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if that's something you've seen driving by before and you'll go, ah-ha, it's that place. sadly, that is no longer here. the only destructure that remains on the property is this wooden barn. it was established in 1869. cal fire had some crews out here to do some structure protection on this to make sure it didn't set on fire. look south now beyond the vineyards here and you can see the smoke in the hills. that's card of the main kincade fire. doesn't appear the main part went through this specific area but the spot fires is what caused this place to burn and that -- i'm speaking to the itself, just because you're thy with these winds. and when they do, you can end up with something lyingif example of how dangerous it is. even if you can't see the fire,

you can have embers come and get things like this. you want to heed those warnings. >> very devastating. it's got to be so hard to watch. you were saying they had a recent renovation? it's been taking ten years. >> just looking at their website as bob was saying this. it's 150 years old. it's an historic site. site of the first general store. and so much rich history just in that one location of the alexander valley. >> this is what it used to be. >> just yesterday. just this morning, hours ago. >> it's all gone. >> this is what it looked like. >> you can see the facade is the only part that's left there. >> heartbreaking. at least there's that onetill s. but i read on their website the owners bought it 19 years ago. it was a dilapidated historical site and they just went through a ten-year renovation. >> what's fortunate is, sadly, this is going to be one of many stories that we're going to hear of destruction in the coming days. this fire --

>> deja vu of a few years ago. >> exactly. and how frightening for those people there. this fire is only 10% at this point. already consumed nearly 35,000 ground. they'll start their air assaults no doubt today as well. but it is just such a tough fight and the winds are not helping. >> meteorologist kari hall joins us. she's been tracking those winds all night. numbers. you said nearing category 2 hurricane levels. >> look at this peak in hillsburg, in the hills. 93-mile-per-hour gusts. and i wonder how this will affect those air assaults because, can they fly when winds are this high? that's going to make it dangerous for those firefighters out there today and so that's the reason why we're seeing when winds are gusting at 80 and 90-mile-per-hour, even in the higher elevations, it's best to just get out of the way of this wildfire because we don't know

how fast this is the reason why these winds have been coming in from the north and the northeast blowing it towards the southwest. and we've even seen some high winds over the novato h p hour. we go to the other parts of the bay area. we've seen gusts on the diablo range at 58 miles per hour. in pittsburg, even going into some of the low-lying areas we've seen gusts up to 47 this morning. in grizzly peak in the oakland hills, wind gusts at 45. and san francisco, last hour, had gusts over 37 miles per hour. we can see it even as we look at the cameras, the flag here waving in the wind. we can see this pole with the cameras on it shaking and the trees as well still blowing as we see the people coming in out of the north bay trying to get away from the kincade fire that has concharred. looking like a very large area. we said at 30,000 acres at this

point moving very close to geyserville, windsor and hillsburg. and it's also very . looking at temperatures now in this area. 43 miles per hour. and the humidity down to 23%. so we're going to most likely see this fire continuing to spread. and the smoke blowing across parts of the bay area. the satellite imagery shows where the smoke is, where you see the gray. and i think this may be from the smoldering fire over by the bethel island area. but we're also seeing some smoke moving over toward the central valley and off towards the south and east. some of our live cameras this morning really showing some unbelievable shots of the fire as it spreads. the smoke billowing up into the air. this is looking from the hillsburg hills as we see now with the daylight, we can see what's going on. i showed you this shot earlier. and now we are not seeing as

much smoke. so hopefully whatever was burning in that area, it looked like it was just east of petaluma. we are not seeing much in the way of smoke and fire at this point. so good news. hopefully we don't see any other fires developing today because it's going to be very dangerous with these winds coming in from the north and northeast. unfortunately, we're still going to have these high winds all throughout the day. these gusts as we take it through 10:00 still over 50 miles per hour in parts of the north bay. clearly lake, 41-mile-per-hour gusts and coming up to 50 around noon. at 2:00, seeing some of those high winds rushing over parts of the east bay. even some of our valleys are going to be gusty with san jose this afternoon seeing those northerly winds at 38 miles per hour. so if you aren't feeling the gusts now and you haven't done so, maybe get out there early this morning and tie down that patio furniture. bring in anything that may be blown around in these winds because this will be a prolonged wind event going into the rest

of the day. bothis evening. we still see these really high numbers at 30 to 40 miles per hour. and also going into tonight, ther brief high wind gusts that will stay with us until this weather system starts to move away. this cold front moves farther away and we see our winds starting to calm down by tomorrow morning. so that's the reason why all of these areas shaded in purple will be under that high wind warning through 11:00. we also have the red flag warning that will be in effect for elevations above 1,000 feet meaning that any small spark or flame can spread rapidly because it's so very dry and also windy. our weather setup shows that we are looking at our winds rushing in. and think of it as almost going downhill as that air descends. it dries out. it may even move faster. so we're highlighting the areas that will have the most critical fire danger going throughout today. you can see the areas in between

the hills as well as some of the valleys that may have that high wind risk going into today. that will spread going into the afternoon as the humidity levels drop. so we see a lot of bright red here showing very high fire danger that will also be the case for the east bay hills going into this evening. and we will see the gusty winds continuing today. our winds gradually calming down tomorrow. tuesday, looks good with highs in the low 70s. not much of a wind but unfortunately, there will be the potential of some more high winds on wednesday as well. so we will have this small window of trying to get some containment on the kincade fire. we know from previous fires, ones this large can take days, even weeks. so the weather conditions not really are in our favor. >> hopefully that 48-hour break will give the firefighters the upper hand they need.

kari, thanks. we have a woman waiting on the phone right now. jennifer beli tnger,ing to evacuate. and you have been stuck in traffic for two hours? is that right? >> actually, we've been stuck in traffic for four hours. we've traveled approximately four miles in four hours. >> oh, my goodness. >> tell me, where were you coming from? where were your evacuated from, and how did that all go about? >> we were evacuated from our home on murphy avenue here in sabastipool. we're not yet out of there. we've not even made it close to highway 101 yet. and we received the evacuation warning so we packed up. we've got a dog and a cat. we made sure we had all of our necessary supplies for them and for ourselves as well. and i couldn' s as soon as we received the alert from the sheriff, we were ready to go.

we were ready to go and hit the road. >> so that was 4:00 in the morning, around then? >> exactly. yep, about -- i think we were in the car at 4:15. >> we have to commend you for getting out and taking heed. they are telling anyone who is trying to stay behind to save their properties not to do that. so we're glad that you are -- >> i can't even imagine staying authorities. i honestly, truly, with what happened two years ago, in october of 2017, i cannot imagine not heeding notice and taking action and leaving when you're told to leave. i just can't. >> it sounds like a lot of your friends and neighbors are evacuating as well. it's hard to believe four hours in the car and you've only gone four miles. so you're still not even out of

sebastopol. >> no, we're not. >> jennifer, did you -- i assume you packed up yesterday. you were saying you couldn't sleep overnight. do you have a full tank of gas? did you charge your cell phones? did you do all the things we were all told to do? >> we did. we got gas. we have cash. we have food. we have clothing and medications and the animal records and their food and their supplies and their crates and their dishes and anything and everything. our cat's litter box is on the back seat right now. >> you have very lucky animals that you did all the things you needed to do to keep them safe and yourself safe. can i ask where you're headed? >> we're heading south. we have some family members that live in petaluma. so i think that that's where we're going to head right now. the sheriff did advise everyone who is leaving this area to head

south and so that's what we're doing. >> jennifer, talk a little bit about -- i mean, the emotion of having to leave your home and you don't know what you may or may not come back to. >> exactly. you know, when i was gathering up the little bits of things we d together before we got in the car. as i was gathering, i was thinking, this could be the last time i see these things and, oh, my goodness, this is it. i have to say, though, there really isn't an attachment to anything that's there. our lives and our animals' lives are the very most important thing. things can be replaced. lives cannot be replaced. >> you're right. you're right. exactly. we're wishing the best. hopefully your home will not be affected whatsoever and that you make it to a safe place. >> yeah, jennifer bellinger of sebastopol. we are praying for you and your

animals. just as we are the other who a evacuation. this is an astonishing, historic moment for sonoma county. >> and so many people taking to social media as even as they are evacuating they've been posting videos of the fire. this illustrating the winds going on in the area. we've talked to meteorologist kari hall. hurricane-force winds in some parts fanning these flames and already with the low humidity, dry conditions as well making it a very tough fight. >> yeah, she talked about 93-mile-per-hour. 93-mile-per-hour wind gusts in the hillsburg hills and 87-mile-per-hour in st. helena. these are category 1, almost category 2 hurricane-force winds. like nothing we've ever seen. this is northern california. >> and then this huge fire

burning. it's fanning those flames, making a very tough fight for firefighters. >> and as we focus on the fire, we also want to take a moment to focus on the people who aren't affected by the fire in sonoma county but across the bay area. we have 940,000 people without power. we talked to pg&e earlier. they are doing this, of course, to try to prevent something like the kincade fire from happening in another county, from happening in contra costa and san mateo county. we have 940,000, nearly a million people, without power this morning. so, again, just to go over the numbers. 180,000 people under evacuation orders in sonoma county. and 940,000 people without power across the bay area. >> voluntary evacuations wereis road, cypress road. this is because a brush fire broke out there. >> and the only assumption at this point is it's because of the winds that picked up overnight. but again, this is not related

to the kincade fire. this is something that happened in oakley. >> exactly. and it's very concerning as well because as the days approach, we don't have rain. no precipitation in the immediate forecast. the winds themselves are going to stick around until about 11:00 tomorrow morning. meteorologist kari hall was telling us. then firefighters get a little break in regards to the winds, but they're going to pick up again later this week. >> on wednesday. so just if you are tuning in right now, we have an update to the kincade fire. in just thehour, hour and a half, that 30,000 burned. i mean, bette 10% time yesterday. it is just 10% contained. 79 structures have been destroyed so far. that doesn't mean just hopes. that could be lot of these are. we could be seeing farm buildings also taken down. but that number is currently at 79. but what's interesting to note, 79 structures destroyed, 31,000

are currently threatened. >> right. exactly. n then we just spoke to that woman on the phone who was trying to evacuate. 180,000 people like her under that evacuation order. it was interesting to talk to the mayor from windsor as well who they evacuated that community. they got about 95% -- 95,000. no, 95%. >> 40,000. you're right. >> people to evacuate from that area as well. there was great concern. 5% of people who leave. and they were really trying to warn them, you need to leave. this is a life-threatening situation here. >> and like that woman said, jennifer bellinger, lives cannot be replaced.vacuation zone itself. gives you a scope as you see this map. the evacuation zones themselves,

places to go, marine county fairgrounds, have been open since 8:00 this morning to accommodate the evacuees. 10 avenue of the flags in san rafael. the sonoma county fairgrounds has been opened since thursday when these fires broke out. and some of these shelters are now getting full themselves. and they are telling people, you can use them as a meeting area. maybe to regroup and whatnot. the red cross is there. hopefully they'll be able to give these people -- >> direct to their nearest evacuation. >> there were six evacuation -- or there were seven, i should say, evacuation centers, but one of them had to evacuate themselves. >> right. >> the thinley community center in santa rosa. so there are six evacuation centers. four of them are at capacity. and this morning, if you are looking for somewhere to go, the marin county fairgrounds or sonoma county fairgrounds are taking people. we want to say the sonoma county faurgrounds is accepting people

and small pets. marin county fairgrounds is accepting small pets and large animals as well. >> we want to check in with nbc bay area's viene arana. she's been on the road. looks like you finally arrived somewhere. you got stuck in all that traffic. >> we did get stuck in the traffic. northbound it wasn't a problem because we were traveling bend back southbound along 101, now in santa rosa. i want to give you an idea of our location at third and sebastopol road. this is a gas station. this is a sight we've been encountering through santa rosa. they're completely closed off. they've been taped off by the employees. i spoke to somebody inside. did you run out of gas? they said, no, we're closing because our area is now considered under mandatory evacuation. that trailer truck that you see leaving there, we spoke to that man and some folks were able to

get the last of the gas. others were not so lucky. so we were able to talk to some of the residents hoping to fill their gas tank. i spoke with one woman who was here with her niece and mom and her two dogs in the car. they had everything packed up and ready to go. she was able to get that last fill in her gas tank as you can imagine. with all that traffic jam along southbound 101, that's the one thing you need is gas in order to evacuate. let's see what she had to say. do we have the sound? >> my mom is in there. i have her wheelchair because she's not very mobile. i have a couple cases of water in the trunknd and some important papers. >> reporter: and she also told us that she plans to meet here with her brother because this lived at a little further out was. but now that she's here with her brother, they might have to evacuate again because this is a new area right here.

another person that we spoke to was a man who was just drove off there. he was here with his trailer and he had a couple generators with him and hoping to fill some of those generators in the trailer. but he wasn't so lucky and was understandably frustrated but was trying to remain calm and do the best he could with the given situation. we'll get to that interview as well. >> we feel for all those people out there in that area. she was in santa rosa. >> what's interesting to note or horrible to note is those people who went through this two years ago in santa rosa. >> they named coffee park as one of those areas they're evacuating once again. it's a nightmare per some people to have to deal with this as well. and even if they don't have to evacuate or be a part of it, to relive it. >> that's tough. our reporter bob redell is in

he healdsburg at soda ridge winery. devastation of a 150-year-old historic building. just decimated. hi, bob. >> yeah, just added some video and sent it back in to give you a sense of what we saw when we were out here when soda rock winery was burning. i'll start you a frame of reference. this used to be a very large wine barrel with the soda rock name on it. now look at this video. and i'm illustrating this and showing this to you so you can understand the effect the embers had here. this wine barrel was -- had quite a lot of space between it and the main building that was on fire. because of the wind, it took down this wine barrel and it took down every structure here at soda rock, including what looked like an historic house. a white building. the main facility. and a couple of other buildings. the only thing that's still standing here is an why

that won't survive because right now everything is kind of died down out here. really isn't much left to burn, sadly. it appears this was a spot fire because the main fire now that we have the sun up, the main fire, we don't are any evidence that it actually came through this area. so my suspicion is that because of the embers, something blew over here and in a stroke of bad luck, it took out the soda rock winery. if you come back out here live. all that is still standing. you've got that rust colored warthog statue which if you've familiar with that winery, that's a big landmark. and the stone facade where it says soda rock. i'm assuming that used to be the main facility or the tasting room. if you were to go beyond south from where we're standing past the vineyards a good two miles away is my guess in the hills, that is where the kincade fire is currently burning. wow, that cal fire ishauling. and it gives you a sense of how

urgent it is out here to getreo they're in a hurry. i don't know if they're on the way for structure protection or just in a hurry because there's so much going on out here. but there's three trucks headed somewhere to -- perhaps to the front lines or maybe there's another structure that's on fire and they're trying to save it. but again, what we've had out here, horrible conditions for a fire with the high winds and the dry -- just the dry fuel. and as kari was mentioning, winds clocked at over 90 miles an hour. i didn't witness that but we did have gusts of 40 to 50 miles an hour out here and with the smoke and the embers, it's so dangerous. >> oh, yeah, bob. we saw you live two hours ago. and -- safe andbringing us this devas report of a piece of history lost in sonoma county. >> thank you very much. we'll continue to check in with him. but let's talkbo continue

throughout the day, into tomorrow as well. and they've been so strong, kari. >> they are been very strong. when i'm not on the air i've been looking at all of the current observations. the current models and discussions coming out from the national weather service. so far we haven't had any gusts peaking over 93, but that is just unbelievable at this point. and that was at about 6:15 this morning when that happened in the hillsburg hills. and also a wind gust at hawkseye. st. helena. wind gusts in san francisco, over 37 and then also just around spring valley south of san francisco near pacifica. wind gusts there were 50 miles per hour. we're seeing strong winds across the rest of the bay area. also wind gusts in the highland peak area on the diablo range. we're taking a look at some -- possibly some fire video there.

so we could possibly see more of these fires spreading, but we're focused on the kincade fire and fire perimeter we're seeing as we see this spreading quickly. and this has been burning out of control for several days now. but now it is much cooler. just yesterday, it was really hot. but we have this cold front that swept through. now we have temperatures at about 42 degrees. and the humidity down to 25%. very dry air. high wind gusts up to close to 50 miles per hour around cobb mountain. so we're seeing these weather observations and the winds of contra to push the smoke costa county and toward the central valley. we also have these live cameras that gives us a bird's-eye view. mt. st. helena seeing the smoke billowing up in the air as this has been spreading quickly. and from the healdsburg hills,

high wind gusts and also some smoke that's kind of been leveling off. looking at this fire, another update, just seeing this a little bit of smoldering there but not as much in the way of the smoke that i was seeing coming off of this area just to the east of petaluma near some houses. but this cold front has swept through and it's producing those high wind gusts we're seeing right now. and sustained winds for several hours as we go throughout the hour. some of our higher elevations will see gusts over 80 miles per hour. so that high fire danger, as the wi the hills and then as it goes downhill actually accelerates a dries out significantly. very low humidity as we see this prolonged wind event continue throughout the day. we are not seeing in our models any decrease in the speeds as we go into today, as well as tonight.

it's still going to be very gusty and even in the valleys we do see some high winds that will be with us as we go throughout the day. and, unfortunately, we've been talking about this wind event that continues today and tomorrow. and then there will be some more high winds in the forecast as we go into wednesday. so we have high winds today. early tomorrow. calm conditions on tuesday. and then possibly another high fire danger on wednesday. so we're monitoring all of that and the potential of any new fires that may be developing right now. kira and laura? >> heartbreaking, kari. we just can hope they get a break over those 48 hours. >> and here's another fire that is breaking out right now. we're just getting these live pictures in to our newsroom where we noticed a fire burning near highway 101 and candlestick in san francisco at this point. we don't know what is on fire. what has been threatened so far. but certainly keeping our eyes

on this. we've got cameras positioned throughout the bay area so we can see these vantage points and no doubt someone in the newsroom noticed this fire is breaking out. >> this is actually the third additional fire we've noticed this morning. meteorologist kari hall looking at her weather cameras noticed another fire east of petaluma about an hour ago. east of 101. and another fire we've been mentioning for the last few hours is a fire in oakley that was a brush fire that spread and now has voluntary evacuations in effect. so we have three separate fires that have now led to concern. completely unrelated to the kincade fire. miles and miles across the bay, across bridges.blam as kari hal mentioned. wind gusts up to 93 miles per hour in the healdsburg hills. 87 miles an hour in st. helena. we' heard of fanning the

flames but we don't know how the fire started. >> but we have a lot of dry brush. and as kari noted, unfortunately, no sign of any precipitation to help that dry brush in the next two weeks. >> i'm trying to see if i can find any information about this san francisco fire. but we'll make sure -- we'll keep our eyes on what's happening there. >> we'll move on. we'll go back to that candlestick fire as we can find out more information. this is a viewer photo. smokey skies over santa rosa. what an eerie sight to see. you'd think this is october 2017 all over again. those poor people in santa rosa who saw this, who were evacuated already are now waking up to the same thing. >> and the smoke is now enveloping much of the bay area. it's coming down the peninsula with strong winds happening there. we've talked about, also, the evacuations that had to take place in oakley. this is because yet another fire

on bethel island road, cypress road, a brush fire that broke throughout. so they had to evacuate those areas. and now we know that third fire burning in san francisco. so very concerning with all these fires in the bay area. >> but the largest, of course, is the kincade fire. >> the kincade fire, if you are just joining us, it is at 30,000 acres burned. and just 10% containment. >> we're going to check back in now with the mayor of windsor, dominik. he is the mayor of a town that pretty successfully managed to evacuate 95% of their residents. >> yes, yes, it's actually -- higher than that even. >> sorry. can you hear us okay? >> yes. i can hear you. >> okay. great. we spoke with you a little bit

ago. 40,000 people in your town, and you were able to get about 95% of them evacuated. is that right? >> i think it's even higher than that. you know, we've only had a few -- a handful of calls and stories about people staying in town. and i think most of them have left now. so we've got pretty much close to 100% evacuation. >> and how long have you lived in that area? have you ever seen anything like this? >> no. my entire life. i mean, it's, obviously, the first time in the history of our city we've ever had to evacuate the entire town. it was a combination of law enforcement, our city leadership and our residents really working together. >> and what's interesting is that you had kind of an emergency command post set up and you had to even evacuate that site and move along. >> we actually have done it twice now. we're in our third emergency command center. so we had one in our downtown and were evacuated and moved it

to just outside of town, and we were evacuated, and now we are in -- next door to the city of santa rosa's command center and techcally in an evacuation zone but pretty well fortified here. >> yeah, could have to move again. how great was your system of getting the people out of there? your communication methods that you used to inform these people? >> it was a combination of social media and that's boeen - the modern era of that. i sent out a post on my mayor's page last nightomething like helpful. and word of mouth. and then good old-fashioned hard work. had our law enforcement knock on almost every single door. about 10,000 doors. to get everybody out. >> and mr. mayor, what is next for you? do you stay there in that zone

that's now going to be evacuated as well? >> probably. right now the last update i got is they are looking okay. we're not out of the woods yet. a long, emotional 24 hours for everybody. we're just all here working hard and everybody has their families they're worried about. pretty much all of us, our families evacuated as well. >> do you know where your family is? >> yeah. i've had to help them or tell them where to move to about three times themselves because that's what a lot of our residents face. they evacuate to the south and to larkfield and then they evacuate to santa rosa and then evacuated again. so it's -- my family is pretty safe and sound, and the other side of it, too, our biggest economy up here is the wine industry. and it's really threatened us as

well. i personally, my other job, we've got a family winery called christopher creek right north of windsor. all night long i've wondered if we're going to lose our family winery or lose part of my town. so it's an emotional time. but really to get the community to stand together. >> completely. and the entire bay area is behind you as well. it's got to be so tough. thinking of that. you know, you are putting on your emergency kind of personnel as the mayor of windsor hat, but then you know you have a home there. your family has businesses there. you have a lot potentially to lose. >> yeah. it's -- that was the thing. the personal, the human moment, i was looking at our -- a few different potential trajectories and one was through my family winery that we have generations of our family work with it and the other one was through my town. and it's -- it hurts either way.

>> dominic, the mayor of windsor, we hope, we pray that your home, your community, your job, all remain safe. >> what i would like to say, though, is that to our residents, i have -- i'm so proud of how everybody has gotten together. i know we're all scattered. there's 30,000-plus people that didn't -- none of them slept in their own beds last night b we're a strongcommunity. and we're going to get through this together. so hopefully we'll be able to come back to our town intact. >> well, i'm in awe of the work you did to getou, mayor for joi again this morning. >> thank you. take you back live to yet another fire that we told you that broke out. this is near highway 101 and candlestick in san francisco. one of our live cameras taking a look at the smoke that's billowing there. first call on this fire happened

about 8:01 this morning. reported grass fire. a lot of smoke seen in the area. and at one point, smoke was set to be covering the entire freeway. in fact, at about 8:15 this morning, it was reported that a sig alert was issued. all lanes were blocked of northbound 101 at candlestick park. completely blocked off due to this fire. we don't know what actuallyhat . but we're trying to get as much information. that was just basically from all the calls that came in initially with so many people driving by and seeing this fire. >> and so if you are headed to the city from the city, we want to warn you, avoid this area if you can. it looks like parts of northbound 101 are closed right now at candlestick. >> so the main fire we're covering as well, so sad to say, the main fire. so many fires burning now in our state as a whole as well.

but the kincade fire broke last week. at that point zero percent contained. it's taken all these days for it just to reach 10% containment so far. 30,000 acres already destroyed. >> 79 structures destroyed. we have 180,000 people currently under evacuation. that's mind boggling to even think about that. >> it's the largest evacuation they've ever had in sonoma county. >> this is an unprecedented wind event. we're seeing wind gusts reach nearly category 2 hurricane force strength. >> those winds really helped to fan the flames making it very tough overnight fire for cal fire and all the additional agencies that have been contributing their manpower to this 2,500 merge trying -- pers trying to tackle these fires. >> 10% containment.

and 180,000 people under evacuation orders. the problem that we have now, the -- okay. so we have good news, of a lot of tepare. whereas two years ago, when santa rosa was facing these destructive, horrible nightmarish fires, it was in an instant. people were awoken and had to escape. this time around we had a couple of days to prepare. people are on highway 101. the problem there is evacuation centers are full and traffic is hat a standstill. we have two evacuation centers that are accepting people right now. the marin county fairgrounds is open to accommodate evacuees. it's at 10 avenue of the flags in san rafael. and the sonoma county fairgrounds is also accepting evacuees. all other evacuation centers are full and one evacuation center had to be evacuated. >> what you see on your screen is the evacuation map. you can see how widespread it really has been for all the

people up in sonoma county this morning. >> an historic event. not the type you want to remember in the history books. evacuations from east as far as napa county. the line of napa county all the way to the pacific ocean. >> right. exactly. it's going as far south as sebastopol. >> these are mandatory evacuation orders. highway 101 in santa rosa has been reopened. it was shut down for some time. but we've heard from people evacuating, but now they're stuck in their cars. they are back-to-back in their cars. >> we spoke with one woman from sebastopol. it's taken her four hours to go four miles. >> she had to leave her home. >> let's see if we can get an update on the fire itself. we're joined on the phone by mitch matlaw with cal fire. are you there, mitch? >> i am here. good morning. >> good morning to you. i know, boy, what a past few days it's been for you. can you give us an idea where we are right now on fighting this

fire? >> right now the fire is at 30,000 acres. we are 10% contained. we don't expect full containment until november 7th, although that's a fluid number. conditions are rapidly changing out here. we did have an historic wind event with gusts up to 80 miles per hour in the higher elevations. we expect that wind to continue steadyou the day today. as you go up higher in elevation, the winds are getting more aggressive. we expect another peak in that wind this evening. so we will have erratic fire behavior throughout the day today extending into tomorrow. currently we've got 79 structures that have been destroyed. 14 more that have been damaged. we have over 30,000 structures that are threatened, and that's part of the evacuation area. we have mandatory oing out to t ocean. do you have any other specific

questions? >> can you talk a little -- you talked about the erratic fire behavior. the winds are not going to help what's the plan to try to tackle these fires? you're going to try to do your aerial assaults again? you have so many crews on the ground. >> we have about 3,000 firefighters on this event now. the plan is a combined attack with aerial operations, ground operations, dozers, hand lines. people that are in the area are going to need to be very careful as they move out of the evacuation area. we encourage everybody to pay attention to the mandatory evacuation and get out as quickly as possible. but do it safely. don't use the side streets. stay on the freeway even though it is backed up. that is your safest course of action to get out of there. we are providing as much protection to that escape route as possible. >> and captain matlow, i don't

know if this is something you're able to talk about or more of a behind the scenes estimation that regular people wouldn't understand, but i am wondering how you're able to come to that november 7th date of expected containment of the kincade fire. >> well, the science behind fire behavior prediction studies the weather. it studies known behavior patterns with fuel moistures and wind and the topography of the land. right now some of the most aggressive behavior is because we have hot, dry air that is moving very quickly and it's moving in the same direction as the canyons travel. so it's going to push the fire down the slope into those canyons and towards the areas that are being evacuated now. that's why those areas are being evacuated. >> right. >> so we're looking -- >> what we do is we look at how

long does it take us to put a line over a specific area? and we create a border that we believe will hold the fire. sometimes it holds. sometimes it doesn't. that's why it's an estimate. with the winds we have, fire can jump up to a mile. so we have to be very careful about where we put our lines, what we're doing. even where we're putting firefighters to fight this fire. >> my goodness. >> that makes it really tough. up to a mile. then you can have another spark. and we've seen. >> exactly. exactly. and then once that spot fire occurs, it will have just the same kind of erratic behavior as the main fire. >> it will just continue to feed off the dry conditions out there, the low humidity, the winds fanning the flames. it's a very tough fight. >> it is. >> well, captain -- >> everybody out there needs to be very grateful for all of these firefighters and law enforcement officers and other

first responders that came to this event to protect them because there are people from all over the country who are here now fighting this fire. >> that's what i was just going to say. we hope you can somehow pass on to your fellow firefighters and first responders how much we are all so grateful to them. >> well -- >> for working this hard. >> we spread that word, but the best way for people to do that is to he's theings follow directions and be nice to the first responders that are trying to protect them. >> exactly. you have people from throughout the country now coming in to our state of california to help you? >> yes, we've had from multiple states. i personally have seen crews from nevada and from oregon. i don't know specifically where else they're from, but represented here now. >> all right. >> and you said 3,000 firefighters on the ground now. >> approximately, yes. >> all right. well, and hopefully -- and an important part of this as well

is trying to give these crews somewhat of a break. they are working long, extended and very tough, rigorous hours. >> right. and that's why we need so many people because not all of them are going to be on the fire line. people often look at our base camp or where we're housing firefighters and then say, why are all these people sitting here doing nothing? because they just spent 12, 24, hrs on the fire line. they are exhausted. they need to get cleaned up and get some rest. so you'll see fire firefighters doing nothing because they're asleep. that's why. >> and they need that. they have to. >> absolutely. they can't go on. they're human. >> absolutely. >> and they've been fighting since thursday. and are expected to fight until november 7th. my goodness. captain mitch matlow with calfire, we can't thank you enough. thank you for updating us. >> you're quite welcome. >> all right. we continue to follow this fire. you heard him as well. it's what we've all been talking

about. and the high winds that remain throughout the bay area. it is of great concern. they can push an ember up to a mile away. >> up to a mile away. >> andwihe break out. it's really tough with these t winds. want to check in with meteorologist kari hall. when you're not on air with us, you're at your computers clocking all of this. >> plotting all this on the map and seeing what new information i can get. the highest wind gust we had were 93 miles rning in the an hour. in saint helena, a gust of 86 and also seeing 60-mile-per-hour winds in the hills above novato as well as hawkeye. and in san francisco, it's also gusting at about 39 miles an hour for the east bay. we're seeing gusts over 40 to 45. it's also very cold behind that front that moves through. and that's the reason why the winds have increased significantly.

reop right now around that area of the kincade fire. the temperatures only 42 degrees. very low humidity and some high wind gusts. looking at some of our cameras we can see a bird's-eye view of what's going on. very large area. we said over 30,000 acres have burned. and you can see the steep terrain. you can see the smoke billowing up away from where those flames are consuming a lot more of. we can see the smoke and the fires in the distance and still park. you can still see some smoke coming off of this view and those areas that we are watching for the possibility of another wildfire. and so we've also been keeping an eye on the east bay. and just got an update on that that the evacuation orders have been lifted around oakley so that's some good news. hopefully they get some containment on that. this is a look at what we picked up on a camera just east of

petaluma. you can see the crews out there. the charred ground. they zoomed in closer to show vel.'s going on there at ground so this is looking from sleepy mountain off towards the north and east. we're seeing that this was the possibility of a new wildfire but they're getting that under control. we still have these high winds that will continue to gust throughout the from the north and northeast. and the models are not showing this wind backing off today. such a tight pressure gradient with this cold front moving through and high pressure nearby. and that just causes the air to flow really quickly. we have our winds coming in from the north. take the timeline into the morning and into the afternoon. still not seeing many changes here with our wind speeds at 40 to over 50 miles per hour today. if you haven't done so already, it's time to get out there and make sure nothing around your house will blow and cause any damage. as we go into tomorrow, we still are looking at some breezy winds

through the morning but then should see the winds calming down throughout the day. that's the reason this high wind warning continues from now through 11:00 tomorrow. and we also have the red flag warning for all of those areas 1,000 feet. still looking at a high fire danger. this highlights the bright red, the most critical areas for a high fire danger for today and the streamlines show the direction of the wind that is still going to be blowing in from the north and blowing offshore. i want to tak through the rest of the forecast. cool air with us for a while now that this cold front has moved through. then we'll be turning our attention to wednesday. another possibility of a high fire danger with some gusty winds and low humidity.

there's going to be times with gusty winds and no rain in sight in this forecast. >> it's hard to hear. thank you very much. you did mention there that the evacua orders in oakley have now been lifted. >> yeah. our nbc bay area reporter jodi hernandez is there in contra costa county with that great news. and, wow, it is so windy there. >> it is so windy. i have to hold my hat on. having a hard time just standing up. it's incredibly windy out here in oakley where you can see firefighters are mopping up. they finally look like they're getting a handle on this fire here in oakley. and now they have had a really busy morning out here in east contra costa county. it all started about 3:00 a.m. not bethel island. a major fire out there. about 50 acres. just as they were -- and evacuations were ordered in that

area. i'm told just as they were mopping up that fire, this fire broke out here in oakley. i am told about 25 acres. you can still see some flames. if we swing around here, this is a ranch, somebody's backyard. i looked at cell phone video and i'll tell you it was a scene out here at about 5:00 this morning. huge flames. now this is one of three fires that have broken out here in east contra costa county this morning. a 25-acre fire. i'm told another 10-acre fire and then there was that early morning bethel island fire at about 50 acres. and, of course, hundreds of people had to be evacuated out of east contra costa county this morning. some of those orders now being lifted, but firefighters still have a lot of work ahead of them. and the big concern is this wind. you can see just the gusts are

incredible out here. and that is a concern. that is why they had to evacuate all of these people because of the wind moving this fire so quickly. but again, it looks like they are getting the upper hand. at least here in oakley. but a really, really scary morning for folks who live out here. one gentleman told me he became a firefighter this morning taking his garden hose and trying to protect his evacuated. but those -- some of those orders are being lifted. there's still a real concern out here as the wind continues to whip up. so we'll see what else this day holds, bre looking better. reporting live in oakley, jodi hernandez. >> thanks for that report. it's great to see that man who you said became a firefight er this morning. that's the type of thing, that's the one beautiful thing about these horrific times is when people step in and step up to help their communities and help

each other. >> so the evacuation orders have been lifted there in oakley. what they're doing, though is they're going to have a controlled re-entry process where police are there helping people get back botheir homes and different areas because you can imagine everyone moving out and everyone now moving back could be a lot of traffic backups in that area. >> and to make sure no spot fires pop up again. that wind was -- it was evidenced with her live shot there. and that's the big problem. we talked to a spokesperson from cal