equipment as well as the hand crews. that has become a go to source for firefighting in california when we need search capacity. it has become very well practiced >> i would add the california national guard is fully integrated into both the fire and law enforcement mutual aid systems so when they're napped or need resources that's unique to the military we can provide to assist law enforcement agencies or the fire services, we're ready to deploy. >> do you recall right away, do you remember what time? >> our initial calls came early this morning for helicopters, and the fire fighting helicopters and director gillard in communication with law enforcement officers in the area

made the decision about 8:00 this morning to deploy the military police personnel. >> do you know anything about the rescue [indiscernible]? >> i'd have to defer on that. >> yeah, i'm not familiar with any of the specific operations that occurred relative to rescues last night, but we can look for you. >> [inaudible question]. >> thank you. >> thanks, guy ss -- guys. >> you have been watching live news conference at the state operation center at the california office of emergency services activated early this morning by the governor's emergency declaration because of these huge fires burning across northern california.

of course, we've been keeping a close eye on fires burning in napa and sonoma county. >> that's right. at least total, 57,000 acres are now burning in northern california. and there isn't any containment on these fires, but this is a welcome shot. i want you to look at your screen. that is a cal fire or a fire fighting helicopter that made a water drop from a body of water near one of these fires and was able to the conditions were okay enough, be able to drop water on the actual blaze. so this is a good sign because earlier today, and we've been talking about this all morning long, the conditions have been horrible. late last night, winds were up to 50 miles-per-hour and perfect conditions for wild fires and the winds have died down. the skies have cleared a little bit, they're able to do some fire fighting effort. >> firefighters have been concentrating on saving lives, rather than fighting these fires. we're continuing our

breaking news coverage now at noon. at least 8 wild fires burning in northern california right now. up to 14 sending smoke and haze around the bay area. tens of thousands of acres have burned. about 57,000 to be exact. the governor has declared a state of emergency in napa, and sonoma and -- one person died that was in ukiah. >> neighbors and businesses have burned and thousands are under evacuation from hotels and homes and hospitals. i'm eye liz beth cook. >> i'm anne mack vick. here's a look at where the fires are burning the the areas affected santa rosa, napa, series point and willis. >> we have coverage from napa and sonoma county and we're monitoring the smoky sky through the bay area. we begin with katie millson who has been live.

katie, you've seen this whole thing unfold in front of your eyes. >>reporter: liz, this has been probably one of the most terrifying fires because of the extent of the fire and how it spread through a densely packed city. if you look behind me, we're here in the sunset vista neighborhood just above mendoseno avenue. as you can see there's one home left standing. we were talking with the man, clayton who was a volunteer firefighter down in santa cruz who saved that home. but everything else here is nothing but foundation. those small fires you're still seeing, burning in the foundations and rubble of what's left of these homes here, generally are coming from the gas mains that have not been shut off. and that's fuelling those flames. and all that's left here are the rocks

that were decorative walls in front of the homes, the metal frames that held up the decorative entrances. we came up to this neighborhood about an hour ago, before that we were down at the hilton sonoma wine country hotel, and while we were down there, we could see the lobby was on fire. the restaurant was gone. it burned and portions of the hotel were actively engulfed in flames. there were no firefighters anywhere nearby, that's because firefighters have been solely focused on saving lives like what we have been talking about all morning. the big issue that has been a problem here in santa rosa is the wind. that's because the wind has been blowing in different directions every 10 to 15 minutes. as soon as firefighters set a line and think they're ready to go and are going to hold that line and stop forward progress of that fire, then the winds turn and the fire spread in a different direction. that has been part

of the problem with making sure everyone gets out safely in terms of evacuation and the other issue is they're just simply aren't enough firefighters to help fight this fire. and the reason for that is because of the sheer number of fires and also the size. the fire that is burning here in santa rosa that is consumed to 1500 homes and 50,000 acres and started as a small 200 acre brush fire in cala stoga by the flames were pushed by the winds blowing, just howling all night long. we're hear in the sunset visa neighborhood where there's one home still standing. and firefighters are still trying to figure out how this fire started and also how they're going to get it contained. live in santa rosa, katie neilson. >> the priority has been getting people to safety and now we're starting to see real fire fighting efforts from the sky. we want to take a live look from chopper 5 if we have that

picture. we've been seeing there's a water dropping -- a plane, a big tanker plane that's hopefully going to make a water drop or fire retardant drop any moment now. we haven't seen this all morning long because the conditions haven't been right. it has been too windy and the smoke has made the air quality so bad that the planes haven't been able to see, so this is a welcome sight and once these plane -- and what these planes have been doing is dropping flame retardant to develop a perimeter and stop that fire from spreading. we saw a helicopter go down to a body of water and dump it on the flames. in addition to getting people out of their homes and making the evacuation, firefighters have started to actually fight the flames. >> and the original or the official estimate here at this point is 1500 buildings and homes have been destroyed.

but we have also heard that that could be a conserve estimate as officials haven't began to assess the damage. >> 114,000 customers are without power. thousands have fled their homes and evacuated and -- kpix5 jessica flores joins us live at one of those shelters. >>reporter: those fast moving flames ripping through 10,000 acres just here in napa alone. that's the atlas fire forcing evacuation for several hundred people. here at the crosswalk community church about 350 evacuees have been here all morning long, just holding onto hope that the fire did not race through their property. i want to give you a live look. you can see volunteers there, but everybody is in the back just lying down trying to sleep, but

i can tell you from speaking to these evacuees, nobody has had rest as they worry about their homes. in the atlas fire, we're told 50 structures burned. it's unclear how many injuries are related to this particular fire. we did speak to a gentleman earlier who had his ankle injured. he jumped over his fence as he tried to help his neighbors evacuate. the mayor did declare a state of emergency. evacuations are in place for silverado and sport -- silver raw dough trail area and firefighters continue to look for people in their homes because their first priority is saving lives. the one thing they're concerned about right now is if any elderly people who live at home who they were unable to get to. in the -- residents have been coming to this church offering help. we saw one woman and her family bring a trailer load of water to

the evacuees. >> this morning, we decided we were going to make a trip to costco. we ended up at the walmart super center in american canyon, and we bought all of the cases of water, the 25 they had there, really low on supplies. we're bringing it to our community. i would want somebody to do it for me and we have the ability, and the resources to do it. >> that woman you heard from told us her friend's property was burned in the fire. we don't know the scope of this devastation, but as the hours go on, we will learn more about how many structures, how many homes were burned in this atlas fire. i can tell you these folks are strong and their spirits are high. they're coming together trying to get through this. a lot of them are driving by their neighborhoods seeing if their homes have been saved and

spared. folks we talked to, don't know what happened to their home, but they have seen some of their neighborhoods -- i'm jessica flores, kpix5. >> thank you, jessica. emergency shelter was open in napa for those affected by the fire. one set up at 1435 north oak street. another option is napa valley college gym located on napa vallejo highway in napa. >> several shelters opened on bennett valley road and a lot of people also evacuating to crook middle school in santa rosa. that is 2480s -- >> getting animals out of harm's way is a big priority. the county opened its animal shelter

at 942 -- >> crews continue to work to get any sort of containment on this fire. we want to take a look from copter 5. >> here's the hot spots from chopper 5. over 45,000 acres in napa and sonoma counties have been destroyed and 1500 structures. this is a conservative first estimate have been destroyed. >> and as far as the number of people injured, that is yet to be seen, but we know that there many and the national guard deployed three helicopters to transport victim to burn hospitals. one neighborhood is gone. jackie. anne and liz, this neighbord of spoke. we've been here for about an hour, and my eyes were really burning from all of this devastation here. it's an incredible sight to see. we were on our way from kaiser to

sutter health because both hospitals had to evacuate their patients, but before we got to sutter, we found the renascence of this neighborhood called coffee park. it's in the northwest part of santa rosa. this was a neighborhood that was lined with beautiful homes. we spoke to one man who said he has many friends who grew up around here and he hung out around here when he was little and he described it as the american neighborhood where he could ride bikes and hangout with his friends and today he's at disbelief with what this place looks like. >> as far as i know, everybody got out. my home and my family is safe and south santa rosa -- this is devastating. this is -- it doesn't look familiar. we used to hangout in this neighborhood when i was younger and i have an uncle who lives down the road and it's terrible. >> the gas lines appear to be on because we can see strong flames

roaring. as you can tell behind me, it's amazing to see there are fragments of homes left over, what used to be metal racks or washers and dryers. you can make out the typical house appliances and belongings and for those walking around here, they're checking on their friends and family's homes to see if they're standing. from where i'm standing, we can't see a single home that survived this fire. we're going to get an update from cal fire public information officer in a few minutes. he tells me this is a result of the fire. back to you. >> many destroyed neighborhoods there and around santa rosa. thank you, jackie. taking a live look outside. you can see the hazy sky. we're told you can smell the smoke and feel the affects of this bad air quality down to the peninsula and the north bay. >> dozens of people took to social media to report smelling this smoke overnight in the bay area.

this video posted to twitter shows the ash falling. that's in the sunset district of san francisco. you can see it streaking down overnight. >> in this photo you can see the haze hanging over the city. the san francisco fire department says dozens of people have reported smelling smoke. they're asking everyone to close their windows and don't call 911 unless they see a fire in their area. >> we have been watching the fire conditions overnight. the perfect storm for these fires to spread. >> exactly what the firefighters did not want. they have the dry fuels and the strong winds and of course that led to these massive wild fires. i want to take you around and show you our camera shots here. this one from sutro heading east and you can see the smoke covering -- our dublin camera showing how hazy it is. we show gray skies there. a little clearer at ocean beach, and golden gate beach, clearer.

you can see that flag, pretty strong blowing because of the conditions still. right now we're starting to see a little bit of the winds die down. look at these peak winds. sustained winds at mount diablo1 -- santa rosa, 40s. napa and piedmont, 45 mile-per-hour sustained winds. so the east bay, the north, the hills got beat by these winds and the firefighters really felt of effects of that. our high depth doppler showing the smoke from the sky. you can see that there over the highway. this image also shows you the direction that the smoke is blowing from the satellite there. all blowing toward the ocean it looks like because the direction of the wind coming from north, northeast, sending that smoke that way and of course we are going to continue to feel the effects. it's impacting our air quality. we got word from the spare of the air folks who are now telling us unhealthy air conditions for north bay, coast and central

bay, moderate conditions for the east bay and further south. those with respiratory problems need to stay insides and close the doors and windows. you're going to see ash in the sky throughout the day today. just a quick update on what we're dealing with as far as weather conditions go. 50 to 70 mile-per-hour peak gust across the north bay hills and look at the humidity levels, 10 to 30%. near record dryness. i want tou what they're dealing with in sonoma. 73 degrees right now. 17% humidity there. and gust as high as 30, sustains s coming from the south at 17. so we're starting to see these shifts in the winds, and the direction -- in the direction rather over -- there's several fires burning. 12% humidity. gust 27. winds coming out of the east. e shift in the wind direction is actually good news for those firefighters. it means we're going to get cool, coastal winds coming through instead of those dry north wind.

sustained in napa south, southwest at 8. fairfield north winds at 20. they're in all different directions at the moment. we're going to follow these fire conditions and bring them to you throughout the newscast. back to you guys. >> we want to let you know about the road closers in effect in santa rosa. authorities blocked a perimeters from folsom to steal lane. head to our website cbssf.com for closures. sonoma transit cancelled bus service. golden gate cancered service. panaluma will not be running school buses in the area of those fires and smart train service was cancelled for the morning commute. >> amtrak service has been cancelled. call ahead or check online if you plan on taking

public transit in those affected areas. kpix5 joe is keeping an eye on social media. >>reporter: this is a remarkable situation. you heard the officials say it, 57,000 acres burning. 14 fires burning across 8 counties. 14 fires. and so yeah, we're starting to m mages and stories, folks posting their stories from individual folks as well as law enforcement. our first look, we want to take a look from the chp helicopter flying over the fires across the north bay early this morning. the golden gate division air team rescued 42 people ranging from 5 to 91 year old. they said one man put his wife and child in a crowded helicopter and stayed back to wait for another one. air crews are pulling animals to safety. they say they've gotten five

dogs and a cat. this was taken in santa rosa. it shows the hopper neighborhood. hundreds of houses completely engulfed, burned to the ground. you could see much of the area is just flattened. fires surround both sides of the street. this driver tries to dodge flames and get out. we're looking to make contact with the person who shot this video. drone video, this was shot in sonoma this morning. you see hundreds of homes, but in the distance, an eerie blow of fire on the mountain. sky, a dirty, misty yellow with a large bloom of dark smoke moving across the area. and we want to remind folks that you know, you don't want to get close to the fire fighting efforts with those drones. we're live with chopper 5. we are keeping our distance and communicating with law enforcement as well as fire fighting efforts and this is the scene across the north bay right now. this is what we're looking at. law enforcement agencies, of course also communicating

with the public, via social media. i want to show you a tweet, it's an advisory how to stay safe during these fires. we're working hard to keep you safe. here's things to help yourself and keep neighbors safe, do not call 911 for general information. call 911 for unattended, active flames or for life-threatening emergencies. if you are safe right now, this is from the sonoma county sheriff's office, they're saying stay indoors and close the windows, and stay off the roads unless absolutely necessary. there are evacuation areas right now, and they are unsafe. follow instructions from emergency workers. do not return until evacuation order was lifted. late this morning, officials issued new mandatory evacuation updates for the santa rosa area, and again, we want to stress that the santa rosa area is more populated than some of these other areas affected by

these fires and that's why we are and law enforcement and first responders are intensely focused on the stan that rosa area. now, this latest evacuation update, oakmont, all of oakmont, east of maleda road, they're telling people to evacuate in a westward direction. areas north of modecido boulevard from brush creek, that has been evacuated. they're saying all the way to the eastern city limits also in the evacuation zone. they put another note out. it said evacuation -- should not attempt to return home until notified by city officials. they've just put that out in the last few minutes. presumably because they're seeing folks on the roadways. they're asking people to stay off unless absolutely necessary. and liz and anne, we wanted to mention that cal fire officials said in their news conference a short while ago, there's entries in possible

fatalities. the mandaceno says there's one fatality and number your injuries and they arrested a lewder who evacuated a home. deputies up there are conducting prevention patrols, but the fact is, you heard officials say it. some entries, several fatalities, but they haven't given us a number. we have one in mandaceno county at this hour. >> we're waiting to get more information on the -- the national guard deployed helicopters to take victims to burn centers. so that indicates some very serious burn injuries. this are are many people at this point who have been reported missing overnight. so that is difficult. of course we know the communication systems are shotty right now. but certainly concerning when you hear about that, and some of these areas, they're not able to get into. so we're not going to have that information for possibly days. >> the fire spread so quickly. the challenge was getting everybody out as fast as they could. we're going to send it out to bryan kylely, photo

journalist, he's getting a look at the damage at a country club in napa. >>reporter: and liz, i am here at the silverado country club where the safeway just wrapped up. i'm on the corner of west gate and hill crest. and as you see in the background, there's a big plume of smoke behind this home under construction. there's a golf course behind it, and after the gulf course is where you see that plume of smoke which is yet another home burning down in this neighborhood. while i was here, i must have witnessed 15 homes that were either already burned all the way to the ground or most of the way burned so the ground. you can see the one there, over off to the left, you'll see a plume of smoke. i saw five or six houses up the street. if you go to the video that's here, the street to my left was a humongous mansion.

it must have been a huge thousand square feet that was engulfed in flames. if you could see where i was standing in that video, it was so hot i could barely stand there, making me sweet and the heat was so intense. and that seems to be the theme here in silverardo -- silverado. i was in the neighborhood off the richie and hagan road where there was an incredible amount of homes burned down, damaged. i was actually even at one home that has its own vineyard, and the fire had burned a u-shape around this home and they were lucky because of their space and the fact their vineyards were well man -- it never actually made it

to their house. i have seen fire crews coming up and down this road all afternoon. all morning trying to see what homes they can try and save, where they could make sure residents weren't in any danger. but it has been a pretty chaotic scene as you come back live, you can see one of the fire trucks here heading up to go check, probably on the home that had burned down up there. there was a couple next to it that also had started to burn, but were either in danger. it's a chaotic scene in silverado country club and i'm sure all the people sitting at the evacuation centers are wondering if their homes are still standing or not, and it is sad to say that quite a few of them have burned and there doesn't seem to be one area or another where they've burned or they're all safe. back to you guys. >> bryan, thank you. continuing coverage of our breaking news. wild fires

burning across northern california. at least 14 of them, 57,000 acres burned. homes and businesses destroyed. we have live updates from the fire dome, next.

area and beyond are headed to sonoma and napa counties to he back to the continuing coverage of the wildfires burning in one country. first responders are now headed to sonoma and napa county to help out the alameda county department of fire showed this task force of crews made up from all around the area. this photo was tweeted from

alameda county. you can see the police cruisers and the san francisco mayor sent out this tweet. multiple agencies have been responding for the napa fire, thank you for keeping us safe. >> katie nielsen is live in santa rosa and she has been watching neighborhood after neighborhood go up in flames. >> reporter: as you can see behind me all that is left in the sunset vista neighborhood in santa rosa are foundations but what is amazing is that there is one house standing where we are. there was a volunteer firefighter who drove from santa cruz when he saw the news coverage and saw the devastation. he grabbed a water truck. it was simply a water truck not aim -- a fire truck and he single-handedly saved this