thanks so much for joining us. i'm chris nguyen. we've been on the air since 5:00 a.m., tracking mandatory evacuations out of sonoma county. abc 7 news reporter cornell barnard joins us live from an area that's been evacuated. cornell? >> reporter: hey, chris, apologies for the mask, but the smoke is so thick in this area, a dramatic situation continues to unfold here in sonoma valley. you see smoke and fire up on the ridge. we have seen that all morning, since we arrived here around 4:00 a.m. the fire continues to march ever so close to homes in the sonoma

valley. about 400 homes now under a mandatory evacuation order. we do believe that most people have heeded that warning. but heavy fuels up there on the ridge, as a firefighter just pointed out to me. to the left, we have another fire burning in the sonoma valley. we see a big header of smoke right there, that is another fire in the northeast section of the ridge above the sonoma valley. so two major fires burning here. a major firefighter is now on to protect all of the homes in the area. let's bring in captain tony mchale with cal fire. tony, any containment on these fires right now? >> there's no reports of containment right now. it is a tense situation up here. we have a lot of active fires you can see on the hillside there. it's established, pretty heavy fuels, a lot of timber up there, plus some slope. we had some pretty heavy winds this morning. the winds have calmed down here in the flats, but there's probably some pretty good ridge

top winds going on, erratic winds, very hazardous for firefighting. we're gangiengaging it where we. but yes, it's a tense situatio >> reporter: i'm coughing because the smoke is drifting this way. pthat's your biggest enemy. >> it is a factor as far as fatigue and the residents. there is an evacuation in place, mandatory evacuation here on the east side of sonoma. we're urging civilians to please leave the area. because this is a developing situation, it's a very receptive fuel bed, we're still in a red flag warning right now, we're in an engaged, active firefight. >> reporter: we did see a structure a couple of hours ago on fire on castle road about, what, a mile, two miles from where we are. can you tell us about that? >> we've been receiving reports

of structures destroyed. we don't know how many. we won't really know, because right now we're engaged in an active attack. that will take time for them to assess that. i don't have any accurate information with regard to numbers of structures. >> reporter: burning embers another culprit for you. >> what happens with this fuel bed, when you have the wind blowing, what we call ember showers, you'll get some tinder stands that will be on fire, grasses will throw things ahead of the fire. it will put spot fires 300, 400 feet away from you. it can create hazardous conditions for firefighters. >> reporter: now that the sun is up, what is the plan of attack? a lot of people watching this will want to know how you guys will jump on this fire. >> firefighters are opportunists. we engage with whatever we can, wherever we can, where we can do the most good. we'll bring to bear every resource that we can. we have a number of engine companies operating in the area. if conditions allow with smoke and things like that, i'm sure

we'll bring some aircraft into the area as well on a priority basis. you know, anything we have, we're going to engage this thing. we are going to stay here until the job is done. >> reporter: is it too dangerous to bring aircraft in? because the visibility is dwindling as we speak. >> a lot of the tactics we use are based on conditions presented. we have to be -- like i said, we're opportunists. we take advantage of those opportunities. sometimes you can have a strong inversion of smoke. when we can, we will. >> reporter: i know firefighters all around up on the ridge, down here protecting structures, you guys are everywhere. >> typically they'll deploy strike teams of engine companies on structure protection operations. they'll send crews to identify these locations. we'll look at the conditions that we face. there's a lot of things we consider. we do what we call structure triage, is there defensible space around the home, water supply, access.

these are variables that company officers, chiefs, anybody in a supervisory position, firefighters in general, we have to make these decisions quickly. >> reporter: the flames are getting closer, that's not our imagination, right? >> in some areas it depends on the fuel bed and the wind. it's not a consistent, moving fire front. it's very local. it could happen in drainages, on hillsides, hill tops. the fire situation is very variable. >> reporter: if you haven't gotten out of your home, if you're in the mandatory evacuation zone, time to go. >> if i may add, speaking as a veteran firefighter, our number one priority is human life. it creates a great deal of anxiety for us when we have civilians in an area where we're operating that's in an evacuation order. because we want them to be safe. when they're here we're concerned about their safety. we understand, it's a tense and emotional situation, but your lives are what matter, that's irreplaceable, so please heed the evacuation warnings and leave the area. >> reporter: captain mchale, thank you so much for your time.

winds continue to fan these flames up there on the ridge, chris. in fact it seems like the wind has now shifted the smoke. that is really our only indicator, shifted the smoke to the north, it seems like. so like the captain said, the winds have been erratic. those are the worst -- it's been the worst enemy of firefighters really all across the region and it continues to be. whether or not it's going to be safe to do air-drops here in the next couple of hours remains to be seen, because the smoke is just so thick. that's why we continue to wear our masks. we've been told by firefighters to keep it on. obviously i can't do that when i'm talking here on television, but we will be keeping our mask on all day long. we haven't seen hide nor hair of anybody in the neighborhood. we saw a couple of people who chose to stay in their homes.

one man said he had been warned nine times by officials to get out, but no, he's going to stay in his home. that's not what local officials want people to do, they wasn't people to gather their pets and belongings and of course their loved ones and get out, go to a safe location. it seems like for the most part, though, folks have heeded the warning, chris. >> cornell, now that the sun has come up, we can see more of that heavy smoke and haze. you mentioned that respirator you're wearing. if people are going to be outside, it's something they need to get their hands on and even then it's not a total fix by any means. >> reporter: it's not, no. it's a temporary fix. what you need to do is just get away from the smoke. but the winds continue to shift. and it's really anybody's guess where these winds are going to be fanned to. that is the worst enemy of the firefighters, the winds carrying the flames, increasing the progression of this fire ever so

close to this populated area here in the valley of the moon, the beautiful sonoma valley. we are about three miles from the center of the town of sonoma, the beautiful sonoma square. for now, that is protected. that is safe. we have seen one home, at least one home burn this morning. that was several hours ago on castle road. unfortunately that home appeared to be a total loss. firefighters did what they could to save it. but they had to move on and provide structure protection to other homes in tha area. lots of vineyards, lots of ranch houses, and just lots of smallismall bungalows nestled around this beautiful area. and the fight is on to protect all of them, chris. >> cornell barnard reporting live for us in sonoma county this morning. joining us now on the phone is anthony brown, a pio with cal

fire. anthony, we understand you're at the santa rosa eoc. anthony, are you with us? all right. we'll work on that connection and try to get anthony in just a second. anthony, are you with us this morning? okay. it looks like we -- obviously cellphone reception has been an issue in that area. we will of course try to check back in with anthony brown in a little bit. he's with cal fire. he's going to bring us up to speed on what's happening over at the santa rosa eoc. if you're just joining us, we are in continuing breaking news coverage. again, breaking news, due to several new mandatory evacuations, the latest in lake county, officials are urging people in the spring valley and new long valley area to leave immediately. if you can't get out because roads are blocked, officials say you need to shelter in place or evacuate to the spring valley

community center on wolf creek road. also new mandatory evacuations in eastern santa rosa. the sonoma county sheriff's office says you must leave immediate if you live in the following areas: highway 12 between adobe canyon road in kenwood, and calistoga road in santa rosa. this includes both sides of highway 12, skyhawk, mountain hawk, and much of rincon valley. new mandatory evacuations in the sonoma valley. sheriff's office says you must evacuate immediately if you are in the following areas: 7th street east, from east napa street to denmark street. also the north side of denmark street from 7th street east to napa road. new mandatory evacuations also include 8th street east north of denmark, east macarthur street east of 7th, and quail run way and hamblin road. if you take a look at the bottom of the your screen, we're scrolling all of this information, all of these evacuation orders in effect

right now. we want to get now to a phoner interview with the chp. it's a person there with the office up in sonoma county monitoring the efforts -- that's johnathan sloat, trying to help with evacuation efforts. hi, johnathan. >> good morning. >> what's the chp doing to assist in these efforts? >> well, first and foremost, we want to make sure people are out of the affected areas. we were helping to evacuate earlier this morning in eastern santa rosa. that fire turned out to be further away than it appeared initially. right now it's burning in the ridges above the oaklawn community in far eastern santa rosa. our secondary concern is keeping roadways clear so we can get fire equipment up to this fire. our big message to you is, if you're not under evacuation order right now, have everything

ready. if you don't have to be on the roads, stay at home. >> so important, we have to keep these roads clear for perm to be able to make their way in with all of that equipment. as the chp has been helping out with evacuations, et cetera, are you meeting any people who are choosing to stay in their homes? one of our reporters said he met a man who had been told nine times by personnel to get out of his home but he chose to stay put. but, you know, what kind of response are you seeing this morning? >> i drove by this morning someone who decided to stay, a few that had heavy equipment and decided to make a stand. they were very clear -- we tried to impress upon them, it's not necessarily the flames, it's the smoke that will get you. so if you wait too long to see those flames, it may be too late. so i have met people who will do that but most people we met will

use common sense and get out. >> johnathan, real quickly, we're taking live images right now from sky 7. for viewers at home, what you're looking at is sky 7 over santa rosa and our exclusive sky map 7 feature showing the streets and the areas affected right now. you can see here over dickinson road, the plume of smoke there. and so johnathan, what else will the chp be working on as we progress throughout the morning? >> it's hard to say. probably a little bit of everything. we're going to monitor where the fire is headed. we'll keep those roads clear so we can get equipment and pesonnel up there. as the fire progresses, we'll probably be moving in to help with more evacuations in the city. >> johnathan, where exactly are you located right now? >> right now i'm just outside

the town of kenwood at k i felt kisian road, near the oaklawn area. >> we're over kenwood and santa rosa right now in sky 7. johnathan, you talked a little bit about that smoke. in your area, what are some of the weather conditions that you're experiencing right now? because, you know, all morning long, our meteorologist has been tracking the winds, and cal fire has said that this is just not the scenario they want to find themselves in this morning. >> yeah, at the scene here, it's a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky, but we are having some westerly winds. and get not good because that's going to push it right towards santa rosa. we're hoping for a change in the weather, it would be nice. >> and again, we're looking live at sky 7 right now. we can see a part of the area down below with those intense

flames. the smoke coming up. this is just an incredible view right now. and obviously in parts of the viewing area that have been evacuated, these places have become ghost towns and some of the concern has also shifted to looting in certain areas. from a law enforcement perspective, that's got to be so hard to manage, right, johnathan? >> absolutely. and i'm glad you brought it up, because we've had -- our offices have taken a lot of flack in the last several days from residents who are obviously anxious to get back to their homes. one of the reasons, besides the safety and wanting to get power and essential services back into these neighbors, we're locking them down because of the looters. we have made arrests with some over the last week. but if we lock down those neighborhoods and don't let

anybody in, that will cut back on the looting. we've had officers up here 24/7 patrolling the neighborhoods alongside with our local officers. it's been at a minimum, it has happened, but we feel that if we keep those neighborhoods locked down and keep people out of them, it's going to cut back on the looting and improve people's safety. none of our officers want to keep people away from their homes, that's the last thing we want to do in these circumstances. as soon as it's safe we'll get people back in there. >> sky 7 right now taking a live look over santa rosa, the huge plume of smoke over the area. and johnathan, you mentioned that with the exception of the smoke, there are no clouds in sight. we're looking at the picture on the screen right now, the intense smoke over sonoma highway down the muffled screen, running left to right. and obviously saving lives and keeping people safe, that's the first priority.

the chp can't go around from house to house and keep properties from being looted, et cetera, you're keeping people safe, that's the first priority. >> reporter: absolutely. to keep people safe and protecting their property. so while we understand people's frustration that they can't get to their house, whether it's been destroyed or not, we hope you understand that we're doing it to protect you and to protect your property. >> and in terms of the law enforcement response, first off, thank you so much to all of our furs responders and law enforcement officials who have put themselves in harm's way. we appreciate johnathan sloat for joining us. johnathan, were you still there? it looks like we don't have johnathan anymore, but we appreciate his perspective. lisa, i want to bring you into this conversation really quickly, this is sky 7 over santa rosa in sonoma county.

we can see the intense smoke now hovering around this area. and it appears, lisa, that this smoke is going to stay for quite s some time, at least a couple of days. >> that's right, chris. we also have upper elevation winds that are very gusty. those winds are erratic. they will transport the smoke in different directions. further to the south, across the bay, down into southern marin county, into the east bay. and those higher elevation winds have that higher velocity. that's continuing to make it tricky for the firefighters to fight these fires. and within the next couple of hours, we are looking at the upper elevation winds transporting some of that velocity into the valley. within the next two to three hours, winds will continue to increase and be strong. last reported wind gust in napa

county, knoxville creek, 49 miles an hour. they're averaging 29 to 30 miles per hour. and we don't want to forget about our friends in the east bay, those winds about a thousand feet, 50-mile-an-hour winds over mt. diablo. as temperatures go up today, we're looking at humidity continuing to dry out the atmosphere down to dangerous levels, down to 10%. right now we're at 60%. with the rising temperatures and those winds blowing out of the east, yes, the air gets drier and drier. the smoke gets transported, pushing more of that unhealthy air over the valley, across the bay. the good news with this is by the afternoon, the winds will dial back, and we should see them down to about five miles an hour. it's a critical time between now and 11:00.

by the 12:00, 1:00 hour, we'll see things get a little bit less in terms of wind gusts. we're still going to have that thick layer of smoke, still will be looking at unhealthy hair. all over the bay area, except around the santa clara region, kn not as bad there. tomorrow, winds will be more westerly. by next week, that is going to be some better weather with more of an onshore component and looking at some rain pushing into the forecast. of course with no soil here, we're going to look for problems with that as well. with everything burning, what would be ideal is to certainly get the temperatures down and the winds down. that will happen later on this afternoon. >> lisa, i'm so glad that you're mentioning the humidity and the change in temperatures. throughout the weekend, so you touched base a little bit about today, but as we head into tomorrow, what's the forecast like in terms of the conditions ahead that firefighters will

face? >> with the wind shift tomorrow, it looks like the relative humidity will be better. we get that recovery in the overnight hours. this morning, we're 65, 68%. the temperature goes up and the air dries out, we'll get down to perhaps below 10%. but by tomorrow, with the wind shift, we should see more humidity coming in off the ocean, less of an offshore component, that should bring up the humidity and keep it 20, 25%. that's still dry, but it's all due to a better wind direction which helps a little bit in the recovery of some of that humidity and the winds won't be as gusty. so yes, the velocity in the upper elevations, they really can transport those embers very far away, far from the fire. that's what we're really worried about, between now and the next several hours when these winds will continue to be gusting in the upper elevations. >> and lisa, as we continue to

look at these images from sky 7, we want to point out really quickly that we do have new mandatory evacuations in eastern santa rosa. again, the sonoma county sheriff's office saying that you must leave immediately if you live in the following areas of eastern santa rosa. highway 12 between adobe canyon road in kenwood and calistoga road in santa rosa. this includes both sides of highway 12, skyhawk, mountain hawk, and much of rincon valley. so this sky map 7 view just really incredible, as we zoom in you can see the smoke above north pinthion road there. let's talk about the abc 7 news app, the accuweather app, because this is a handy tool people can use to make sure

they've got the forecast in their pocket, ready to go, and it could be really helpful as people are in those emergency shelters and trying to figure out, you know, getting a gauge for what these firefighters are facing in terms of the conditions. >> right, of course. and we have a lot of weather fanatics in the bay area that do track their weather in their enabled. you can see the wind direction this morning out of the north. you'll be able to see this dial back and weaken throughout the afternoon. if you have the app, you'll notice that the winds are out of the north, and that is the direction we are pushing the smoke to the south in. these are the winds in the valley, the flat lands which are calm right now. it's the winds in the upper elevations that will be draining to the lower elevations throughout the day. as we look at fairfield as an example, 10:00, within the next two hours, the winds still out of the north at 26 miles an hour. they decrease at about 11:00 to about 4:00 in the afternoon.

between now and then, we're not only talking fairfield, we're just using them as an example, looking at breezy winds. the 24 hour temperature change profile, showing how much warmer it is in napa and half moon bay, all due to the wind. when you don't have an onshore component with the cooler ocean air, you're getting wind blowing off the land. that's a dry wind. as it descends, it warms. since the winds are coming out of the north, they're warming as they get to napa, 20 degrees warmer. you can see from the live camera, the bad air, the lower elevatio elevations looking at that smoke being trapped by the low pressure. mountain view, a mild start to the day. gilroy, 42 degrees. mt. tam, has a conditions all day long, you'll notice the smoky, hazy conditions across the entire bay area except for south bay, around the santa

clara region. the air quality is just about as bad as it can get throughout your saturday. 43 in santa rosa. you contrast that to where the wind is blowing by the delta, 56 degrees. here is a view of our visibility in miles. there's no fog out there. there is smoke. and so with that wind direction pushing out of the north, you'll notice hayward is six miles, pet alum ma seven miles. you're smelling it, you're probably seeing of this we're looking at high fire danger this morning right on through 11:00, and smoky conditions throughout the weekend. chance of showers, though, that would be nice, that looks like it's coming into play by thursday and friday. so red flag warning in effect throughout the evening hours. upper elevations, and also very breezy conditions with winds over 20 miles per hour here and that relative humidity, boy, down to between 10 and 15%.

if you don't have a mask, good idea to shut the windows and avoid that outdoor activity. we're hoping that these next couple of hours really kind of go by quickly, because this is the critical time where the winds are not cooperating. the weather is not cooperating. the temperatures are going up. but by this afternoon, things will change and improve and be a little bit more advantageous for the firefigters for the second half of the weekend, chris. >> lisa, thank you. for our viewers just now joining us, we've been on the air since 5:00 a.m., monitoring the latest conditions out of sonoma county. mandatory evacuations in place. joining us on the phone is anthony brown with cal fire. anthony, as we speak to you really quickly, i just want to point out on the screen our viewers right now are looking at an image from sky 7 over the firefight right now, santa rosa over the sonoma highway. where exactly are you located in the county right now?

>> i'm currently located at the santa rosa eoc. >> got it. anthony, if you could, talk to us about what's going on there and what you'll be focused on in the coming hour. >> okay. so here at the santa rosa eoc, we're here fielding phone calls from the community. there's a bunch of different organizations inside of here. our main focus is to answer questions and field those phone calls from the public as well as the media outlets. >> what kind of questions are you getting from people calling in? >> they're inquiring about areas that are evacuating. they want to know the fire size, the fire containment, which way the fire is going, if they can get back into their homes and things of that nature. >> and, you know, for people who are about to evacuate or, you know, they're watching us on the air right now and they're finding out, okay, i've got to evacuate, what advice can you give them as they kind of do a

last minute scramble to pack up their belongings? >> you guys want to make sure you get important things such as your i.d.'s, medications, things you'll need to survive for an a couple of days. cash, you want to grab that. if they're telling you to evacuate, it's a serious situation. when you are leaving those areas, be cognizant and a heads up for folks working in the area, because it can be dark and smoky, conditions can be poor. just know there's folks out there working, as you're evacuating in vehicles, make sure you're aware of that and driving in a safe manner. >> we're so prevent of the efforts from agencies like cal fire and whatnot. with these new evacuations that have been put into place, we've heard throughout the morning that there are roughly 22 shelters that people can go to throughout the north bay. but with these new evacuations,

do you anticipate opening any more shelters or is it kind of just if there will be enough accommodations for people who need to seek it? >> that's a possibility. unfortunately i don't know if they're going to open up any more. i know there are quite a few currently open. there is a place you can go on the website to look up and see where those current evacuation centers are located. >> and as we're looking at these images from sky 7, again, this is above the sonoma highway in the santa rosa area, anthony, we're seeing the huge amount of smoke. air quality is certainly impacted right now. our meteorologist lisa argen has been talking about that throughout the morning, very unhealthy levels. and people should stay indoors, obviously if they're evacuating, they need to get out of those neighborhoods, but, you know, it doesn't do anyone any favors to stay outside and breathe this all in. >> absolutely. like you just mentioned,

obviously if you've been evacuated, you want to make sure that you leave. but if you are in an area that's not affected, you absolutely want to stay indoors and let someone know you're home in the event that the area needs to be evacuated, or someone needs to come check on you, there's some accountability of where you're located. stay indoors, if you're outside try to use a breathing barrier like a 95 mask to cut down some of that smoke. >> i'm glad you mentioned the n-95 respirator. so often in these cases, people will go to their local hardware store and grab the first thing they see, whatever mask is available. but they need to get an n-95 because that really does filter out 95% of those non-oil-based particles that are up in the air right now. >> absolutely, it's one-way valve. when you breathe out, nothing comes in as you inhale. those are really effective. if those are unavailable, you can get your regular mask.

but if you can, we definitely recommend you get those n-95. as the last resort, you want to have something. if the n-95s are gone and they only have your regular barrier, grab those, anything is better than nothing. but if you can, we definitely recommend the n-95s. >> we've been receiving reports that a number of hardware stores, pharmacies, and whatnot had been sold out of those masks. i know that this is kind of a broad question, but do you know if many of those stores have been able to get more supply in stock in the past few days or so? because people are asking for them. >> right. unfortunately i don't have that information at this time. but folks, i would urge you to call your local hardware stores and your local walmarts and whatnot and hsee if those are i stock and get down and pick them up before they're sold out again. >> with the air expected to be

at this unhealthy level for a couple of more days, maybe even turning to an e-commerce website like amazon.com, doing the prime one-day shipping feature if you're at home and can get a package. >> absolutely, look it up online and figure out if you can order those things off amazon or ebay or directly from a shipping company like walmart or something, try to get them delivered to your presence. >> talk to me about the importance of staying hydrated right now. obviously fire crews are doing everything they can to, you know, keep up the momentum in terms of these firefighting efforts. but firefighter fatigue is starting to set in or has set in as these men and women are on the lines for 24 hours at a time. so let's talk about that. >> absolutely. hydration is really important. you know, if cuts down fatigue, it cuts down muscle cramps. you want to make sure that we're staying hydrated and they're

we're eating, we want to make sure we drink plenty of water and fluids throughout the day and monitor one another for those signs of heat exhaustion and whatnot and be able to pick up those signs when your co-worker isn't doing so well on the line. >> so far, can you tell us anything about any injuries for firefighters, anything that they've been facing? >> there hasn't been any major reportable injuries that have come through as of 7:00 this morning. those injuries that have been been reported, it's nothing too serious, that's a good thing. i would imagine someone may have some -- you know, your blisters and whatnot on your feet, but nothing that's been reported as of 7:00 this morning. >> anthony, we continue to take live images from sky 7, using our special sky map 7 feature showing the streets on the

screen over the image that people are watching right now. we're seeing these heavy plumes of smoke that are filling the air, obviously impacting the air quality. earlier today, especially during the 5:00 and 6:00 hours as we were on the air, we saw a lot of flying embers in the video coming into our newsroom. one of our reporters was out there, he had to move live shot locations because of the intense flames. but let's talk about embers and how far they can travel. even though, you know, you don't see the embers, they're certainly a dangerous force, especially with the winds that we're expecting throughout the morning. >> right. so embers, that's a pretty important aspect of firefighting. if you have a strong wind, those winds could push those embers, you know, 2 or 300 feet ahead of the main fire which in turn causes another fire that may go unchecked because you're not able to see it because it's so far ahead of you, then that fire

can turn into a larger fire. the wind and the embers play a huge role in this firefighting effort. >> so often people -- we're no longer in a drought, but let's talk about the fuels that are adding to this fire and why it's been so challenging for firefighters to get ahold of -- to get to containment. >> so a good challenge for the fuels is these fuels are dry and ready to burn. some areas haven't burned in many, many years, and you have that dry vegetation and that dry ground there, it's essentially a matchbox waiting to go up. that hampers the efforts on the terrain, slopes, you may not be able to get certain equipment to fight the fire, it's a challenge for folks to hike in with what hand tools and whatnot to get to those fires. all that stuff plays a huge role when it comes to trying to get these things buttoned up.

>> sky 7 in the santa rosa area. this isn't too far from wildwood mountain. anthony, how many people are actually staffed at the eoc? you were telling me that multiple agencies are converged in that area, right? >> yes, there is. we have local law enforcement officers here. we have folks from the santa rosa pd, from the santa rosa fire department, cal fire, oes. there's a number of agencies here helping facilitate and get things out to the public and answer questions. >> looking ahead to 9:00 a.m., yesterday we were told there was going to be a press conditiofer an update of sorts? >> so the sheriff usually does a press conference is he sonoma fairgrounds between 5:00 and 6:00 in the evening to update the community on the challenges

faced throughout the day. >> let's talk about nixle alerts and social media and those tools that cal fire has been able to use with local agencies to get the word out about these evacuations. >> that's a huge help for us, that alleviates a lot of concerns. we post those things as often as possible. folks with smartphones, they go to facebook and get updates on where the evacuations are and things like that. having that is really helpful. >> and for people who have decided to remain back, if heaven forbid the fire actually gets close to their home, i mean, you know, or their vehicle, say you become trapped in a vehicle, what should you do? >> you should leave that area immediately. don't stay in your vehicle. keep driving until you get to a

safe area. >> and cal fire also has some really great tips online, cal fire recommending that if you become tapped in a vehicle, stay calm, park your vehicle in an area clear of vegetation if possible, close all vehicle winds and vents, cover yourself with a wool blanket or jacket, lie on the floor of the vehicle and call 911. what information can people find on the cal fire website during this emergency? >> they can find out, when it's time to go back home, on calfire.org, it gives you things to look for if you do return home after being evacuated, signs to look for, if you have downed power lines, to make sure your circuit breaker is turned back on, make sure everything is unplugged in your house before you reintroduce power to your residence. that's a helpful site as well,

calfire.org. >> we're updating abc7news.com with the latest information as we're getting it into our newsroom. that includes all of the containment figures, acres burned. there is an incident page, obviously, that you guys are monitoring and updating, you know, wherever you get new information. >> right. as of 7:00 a.m. this morning, there's three fires burning. the major fire that's burning is the nun fire, it's recorded at 4 46,104 acres. the tubbs fire is 35,270 acres. the nun fire is being reported pthe pocket fire is reported at5 per containment. the tubbs fire is reported at 44% containment as of 7:00 a.m. this morning. >> looking ahead in the next few days, what do firefighters need

in terms of the weather conditions to be able to get a better hand on this thing? >> we need cooler conditions. we need higher humidities, and no wind. >> for the person at home who is debating about whether or not to evacuate even though they may be under a mandatory evacuation, can you share from your perspective, why it's so important to evacuate and how, you know, the more time that you can spend on fighting the fires as opposed to, you know, rescuing someone who chose to stay back, i mean, that's the key, right? >> absolutely. like you just mentioned, if you are in an area where you should be evacuated and you're still there, you should probably get out of that area. like you mentioned, it deters us from putting our goals to fighting that fire because now we have to go into rescue mode and convince you to lead your property, and that takes time

from the firefight effort. not only that, you're putting the firefighters' lives at risk as well, trying to rescue you from your property. >> cal fire officials have always stressed the importance of, if you're in a fire zone or in an area that could be evacuated, that it's so important to wear, correct me if i'm wrong, refresh my memory too, it's important to wear cotton clothing as opposed to synthetics that could melt, right? >> absolutely, if it melts it will cling and burn to your skin. >> as for those masks, if you can't get your hands on an n-95 mask, what's the next best thing, because i know some people are heading to hardware stores, possibly even paint stores that might have them as well or maybe online. but what are some other tools that people can use, you know,

especially as this air quality is so impacted? >> if you can't get any mask at all, you can use things like bandanas, you can wrap those around your nose and your mouth. that's always something good to use. if you have to when you're at home, you can use a t-shirt or something like that to make one of those bandanas to covering your nose and mouth. we strongly recommend that you try to get those n-95 masks. if you can't get those, get one of your regular hospital-type masks, at least that is better than not having anything at all. >> those mandatory evacuations issued for parts of sonoma, that's why we've got images from sky 7 and sky map 7 showing santa rosa below, but real quick quickly, anthony, you talked about nuns, partrick, presley fires, that's now one large complex, right? those fires, 46,000 acres burned

and 10% containment? >> yes, exactly. the nuns fire is 46,000 acres and coming in at 10% contained, yes. >> so you're calling all those fires combined, as the nun's fire? >> exactly. >> we're looking at sky 7 over sonoma highway connecting to shady acres lane, showing huge amounts of smoke. the air quality has been, again, impacted throughout the region. we're seeing it all the way from the north bay down to santa cruz. this is really hard, especially on our most vulnerable communities including our seniors out there. anthony, it's so important to make sure people are staying connected with our elderly and checking in on them from time to time. >> absolutely.

that's huge. if you have a family member or know someone or friend or neighbor, and they're in their areas that are affected, if they're out of the area and they have a lot of smoke in that area, make sure, you know, you reach out to them and make sure they don't need anything and that they're safe. >> in terms of the fires that you've had a role in, the efforts, the firefighting efforts throughout the years, how does this compare to those? this is heartbreaking, to see the devastation. >> absolutely. this is one of those fires that will go down in record history. there's a lot of homes that have been lost, a lot of lives have been affected and lost. this is a tough fight for everyone involved, especially the citizens in the community. >> is there anything on behalf of cal fire that you would like to share with the community while we have you on the phone? >> just remain vigilant. like i stated earlier, if you are asked to leave an area,

don't try to argue with the folks, just take that advice and get out of there immediately. we wouldn't be having you leave if it wasn't a serious situation. it's tough for us to go up and tell someone that, you know, you guys have to leave your home, something that people might have built and living in for 30 or 40 years, but we're telling you to leave and the reason why we're telling you to leave is because your lives are at danger. so if it comes down to that, we recommend that you do leave and take our word for it. >> anthony brown with cal fire, anthony, thank you so much for spending a part of your morning with us. we appreciate you taking the time. we will be sure to check back in with cal fire throughout the day to get more information so that we can share with our viewers. time right now, 8:45. let's get a check of the full accuweather forecast now from our meteorologist lisa argen. >> hey, chris.

winds certainly not cooperating today and tomorrow. this red flag warning could be extended. we'll have an offshore flow, with gusts in the range of 40 to 60 miles per hour in the upper elevations of the north bay and the east bay is looking at wind gusts from 20 to 30 miles an hour. the diablo range has seen gusts of over 50 miles an hour. as the temperature increases, the relative humidity decreases. that allows for the potential with these winds for the fires to spread and throw out those embers far away from the initial fire. until tonight, in the north bay, those wind gusts continuing from 30 miles an hour. we're adding in the valley to this red flag warning. so the upper elevations and the lower elevations looking at the breezy winds throughout the day today. 20 to 50-mile-per-hour wind gusts. napa county, 49 miles per hour. you can see from atlas peak to

the oakland hills, gusting to 17 miles per hour. spring valley on the coast, nearly 20 miles per hour. at the surface you can see the direction, out of the north and out of the east. even though the winds aren't up right now, we're certainly looking at that direction pushing the smoke out of the east bay valleys, closing into hayward and oakland, because of those higher ridge top winds pushing that poor air further and closer to the bay, further away from the east bay valley. let's give you an indication of where these winds are going in the next few hours. 8:00, 9:00, they're getting stronger, from fairfield to napa, even around discovery bay. and by about 10:00, not a whole lot of change. it's 11:00 we'll begin to see these decrease just a little bit. but still over 20 miles per hour by the delta. then by tonight, they may decrease but the direction still stays offshore. that's not going to help with our recovery in terms of relative humidity. we get more recovery at night. if we had an onshore component,

that would add to the relative humidity as well. we're not getting there this weekend. this weekend the weather is not cooperating. we're seeing warmer temperatures today, 60 in san francisco, 46 in gilroy. the coast is already 64 degrees. that's 20 degrees warmer in parts of the bay area this morning than we were yesterday. still some cool 40s up in the north bay with 60 by the delta due to that north wind. we're talking about these stronger upper elevation winds that bring what we call downsloping winds. so it dries out the air, warms the air and makes the air push down to the surface. that's why we're looking at the warmer temperatures. so relative humidity, you can see it's 61% right now in santa rosa, 57% in concord. let's add in the wind from the land to the sea, the offshore component. let's warm up the temperatures. and by 2:00, we're at 18% in concord, 10% in santa rosa. and then by 3:00 in the

afternoon, still in the teens, single digits santa rosa. still with that offshore component, a recovery tonight will not be great. that's why we could see this red flag warning extended into sunday. but right now we're talking about the high fire danger, the gusty winds, upper elevations, smoky conditions. chance of showers, now that sounds good, but that will bring in also some tricky conditions as well as all that burned material and waste begins to soak into the watershed, so we've got some issues with the wind, with perhaps some rain coming. next 24 hours looking at the winds decreasing. this is what it looks like right now by the delta. and with 15 to 20-mile-an-hour winds at the 10:00 hour, tonight things will be a little bit calmer. wind advisory until 5:00. we're looking at lower elevations from the north bay to the east bay. it still will be breezy throughout the day. our storm impact scale by the

end of the week, yes, we need cooler temperatures, we do need rain. all of that toxic hazardous waste that's been burned, it has to go somewhere. with the rain, that could create some other issues. but we are looking at the possibility coming in thursday night into thursday night, that will cool off the temperatures. that will help the firefighting efforts. and we'll look at numbers today on the warm side. we'll continue our sam just snagged it from you canhomegoods.is frenchie. it reminds him of bennie. only quieter. you can't have this frenchie. but new finds are always arriving. so you can find something so you, for less. at homegoods.

good morning, everyone. we're taking a live view this morning from sky 7. you can see our exclusive sky map 7 feature is turned on. we are flying i believe over the city of santa rosa this morning. you can see here part of that smoke over the sky right now. this has just been affecting so many people. the poor air quality, the deteriorating air quality at unhealthy levels. and really what we're hearing is they're at levels we've never seen before in the bay area. again, we have been on the air since roughly 5:00 this morning because of mandatory evacuations that were put in place this morning in sonoma county. at least 400 homes are affected by these mandatory evacuations. we have put all of that information at the bottom of the screen. you'll see it in the ticker

right there, along with the latest numbers in terms of acres burned and containment in relation to the multiple fires that have burned throughout the north bay area. again, this is a live look from sky 7. and you can see sonoma highway in the middle of the screen, at least through the map, hard to make the roads out below because of the huge plume of smoke and the hazy skies that we're seeing over parts of the bay area right now. as we zoom in, you can see just a little closer, castle road in the middle right there, bartholomew, to the upper, near old winery road. but fire crews are doing the best they can to get a handle on these multiple fires, again, that are burning throughout the north bay. earlier this morning, our

cornell barnard was reporting from an area near the sonoma town square, and at one point the flames intensified so much that he had no choice but to pack down or pack up and get out of there, because those flames were intensifying so much. we will continue to follow this story and bring you more updates online at abc7news.com, and of course i want to mention the abc 7 news app. it's a really great tool that you can use to stay up to date with the latest relevant information. so be sure to download that, as well as our accuweather app, soon. do it now while you have the time, if you haven't done it yet. time right now, 8:55. our team coverage for the north bay continues with abc 7 news reporter veronica

veronica, what have you been seeing? >> reporter: we're on highway 12, between the tubbs fire and the fire in that direction. we're in a mandatory evacuation zone. i'm going to change the camera so you can see what we're looking at. you've got people leaving the area. we've seen people on the side of the road, looking at the plume of smoke. at a certain point at highway 12, you cannot access it, no vehicles are allowed. we've seen people basically trying to gather what they can, stuffing their cars, and then heading towards the santa rosa area. right now we are heading over to the cal fire base, essentially where all of the crews are stationed. you'll see that a lot of first responders are heading toward where they're telling people to get out.

we see people running red lights to try to get to safety. there's a mandatory fire evacuation for areas north of highway 12 between adobe canyon road and calistoga road. if you are leaving, you're urged to contact any family member, check in on facebook, social media, so people know you're okay and getting to safety. there is concerns of people being reported missing even though they are okay. so we're going to be heading over to cal fire. we're hoping to get into the fire lines right now. we can't take our truck in there just because the situation is too dire. the winds are moving the fire very quickly. and cal fire says that we need an escort in order to get in. back to you. >> veronica, i'm glad you mentioned about people running red lights, it's kind of like a sense of panic right now for some of these residents who are just now starting the evacuation process. but veronica, so important for

people to stay calm throughout all of this. >> reporter: absolutely. and you'll notice too that the businesses are closing down. gas stations really are just a meeting point right now. it really is best to just get your stuff, get to safety and do it calmly, in an orderly fashion. >> got it. you mentioned the tubbs fire. real quickly as we take this view from sky 7 right now, i want to bring you the latest numbers on the tubbs fire. as of 8:30 this morning, cal fire is reporting that 35,270 acres have burned, but containment is around 44%. and cal fire telling us that the most aggravatictive portion of is that northeastern portion around red hill and mt. st. helena. that fire continues to flank

around the north side of the peaks and the fire is currently holding at highway 29. so that's the latest in terms of the tubbs fire. this view from sky 7 ahead shows you highway 12, again, the smoke covering it from above. but we do have those mandatory evacuations in place right now for certain parts of sonoma valley. we've posted them online at abc7news.com. we've also been running through them on the air throughout the past four hours now. and we are going to stay on past 9:00 for continuing coverage of these wildfires. and we will bring you college football on the left side of your screen. so we are doing this of course because of the threat to public safety and our viewers in the north bay. so just be aware of that as we continue throughout the morning. college football will be displayed but on the left side of your screen. time now is approaching 9:00 a.m. on this saturday morning. we'll continue our team coverage

now on the north bay wildfires with meteorologist lisa argen.