homes. south side of lewisville had catastrophic losses as well, dozens of homes. damage assessment is continuing today. we won't have final numbers until late tonight or tomorrow, but we fully expect this to be 500 or more homes lost. the fire burnt in an interesting dynamic with mosaics. you can see how the wind and topography drove it certain directions, devastated some neighborhoods and blocks and left neighbors standing and intact. i know residents want to get back to their homes as soon as possible to assess damage. in many of those neighborhoods that are blocked off, it is still too dangerous to return. we saw still active fire in many places this morning and we saw down power lines and a lot of risk that we're trying to mitigate. as soon as residents are able to get back, we're going to let them back. that's our goal. don't want to keep people out of their neighborhoods or their homes. last night there was a boil water announced for city of lewisville. that now extends to the town of superior. the issue is water pressure was lost in those communities and water is potentially contaminated, even domestic water, will need to be boiled in those areas in the southern part around lewisville, superior, and in superior. i want to stress trail heads east of highway 93 and the chasm to the south of closed. stay out of that area, we still have power line issues. we received an outpouring from the community to be volunteers and make donations. we appreciate this. please do not self deploy to those areas. for those that want to volunteer, please visit colorado responds.org. if you want to make donations, go to our website at boulder oem.com. there are details how to make donations and how to register and be available through the red cross or community foundation of boulder county. we have a community call center established. this call center has information concerning the fire's impact on boulder county and can be reached at 303-413-7730. if you have general questions about the fire, your neighborhoods, road closures, please call the call center. do not call 911. i'm going to turn it over to the governor. thank you. >> thank you, sheriff. moments ago we did an aerial reconnaissance mission thanks to colorado national guard of the areas impacted. we were able to do it in the brief window before the snow and how grateful we are that the snow has started. there were still some areas with active flames, mostly looking at the neighborhood level devastation. as the sheriff indicated, there's neighborhoods where because of the nature of the fire spread by gusts of up to 105 miles per hour it would spread to a house here or there, over other houses, past other streets, very unusual burn pattern. and the other unusual factor is just in the blink of an eye. this was a disaster in fast motion. all over the course of a half day. nearly all the damage. many families having minutes, minutes to get whatever they could, their pets and kids into the car and leave. the last 24 hours have been devastating. it is unimaginable. it is hard to speak about. like many boulder county residents, i have text and voice mails from friends letting me know whether they're safe or not, what they've lost. i also spoke to the president before this press conference, the president called and offered support for the people of colorado. they also gave verbal authorization to approve the expedited disaster declaration. that will be finalized and papered in the next couple hours. what that means is it allows those that suffered loss, small businesses and homeowners, they won't have to wait for preliminary damage assessment for housing and small business assistance. that will be forthcoming very soon because of this disaster and the actions that the president took and the president sends his regards to the people of colorado. this hit close to home for so many of us, literally in some cases for those of us that lived nearby, but also in terms of this being a fire that wasn't a wildfire in the forest, it was a suburban, urban fire. the costco we shop at, the target we buy our kids' clothes at, all damaged. nearly a thousand homes in two very tight knit, beautiful communities our state has are gone. we talk about houses destroyed but each house is not just a house, it is a home. it is a sanctuary of comfort for those that live there. it is memories. we experienced so much loss and yesterday happened over the course of several hours. this is our community. to watch it burn so quickly. unexpectedly. so different, this played out with 105 mile winds. we're going to work hard with families, small businesses to rebuild our treasured communities, homes, sanctuaries for folks, short term impact of housing needs. so far looks like two major hospitals in the area were spared, schools were spared. and we might have our very own new year's miracle, if it holds up there was no loss of life. we know many people had just minutes to evacuate. if that was successfully pulled off by the effected families, that's quite a testimony to preparedness and emergency response. i also spoke to the fema administrator and let her know that with this expedited major disaster declaration, we need all the help we can get. she asked what other help, we talked about short term housing needs and hospital capacity because the hospital while not destroyed, will be out of commission a period of days or weeks. uncertain when that will be back at 100% capacity. you know, mr. rogers once told his audience when i was a boy and would see scary things in the news, my mother would say look for the helpers. you'll always find people that are helping. time and time again, we see those helpers here in colorado. the sheriff and his deputies, national guard, hundreds of great firefighters from municipal fire departments in the denver metro region, law enforcement, first responders, many brave men and women themselves lost homes, uncertain if they had homes to return to. they stayed on the job. on behalf of a grateful state of colorado, we want to say profound thank you to everyone helping. now going to say a few words in spanish. [ speaking foreign language ] hi, everybody. welcome to msnbc reports. i am in for andrea mitchell this hour. we are listening to the governor of colorado updating everybody and briefing on the devastating events that have taken place near denver in boulder county over the last 24 hours. a huge fire has bloomed in this area, the marshall fire, and has taken at least 500 homes, buildings, businesses, some entire subdivisions completely gone. if there's a silver lining in the press conference, it has been that so far there's been no fatalities. the governor saying it would be a new year's miracle if that holds to be true, a testament to people's preparedness because in this situation, people, families had literally minutes to get out of homes, grab the pets and what they could and get out. let's listen in. >> these are physical objects that you've lost. you will rebuild. we will mobilize everything the state has with support of the federal government to make sure you have resources you need to rebuild your lives in colorado. with that, we turn it over to the senator. >> thank you, governor. thank you for your leadership again in another profoundly difficult moment for the state with one day left in the calendar year. i'm going to be brief. i want to start by thanking the sheriff and first responders that did an unbelievable job of getting people out of here. making sure people evacuated. we don't know what final numbers will be here, but when you fly over this to know that loss of life is, if there is any, is going to be as limited as it is is a profound testament to the way the first responders alerted people to the danger and i think importantly the way people themselves responded to the alerts that they received. i just want to start by saying thank you. and second, i want to thank president biden for responding so quickly here. you have my commitment and i know the commitment of the entire congressional delegation -- colorado is used to this unfortunately. floods and fires. what i can say, every single case we built back stronger than we were before the disaster happened. i'm absolutely certain that will be the case here. boulder county and the communities effected have been through this. this fire may have happened on the plains of colorado which is very unusual but this county we know is mountain strong. we know we're going to rebuild better than we were before, and i want to turn it over to my colleague that represents this part of the state. >> good morning, everyone. first, i want to start by thanking our first responders, first responders, police officers, everyone working so diligently throughout the day yesterday and this morning and through the night to protect lives and livelihoods. we're incredibly grateful for your service and bravery. that starts with my friend, sheriff pele. he is one of the longest serving sheriffs in colorado history, had more than his fair share of disasters during his tenure. we're so grateful for his leadership and work of all of the firefighters that drove up last night. west metro, from denver across the state to help protect the community. thank you to the governor for his leadership, the mayors that have done incredible job under troubling circumstances, leading their respective cities lewis ville and superior. yesterday was devastating for boulder county and lewisville. the fires are unprecedented. they moved through neighborhoods with speed and magnitude like we have never seen before and we know already that the damage will be costly and disastrous. we saw that for ourselves during the over flight we took a few minutes ago with the governor and the senator. as the sheriff laid out, there are countless families in the community learning they've lost their homes and all their possessions. for each of the individuals learning of the loss for those evacuated from homes, we stand with you, ready to assist in any way that we can. i had the opportunity yesterday to visit with many individuals, constituents, neighbors at one of the major evacuation sites in lafayette, my hometown, the ymca, to hear their stories. as the governor said, many of whom had minutes to evacuate homes and learned that they lost everything they owned. it is heartbreaking. i also was heartened to see so many fellow coloradoans there, dropping off supplies, neighbors taking care of neighbors. it is the colorado way. what we're known for. certainly on full display today. prayers are with everyone impacted by the fires. it will be a long road to recovery. we are grateful that fema gave swift authorization to the grants necessary to battle flames, and grateful to president biden for his swift approval today of major disaster declaration which is critical in terms of bringing federal resources here to boulder county and many homeowners that lost so much, for folks looking for housing assistance, small business assistance, we'll work with fema the next several hours to ensure resources are brought to bear as quickly as possible. i'll close by saying perhaps the obvious, it has been an incredibly difficult year for colorado and boulder county, but we have been faced and tested with challenges before and have always risen to the occasion. i have every confidence we're going to do so this time around. with that, open it up for questions. >> one second. mr. mayor, senator, mayor. >> thank you, everyone. i am the lewisville mayor. i want to thank all of the first responders, police chief dave hayes, firefighter chief john wilson for the tremendous effort they put forward. i want to thank everyone for patience. we need community members to continue to stay out of the area until the evacuation order is lifted. when folks get back, we need everyone's help conserving water. we're under a boil order. we need everybody to follow instructions on the cdc website, maintain safety if drinking water. lewisville is a strong community, we stand with superior, share a high school and library, we're going to get through this together. we supported each other nearly two years through the coronavirus pandemic, will continue to support each other, work with us. thank you for your patience. please continue to follow instructions on the oem website. >> any update on the origin? >> we know we had power lines down in the area of the origin of the fire. the origin of the fire hasn't been confirmed, it is suspected to be power lines, but we're investigating that today and we have folks on the ground as we speak. >> anything else being investigated? >> we're investigating anything we find out there. >> the snow started, absent major changes in weather, there's very limited potential for additional negative impact. there are smoldering flames, but at this point longs the weather holds up, not going to be substantial damage. >> the incident commander on the fire since it started, hopefully being replaced today by a federal incident manager, but he is doing a hell of a job on very little sleep. so he is available for those type of questions as well. so it is all a good guess right now. as i said, we know we lost approximately 500 homes around superior, west side of superior. saw dozens of homes burned out between superior and colorado springs, saw dozens burned in south part of lewisville. i would estimate as least 500 homes, would not be surprised if it is 1,000. >> we saw there were some homes partially destroyed, areas there were roofs burned out. so in addition to completely destroyed homes with burn pits, there were a number of damaged homes and commercial properties. some were totalled, some destroyed. it will take time for final numbers for exact numbers. the sheriff indicated over 500, upwards of a thousand as well as a number of stores and commercial properties damaged. >> you were talking about maybe a thousand homes, two, three people a home, 2 or 3,000 people getting ready. how are you going to house them. what can you share? >> there are temporary emergency shelters, those will serve people as long as needed. this was topic of conversation with the fema administrator and the president about what fema can do to support medium term housing needs, they want kids to return to their school, some sense of normalcy before the physical rebuilding of the home. that's a priority of our administration working with the federal government to provide as many options as possible. the county and sheriff did a great job staying at emergency shelters. my understanding, there are 200 people at the emergency shelters. many stayed with friends that will continue as long as needed. >> so the strategy from the beginning was safety. with the winds the way they were, fire behavior from the start of the fire, the fire was moving basically the same speed of wind and light fuels. our priority was to work with law enforcement, ems, firefighters to get people out of the way. we didn't actively fight the fire the first few hours, it was about life safety. as we got ahead of the curve, we anchored in and got some good fire fighting done. the priority was life safety for public and firefighters. >> just to highlight how rapid the event was, this was a rapid fire over a period of hours, gusts up to 105 miles per hour. across roads, highways, neighborhoods, an alignment of many of the worst possible factors that firefighters fear. first of all, a very dry fuel, had very little precipitation or snow coupled with gusts up to 105 or 110 miles per hour, led to a combination that was more destructive in a shorter period of time than anything we've seen. >> can you talk about the power lines? [ inaudible ] >> i don't have details. my view of this event is from a 30,000 foot level. i don't know what kind of power lines or whether they were transmission lines or individual lines, private property, i don't know. we are again actively investigating the origin and cause of the fire. when we get that and narrow it down, we will make that public. what was the second question? [ inaudible ] >> no, it is like any other fire we've seen where it is a mosaic. the fire runs in fingers based on topography and winds. you'll see where the fire in gulches, it took out neighborhoods, an entire block, left everything around it standing. on the west side of superior, that subdivision in the old part of town, there's an entire community that's completely wiped out. just smoking holes in the ground. it was intense in places and other places just got in topography, driven by wind and ran in fingers. >> tell us about the utility lines in terms of freezing temperatures overnight? >> i know they're working as hard and fast as they can to restore power. a major issue, we have warm temperatures, wind, big fire, lose power, then the next day freeze over. all the homes, they have broken pipes, running water and that. restoration of power is a major priority. [ inaudible ] >> it is still closed. we're doing damage assessment along the road. we're working to get major thoroughfares open. >> sheriff, unconfirmed calls there were -- >> they were having water pressure issues. here's what happens when you have neighborhoods burn out. they start, the individual homes start leaking, then the pressure to individual hydrants becomes less and less. i know they were having problems with water pressure. that's not unexpected in a major event like this. [ inaudible ] >> no. we don't have family members calling in, telling us they can't find aunt rose, none of that. one lady was reported last night was found fine. it is unbelievable when you look at the devastation that we don't have a list of 100 missing persons. we don't. so again, i hope that's a miracle. it would be given circumstances. >> gas lines, anything you're aware of -- >> we're working closely with excel and different power providers to do quick assessments where we can. one of the big concerns, we have a group specifically working on power going to restore power where it is safe, make sure the power lines are inspected before we reenergize and that gas lines are intact before we do that. we are actively working on that. as far as major transmission lines or gas infrastructure that's been damaged, i don't have information. >> lots of calls to the news room from people wanting to know if their homes are standing or destroyed. what's the best way you recommend people get that information, you're obviously limiting access in some areas. what do you see to those people? >> once the damage assessment is done address by address, we'll be able to post a list of homes that were lost. that won't happen for awhile, it will take at least a day to accomplish that. there is a map of the burn area that will be posted on boulder oem website. please keep in mind, only a portion of the homes in the burn area are effected and there are a lot of uneffected homes. there will be the ability for flights, that kind of thing, to give more information to the public. right now, i can't provide information on specific addresses. [ inaudible ] >> for the hand we were dealt, i don't think we could have done a better job. the initial response from local fire departments, stepping up to county response, delegation of the sheriff, cooperation through the governor's office, through the state were both fantastic and i think the collaborative effort showed the preparedness level and amount of preparations we have done here in boulder and statewide as well. >> halted this kind of fire in its tracks with 105 miles per hour winds. the sheriff, state assistance did everything they could. >> you dealt with a lot of challenges with covid the past two years, talked about what you saw from the helicopter. let us inside the emotions of what you had to watch in the helicopter? >> of course, i have many friends. i want to read a text from one, a friend who lost their home. doesn't know if they lost their home. she said i'm in the springs with my parents, we may not have homes tomorrow but have each other. i will miss the treasures we collected the past 30 years, while not replaceable, that's not people. remember, we will have homes. houses made of sticks and stones, a homemade of love alone. with her attitude, people of colorado are resilient and strong. they will build back. this has been a tough few years. three largest wildfires in the history of the state. to put things in perspective, three largest wildfires combined, over 600,000 acres, destroyed less homes and businesses than this fire of 6,000 acres because this was fundamental in the urban and suburban fire. the people of colorado will build back if granted this new year's miracle, no loss of life. truly is nothing short of miraculous. we have one another. most if not all people are safe. and we as friends and neighbors are going to do everything to help them rebuild their lives. >> one last question. >> all right. we have been listening to state officials brief the public now on the devastating fire taking place northwest of denver, colorado, and areas of lewis ville and superior. we know this was a fast moving fire, fueled by dry conditions, gusts 105 miles per hour. subdivisions are gone. some places are too dangerous for people to return to. tens of thousands still evacuated. still active flames. good news, started to snow in the region. doesn't anticipate more catastrophic damage like what they've seen. spoke to the president who approved expedited major disaster declaration, should help small business and homeowners get help sooner. there are extraordinary factors fueling the fire and the sheriff said it burned like a mosaic in some areas, taking out an entire block, leaving other homes untouched. then west of superior taking out an entire subdivision. want to bring in trevor hughes, correspondent for usa today. saw the burning first happened yesterday. trevor, this is so much damage in such a short amount of time. where are you and what's going on? >> yeah. i'm on the southern edge of superior in rock creek, overlooking the area. this is neighborhoods that sheriff pelley was talking about. some homes were destroyed. six or seven homes went up one after another, it hop scotched through. it is hard to understand. talking winds more than 100 miles per hour. it was unbelievably fierce. the embers blowing like crazy through neighborhoods, horrifying to see. >> talk to me about how strange it is, we're not talking about mountains far off into the distance, we're talking 35 minutes from downtown denver and talking about end of december. you have been dealing with an incredible drought, did tie a record for the most snowless days, that streak that ended december 10th. how unusual is this? >> this is very unusual. where i'm sitting now is a field that didn't burn but has waist high grass. it just roared through. i saw burning tumble weeds thrown into the air. normally you would have snow on the ground or wet grass, this grass would never have burnt. because it has been so dry and sunny and warm, this was prime to burn. thank god it is snowing now. i can't tell you the relief to see the snow falling on the smoke that's smoldering out of the neighborhood. >> the governor saying it would be a new year's miracle if in fact they get away with no loss of life. the sheriff saying it is a miracle there isn't a list of 100 missing persons. trevor, what are you hearing from people. we know some of them had minutes to grab what they could and get out. firefighters prioritized life safety and weren't even able to get to fighting the fire for some time. >> absolutely. i have been talking to folks all morning that evacuated, whose cars parked on the ridge overlooking the neighborhood, suitcases piled up. i talked to folks hiking into their home. they think it is okay, you need winter clothes to go out there today. it was terrible to see. i saw home after home burning with no firefighters in sight. i am friends with a lot of firefighters in the area. my friends were fighting the fire last night. but this fire was so dangerous it was not safe to be in these areas. i saw hotels go up in flames. >> trevor hughes, thank you for your time. shattering records. closing out 2021 with strange health care systems and first responders. e systems and first responders subway's eat fresh refresh™ has so many new footlongs. refresh! here's how they line up. we got the new chicken & bacon ranch, new baja steak & jack, and the new baja chicken & bacon, aka “the smokeshow”" save big. order through the app. real cowboys get customized car insurance with liberty mutual, so we only pay for what we need. -hey tex, -wooo. can someone else get a turn? 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how are they keeping people safe? >> reporter: we are less than 12 hours to midnight. in a short while, crowds will be flooding in. people have come from across the country and world to be here celebrating new year's eve. it will look a lot different this year than in many years past. for one, folks aren't allowed into the barricades until 3:00 p.m. and that's to cut down on time folks are together gathering. also, all of the 15,000 people that are going to be allowed in are required to show proof of vaccination and to wear the mask through the night. that 15,000 is a much lower number than we typically see in times square on new year's eve. all those things in place to keep folks safe. this comes as new york city is seeing record breaking covid case numbers. i spoke with some of the people about that. listen to what folks shared with me. >> we have to forget about this tonight and celebrate the new year. happy, happy. >> that the party is still going on. if everybody is vaccinated and they're wearing masks, what else do you need to do? >> what are your hopes for 2022? >> i would like to see a world without face masks and everybody can relax and breathe and there will be enough vaccines for everybody around the world so everybody can be healthy again. >> reporter: i will say for everyone i have spoken to, this is their first time spending new year's eve in times square, so they're excited about it. they say they don't have anything to compare it to. as long as folks are being safe, they're excited to celebrate here tonight. lindsey? >> dr. black, in new york city they're handing out masks, checking vaccine cards. in boston, the mayor made vaccines and rapid tests available there in the city for folks celebrating. is that enough to make big events safe? >> lindsey, i will say i'm really surprised given everything that's going on, given record increase in cases in new york city even over the last 24 hours that mayor de blasio is still going ahead and having the celebration. yes, people will be wearing masks and be fully vaccinated. however, it is still 15,000 people in close proximity crowded area. it is a risky situation, especially given omicron is highly contagious. i question even why have this event and have that high risk there and possibly lead to another surge in cases that we can't afford at this time given that hospitals here in new york city are already seeing exponential increase in cases. >> we know the governor of new york said cases haven't peaked yet. that said, do we have hope that it could be on the horizon? south africa passed a fourth wave, on the other side of omicron. is that good news for us? any evidence our wave could end as quickly? >> you know, lindsey, it is hard to say because south africa has different population than we do, one. they also have different percentage of people vaccinated as well as had prior infection and they also have been following mitigation measures as well. we here in the united states have to think of policies to contain the spread to see cases go back down. >> talk about boosters for kids. the fda authorized them for kids over 12 soon. right now, only a quarter kids between 5 and 11 have gotten the first vaccine dose. should that be a top priority over boosters? >> lindsey, i think we have to push in both areas, push both in terms of getting young people, children first time vaccination and getting them boosted. we see with omicron that we need that booster to give that increased protection. but as you mentioned, we need to get more the first time vaccinations. i hope recent cdc studies showing that there have been very rare side effects for 5 to 11-year-olds that received the vaccine and that the vaccines are incredibly effective preventing symptomatic infection and hospitalization, that the message gets out to parents of 5 to 11-year-olds that they need to get their children vaccinated. >> what's your advice to people thinking of celebrating, what's a way to do so safely? >> i think you know what i'm going to say. i am going to advise people to stay home. i know new year's eve is a special evening, people want to celebrate. i don't think it is worth the risk. i would stay home, not do large indoor gatherings. that's the safest thing to do. >> what about if people want to stay home but want to do so in a group or in a pod? it is unlikely everybody is wearing a mask inside, right? >> right. i would say if you can get a handle on rapid tests, take a rapid test before the gathering. that would be the safest or safer thing to do. definitely utilize rapid tests. the challenge is that rapid tests are hard to find. people are waiting in long lines for testing at urgent care sites. have rapid tests available provided people are vaccinated, keep the doors and windows open as well. >> what's your wish covid related for the new year? >> covid related, that we can control the spread. i'm concerned about the exponential rise in cases. i want us to get to the other side of this peak as soon as possible and get as many people as healthy as possible. >> always good to see you both. happy new year. >> thank you. plus, tense talk ahead. putin warns of a complete rupture. president biden says we could be facing a crisis of the kremlin's making. what we know next. you're watching msnbc reports. . you're watching msnbc reports. e, the more questions we have. the biggest question now, what's next? what will covid bring in six months, a year? if you're feeling anxious about the future, you're not alone. calhope offers free covid-19 emotional support. call 833-317-4673, or live chat at calhope.org today. comprehensive and convenient nutritional regimen on the planet. immunity supporting, recovery enhancing, digestion improving, energy lifting. made to the strictest quality standards. made in new zealand. made for just about everybody. welcome back. for the second time this month president biden is warning vladimir putin not to invade ukraine. that's according to the white house's readout of the world leader's phone call yesterday. the white house says president biden warned putin the u.s. and our allies would respond decisively if putin were to take military action. according to the kremlin, putin warned new sanctions would be a serious mistake and could lead to a rupture of russian american relations. mike memoli is in delaware where president biden is spending new year's eve. what message did the biden administration want to send to putin? >> well, it was clear in the fact that president putin was the one who requested the phone call that he had a message to deliver. we heard that in the readout from the kremlin talking about a rupture if the u.s. follows through on its threat of sanctions here. kremlin officials also talked about the possibility that if the u.s. goes through with this that the president, his descendents would regret this for years to come. the white house is saying the president wanted to reiterate there are two paths here for putin to choose from. the first is one of diplomacy. it has to be parse and parcel with deescalation, moving the troops back from ukraine's border. and the second path is this one of deterrence. of the u.s. and its allies imposing severe economic costs on russia. and also moving potentially additional nato personnel into some of the member states that border ukraine and russia. the two sides did agree and have a constructive conversation about the diplomatic talks that are going to be starting in ten days in geneva. there's a hope it might provide diplomatic off ramp for both sides. >> about that, first, any indication of why putin wanted to talk to president biden earlier before that conference, january 10th, and also are those talks still supposed to happen? did yesterday change anything? >> yeah. it's been clear putin has been signaling publicly for several weeks now that he wanted to speak directly to the president. this is sort of the cold war mind set of a former kgb operative. he doesn't want to engage necessarily in these broader diplomatic multilateral discussions. he wants to be seen on par with the united states. and so he wants that direct interaction with president biden. and the white house says that the president biden is never going to give up an opportunity for those kind of direct conversations. both sides are saying they had a constructive dialogue to help plan for the discussions and what the u.s. is going to be doing over the next ten days leading up to them is coordinating closely with our allies. we got a glimpse of that already today. the state department saying that secretary of state tony blinken has spoken with the nato secretary general. it's one of several conversations we can expect to see involving president biden with our nato allies to sort of readout his version of events oh of that putin call and plan for geneva. >> where does the white house put russia relations on the list of foreign policy priorities heading into the next year? >> well, it's interesting. earlier this year when president biden and putin were preparing for that first meeting in person in geneva, my colleague and i reported about how the u.s. hope for that summit was essentially this. the president had a number of other top foreign policy objectives that did not include russia. that he wanted to essentially meet with putin and put that to the side so he could deal with things like china and the middle east. putin is showing he will not be ignored. that's sort of part of what's happening here. and part of the conversations with russia speak to what will be a potential other big foreign policy headache in the new year. it has to do with iran and the nuclear program. the white house has begun shifting the language of late as the talks with the iranians have shown no real progress that they might be considering other measures other than the diplomatic ones they have been considering closely working with israel. now, russia, of course, was part of that iran nuclear deal in 2015. the u.s. does hope for russian cooperation in trying to avoid further escalation of that other crisis looming in 2022. >> all right. mike memoli, thank you so much. lives up in flames. tens of thousands of people fleeing their homes just days after christmas. as a fast-moving fire tears through communities outside denver. the latest in the live report next. this is msnbc reports. next this is msnbc reports. tein, with thirty grams of protein. those who tried me felt more energy in just two weeks! 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(excited yell) woo-hoo! ensure max protein. with thirty grams of protein, one gram of sugar, and nutrients to support immune health. johnson & johnson one gram of sugar, is the world's largest healthcare company. building a future where cancers can be cured. strokes can be reversed. joints can be 3-d printed. and there isn't one definition of what well feels like. there are millions. we're using our world to make your world a world of well. welcome to msnbc reports. we're going to begin this hour with breaking news out of colorado. officials just finished briefing the public on the latest devastation caused by a fast-moving wildfire. you're looking at some of the pictures showing the scope of the damage from a helicopter flying over boulder county where the fire has damaged upwards of 1,000 homes and burned more than 6,000 acres. the fire has forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate. one silver lining, officials said there are no reports of any deaths. they called it a miracle. the damage, however is intense. the governor has already declared a state of emergency. he says president biden has ke -- declared an