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tv   ABC7 News 1100PM  ABC  October 11, 2017 11:00pm-11:34pm PDT

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new north bay communities under mandatory evacuation orders right now, and as we watch the flames moving closer to so many communities tonight, the wind picks up and threatens to make this disaster even worse. good evening. i'm dan ashley. >> and i'm kristen sze. yes, the winds are picking up speed. and firefighters fear they'll switch directions and endanger new pockets of the north bay. >> several new evacuation orders were issued in just the last few hours. the most serious a mandatory order for the entire city of calistoga. >> mandatory evacuation orders are in effect for parts of geyserville along highway 128 northeast of the russian river there is also new evacuation terry nichols in the northeast corner of sonoma. >> well, tonight abc 7 news reporters are fanning out across the north bay, tracking the fire. we have crews in napa, calistoga, geyserville. >> we have teams in american canyon and healdsburg. let's begin with abc 7 reporter
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lilian kim. >> right now the california highway patrol is going door to door, advising residents of possible approaching fires. and lilian, the fire is getting dangerously close to heavily populated areas. >> dan and kristen, we're on 7th street and castle road. and the area beyond this point is under a mandatory evacuation order, which came down just a few hours ago. the northeastern edge of sonoma under mandatory evacuation orders tonight. emergency vehicles driving around, securing the area. at sonoma plaza, this area is under an evacuation advisory. and frank pagoni at pagoni's olive oil company to haul away enough olive oil as he could. >> i built 30 years of my business, and i'm not letting the fire take it. we're going to clear everything out as much as we can. and hopefully if the fire doesn't head to the square, we're going to move everything back. in. >> boyes hot springs under an
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evacuation advisory. ron and his girlfriend replaced items that couldn't be replaced like his father's 49ers jacket. >> things my father left me, he passed away. just whatever i could take, some clothes. i can't pack the whole house up. i'm just praying to god tomorrow we come home and the house is still here. >> the roads leading up to arnold drive were bumper-to-bumper for most of the afternoon and into the evening. but a few are choosing to stay. the miller family packed up their minivan and has it strategically parked for when and if the time comes to leave. >> in the meantime, i figure it will be one less car on the road. it's pretty congested getting out of town. the wind shifted away from here. it's not raining ashes so bad right now. so we're just staying ready. >> in addition to homes, there are a couple of wineries in and near the mandatory evacuation zone. specifically, bartholomew park winery and buena vista winery. live in sonoma, lilian kim, abc 7 news. >> all right, lillian, thank you. >> now joining us on the phone
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is scott alonso, a spokesperson for sonoma county. scott, thanks for coming on. we appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. >> you were with us and talking with me at 9:00 tonight. what has changed in the last couple of hours. give us an update. >> well, we're still concerned about the activity in geyserville east of the city of sonoma, and then boyes hot springs. also, there was an advisory evacuation notice in the city of santa rosa for neighborhoods in the northeast part of the city. that is just a precaution. but we are following that closely. so the winds are still up tonight, and there is still is real danger throughout the county. so if there have been mandatory evacuation orders issued, please take that and leave immediately. >> by now we know what mandatory evacuation orders entail. but what about the advisory evacuation orders? when folks get that warning from you guy, what do you want them to be prepared for? >> well, i think it's important to remember that a lot of these alerts come out with little warnings.
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the advisory gives individuals a heads up that something could change and could become dangerous in a short amount of time. so be prepared. be vigilant. pack your car. get your pets close to you. make sure you have your medications with you. warm clothes and don't forget your cell phone charger. because if you have to get evacuated quickly, you know, cell phone communication is necessary to keep in touch with your loved ones. >> good point. scott, obviously so many of these roads in and around wine country are two-lane roads, small roads that clog up very quickly with a crush of people trying to get out. you can hardly move around sometimes on a sunday afternoon up there, much less an evacuation. >> yeah. i think we're seeing a lot of traffic. even on highway 101 going southbound earlier this evening. so please be safe when you're on the road. there is some visibility challenges with a lot of the smoke and some ashes in the air. so please be careful when you're on the road. and there are still some power outages in the county affecting some traffic lights. but the good news is california
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highway patrol and pg&e are working right now in santa rosa to restore some of that power and hopefully some more traffic lights will come on and power will be restored. >> now we do know a lot of people who were asking can we go up there to either help, volunteer or bring donations. are you seeking that kind of assistance right now? or do you prefer that people from outside of the immediate north bay area just stay out for now? >> well, we definitely -- i think it's important to remember financial donations are much appreciated. redwood credit union is organizing a north bay relief fund. there is also the community foundation of sonoma county organizing the resiliency fund. so those are key for supporting the relief efforts. also, the redwood empire food bank, you can donate directly to them. they are a tremendous amount of food. they're giving out to all the evacuation centers. so financial donations are appreciated. and we also need people to help us out at various shelters.
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and they can call to follow tear. >> we have that number on our website too. scott alonso with sonoma county. thank you so much for coming on. we appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. >> great information. new parts of the small sonoma town of geyserville are under mandatory evacuations tonight after watching flames from the pocket fire creep ever closer over the past three days. >> that's right. it's been very tense there. abc anchor dion limb. >> it is simply mesmerizing to see. over my shoulder, you can see the thick, bright orange flames high atop that mountain ridge, overlooking downtown geyserville. even though the winds are slightly pushing off to the side away from that downtown, those residents are not in the clear yet. the flames burned bright atop the mountain ridge overlooking the tiny town of geyserville. a slow creeping threat of what
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could be devastation to come. >> we've had three days watching this. it's not like the people in santa rosa woke up and had to rush out their neighborhood and right out of their sleep. >> but time is ticking. as the winds picked up midday, a mandatory evacuation for parts of town. >> family pictures. >> a bunch of clothes. >> helicopters and planes flew overhead, dropping water and fire retardant. a mesmerizing sight even for this man. >> it's quite sobering, to say the least, if not frightening. >> by evening, the usually vibrant main street downtown was quiet. nearby neighborhoods, even ones not in the evacuation zone, prepared for the worst. >> you get ready because they say you're going to leave immediately. you're packed. you're ready to go. engines are started. >> state-requested assistance arrived. these men part of a 50-engine team outside portland, oregon, suited up to hit the front lines. by the time the sun set, one
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thing was clear. the people here know they are small but mighty. >> just blessed to have family and really really close friends here. >> and stick together. >> i think we feel very strongly about our community and the sense of brother and sisterhood that we have and a feeling of looking out for each other. >> brotherhood and sisterhood indeed. something to point out is that this fire, because it is so high up is so difficult to fight. we have roadways that are made of stone and gravel which makes it very hard for those emergency responders tonight. so now it's just a waiting game. reporting live in geyserville tonight, dion lim, abc 7 news. >> thank you very much. >> in napa county, the entire town of calistoga remains under a mandatory evacuation order tonight. 5:00 p.m. was the deadline to leave. >> katie marzullo is there live for us. residents were not given very much time to get out. >> they weren't.
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and dan and kristen, i am not exaggerating when i say it is a ghost town here. you can see behind us. but the city tonight is calling the mandatory evacuation a success. the only activity you're going to see out here tonight, the only activity we've seen out here tonight is law enforcement. and believe me, there are a lot of police officers on patrol here. and we're told any unauthorized person who is found in the town of calistoga is subject to arrest. the air assault on the tubbs fire continued at dusk. the thick smoke all but blacked out the setting sun. overnight flames destroyed homes anderson bennett lane. one of them belonged to this young man who told us he had only minutes to grab his cat and get out. he drove the three and a half miles to his parents' home in town. that's where we found him and his dad, who was hosing down the roof. they're not leaving, despite the mandatory evacuation order. it appears most of the 5,000 people who live in calistoga did
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leave. the streets are dark and abandoned except for the pofficers who are on patrol. earlier, authorities went door to door to encourage people to evacuate. >> they're all i've got. and i've got to go and find a place there is no cell service here locally. i call out. i can text out, but i can't call out. and they can't call me. so i have no way of getting ahold of them. >> what's your name? >> it's still unbelievable. i can't believe this is really happening. we've never been in a situation like this. >> it's a scary thing to leave your house and belongings behind, not knowing if they'll be there when you return. this family couldn't leave without a little extra insurance. a sprinkler running on the roof and treats for firefighters, along with family photos and a note that reads please save our home. all right. how about a little bit of good news on the tubbs fire. the city reports that the progression is slow. so that's good. also, that cal fire crews are
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making good progress with creating fire breaks. and the last tweet i saw from cal fire reported that the tubbs fire was 10% contained. the thing is there are still dangerous winds in the forecast. life in calistoga, katie marzullo, abc 7 news. >> that note so touching. thank you. >> an evacuation center for calistoga residents is open tonight in american canyon. >> abc 7 news reporter elissa harrington is live with some of the folks who fled. elis elissa? >> that's right. the high school is now a shelter. i've seen volunteers bring by wheelchair, cots, things like that. people will be spending the night inside the gymnasium. one of the reasons this is possible is more and more schools are cancelling classes because of the bad air quality. >> food and water is in there. >> evacuees arrive at american canyon high school, the latest evacuation center for people escaping the wildfires in the north bay. entire neighborhoods have been forced to get out. >> it's a nightmare. we're living a nightmare that i
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wish we could just wake up and it would go away. just checking on their phones, the latest updates. >> george gutierrez and family members are spending the night at the sonoma raceway campgrounds which is now open for evacuees. he calls this rv their home away from home. gutierrez packed up picture, valuables, and his pets. he set up chairs and a tv to follow news about the fire. gutierrez lives in sonoma. and even though his neighborhood is not under mandatory evacuation orders, he did not want the take any chances. >> you know, event after event. and i just didn't want to be one of those people last minute with flames following you down the street kind of thing. >> evacuation centers are taking donations like clothing and blankets. it's going to be another long night. but people i talked to are trying to stay hopeful. >> it's a small community. and i know everyone is going to come together and help each other out. >> fairfield high school just announced it will also be serving as a shelter. and even though classes have been canceled, a lot of the people you're seeing are high
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school volunteers all coming together in this time of need. i'm told here at american canyon high school, they have plenty of donations. they will regroup tomorrow once they see how many people they have staying here, and we should get an update then. reporting like, elissa harrington, abc news. >> thank you. air quality is terrible in so many parts of the bay area. this is what it looked like this afternoon from our towercams. with low visibility from the pollution, planes could not land simultaneously at sfo tonight. so 118 flights were canceled. others were delayed up to two hours. here is a look from sky 7 around sunset. the moon was glowing red, distorted by smoke particulate matter. the haze has prompted a spare the air and a health advisory for tomorrow. just an eerie sort of sunset today. we've been talking about how weather conditions on the front lines, on the fire lines tonight will be absolutely critical to containing the blazes. >> no question. let's check in with meteorologist sandhya patel to see what firefighters are going to be facing in the next few
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hours. sandhya? >> dan and kristen, they'll be facing challenges conditions. let me show you the wind direction right now the hills. beginning to come out of the north. and that is a wind that is very drying. right now gusting to about 14 at las peak. out of the northwest to 17 mount tamalpais. and those winds are only going to increase. red flag warnings for the northeast bay hills and the santa cruz mountains until 5:00 p.m. tomorrow. we're looking at gusts over 50 miles an hour in the overnight hours. humidity will be running low. so any fires that do start will spread rapidly. the same areas under a wind advisory. trees could topple. power lines may go down, as you look at the hour-by-hour forecast. the situation does not look good. during the wee hours of the morning, the winds will be out of the north, gusting to 29 miles per hour. places like fairfield 5:00 a.m. tomorrow, 32-mile-per-hour wind gusts. still 30 miles an hour between 6:00 and 8:00 a.m. gusty winds will mean high fire danger. live doppler 7 right now showing
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you clear conditions as you take a look at the satellite picture from earlier today. you will notice that the smoke plume was moving southward here as high clouds pass through that northerly wind definitely pushing that smoke south. air quality will be terrible again tomorrow. a look at the air quality forecast, plus a look at when things might improve coming right up. dan? >> sandhya, thanks very much. well, there are major smoke concerns at bay area schools. many have decided to temporarily close. oakland public schools will be open tomorrow. but if you're worried about it, officials say you can keep your children home and take an excused absence. vallejo, benicia and vacaville have closed for the remainder of the week. martinez, pittsburg and west antioch unified districts have closed for tomorrow. most public schools in the fire zones will understandably be closed through friday, including pretty much all of sonoma county schools except for those along
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the coast and northern edges of the county. also closed, all napa valley unified schools and napa valley college. calistoga joint unified and st. telehelena unified closed. we have a full list on abc7news.com and on the abc 7 news app as well if you need it. much more on the fires in the north bay coming up. in healdsburg, residents on edge tonight, watching the fire in the hills and hoping they won't be the next ones ordered to leave. and our dan noyes in the i team digging into a possible cause for the devastating fires. you're going to hear what was being said on emergency dispatch the night the fires were sparked. also ahead -- >> i feel like it was nightmare. >> a story of survival tonight. the reunion this family thought would never happen. and a quick programing note. abc 7 news is going the stay on the air until midnight because of our extended coverage of the north bay fires. "jimmy kimmel live" will air right after this special edition
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of abc news at 11:00.
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love is out there. find it in a subaru crosstrek. a new mandatory evacuation is in effect for mendocino county. all of potter valley as well as the roads going to potter valley road. the redwood fire in mendocino county has burned 30,000 acres between redwood and porter valley, and is now 5% contained. so not much containment. firefighters have had a direct control line between the two areas since this afternoon. crews are also mopping up hot spots and trying to protect structures that were not damaged or burned. better progress against the sulphur fire burning in the
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clear observation area. it's now 40 contained. cal fire says the fire has burned 2500 acres, and crews visit wrapped up. they're mopping up hot spots and burned out structures and resource there's will be allocated to the redwood fire as soon as they become available. these two fires combined now called the mendocino lake complex fire have destroyed 250 homes and 90 structures. 800 structures are still threatened. let's go to healdsburg now tonight where residents have packed up their bags after being told that they may have to leave on a moment's notice. >> some people have proactively left their homes. abc a 7 news reporter katie utehs is live at a shelter. katie? >> healdsburg residents are watching the winds very closely as fire threatening on several fronts tonight. the evacuation shelter here at the healdsburg community center has seen an influx of people as the city itself has some evacuation warnings in place. this as people who have helped fire victims flee prepare to evacuate themselves.
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>> cardinal newman is gone. cloverleaf ranch is gone. >> reporter: bells healdsburg ambulance drivers took this video as they evacuated patients sunday night and monday morning. >> they have worked well. they've lost their homes. they've stayed on shift. they worked while they lost all their -- >> they worked nonstop, transferring patients out of sonoma county. now fire looms closer to healdsburg district hospital. >> we only have healdsburg and memorial to work with. so -- and now healdsburg's being threatened by the fire up in geyserville. >> let me know when you arrive at geyserville fire. >> their dispatch center is also in an evacuation advisory area in healdsburg. >> we'll wait until we can't, i suppose. it's hard to leave your job when this is supposed to be what you do. >> i'm trying not to panic. my mom left. my mom evacuated. she is over by the river. >> people in the following areas
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need to be ready to leave at a moment's notice. >> blash avenue and the bottom of fitch mountain which success. >> alicia webb and her daughters are packed. >> home videos and pictures looks like the most important thing for us. >> others are soaking their roof and yard to protect from flying embers. >> we're just doing what we can to try to make things a little bit safer. >> the healdsburg community center is a safe place for people already displaced. people who are now processing what they've witnessed. >> and there was hundreds of explosions that went on a consistent basis. it was crazy. people were driving on the sidewalks. >> the evacuation center is only about halfway full tonight. they could accept 50 or more people, and it is pet friendly. the volunteers here are fantastic in my opinion. and the food is also being catered by local chefs. live in healdsburg, katie utehs, abc 7 news. >> that's a nice gesture. thank you so much. the abc 7 news i team has spoken
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with quarantine pg&e lineman who believes that downed power lines and exploding transformers sparked the wildfires raging there the north bay. the linesman wants to remain anonymous, but the i-team reviewed emergency dispatch recordings. and in the early moments several calls came in about power lines falling in the high winds and transformer exploding. listen. >> rincon valley electrical investigation 1047 maverick. hazardous conditions. possible transformer explosion. fulton road at old redwood highway. >> we have been advised there are power lines down with a transformer blown. all units be advised. >> the lineman tells the i-team customers may also be to blame because they often resist when crews try to cut back on vegetation. pg&e sent this e-mail statement this evening to the i-team that reads in part, these destructive winds along with millions of trees weakened by years of drought and recent renewed vegetation growth from winter
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storms all contributed to some tree, branches and debris impacting our electric lines across the north bay. we are posting the entire statement at abc7news.com. napa police have just released their long-awaited evacuation advisory map for eastern napa. they advised that people in the march zone should collect their personal items. that includes parts of east avenue and combsville road. residents packed napa still hall earlier to hear the latest details from city and state officials. winds are expected to pick up tonight from the northeast, which is a concern for the eastern side of the city. >> i know you probably have been preparing like crazy and wondering how much preparation do we need to do, and when do we need to hit the go button and get the heck out of dodge. we hope to give you as much notice and time as possible. that's our goal. but with the extreme weather changes and the extreme behavior, it continues to beat
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us to the punch in some cases. >> cal fire and its incident command team is in charge of the operation. they'll make the call to evacuate specific neighborhoods. the signiorello burned saturday night. wine bottles melted. logistic at that. bottles in the wine rack were flattened like pancakes. the winery owner explained to vic lee what happened. >> pushed the cork out, boiled the wine right out of it. and torched the -- that's a cork that's burnt. >> however, the fire spared everything else in the winery, including the invaluable crush pad. in glen ellyn, the mayo family winery shared these pictures of staff crushing grapes the old school way with their feet. the winery doesn't have power because of the fire. flames stopped just a few feet from their property. a staff, as you can see, are wearing masks to protect themselves from all of that smoky air. >> it's harvest right now.
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tonight a reunion between a chp helicopter crew and the family they rescued right after the atlas peak fire started on sunday night. >> yeah, the father of the family made a really difficult decision. abc news reporter vic lee is live at the napa county airport with the story tonight. vic? >> it was difficult. now that reunion took place just behind us at the chp hangar. it was an emotional reunion, not only for the family, but also for the chp crew. this was the first time since the rescue that the chp helicopter crewmembers saw pepe and graciela tomayo, their son jesse and his grandparents. on sunday night as the flames raced through atlas peak, tomayo and his family left just before the home burned to the ground. >> i can see the flames 15, 20 feet high. >> they drove up to a field along the mountain. that's when pilot pete and
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flight officer whitney lowe saw him and his extended family. they landed the chopper. i said we can take four people and he made the decision who was going to go. a very selfless act on his part. >> i told these guy, please take my family, you know. i'll be here. i'll be all right. >> i was crying. my son, my mom, everybody was. everybody was crying. >> tomayo tried hard not to show his fear. but the flames were close. >> i call my daughter, and i tell her, mi hija, if i don't see you again, remember i love you. and that was it. >> tomayo's courage and selflessness did not go unnoticed. >> he was saying take my family and go. kudos to him, you know. what a guy. >> i told him he were coming back, and i don't think he believed us. >> officer lowe meant what he said. later that night, they found tomayo and picked him up. >> like i was nervous when he
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didn't come. but he came. >> when i saw him again, i was so happy and saying things. they saved his life. >> i want to thank these two officers, because if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be alive right now. >> the tomayo family lives in a house on the ranch where he works. they lost everything. the place they live. the only way they got out was clothes on their back. now the chp helicopter crew also heros that night. that night they made 26 rescues in seven hours. vic lee, abc 7 news. >> wow. that is some story, vic. unbelievable. thank you so much. >> we certainly hope the winds will start to cooperate a little bit. and prevent more homes. >> i'm not sure it looks so encouraging at the moment. but meteorologist sandhya patel is following it. >> it's going to get worse before it gets better.
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let me show you a time lapse of our smoky sunset at 6:37. this was from our south beach camera earlier tonight. and you could see just how heavy the smoke was in san francisco as it was in many parts of the bay area. so really, this is what you're going to have to con tend with. the north wind blew the smoke toward the bay area, san francisco points southward. if you have respiratory issue, this is a bad time to be outside. now when you take a look at what's ahead for tomorrow, the winds are going to be howling. as a matter of fact, they'll be pretty gusty in the north bay and the east bay hills at the lower elevations. you're looking at wind gusts of about 30 miles an hour at times. possibly higher over the hilltops. it will be gusting to 50 miles an hour or higher. this is what the biggest concern is. that wind will dry out the atmosphere. i do want to show you some pictures. this one was posted on my facebook page by david t. the smoky skies in santa rosa choking the area, you can see there. and this one is from berkeley,
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ash falling. this was sent to me via twitter. you will likely see scenes like these repeating. thank you for sending in the photos. here is a look at the air quality. spare the air alert up for tomorrow and for the coming days it's going to be really bad. so very unhealthy in the north bay tomorrow. in red, you'll notice most of the rest of the bay area unhealthy air quality. friday it's poor to unhealthy. like i said, if you have respiratory issue, you'll want the stay inside and avoid exposure. definitely have a mask. but that doesn't protect you from all particulate matter, only the larger ones. so keep that in mind. from our east bay hills camera, there is so much smoke that it's hard to make out the port of oakland right now. live doppler 7 is showing you clear conditions here in the bay area. but visibility is not so great. temperatures are dropping. some spots are already down to the 40s. but one thing to note, santa rosa has actually gone up with the north wind, now 56 degrees. it was lower earlier tonight. visibility is down to five miles in fairfield.
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four miles in livermore. still the smoke impacting the area. abc 7 news exploratorium camera seeing some of that gray sky, the hazy conditions here in san francisco. bad air quality the next several days. high fire danger through tomorrow. we're looking at warmer weather this weekend. here is look at the humidity, hour by hour. tonight it's not so bad. but as we head towards tomorrow, single digits to teens in the area where the wildfires are burning. this is not good news. still remaining pretty dry friday afternoon, friday night into saturday morning. we're going to see another burst of gusty winds develop. tomorrow morning windy in the hills. lower elevations gusty, hazy, smoky. low 40s to low 50s. you definitely need the extra layer. it is going to be a chilly start in parts. hazy smoky conditions will continue for the afternoon. highs in low 60s to the mid-70s. i want to draw your attention to. this if those fires are still going, look at this computer model. october 18th, next wednesday afternoon, the pacific northwest is getting some rain. by thursday morning, that rain line shifts into the north bay.
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that would be, of course, encouraging news for those fire crews. accuweather seven-day forecast, smoky and gusty tomorrow. again on friday. then we see the winds relaxing saturday afternoon, bringing in the warming trend for the weekend. low to mid-80s inland. mid 60s to 70s coast side. we'll see the temperatures drop sharply wednesday of next week when we bring in a slight chance of some showers. dan and kristen? >> all right, thank you, sandhya. now, if you want to help, you can text 90999. that $10 to the red cross. or call 707-577-7600. >> and tonight's edition of jimmy kimmel live will aired a midnight after this extended edition of
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