which seven units would not come to northern california and vice versa. we utilize resources from outside the state of california. central sonoma fire, we have access from oregon, washington, idaho. in those, there are programs, for lack of a better term, preplanned and designated. when we have to draw down, for lack of a better term, draw down and pull assets. >> i expect we'll likely see assets redirected back to the santa cruz mountains. thank you so much. we will check in with you later this morning. >> caller: you're very welcome. >> we continue now with "today in the bay." our breaking news coverage out of the santa cruz mountains and that fire fight that continues now. mandatory evacuation orders.

i'm kris sanchez in for laura garcia. >> as we continue to follow that, we can tell you, firefighters, we know that we have been told that a firefighter has fallen 50 feet. the bear fire burning in boulder creek in the bear creek canyon, not far from ben loman. 125 acres, estimated to burn as it continues at this hour. rugged terrain is causing a battle for those firefighters as they continue to fight. 100 homes evacuated. we know this started with one structure and from that structure, vegetation surrounding that structure started a bigger fire. firefighters waiting for daylight to attack this fire by air. right now, a mandatory evacuation is under way in bear creek canyon. this is a look at the location in boulder creek. it is burning southwest of saratoga and los gatos. right now, we want to take you to a closer look at where this

fire started. the flames sprung up overnight at deer creek road and bear creek road. we have people calming into the newsroom throughout the night. right now, evacuees are gathering and boulder creek elementary school. we have a crew at that shelter. firefighters from neighboring counties are assisting in trying to knock down the flames. we spoke to the cal fire assistant chief about the mutual aid. bob redell is at the fire zone with more on the fire fight and more importantly, on the firefighter that may have fallen. >> we are here at bear creek road where you see chp set up a roadblock. what the officer is trying to do is limit the amount of traffic that is in here as fire crews are trying to get their equipment in and out of what are very tight and windy roads in the santa cruz mountains. they are trying to get the bear fire. it started around 10:30 last night as a structure fire,

spread into the woods. around 12:30, it wauz ten-acre fire. overnight, it grew to 125 acres. we have seen fire trucks from san bow knee toe, monterey and santa clara. 30 crews, according to cal fire coming into to fight the fire. this is a great concern because this area is steep, full of vegetation and, of course, the wine country fires are fresh on our mind. the santa cruz county sheriff's department sent a reverse 911 call to people who live up here. they ordered 150 people to evacuate. evacuate from these roads here. deer creek road, rons road, dons road, los valley road, favre ridge and oak ridge. cal fire says if you feel you are in danger and not in a mandatory evacuation area, go ahead, leave the area, as long as it's safe to do so. reporting in the santa cruz mountains, bob redell, "today in the bay." >> we want to check that weather forecast. when we were watching that smoke, it was going straight up,

the flames straight up. the winds look at least favorable. >> the winds are nice and calm this morning. as we go through the day, the winds only increase slightly. that is good news as far as containment. it's so dry. to give you an idea of exactly where we are talking here, it's just to the south of los gatos and off 17. we are seeing bob out there at bear creek road and 35. so, that just gives you an idea of exactly where this is occurring right now. looking at our temperature, we are starting out in the upper 50s. 55 degrees within the next hour. then a lot of smoke in this area. our temperature slowly rise and we'll be in the low 70s. so, it's not going to be extremely warm. as far as the winds, staying calm through at least 10:00, then only a light wind at 5-10 miles an hour as we go into early afternoon. so, that is some good news. but, unfortunately, we have had low humidity as we start oud

this morning around the bear creek canyon area. the relative humidity starting out this morning is only at 40%. normally, during the morning hours, it's more like 60% or 70%. late morning, the humidity continues to drop. very dry conditions there. the good thing is, we will start to see the humidity increasing as we get more of an on shore flow. the winds will be shifting direction. starting this morning, coming in light from the north, then turns in from the west as we go throughout the day and that's going to transport more humidity. also may cause a slight increase in the winds and may spread that wildfire in different directions as we go throughout the day. we'll keep an eye on the relative humidity for the rest of the day. also, those wind speeds and i'm tracking that chance of rain in the forecast as we go late thursday night and friday morning. details on that in a few

minutes. mike is checking on the commute at 17. >> the commute is all right. the fire kari showed that we have been following since we broke into the programming is off highway 17. it's between 17 and highway 9. we talked about the evacuation area. let me give a full list of closures. as they currently stand, bear creek road at deer creek is where bob had the shots of flames in the sky there. lighting that portion of the area. this is not necessarily a problem for highway 17 just yet. back out to the maps, we are going to talk as the sun comes up over the next bit of time for the morning commute, we may see distraction from the smoke is visible as you travel in the silicon volley. that may be an issue. either direction and the bend. i don't know the extent of how much is visible, but we saw

there is a lot of activity off the freeway. we'll track that as well. so far, the rest of the commute moves well. back to you. >> thank you, mike. a firefighter may have fallen 50 feet into a creek as he was battling the bear fire. looking right now at those flames continue to burn at this hour. 125 acres burned in at least 150 people have been evacuated. as we continue to watch this fire and as crews continue, that evacuation center is boulder creek elementary school. >> here is the map of where the fire is burning. it is the area mike is talking ability, surrounded by highway 9 and 17. the two thoroughfares are open. the locals will be able to make their way around. a lot of road closures there this morning. this is the circle around the area where the fire started. earlier this morning, we did learn the fire started with a structure fire that spread into the grass, then into the vegetation.

now, we know it's in very steep and rugged terrain. bob redell is following that firefighter who may have fallen 50 feet. he says it appears perhaps he has a broken wrist and wind knocked out of him. a rescue is under way right now. we'll check in with bob in a bit. right now, we are going to talk to virginia becker who is an evacuee. good morning to you, virginia. how did you know to get out? >> caller: woke up about 12:30 and looked out the window and saw a wall of fire one ridge over from our home. it was -- we didn't need anybody to knock on the door to know it was time to evacuate. then, by 2:00, the sheriff's department was just great. they went door-to-door, knocking on everyone's door, making certain we knew it was time to evacuate. >> did you get that reverse 911 call the sheriff's department said they sent out? >> caller: you know, i didn't.

maybe i did and i didn't pick it up. they may have done that. i don't want to say they didn't. i didn't get it. >> virginia, i know you were helping with the north bay fires. i'm sure seeing all of that kind of sparked you to get out of your home quickly. >> caller: it did. it was reminiscent of what we saw in santa rosa where people were fleeing at 2:30 and their homes were gone by 3:30. we don't have high winds, which is nice. the winds are going to pick up later this afternoon. we are waiting for the sun to come up so they can attack it in the air. >> when the sun comes up, the winds shift as well. the humidity drops. there is concern there. can you talk about, for the folks who don't live in these mountains, what the area is like. we have been talking that steep terrain, the rugged conditions the firefighters are dealing with. >> caller: it's -- it's impossible terrain in a lot of the areas.

i know we have a little thing at our house not to play frisbee with the dog off the deck because of the steep drop. there's cliffs and dense vegetation. after what happened this winter with so much rain, everything grew and, like it's never grown before. and we did our defensible space clearing like most neighbors have. hopefully that will help us. again, just the defensible space. it's very rugged terrain. >> all right. we are glad to know you got out. did you get out with anybody else? the rest of your family? >> caller: yeah, my husband and i got out. we are at the local denny's. a group of us found each other and we are kind of sitting here waiting to hear what's going on. >> we know 100 homes are under threat. hopefully, virginia, when you go back home, you won't find what

you saw in the north bay and everything will be okay. thank you so much for joining us this morning. >> caller: thank you for those kind words. i hope so, too. thanks a lot. >> thank you, virginia. if you are just waking up, we want to get you updated. there is a fire burning in the santa cruz mountains. this, right now, 125 acres burning. this is in the boulder creek area of santa cruz county. 100 homes threatened. 150 people have been evacuated. we will continue to follow this breaking story here on "today in the bay." it is now 6:11.

6:14 now. we continue our breaking news coverage. the news may have gotten worse in the santa cruz mountains. bob redell has been reporting this morning that a firefighter fell into a ravine, maybe broke a wrist, got the wind knocked out of him, fighting this bear fire that started around the midnight hour. bob redell is on the phone right now. we know you are on the move to get closer to the fire line. >> reporter: i am looking at the fire. we are on one side of the fire looking across a canyon where you can see the fire that burned up an entire ridge here in the santa cruz mountains. it's at 125 acres, zero containment. as far as that firefighter is concerned, it was 20 minutes

standing next to the command post where you have the cal fire police when they received the radio call about a firefighter falling down. it turns out, it appears this firefighter tumbled down 50 feet down a hill, ended up in a creek. as you mentioned, a cut to the face, a broken wrist, had the wind knocked out of him. he's a younger guy, about 25 years old, according to what we heard them telling their incident command. right now, what the firefighters are trying to do is perform a rescue, trying to get them out of there. the take away is the firefighter is going to be okay based on the follow up conversation i had with the chief. there's an inmate out here who was working the fire lines, which is not unusual when you have fires like that. he was taken to the hospital with smoke inhilation. again, that person is expected to be okay. what i am looking at is very, very steep terrain and it's dark out here. you have the glow of the embers.

you see some flame but it is very dark out here. you can understand what challenges facing the firefighters and why you could have accidents like this. there are 150 firefighters out there. 100 homes are threatened. cal fire says it started as a structure fire around 10:30 last night. they don't know if it wauz house or structure. it went into the wildland. it was ten acres at 12:30, now 125 acres. i'm looking at the black side of a mountain in the santa cruz mountains where you have red glow of embers, then some flames. i don't think you can hear it, but i can hear chainsaws in the background as the cal fire, firefighters and other local responders are out there trying to remove anything else that might be wanting to burn. live in the santa cruz mountains, bob redell, "today in the bay." >> thank you very much, bob. we were showing you some of the

twee tweets bob has been sending out trying to follow the story for folks out of their homes. >> we'll fight hard as soon as the sun comes up. when is the sun going to come up and what are the conditions going to be like for firefighters? we'll talk to kari hall tracking those conditions for the santa cruz mountains. >> we are one hour from sunrise and starting out with those temperatures that have been fairly mild and are now 66 degrees in san jose. 58 in santa cruz. as wez look at what's happening in the north bay, another chilly morning to start. a look at the high temperatures for this afternoon, reaching into the upper 70s. morgan hill, 82 degrees. for the east bay, mid-80s once again. not as warm as yesterday, but still warmer than where we should be for this time of year. redwood city, a high of 75 degrees. san francisco, upper 60s in the outer sunset and low 70s in the mission district.

north bay, low 80s for this afternoon. tracking those wind speeds, starting out calm right now, but we still have a very dry wind blowing offshore and as we go through the day, we start to see those winds changing direction, starting to make an on shore shift and that will bring in more humidity, but also pick up those wind speeds at 5-10 miles per hour. going to see overly strong winds today, but with the changing of the wind direction, that may change the area that the wildfire is affecting as we go into the evening. we have very unhealthy air quality for the north bay. wouldn't be surprised if we go from moderate to unhealthy for the santa clara valley as well. now that we have the wildfire burning in the mountains and moderate for the rest of the bay area. you need to limit your time outdoors. the kids with the outdoor sports maybe need to take it inside for the next couple days. it is not clear, yet. as we go into the day tomorrow,

the winds blowing in from the west. we wait for the approach of the cold front that is going to bring us rain late thursday into friday. unfortunately, it does look like a lot of the models start to dry out. the rain chances and how much rain we are going to get as we get closer to that date and looking at each run of the computer model. starting to see the showers moving in from the north and the north bay is where we'll have that highest chance of getding measurable rain and then it fizzles out south of the golden gate bridge. here is a look at one computer model and what it is showing as far as how much rain we could see. yesterday, a quarter inch of rain for santa rosa. now, it's a tenth of an inch. you can see the trend here and then some much dry irand lesser amounts as you head farther to the south. the seven day forecast for san francisco starts to cool down today. it is going to be milder with a high of 72 degrees. then low to mid-60s over the next couple days as the rain

moves in. inland areas also reaching the upper 60s by tomorrow, rather by thursday, then it warms up in time for the weekend. mike is still checking out the routes around the fire. >> that's right, kari, around the fire. you want to avoid the closures in the evacuation areas. we told you about the evacuation zones for the bear fire between highway 9 and highway 17 in the santa cruz mountains. this is the boulder creek area. i'm going to show you the full list we have for local road closures. a whole bunch here. bear creek and bear creek is where the fire was first located. huge flames that we saw from the video and bob talking about the area. between there and highway 35. keep out of the area. watch for crews, fire crews heading through the area as well. definitely an issue. looking back at the maps, we are talking a smooth flow of traffic for highway 9 and highway 17.

as the sun comes up in the next hour rksz a flurry of activity above the roadways. it may be visible for folks heading down highway 17, portions of 85. this direction, they may see all the vehicles coming through the area, the helicopters, the fire retardant, i don't know how they are going to attack that. cal fire said they are going to hit it hard at sunrise. right now, traffic moves smoothly. prepare as folks head south for the silicon valley. the crash looks like it just cleared over in san ramon. we had a big back up that cleared. back to you guys. >> thank you very much, mike. coming up on "today in the bay," we follow the bear fire burning right now. the flames are from overnight. this is actively burning right now. we know at least one firefighter was injured and an inmate firefighter transported to the hospital as well.

scott mcgrew joins us with a history of --

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wherever you are. right now - mandatory evacuations are underway in bear 6:24. pack to our breaking news of a mandatory evacuation under way in bear creek canyon. this is a look of that location in boulder creek. burning southwest of saratoga and los gatos. this is new fire video. cal fire crews assessing what they can do in the dark.

right now, we know they have bulldozers out there. we heard chainsaws in the distance. we have been watching these flames go vertical. the wind is very light, kari hall was saying. we will see an aerial assault once daylight arrives at 7:18 this morning. our coverage of the fire in the mountains continues. this region, of course, no stranger to fire. >> let's bring in scott mcgrew with more on the history of these wildfires. >> good morning to you. we are certainly not unfamiliar with this. the fire late september of last year was massive. burned 4, 474 acres in santa clara county, destroyed 13 homes. in 2015, 46 small fires. seven of them were actually arson. eight started by power lines. we have been talking about that quite a bit. in 2014, 62 small fires.

one of the most notable fires in the region was the lockheed fire in the summer of 2009 in august. 13 buildings destroyed then, out of control campfire to blame for that one. again, nothing nearly as big as the loma fire of last year, so far. obviously, we continue to keep a very close eye on it. kris and marcus. >> we were talking about a very wet winter and perhaps the ground and the grasses and trees would recover. now there's a lot more vegetation. >> we could use a little wetness right now. rain would be helpful across the bay area. >> kari and the rest of the weather crew has been talking about a chance coming up next week. coming up on "today in the bay," we will continue that fire coverage. there are mandatory evacuations under way. we want to make sure you know about that in case you have friends and family in the santa cruz mountains. also, we know a firefighter is potentially injured and fell

about 50 feet. an inmate firefighter transported to the hospital. this is coming up after the break. we are following breaking news

-- mandatory evacuations in the santuz good morning, thanks for joining us. we are following breaking news in the santa cruz mountains. mandatory evacuation orders and a wildfire burning near homes in the boulder creek area. i'm kris sanchez in for laura garcia. >> i'm marcus washington. this is a story we have been following since 3:00 this morning when we broke in and

went on air early at 4:00. right now, we have learned a firefighter has fallen some 50 feet fighting the bear fire. this is near bear creek canyon, not far from ben loman. 125 acres has burned, that's estimated. 100 homes evacuated. one structure fire started this. the structure fire then spread to the vegetation. firefighters waiting for daylight to attack this fire by air. right now, mandatory evacuations are under way in bear creek canyon. this is a look at the location of the brush fire in boulder creek. it is burning southwest of saratoga and los gatos and north of glen arbor road. we want to look at that fire. the flames started going up at deer creek road and bear creek road. people called into the newsroom throughout the night. right now, evacuations are going

on. the evacuees are gathering here as you look at boulder creek elementary school. >> because of this urgent overnight fire, we did go on the air early this morning. at 3:00 we started talking about those evacuations and we have been with you ever since. a firefighter, as we mentioned, may have fallen. we hear that's potentially an inmate firefighter may have suffered smoke inhilation as well. we have bob redell who has been following that part of the story for us. bob? >> reporter: good morning to you, kris and marcus. i'm looking at the fire that is burning in very steep terrain. it's 125 acres here in the santa cruz mountains and in the early morning before we had the sun come up, the red glow, the jagged line of the ridge of the fire burning through the dense vegetation up there. as i mentioned, it's steep and understandable why a firefighter, in the dark, would find himself in a situation where they fell. the firefighter is 25 years old, 30-40 minutes ago, tumbled down a low incline hill according to

the battalion chief and stumbled 50 feet into the creek. fortunately, the firefighter is going to be okay. he had the wind knocked out of him, a laceration on the face and possibly broke his wrist. there's a rescue under way to extra kate him. we are down further than we were earlier where there was an ambulance who drove down the road to meet up with the firefighter when they are able to get him out. the inmate suffered smoke inhilation, taken to the hospital, expected to be okay. now, we did speak with the battalion chief. he said when the sun comes up, i'm quoting here, we are going to slam it hard. he is talking ant air attacks they have planned to get on this fire. again, this is a very difficult place to access for firefighters. they have 150 firefighters out here. diesel engines behind me. they are the sounds of the various truck that is pulled up, dropping off firefighters that

have to hike into this area. one place burned down, they don't know if it's a home or outbuilding. that is the initial cause of the fire. it spread to the wild. it was ten acres, now 125 acres about 100 homes threatened and 125 people e vacuated. bob redell, "today in the bay." >> a number of evacuees didn't need to wait for reverse 911 call. as soon as they saw the flames they got out. thank you very much, bob redell. we are going to check that weather and traffic. kari, bob was talking about the fact they are waiting for daylight. you can tell them it is coming up exactly at 7:18. >> right. it is going to be one they will have to attack early in the day as it has winds will start to change direction as we go into this afternoon. but, just want to get you oriented of where we are talking about here. it's just to the southwest of los gatos and near 35 is where we saw bob redell earlier today.

bear creek road, in that area, it is going to start out with some calm winds and cool temperatures. then, as we look at the temperature trend throughout e thing, we are going to be in the mid-60s. a lot of smoke. the temperatures slowly rising throughout the day. we have very dry conditions. we talked about how much rain we got during the winter and saw a lot of vegetation growing. now, since we haven't had rain in months, it has all dried out. looking at the wind speeds throughout the rest of the morning, staying calm. that's good. it's not going to blow those embers away from where we currently have the wildfire and spread more rapidly. we will see it picking up a bit for early afternoon. still coming in from the north, which brings in very dry conditions. relative humidity right now, only 40%. it is even dry in the north bay as we continue to monitor those wildfires there in napa and sonoma valley. a lot to watch here as far as the weather.

mike, you are watching the commute over highway 17. >> i am. right now, kari. 17 moves smoothly. that is ample travel volume threw santa cruz and los gatos. as the sun comes up, the countdown of 45 minutes, roughly, to begin the air attack on the bear fire that will generate more smoke over the mountains and may be an issue for folks in the south bay. we want to talk about the local closures. we are talking a lot of road closures. bear creek and deer creek is where the focus of the fire was. bob redell is in that area as well. we saw huge flames. you will continue to see that on the video and the live shots throughout the morning. meanwhile, a number of roadways closed throughout that area. highway 9 remains open for the most part. traffic restrictions south of here, around brookdale. that happened last year in our rainy season. favor ridge road where the evacuation or one of those

evacuation areas. southbound on 17, away from 280, you may see smoke visible. 7:18 is when the fire crews plan on heading over there. back to you. >> all right. we do have new video in to our news room right now. a live picture from closer to the fire lines. bob redell has been on the move this morning and we'll get to nose a moment. we want to talk to virginia becker, who evacuated her home before she got a reverse 911 call. tell us what you saw this morning. >> caller: um, we woke up about midnight and saw a wall of fire that was headed in the direction of favre ridge, which is one of the areas that has been evacuated. without getting a call, it was so dramatic, we knew it was time to start packing some things. as we were getting things ready, sure enough, the sheriff came

down our block. they did an amazing job. they knocked on everyone's door by 2:00, it was mandatory evacuation. so, we were lucky enough to get out. they didn't have an opportunity to grab a few things and we feel fortunate we could grab a few things. >> i know you were there helping with the recovery efforts there through the red cross. seeing what happened there, i'm sure that sparked your rush to get out of your home because you know what the aftermath could be. >> caller: that's exactly right. having -- working with the red cross, i have respect for what mother nature has the ability to do and when you see flames it's time to get out. so, we were seeing flames. i'm heart broken for my mountain friends. i'm heart broken for our neighbors and friends up in santa rosa.

it's a real tragic time. our real heroes are cal fire. they have done a remarkable job. if anybody can get this under control, it's cal fire. >> virginia, we know you were up in the north bay helping with the red cross. you talked earlier, when we spoke with you earlier, you were talking about the importance of the defensible space and heeding those warnings to get out. how prepared do you think your mountain community is for this sort of fire? >> caller: in our area, we take our defensible space very seriously. we clear around our house and just in case a moment like this happens. for anyone that has not heeded that warning, it's not too late. everyone should do that, if you live in any kind of area where there's steep terrain or vegetation. please take the defensible space

very, very seriously. >> all right. thank you very much, virginia becker, not only evacuee, but red cross volunteer who assisted in the north bay. thank you so much. virginia was telling us that the steep terrain is no joke up there because it is just falls off and that is what happened with a firefighter this morning. bob redell has been reporting this morning about the fact that a firefighter fell 50 feet, had the wind knocked out of him. we want to get an update on his condition and the condition of an inmate firefighter who was also injured on the fire line. let's go to bob redell. >> reporter: good morning to you, kris. we have moved down the road right now. kris, we are at bear creek canyon road and bear creek road. you can see behind me the fire is still burning very strong. if you can tell in the early morning sky, you see the flames going straight up a hill. that gives you a sense of how

steep the terrain is and the challenge it is facing the firefighters, cal fire firefighters and other local agencies. about 150 men and women are out there, somewhere along the hillside, trying to put this fire out. you have the issues of the steepness, the fact there's dense vegetation and there's limited access. i wouldn't be surprised if that is not something you can access by car, but something you have to hike into. i set this up to understand what that firefighter was dealing with. about an hour ago, here he was in the dark, lost his footing and tumbled 50 feet down the hill is how the chief described it to me. the firefighter ended up at the bottom with a freak cut on his face, possible broken wrist, wind knocked out of him, but he is going to survive his injuries. they are performing a rescue to pull him out of there. we have an ambulance that drove down in there to pick him up.

not sure where they are in that process. an inmate firefighter was out here and suffered smoke inhilation, taken to the hospital and expected to be okay. this fire is labeled the bear fire by cal fire. it started around 10:30 last night as a structure fire. cal fire is not sure if it wauz house, outbuilding, barn or what. it started as a structure fire. the structure burned to the ground. it was a ten-acre fire, now a 125-acre fire. you can see it flairing up from the live pic. this fire has zero percent containment. live in the santa cruz mountains, bob redell, "today in the bay." >> thank you, 125 might be conservative given that it is dark. >> right. we will continue to follow what's going on with the bear fire happening now in the santa cruz mountains. you are watching "today in the bay." it is 6:41.

♪ that one. this. that one. ♪ ♪

6:44. welcome back as we continue to follow the bear fire. this is happening in the santa cruz mountains in the boulder creek area. right now, that fire started sometime last night. people getting reverse 911 calls about the fire around 11:30 last night. we can tell you some 150 people have been evacuated from their homes as the fire continues to

grow. 125 acres burning right now. we know that a firefighter was hurt as well as a prison firefighter taken to the hospital for smoke inhilation. also, that firefighter following some -- falling some 50 feet as he broke a wrist and maybe had the wind knocked out of him as well as they continue to fight this fire. >> you can see from the flames how steep that terrain is and how much vegetation is in the area. we have been watching the maps to see where that fire started. bear creek and deer creek is the nexus of it. "today in the bay's", damian trujillo is up this morning. you have been up in the north bay in the sonoma and napa county fires right now. we know you have covered fires in the santa cruz mountains. talk about the challenges. >> caller: it feels like disaster whiplash, doesn't it. absolutely right, it is rugged terrain in the santa cruz

mountains. i covered the loma fire and before that, the summit fire. the fortunate thing is these firefighters have a lot of experience. the unfortunate thing is they have a lot of experience. by that, i mean this is happening frequently. rugged terrain, low visibility. you see the air drops coming in, they are not going to come above the flames. they try to land that fire retardant ahead of the fire so when the fire reaches it, that will stop it, presumably. so, that's what's going to happen. if the fire is burning down the hillside, that kind of slows the fire down as opposed to burning uphill. when it's uphill, it speeds up a little bit. good observation, kris, on the smoke going up. it's a good sign. i'm told by firefighters that

means there's no wind. it's burning in that area. it's not spreading at a fast rate. once you see the smoke going sideways, there's concern. there's potential for the fire to spread faster. but, first things are priority is saving lives, making sure they evacuate anybody who is in immediate vicinity of this fire, then structure protection. they are two specialized team. one team, they are usually city firefighters. they go into a structure, surround it and protect it from the flames. other teams, called hot shots. this is where the inmates come in. they go and they dig and they try to surround the fire so that they create fire breaks and make sure the fire doesn't spread beyond their break. two different kind of teams. one team stays near for structure protection. the other teams go out and they are attacking. they are on the offensive.

they are battling the flames, making sure they don't spread. >> damian, you were in napa. the weather conditions were really difficult for firefighters there. if the weather conditions hold and kari thinks they will stay calm down here in the santa cruz mountains, how much of a help is that going to be for firefighters in your opinion? >> it's huge. right now, i'm assuming it is cooler right now in the mountains than down on the valley floor. the cooler it is, the slower the spread of the fire. if there's no wind, you don't know how big that is. i just saw an airplane right now on your screen, kind of hovering over the fire. hopefully, they are getting ready for daybreak, ready for those air drops making sure they do stuff. weather and community have everything to do with how fast they spread. >> we have been talking the road closures and how difficult it is to get into and out of the mountains.

folks go to the santa cruz board walk. talk about the other auxiliary roads that are closed and how hard it is if they are on the roads when fire crews are trying to get in. >> on a regular day, it's hard to get through. there's low lying branches, power lines hanging low. one lane roads up and down those mountains. so, abc lupitly. the fire trucks are bigger than the news trucks. they have priority right now. we need to give them as much access as they need to get up and down. so, you know, that's why the road closures are frustrating for everybody. you have to respect, sometimes they have fire hoses spread out across the road and so, you don't want to run over the fire hoses. cripple them as far as fighting the fire. also, you don't know if this fire caused downed power lines. you are driving on a road and there's a downed power line that might be active. a lot of things to consider when

you are in these zones. >> damian, you covered these fires for years. what could possibly be the biggest challenge, as it is still dark, trying to get things done and try to attack the fire. what would you see is the biggest challenge for them right now? >> right now, people not obeying the evacuation orders. that is first and foremost. they have to switch mode and go into rescue mode and not fight these flames. so, people not obeying the evacuation orders is huge. the terrain is also big. the terrain, by that, i mean the rugged mountainside, the limited access, and the dry brush, not only on the trees, but ground level, the dry leaves down there. that will ignite, it's really dry. i would say evacuation orders and the rugged terrain right now. the weather seems to be cooperating. >> all right. speaking of weather, thank you,

dam yan for joining us. we expect you are going to have a busy day ahead. we are going to talk to kari hall. we are talking about the weather conditions favorable up to this point. that could change with sunrise. that's a good thing and a bad thing. they are waiting for daylight, but that means, perhaps, more wind. >> this morning, things will stay calm. as it has sunrises, we are about 25 minutes away from sunrise at this point. we are starting to see a little light in the sky as we get a live look outside in san jose. another pink sunrise because of the wildfire smoke and the particulate matter that makes it colorful in the skies. as we get a look at the temperatures this morning, starting out, we have mid to upper 50s for much of the bay area. very cool in the north bay to start with the high temperatures this afternoon reaching into the upper 70s and low 80s. santa cruz, 73 and san jose, up to 80 degrees and lower 80s for the north bay. we talked about the wind and the

direction of those winds. very light winds coming in from the northeast and that will start to shift as we go into the day, coming from the northwest and more of a westerly wind by this evening. you can see around that bear creek canyon area, our winds at noon will be at 9 miles per hour, still fairly low, but that may shift the direction that the wind is spreading and that fire is spreading as well. then, as we go into this evening, not going to see a big sea breeze, which is great news. we are not going to have a big increase in the wind speeds into tonight as well as tomorrow. fairly light winds over the next 24 hours. still some very poor air quality as we get a live look outside in san francisco as the sunrises. it's still unhealthy in the north bay. moderate for the rest of the bay area. that may go unhealthy to unhealthy levels now that we have a new wildfire burning in the santa cruz mountains.

as we go into the day tomorrow, here is a look at the arrows that show the wind direction shifts on shore. also increasing the humidity, which may squash the chance of some of the wildfires spreading more rapidly. we are all looking forward to the chance of rain. we'll stee highest chance in the north bay late tomorrow evening into early friday and things drying out for the weekend. very light rainfall amount here as we look at what one computer model is showing, potential of a tenth inch of rain. heading over to mike, you are checking out the route of the fire. >> right. we could have washout stuff if we have a lot of rain. not the case, but we have traffic control. one lane closed for highway 35 from last rainy season. highway 9 through brookdale is an issue if standard closures continue. the bear fire between highway 17 and highway 9. both of those highways stay open

again. highway 17, the same section moves smoothly. i want to show you the closures we have through the area. a lot of low road clowe shers throughout the area. sorry, i'll bring it to you in a second. i want to go to a crash that is complicating things off bear creek road. a number of vehicles involved. it may be a distraction. the northbound side slows and flashing lights. i did get word we have a list of row closures. there's a bunch here. bear creek road, deer creek road. that is the focus of where the fire was first reported. skyline road, highway 35, we are talking about. bear creek between highway 35 and highway 9 is of course a place to avoid. of course the evacuation areas we continue to list. we'll get back to the map and show you the area between highway 17 and 9. aside from this crash on the south side is moving smoothly for the morning commute.

back to you. >> thank you very much. coming up on "today in the bay," more fire coverage, including a change in the evacuation center. we are watching those flames still burn those steep hillsides in the santa cruz mountains. we want to make sure you know where to go under the mandatory evacuation orders. oh, you brought butch.

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breaking coverage of the now bear fire. this is in boulder creek where that fire burned 125 acres and continues to burn with zero containment. 150 people have been evacuated from their homes as we continue to follow this breaking story. >> let's take a look at the map of where this fire is burning and the area you need to avoid. this is bear creek canyon near deer creek road and bear creek road where the fire started. southwest of saratoga and los gatos. north of glen arbor. if you are not from the area, you should stay out. we have new video from cal fire and crews working the lines there this morning. we want to get to nbc bay area's, bob redell who is live on the fire lines with news of a firefighter who may have been injured and an inmate firefighter as well, bob.

>> reporter: right. good morning to you, kris. they are trying to rescue that one firefighter who was injured. take a look at the fire, it's the bear fire. it's burning behind me in very steep terrain. an hour ago, a firefighter, a 25-year-old stumbled down that terrain about 50 feet. it was a low incline. landed in a creek. he lacerated his face, has a broken wrist, possibly, had the wind knocked out of him. apparently, he is going to be okay. they are trying to rescue him. there is an ambulance on the road. they are trying to bring him here to get him out. the inmate firefighter suffered smoke inhilation. again, going to be okay, but taken to the hospital. the problem is there's zero containment. access is very limited and there's a lot of dense vegetation. live in the santa cruz mountains, bob redell, "today in the bay." >> thank you, bob. those folks evacuated were sent to boulder creek elementary

school. continuous coverage of this breaking story on www.nbcbayarea.com. we'll see you at 7:25. ♪ good morning. family feud. president trump mending fences with the senate republican leader, sort of, as senator john mccain takes a new swipe. half-baked, spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems. >> and the president makes a bold, false claim about how past presidents treated families of fallen soldiers. >> most of them didn't make calls. a lot of them didn't make calls. >> what the former presidents are saying about that, including one top official who called it a flat-out lie. the clock is ticking. the former hostage held for five years reveals why he and his wife had four children while in the hands of a terror group