the late the latest information and we have the mandatory evacuations, the new ones on the bottom of the screen right there scrolling. welcome. it is 7:00. welcome to your saturday morning. the nightmare continues as we eck outside in the north bay. the fires in some parts of the north bay gaining speed this morning with this wind event. evas get you up to speed this morning. i'm kira klapper. >> and i'm marcus washington and we want to tell you about these new evacuations overnight. most recently, santa rosa and kenwood. that is one of the mandatory evacuations taking place this morning. as you can see right there, from adobe canyon road and calistoga road. this is the area that they have told people to leave immediately, at least when they first came out with that it was around 5:00 this morning and they were telling people to leave. they said take westbound and then go to 101 and go south. they wanted people to go to

petaluma, novato, just anywhere to get away from this area. they have evacuation centers set up there for a lot of people to get there. >> this includes so many homes, hundreds of homes, thousands of people potentially affected. it is the area to the north and to the south of highway 12 from kenwood to east santa rosa. for people who can't get out, if you don't have a car, if you don't have any way to get out of town, there is a bus or a set of buses stationed at the safeway at calistoga road and highway 12. but also, we were talking to the sheriff's office of sonoma county. they told us if you can't get out, they will come to you. they are so determined to get people into safety, they will come to you and help you save yourself. they want people to go as marcus said west on highway 12, south on 101, go as far as novato and petaluma. they don't want people heading just the next town over.

they need people to evacuate farther south. now what you're looking at on your screen is the first mandatory evacuation that was called this morning. this is just southeast of downtown sonoma. what had happened was they called this mandatory evacuation. they said they felt calmer about the severity of it. it was about 50 homes, a rural area, unincorporated sonoma county. >> right. >> but then a couple hours later, 35-foot flames shot up about a half mile from downtown sonoma so that is just one little microcosm of how serious this wind event is changing things this morning. >> and you can see right there, this is new video from overnight. as you can see, those sheriff's deputies actually going throughout the areas to try to make sure people are aware of what's going on and get them out of those mandatory evacuation areas and this is the reason why. this is some of the video that we shot overnight. as you can see, those flames burning. this is coming near those areas

that were told they had to leave. many of those neighborhoods, we're talking about some neighborhoods with anywhere from 30 50 50 to 100 homes and then we're talking about at least 1,000 people within the community so this is certainly a situation that changed quickly. we were speaking with one of the deputies from sonoma county sheriff's office, and he was saying, you know, we think we've got this under control, we've evacuated the people in that area and then an hour or two later, get out. we want people to get out. and that was when they said, immediately, get out. now, definitely that fist situati -- first situation in sonoma valley was less populated but we saw those flames shooting 30 feet in the air. one of our crews out there, anser hassan, he saw that with his own eyes, and anser, you've been out there and how are things looking now? it seems like it's changing. >> reporter: marcus, kira, good morning. it definitely is changing as daybreak happens, we're getting

a much better sense of what's happening out here. earlier, about an hour ago, this was a staging area. fire crews were out here. all crews have been sent out to fight this fire. if you look there, that's the fire line. earlier it was an orange glow. then it became bright red. now smoke. what that means, fire crews are making progress on the front lines. this is east macarthur street at 8th street in sonoma. we are less than half a mile from downtown sonoma. mandatory evacuation orders are in place in this neighborhood. the power has also been cut as the fire came very close to this neighborhood. one of the big issues as we've been talking about, the wind. fire crews say the uptick in the wind not only pushes the fire along but employees these embers and ashes through the air that can spark hot spots and we have seen the fire jump as we drove through the neighborhood earlier, some streets, quiet, intact, others, homes that were fully engulfed in flames. and as we see the shift in winds and the pick-up in wind speed,

that's pushing the fires into areas much faster than they predicted. now, joining me right now is captain tony mchale with cal fire. i appreciate you talking to us. and i know you guys have had a bernie sanders supporte busy morning. >> i did a quick reconnaissance. we were anticipating a change in the weather this weekend starting last night. we have relatively low humidities and a very receptive fuel bed w. this much active fire in the area, this is not surprising to us that we would have a flare-up like this. we do have a great amount of fire to the east of the city here. we have numerous resources deployed in the neighborhood. we're urging all people east of highway 12 along napa street from downtown to the east of the story evacuate, pack up, head out. the power is out in the area as well. >> reporter: now, the past couple hours, we have seen this really change. tell us a little bit about the progress. what are you seeing out on the front line. >> this is what we call a

complex fire. we have numerous fires burning throughout the county with a very receptive fuel bed, very diverse fuel bed. this presents enormous challenges. we have about 8,000 firefighters at the de employed. we have engine companies coming back here to defend structures. we're activated, engaged, doing our very best. >> absolutely. let me ask you about the wind. we've been talking about the wind patterns and the uptick in the wind. how is that creating fire conditions out on -- >> the wind are a very difficult element to deal with because they are be variable. they can be strong and gusty. so you have to adapt your tactics accordingly but what we had was enough wind that kicked the fire up, the fire activity, it began to make a run towards the eastern side of sonoma, and

that's what we're engaging right now. when the sun comes up, we get some better air quality. we'll probably start using aircraft and every resource that we have available we're going to use. >> reporter: now, i know you said you were out there doing a recontour. do you anticipate any evacuation orders. >> i'll leave that to the sheriff's department. it's good. one thing i can tell you as a company officer, it creates a great deal of anxiety when we have civilians in an evacuation area. i know people, it's a very emotional time, they want to protect their homes, but for us, it creates tremendous anxiety because our number one priority is human life and we would rather see people pack up and get out of harm's way so that we can do our job and engage in structure protection ops. >> reporter: one last question. your crews are exhausted, especially the ones who have lived in this neighborhood, lived in the area. what are they dealing with.

>> some crews have been out for as long as three or four days at a time. i'll tell you, here i'm a seasoned veteran myself, we are very dedicated. we are trained to do this. this is what we do. this is what the public expects of us and we are going to deliver. >> reporter: captain mchale, i appreciate your time. >> you bet. >> reporter: be safe out there. as you hear, the mandatory evacuations orders have been issued and the fire crews really emphasizing people to people who live in the area, if you've been told to leave, try to get out. despite -- as emotional as it can be, but it really makes their job a lot easier. the people who are evacuating, you're suggests to go to sebastopol, roehnert park or "hell or high water petaluma. as we've been reporting all morning, bus systems have been put in place for people who may be struggling with transportation. i'll send it back to you guys. >> anser hassan for us just

outside of downtown sonoma. what was so interesting about that is of course the sonoma county sheriff's office will determine further mandatory evacuations. but that cal fire captain saying he would recommend people who are east of highway 12 to evacuate. >> get out. >> let's not mess around with this wind. it could change direction. it could change course. and a couple hours ago, we were looking at that area was fine. >> right. >> they were confident. and now everything has changed. it just goes to show how alert people need to be this morning and really take those precautions. as he said, it's all about saving lives. >> and he also said that the power is out in that area so that's another reason. once the power is out, there's really no need for you to stay at home. you want to get out and get to safety because you never know what can happen and it makes communication a little bit harder for families in those areas and i want to give you the nixle, that number again, just to be sure, sign up for it now

even if you have power. you can text your zip code to six digits. ead on88777. and that way, you will get information up to date of what's going on in your neighborhood when the evacuations are called for as well as, you know, when you can go back to your home and when you have to leave your home. all right. >> invaluable service. >> at 7:10, we do have much more ahead on "today in the bay." we have continued breaking news coverage ahead. hope you stay with us. let )s update you on the overa

welcome back to our breaking news coverage as we continue to update you on the north bay fires. we want to get you up to date on all the things that are going on throughout the state. right now, this map is showing the names of those fires. the tubbs fire is already the third deadliest fire in the state's history. 17 people have died in those fires. cal fire says that they are making progress on the containment. we have a graphic up that we have worked throughout the night to get you up to date on those numbers, to give you a sense of the containment levels. the atlas fire is now 45%

contained. the tubbs fire is 44% contained and those are good numbers. now the nuns fire, this is a different situation, an aggressive fire. it is at 10% containment. that pocket fire is 5% contained. >> here are the newest details on all the north bay fires combined. at least 36 people are confirmed dead. more than 20,000 people have evacuated but keep in mind this morning we have two brand-new mandatory evacuations for both sonoma and kenwood to santa rosa. so that number surely will change. 220,000 acres have charred. we were on the phone with cal fire, and they said think about this. an acre is a football field. 220,000 football fields have charred. 345 square miles. the one piece of good news we're looking at right now is 69 of the 77 cell towers that had been knocked out of service have been restored so we're hoping that will help families get back in

touch with one another, neighbors, and also give people the ability to look at where they can evacuate. look at where the buses can come pick them up and take them, give them the ability to text nixle and get help. >> right because you know, the thing about it is, the winds. we have been talking about that for -- since the beginning. that is really the thing that's forcing that fire to move into different directions. vianey arana has been following this and you told us that these winds were going to pick up. there's going to be a drop at some point in the day but not right now. >> there is. compared to where we were about 2:30 or 3:00 a.m., you heard a couple reporters say the winds seem to be dying down. it just means there's a slight shift in fact wind. what tends to happen is we see a decrease in those gusts right now at napa earlier, they were at about 25, 26. right now they're at 15. so even that it might seem like the winds have died down a bit for now, they haven't peaked so let's look at that timeline because the threat of the winds will continue and you mix that

up with the relative humidity and north bay humidity, 40% or higher helps. we are officially dropped out from under that 40% range and right now it is about 7:15 a.m. sunrise is 7:17 a.m. so we're just two minutes away from official sunrise and hopefully they can get that aircraft up and running and hereally help i putting out these fires. in the 80s by about 2:00 which is when we're expecting to see the change in that humidity. let's talk about the expected winds. as i mentioned, even though right now in the north bay, at about 15 miles per hour, we're still expecting those winds to really peak at about 9:00 a.m. napa possibly 38-mile-per-hour gusts coming into play. santa rosa, 26 miles per hour and this will continue where you see the arrows, this will continue to blow in the direction north northeast at the moment which pushes a lot of that fire further south and of course those embers, which can quickly spread throughout the area. fast forward through this timeline. we'll keep the peak wind through about 10:30 so from 9:00 a.m. to

10:30, we're talking 38 miles per hour and then if we fast forward, which is this is what we really need, when do the winds start tapering off? this is when the winds start tapering off, around 2:00 p.m., santa rosa, 13 miles per hour, napa, 17 miles per hour, and then we really start seeing the winds really quickly tapering off and then fast forward through the 10:00 hour and napa now really at 6 miles per hour, a non-wind event from that point forward. now, even though the winds are expected to taper off, we're still dealing with low humidity and dry area -- for concern so for now, all of those active fires that are burning although these three fires down here have been grouped into one. if you are just south of any of these locations and you can see any of those flames over the hillside, you're too close for comfort. you must stay alert. that wind will blow in from the north northeast for the next several hours at least through the 10:00, 11:00 and 12:00 a.m.

hours. we're not expecting to see a big relief, at least not until past 2:00 which means all of the areas in the red flag warning will remain at a high fire threat at least through 11:00 p.m. now why are we remaining under a red flag warning to 11:00 p.m. if the winds are supposed to taper off by 2:00? the reason is that relative humidity is expected to decrease and get even worse over the next couple of hours. so we're still going to deal with hot temperatures, especially in the north bay. we're talking 80-degree temperatures in the north bay and when you drop down that humidity below 10%, i'm going to step out so you can really look at this map. that still creates a concern for fire danger. what does a red flag warning mean? a red flag warning means that the weather conditions in the highlighted areas have the perfect mix and combination of a fire quickly starting or quickly happening or quickly spreading in that area. so it means that you're at an elevated risk of a fire starting or quickly spreading in that area. it does not mean that that is where the wildfires burning right now in the north bay will spread. so i don't want you to get

confused because i did have some folks ask me on twitter. i want to bring back up that humidity. why does this humidity come into play after the winds taper off because i want to take you through this timeline. right now, we have seen that humidity decrease. it recovers overnight and when the winds kick in, it dries out that air mass and drops that relative humidity yet again and that's exactly what's going to happen tonight. by about 10:30 a.m., right at the peak of those winds, when we could see gusty conditions ranging above 35 miles per hour, look at napa. 13% humidity, relative humidity. concord, 23% relative humidity. santa rosa and the novato area also relative humidity but then it gets worse in terms of the humidity. by about 3:30 p.m., look at the humidity in napa. we're talking less than 10%. now that humidity is actually lower than what we saw on sunday when the fire conditions initially broke out in those late-night hours so that's why that red flag warning will remain in place through 11:00 p.m. tonight because even

when the winds died down, you need to remain alert because the fire conditions are going to remain very, very dangerous. now, let's talk about the next seven days. what can we expect in terms of relief? now, this is -- i want to bring you a little bit of good news to look forward to. if you look right here at the timeline, october 19 on thursday, this is when we have our next chance of seeing some rain. we've got a system that's going to possibly bring over a tenth of an inch, possibly even 1/4 inch judging by the models right now. they're flip-flopping a little bit but the north bay area has a way of seeing mother nature's way of putting out the fire. that rain is arriving as early as thursday, continuing into friday, possibly. but for right now, what we really need to get through are those gusts that are going to kick back on and off again within the next couple of hours. the reason that we stay on air, you might have an app on your phone, is because these winds are constantly changing so even though your map or our app or

whatever you have on your phone says the winds are come from the northeast at about 15 miles per hour, they might be coming in at that speed at that hour but 8:30, we're talking 38 miles per hour in the napa area so you really need to be up to date on how quickly those conditions can change because when the gusts start coming, what's the difference between a sustained wind and a gust. sustained wind means it's consistent and gusts are those periods, you've probably seen this when it happens outside, strong bu strong burst of wind, that's a gust and that's when we see the really big threat of seeing those embers pushing south. that's what can quickly spread this fire and that's why this wind has played such a bad and terrible role, however, it looks like right now, the key points, we're looking ahead towar toward 2:00 p.m., that relative humidity drops to about 8% by 3:30 p.m. so the elevated fire danger will continue but at least now that we are in sunrise, they will be able to get that aircraft up and probably get a better hold of

this fire and then hopefully by about 10:30, once those peak gusts move out, we'll get a better view of what we can expect in terms of the fire conditions, but for now, just remain alert. the winds aren't tapering off until later this afternoon. i'll be back with an update in just a bit. it is 7:2 1. we still have much more ahead on "today in the bay." >> continued breaking news coverage is ahead. an inside look at the effort to

evacuate people. the body camera foote this morning, we are getting an inside look at the effort to evacuate people from the wildfire area. >> the body camera footage you're seeing right there comes from sonoma county sheriffs deputies. here's part of it. you can just see it's a tough situation out there. this was sunday night as flames first erupted. you can even see the ride through the smoke that those firefighters as well as sheriffs deputies and everyone, they have to go through as they're trying

to evacuate people. the sheriff says this footage even shocked him. >> i saw some video footage from it and couldn't believe how fast it was and what was going on. it really tells the story of how dangerous and how difficult the event was, and i got to get through people -- i got to get people to understand that this is a dangerous event. >> extremely dangerous, and you can watch more of this video on our website, nbcbayarea.com. and as the fires keep burning, crews are really working nonstop. tonight, a little relief for those firefighters and families who have lost everything. some are pulling 30 to 40-hour shifts, resting in tents, cities and when they can. now as more help arrives, officials say some firefighters are finally able to pull back, working 24-hour shifts. others really don't want to slow down. >> they say, well, we want you guys to get your rest and come in and -- but they determine is they wanted to stay out there to protect those homes. >> i think everyone's tired.

this has taken a toll on everybody from an emotional standpoint. >> firefighter union reps are offering peer counseling and tonight there's a bowling night at the -- for the wives and kids of local firefighters who have lost their own homes in all of this. >> it cannot be understated how heroic these people are who are helping try to save even else when they, too, have lost. >> absolutely. >> one thing we do know about sonoma and napa county, they both have small town feels with a lot of support and we want to show you a well-derserved honor for first responders, at least in napa county. >> always good to see something like this. crews getting a standing ovation at a community meeting. this was last night, and people from across the county went to get information about the ongoing battle of those wildfires. a few others sought out emergency or federal emergency management table to get some important information on rebuilding after the fires.

>> probably should not have been allowed in but we managed to sneak in past the firefighters and saw our home, which is now totally destroyed. >> and in an effort to help get more information about insurance, federal assistance, and other resources to rebuild, a one-stop shop will be set up today in santa rosa beginning at 9:00 a.m. this is at 427 mendocino avenue. and among the biggest questions for a lot of those neighbors that a lot of people are asking, is my home okay? a lot of people are asking that. many people still don't know. a bay area data scientist has created a new tool that helps determine if your home was destroyed. if you want to see this interactive map for yourself, we've used it here at nbc bay area. we have it on our website for you. that's nbcbayarea.com. and we've posted it right on the top of the front page. it is 7:26 right now. we want to send you to nbcbayarea.com. that's where we have the latest evacuations. there are two more mandatory evacuations as of this morning.

you can also find evacuation shelters there. any numbers and resources you need right there as well as at the bottom of your screen, evacuations are ticking along right there for you. we have much more ahead on "today in the bay." >> a continued breaking news coverage is still ahead. stay with us.

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good saturday morning. it is 7:29. i'm kira klapper. >> and i'm marcus washington and we want to get you up to speed on what's going on and what's happened throughout the night. right now, you're looking at one of those new mandatory evacuations that happened overnight. this one is between -- is on highway 12 between calistoga road and adobe canyon road. this area was populated with about 1,000 people in it and crews came in to make sure they

had to get out of the area quickly because flames were approaching that neighborhood. so they said they wanted people to take westbound highway 12 and then there, from there, get on 101 and head south, down south, novato as well as petaluma. they have evacuation centers for you and that's where people -- they're advising people to go right now. >> yeah, this mandatory evacuation was put in place just a couple of hours ago, and it stretches from kenwood to east santa rosa. thousands of people affected south of highway 12 and north of highway 12 and we have our reporter now on scene, our first live look at the area, garvin thomas is there in santa rosa for us and garvin, what are you seeing? >> reporter: well, kira and marcus, you were talking about that new evacuation zone. we are right in the middle of that. we are at oakmont drive and highway 12. and i'm going to show you why this is a mandatory evacuation right now. as we've been here the past 15 minutes, you see that smoke and those flames on that hillside,

it's been creeping ever closer. this is, as you're looking off to the east, this is kind of in the area of hood mountain regional park. if you understand that area. and with the wind shift and the increase in wind overnight, obvious the nuns fire, started moving over the ridge and down the hill. you can see the sky just filled with this smoke and the orange glow as the sun came up this morning. it really defined -- you could see a plume of smoke coming up where it had not been yesterday. and this is a lot of activity overnight. just give you a look around. you can see all the equipment. now, obviously, with these fires going on, all week, there has been fire -- there have been fire crews from all over the state and other states that have been coming in, particularly the sonoma county and staging in santa rosa. so, when the word went out this morning that there were new fires or the fire had expanded, you can see all the equipment that was just sitting, waiting to come this way.

so this area has been flooded. you can see right in front of us right now there's kind of a mobile incident command center that they set up at this intersection where they're directing crews and again, above them, once more, we watched that flame and that smoke creep down the hillside just in the past 10 or 15 minutes. so, it's clear that the situation is changing, and for certain areas, it has gotten quite a bit more dangerous. the mandatory evacuation for this area was called just a couple of hours ago, and as we were coming up highway 12, of course, there was a stream of cars heading the other way. many of these people had been under an advisory evacuation, meaning it was advised they go but they didn't have to. that changed this morning with the weather conditions and the wind and they told people they had to get out. down at highway 12 and calistoga, which is one end of the mandatory evacuation, there's a shopping strip mall with a safeway. what they're doing is they've staged buses there. so, if people need another way to get out of the area, they can hop on buses.

we came through there. we didn't see many people who had stopped there. obviously if they had their own cars, they're heading out and they're being advised to head west on highway 12 and south out of the area from santa rosa, head towards novato and san rafael. it's been dispatched to put down hot spots and flares. this where we are just one spot along this miles-long ridge that has experiencing smoke and flames because we can see the fire. the smoke certainly stretching for miles across the ridge, and then going up into the sky. we're going to keep an eye on the situation here. and we'll come back to you live with any developments as they happen. marcus, kira. >> garvin thomas reporting for us. thank you so much, for that update. now we want to go to john sloat from the california highway patrol in santa rosa. he joins us live on the phone,

and we know that santa rosa is now dealing with this massive mandatory evacuation this mor morning. what is the chp dealing with right now. >> we're still manning a lot of our road closures that have been in place all week long and just keeping a sharp eye on the situation off of highway 12. i'm right now on a scene of that fire. it's actually a couple miles from the first neighborhood in santa rosa. we're right near the oakmont community on highway 12 and it's up in the hills. they evacuated out of a precaution right around between 5:00 and 5:30 this morning. but everything in east santa rosa right now is pretty orderly and the guys are here hitting this fire pretty hard. >> have you had a situation where a lot of people are trying to get back into their areas, just to get something, or how is that working out for you all? >> we have been dealing with that all week long, and it has

gone back and forth where residents would be let in for limited a amount of time, they could go in and stay but not come back out, and at this time, we've sealed down all these affected neighborhoods just because -- for safety reasons. we don't want to let anybody back in unless we're absolutely sure it's safe and we're sealing down because we are getting looters, and more people we can keep out, the better. and pg&e is doing a heck of a job getting power restored to most of these communities, but power is still not there. >> the precision of this response is just tremendous. how you all have come together. we just had that live look with our reporter who's there on highway 12 right now between kenwood and santa rosa and it's just incredible how they've gotten all of these resources out there already this morning. and you talk about pg&e restoring the power and all of these moving parts. but what is the chp specifically

needing to do in these emergency situations as we're seeing this morning with the wind gusts and the fire changing direction? do you have precautionary closures that you'll have to put in place today? >> yes. however, the closures we have in place are probably going to remain. no new ones at this point. we're going to keep an eye on what this fire does. our number one mission is, you know, to save lives. so, we assisted with getting some people out of those neighborhoods this morning when we felt it was absolutely necessary. and now, our main goal is to keep these roads open. here at this location, two great big bulldozers just came throw help fight that fire and we need these roads to be clear of any other traffic so that this fire fighting equipment can get to where it's needed. if you don't need to leave your house, if you're in an unaffected area that is not under mandatory evacuation, definitely have your things ready to go, but stay off the roads if you can and give

everybody -- all these emergency vehicles a place to go. >> yeah, as we've had some conversations this morning with cal fire, the county of sonoma, and they've told us that their ideal situation would be for people to be packed up for three days, for people to have enough clothes, food, what have you, medication and be out of the area and as you said, for people who haven't been under a mandatory evacuation yet, they might as well be ready because that can change in a moment, can't it. >> absolutely. and three days is a very good standard amount of time. have enough food, have enough water, have enough of your medications. that's one thing we're seeing a lot of is people coming to our closures and say, ei need to get my medication and we have to tell them, sorry. we don't have the manpower to escort people in or any of that. have 72 hours' worth of food and

water and clothing and medication ready to go. that you need to be -- you'll need to be self-reliant, whether it's this emergency or any other emergency, you need to be self-reliant for at least a couple of days before services can get to you. >> yeah, it's a good rule of thumb. >> right. >> and as you've said, you can't let those people back in because you're doing it to save their lives, not your own lives. >> absolutely. and our officers and the officers from all over the state that have been here helping us are catching a lot of flak from citizen. i just live right there. why can't i go in there. i was able to get in there yesterday. none of these officers want to keep you from your home. we want you to go home but we're under orders to keep you out because it's the safest thing for everybody right now. >> and i know we heard someone from cal fire say that causes anxiety for you all because you're really just trying to keep people safe and of course you want to go back in but they have to be mindful that you're keeping them out to be safe because this could change at any moment. >> absolutely.

we don't flip a coin and decide you're not coming in today. this is from our emergency operations center. those folks get all the data about everything that's going on in an area. they get that together and they decide, okay, this is a no-go zone and we're going to get officers there. so, this isn't random. there's a lot of thought goes into these exclusion zones. so we just urge you to be patient. >> john sloat from the california highway patrol in santa rosa. thank you so much for your time this morning. we know how busy you are. >> okay. thank you. it is 7:39. we do have much more ahead on "today in the bay." >> of course we've had more evacuations in many areas. hudson is there right now. >> reporter: yeah, live in sonoma, some parts of the city are under mandatory evacuation orders as fire crews battle the frond lines. that's half a mile from downtown. you're watching "today in the bay."

welcome back at 7:41. this is the live look outside.

i believe in santa rosa on highway 12 where there is a brand-new evacuation this morning between kenwood and east santa rosa, highway 12, thousands of people are affected as we brace ourselves for the wind event that's been happening this morning. >> yeah, this is one of two mandatory evacuations, the other sonoma valley, another area. we want to get to that in just a moment but first we want to go to vianey arana who has been watching these wind gusts tloutd t -- throughout the night and even this morning. vianey, it's something a lot of people paying close attention to. >> we need to be paying close attention. we saw gusty conditions between the 25, 30-mile range, right around 2:30, 3:00 a.m. and then we jumped on there right away as soon as they started announcing all the evacuations because of those gusty conditions. right now, if you pay attention over here, left side of your screen, you see it's about 7:30 a.m. and between the next 15

minutes, napa at about 15 miles per hour, however those sustained winds are staying anywhere between 10 to 18 miles per hour. and then we're going to see a couple of changes in terms of the conditions and the humidity, the temperatures, now that the sun is up, we're talking about a couple of other factors that are going to come into play, not just the wind. now, i wanted to make a quick note. typically, 40% or higher in terms of humidity helps. well, that is quickly going to decline within the next couple of hours. we're talking about it dropping down to the 20% range and then possibly single digits as we head into the afternoon. let's look at that temperature trend. we were talking about those warming temperatures as we headed into the weekend yesterday and yeah we're going to see temperatures in the 80s for the north bay so the temperature trend, those overnight temperatures have been cool. cold in some areas. that's been helping. the reason they were able to kind of keep some of these fires and contain some of these fires really well last night was because the winds died down last night and we had improved humidity overnight. we had recovering humidity but

now we're going to see an increase in the temperatures. look at this timeline, by 12:00, 74 degrees, fast forward through the 2:00 hour, in the north bay and we're talking about temperatures in those 80s. so, this is going to play a factor because once you combine the winds with the relatively low humidity and the gusty conditions, well, there goes another recipe for disaster. when are the winds expected to peak? we originally gave a timeline between 9:00 and 10:00 a.m. now i'm looking at the models and it looks like it could go beyond that. it could go more into the 11:00, lunch hour. why social security importais iy on air for so long, when these things change, we keep you up to date. the winds kicking up again around that hour, we have to raise that flag for concern, which is why we are keeping that red flag warning now. it's going to stay in place from the national weather service at least through 11:00 p.m. tonight and then fast forwarding through 2:00, i did mention earlier that the winds were expected to taper off at 2:00. now let's look at the latest round of models. 15 miles per hour in napa and fast forward within the next couple hours and by 10:00, the

wind becomes a nonexistent factor. no longer expecting to be the main event for the big concern of the fire threat. but at least now that it's daylight and it's sun out, they can continue or they can star attacking this fire from the top. they can send their aircraft up. we had that nice sunrise come in so now they have daylight in their favor and if they can continue to attack this from the top with these little bit of breaks in the wind, that will really help. i want to put into perspective the active fires that are currently burning. a come of those fires have all been grouped into one now in order to help contain it and heavy kind of taken on a different approach, it makes it easier for them to contain that fire. look at the tubbs fire, the pocket fire, and i want to turn your attention towards this map because if you're sitting just south of any of these areas, of course some of these areas have already been evacuated areas in sonoma. again, you can find the latest information on nbcbayarea.com. a lot of those are mandatory evacuations. you need to get out now. and if you see any of that fire just north of the hills, this is what you need to do.

so let's talk about the steps that you should take. when should you be alerted? when should you be worried? any time you feel unsafe, you should already been concerned and take that into consideration because the gusts will continue for the next couple of hours and you can see those fires off in the hillside just to the north, you need to stay alert because the embers may move south so that's what we're seeing. we're seeing the winds blowing from the north northeast, it pushes those embers south, keeps the fires south and the number one threat is going to be hillside and the higher elevation area of 1,000 feet. that red flag warning for the highlighted areas will remain in place through 11:00 p.m. tonight. even when the winds taper off at 2:00, we're still dealing with hot conditions in the north bay, temperatures in the 80s, and relatively low humayuidity. that's a recipe for elevated fire danger, which is a what a red flag warning means. the weather conditions in that area are a perfect combination for fires to already start up if not railroad burning right now and then for them to quickly spread as the wind picks up so

our biggest thing is going to be watching that wind, hoping it to taper off into friday and then it looks like i may have some good news in the form of some rain as we head into thursday and friday. i'll have a closer look at the next seven days coming up in the next update but i'll go ahead and send things back to you. we have a few things to hold our breath for. hopeful rain on thursday. now we want to show you this mandatory evacuation that went into place earlier this morning in sonoma valley. just east of sonoma valley hospital. but we want to mention that the hospital is not port of the evacuation. >> anser hassan has been through throughout the morning and he's seeing those emergency vehicles and they have left to go fight the fire. and anser, it's definitely been a changing moment throughout the hour there. >> reporter: yeah, marcus, what a difference an hour can make. you can see there's been a big change in the atmosphere here around here. behind me, that's the front line. it has gone from orange to

bright red to now smoke. and what that means is that fire crews are making progress on the front line but the fire continues to rage well beyond that. what we're seeing is just how haphazard this fire has been. the fire was burning along the hills, but not in a straight line. what we've seen is several fires along the hills. to give you an idea where we're at, we're less than a half a mile from downtown sonoma. this has been an all hands on deck effort. fire crews being directed to this area. mandatory evacuation order is still in place for this neighborhood. the power has been cut. further up from here we're told are the vineyards. one of the big issues we've been talking about all day has been this wind. fire crews say the uptick in the wind has not only pushed the fire along but earlier blew embers and ashes, creating other hot spots and we have seen this fire jump as we drove through the neighborhood. some streets were quiet and

intact. other streets, homes fully engulfed in flames but as i said and as you can, right now, there's been a big change in the conditions. the heat, less intense. there's less smoke and ash out here. it seems to be much clearer. and those 30-foot flames that we saw earlier this morning, that are approaching the city of sonoma, they seem to be out but you can see up in those hills, that battle continues to rage. fire crews still out there. now, one of the issues the firefighters have been telling us all morning is these mandatory evacuation orders that have been gone into place, some people haven't left. they're really encouraging everybody to get out for your own safety. they say keeping people alive is their number one priority. and they want people to evacuate and those of you who are able to leave, they're encouraging you to go to petaluma, rohnert park or sebastopol where places have been set up and if you're having difficulty with transportation, buses have been set up as well. marcus, kira, back to you.

>> anser hassan for us east of downtown sonoma. much more ahead on "today in the bay." >> we have brand-new video just in from santa rosa. this is compelling video of the flames, the fire, it continues to get worse in santa rosa as this wind event is gusting and pushing the flames. >> reporter: i'm laura malpert live in napa county where strong winds force firefighters to scramble overnight. i'll have the very latest coming up in a live report.

at 7:52, this is brand-new video our news room. just a beautiful winery now at the risk of catching fire completely. this is just north of highway 12 in the new mandatory evacuation

area. this is between kenwood and santa rosa, about three hours ago, this area became under mandatory evacuation. hundreds of homes, thousands of people now under this mandatory evacuation. you are told to go west on highway 12 and take highway 101 south as far as petaluma, as far as novato. get out of the area. because this wind event that we're experiencing, wind gusts can affect the direction in which the fire is going. up until about 10:30 this morning, we're looking at the very serious risk of wind gusts changing the direction of the nuns fire. >> that was one of two mandatory evacuations this morning. the other in sonoma valley. but of course activity is happening throughout the north bay. right now, we want to go to napa where we have laura malpert live there and she is looking at a lot of that situation. i know just behind you, laura, definitely that fire growing closer. >> reporter: that's right,

marcus. i'm at the bottom of oakville grade and the nuns fire is now smoldering. it has moved down quickly. you can't see flames but what you do see is smoke and a lot of it and just a few seconds ago, i saw several more fire crews just take out of this area, no doubt all that smoke is going to be making the air even worse and that's the last thing that anyone needs right now. in just a while ago, we heard from jonathan cox with cal fire. he says the northeast side of the nuns fire is pushing in. the southeast is pushing down to the city of sonoma. and that's where the efforts are being focused right now. helicopters are working those areas aggressively, i'm told. sonoma and santa rosa are the main concerns. but back out here, near highway 29, the nuns fire has crested the ridge. it's coming down the hill and getting closer. it is moving south.

it is now on both sides of oakville grade. the road is now completely blocked off. the area was already evacuated and they're not letting anybody else in but about a half hour ago, we showed you flames coming down the hill, getting dangerously close to a white house and as far as i can see, that house is still intact. earlier, firefighters were on standby in the area. they had two strike teams, several hand crews, and four dozers. they were waiting to see what the winds would do and sure enough, they picked up and the firefighters got out. about an hour or so ago, we saw the national guard leaving and tankers. even they weren't taking a chance in the past half hour or so, i've seen highway patrol turn away residents, people who were trying to check on their property. highway patrol wouldn't let them in. only firefighters and emergency personnel are allowed in. i also talked with some people who work at a nearby vineyard.

right now, it's harvest time, and they were waiting to see what would happen. a lot of people are very concerned with the nuns fire approaching highway 29. they're afraid it might go into wine country, but residents are hopeful that the vineyard will create a natural break and keep the fire from spreading but you never know. it depends on those winds. right now, it does feel calm. i haven't felt the gust in a while. but firefighters told me earlier they felt wind gusts of up to 40 miles per hour. and those winds can be very erratic. but of course, we will be here near highway 29. we will keep you up to date on any latest developments as they happen. back to you. >> laura malpert for us in napa. thank you, laura. and we want to send you to nbcbayarea.com for the latest evacuations, mandatory evacuations, and shelters for people to head to this morning. >> all right. much more ahead on "today in the

bay." it's 7:56. >> we'll be right back after this. centered around public sa. without pg&e's assistance, without their training we could not do our mission to keep our community safe. anytime we are responding to a structure fire, one of the first calls you make is for pg&e for gas and electric safety. it's my job to make sure that they have the training that they need to make the scene safe for themselves and for the public. it's hands-on training actually turning valves, turning systems off, looking at different wire systems all that training is crucial to keeping our community safe and our firefighters safe. together, we're building a better california.

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e is for everyone. good morning to you. it is 7:59 on this saturday morning. i'm kira klapper. >> and i'm marcus washington. and want to get you up to date on the newest information about those new evacuations overnight. most recently, santa rosa and kenwood there and right here, you're looking at the ledson winery in santa rosa. at threat of that fire just above it as you can see those flames come dangerously close as it comes down that hill towards the fire. >> yeah, if you're just waking up with us, everything changed in the last three hours. things were looking good, but we were aware of this wind event that could change the direction of the nuns fire and indeed, it did. this area from kenwood to the east to santa rosa to the west is now under mandatory evacuation. that ledson winery is in this region. it's all north and south of

highway 12 and everyone in that area needs to evacuate west on highway 12, south on 101. they want people to go as far as novato and petaluma. >> and that was the second evacuation that we received early this morning as early as 4:30. we got this one right here. this one is in the sonoma valley area. as you can see right there, it's near the sonoma valley hospital, but i want to remind you that the sonoma valley hospital is not under this evacuation. that evacuation is that red area that you see right there. -toss to un- ser huss-ahn -at site of first evacuation