Witnesses shocked at the flames. Oh, my god, thats so scary. The latest on this Emergency Landing. Happening now, wildfire rescues. More than 150 people evacuated by helicopter when their only escape route was blocked by flames. The desperate situation and those fightingor f tir lahebo. This weekend is critical. Fears holiday gatherings could cause a new surgin coronavirus caseme aasnscari down to contain the spread. And battling back. Serena williams finding her mojo in a comefrombehind victory against fellow american Sloane Stephens at the u. S. Open. I hope that she saw her mama fighting. Did a tiny fan make the difference . Good morning. This is not a quiet and peaceful Labor Day Weekend by any means. Wildfires raging in california, forcing more than 150 people to be evacuated by heptpecolihoo s. Some people said to be critically injured. Meanwhile in portland, oregon, and in other parts of this country, its inflamed emotions over race, protesters throwing molotov cocktails, igniting fires on the streets and a protester caught in the middle of all of it. And in rochester, new york, a fourth night of unrest there over the death of daniel prude there in police custody. Protesters in the streets as a grand jury is set to decide whether officers will face charges. Well get to that in a moment, but we start with matt gutman in portland for us this morning. Good morning to you, matt. Reporter eva, good morning. In the hours that we were out in the streets, we noticed what seemed to be a significant escalation on the part protesters, throwing gasoline bombs at riot police for the first time, and what has become0 days into this protest movement is that it seems to lack a central cohesive message, and theres no end game apparently in sight. Overnight, parts of portland looked like a war zone. Marking a hundred nights of continuous protests. The violence erupting with fireworks shot at police at pointblank range. Oh, my god. Reporter and the cracks of molotov cocktails exploding. One demonstrator running through it, catching fire, rolling to the curb, bystanders unable at first to put him out. Stop, drop, and roll. Reporter Portland Police almost immediately declaring a riot, carpeting streets with smoke and tear gas canisters. Theyre popping off tear gas, u can see the arcs of tear gas in the air. Thyoats going to be really badn about five seconds. Were going to get out of here. Lets go, lets go just got hit in the leg by tear gas. See that cloud of yellow, mustardlike smoke. Well circle back trying to get out of that cloud. The entire corner here was lit up. Police making multiple arres amsl but protesters regrouped. Marching by the hundreds. Protests on friday night leading to 27 arrests. One person accused of illegally possessing this handgun. Demonstrators over incidents of. Police brutality, demanding reform and defunding. Earlier, a memorial for aaron j. Danielson a rightwing protester, allegedly gunned down by selfdescribed antifascist. On thursday, officials reinoehl. The kind of violence, though, that some Law Enforcement officials had feared the most, which were armed confrontations between left and rightwing activists, that fortunately hasnt materialized. The police say they had to put on old 150orri pyit and they say they feared the most armed confrontations between right and left wing elements, that didnt happen, dan. Could be another tense situation right there. Matt, thank you for your reporting. Stay safe, please. There were also tense scenes in rochester, new york, overnight, with protesters outraged over the death of daniel prude. As we mentioned ea ader,ieh in. Abcs trevor ault right there in rochester this morning with much more. Trevor, good morning to you. Reporter good morning, dan. Overnight, wousands of protesters marching from the thsite we here daniel w prude ht fatal encounter with rochester police. It was another night of hours of what were Peaceful Demonstrations that eventually flared up into more aggressive clashes between police and protesters. Overnight in rochester, more chaos erupting on the fourth straight night of clashes over the death of daniel prude. Fireworks set off in the street. Rochester police declaring the protest an unlawful assembly. Using pepper balls and pepper spray to disperse the crowd, after they say protesters were throwing rocks and bottles at officers. This after hours of peaceful protests, thousands marching through downtown, gathering on the steps of city hall. [ crowd chanting ] reporter the protests sparked by the release of this disturbing body camera footage showing daniel prude in the yhabe m yntrer enl taba. Ck ng his neck Police Officers ti to the ground. The Police Union President insists each of the officers followed protocol, though prudes death has been ruled a homicide. Im not going to let them get away scotfree with this. They were murderers. Reporter now the state attorney general is moving to a panel of grand jury to decide whether the officers involved in the incident will face charges. Seven officers have been suspended, but protesters say its not enough. We want more. We want it now. We dont want to have to keep waiting for stuff. Itt an long time coming. Reporter the organizers of last nights protest tell me the news of the grand jury is a positive step. But frankly, they think it should have happened a long time ago. The Police Response to these demonsations seems to be growing every night now with Armored Vehicles and more tear gas, but protesters say theyll keep coming out every night until they get justice. Eva. Trevor, ault, thank you. Jacob blake is breaking his silence from his hospital bed, saying hes in constant pain and calling for change. The 29yearold was shot seven times in the back by kenosha, wisconsin, police, responding to a domestic disturbance on august 23rd. A video shows the officer opening fire as blake approached his car, carrying his three young children. Blake is now paralyzed from the waist down. Please, im telling you, change our lives out there. We can stick together. Make some money. Make everything easier for our people out here. Blakes shooting led to protests in kenosha, in which two people were shot. His shooting is now under investigation. Now to the terrifying moments in the air above hawaii when a passenger spotted what appeared to be flames outside his window. You can see them right there shooting from the airplane. A pilot making an Emergency Landing and abcs zohreen shah has more on what were learning this important. Zohreen, good morning. Reporter good morning, whit. Incredibly tense moments after a military chartered flight suffered a terribly mechanical issue minutes after taking off from honolulu airport, from the air force base only a few miles away. Live air force control audio g ale emergency engine failure and then returned to the airfield. One passenger onboard tweeting so our plane almost blew up just now leaving hawaii. This was a terrifying scene inside the cabin. Pitch black, with all of the lights out, and flames could be seen flashing outside the window. From the ground, witnesses could hear explosions before those bright flashes of lights. Now the plane landed safely with no injuries reported. The situation is being closely looked at. Fe. Zohreen, thank you. We turn now to the pandemic. The Labor Day Holiday stoking new fears of a resurgence in get together to mark the traditional end of summer. Abcs alex presha has more. Reporter dan, good morning. Experts say this is critical time with so many crowds heading to beaches this Labor Day Weekend. Theyre urging americans to remain vigilant about safety. With crowds flocking to beaches this holiday weekend, experts worry waves of new coronavirus cases could be on the horizon. This weekend is critical, now is not the time to let up. Reporter urging americans to stick to cdc guidelines, social distance and wear masks. With tripledigit heat scorching california, l. A. County alone is expecting more than 1 Million People at its beaches this weekend. This was santa monica yesterday. Theres a nice little breeze going, so i feel like its a little safer because youre out in the open air but its a risk. Reporter already more than 6,000 covid deaths, county Public Health officials warn, theyll close beaches if they get overcrowded. Large indoor gatherings are th big concern bars, barbecues and house parties. Doctors saying you have to remain vigilant and avoid the crowds. People may be more willing to disregard the advice because theyre tired and or because this far in they havent seen or known anyone whos gotten severely ill. Reporter a surge of covid cases already linked to large gatherings on college campuses. Nine greek houses are under quarantine at the university of wisconsin, madison, after dozens of students tested positive. This crowd at a bar in st. Paul, minnesota, the governor there warning the state is at a tipping point. Its 1 of 30 reporting an increase in cases. Arkansas is among them too. Overnight, the university of arkansas announcing all campus activities are canceled for the next two weeks due to the high number of covid cases. The start of College Football, last night, memphis played attendance to about 4,500, masks were mandatory and also 12 feet of social distancing and no tailgating. Eva. Joining us is dr. Ashish jha, dean of the school of Public Health. Thank you for being with us this morning. Good morning. Thanks for having me on. So you heard in alexs piece, holidays, the thing that were most concerned about right now, brings out crowds. Tnstoschoea. Molho hosew likely are we to see a ju in cases and deaths in a couple of weeks . In each of the previous holidays memorial day, july 4th we definitely saw a bump in cases afterwards and this time were heading into the fall with kids going back to school as you said, so im pretty worried that if we dont act responsibly, we are going to see a surge of cases in the days and weeks ahead. Were already seeing a big jump in cases on college campuses. Lets be real, its hard to control the behavior of college students. These are for the most part, young, healthy people. How big of a concern is this and how should we handle it . Absolutely. Expecting 18yearolds, 20yearolds to behave perfectly and not gather i think is unrealistic. I think the responsibility here is really on college administrators. Ive argued that it is safe to bring students back on campus, but youve got to do it with lots of testing and quarantining and theres a lot you can do to make it safer. A lot of colleges just arent doing that, and thats why were seeing a lot of the outbreaks that were seeing. A university of washington mo l, i rsofdont think its an that would be an additional , i think that would be between now and the end of september. That would be completely awful, and we know how to prevent that. People wear masks, avoid those indoor gatherings and we improve our testing infrastructure, if we do those things we can keep that number well below that 400,000 number. Lets talk vaccines for a moment. Do you sense there will be widespread hesitation to take the vaccine, both those from both from tho whe veha vaccines in general, but from o trust in politicians and how political this whole thing has become . It unfortunately it has beco aitolic. I think what americans what most americans are going to do is be guided by the science. I think if the scientists are doing a great job, if the fda acts in the scientific interests and in the interest of the American People and let the science drive the decisionmaking, i think a majority of americans take it. If politicians make the decision here, i think a lot of people will be hesitant. Dr. Jha, thank you so much for your time this morning. Dan, over to you. Eva, thank you. Were going to turn now to news from overseas. British police are looking for a suspect in a string of stabbings overnight that left one man dead and seven others injured in the city of birmingham. Th responded to a call of stabbing in the city center just after midnight. The report of other stabbings nearby followed shortly thereafter. The stabbings are not believed to be linked to terrorism or hate crimes. Now to the frightening scenes out of california. Authorities pulling off an Emergency Evacuation Mission when the only escape route was blocked by fire. Reporter overnight, an intense rescue mission to save more than 150 peoplera tpp a raging inferno at a campground near fresno in central california. I was told by some visitors thatheres still lots of people down at windy point, and theres a fire around them. Reporter racing to air lift campers to safety. Ambulances waiting nearby. First responders ready ttriage and rushed them to local hospitals. Others driving through the flames, desperate to escape. So far at least a dozen injured, some with critical burns. Campers forced to shelter in place, as smoke engulfed the site, blocking the only roadway in. Officials reportedly telling them to jump into the camp sites lake if necessary. Its just crazy. Its a beautiful site, but at the same time very sad. Reporter the wildfire torching more than 35,000 acres so far, made worse by a record heat wave hitting the state. Communities across the area told to evacuate. And in southern california, the eldorado fire erupting, near is san bernardino, thousands of acres burning already. Residents nearby ordered to get out. Weve just been seeing this again and again in california. Lets get to rob marciano in norwalk, connecticut. Whos been following all this. The heat and fire danger out west today, rob. Yeah, the record heat doesnt help the situation when we see records from california to arizona, all the way through denver, and that camp creek fire started two days ago, so almost explosive growth there with 0 containment. Heres a look at where all these fires are. Over 50 uncontained fires burning across the west. A number of fire weather watches and red flag warnings. Thaterquov citety prs wheruce t burning. Heres the heat, nearly the entire state of california under rtfu warnings l , tiuns he ver gas, youre in it, too. Look at some of these numbers today, the peak of it, the hottest stuff after these lm springs. 117 in riverside. Burbank, 114. And todays High Temperature in Los Angeles Downtown l. A. Expected to get up and over 100 degrees t you know were in the month september when we talk about record heat in the west and just days later snow likely comin not too far from there. Well talk more about that in the next halfhour, guys. Back up to you. Grizzly marciano, appreciate it. Well see you in the next halfhour. So Many Americans on the road right now, and that includes the team from abcs this week, who have a special itn iotoy da find ace abc news political analyst matthew dowd. Matthew, good morning. Matthew, good morning. Labor day is the kick off to thl ump Biden Campaign . Now, did because of the Kentucky Derby yesterday . Very good. Very good. You know im a big sports fan. Thats right. This race has actually been fairly stable for about four months, ever since joe biden clinched the democratic nonatio. With a sizable not a huge, but a sizable lead of seven, eight points over donald trump in this race and his advantage on favorability versus Donald Trumps unfavorability in this. People think a sevenpoint lead isnt significant, it is. When you think about where the races have been in this country for the last eight president ial races, a sevenpoint lead is fairly big in a polarized time in america. You mentioned this, but the conventions dont seem to have moved the needle when it comeso. The next big events will be the debates. Historically, can debates change the race . Debates have had an effect on races, usually two or three point margin on it, it all depends. Theres going to be supposed to be three president ial debates and one Vice President ial debate. I think that is the next real opportunity for donald trump to try to close the margin. Its really incumbent upon him as the incumbent whos behind to close that margin. So, to me, that first president ial debate is probably as significant as any president ial debate weve seen in the last 20 years. Donald trump has to move the race. In order to do that, he has to do it in that first debate. We led the show with the ongoing unrest in American Cities over race. Donald trump has been trying to make a law and order argument in the face of these protests. It hasnt moved the needle in the polls either, could this potentially become a potent issue for him . Well, i think its going to be difficult for him, because the problem is, hes the president in america today. Presidd hes rniainst m change t uted states, its when the country thinks youre in the wrong direction when they do today, and donald trump adds to that, it doesnt help him. To me this is why he hasnt moved the race. In fact, abcs own polling has shown that joe biden has an advantage on these issues related to the protests and violence in america. I dont get the Donald Trumps rastsayinggy, ref elect me. It doesnt make sense. Matt dowd reporting from boulder, colorado. Thank you very much. As we mentioned a special edition of this week later this morning, right here on abc. Martha raddatz will host and report from colorado. After traveling across the country to speak with voters as we enter into this final stretch of the campaign. She interviews congresswoman val demings and Governor Mike Dewine from the battleground states of florida and ohio. Coming up, new images of the crime scene after the death of Breonna Taylor and the questions they raise over the noknock ce death. And an emotional moment on espn, as analyst Kirk Herbstreit makes a plea for racial understanding. Quite a moment. Also coming up serenas victory, the tennis champs come from behind win and the little fan right there cheering her on. Good morning america is sponsored by chase. Make m wofe s tha when you think of a bank, you think of people in a place. But when you have the chase mobile app, your bank