live from the cbs bay area studios, this is kpix5 news. tonight, an unprecedented disaster. >> within 12 hours we had over 40,000 acres. that is unheard of. >> burning out of control. >> it went all of the way around us. no stopping it, there was just watching the houses around us burn. >> the terrifying drive people were forced to make to get out alive. >> [beep] >> reporter: and the entire community now reduced to ashes. >> it is remnants of someone's life. at least one person has been killed in the firestorm ravaging fire in lake and napa.

the damage is catastrophe. 400 homes are gone, entire neighborhoods wiped out. and tonight, the 50,000 acre fire is still burning completely out of control. most of the destruction happened in the towns of cobb mountain, middletown and hidden valley lake. all 90 miles north of san francisco. >> here is a map of the current burn area. right now the fire is running to the southeast into napa county. it is creeping northeast. evacuation orders have extended to the clear lake area and soda bay. and a 30 mile stretch of he is outside of hidden valley lake, joe? everybody out here has been dreading, the spokesperson in cal fire. nothing where that person is or

where they were we will work on it. one example of so many. houses leveled to the ground and in some cases broken gas main. >> reporter: including how much devastation it is leaving behind. >> driving through middletown the damage is large scaled. it looks like a bomb went off. >> entire neighborhoods are turned into ash. many homes burned down to the foundation. >> dozens of homes destroyed. we are looking at even possibly this area over hundreds of homes, up to 1,000 homes destroyed. >> reporter: heat intense, melting tires off of cars. you see what is here, the metal frame. also taking out vehicles parked if their driveways. the valley fire is the 5th major wild fire in lake county

this summer and the fire and mostly in the area this one is consuming big chunks of town and then cobb. the fire started yesterday. with swift winds spread quickly. >> in 12 hours the fire was moving from the get go. >> witnesses describe 50 foot walls of flames descending, hillsides, charging towards their homes. >> vehicles pulled off to the side that were on fire. multiple structures on fire. apartment complexes on fire. looked like something out of the movies. >> the entire town is not destroyed. downtown middletown is together and so many other homes. to give you an idea how random the flames are, this house burned to the ground while the two houses on each side look almost perfectly normal. barely scathed.

firefighters had their priorities. the first one was getting people out of their homes. it took hours and hours to do that. now they are fighting those flames, trying to get containment. we are talking three counties now, lake counties in the middle. trying to fight the flames on several fronts right now. meanwhile, the other thing they are doing is going into homes, circling back to make sure to check on people that may of stayed behind and some cases sending in dogs to see if there are more fatalities. >> it is extraordinary. we should mention the peterson fire, the rocky fire, this fire, it is all happening in lake county. it makes you wonder why it is is all there. and now they have taken a huge hit. one of the poorest counties in

california at that. one after another. this one by far the worst. one of the worst fires i ever seen firsthand. you know, as for the devastation and why it has impacted it so much. people had to take off, run away fast, some of them abandoned their cars on the highway. it was burnt down, no cars left. >> it is amazing only one person was killed. it was hard escaping the fire there. >> a lot of chaos here. they are going back through the homes, fearing the worst. a lot of people did choose to stay behind. you know, as i said they got to take this in priority order. they have not been able to get

back to many of the homes, you know, stay tuned there may be news along that front. >> incredible, now, thank you. we will check back with you in a few minutes, thank you. we want to show you video of a terrifying escape from the valley fire. the person who posted this on youtube says he was driving out of anderson springs at 8:30 last night. that is to the west of middletown. you can see the flames raging along both sides of the road and what looks like one home burning. now, when the driver sees the home in flames he swears and punched the gas, he made it out safely with no time to spare. >> other his to give up and leave their cars behind. they melted away right this on the side of highway 29 and between lower lake there. one man caught in the scramble to get out learned he will not have a home to go back to tonight. still he told us that, he is

one of the lucky ones. >> my wife lost the house she grew up in. it is a shame. it say heartbreaker but we got our lives, so, you have to thank jesus for that. >> red cross e vac waeugz evacuation center. here is a live look at the scene there tonight. hundreds of people are stocking up on supplies. for now this is the only home they have. >> reporter: for this family, this wood frame and mesh roof will be their home tonight since the valley fire likely took their real home away. >> like a match book. boom!

so much black smoke coming up behind me. it was like something you see in the movies, you know. terrifying. >> reporter: fortunately this family has their important paper work and each other but there is still stuff they are missing. >> my medicine, my truck, my boats. >> there have been tears shed. >> reporter: 600 people slept here at the county fairgrounds. >> does it warm your heart to see this? >> yes. this is -- this is what it is about right here. >> at this shelter pets are welcome, too. under a few conditions. >> we have supplies. animals are welcome here but not invited indoors. >> next here. >> reporter: most of the day, a stream of vehicles dropping off everything from pet food to clothes to dishes. anything to help the fire victims rebuild their lives. but now, the american red cross says it really needs volunteers and --

>> money. we always need money. >> reporter: the gift here is her time. like many she say fire victim but she is a trauma therapist. hoping a positive message could give a small amount of solice to the others. >> look at the things that are still there, still working and focus on taking care of those. >> reporter: we heard a lot of heartwarming stories here. even stories with people with their homes in tact welcoming the evacuees to stay with them for the next few nights, even the mayor speaking to the folks here folks here folks here saying that we are here for you. >> you can go to the red cross web site and register yourself safe and look for safe people there. we put it on our web site. one of the evacuees are worried

about it. tonight the red cross is telling us plenty of food and supplies for the fire victim, what they need is cash donations. if you would like to help go on- line or text redcross to 90999 to make a $10 donation. we posted a rink to the red cross web site on cbssf.com. >> 1,000 firefighters are on the scene. temperatures tonight still warm at 78 degrees. winds are out of the west, ranking from 7-12 miles an hour. the humidity is low for this time of night at 30%. dry fuels fed the fire. tomorrow, the winds will shift to the southwest and nudge the fire northeast with speeds 20 miles an hour. there is good news. a much cooler week ahead with low pressure extending along the west coast. so, it will cool down at least

10 degrees tomorrow. winds ease up a bit. humidity rises and rain might fall in the area on wednesday. let's go back out to joe vasquez. the winds mighting calmer but you and your -- might be calmer but i understand you and your photographer had a scare, what happened? >> reporter: it is an example of how treacherous it is. growing sense of frustration from evacuees who are emotional right now. they want to go to see their property but the officials want them to know it is not safe. the roads are treacherous, there are problems and i will show you a couple of examples. >> reporter: the photographer shooting video of the fire you can hear it in the distance. a tree crashes to the ground. we had seen this throughout the fire zone today. trees flames, then some cases they end up falling into the roadway, obviously it is very

dangerous. we ended up you having to move this trunk out of the road ourselves. even more dangerous there are many downed power lines. pg&e has a large presence but the crews have not been able to get to every hot spot. these lines were so low our live truck accidentally hooked on. luckily it was a phone line and not a power line but it turned out the power is out any way so we were not in danger. >> i did not know the difference between the lines. >> reporter: there are a lot of low-hanging lines not to mention a lot of them covering the roadways. it is dangerous. they just want to have it secure before they let people back in. but no taught about it, hundreds of homes destroyed. perhaps 1,000 the officialed. it -- the official said. >> the tree was that highway

29? >> reporter: no, a back road. the name escapes me. going up towards cobb mountain. highway 29 is still blocked off to traffic. that is a major thoroughfare. remember one of the big highways that comes out of napa and goes north. it is blocked off and people are not allowed to go out here unless they are journalists, firefighters or contributing to this effort. >> all right, thank you. our fire coverage continues right after the break. also later in the newscast, changes ahead for b.a.r.t commuters, what you need to know before you leave for work tomorrow. plus, what do you do when you are hosting a convention in san francisco and there are not enough hotel rooms? well if you are a sales force ,,

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here is the latest on the massive out of control wildfire in lake county. cal fire says one person has been killed. few details released. dozens more hurt. we have seen pictures of homes going up in flames and burning to the ground. at least 400 have been destroyed along with 10 businesses. that number is expected to rise. in little over 24 hours 50,,acres have been scorched. the fire remains completely out of control right now. >> tonight, the fires reached the plant at the geyser. we understand cooling towers burned. it is not clear if it will

impact power generation. check out what pg&e has to deal with. burned downpour lines. many are still in the dark right now. in the middle of all of this devastation some good news. this is cal firefighter giving a thumb's up in his hospital bed. he was one of four firefighters injured fighting the valley fire yesterday. all four were air lefted to uc davis medical center with 2nd degree burns and all are expected to -- airlifted to uc davis medical center with 2nd degree burns and all are expected to be okay. the butte fire destroyed homes in the sierra. we go there now with the latest. >> reporter: smoke from the butte fire so thick that it grounded aircraft for most of the day, forcing firefighters to rely on their ground crews

about limited access in the rugged terrain. it continues to rage but left its mark. thousands of acres of scorched land and 80 homes destroyed. a body of a burned bear there with the ash. a fire truck did not make it out in time. steve returned to see his two- story house that he built himself 13 years ago. nothing but a pile of rubble. he escaped just in time. >> the firestorm that came across these hills from being knocked down there within 15 minutes it was in the backyard above the trees and these trees were on fire when i left. it came up within minutes. >> the enferno continues to burn. forcing more and more people out of their home. >> we are continuing to monitor the firefighter very closely. stay with kpix5 and cbssf.com for up-to-the-minute details. now, what is happening in

the weather department? there is good news for midweek and fire zone. a potential for rain coming in on wednesday. could not hurt even though it was not much. tonight, visibilities are down. temperatures coming down too, finally. concord, 65 degrees, oakland 61. livermore 68 here in the city. it is 59. the low pressure that we talked about a minute ago off of the pacific northwest will extend the low pressure trough over the west coast. a little bit of rain might fall, too. wednesday favoring the north bay. highs, down 15 degrees, tomorrow, over today's highs, more low clouds along the shoreline, by the end of the week, warming inland, high pressure. so, we will be back in the low 90s. that is friday, saturday, sunday, in the meantime, cooler weather tomorrow. headline, the temperatures downtown to 15 degrees tomorrow. north bay, midweek, warming up by the weekend. overnight lows tonight, mild, upper 50s for the most part.

52 in santa rosa. sanfrancisco, 56. day time highs are a little bit cooler than average for the first time in awhile. rebounding today. not the case tomorrow. concord, 77, that is 8 degrees off of the average high for this time of the year. san jose, tomorrow, 68. same for san francisco, south bay tomorrow, more clouds coming in. the temperatures get to go to the upper 70s for the most part. few low 80s. over by the shoreline, readings in the middle 60s with fog and low clouds along the shore, inland, high clouds as well in the event of a trough. east bay, only in the middle 70s. that is 15 degrees cooler. 83 at brentwood. livermore, 79. now, going to the strait, you are only in the 60s. up in the north bay, fog and low clouds near the shoreline. the winds not as bad as last night. they really did pound last night. breezy conditions, did not help

the fire. tomorrow, north bay, low 70s. up by the fire. the numbers tomorrow, 80 degrees, extended forecast calls for cooling weather in the bay area. the first few days, wednesday, a chance of rain in the north bay. thursday, friday, saturday, we warm it back up to the near low 90 degree range. so that will do it for the rest of the week. a chance of rain coming in. not a bad thing. we will have the latest on the fire ,, this is the dawn of an old day. because at&t and directv are offering yesterday's technology, today. tv from space. [whispered] space as long as it's not too rainy. [whispered] rainy or windy. [whispered] windy or there isn't a branch in the way. [whispered] branchy welcome to the moment no one's been waiting for. the fastest internet and the best tv experience is already here with x1.

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if you use b.a.r.t be ready for schedule changes tomorrow morning. the agency is adding and extending runs. >> reporter: now, check the times, things to look out for, are your hour trains have been add to the bay point lines. also, richmond, they will have direct weekday service until 9:00 at night. trains add to rush hours through all routes and eliminated the 3-car train and more show and go service for oakland. check out cbssf.com for more information. the vta is gearing up to add more trains for the 49ers home opener. direct route frame, passengers will not have to go through the light rail station and get to the route quicker.

they learned a lot during the preseason game against the san diego chargers that happened on thursday night around the evening rush hour. >> we get them in the game, we will know all of the numbers are coming from how many people are coming from mountain view. how many here, so, we can figure out the resources to get them back home. if that changes, more people coming from mountain view than we anticipated we will have more trains going back to mountain view after the game. >> if you are not going to the game catch it right here starting at 7:00. we have plenty of parking. we'll be right back. . coming up next on "gameday". raiders lose a game and possibly a quarterback. >> we don't care what anybody thinks about us. so, i personally like being the underdog. game, set, match at the u.s. open. all of that and jeremy newberry in studio to break it down.

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what do you do hosting a massive convention in san francisco and there are not enough hotel rooms? >> if you are a sales force you bring in the dreamboat. the company partnering with celebrity cruises to have this ship. docked at peer 27 and act as a floating hotel for hundreds of attendees. but some people who live nearby are worried that the dream

force accommodations will be a nightmare for them. >> we are delighted to have them here. we wish them every success. what we want them to do is simply to manage their noise, their light, ask their traffic. like a good neighbor. >> that is very polite. it runs tuesday through friday. it brought 135,000 people to town last year putting san francisco hotels at a ,,,,,,,,,,