suzanne malveaux. i want to get you up to speed for wednesday, august 31st. firefighters are calling in air tankers to battle wildfires outside of dallas. more than two dozen homes have burned in palo pinto county and firefighters say the fire is 25% contained. several hundred people had to pack up and run as fires spread. texas is in the middle of an epic drought and heat wave that is dragging all summer long. reporter: more than 100 homes are in jeopardy and those who lost their homes are devastated. it happened so quickly and i was thinking not again. this time it happened like, now. before we knew it was coming, it was taking time. a brush fire overran several homes and this church in oklahoma city. crews say the fire, it is contained, but they re working hard today to make sure it doesn t flare up again. irene, long gone, but folks are still feeling miserable in parts of the northeast. forecasters say the pasaeic river in new jersey has peaked but it probably w
the. reporter: rebels haven t been they haven t been battling so much as they have been retreating. about the rebels advanced very quickly earlier this week, over the weekend. until they reach the outskirts of sirte. in sirte, which is gadhafi s hometown, he is really digging in. rebels say he is putting in land mines, anti-personnel and anti-tank mines. he s set up artillery. he s set up his tanks. today gadhafi was moving his front line forward, pushing back the rebels and the rebels didn t seem to try to hold their ground at all. they got into their cars and beat a very chaotic and very quick retreat. the rebel leaders are saying this is a tactical retreat. they want to have a more secure front line that they can supply with weapons, that they can supply with fuel instead of just rushing to meet gadhafi s forces head on and being forced backwards. richard engel, live for us with the latest of what s
in that effort, the united states will play a supporting role. 32 past p hour. this is a live shot out of london where secretary of state hillary clinton is there for an international conference to discuss the future of libya. more than 44 ministers, including several from arab states are there gathering to map out long-term solutions to the country s crisis. so still more going on perfect tank to lib wra ya. we go now to libya. chief foreign correspondent jim maceda is on the ground in tripoli. what s the latest in the progress of the rebels there? reporter: first of all, thank you for the title. i will keep it. the progress here is phenomenal. if you look at what s happened in 24 hours. we were reporting yesterday that the rebels are on the outskirts of sirte. that s gadhafi s hometown. it is about 250 miles north of
basis. look at yesterday s briefing with dennis mcdonough. we had the news in syria. this is going to get tested immediately. as for libya, there s a potentially critical battle under way less than a hundred miles for gadhafi s hometown of sirte. jim meceda is live for us in tripoli. what s the latest on the fighting there? reporter: well, what a difference a day makes. thest a cliche. but in this case it really applies. yesterday at this time we were reporting rebels were on the outskirts of sirte. sirte being gadhafi s hometown, his birthplace. only 250 miles for us here in tripoli. late yesterday the rebels hit a wall of fire, of rockets. some coming from gadhafi forces in zaire todsirte. civilians armed to the tee in these little towns by gadhafi who were ambushing, who were hitting these rebelsenvoys.
richard engel live in a rebel stronghold in benghazi. richard, what s the mood? reporter: the mood here is very optimistic. people think that they have the momentum. there was a victory parade in benghazi overnight. rumors that sirte had fall ton the rebels pand this city exploded. there was gunfire almost all night. tank celebratory fire, which i had never heard before. and the mood here is electric. but i don t think it s fair to say they ve fought their way to the doorsteps of sirte. it s quite clear the air strikes by the western powers really paved the way. this was a quick drive to sirte. and it is only now that they ve arrived on the outskirts of sirte. sirte being gadhafi s hometown and stronghold. what should we be watching for here in the states the next 48 hours? reporter: if they can get through sirte, then they don t