including 13 in sonoma county. of more than 600 missing persons reported in sonoma county about half have been located. some 20,000 evacuees are in temporary shelters and at least 3,500 homes and businesses are destroyed. >> eight different fires in napa, sonoma and solano county are burning, more than 100,000 acres have been destroyed. take a look at this map, you can see how far the fire has expanded into three bay area counties. also, mandatory evacuations are now in effect nor parts of geyserville, calistoga, sonoma and santa rosa. we've got team coverage with our crews spread out across the bay area. let's start with "today in the bay's" sharon katsuda, she started in calistoga this morning and she's had to actually be on the move because of these fires. sharon. >> reporter: that's right, it's so active right now, laura. what you're seeing behind me is the atlas fire, it's affecting

part of solano county and napa county. you can see mind me the vineyard behind up around highway 221 relatively unscathed so far, beyond that on the hillside you can see hot spots and just beyond that along the ridge line you can see smoke and an active fire an orange glow there showing the active fire. now, this fire is impacting so many areas, atlas peek road and south of lake berryessa, it burned 43,000 acres and is only 3% contained. businesses along highway 221 and kaiser road, that's what they're trying to keep this fire from spreading to and crossing highway 221 now earlier today we saw at the highway 29 the fire threatening downtown calistoga, that's what they're concerned about, we saw flames, right along the ridge line just about ten minutes away from downtown calistoga. they are concerned about that area as well, that's the tubbs

fire, they're trying to get more containment around that only about 10% contained at this point, but they're trying to get that from reaching calistoga. so that's the very latest. we are actively moving around to where these fires are affecting the communities, this one here is the atlas fire and firefighters are there just trying to keep this from spreading. right across the street we see subway, we see insurance offices, we see many businesses in this area and traffic is slowing here on highway 221. so a lot of activity here, firefighters are just doing their best to contain these fires. reporting live in napa county, i'm sharon katsuda, "today in the bay." one thing possibly working against those firefighters is wind, how quickly everything is shift. >> we're watching wind speeds right around sunrise i think will begin to k accelerate at atlas peak, wind gusts of 20 miles per hour, expected to reach 30 to 40 mile per hour gusts later on this morning.

right now winds at least at the lower elevations relatively light, that has been a welcome sight for fire crews overnight. the forecast here the time stamp on the upper right corner of the screen you notice there 9:30 to noon strongest wind speeds around the bay area and also the lowest humidity levels we will see at times and unfortunately here is a snapshot of the current smoke pollution around the bay area. the areas you see in red unhealthy across the north bay, marin county into napa and solano county and with the wind direction, a smoke model forecast based on the northerly winds keeping air quality unhealthy across the bay area, pushing it more into the east bay valleys by this evening into tomorrow morning, so unhealthy air quality will continue through friday, very likely through the weekend, the worst for smoke pollution will be in the north bay, solano county included, also contra costa counties, towards the east bay, unhealthy air due to the smoke and continuing into this weekend. >> we talk about the threat of

those wildfires we talk about the dangers but we also talk about the evacuations. one of those evacuation orders in solano county today as well. this is at the atlas fire, it continues to grow in the fairfield area. >> "today in the bay's" anser hassan is live at the alan width sports complex in fairfield this morning. that is the main evacuation center there. how is it looking? >> reporter: good morning, laura, actually we are in the east ridge area. i spoke to fairfield police a few hours ago by phone, they say the good news the fire has not reached city limits but it is now less than three miles away. if you take a look up there, that's the fire line. now, we've been out here for the past few hours and we have actually watched the fire shrink at least from this side of the hill, fire crews working hard to get that fire out. as of 1:00 a.m. this is what the atlas fire looked like to one of our viewers in fairfield, it was taken from mt. howell that atlas

fire lighting up the night sky. mandatory evacuations were issued to residents in green valley but a voluntary evacuation order was issued for east ridge and that's where we are this morning. now, meanwhile fairfield officials are encouraging everyone to pack a bag and to be ready to leave on short notice, especially for those of you who live in the rancho solano area and residents on the west side of i-80, these wildfires can jump and spread quickly, they want everyone to be prepared. this atlas fire is just 3% contained. now, some people who left their homes have found shelter at one of the three evacuation centers here in fairfield, we visited the solano community center in morning, some folks are staying in their rvs and cars, others inside. we spoke to one of the volunteers and he says for many of the people here this has been an unreal experience to leave their homes and hopelessly watch as the fire approaches their

city. >> the simple fact people that are, you know, wondering what's happening to their homes, do they still have a home, some of them are coming all the way from lake berryessa which is quite a way from here. >> reporter: now, as day breaks fire officials will have a much better understanding of how this fire looks from up there. now, in the meantime, fairfield police are asking residents not to call the dispatch line, they said they have been inundated with phone calls, they are asking people to check social media for updates. reporting live in fairfield, anser hassan, "today in the bay." we want to take a live look over sky ranger right now as it's looking over highway 221 in napa as you can see right there. this is what it is. it is those flames burning as they continue to burn. one of those tough things that are impacting people who live in the area as well as firefighters trying to get it under control.

>> these are live pictures from that area near calistoga this morning which had those mandatory evacuations. everyone had to be out of calistoga at 5:00 last night. live look this morning even our own crews that we stationed out there they have had to move multiple times as we're seeing these flames grow. this is near napa out there this morning. now, the threat remains of the winds, rob mayeda had just joined us saying they are about 20 mile per hour right now but as the sunrises we expect them to pick up and that is the big danger for firefighters as it can shift the fire of this grow to grow. so many evacuated. the tier themselves have been working massive shifts, 40 hours at times, but the good enough is that they are getting outside resources even from other states which is making an extraordinary difference because they need their rest. >> a lot of the things blowing in, the haze causing the problem for traffic as well.

a lot of people getting on the road. we want to go to mike inouye who has been talking about that, how the shift is affecting the traffic flow. >> first of all, the evacuations, just because they say clear calistoga, clear sonoma doesn't mean they can just snap their fingers and everybody has cleared out of their homes, we have to drive out of the area with cars and possessions, then sonoma was blooded with traffic, 116, highway 12, 121, for a portion of the day also highway 37 to highway 12, that portion is closed, it has opened reopened this morning. anser just off of i-80, ridge field where he showed that moving over the road. here is green valley road, closed to traffic flow, they are three miles away from i-80, yesterday it was closer to the freeway and that caused traffic control issues. big kids were being allowed to

come off i-50 which is normally not involved. this morning i got confirmation that as the lanes cleared up i-80 they are no longer allowed through oakland which is typically the case in the morning. the oakland approach and coming out of lafayette and walnut creek interchange, the backup at the bay bridge toll plaza. for that portion of your commute outside of the north bay moving just fine, we will give you the big view of the traffic sent torse. hayward slowing across the san mateo bridge but all of these areas your visibility is okay as far as seeing the road but that haze will be prominent as the daylight comes up and smoke we're talking about smoke issues for around the bay area as well. track us for all aspects all areas of the bay. we will continue to monitor traffic through the north bay and the rest of your commute. coming up on "today in the

bay" we have continuing coverage of the north bay wildfires. we are live in one of the evacuation centers and napa county not far from the fire line. right now we want to take a live look at sky ranger looking over highway 221 near napa as that fire continues to grow. a lot of tier working around the clock to get this under control. this is also forcing many evacuations. time now 6:10. oh, you brought butch.

yeah! (butch growls at man) he's looking at me right now, isn't he? yup. (butch barks at man) butch is like an old soul that just hates my guts. (laughs) (vo) you can never have too many faithful companions. introducing the all-new crosstrek. love is out there. find it in a subaru crosstrek.

and now it's 6:13. waking up to hazy skies, smoke into san francisco. 50 degrees as those north winds push smoke and lower humidity levels across the north bay, east bay and south bay hilltops, the latest on a red flag warning and wind advisory for parts of the bay area coming up. thank you very much, rob. it's 6:13. this is a live look from nbc bay area sky ranger over the site of the atlas fire. you can see how it continues to glow and those winds are the biggest threat for firefighters. this is near highway 221 in napa. we have crews on the ground this morning, they have even had to change and move locations. of great concern winds picking up, about 20 miles per hour right now as rob mentioned, but expected to increase which could prove to be a cuff fight for firefighters as we continue to bring you live pictures and monitor the situation with all

these different fires burning in northern california. new this morning we have learned kaiser permanente, santa rosa and sutter santa rosa hospitals have established family reunification phone lines. this is from monday as you saw patients were being evacuated from the hospital. now officials are trying to connect missing loved ones with their family members. there are phones numbers you can call. the kaiser permanente number is 855-599-0033. and the sutter santa rosa number is 707-543-4511. >> if you happen to miss as i tweeted them out @laura garcia nbc. people across the bay area feeling the effects of the north bay wildfires, the smoke from the fire is so intense, everyone is talking about it, you walk outdoors and you smell it and taste it.

creating dangerous breathing conditions for people. >> "today in the bay" kris sanchez is live in fremont this morning with what you can do to stay safe. kris, so many people are worried about that, people are developing problems because of this. >> right. well, from the beginning this smoke has been so thick and the wind has shifted in so many directions, there are so many folks who have been affected even as far as 100 miles away and so we know that folks are feeling health impacts and not just annoyed by the smell of the smoke. here is a realtime air quality map. dreen is good and there is not a speck of green on that map. orange is unhealthy for sensitive groups including elderly, folks with respiratory difficulties and all of our children, red is unhealthy for everyone. according to the air district this is the worst air we have had in 17 years. >> we're seeing elevated levels of particulate matter higher than we have ever seen since we began measuring that in 2000.

>> reporter: if you are close to the north bay fires you should seek shelter or leave the area all together if you can. use an n95 mask, i will show you what to look for in just a moment. for the rest of us stay indoors if you can keep the windows, the doors closed and keep the air conditioner on recirculate in your car, in your home so that you are not sucking in that bad air. this is an n95 mask here and what you really want to look for is something that has a filtration system that pulls out that particulate matter, that is that fine matter that will clog the inside of your lungs. that's the problem that people will have if they have respiratory difficulties, this is particularly important for children, for folks who work outside and the elderly. i got this two pack for about $7 at a local hardware store. again, it's n95 what you are looking for. the surgical masks will not do the trick to protect your lungs nor the bandannas but it is better than nothing.

i will post this picture so you can see what we are talking about on my twitter feed and facebook page. coming up i will show you what schools are doing short of canceling classes to keep our kids safe when they are not at home. kris sanchez, "today in the bay." at 6:17 as we track the devastating wildfires in the north bay firefighters getting much needed help battling the flames but they still haven't made a lot of progress on the wildfires. evacuation centers are filling up this morning as more people are being told to leave their homes. >> "today in the bay's" jay gray joins us live from napa valley college which is one of those evacuation centers. i know you've seen a lot of people come in there throughout the night i'm sure, jay. >> reporter: yeah, marcus, laura, there has been activity all night through the early morning here and it continues. a lot of people moving into this area, rushing ahead of the flames which were growing overnight in this region. we see volunteers that are continuing their work. these are also donation centers, guys, so they are bringing in

water, food, clothing, things that people are going to need not only short term but for an extended period especially those whose neighborhoods have been reduced to mainly rubble and ash. there is a lot of anxiety as you may imagine, a lot of people moving in unaware of what's going to happen in their neighborhoods, what's going to end up happening to their homes and so they are watching everything very closely, very tense as you would expect and a lot of people just wondering what comes next at this point. what you will see is day breaks and the activity picks up even more, some of the insurance companies come in and help those who now realize that they have lost their homes, lost everything and helped them to kind of plot out how they're going to move forward, how they're going to recover. so these are centers that really are a base for so many families looking to take the next step. can't do that until the fires are contained. what we're hearing from firefighters as well as

forecasters is that's still going to be a while here, the winds are going to continue to gust at times over 40 miles an hour, these fires are going to grow for the next several days. strike teams getting some help, crews from across the country moving in, the national guard as well, but, again, they have a long intense fight ahead of them. >> thank you, jay. like you we will continue to bring you all the information that we can about the fires, the changing conditions and even the smoke how it affects you. >> air quality not just here, all the way down to monterey, so the two components of the story, gusty winds and air pollution the big story of the day today, like we saw yesterday, wind speeds starting to pick up out of the north approaching sunrise up around atlas peak, wind gusts close to 22 miles an hour. hear by hour, 7:00 you see napa towards fairfield strongest wind speed tonight in the hills of solano county up towards napa county midmorning, still strong

gusts in the yellow and rng, then wind speeds begin to back off. the wind direction is still out of the north, that things things will stay bone dry in the fire zones, 10:00 this morning, 18% humidity in napa, dropping down to 10% by 1:30 in the afternoon. as the winds begin to back off we should see humidity levels begin to recover as we head towards the evening. here is a snapshot of the air quality right now, the worst over the central bay. the north winds to push that smoke north to south through the evening into friday morning. highs in the 60s along the coast and san francisco, low 70s inland and san jose but we are not going to be seeing the end of the north winds today, we will see another pattern develop for the part of the weekend into saturday, as we head into sunday things trend a little warmer, but look at wednesday and thursday, i want to show you this if it's going to take one thing the weather can bring to nd some of these fires, begin how large they are, mike, i think they will have to wait until the start of the rainy season. we may get a break next thursday

with rain trying to make a come back to the bay area shoo we are all looking for any help from any source. even here surface streets traffic is definitely an issue through the burn zones, avoid the areas if you don't have to go through the area, if you are living up there you need to have some help here. we are santa rosa city bus and napa vine running limited service through the areas but sonoma county transit tried yesterday, didn't work out, they are indefinitely holding off right now. driving through the area really not an option. 101 still open through santa rosa, the off ramps will remain closed. traffic control on i-80 still hovering around the fairfield edge there i-80 open and full service there. no more big rigs allowed on 580, they were rerouting i-5 into 580 last night, again this morning everything is okay. 30 minutes to the bay bridge backup and a crash over 580 right around hacienda, there was slowing through dublin, looked

like it's moving wall, the rest of the bay okay. it's 6:21 coming up next on "today in the bay" continuing coverage of the north bay wildfires. the new images into our newsroom this morning showing the damage and destruction left behind. >> and nbcbayarea.com is a great resource during the wildfires. you can find a full list of the school closures, evacuations and ideas of how you can help other families, that's all at nbcbayarea.com.

nbc bay area )s skyranger. 6:25. we continue to cover the breaking news as we have for so many days now, all the fires burning in northern california. these are live pictures from nbc bay area sky ranger overhead. this is near highway 221 in napa where we've just seen that line grow. a steady amount of flames and smoke in the area. no doubt you will smell it when you walk out the door if you haven't already. take caution yourself and most likely kids will be kept inside if they do attend school. some of the most startling images of destruction from the north bay wildfires is coming from those who actually survived it. >> scott mcgrew joins us now. people capturing images of the awful and touching. >> we will start with the awful, laura, the destruction. take a look, a home in flames.

the photographer asking if somehow nature were trying to tell him something. now, one of the things that our crews on the ground have pointed out as they pass by the wreckage of people's homes is you can usually pick out the appliances, washers and dryers and stoves but everything else is gone, melted and gone to cash. there are moments of love as the community comes together, an employee of the marin county humane society taking an evacuated rabbit, that bunny will be just fine. the wineries have been hit hard, this is a glass july.tour that has been melted away, paradise ridge winery. from margaret who works at that winery or worked at i should really say because that winery is gone, she says she wanted everyone to see this picture, this is outside the tasting room, the tasting room has been completely destroyed, but the love sculpture survives. marcus and laura, love surviving. >> nice to see some of those

images. thank you very much. coming up on "today in the bay," keeping kids safe during the wildfires, the steps schools across the bay area are taking to make sure the students are not breathing in smoke while they are at school. mandatory evacuations for the city of sonoma as the wildfire in those hills threatens homes, the possible break for firefighters when it comes to weather. you're watching "today in the bay."

right now at 6:30, north bay fires on the move. overnight evacuations. >> wind speeds pick up into the afternoon. >> firefighters move into northern california. ♪ we continue to follow the north bay fires, these are live pictures from nbc bay area sky ranger this morning. this is a closer look at the atlas fire that has been burning overnight. this is near highway 221 in napa. we have crews on the ground as well to bring you the very latest from throughout the north bay. good morning and thanks for joining us, i'm laura garcia. >> and i'm marcus washington. we want to get -- continue with monitoring the north bay wildfires. we want to get you up to speed

with where things stand right now, some cities including calistoga are virtual ghost towns, new evacuations overnight includes residents in geyserville in sonoma. the number of fire related deaths in northern california is now at 23 including 13 in sonoma county. 3500 homes and businesses are destroyed. also it's not just schools in the fire zone that are closed today, classes are also canceled elsewhere due to unhealthy air quality. >> eight different fires in napa, sonoma and solano county are burning, more than 100,000 acres have been destroyed. in this map you can see just how far it's expanded now into three bay area counties. also mandatory evacuations are in effect in parts of geyserville, calistoga and sonoma. >> we have team coverage of the wildfires in morning, we want to begin with bob redell live at a vineyard in sonoma.

what does it look like where you are? >> reporter: i want to show you something, marcus and laura. you can see my breath, it is very, very cold out here and there's very little wind, those are good conditions for fighting fires and the fire we are talking about is back there in the hills, a good mile or two away, let's hope that the weather we are feeling in the city of sonoma is similar up there. that red glow that you see that's the partrick fire, a fire that's burned over 9500 acres and according to cal fire unfortunately is only 2% contained. the fear is that it will come down those hills and threaten the city of sonoma. that's why you had this scene earlier last night. we are talking around midnight when you had chp and other law enforcement knocking on doors of people who live on the western side of the city, right now we are on the eastern side, this was on the western side, they were advising residents to leave not making it mandatory but making it advisable for them to leave or at least be ready to evacuate.

here on the eastern side of the city of sonoma there are mandatory evacuations in effect. castle road north of will you believe, valley road seventh street east of will you believe lubell road. the city of geyserville there are knows another fire threatening that small fire that is a fire northeast of the town of geyserville, it's called the pocket fire, it has burned at least 4,000 acres with little to no containment. we are under a red flag warning because of low humidities and possibility of high winds and gusts. when we spoke to a firefighter out there he said, yes, it was gusty yesterday afternoon but not -- now not so much right now. not seeing the kind of winds that were forecast so that's a good thing. in geyserville there is a mandatory evacuation in effect for parts of that town, highway 128 east to river rock casino and then south on 128 to

guyser's road up to cal pine. back out here we are in sonoma, much further south and you are seeing a lot of flaring up there in the hills, again, we are looking northeast right now, we are on the valley floor and the hills of the partrick fire that has burned over 9500 acres and mandatory evacuations in effect. that to come down the hill and start to cause problems. bob redell, "today in the bay." >> we can see how rapidly things can change. that red flag warning how long there that will in effect? >> not only are wind speeds lower this morning compared to the weekend event, but we think the top wind gusts in the hills will also not be quite as strong as what we saw over the weekend. right now very light winds, good news across the north bay valleys, no the seeing much there, but you can see where the red flag warning zones are drawn

in, mainly hilltops above 1,000 feet from the east bay, south bay and santa cruz mountains. 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 we will have a chance of humidity levels dropping to 11% in napa, towards fairfield, 13% as we head towards the evening. the wind direction will be out of the north, gusts at times close to 30 miles per hour which will unfortunately bring more smoke pouring south into the bay area, air quality issues today and likely sunday with those north winds. >> thank you very much, rob. >> as the atlas fire grows in napa and sonoma county more people are being told to get ready to evacuate at any moment. >> anser hassan has joined us in fairfield with the latest of what people are going through there. >> good morning, laura and marcus, the atlas fire is burning in the hills behind me. if we look off to the side you can see another flare up. it's these small flare-ups that

are a big concern for fire crews especially as the winds might pick up later in the day. we are in the east ridge neighborhood where a voluntary evacuation issue has been issued. fairfield police are advising residents in the charge owe solano neighborhood and those who live west of i-80 to pack a bag and be ready to leave on short notice. the atlas fire is only 3% contained. now, some local residents who have been forced to leave their homes have come to one of three evacuation centers here in fairfield. we visited one of those locations this morning, the solano community center, it's being run by the salvation army and volunteers there say donations from the community like food and water are making a huge difference. >> it just shows the unity that is just an outpouring it is ridiculous how great it is. it's very important to show that, you know, we are united, we are united people here.

>> it's times like this when the community involvement really makes a big difference. i spoke with fairfield police a few hours ago by phone, they said the good news is that the fire hasn't reached the city limits, but it is now less than three miles away so it's something we will continue to monitor throughout the day. reporting live in fairfield, anser hassan, "today in the bay." >> thank you very much. smoke is drifting to all parts of the bay area, several east bay schools are closed. >> they include districts in antioch, martinez, mt. diablo and pittsburg, also includes west contra costa unified school district. here is an official interest that school explaining the decision. >> it's a difficult decision to close schools and just the fires and the inability to predict exactly how bad it will be forced this decision. students, staff, people in the community are feeling the affects of the smoke and the air

quality and so obviously that's something we want to make sure that we are addressing and aware of. >> and schools in livermore and fremont are open today, but are canceling outdoor activities. >> "today in the bay's" kris sanchez live in fremont with what schools are trying to do to protect their kids. good morning, kris. >> reporter: it is no small thing to cancel classes and close schools, there is the instructional time that kids have to make up and there are the major campus events that the student body looks forward to like homecoming week which is the case for a number of schools that have canceled classes. but with air quality as unhealthy as it is, especially for children, a lot of schools are not willing to put their students' health on the line. i got notice from my school district and chances you did, too, about what's happening to keep the students safe and healthy short of canceling classes. here are examples of what some of our our bay area districts are doing, students with health

concerns will have excused absences if they stay home in the oakland unified school district, outdoor practices, school practices, games at fremont and livermore are canceled as you mentioned, even as far south as los gatos. kids in cupertino and other districts will have indoor lunch and recess and many campuses will keep the doors and windows closed. san jose unified have air filtration systems. nonschool sports teams are canceling practices as well. >> we have kids interest seven years old all the way up to 19 so we always try to keep the best interest of the children in mind. >> now, the air district has a realtime map that you can use to monitor conditions for yourself or for your family. i did post a link to that on my twitter page and on my facebook page as well so that you can monitor and make sure that you know what's going on. now, the air district says that if you do have to be outside or

if you are close to those burn zones make sure you wear an n95 mask, we talked about that just a moment ago, it will filter out the particulate matter, the stuff that's harmful to your lungs, it's not the smell it's the tiny little particles at that that will clog those parts of your lungs that are critical to getting the oxygen into your body. i posted information on where you can find these masks and how much they cost also on my facebook page and twitter feed as well. in fremont, kris sanchez, "today in the bay." >> hopefully down in the south bay people will be able to find it because in the north bay there was a lack of them. in fact, nbc bare has been taking truckloads of them up to people to try to help. >> a lot of people getting them as well which is a good thing. the weather, the temperatures, the haze, everything causing a problem for traffic in that area. i want to go to mike inouye who has been tracking this all. mike, this is definitely causing a problem for people. >> most definitely we've been talking about the closures, the local street closures as the

fires broke out on sunday, 101 that reopened after a day of closure there. we do have lake view highway, from time to time i have seen the sensors plaque out. i-80 anser was talking about how the fire is coming close to i-80 on the withest side, that is open, full service, no big rig reroutes this morning like there were yesterday. so smooth drive through the maze but still slow down the east shore freeway and that is pretty standard for anywhere south of the benicia and carquinez bridges. south 80 coming down mon uument boulevard an accident. >> thank you, mike. coming up on "today in the bay" a live picture from our sky ranger and skies over napa this morning where we are watching those flames grow in this wildfire. sharon katsuda is in that area bringing a live report when we come back. also fire crews from oregon

and nevada and southern california, how does that work? we will explain it to you when "today in the bay" continues. ♪

hey grandpa. hey, kid. really good to see you. you too. you tell grandma you were going fishing again? maybe. (vo) the best things in life keep going. that's why i got a subaru, too. introducing the all-new crosstrek. love is out there. find it in a subaru crosstrek.

time now of 44 as the bay area wakes up to a blanket of smoke across san francisco, 50 degrees right now we are closely watching the winds in the north bay with a red flag warning and wind advisory for the bay area hilltops through 5:00 this evening. this could have an effect on firefighters. want to go to josh rubenstein

from cal fire, he joins us with the latest. those winds could make it tough for firefighters today. what are you up against. >> well, the winds actually can hamper firefighting efforts to a certain degree, obviously makes it more challenging for the folks that are on the ground. currently the winds aren't all that bad right now, we are currently out of a red flag warning but as your news weather folks have been speaking to the winds are going to pick up later on and we will go into a red flag later on today or tomorrow morning. >> do you all pull back a little bit because you don't know what's going to happen as it could change direction. can you walk up through that? >> well, to a certain degree, yes, the men and women working on the ground have supervisors and the supervisors their primary responsibility is their life safety, correct? so the winds can change direction at any point in time, they're cognizant of that. firefighting at nighttime is

different during the day. they're using the same tactics and strategies, the same tools and equipment, just working possibly a little slower pace because of the increased need for situational awareness. the winds can obviously fall trees, if you will, dead or compromised by fire, which poses additional hazards. yes, they are very, very cognizant of the wind. >> i know you have extended crews coming from outside areas as well that most likely are helping some of his original firefighters get some much needed rest. >> the first firefighters that were on what we call initial attack came in and they worked for probably 36, 40, i know of some crews that worked for two straight days. they did not work. they were working on behalf of the members of this community, as resources come in, firefighters were not able to keep that well deserved and needed rest the incident base camp is set up, we have the capability of feeding them and

then we get resupplied with their equipment and whatnot, they work on the engines to make sure they are ready to go the next morning for the next operational period and then they hit the hay and get a little rest. it's a 24-hour fire fight. nobody -- there is never any point in time where there is not somebody on that fire fight. we break up that whole entire fire up into divisions and each division has firefighting personnel on it. >> we know you're working so hard, some of those firefighters as hard we should ask even lost their own homes but they continued that fight. josh rubenstein, thanks for talking to us this morning from cal fire. we continue to monitor the breaking news out of napa this morning where we're tracking a fire near highway 221. >> just one of many. sharon katsuda joins us live there. you've moved throughout the morning for us. >> reporter: marcus and lawyer ration i'm definitely wearing my mask this morning, heavy smoke,

i can smell it, i can taste it, take a look behind me, you can see the beautiful vineyard and just beyond that is the mountain and right behind that you can see smoke which will owing, that is the atlas fire. let's take a look from sky ranger. this fire sim packeting parts of napa county and slas know county, it started sunday night located off of atlas peak road and lake barry he is is a. it is 3% contained. we saw the tubbs fire up close, that fire is only 10% contained. we saw flames, along the ridge line and definitely saw 5eu$at that can be a threat to downtown calistoga. those flames were only ten minutes away up highway 29 from downtown calistoga. so a very active situation, right now i'm looking at traffic slowing along highway 21,

businesses such as subway, firefighters trying to contain all of these fires in the north bay. reporting live in napa county, sharon katsuda. a lot of people coming in to spent firefighters. soldiers from the california national guard have arrived on the scene to help local police keep looters and other problems from happening. >> it's needed. the guardsmen coming up interest southern california. scott mcgrew continues our coverage. help pouring from from across the west. >> california's system of mutual aid which has been a model for the country, our is easily the biggest and most would say the best. in moffett field the 160th infantry regimen from arrived. many of the men and women have fought in iraq. a previous generation provided security during the north ridge earthquake. most found out yesterday they need to call their offices and

tell their bosses they are headed to northern california. they are coming from a region with their own set of wildfires though not as bad as ours. the number of cities and counties coming from our aid is staggering. there are more than 1,000 departments up in the napa valley helping out. randomly. fresno and tahoe basin and medeme med he is stowe and ontario. this idea of mutual aid is voluntary. they are sent with their own expense with the hope that they will send firefighters to them. napa and solano and sonoma are not on the hook financially but they may get paid some of their expenses thanks to federal fire grants which just came across. >> and governor jerry brown

saying this should be in the tens of billions of dollars. we are still monitoring the winds that are fueling that fire. >> watching wind speeds that will be at their highest around midday. right now the wind pushing more smoke into the bay area which is making nor interesting pre sunrise views as we show you first san jose looking outside, look at that, a lot of smoke over the south bay. 48 degrees, you will need your jacket this morning, cool outside, hazy not for fog but smoke. san francisco 50 degrees right now, the winds not strong but out of the north pumping in the north out of those north bay fires down into the central bay, as the wind speeds pick up this afternoon look at the humidity levels, here is the main concern, could see humidity levels at times down to 11 to 13% into the north bay and into solano county and those numbers start to come up as the north winds start to back off heading into the evening. low 70s into san jose. another north wind event setting up for the beginning of the

weekend, dry conditions for san francisco and inland, but i also want to point out weather perhaps providing an assist later this week. the future cast a welcome sight where we could see a chance of main making a come back by the middle of next week. the big headline is the terrible air quality, hazardous air quality levels at times around the bay area and right now nbc bay area screen nay arena has a closer look at how the winds may impact air pollution this afternoon. >> reporter: rob, you and i have been communicating all morning long and you've noticed from the models that the wind speeds and the timing is constantly changing maybe not drastically changing but it is changing which is another important reason why we stay on air to try to brings you the best coverage. even though you may have an app on your phone that's not going to let you know when the wind changes and the direction and timing. i want to take you back to a video of yesterday of all of that smoke and that blanket, a thick blanket of smoke that you could smell, an obvious smell no

matter where you were, it was apparent, both visually and it could definitely affect you. i've seen a couple people coughing, i myself had to rush inside after being outside for a few minutes to take my dog outside on a walk. rob has been noticing a little bit of a change in winds compared to when i first came on during that 4:00 hour. if we can pop up those wind speed maps that would be great. by 7:00 a.m., within the next couple minutes we will notice those northerly winds coming from the north at 14 miles per hour in the napa area, orinda 15 miles per hour, pay attention to fairfield, about 22 miles per hour. right now they are still fairly light, if we fast forward through the 11:00 hour for today, you notice napa staying at 10 miles per hour, fairfield 13, but even though you will starts noticing those winds decreasing for a bit it doesn't mean that you should put your guard down. always keep that guard up and remain alert because the wind speeds bring down that heavy smoke and can also quickly

spread that fire. let's get a quick check of how the traffic is doing, i will spend things over to mike. >> the fire has shifted because of the winds there, i-80 in fairfield last night traffic control there, not this morning. the freeway is close to where that fire is, a few miles away from anser hassan who continues to report from fairfield. no service for soco transit, they tried yesterday, didn't work out. the rest of the agencies continue with limited service at most coming through the santa rosa, napa, fairfield areas. traffic control observing locally. 101, 37 and i-80 are open, this is where 221 is that's where our chopper continues to show all of that area. bridge delay this morning through suisan. look at all the haze in the air as the building for the san mateo bridge and anywhere else for the rest of the south bay that moves well.

back to you. coming up next on "today in the bay," we continue our team coverage of the destructive wildfires in the north bay, the evacuations ordered overnight as the winds are picking up this morning. at 6:55 first happening now breaking news the taliban has released an american woman along with her canadian husband and their three children. the family kidnapped by the militant group while hiking in afghanistan back in 2012. nbc news is working to find out more details about the family's release, the president just tweeted about it as well. we will bring you updates as soon as we get them. also new this morning the poor air quality causing the canceling of the virgin point shf fitness, the twin peaks mile and the san francisco bay half marathon scheduled for this weekend. welcome back.

before you head out the door, here are the top stories on today in the bay-- welcome back to you. before you head out the door if that's where you're going here are the top stories on today in the bay. this is the atlas fire near highway 221 in gap pa where firefighters have been taking this fire fight 24 hours a day. it slows down at night just because of the conditions out there. as the wildfires continue to rage across the north bay. >> wildfires continue to rage across the north bay a few miles away the city of geyserville is

under a mandatory evacuation this morning. high winds could fan the flames even more. >> in solano county there are evacuation advisory, this is the fire line in fairfield. all schools in fairfield are closed at least through the end of the week. people are sheltering in place in this area and they're worried. authorities are asking people not to call dispatchers if this is not an emergency. you should instead monitor official social media pages for updates. stay with nbc bay area we have continuing coverage of the north bay wildfires ever since they erupted on monday night. napa county officials will hold a news conference at 9:00 a.m. go give an update on the fires. we will break in and give that to you as it happens. we will also stream it on our website nbcbayarea.com. we will be back at 7:00 2r5 for a live local news cut? >> take care of yourself,

hopefully you don't breathe in much of that smoke. stay healthy out there. we will be back with a local news update in half an hour. good morning, breaking news. critical and catastrophic. california's devastating wildfires going from bad to worse. >> it's very dynamic. these fires are changing by the minute. >> overnight, the death toll rising to 23. more homes, buildings and wineries destroyed. entire towns evacuated. now a new threat -- high winds fanning the flames. hostages freed, an american woman and her family released in pakistan overnight after being held by a taliban-linked group for five years. we're live with the late-breaking information. speaking out, harvey weinstein talks on camera for the first time since his harassment scandal.