gatlinburg. what you see burned out was part of an amusement park and ski resort there. overall, a hundred structures have been destroyed or damaged by fire, including an apartment complex. at least 14,000 people have been evacuated, many in the middle of the night. the fires overnight burned close to the resort town's hotels and other tourist attractions. guests were trapped inside a outside. no one knows what they will come home to. >> my personal pictures, stuff can't be replaced. this can't be replaced. joining us now is lieutenant don zimmerman. >> if anybody knows about wildfires, it's mentor firefighters who have had to battle fires like this. thanks so much for being with us. >> i wouldn't say fires exactly like that. light up. >> give us an idea how hard it is to fight wildfires like this. >> well, the thing is, you know, some basic fire chemistry, you need heat, fuel, and oxygen to have a fire. take away one, the fire goes out. but if you add one of them and supplement it, it gets kind of crazy pretty fast. when you're talking 85 miles an hour gusts, it's a blast furnace is what it is. >> you know, this is part of the smoky mountains, one of our beloved national parks, but it's also a dream space. what kind of fuel provided for a fire to get this out of control? . >> right. that's what is not us a easy for us to picture. our picture of a fire is contained in a fireplace or campfire where it's small, contained. when the fuel is just right and dries out during the drought times, then we can see that fuel load, you know, get a lot heavier. you know, we have a lot more wild land interface, is what we call it, where we're building houses closer to the fires or closer to the know, a beautiful house in the mountain to be right in the fire's path, especially when we're talking ant a fire going up a hill, like a mountain. >> on the job for 26 years. in terms of nightmare scenarios, where is that one? . >> it's got to be right up there. they've opinion doing a lot of studies on firefighter safety when they're talking about wind-driven fires. in cleveland, a heavy wind off the lake, a very dangerous situation. >> absolutely. thank you so much for being here tonight. >> thank you. a vigil is being held at ohio state tonight one day after a student intentionally drove his car into a group of pedestrians and began slashing people with a butcher knife. eleven were hurt, all expected to be okay. our -- abraham spent the day on campus. >> reporter: an emotional day filled with highs and gratitude. that is the message we got today from the victim in the attack who spoke out, professor william clark, who talked about that terrifying morning and what happened to him. >> maybe this is, you know, a traffic accident, but then several people started shouting immediately, and i couldn't hear what they said. it was panicked shouting. obviously at that point i figured out it was more than just a car accident. >> reporter: professor clark obviously grateful to be alive officer involved, who is being called a hero. now, three out of the eleven injured in the attack are still in the hospital. the others have been discharged. amanda abraham, reporting in columbus, channel 3 news. >> thanks, amanni. tonight investigators continue to look into the attacker's background. eighteen-year of holiday abtul rezak artem launched deliberate attack on class mates. police say he left a rant on his facebook page, saying he was fed up with attacks on muslims around the world. tomorrow ohio lawmakers are set to vote on a bill that would allow concealed handguns on campuses. the house passed the bill last year. now it's in the hands of state senators. it would let congress decide whether to allow concealed handguns on school property, and also allows guns in day care facilities and in police stations. a big day tomorrow congressman tim ryan. house democrats will decide whether to make him their leader or keep veteran nancy pelosi. >> ryan argues it's time to get blue-collar democrats back into the fold. our senior political correspondent tom beres looks at what his long-shot bid really means. >> reporter: some call tim ryan's challenge to nancy pelosi the democratic reboot. >> we're not winning. we're losing all over the board. we have to start something new and start fresh. >> reporter: ryan represents from youngstown to akron. he's 43, been in congress 13 years. until now best known for books on meditation and healthy eating. nancy please say has been speaker 13 years. democrats lost 56 seats in congress in the last 6 years. ryan calls her out of touch leading an east and west coast party that's forgotten its lunch bucket face. >> we're not going to get voters, go back down so halls and fish fries and churches all over the country and start a brush fire about what a new democratic party looks like. >> reporter: pelosi has agreed to give newer house democrats a bigger voice. pelosi calls ryan's claims almost pathetic, pointing out donald trump won ryan's district. experts call ryan's bid a very long shot. marsha fudge, one ohio congress member backing him. this public push could push ryan's stock as a tom beres, channel 3 news. president-elect donald trump is coming back to the state thursday to launch his victory tour. mr. trump wants to say thank you to the twin states that helped to put him in office. he'll hold a rally in cincinnati thursday night. he's also expected to stop in pennsylvania, michigan, and florida. next at 7, if you're looking for gift ideas, these tech devices could be just the thing for you ability to walk, but >> tonight fred sharp shire of our sister station shows us some wearable safety devices to help. >> in the back of my mind, i'm always worried, you know, that something bad will happen. >> reporter: emily ma'am bow does everything she can to protect eight-year-old julianna and 11-year-old margaret, old enough to walk to a they wear a teeny tell. at first glance, it looks like a watch, but it's really a cell phone and gps locator. >> all you do is you press this middle button, and then it says the name. >> after it says the name of the person she wants to call, she just hit call. >> hello. >> i call my parents or babysitter to say, "i'm there." . >> it has a gps tracker so i can use my phone to see where they are. >> reporter: the teeny tell costs $149 to buy, and security. >> reporter: kids aren't the only ones who need protection. walking alone at night can be scary. there's a new wave of wearable technology. it might not prevent a possible attack, but it will always notify your loved ones when you're in danger. >> introducing stiletto. >> reporter: stiletto offers personal security with a custom look at a price. the charms will start at $179, and transform any necklace or bracelet into a call for help with the computer will talk to 911 for you. the makers are preparing for their first manufacturing run. kathy romo could only use her voice when she was brutally attacked 15 years ago. >> it happened in a safe neighborhood in the light of day. >> reporter: that's why she spent years developing a ring with a hidden panic button that will alert police or anyone you designate. she's finally taking preorders on the nim. >> this is a wear safe tag. >> reporter: i showed the wear saley. it attaches to almost anything. it sends alerts to designated contacts, but what makes it unique is it also sends live audio from the scene, plus additional audio from the 60s seconds prior to activation. >> that is definitely something people need. at&t is launching three new streaming services tomorrow, direct tv now, free view and full screen. direct tv now customers will be able to get mo month, more than 120 channels for $70 a month. the service is available on all internet-connected devices. tonight, l. l. bean is kicking up production of its iconic duck boot to meet demand. it has leased a bigger building, and is adding more machinery to many boots, and is hiring a hundred workers. sales of the boots have gone from less than a hundred thousands a decade ago to more than 600,000 this year. power ball winners. we'll tell you about how much they spent on that winning ticket. and the sun was out. temperatures climbed today. it is almost december. so what's next? >> twenty coworkers are all employees of the north american stamping -- in portland, tennessee. they play twice a week, spend 60 bucks each time. that winning ticket, if you don't recall, was worth almost $421 million. no word yet if any of them will quit their jobs. maybe some some of their winnings away. it's giving tuesday after black friday and cyber monday. today, everyone is urged or encouraged to make holiday donations to a favorite charity. this one-day giving promotion was launched back in 2012 as a way to help nonprofits with their end-of-the-year effort. >> you were reminding us earlier a lot of companies have a matching program. don't forget at that when you're making a donation. >> giving away somebody else's money. why not? it's nice the company will do that for you. that's certainly a benefit. around town would benefit from it. they can use that money very wisely as well. >> yeah. >> it's also really nice to just donate on behalf of someone else as a gift. don't know what to get somebody? make a donation in their honor. it's the gift that keeps on giving. how is the weatherer? . >> 50 degrees overnight tonight. i think emotional of us will land in the low 0s, as cool as 50. clouds will be on the increase. shower chances will be on the increase as well, especially as we get in southerly breezes continue, and those breezes, thankfully, are a lot less than what we had to contend with last night. you know, the peak wind gusts, 53 miles per hour at burke lakefront airport. there was some damage reported. that's just kind of a sign of the times. the more dramatic the change in a smaller area, you get higher winds. and we have quite the change that's taking place here across the midwest. lot of cool air with low pressure off to the west of been pumping in some heat on the back of high pressure. we have quite a significant storm system going. nasty weather down in the deep south where they so desperately need the rain. it comes with a bit of a price on the nasty side of things. snow and stormy conditions up in the northern plains. that's kind of the two extremes of the storm system. and we will be right in the middle. so we end up with kind of a generally unsettled forecast as we go through the day tomorrow. it will be breezy to start, isolated showers around low 0s. we'll peak right around the 60- degree mark in the afternoon, hold temperatures in the 50s as we go through the evening. the scattered rain chances will be staying with us as well. here's a look at your window nation forecast. we go from 60 tomorrow back to the much more seasonal mid-40s, darn it, by the time we get into thursday. of course, that's the start of december. then we fall back to the 40- degree mark by saturday night, 40% on friday and saturday east. we'll have a prolonged west lake. that will stir up snow mix, especially areas down of the lakes, due east of cleveland. by the end of the week, we're going to turn it around. we'll once again dry things out. temperatures are going to go back up for us. >> nice. december 1st, the start of meteorological winter. am i right? . >> let's see. sure. >> you think about it. >> stumping a meteorologist. i like it. maybe i win a prize. >> i think december, january. it could be december, january, february. >> i tried. coming up next, today's edition of "rising." . >> we will meet a man who doesn't let his disability get in the way of his dream to dance. >> here's what's coming up tonight on nbc, brought to you by mercedes bens of >> this is demarco sweeper's rising story. . >> growing up, i had my -- and six brothers. everything got rushed, and we went in foster care. >> i've been watching, looking holding my head every day just in case opportunity knock. >> i started just build being person that could hand the world as it was thrown to them. i want to be a performer. when i got into high school, i really got into dance. >> all that michael liked to do was sing and dance. if he couldn't sing and dance, he didn't want to do nothing else. ev and they don't realize the hand can change at any moment. moment. i got into a car wreck. i sped up to get over, and i hit black ice. we flipped the vehicle, and we were all ejected. i got too close for a break. paralyzed at that time. >> what hate me most is when they didn't know they had the exact time frame or exactly knew if i was going to be able to walk or not. >> i tried to do everything in my power to help him. he kept pushing me away. ''no. let me do it. no. i got to do this on my own." . >> you could fight continuously through all the problems. you just got to work to get better. if i let it defeat me, then i feel like i didn't succeed. >> that was his whole life. he always wanted to dance. when they said by dancing on wheels, i said that's the best thing could happen to him. . >> demarco just echoes what i my dance to do, taking hold of your life and finding the things that give you joy, and going after them. >> today, the dancing move company's inspirational mission has touched over 5 million people through performances across the united states. i introduce -- wheels. please help me welcome them. >> don't let anything stop you. don't let anyone tell you you can't. you can do it, no matter. >> demarco is a driver. he drives. anything he wants to do, he drives at it. he don't give up. . >> [ applause ] >> . >> i'm here from destiny wheels patients. 5, 6, 7, 8. >> when i see people are being helped, that they learned something, it brings out that i'm making a difference. >> this is the rhythm that brought me back. so good. thank you, demarco. thank you. >> people don't see a disability. they see somedy disability. >> demarco just determined he going to get out of that chair and walk one day. and i believed it. >> [ applause ]. >> wow, what a wonderful story. >> yeah. so cool to see -- >> definitely. we thank you so much for watching the "entertainment tonight" is up next. >> we will be back at 11. and at wkyc.com. hope you have a great night. katy perry, a secret engagement? e.t. has the exclusive shots beaming with orlando. only we can tell you about the ring. then dollywood in danger. >> go, go, go! dolly surrounded by wildfire and flames inching closer. what she's telling us today and she reveals never before told stories of childhood trauma. >> we thought we were going to do. behind the scenes with jackie kennedy transformation. will playing first lady win her another oscar. >> it's very scary to take on someone that people know so well, and we are in new orleans with hgtv's hottest hunk, the property brothers. >> what's sexier?