half the town is going to be gone. at least half the city. reporter: just 24 hours after the governor warned of the state s greatest loss of life, the death toll is growing tonight. southeast of salem, oregon, chris tofte frantically trying to reach his family during the evacuation. i drove through with some pretty big flames, like flames engulfed my car. i can t believe the tires and pop or something, you know. reporter: after that interview, the family says searchers found the bodies of his 12-year-old son wyatt and wyatt s grandmother peggy. the fires in the medford area destroyed about 600 homes. this lone house, a reminder of a neighborhood obliterated. from up here, you don t only get a sense of the scale of the destruction, but also an entire landscape bleached of color.ths and twisted metal. in another neighborhood, tim engelheart took us with him to see if his home was still there. with landmarks gone, the neighborhood unrecognizable. a friend of ours had a house her