burned for just seven hours but destroyed at least 15 homes. i thought for sure my home was on fire. reporter: donna martinez says she was lucky. as for her neighbor? bless his heart, he stood here and just watched his house go up in flames. reporter: near flagstaff, the winds are expected to remain erratic. fire officials say it s still too dangerous for them to survey the damage. as for the number of structures that have been destroyed, the sheriff says it s at least 30, and that number is expected to rise. norah. o donnell: state of emergency there. amy cutler, thank you. let s turn now to florida where
threat as well this morning. reynolds wolf standing by. he ll be here in a moment with the latest from there and all over the country. and herman cain is out. so who s in the best position to take iowa and maybe even take some of his supporters? we ve got new poll numbers out. going give us some clues. let s get through some of the morning s headlines now. police in riot gear swept into a portland park kicking out occupy protesters overnight. a number of them were arrested. they had set up camps there after being kicked out of another park by police a few weeks ago. after police cleared the park, city workers came through, tore down all the tent. while they were doing that, the occupy protesters roamed the streets looking for a new place to set up. one of the reasons that i ran for president of the united states was such that i could change washington, d.c., from the inside. plan b is that we are going to have to change it from the outside. [ cheers ] yeah. he moved on
gusts up to 60 miles per hour toppled trees and power lines. we heard the wind blowing real hard. all of a sudden, we heard a big crash. reporter: the storm dumped heavy snow in arizona. 180 miles of i-40 closed with plows out near flagstaff. would you believe snow in phoenix? seeing is believing. in utah ice and a heightened avalanche threat forced road closures including i-15, a major highway. i knew it was going to be bad. but i didn t know it was going to be quite as icy. reporter: treacherous driving conditions in north dakota. a 100-car pile-up shut down i-94. the system moving east with strong storms in the forecast for the midwest on new year s eve. kurt gregory, nbc news. on more pleasant news, the countdown is on. we re just hours away from ringing in the new year. once again, the site of the biggest celebration will be in new york s times square where nearly a million revelers will
onstar. live on. no calorie sweetener granulated with fiber. sweet! [ female announcer ] tastes like sugar and has 3 grams of fiber per tablespoon. use it almost anywhere you use sugar. even in cooking and baking. sweet! [ female announcer ] splenda® granulated with fiber. checking top stories. look at what happened in arizona. tornadoes slammed an area near flagstaff. you re seeing some of the damage here. seven people hurt. the twisters so powerful ablew a train off the tracks. number of people filing for first-time unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level in almost four months. 445,000 people filed for jobless insurance last week. that s down 11,000 from the week before. and there are more questions and subpoenas for former senator john edwards. north carolina federal grand
gusts up to 60 miles per hour toppled trees and power lines. we heard the wind blowing real hard. all of a sudden, we heard a big crash. reporter: the storm dumped heavy snow in arizona. 180 miles of i-40 closed with plows out near flagstaff. would you believe snow in phoenix? seeing is believing. in utah ice and a heightened avalanche threat forced road closures including i-15, a major highway. i knew it was going to be bad. but i didn t know it was going to be quite as icy. reporter: treacherous driving conditions in north dakota. a 100-car pilone shut down i-94. the system moving east with strong storms in the forecast for the midwest on new year s eve. kurt gregory, nbc news. on more pleasant news, the countdown is on. we re just hours away from ringing in the new year. once again, the site of the biggest celebration will be in new york s times square where nearly a million revellers will