california... as wildfires dest this is kpix5 news. >> now at noon the federal government issues a disaster declaration for california as wildfires destroy more than 100,000 acres. much of that happening in

northern california wine country. >> california emergency officials say more than 115,000 acres of state and aivate land have burned in thes under evacuation orders right now. and more than 2,000 structures, homes, and businesses have been destroyed. >> among the counties effected napa, sonoma, butte, yuba, and lake counties. >> vice president mike pence is in sacramento this afternoon at the cal les headquarters. moments ago he said president trump just approved a major disaster declaration for the wildfires ravaging our state. >> let me first say our hearts and the hearts of every american have gone out to the family of the people who lost their lives. many of the fallen represent our most vulnerable, in some cases

senior citizens who were simply not able to escape the flames that overcame their homes. they're in our prayers. >> that disaster declaration will allow fema to send additional resources to firefighters on scene. >> at least nine fire related deaths have been confirmed in sonoma county. and more evacuations were ordered early this morning in santa rosa. >> so we're actually in the oakmont neighborhood. it's off of white oak road here in santa rosa. we're on the east side of town. we want to let you see what it actually looked like here last night when we got here around 4:00 in the morning. we have some video to show you. what you're seeing is this fire that's coming down out of the state park. and it's currently threatening the oakmont neighborhood. now firefighters said if they had their way they would have hand crews out here trying to

get a line around this fire. but unfortunately they just don't have the personnel. that's why firefighters have set up a defensive position here. there are fire trucks in front of almost every home here. and firefighters are just keeping a watchful eye because they know there isn't that much they can do right now with the limited crews even though they're bringing in firefighters from parts of northern california and as far away as bakersfield. here's what cal fire had to say about these fires that have impacted the area over the last day and a half. >> the first 24 or 46 hours of these incidents were fairly unprecedented in california to have this many fires burning in this way in such a condensed area with a big population was fairly unprecedented. >> reporter: now firefighters say that the biggest issue that they're dealing with today is the weather of yesterday high winds were whipping those flames. today the wind is very calm here

in the oakmont neighborhood where we are on the east side of town. now one of the firefighters here protecting homes allowed me to show you guys this. this is basically a pocket weather center. so it shows the firefighters the temperature, the dew point, relative humidity. but most importantly wind speed. you can see there's a little fan right at the top of this. and right now that's reading almost nothing because the winds are so still where we are right now. that's allowing firefighters to start getting an upper hand on this in other parts of santa rosa. here again they are just taking a defensive position protecting these homes. so far no structures here have been damaged. this was the latest area to be evacuated. those evacuations came just before midnight last night. so firefighters say they are going to stay here until this fire threat passes. the biggest issue the weather. if the winds pick up they don't know what's going to happen. but right now they're asking everyone to stay away and let

them do their jobs. katie neilson kpix5. >> if you are trying to locate a lost loved one or report a person missing from sonoma county here's the number to call. kpix5's jessica flores is in napa county now where homeowners are coming back to a wasteland. jessica? >> reporter: the atlas peak fire has certainly been devastating for napa county. but now we are learning more about the heart break. i want you to take a look behind me. this was once a home. a couple lived here for decades. now we know that they were inside when that fire burned down the hill racing down the hill consuming the home. those two individuals, an elderly couple couldn't escape. that couple now the two

confirmed deaths in this napa county fire. we've been driving around this community and we've counted at least 20 homes burneded to the ground. that's a conservative estimate. cal fire tells us the fire continues to rage and at last check 0 containment. if at this point they just don't know the scope of the devastation, how many structures and homes burned or how many people injured. now i spoke to the son of the couple who died in the fire here. he says his parents lived in napa for decades. a 100-year-old and 98-year-old jest celebrated their 75th anniversary. their five children say their only comfort in this tragedy is that the couple were together until the very end. >> we often talked among each other about how either one of them would deal with life without the other. and we were definitely not

looking forward to the day when the first one died and the other one had to go on alone. especially my father. he loved my mother, and he called her the queen right up until the end. we can see by where they found his body that he was trying to get from his room to her room he never made it. even if he had gotten there couldn't get her out she just couldn't move well at all. there's no way he would have left. >> reporter: now the son also tells me that fire crews were just unable to get to this home in time. they were knocking on other doors. this was one of the first homes engulfed. they just didn't get to this elderly couple on time. as you heard from him that 100-year-old husband wouldn't have left his wife anyways. now evacuations are still in

place here for the silverado resort community and all along the trail. there are evacuations at the crosswalk community church also at the napa valley community college. they're asking p folks to stay away from evacuated areas. they don't want anybody else hurt. >> thank you, jessica. the red cross is assisting fire victims all over northern california. you can find ways to help by calling 1-800-red-cross or by going to redcross.org. >> two more people have died in fires bringing the number of people killed to three. the redwood and potter fires have burned more than 21,000 acres. 0 % containment. at least 50 homes and buildings have burned. here's a look at some of the evacuation orders. they include much of the potter valley neighborhood, the redwood valley area, and the golden rural community. howard hospital is under an

evacuation warning in case they need to evacuate later. the sheriffs office is using reverse 911, radio, and social media to get the word out. at&t setting up a temporary cell tower that should be up and running by the end of the day. >> a live look now at the hazy conditions outside. the bay bridge barely visible from our station just a couple of miles away. the east bay hills have disappeared completely in all of that smoke. you don't have to live near the fires to be effected by the heavy smoke. even in san francisco the air quality is taking a hit. >> reporter: walking around the streets of san francisco we notice a couple of people wearing masks like these because there's smokey haze in the air all the way from the wildfires burning to our north. >> it burns a little bit in my lungs. i was coughing a bit and then had to drink a lot more than

usual. >> poor air quality is widespread in the bay area as wildfires ravage parts of the north bay. >> i just feel this heaviness in my throat right here. it's a bit hard to breathe. >> this woman says smoke is an issue even inside her san francisco office. >> everyone had to open the windows because it was too hazy. >> the particulate matter in the smoke can be especially dangerous for young children, the elderly, pregnant women, and those with respiratory issues like asthma. >> if you smell smoke and see smoke protect yourself. keep yourself indoors with windows and doors close and had try not to do a lot of heavy exercise outdoors when there's smoke present. >> experts aren't sure how long this smoke will stick around but contact a doctor if you experience chest pain or coughing. >> take a look at these true color images taken by equipment

on board nasa's aqua satellite. they show columns of smoke from the satellite clouding skies over the state. here's a look at the poor air quality conditions. >> you can certainly see it right here. this of course pointed towards the area of the fire. but normally you can see the rolling hills that is not the case right now. i want to take you through some of our other camera shots. look at the san francisco skyline barely visible there. the golden gate bridge is somewhere under all of that haze. it is nasty out there. it's hovering right over the bay blanketing our area. and the dublin camera showing some haze as well. air quality right now in the unhealthy range as you can imagine for all people not just people with respiratory problems. east bay also unhealthy for those who are sensitive. moderate conditions to the south. it's all because the winds are

calmer. that's not helping clear things out. visibility also impacted by the smoke in the skies. napa visibility down to a mile. we'll continue to update you on the wind conditions because they are expected to pick up in the next few hours. i'll explain in just a bit. >> and we will continue to follow the wildfires burning in napa and sonoma counties. live updates from the fire zones when we come back. we are the generation that had it all.

we are the generation that had the music and the moves. we are the generation that had a dream. we came together to feed the world's children. we came together to protect them, and in this dangerous world we have to keep on saving them and protecting them, even when we're gone. if we remember unicef in our will,

we'll be the generation who left a better world for children. visit uniceflegacy.org. continuing coverage of the wildfires burning in wine country. they started sunday night and are still zero percent contained. 9 people were killed in sonoma coun back to our continuing coverage of the wildfires burning in wine country.

they started sunday night, still 0% contained. nine people were killed in sonoma county, two in napa county. and those numbers could rise. tens of thousands of people are under evacuation orders this afternoon. >> let's check back in with jessica flores in napa. she's been surveying the damage for us all morning. >> reporter: we are at the silverado country club. this area has been really devastated by this atlas peak fire. what you're looking at behind me is one of the first homes engulfed in this fire. those flames racing down the hillside right behind the home. and inside the home an elderly couple. we now know that's the couple that is confirmed dead. they were together until the very end. now we spoke to cal fire earlier today is and they say they just don't have a sense at this point exactly how many homes and structures have been burned or how many people have been injured. we do knee at last check the fire ripped through at least 25 thousand acres.

0% containment right now. fire crews are in life saving mode. they just want to make sure that people are safe. now i did speak to the son of the couple who died here in the fire. he said the couple lived here for decades. they just celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary. they met in grade school and are survived by their five children. >> it was like a rainstorm except it was fire. it was blowing hot debris through the air. and the like i say there were no responders here yet. because i think later on down the road where the fire got further a lot of the responders were going door to door pulling people out of the houses but nobody was able to get here. and my mother and father being 100 and 98 were not able to move fast enough to get out at all. >> at least 50 people have been injured in this fire. as far as deaths these are the

only two confirmed. a lot of people still missing if you want to let your family know you're okay go to safeandwell.org check yourself in so your family knows you are okay. reporting live in napa i'm jessica flores, kpix5. >> 12 tankers are helping in the fire fighting efforts in sonoma and napa counties. among those planes the super tanker that can carry up to 18,000 gallons of fire retardant at a time. >> it gets used just as any other air tanker that we have. >> after each trip it takes about 20 minutes to refill that plane with retardant. >> the air fight was hampered yesterday by the windy conditions and all of the smoke in the air. and today no wind. >> no wind, it's so much calmer. that's also why we're seeing the smoke hovering across us because there's no wind to push it out of here. i want to show you the

conditions right there in napa where the fires are burning. right now west-southwest winds at 5 miles per hour. 68 degrees. there's an increase in humidity we were down to about 13% yesterday. visibility 1 mile there because of all of that smoke. let's go up north to lake port east-southeast winds at eight. gusts up to 16 right now with humidity at 26%. the winds are a lot calmer than yesterday. here's a big reason why there's so much wildfires and burning out there. we had all time record dry levels from five years of extreme drought then we had the record rain so we got all of these grasses to go then the trees, disease stricken trees that are like timber that light up really fast. when you add the gusty winds we experienced yesterday morning. we're getting west winds coming in. off the coastline bringing in

cooler conditions out there. and the wind shift is really going to cause an impact here. we're going to start to get some northwest winds coming through later on this afternoon into late tonight. so santa rosa could see those winds pick up. these are winds coming from the northwest which means it's an on shore flow so it won't be as dry. but of course we don't want to see those gusts get too erratic. that's gngajoio concern for the firefighters. by noon tomorrow it should subside. that's an on shore flow. but we're also going to get another offshore flow and that's going to be another big problem for tomorrow night. that's why there's now a red flag warning in effect for wednesday night through thursday night. some more dry, windy conditions in our forecast for another day just to add more fuel to the fire. those firefighters already dealing with so much. coming up we'll talk more about our temperatures in just a bit. we'll be right back after the break.

napa> we're taking a live look at some of the devastation in napa county. many people losing everything they have in these wildfire we are taking a live look at some of the devastation in napa county. many people losing everything they had this these wildfires. we just found out napa schools are closed at least until thursday. 15 people have been confirmed dead. two of them in napa. >> and we want to check in again

with kpix5 katie neilson monitoring the situationnsa whee still in danger. >> reporter: that's right. so we're in the oakmont neighborhood and firefighters say these are the most dangerous places for people to be right now because the fire is still burning here. it's a 5,000-acre fire that's a branch of the tubs fire. you can see some of the firefighters from santa rosa still on the scene protecting these homes. that they said they're in a defensive mode trying to keep that fire away from the homes here on white oak drive in oakmont. and the biggest factor today the wind. so take a look at this. this is caused a crestral. it's basically a personal weather service for the firefighters out here. up at the top that's a fan actually measuring the wind speed. as you can see right now it's next to nothing. firefighters say the biggest issue today is if those winds

pick back up these fires could kick back up and that's when they'll have to jump into action. as of right now no homes damaged in the oakmont area. they're asking people to just stay away and let them do their work. >> thanks, katie. we'll be right back.

sonoma and napa counties. we know more than 100-acres have burned... at least 15 fi we continue to follow the intense fight against wildfires in sonoma and napa counties. we now know more than 100 acres have burned, 100,000 acres have burned.

at least 15 fire related deaths are confirmed in northern california. >> we're expecting an update from sonoma county fire officials at about 1:00 in half an hour. we'll bring that live for you here on kpix5. and also a special edition of kpix5 news at 4:00. >> a quick update of what's going on with our weather. winds are expected to pick up late tonight, wednesday, and thursday. the one thing that firefighters have going for them though is temperatures are cooling off at least through the end of the week. >> thank you so much. and thank you for watching kpix5 news at noon. we'll see you soon. cbs eye on the community...

presented by target. food has the power to transform lives. with the help of target, the san francisco marin food bank addresses hunger head-on in the community. our food pantries are vibrant. people feel welcomed, and they're being respected. it helps our team members see the work that they do in the store every day... how that actually relates to their communities. cbs eye on the community is sponsored by target.

for disease control and prevention for our series. your health with joan lunden and the cdc. every tuesday and thursday on kpix 5 at 6am during commercial time. sponsored by nacdd with support from the centers for disease control and prevention. visit www.cdc.gov/diabetestv

♪ >> bill: you're a grand prize. you're a queen. the total package. brains, beauty, warmth, heart. i've always known that about you. don't you ever doubt how extraordinary you are. [ ph