can expect today. we're tracking calm winds for the next 12 to 18 hours. a wide look at the exploratorium camera showing you haze along our skyline. air quality is going to be unhealthy to very unhealthy once again on our friday, and still little relief as we go into saturday. numbers right now, 40s and 50s. a couple 30s in half moon bay. winds, look what happens early tomorrow morning. unfortunately they will increase once again with frequent gusts over 30 miles per hour in the north bay. and that will send more smoke south into the bay area. that's the weather. a check of the roads with sue. good morning. good morning. we have a sig alert in effect already this early friday morning with an earlier truck fire inside the caldecott tunnel. it was eastbound. they still have the right bore closed. they are in the cleanup process so one lane or one bore is open. the left bore in the eastbound direction so traffic is getting through okay.

westbound is not a problem. we head up to highway 37 near sears point. that earlier overturn chp was unable to locate so better news there. no problems westbound 37 and of course road closures through calistoga with the evacuations. we'll check on those in a few minutes. >> sue, thank you. flames in sonoma growing closer to homes, wineries, even sonoma square. >> there is one cul-de-sac residents are still there trying to save their homes. abc 7 news reporter amy hollyfield live. amy? >> reporter: hi, reggie, good morning. no fire here this morning and no homeowners. it looks like they are standing down overnight. it looks like they went to bed. they did bring in a lot of quichlt. take a look at what they brought in to protect their homes, a water truck and a backhoe to carve out a protective perimeter. this gave them a confidence that they will be fine. >> once we got the water here,

the inch and a half hose, we can take care of it. >> this is my house, i'm trying to protect it to the extent that i can. >> reporter: smoke and fire is nearby, about two miles away. the neighborhood is under a mandatory evacuation. one of the homeowners who is staying is a retired battalion chief out of the san bruno fire department. he's very confident, he says he's got this. reporting live, amy hollyfield, abc 7 news. >> okay, amy, thank you. and right now quickly here at the live desk i want to show everyone a really great tool available on the abc 7 news website actually a google map and i've pulled it up here for you. it has all of the fires right now burning across the state of california. i'm going to zoom in here to the bay area. let's go up here towards santa rosa. let's talk about the calistoga fire actually. when you click on it, it does give you information. this is the tubbs fire burning in sonoma counselee right now.

it tells you the it's easy to navigate around the north bay if you live in the north bay and you can find out the real time information. i want to show you where you can find it. it's on our home page here and let me show you the top of the home page and you scroll down in the middle section right over here. you click on maps. super easy to get to. we hope it helps everyone out as we try to update the information constantly changing. another spare the air alert in effect in the bay area because of all the smoke from the fires. the air quality index is red meaning unhealthy air is forecast for nearly the entire bay area. the only exception is the santa clara valley listed as orange. that means the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups like children and adults and people with respiratory disease. most is forecasted in the red again tomorrow. >> one place you can go, the library. san francisco's public libraries are working to provide a safe

refuge from the smoky air. there are four branches designated as air quality relief sites. people can take advantage of the filtered air conditioning there. engineers took an extra step closing down the entrances on the building's north side yesterday trying to keep as much smoky air as possible from flooding the building. a number of school districts affected by the fires in napa and sonoma counselees santa rosa junior college closed until next tuesday. sonoma county will release updated information regarding closures there by 4:00 p.m. sunday. five school districts in napa will resume classes wednesday. napa valley college back in session tuesday. and marin county public schools west contra costa school district schools will remain closed today because of the poor

air quality. it's a lot of information to take in. if ou have more details we have a section on our website just dedicated to the school closures. this morning a brother and sister who helped rescue dozens on sunday night are now demanding to know where were the employees as the flames spread. >> here is reporter melanie woodrow with some troubling allegations. >> reporter: these are pictures of flames devouring the varenna oakmont senior living community on fountaingrove parkway in santa rosa around r monday morning. r.j. kisling went to check on his grandfather, a resident in varenna's main building. >> when i walked in and saw those people and the looks on their faces, i knew i needed to be the answer. >> reporter: he says there were two women in the lobby he assumed were employees.

they said, are you the fire department? >> reporter: kisling discovered his grandfather wasn't in his room but dozens were in their rooms, many of them behind locked doors. back in the lobby kisling says the two women he thinks were employees were now gone. he called his wife who called 911. when the fire department arrived kisling demanded they break down doors where they found more residents sleeping. >> the repeated question was, how come nobody came and got us, how come nobody told us we're evacuating. and from the fire department, where's the staff, where's the master key? >> reporter: oakmont management group says, quote, while we were in the process of shuttling residents to a designated location, authorities refused to allow staff to re-enter the area because of the existing danger and indicated they would take responsibility for evacuating remaining residents. >> we were not stopping anybody from saving lives that night. we had not set up any roadblocks at the time. >> reporter: in a subsequent

statement oakmont management group says executives confirm authorities wouldn't allow staff to return, a point santa rosa police department disputes. police called for two golden gate transit buses, driver david may. >> code three. >> reporter: with 70 elderly residents waiting. >> some with walkers, wheelchairs, and we started loading. i was just glad to have the opportunity to help. >> reporter: kisling now worries they didn't open every closed door in the main building. another building, villa capri, burned to the ground and two other buildings sustained smoke damage. his sister steffany found their grandfather at a shelter. >> i said how did you get here he said i left with the manager in his car. >> a huge effort was made but why did nobody stay behind to ensure everybody was evacuated? >> reporter: that's a question oakmont management group hasn't answered. they say that it remained in contact with authorities

throughout the night to make sure that all of its residents were safe. in santa rosa, melanie woodrow, abc 7 news. it's 4:39 now. napa county officials are set to give a fire briefing at 9:00. the sonoma county sheriff is set to give an update as well. we're wait to go confirm what time that will be and will send out a push alert on the app when that starts. you can find extensive resources like the maps that show you where the fires are burning and up-to-the-minute evacuation information. the app is free to download on your apple or android devices. in accuweather we're tracking poor air quality once again but thankfully the winds will remain rather calm for the firefighting efforts in the north bay. right now temperatures in the 40s and 50s but you do see a pair of 30s on the board. as we head to mendocino county we have freeze warnings as temperatures go into the upper

20s to mid 30s in the next couple of hours so chilly just to our north. surface winds, it's calm to less surface winds, it's calm to less than 6 miles per hour. you can see the gusts will radically increase as we head to midnight and into early saturday morning. we have a fire danger running high once again. for the north bay and east bay hills. we know fires can easily start and spread under those conditions. a wind advisory will go into effect as well tonight. today, though, the afternoon, 60s and 70s will be the name of the game. however, that air quality will be unhealthy again. that's a weather. the roads with sue. good morning. good morning taking a look outside we start our early friday morning with a sig alert involving an earlier truck fire inside the caldecott

tunnel. that fire is out. the right bore remains shut down in the eastbound direction. in the eastbound direction. westbound is moving nicely. 128 through calistoga. that purple means that nobody is getting through either direction and that was lapping up against highway 29. santa rosa road closures, the bicentennial off ramp, northbound 101 at mendocino. southbound at hopper avenue off ramp. we also have just a word that 101 itself is open. these are just on and off ramps. back to the sig alert in a few minutes. okay, and that

that just came in, this is a map here from the usgs pointing this earthquake, the epicenter in gilroy. a small earthquake relatively speaking. 2.5 right now. it's a 2.5. if i zoom in closer you can see it's in gilroy. we are monitoring phones. we will let you know if we have reports of injuries. >> 2.5? >> the initial report here is a 3.0. saying it was about seven kilometers west/southwest of gilroy and then what they do the usgs continues to update the

information and the latest is a 2.5 east of gilroy so there you go. it may change a little bit but the epicenter about a 2.5. still ahead two major wildfires are still raging out of control in mendocino county. what volunteers are doing to help fire victims. went outside in my pants, we have to go. get in the car. >> one family's story of survival as they drove through this inferno. dealing with disaster takes nonstop info, evacuations, nonstop info, evacuations, school and road

it's 4:46. city officials are assessing the loss of property in santa rosa from this week's fires. so far it's so hard to fathom but 2,800 homes have been destroyed. in addition dozens of businesses lost with more than 400,000 square feet of commercial businesses burning. thousands of north bay residents are still under mandatory evacuation orders with five fires burning in sonoma county, the largest is the tubbs fire which has scorched nearly 35,000 acres now 10% contained. >> and as we stay focused on sonoma county, the officials there really trying to dispel a rumor right now, reggie, that's

been flying around. immigration status checks. those are not happening at shelters. i want to show you the tweet they sent out earlier this morning saying rumor control regarding access to shelters, we are open to everyone. no one is asking for immigration status at the shelters. and it really has become a big deal. this is now the third day that county officials felt the need to clarify this policy. back to you. >> jessica, thank you. firefighters are battling huge fires in mendocino county. >> the redwood and potter fires have burned 34,000 acres and are just 10% contained. ukiah high school has been closed all week. volunteers are there gathering to help unload cases of water for fire victims. abc 7 news has that story. >> reporter: this leveled mendocino community the only lively sound comes from tree cutting crews. they're focused on chopping down unstable burned trees to prevent any further destruction from a

wildfire. >> the fire got here probably at 2:00 a.m. but we woke up at about 1:00 to 1:15 a.m. and people were calling us, family members from potter valley trying to wake us up. >> reporter: his family made it out of their redwood valley enabled. their home was spared. but tim smith is still processing the devastation around his property. his neighbors lost everything. >> i don't feel like it's really hit me yet. i've been running around putting out spot fires making sure we were good. >> reporter: firefighters are battling two fires in mendocino county, eight people have died. 8,000 others displaced. the situation is changing by the day. >> today i'm telling you eight fatalities and, unfortunately, i will tell you tomorrow once confirmation has happened the number will go up. >> reporter: mendocino county officials briefed residents about the latest on the fires and aid for victims. we caught up with several evacuees from potter valley. chris mccord feels extremely

grateful to have an rv in this camp begin all that's happened. >> and then when i heard one of my best friends lost her home, that made me very sad. >> reporter: most of the people staying in this camp know each other but they formed a tighter bond from this experience. there are still a number of people still unaccounted for in mendocino county. if you want to report someone you believe is missing call 707-467-6428. in ukiah, abc 7 news. >> what is happening up there is really a tragedy and an emergency, so i'm glad she was able to see people coming together to help. >> over to drew tuma tracking the latest conditions affecting firefighters today. >> yeah, good morning, reggie and natasha. poor air quality even at this moment. will likely get worse as we go throughout our friday. spare the air day already in effect. poor to unhealthy air quality across the region. humidity levels are good.

you do notice they're well above 70% most parts in the north bay and that will help firefighters at this hour. the winds are also calm right now this morning. that is going to change late tonight. future tracker wind gusts show you late friday night into early saturday morning those winds are going to frequently gust over 30 miles per hour and once again this wind direction will send more smoke south into the rest of the bay area. something we're looking forward to potentially next week, future weather showing you by wednesday night into thursday of next week we could likely get some showers in the north bay which would help firefighters greatly. we'll keep track of that. back here at home today highs 60s and 70s, unhealthy air quality across the entire region. take note of that. the accuweather seven-day forecast, smoky skies today continue over the weekend and then all eyes are on thursday of next week for that chance of some showers. that's weather. a check of the roads with sue. good morning. good morning.

we start off here early friday morning with a sig alert. it's in the clearing stages. we had an earlier truck fire inside the caldecott tunnel that had both the east bay tunnels closed. now the right bore remains shut but the tow truck has the semi and should be clearing out of there. this is the eastbound direction. no delays westbound. an accident involving a tour bus and a sedan southbound 680 on the sunol grade partially blocking the right lane. you can see by our sensors traffic is starting to back up towards sunol. we'll come back and check on that plus your north bay road closures due to the fires in just a few. >> thank you, sue. a man is escaping a deadly inferno as flames destroyed his family's neighborhood in santa rosa. >> travis shot this video while driving away from his home. take a look at this. 20 seconds of footage in all, every frame capturing the horror while a tidal wave incinerated homes. his parents also jumped in their cars. >> my mom couldn't see anything

and kept driving into driveways and getting lost and turned around. she bailed her suv and got in my dad's truck. he couldn't see. he hit a ditch and lost a tire and took the same drive i took but on a rim. >> his mother's bmw appears to be intact exactly where she abandoned it. travis found out the car he drove to escape death was so badly damaged during his mad dash to safety it will probably be totaled. >> that is the single scariest piece of video i've seen of the fire. i'm glad he is okay. still ahead, cal fire's big weapon in the fight against the wildfires.

it is 4:55. cal fire is taking advantage of a new aerial weapon in this battle. you've probably seen it on tv or online. this 747 global super tanker is the largest firefighting aircraft in the world. sky 7 spot this had live on the air monday morning. i was here when we saw it. it was amazing to watch. this is the first time it dropped retardant on the atlas peak fire this converted jumbo jet carries nearly 20,000 gallons of retardant or water for up to 4,000 miles. its pilot says so far they've received very favorable reports. >> i hear the smoke alarms going off and she's coughing, coughing, and i'm telling her i love her and she tells me she's going to die. she can't get out of her house. she's going to die.

>> i'm so sorry. that was obviously the wrong sound bite that we played there. getting back to the super tanker, it is based in colorado springs and can reach virtually any point in north america in about four hours and it can be almost anywhere in the world in less than a day. it helped put out a fire in chile last january. the latest on fire conditions, calm winds right now great for firefighters. air quality poor to unhealthy. anywhere from the north bay, the inland to the south bay, it's poor to unhealthy. take note of that spare the air day in effect. 12-hour planner, hazy skies throughout the entire day. midday we have poor air quality, 60s and 70s and by 4:00, yeah, we will have sunshine but smoke will be in our skies with temperatures mainly in the 70s. that's the weather. to the roads with sue. >> to the sunol grade where we have a tour bus and a car vo fd involved in an accident. that is in the clearing stages

as well and we head back to the caldecott tunnel and a truck fire inside the bore, the left bore. the right bore -- pardon me, the right bore remains closed. open eastbound in the reverse commute direction of highway 24. sig alert still in effect. it's in the clearing stages. >> sue, thank you. next at 5:00 a.m., team coverage of the wildfire still devastating the north bay. >> to a neighborhood where many people are now refusing to leave. and for the folks who have left and they want to return to their homes, their homes are still intact, there's still a warning out there for you. especially if you have kids or if you're an expecting mom. that's up next. and firefighters working and firefighters working around the clock to including carpet and hardwood,

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good morning. it is 5:00 a.m. and the north bay fires continue to grow. the death toll still rising. >> the ten fires burning have now burned 126,000 acres. that is 7% contained. >> the tubbs fire scorched nearly 35,000 acres, also 10% contained. in mendocino county the redwood/potter fires 34,000 acres. 10% contained there. 31 have died, 17 in sonoma county. 5:00 a.m. friday, october 13th. live team coverage this morning kicking it off