we are following breaking news this morning. multiple fires burning right now in napa and so s good monday morning. it is october 9. we are following breaking news this morning. multiple fires burning right now in napa and sonoma counties. 101 shut down in santa rosa. and evacuations are under way. i'm anne makovec. kenny and michelle are off this morning. we want to show you some of the pictures coming into our newsroom overnight of that breaking news. here is napa county where crews are fighting fast-moving flames near atlas peak road. fires have burned at least 200 acres and forced evacuations and several road closures. we're talking about hundreds of people between napa and sonoma counties evacuated overnight. here is a look at the flames

from wedding party in napa, where a kpix viewer told us people were forced to evacuate last night. you can see, we had some guests gathering near the window, staring at that fire and the twitter user who said super windy all day like i have never seen before. and the winds here are really going to come into play as a serious problem. gusting in both county, so that fire has been continuing to spread. you can see, from this video, what we're dealing with, that people are smelling smoke all over the bay area, as far south right now at san francisco. when you look at all of that smoke blowing through the air and all of the debris and embers that it is causing. and all around the area, a lot of that debris starting september -- separate fires of its own. the fire burning from hillsides, across pavement. cal fires says the winds have reached 28 miles an hour in some places. i mentioned highway 101 is shut down right now near santa rosa.

people have been told to stay off the roadways right now. we have a lot of emergency vehicles who are heading up to that area, from as far south as monterey at this point, to try to get a handle on this fire. take a look at these emergency shelters right now that are now open. and several in each county. but napa county fairgrounds, is a big one, on north oak street. and cross walk community church. first street. hundreds of people are gathering right now at those centers. some people going into the evacuation, some people camping in their cars outside, and of course, we have crews heading to some of those areas right now. so we will bring you some of the stories of people who were evacuated from their house overnight, suddenly getting loud knocks on their doors at one in the morning, telling them they have to leave, and they have to leave within seconds, not minutes. so we have been talking about those strong winds and how that is really going to be a problem when it comes to these fires spreading. so neda, have you been -- you

have been keeping an eye on that? >> with the wind direction, the strong winds, they are pushing the smoke from the fires into the bay area. it is coming from the north/northeast. some of the gusts as high as 50 miles an hour this morning. here is the area of the smoke. this showed up on the doppler. normally of course it tracks our rain. but right now, you can see what it is doing to our air quality and the direction of the smoal smoke than is all being -- direction of the smoke and that is all being pushed down south. napa, sonoma, currently conditions there extremely dry and humidity levels as low as 13%, early this morning. and this is when most of the time, we get that moisture in the air, and that is not the case right now. so of course, the fuels that are helping these fires burn, are dry. and wind gusts, clocked in at 35 miles an hour in napa, just moments ago, sustained winds coming from the northeast, at 17, and temperatures 70 degrees. that's currently in napa, and

sonoma, also, same condition, very dry and this is what is going on. the direction of the wind. and with the wind pushing this way. you can obviously see the direction that the smoke is going to be headed. so it is a northeast flow. it is all dry air. so when the wind comes from the land. it is pushing in dry air. right into the area of those fires which of course is why we do have this extremely high fire danger at the moment. so this is what the weather service has been warning us about since thursday, friday of last week. and these conditions are shaping up to be exactly what we were worried about, because the red flag warning is in effect this morning until tomorrow morning in fact. to the south, it is calmer. you can see that in fremont, redwood city, calmer condition, but look at this, oakland right now, sustained winds at 16. and berkeley, 14. and then look what is going on in the area of the fires. 23 mile-an-hour sustained winds, coming from the north/northeast to napa. and fairfield, these north winds at 26. and so again, this is dry wind coming in.

this offshore flow. and novato, another fire we just got word of and winds there at 7. and vallejo 14 mile- an-hour winds. so here is the area under that red flag warning. north and east bay hills. santa cruz mountains. and it is going to last until tomorrow morning. because the dry conditions, the windy offshore flow is going to continue throughout the day. and again, gusts as high as 55 miles an hour expected for many areas. we already saw some spots reporting, in that high, and mount diablo, a 78 mile-an-hour gust about a couple of hours ago. sustained winds expected throughout the morning between 10 to 30 miles an hour. all of this fuel for the fire. that is what firefighters are worried about. that is not what they need at all. this won't help them out. the gusts will continue staying strong until about 11:00 a.m. this morning, sonoma county airport gusts coming in 30 to 40 miles an hour. and humidity levels very low, 10 to 13% and fuels are at or near record highs when it comes to dryness. we had all of the rain of course, last season, and then that helps create a lot of

growth, and now we are getting that dry air coming in. and the windy conditions coming in. so it is just all fueling this. long-term-wise, for the next few hours, we will see the north winds coming. in and then calm down. so 11:00, 12:00, today, things should be a little easier are for firefighters. but of course, still dry and temperature-wise in that area today, in the low 80s. and eventually start to get an on-shore flow and that will really impact things. that will help those firefighters out, bringing us cooler, moister air. for now, this is what we are dealing with. and we will continue to track the conditions throughout the morning. now we will send it over to the action on the roadways. a lot more activities on the roadways. a lot more than usual. 101 shut down in both directions. as well as 37. now, 37 is clouds right here at sears point. chp continues to push that closure back in both directions. and you can see the black on our sensors here, that means

that the roadway is completely shut down and the traffic is not getting through at this time. we are starting to see a little bit of a backup on interstate 80, with folks heading eastbound. 101, a lot of yellow on our sensors. a lot of extra activity on the roadways this morning, and most of it in the southbound direction, as everyone is trying to evacuate and get down. right now, 101 shut down in both directions at bicentennial. so this is a very fluid situation. and road closures continue to come in. we will keep you updated as soon as we get that information. but for now, we will send it back to you. >> thank you, jacqueline. 4:07 now. and wilson walker headed north, a couple of hours ago, has been trying to gather information. live at the scene of the huge fires. joining us live now on the phone. wilson, where exactly are you and what is going on? >> wilson, can you hear me.

okay, we are having some technical difficulties right now speaking with wilson. we will get him in short order to be able to let us know what he has been experiencing as he heads north, with these fires, burning in napa, sonoma, and also part of mendocino county, we are hearing right now. so multiple fires, at least five fires, and they appear to have started burning just after 10:00 p.m. we are looking at some video of some of these evacuations. and you can see just how frantic this was. because of the fact that these fires have moved so very quickly. so we had emergency personnel going door to door, to tell people to evacuate. but a lot of people just looking out their window and suddenly seeing an orange know across the street and self evacuating at this point. and some of these pictures are pretty stunning when you not only look at the flames and how quickly they're spreading, but the smoke in the air and neda and jacqueline both referred to this, that it is something that

we're experiencing farther south in san francisco right now, san mateo county, getting reports of people smelling that smoke in the air. wondering if there is a fire nearby, but these fires are many, many miles away. that is how quickly and how quickly the smoke is traveling and how thick it is. so these pictures continuing to come into our newsroom, as our crews go and try to figure out what is going on. again, one of our crews, i believe jessica flores is headed to one of the evacuation centers right now. there are several open in napa and sonoma counties, for people who are just arriving there, right now. and they are setting these things up as we speak, the red cross in place, unloading trucks an getting cots and getting food, and trying to give some small comfort to these people who were woken in the middle of the night. and told to get out of their house. we are seeing some of these flames burning very, very close to power lines as well. and that is going to be a huge issue. some of the stoplights in the

area, suddenly going dark, so that is why emergency personnel has been telling people, they have been sending out tweets and obviously talking to us, using traditional media to tell people, do not call 911 unless you have a bona fide emergency. don't call 911 if you're just smelling smoke near your house. they are trying to get a handle on this getting people out of harm's way. and get a handle on the flames. this is one of the structures that is burning right now. we have no idea how many buildings we're looking at that. that right there on the screen appears to be a home. we don't know how many buildings we will be looking at at this point asfar as from the wide breadth of five fires right now in two different counties, but certainly, there is going to be a lot of carnage when it comes to homes and businesses, and this is also wine country. there is a lot of resorts in that area. and a lot of the evacuations we are hearing were coming in the

area of calistoga. people being evacuated from their resorts. suddenly getting a knock on the door, and thinking it is maid service, and it is somebody telling them to gather their suitcase and get out of the area as soon as they can. so there is going to be some damage to the general resort area as well. when it comes to northern napa, sonoma county, around the calistoga area, and these pictures that we are seeing, we started gathering these pictures, right around midnight, after these fires started breaking out, just after 10:00, and we have had cameras across the north bay in napa, and sonoma counties, to gather the beginnings of these evacuations, and these pictures of the fire, it has continued to spread extremely quickly, under severe weather conditions. and that's really going to be the challenge, obviously, for firefighters, when it comes to, well, first, getting people out of that area, but you know,

there from that video, you can see somebody is turning around their vehicle, right in the middle of the road, because suddenly the roadway is blocked, because the fire has spread, and part of that fire, as jacqueline was talking about, is burning right alongside highway 101, which is why it is closed near santa rosa this morning. and that happened within the last two hours. so this is an evolving situation that we are going to continue to cover here on kpix 5 throughout the morning. as this unfolds. we know that this is affecting hundreds, possibly thousands of people. we are going to take a quick break. and we will be with you throughout the morning. stick around.

are in effect - several wildfires continue to burn out of we are continuing to follow breaking news this morning out of napa and sonoma counties, taking a live look at. so flames burning right now, as at least five fires continue to

burn out of control. we know some homes, buildings, have been burned so far, hundreds, possibly thousands of people have been evacuated. a lot of it in wine country. some of it just north of santa rosa. those evacuations continue this morning after those fires started breaking out. just after 10:00 last night. and here is a look at exactly where these fires are burning this morning. those are the four big ones that we are seeing, but there could be many more smaller fires, and a lot of them starting because of embers coming off some of these larger fires. so that is how they're spreading quickly, this morning. and a lot of the danger right now is just south there, of lake bariessa which you can see on the right-hand side of the screen, and all morning people living in the area are posting photos of the fire and the evacuation on social media. and this photo, you can see flames shooting up into the sky right there, right near the roadway.

this was taken near atlas peak road. which is where the first fire appears to have broken out. just after 10:00 a.m. and another photo here, taken near one of the vineyards, in napa, you can see that the sky is completely orange, as that photo was taken. because we're dealing with residential areas. we are dealing with tourist areases. we are dealing with wine country this morning. almeda county fire tweeted out a photo that is sending, or a tweet, rather, it is sending a strike team as an immediate need request. the san francisco fire department sending strike crews to help fight the flames. we will be seeing fire departments from all over the bay area stepping up to the plate here, to try to get this under control. and the weather is -- we have been talking about it, a huge part in this when it comes to not only the winds but the low humidity. the worst case scenario for firefighters. >> exactly the biggest fear

there is out there when it comes to fires, the dry fuels. and you have the dry wind coming in. and normally overnight is when the firefighters get the break. but that is not the case. conditions overnight, early this morning, were really intense as far as strong winds go, and dry levels. look at our satellite radar, we wanted to show you this first, you can actually see the smoke there. so right there where santa rosa is, that area of gray, that's the smoke over the past three hours that has been building. so it is not cloud coverage there. that right now is actually what the fires are looking like from the sky, from our satellite. so you can actually see it, our high def doppler also showing that this actually for the past 15 minutes or so has gotten wider. this is an area of smoke from the fire, again, they started near atlas road, and the direction of the winds pushing the smoke, it is actually causing it to blow south and that's why so many people are waking up to that smell this morning, so a lot of people thinking the fires in the neighborhoods, that's not so much the case, also the north

here, napa, sonoma, santa rosa area, and again, i want to show you where the fires are. the cal fire is showing this as being one big large fire. a complex, basically, they call this. but there is also several other ones burning. one in mendocino county. one in novato. and another in grass valley. so they have a lot to deal with this morning across northern california. sustained winds right now, we want to continue to show this, so you can get an idea of the direction of the winds and the strength of the winds. and the areas of the yellows and orange, that's where it gets stronger and you can see most of the east bay hill, the north bay hill, also to the south, it is a lot calmer, but we are seeing the direction coming in from the north/northeast, oakland, right now, sustained winds at 16 and gusts as high as 28. and oakland waking up to windy conditions this morning. and vallejo, 14. and napa, sustained winds at 23 right now. continuous winds blowing that strong.

and that is why you're seeing the video of the embers blowing across the roads and the smoke in the air. because of that, those conditions. that is not what firefighters need. fairfield, 26 miles an hour. santa rosa. sustained winds coming from the north at 16 here. and novato, another fire popped up. and what we need is an on-shore flow to cool things down. it brings moisture into the skies. and right now the dry and low humidities than is going to shift though. the good news is by tomorrow, we will have a different story here. we are going to get that on- shore flow tomorrow, but through the morning hours this morning, it is the most intense of this flow. so that offshore flow happening right now, it is why we do have this intense high fire danger, that is why we have the red flag warning in effect, but by 5:00 tomorrow morning, when we see you back here, conditions should be better for the firefighters, and it is the next few hours when it is

intense and when the firefighters need some help from mother nature and not get it for a few hours. until at least 11:00, or 12:00, the wind gusts will continue to stay strong, as high as 55 miles an hour. expected through the morning hours. and the humidity levels down into the teens, and napa right now, 13 to 14% humidity, and this early morning. so early mornings, usually get more moisture, and we didn't get any relief overnight at all and continuing to stay dry. and 30 to 40 miles an hour from the airport. and again, the fuels are the driest they have been in a very long time. sot wider view here, breezy conditions. mount diablo reporting gusts up to 70. eventually we will get that on- shore flow. throughout the bay area this morning. and it smells smoky. almost hazy in our live camera shot. as far as the conditions at the coast, we have a beach hazard statement. that's something to keep in mind as well. as we are trying to get relief from the smoky skies by going to the beach, the waves are

pretty intense. temperatures, 70 pacifica. we will continue to track the weather conditions throughout the morning. let's check in with the roads. road closures, along 101 right now, in santa rosa, the closure actually takes place right between fulton and bicentennial. now, if you need to get through that area, as well as -- these are fluid, because they keep changing, according to chp, but right now, drivers can take fulton to college, are or highway 12, and then go east to 101. also, 128 at tubs in calistoga, shut down. highway 12 closed between napa road and 121. 121 is closed as well. we have many closures going on. and they will continue to come in. we will continue to keep you updated. back to you, ann. >> very good, again, we have wilson walker live for nus napa county right now. as we -- for us in napa county

right now. as we continue our coverage of the fires burning in napa and sonoma counties. at least five fires that broke out at around 10:00 p.m. and have forced hundreds of people to evacuate. the evacuations have been continuing frantically throughout the night. wilson we know you headed up there a couple of hours ago. what are you seeing? what are you hearing? let me start by telling you exactly where i am. and that is right at the sonoma/napa border on highway 12. so you just mentioned that the road is closed. that is about where i am. in that area. and i got up here, maybe around 12:45 in the morning, there was a fire, i was trying to get over towards the larger fire, which is, you know, obviously north and a little east of where i am. but as i am coming across highway 12, you could see the fire coming south, and you could tell nothing was going to stop it. it was incredible. the wind was incredible.

the speed with which the fire was moving was genuinely frightening. and there was nothing that was going to stop it. so what ends up happening is just sort of a -- kind of a controlled chaos, as everyone tries to move out of the way. yet people who try to leave their home or get to their home, or save their horse, or whatever it might happen to be, and there was nowhere to go. there was so much fire in so many directions that it was jumping highway 12 in multiple places, almost at the same time. the only thing you could do was stop and wait for the fire to either move in front of you, or move behind you, and in some cases it was on either side of you. and there wasn't much to do other than just stand there, and hope that there would be a way to get through. when the fire finally did blow over the highway, and we can move around a little more, it

was -- if we go to the next bit of video there, there was quite a bit of damage in this area. as i'm not particularly familiar with the spot, i i don't want to get too into specifics because i might get something wrong, but napa road which runs into highway 12 from the north, a lot of damage up napa road off of highway 12, along highway 12, and as far as i can see, this fire came from the north. so if you took a line, sort of along napa road, from the north, and crossed 12, that fire came through here and it has not left much. >> all right. so at this point, wilson, you have seen several structures that have been burned. we are looking at video from all across that area. and seeing what looks like several homes burning. buildings burning. as far as the numbers on that, it will probably take a long time for firefighters to get a hold on that. because it seems like right now, it is go time. we are still in a situation

where they are trying to protect life before property. >> reporter: i can -- look, there were obviously plenty of areas, there was no stopping the fire. the only thing they were doing is going house to house, and trying to clear each property. they were going in once, twice, i think i saw them go into some areas a third time, just to try to make sure everyone was out. there was, as far as i could see, i mean look, from what i could see, there was no effort to stop the fire. this was just get everyone out of the way of this fire. >> that's what i've been hearing from firefighters as well. at this point, trying to save lives and get these people into evacuation centers. but from what you're telling us, traveling up there and dealing with this situation on highway 12, you've got the fire burning on either side of the roadway. and you know, we are going to find out late fer there have been any injuries or anybody trapped by this fire. but i certainly wouldn't be surprised to hear that because it sounds like a dire

situation. >> reporter: a difficult situation. there was literally no direction to go where there was not fire sometimes. the fire is still burning. i am standing on a property off 12, near the county line, where there is still fire burning. a couple of burns and some kind of farming buildings that just burned. and there is a lovely house sitting here that i'm sort of hoping the best for but there is no one around to fight this fire. i think they're trying to make sure people are okay and get people out of the way. because the winds certainly are not slowing down at the moment. and something else i have noticed, that parts of the fire blew through really quickly. and took out the brush and the things that just kind of blow up and burn. but there was so much left to burn, that it is is still burning in all of these different directions. i mean it that the fire has gone back and forth across the highway and there are spots that looked like it had burned and now it is sort of reignited as other fuels have sort of caught fire. >> that is something i suppose we will continue to see, when it comes to the high winds

there, you are feeling the high winds, you're noticing this. and how is the air quality? i can only imagine it is terrible, because we have been smelling smoke 60 miles away. south of san francisco. >> i frankly did not know about the fire until i smelled the smoke in my home in san francisco. and i was like what is going on? that is what got me on the way up here. >> from where you are right now, i mean i am assuming you are in your vehicle. can you breathe outside of your vehicle? >> it depends on the wind. the wind is so strong, that the smoke is entirely directional. if you can just stay out of the line of smoke, it is away from you, but when you're in it, it is terrible. and i mean again, for all of the folks that are down, you know, in the bay, south bay, san francisco, and you can smell it, it gives you an indication of what is going on. and i have to say, from what i have seen just in the last three or four hours here, i

cannot believe there is a larger fire further than where i am. >> we are hearing from firefighters, at least five fires burning and all as intense as what you're experiencing there at the intersection of highway 12 at the intersection of napa and sonoma counties. >> before the fires got here and trapped everyone in or out of the fire, the folks that were evacuating and leaving and going west on 12, they all had horror stories about what they had seen from further back in napa county. >> and what were you hearing from them, wilson? >> silverado, a number of people mentioned that fire burned along silverado trail. again, i'm not there, i can't confirm it. >> we know the silverado resort was evacuated. so yes, that is accurate. >> folks said that there were good stretches along there that

were heavily burned. with so many fires burning right now -- >> right. >> and there are stories of evacuations. >> and still, the dead of night. i don't think it is going to be a bit before -- i think it may be a bit before any of us really can get a full grasp of what is going on. i can tell you, even among some of the firefighters that we were all jumping up and down the highway, trying to avoid the fire. there is a good bit of confusion. you get this many fires and this much wind, in the middle of the night, it is kind of confusing, a wild scene out here. >> absolutely. the middle of the night evacuation, it sounds like even more of a nightmare for these people who had just seconds to leave their homes as these huge fires came upon their property. all right, wilson -- go ahead. >> i was going to say, look at the video of the homes, how many had one or two cars still parked in front of the house. >> yes. >> and a lot of them, again, heading to the multiple

evacuation centers. we are going to keep you posted on exactly where they are. but we are going to take a break. in the meantime, it is 4:29. continuing coverage. when we come back. sonoma counties -- where

live from the cbs bay area studios, this is kpix5 news. good morning, monday, october 9 and we are following breaking news this morning with multiple fires burning in napa, sonoma county. highway 101 shut down in santa rosa and evacuations are under way. hundreds, if the -- if not thousands in wine country being evacuated. i'm anne makovec. kenny choi and anne makovec are off. >> at least five fires broke out at around 10:00 last night with a live picture of some of the orange flames that