been really decimated by this fire. >> we just got new information that at hotels in that immediate area getting full. getting word from weston st. francis in san francisco in union square, they're offering a deeply reduced rate per night for victims of the napa and sonoma wildfires, ask for the manager and show your i.d. with your address. offer more shelter. >> all the shelters will be filled, hotels nearby will be filled. one of the challenges, some of the hotels not breaking normal policy of not allowing pets, leaving some people in the lurch too. hospital treating people hurt in

fires and others evacuated from other hospitals that had to close. >> katie utehs with more. >> reporter: within the last half hour saw a couple of fire trucks pull up, unloaded injured firefighter, looked like had bandaged hand. had to clear out many of their own patients to make room for the fire-related injuries. see some of the nurses manning the gate for the ambulances coming in and out. latest that we have from the hospital, they have about 60 fire-related patients. some from sutter and kaiser facilities that were evacuated. saw that video earlier. smoke inhalation and actual injuries. 14 with moderate, 45 with minor injuries and two critical burn victims here. hospital staff asking people displaced by fire go to one of

the many shelters, need to focus efforts on treating people who are physically injured. at this point they are well-staffed, trying to deploy employees across shifts but could use medical professionals to help out. here's how. >> asked people to call in to the labor pool here at the hospital. find out what shift the need is greatest on, then we'll instruct them that way. >> you are taking volunteers? >> we're taking volunteers, particularly in certain specialties. >> reporter: now they are looking possibly for respiratory therapists, had a lot of general medical doctors which is very helpful and before they let people out of the hospital checking to make sure they have somewhere safe to go. triageing, making sure people with lesser injuries have a

house to go home to or a shelter. keeping up hour by hour and discussing how they're going to go throughout the evening and into tomorrow. may be restricting surgeries tomorrow to take care of the most critical patients related to the fire. we'll be checking in with the hospital and bringing you updates throughout the evening. abc7 news. maintenance manager at santa rosa apartment complex literally went door to door to help evacuate people. >> overlook on bicenteniel way. describ describes what happened. >> happened so quick. wind was hauling and stuff, just like during -- >> because of power issues, some people were trapped inside their garages. gutierrez manually pulled the doors open so people could get their cars out. >> remarkable.

evacuation centers set up in certainly locations in napa and sonoma counties. these still have room. napa valley junior college on highway 121. >> addition to oak street and. >> new life christian church in petaluma is taking in about 500 evacuees. 1310 clegg street. petaluma community center, sebastopol morris street. >> also analy high school. wooded valley area, solano community community college in

fairfield. >> because of the number of evacuees, 20,000 in total, healdsburg just opened 1557 healdsburg afternoon and center at 7321 burton avenue. small household animals can be taken to napa county animal shelter. some shelters are taking them. some hotels, not all. if you have small animals, that shelter is option and large animals to the santa rosa fairgrounds in santa rosa. >> this video from tyler clark, posted on the social media. look at scene. driving through santa rosa neighborhood, trying to escape the flames. embers flying every direction. just a long line of fire as he tries to get out. just look at the scene. when you see these pictures, you

understand why this was impossible for firefighters to stop in the early moments of this thing. >> wind-whipped embers making the fire so quickly and easily spread that night. harrowing scene as folks try to get out as quickly as they can with whatever they can grab. check in with lyanne melendez. in santa rosa but had to move. >> in neighborhood where more of the fire was advancing towards here. lyanne, where are you now sf. >> reporter: i'm at 1400 fountain grove parkway. headquarters of a company i never heard of, key site technology. electronic measuring equipment company in santa rosa. part of the company, building on my left burnt last night. then just about an hour ago, maybe two, the rest of the building went up in flames.

but as you can see, they're really controlled it. please if we can show really good close-ups of the fire earlier when firefighters were trying to put it out. really good close-up shots of the moment they were trying to control it, keep it from spreading, jumping the line. very active 5. they weren't really trying to save the structure. nothing to save at this moment. just really trying to control it. fortunately not much wind. that's a good thing. unlike last night and really folks, the wind is really to blame for this devastation, we started on highway 101, closed to the public. we were fortunate, allowed to go onto highway 101 where the fire was very close to us. we saw power lines down and guard rail posts, never seen that before, guard rail posts

burning. able to pull over at mark west springs road. many, many, many homes also destroyed there. one woman who lives on linda lane asked us to see if her house was still standing. this is how she described the events last night. you evacuated. take it from there if you don't mind. >> maybe about 8:00 or so, watching on the news it was getting close and weren't too worried. then about 10:15 or 10:30, a big wind, 90 mile wind came up into the house and whipping flames and embers coming over the hill, all the trees burning over wi we had hoses and trying but my dad said no, get in the car now. grabbed bird and dog and left.

waiting to go home to see what might be left or not. >> do you think there's anything left? praying, hoping? >> i hope. we hope my brother's mobile home park, his trailer didn't get burnt. felt that it didn't and got there and didn't. still feel the same way about our house. we're hoping, over the mountain, hit and misses a bunch. hoping it missed us. hoping for the best right? >> reporter: lived her all your life? >> yep. this is odd, weird, different. something that is unreal. unheard of. >> reporter: we were able to go to her street, linda lane, unfortunately not good news, most -- i think all the homes i saw were destroyed. at one point we couldn't go any further because power lines and

also fiber optic lines, couldn't pass with the big truck. wasn't safe. saw a lot of poles burning. at that point said it's not worth it but not good news for the residents of linda lane. we've all covered fires before but i don't think i've seen anything like this. look at this. you have this right here, which is just hard, hard plastic. and there's no vegetation here. we have a street here. it's just mind-boggling to me how this was able to burn as well. and car behind me, here you have the parking lot, right? you don't have vegetation, don't have wood, and that car, is it a van? suv? i mean, completely destroyed. tires burned. only thing that i could think of

is as we've been reporting, a firestorm like nobody else has seen before. abc7 news. >> embers flying in every direction, catching things on fire and air is superheated as well in something like this, even the air will melt things because it's so hot. >> last time this magnitude around here was the oakland hills firestorm in 1991 when 2,800 homes were destroyed. >> and people died. live in silverado canyon drive neighborhood, decimated as well. laura. >> reporter: silver head crest. one of the members of the community, his estimate is half the homes in this neighbohood have burned. including this one behind me.

still feel the heat radiating off this structure which is smoldering as we are standing here. showing you flame here, pretty sure that's a gas line. steady since we're standing here. this one burned completely, one behind it is fine. i'm sure there's damage to the home in heat to the windows and damage that generates. can show video of other homes in the neighborhood. came upon one, american flag still hanging on a pole, been through a lot but still there. saw the family, father and son come and take it down and fold it up the way you're supposed to fold up american flag and took it with them. that was really the only thing they took with them. we also talked about a man who lives just down the way. his home was spared but he's hurting, feeling bad for his neighbors who are lost everything. >> i was here early this morning

and i left, when i kbaj, i would have told my neighbor his house would be fine, came back in two hours and totally engulfed and obviously lost completely. couldn't believe it. about half the homes up here have been lost. it's just so random, but as you said, there's a path down here. i lost the house on both sides of me and across from me. obviously firefighters had been in my house. people had been in there, they saved my house, these guys are spectacular. >> this is obviously emotional time for your and your neighborhood. >> it's tough. it's a great neighborhood, great neighbors. but it's tough. these people are losing their homes and, you know, you just can't feel worse about it. it happened so fast.

i had cars honking horns on the street at 10:00 last night, couldn't figure out what problem was. went outside, they yelled fire. i ran up the street because we had a canyon fire here about ten years ago and fire came from that direction. i wanted to see how close maybe it might be. as i ran up the street, i could see orange smoke right over the house that was across the street from me. ran inside, said we're packing nothing, get in the car, we got to get out of here. i left my garage doors open, the front door unlocked. firefighters obviously found a way to save my house. the were in there. and when i arrived this morning, garage doors were closed and my house is safe. it's amazing.

>> reporter: and throughout the morning it's been difficult to watch this unfold. on one hand looked like emergency was over. but all of a sudden see a house go up in flames because there's so much debris and still wind and embers and things flying around and see smoke coming from underneath a home and within an hour we saw one house that looked perfectly fine totally consumed. if we come back live here, showing you now for orientation, where we are, this is canyon drive, silverado crest neighborhood up on a hill. right below a canyon area which of course probably bought the homes because gorgeous area above the napa valley. golf course down there, there's two for those familiar with it, of course the golf course itself

looks fine. haven't had a lot of information out of the silverado resort. they did evacuate guests and employees. mixed reports about whether might be damage to the resort or buildings themselves. of course that's historic resort. but at this point smoldering homes, people have managed to get back in here and take a look, i can tell you, they're not staying long. whether home is still standing or not. there's not a whole lot to do right now up here in terms of sifting through rubble. it's just not safe and all still very hot. still a fluid situation. fire crews are up here. we talked with a resident up here whose house was fine and noticed a neighbor's started to look like smoldering and flagged down one of the fire crews to

put water on the homes still standing. hopefully the danger is dissipating but the wind is still here. this tree is heavily damaged and wind will kick up every so often and remind us, this is the weather that created these firestorms as lyanne described. talked to veteran cal firefighter, these are not the fires that firefighters puts out, these are fires that nature puts out. not a lot that firefighters can do unfortunately. back to you. >> thanks. for so many people coming back, not anythin sift through. completely destroyed so many of the houses. remarkable devastation there. >> adding to the tragedy, cal fire tweeted one more fatality confirmed with north bay fires.

sadly two confirmed on the atlas fire in napa county in addition to one in mendocino. >> now three confirmed -- four, that's right. one in sonoma, brings the total now of confirmed fatalities to four. >> we fear, hope not, but fear the numbers may increase. certainly with regard to injuries as well as the day goes on and number of people missing from the fires -- but abc7 reporter cornell bernard has been live in a neighborhood that's been devastated. >> reporter: you can say that again. still assessing the heartbreaking damage here at fountain grove village, a series of homes and condos, shopping center which continues to smoerld 100 yards from where we're standing. you have to realize these were people's homes and lives.

these are the back yards of these homes. outdoor table that someone had in back yard. outdoor patio set, we have a wheel barrow down there and my photographer and i couldn't help but notice a trampoline or what's left of it here in what used to be back yards that were subdivided by fences which are now gone. pan to the left, there's a barbecue still intact. somebody's patio here in fountain grove village. the damage -- you really have to see it to believe it. only way we can really understand how many homes at least in this particular neighborhood -- keep in mind, we think at least 200 homes -- every gas main flaring is indication of where homes used to be. there are so many, lost count when i was walking around the

neighborhood, trying to figure out what this place once looked like. what the homes once looked like. told they were upscale condos and homes on the other side of this ridge, fountain grove golf club clubhouse. sadly that clubhouse was burned by this monster fire storm which roared through about midnight, 12:30, 1:00. neighbors say they had little time to react and get out. we talked to one man in the last hour who said he went door-to-door about 12:30 warning his neighbor saying the fire is coming. he said he felt weird because too late to be knocking on doors but had no choice. see folks in the distance, possibly seeing what is left of their home for the first time. this is unclear how folks are getting in here because there is

a police barricade but there are homes in this neighborhood beyond the trees still intact, folks possibly staying with friends or relatives. we've been to so many neighborhoods from glen ellen to kenwood, to rinken valley one man, nothing left of house. >> could see the flames licking the mountain and got the word we were on fire. been here 25 years. was a great neighborhood. going to be a lot of work getting it back. >> reporter: what are you thinking seeing this? >> i'm glad i'm insured. it's not easy to take. >> reporter: we're so sorry. >> it's mother nature at her worst i guess.

>> reporter: we certainly wish john graves and his family the best. what a remarkable man and attitude. he vows to rebuild. built the house 25 years ago in rincon valley of santa rosa. says he's not going anywhere. son lives about two miles from where the family home burned. so many stories like that of survival, folks getting out at last minute, running for safety and sadly coming back to nothing. we are -- we are again assessing the damage here. home after home. really startling how many homes have been lost here. seeing some folks possibly taking in the damage. the rubble of their home here in santa rosa. we are continuing to stay on the scene, trying to get updates

from firefighters about where spot fires are burning. we see fires burning on the other side of the ridge here. smoke has dissipated a bit. that was apartment complex that was evacuated earlier, apparently had flared up. smoke so thick. sun so hazy. ba barely see it there. indication of how much smoke is left in the sky here. live in santa rosa, back to you guys. >> can only imagine what couple behind you is thinking as they look at presumably their house. >> tragic. no other way to put it. >> jonathan bloom is out and about as well. >> in napa, getting updates from officials. anything new? >> reporter: we're here at napa county sheriff's office where

the eoc is located. molly, you're keeping close eye on the evacuations and several fires. explain the dynamics of these multiple fire instances you're managing. >> three active large fires going. require three different responses and management of three different issues and evacuation centers. managing evacuating people to safety. >> reporter: you had just added advisory and mandatory evacuation. >> cappel valley road area 20 turtle rock and moss cowight corners. ses quell creek to north valley road. >> reporter: talking about the evacuation warnings, how do you

decide and why is it important for public to pay attention? >> we put into effect because we believe structure or life might be a risk if they stay in the area. could be smoke, fire, downed power lines et cetera. put evacuation in when we feel that residents need to leave. we ask them to comply and go to safety. >> reporter: complicating this, major disruption to communication infrastructure. talk about what you know about downed cell towers, telephone lines and how you're trying to get the word out for evacuations in spite of that. >> experiencing cell phone outages and companies in the process of assessing damage to see what repairs need to be made. actively using social media and nixel. can text to 888-777 to receive

updates. and online and pushing new information out to the media quickly as we can. >> reporter: what are you guys doing in the center? you've been awake a long time. >> we have been. planning for shelters, setting them up, keeping watch on what is going on out in the field and central spot to receive all of that information, making sure you're residents know what is going on in napa county and where they can go to be safe. >> reporter: told me earlier when people are asking if their homes are safe, sometimes you don't know. >> still in the beginning phases of the incident. prioritizing life safety at this point and making sure the necessary evacuations are occurring, haven't begun damage assessments. we know residents want to know and as soon as we have it, will share it. >> reporter: molly radegan speaking at napa sheriff's

department where they're managing evacuation centers for the three fires here in napa county. talk about the importance of heeding those warnings and using text messages and social media to get them out through different communication channels as possible. cell towers and land lines compromised by fires in napa county. jonathan bloom, abc7 news. >> great work up there. >> many schools were closed today and will continue to be closed tomorrow. some districts having trouble notifying parents because of the power and internet issues. almost all 40 school districts in sonoma county are closed except for horicon, for the ross and montgomery. >> classes and university business has been suspended for

today and tomorrow out of abundance of caution. napa valley unified schools remain closed. get the closures on our website. we'll pass along much of it on the air but full list there. it's smoky outside even in san francisco and health warnings going out everywhere. >> hazy out there. smoke along the horizon. mt. tam camera, if you see see, smell or taste the smoke cease outdoor activity and get away from it. >> people with breathing issues, asthma, elderly, pregnant women. >> wheezing, chest tightening,

pain, pal patations, nausea, unusual fatigue and heaviness, can be the result of exposure to smoke, asking you to seek health care. >> urged to close windows and doors, keep the smoke out. air conditioning on recirculate for the time being. >> new footage from the santa rosa fire. comcast is making wifi hot spots available for free to assist with communications during the tubbs fire. folks should be able to log in as guest, no password needed. communication with cell service down for so many people, comcast removed restrictions and opened up wifi for people to communicate. >> and tweet dove tails nicely with this, getting in touch in emergencies even in modern age of communication can bee and home address.

as things change i'll report back. no doubt will change. it is so tough to keep in touch in emergency like this. final thought. if you're at winery or know how winery is doing. get a hold of me. that's not the telephone number to call but feel free. getting questions about wineries on the facebook page and twitter, so let me know and i'll pass the information along. >> many of the wineries have been affected adversely. pretty bad. >> it's sad. get you up to date if you're just joining us on the north bay fires and latest numbers we have on them. at least 1,500 structures now burned. confirmed in napa, sonoma, lake and mendocino counties. >> 70,000 acres burned. those numbers probably are larger, not been officially

updated. largest fires in napa county, tubbs, 25,000 acres, and atlas acre, also 25,000 acres. >> right now zero containment on those fires. cal fire says two fatalities confirmed in atlas fire in napa county. chp says a blind elderly woman died in santa rosa, that's sonoma county, three, and fourth in mendocino county. >> working to get exact number of people injured. six burn victims at one hospital in san francisco, all in critical condition but four stable. two in extremely critical condition. >> more than 20,000 people have een evacuated. expecting another update on the tubbs fire at 5:00 and we'll keep updating you as we learn new information. >> getting new information from

pg&e. 99,000 customers remain without electricity, most in sonoma and napa counties. >> turned off gas service to about 26,000 customers in santa rosa, yountville, napa and kenwood to protect customers and communities. >> once first responders give permission, will assess the damage and begin the restoration efforts. if you see a downed wire or line, assume it's energized. for pete's sake don't touch it or go near it. we can hope for better weather conditions. needing winds to stay calm and humidity to come back. >> what we didn't have last night. low humidity and winds over 50 miles an hour. spencer last time things were looking encouraging in terms of the weather conditions is that

the case still? >> more encouraging. not much good news to report today but weather conditions, do have good news. smoke billowing out from the fires, satellite image, pushing out to sea. winds carrying the smoke away from populated areas. still a lot of smoke across the bay area we're breathing in but heavier smoke is being carried out to sea. winds in hills and higher elevations, 15 to 20 miles an hour for the most part and moving away from populated areas. surface, winds are lighter and because winds shifted midday to onshore flow, cooler marine air with a bit more humidity moving into the areas of the fire. next 24 hours, wind gusts quite

low. during the early morning hours between midnight and 6:00 a.m., two to four miles an hour and won't increase significantly until tomorrow evening. still a red flag warning in effect for high fire danger and still possible to get strong gusts in higher elevations. low humidity in those elevations. 10% to 20% but that's changing overnight. relative humidity will increase significantly. look at projected relative humidity. 6:00 this evening, notice how low in the north bay, 34%, but overnight see a significant increase. 6:00 tomorrow evening, many of the north bay locations with dangerously low relative humidity will see the readings double up to nearly 60% in santa

rosa tomorrow evening, 66% at petaluma and under 50% at napa. that's encouraging. overnight, still have the haze but clear skies above. lows to upper 40s to low 50s. highs tomorrow, mid-60s at coast, 70s around the bay, low 80s inland, much like today. not much of a change in weather conditions until wednesday. accuweather seven-day forecast there, cooler pattern wednesday, thursday, friday and saturday as well although temperatures increase over the weekend into early next week. not going to be hot, next several days cooler after tomorrow. relative humidity is rising and don't expect wind gusts to be strong overnight except the highest elevations. those weather conditions that affect fire risk, all those conditions are looking favorable.

>> boy, this is really good to hear spencer, thank you so much. many people are documenting harrowing escapes overnight from the flames. >> this is my neighborhood. in flames. completely in flames. >> you can hear the emotion in here voice. cal stoeg ga resident alyssa fleeing the tubbs fire. >> she posted this video on twitter overnight as she evacuated. you can hear the fear in her voice and see why. surrounded by flames. moving so quickly. check out this incredible photo as well posted on twitter by abc7 news viewer mario. >> huge wall of right red and orange flames. moon obscured by the thick smoke. dramatic, terrifying, ominous

shot last night. >> mendocino county sheriff shared photos of the damage in the redwood valley area. >> burned out pick-up truck left in the middle of the road. looks like scene from movie about nuclear winter. very strange. >> and this here, bright glow of the flames in the background. taken in area of west road, east road and tom ke road in east mendocino county. >> another -- burned to the ground, journey's end mobile home park. 55 years old and older mobile home park. in other words for people 55 years of age or older. >> and when our camera was rolling there was nobody there at mobile home park so we certainly hope everybody got out safely. getting people out safely is the

number one priority for firefighters. >> this fire is 20,000 acres now. burned from the napa county line towards callis toga into santa rosa, quite a few miles. large population, thousands of people affected by the fire and explosive rate of growth and how fast it's pushed into this area has made the priority getting people out of the way. >> the fire is expected to surge and ebb throughout the day depending on the winds but as spencer detailed, looking encouraging. fingers crossed. right now firefighters are concentrating on getting people out of the way. busy day for law enforcement authorities, trying to get people away as quickly as possible from the fire zones. >> clear the area if you're not a resident, please leave. fire equipment and aircraft bombers are coming in. >> that was the scene an hour

ago outside yountville, silverado trail where the fire is burning. local residents hanging out in the area, hoping to get word about their homes, waiting to get back in to check them out. >> i have no idea. but i got down and had enough stuff in car to get by a couple of days and whatnot but no idea if it's there or not. >> devastating for lot of people. lot of emotions. really sad, going to have economic impact, probably unprecedented as far as i can tell. >> the last guy there, justin, and his family, purchased the old red school house and workplacwaiting for word of its status. >> joins us live, once again,

alyssa with the destruction. >> reporter: seeing this all over napa. scenes like this. was a house standing, now just rubble. looking at mattress springs, charred fireplace, what looks like bathtub and personal belongings, power lines down, broken glass. you mentioned power outages, seen pg&e trucks going by but one neighbor described this as apocalyptic. that's what it feels like. so quiet, so many people out of the area but every once in while you hear crackling like a camp fire, and realize there are still small fires burning. >> i had a very nice art collection, i suppose i'm going to miss that. >> reporter: walk through the neighborhood, much of it destroyed by fast-moving wildfire that raced through the area last night. burned through several homes,

including theirs. lived here 30 years. >> going to miss the property. i lived here so long. do wildlife rescue and rehabilitation, it was precious to me. >> we're staying with friends, just start over i guess. >> reporter: firefighters from agencies all over the bay area came to assist. alameda fire department captain. >> winds blowing 30, 40 miles an hour, it was just leapfrogging and we were trying to stay ahead of it, do the best we could. >> reporter: down the road, dumped buckets of water on smoldering debris. >> trying to stop the flames from spreading or igniting or anything we can do. >> reporter: she was terrified when late last night saw a wall of flames moving down the ridge. >> my daughter and i up in

balcony and just started praying. >> reporter: gathered things and left. dave simmons and his family stayed up all night fighting the fire themselves. >> stopped trees from burning, put out grass, kept propane tank from blowing up. >> scary, especially blow all the embers at you. >> reporter: lost power and water and had to pump from the pool. house been in family for generations. it's okay. >> grandparents' house. grew up with all the neighbors. it's just hard. >> reporter: wind really kicked around this fire is we're seeing things like this, house totally destroyed but some homes and back yards completely spared, not touched whatsoever. it's eerie sight in this napa neighborhood by mt. george. we're seeing neighbors trying to come together and help each

other but there's really no cell phone service out here. people meeting on the streets before the road closures to share information, anything they can tell friends and neighbors about the status of their homes. reporting live in napa, elissa harrington, abc7 news. >> nothing can replace lives. we know of four confirmed deaths as result of the fires. >> dan noyes is live with more of the unfortunate victims. >> reporter: it's been a tough day. i've been going through all different locations in santa rosa, here at cal fire command post in the fairgrounds in sonoma county. fire crews are resting up, preparing to go out one more time. above them, crews at top in the orange jump suits are the inmate crews and below them is sacramento county strike team,

normally brought in to protect structures, that sort of thing. today i got access from the chp to name of the road is mark west springs road. that's the one fatality in sonoma county. victim's name is veronica mccoombs. 67 years old. this is her home. family confirmed she was home alone, diabetic, as result, lost most vision, legally blind and deaf as well. and she tried to escape. authorities told her family she was found outside in the driveway near that sedan. talked to her sister. does have a husband and son who live with her. both out when the fire swept through there. so quickly. as i went down the mountain, the hill there on mark west springs road, devastation, house after house after house. her sister, paula, told me it

just happened so fast. you know. one night i didn't watch the news, when i could have warned my sister to get out, didn't watch the news. really her family are questioning the decisions they made and heartbroken obviously for the death of 67-year-old veronica mccoombs. so sad. lot of property lost but now getting details on the loss of life in the north bay. >> update figure. this just changed. sonoma county sheriff confirms seven deaths in sonoma county alone. plus three others. total number is ten. >> take the ipad to show the tweet by the sheriff's office, confirms seven fire-related deaths from the sonoma county

fires our condolences to friends and families. >> literally while dan was talking. move around to other reporters. lyanne melendez has been going to as many neighborhoods as she can get to to give us a sense of how bad the damage has been. >> in the meantime, melly woodrow is at cross walk community church in napa. >> reporter: this started as evacuation center and converted to shelter. people coming here will be able to stay for longer. step out of the way. people pulling up to drop off donations. might see there's dog food dropped off. dogs unfortunately can't stay inside overnight at this shelter but if people bring pets here, get lots of information for options of where to take them. as we pan to the other side, cases and cases of water. this is water that people have

been dropping off and looks like some are pulling in here perhaps to make donations. otherwise maybe to come here. really just a terrible situation. anybody that's coming here to shelter like this set up either can't get back home, don't know condition of their home, roads closed or at this point they know their home is a loss. obviously anybody that's coming here is feeling a lot of sadness, grief, and perhaps a lot of uncertainty, not knowing. i want to bring in john. he's a volunteer with the red cross and spokesperson. tell us how many people you have here. at one point talking about shelter being full. it's not now. >> last night 200 to 250 people. right now 50, but anticipate being at 200 level again tonight. >> talk about the services you provide? >> mainly shelter and food here. we have the salvation army here

serving dinner. overwhelming generosity from the community, bringing in snacks and things like that. right now well stocked here at this shelter with food and water and supplies. but as time goes on and we get a little bit further away from the fire, the red cross and our partner agencies can help with longer term services for people who need them as well. >> reporter: talk about food and things, going on 5:00 and some people been up maybe since last night. >> well equipped for this kind of thing. we have snacks. people have brought us coffee and all sorts of generous donations. want people to be taken care of, food, drink, mental and physical health. we have medical staff here if people can't get to medications, we have mental health if people need somebody to talk about

what -- this very large event in their lives. >> reporter: not just medicine but pets. i know you're unfortunately not able to accommodate pets and during a time like this, especially talking mental health, lot of people don't want to be apart from pets in difficult time. what are options for people who need place to stay and don't want to leave their pets? >> as i understand it, napa county animal services is allowing people to drop off pets while evacuated. we've had people stay in cars with pets outside the shelter. we're sorry we can't take them inside. some people just are allergic to dogs or cats, need the shelter to be open to everyone. that's why we don't take them inside. we'll try to work with you, give you snacks and food if you're not able to come inside with your pet. >> and there are options as it

gets later tonight should you get full. what is max you can accommodate and is the nearby college still an overnight shelter ? >> approximately 250 people. here. nine red cross shelters across four counties. large number set up. other shelters set up as well. and we will ramp up or down based on the number of people who need assistance. >> reporter: can you share information about other shelters if you have it? in terms of location. >> napa valley college is one. i don't have them off top of my head but can get them for you. >> reporter: people watching that want to assist, what do you want them to drop off or is there a better way to help? >> best is go on to red cross website and donate. allows us most flexibility to deal with needs as they come up.

people have been generous and brought all sorts of things here but best way to let us help effectively is donate online. if you want to help, volunteer, go to red cross facebook and twitter page. there's a link to provide information and we'll get in contact in the coming days to see how we can use your assistance. >> reporter: you've been at this since last night. you came from oakland. what has been the most striking thing you've seen? >> just saw a gentleman come in and say i've lost my house, don't have place to stay tonight. that's the human element of this kind of tragedy. we're here to help and do all we can for people in their hour of need. >> reporter: we're so thankful you're here. thanks for taking time to talk to us. that's what's happening here. john said they can take up to

250 people. reports earlier they were full here but it's not case right now. will be serving dinner tonight. lots of options for people who don't want to be apart from their pets, come here to get information or john even said, some people choosing to stay in vehicles in parking lot here. lot of people don't want to be apart from pets. pets provide a lot of comfort. that's one condition here. but people coming here have either learned devastating news they've lost their homes or might be case they can't get back. there's uncertainty right now about what they're going home to when they're able to get home. imagine the emotions that brings up. talk to some of the people here and send it back to you now. >> live from the cross walk community church in napa.

appreciate it. >> iconic businesses in the area have been destroyed. following what is happening in sonoma, the dairy has burned and gone. some questions about nicholson ranch was okay, they're going to be closed. they do have damage but telling fans they're -- >> going to be okay. 911 call centers been flooded with calls and callers, many tying up lines to report dense smoke that you see behind us even. >> do you actually see a column of smoke or flames where you're calling from? we're getting a lot of what we call drift smoke in our county, don't have active fires in county we're aware of, but if you see a column of smoke or active flames, call us back. >> asking people not to call 911 unless you actually see and smell the fire, talking about

flames. resources are spread thin and first responders need to be able to move quickly to a real emergency. here's what to look for before you make that call. >> go out, take a look around for flames or hear fire. if you hear crackling, that's when it's appropriate to call 911. just the smell of smoke, don't call until you verify there's a fire. >> authorities say if you're up in the hills in contra costa county and around the bay area, you will likely smell the smoke. but they say you need to check carefully before you dial 911. don't just rush to do that. >> several bay area firefighters are up helping out with the fire fight. dozens of strike teams are gone up. >> contra costa county strike team headed up this morning. chief spoke with assistant chief up there with the team, says

this is event no one will soon forget. >> report was this fire was epic. never seen anything like it with regards to the spread, how much it caught people by surprise. people trapped in their homes. large scale evacuations under way and he said it's just something like he's never seen before. >> he expects he will send more firefighters up to the north bay to help in the coming days. >> all day long we've been getting picture and videos of the fire from viewers, many of them as they were fleeing the scene. here's a look at few of them. this is from our own dan noyes shooting scenes and neighborhoods as he passed on the way to report on the tragedy. utter devastation, charred cars, homes that have been burned to the ground with nothing remaining. but other places, some homes like that one. >> survives but look at what is

in front and next door. pan across the street, some folks surveying what is left presumably of their home if anything is left. again described this -- this is such an unusual fire, kind of like firestorm in '91, not just burned out shells, nothing left, reduced to rubble as if a missile struck these homes. >> another shot by stacy lang, haze in the air, not just north bay with you tweets from peninsula, san jose even, all that smoky air causing people to put on mascots right now. nicholas, also showing the haze. >> this is every corner of the bay area, you'll see this kind of haze, the fire has burned at least 70,000 acres and put off eenormous amount of smoke and winds whipping around a long

time. those winds pushed smoke all over the bay area. number of shots, what so many people in different parts of the bay area are seeing and smelling. you can see the sun almost blotted out by the haze. >> continue to look at more images. if you shot video and would like to share with our viewers use #abc7now, posting on twitter, facebook or instagram, if you use that, will help us find them. paula shot this of a gas station there. sign saying no more gas. other stations, lines really long as people gas up to drive out of the area, anticipating going long ways. out is the sign you'll see in many places right now. >> here's another bit of video, also from paula, one of the folks who works in creative services department. now look at this shot, boy.

reddish glow, orange glow in the air because of the haze and smoke as sun tries to filter through. this picture, been repeated so many places in napa. and sonoma and mendocino and lake counties, fire just tearing through a variety of structures, homes, clubhouse for golf course, many other structures, entire shopping center was wiped out by the flames. >> share new information that came in from press democrat reporter covering that area. important safety information. residents of the larkfield area north of santa rosa advised not to drink tap water. fires caused damage to some of the storage tanks at pumping station. because of the damage can't assess the water quality and

assure it's safe. do not drink is on in that area north of santa rosa. >> cal fire says 1,500 structures have been destroyed. aside from homes, fountain grove inn, hilton sonoma wine country hotel, k-mart in santa rosa. >> kohl's on airway drive, weet t's restaurant, and oakmont of villa capri in santa rosa. few of the businesses that are