the wine country wildfires are raging out of control. it's going to continue to get worse before it gets better. >> the wine country wildfires are raging out of control. the number of deaths continues to rise as more people are ordered to evacuate. good morning, it is thursday, october 12th. i'm kenny choi. >> i'm michelle griego. welcome back to our continuing coverage of the wine country wildfires. 22 fires are burning in northern california. this map shows you the 8th biggest one and fierce winds today will add to the danger. right now, at least 23 people are confirmed dead. 285 more are missing. the fires have burned more than 129,000 acres and more than 3500 homes and businesses have burned. right now, the atlas fire is

burning in napa county. kpix 5's jackie ward is live near skyline wilderness park with the latest. >> reporter: we are right off what's called the vallejo highway, 221 and kaiser road. skyline wilderness spark right behind mir. you can see flames over the hillside there. they are moving west-southwest. yesterday afternoon people in fairfield were starting to worry about the blowing winds, concerned that could come their way. they have every reason tore scared. the damage that this has already caused is beyond imagination. the atlas fire is about 43,000 acres and only 3% containe. >> you see stuff on the news and you never think it will be you. i hope everybody will be safe. >> reporter: crews set a controlled burn tuesday night to clear out vegetation near the water treatment plant at the end of green valley road in solano county and crews spent

much of the day there guarding a high value part of the infrastructure. fairfield police have issued a mandatory evacuation order along green valley road. now, we have been talking about mutual aid that's coming in from across the country and we can say for certain that that is the case even though even our partners down south though, in southern california, are helping us out. about a half-hour ago we saw six fire engines from empirical county come to help. jackie ward, kpix 5. flames from the massive tubbs fire getting closer to calistoga just southeast of geyserville. it's why the entire city now resembles a ghost town. authorities ordered everybody out by 5 p.m. yesterday as a safety precaution and police are now patrolling the streets ready to arrest anyone defying those orders. we caught sight of volunteers setting up supplies at american canyon high school which is now serving as a shelter. >> medical, showers, beds, et

cetera. the city of calistoga is, i understand, about 7,000 people or so. we're expecting 5 to 10% of those people to show up and we're ready for them and american canyon welcomes them and is ready to help. >> new mandatory evacuations are in effect for eastern sonoma valley, north of lavalle valley road. locals were told to leave immediately. geyserville is at risk because of the pocket fire. cal fire is worried those winds will push it right into town. kpix 5's anne makovec is there right now with the very latest. anne. >> reporter: we are dealing with some south-southeast winds right now. you can see the orange glow there on the ridge side behind me. and i am right now in between highway 101 and the town of geyserville. the hope is that it is not going to spread to this town. this cute little downtown is a tourist-y area. a lot of the residents are evacuated but not all of them.

some new mandatory evacuations were called at about 10:30 last night. check out these flames. and this is coming from that area that we just showed you here live which was the ridge side there that's glowing orange now. the pocket fire, that's where this is coming from, has already burned about 4,000 acres east of town. firefighters have been working all night to prevent it from moving west. they are not making any promises. the first priority again is life and safety. property is secondary. >> there are homes at the bottom of the canyon and the ridge behind me. we don't have the resources to be effective at stopping the spread of the fire. >> reporter: they dropped fire retardant from the air and hand crews and dozers have been constructing a line, again hoping to hold it back. geyserville is a small town population less than 1,000. but, of course, that is just contributing to the thousands of other evacuees near wine

country. live in geyserville, anne makovec, kpix 5. smoke from all the fires continues to drift into the bay area. the air quality will get worse today. as betty yu explains, the air is so hazardous, it's almost unprecedented. reporter: this is not the san francisco most people recognize. from chopper 5, you can barely make out the skyline. the smoke and haze practically cover up the bay bridge and golden gate bridge. the bay area air quality management district measures air pollution every hour and says what we're seeing right now is unprecedented. >> this air pollution is toxic for us to breathe, especially those close to the fire. they are getting much thicker smoke there. >> reporter: the air district activated a health advisory for the bay area today, warning people that the particulates in the air are especially dangerous. it is also urging people wear masks that can keep out the most harmful smoke. >> whether you're in the east

bay or peninsula or up near the fire, we really recommend that people stay indoors. >> reporter: the smoky skies forced airlines to cancel more than 80 flights in and out of sfo. the poor air quality is also prompting schools across the bay area to close. mount diablo unified school district in concord is canceling classes. in oakland, the roses and concrete community school will be closed. in the south bay the cambrian school district is planning to hold all recesses and lunch periods indoors. betty yu, kpix 5. >> officials from the oakland unified school district say that families who are concerned about the health of their students may keep them home today. we got a call from our daughter's school yesterday in concord saying if you want to come pick her up now, you can come pick up students early. i was in home depot yesterday in martinez, went looking for masks because the air is so bad there, and they said they were sold out. >> early in the morning. >> and respirators, as well >> on monday a lot of folks

started smelling it so they were going after the masks which is smart. but unfortunately, now it seems like a wider spread range if you get further away home depots, there's a lot of people are requiring these, especially today. it's going to be one of the worst days we have experienced. the particulate matter in the air is so intense right now. let's show you some live shots across the bay. you can see those hazy skies. this is san jose. yeah, folks in san jose further south than that, also experiencing this bad air. it's all because of the direction of the wind, of course. so every time we get these north winds coming in, that sends the smoke from the fires down into our area. right now, west-northwest in san francisco at 7. san rafael 7-mile-per-hour winds. napa right now getting south- southeast winds at 3. fairfield getting those north winds and santa rosa, as well. so all that smoke from the santa rosa fire is coming further south. it's extending as far south as even parts of central california. so the dry smoky air is here and it's going to stay for a while.

unfortunately, we need a really good rain to help clear the air and that is not in the forecast for several days. so worst air quality happening today and it's going to stay bad across the bay area for several days. we are not even seeing a shift in our wind direction to help clear it out. so this is our air quality forecast. very unhealthy for the north bay. of course, after all those fires are burning. and then as the smoke moves south, we're going to see unhealthy area. particulate matter was in the two to three hundred range and that's just very bad for lungs, of course. the unhealthy range right now is pretty much through an san carlos, san francisco, livermore, san jose with the futurecast. i want to show what you we experienced during the peak yesterday in napa. 364, that's the amount of particulate matter in the air. normally anything above 200 is in that very unhealthy range so you can imagine just how bad

that feels up in napa. vallejo 333. concord 225. so it was bad. today, expect it to be even worse because of the winds. right now between 3 to 10-mile- per-hour sustained winds. humidity levels will drop throughout the day. we are under a red flag warning and under a wind advisory. i'll track the winds for you hour by hour here coming up. two that "spare the air" day, you can do your part and take mass transit. right now no delays. in the north bay there will be limited service through many of the agencies and we'll get to that coming up. 80 near suisun valley road traffic okay in both directions. we have some roadwork in place. drivers heading along 128 that is closed between chockhill road and tubbs lane. 121 shut down between wooden valley road and vichy. highway 12 many closures along

that route. wathmaugh to 121, oakmont to los alamos road. back to you. hundreds of people in the fire-ravaged areas remain unaccounted for. kpix 5's emily turner has more on efforts to find them. reporter: >> for the last two days i have just been pulling my hair, trying to find her. >> reporter: jeff's mom norma is missing. and his concern is one shared by many others in sonoma county for their own loved ones. >> we haven't talked for over two weeks. she has a lot of medical conditions. and that's what really worries us, if she is unreachable and we checked all the hospitals, we still can't find her. >> reporter: 71-year-old daniel lives in her same neighborhood. he is also missing. 0-year-old mike was last heard from, from his home off mark west springs road, 40 years old, sunday night. jim and donna also live in the area. this is what that area looks like now. a team of 30 deputies is in charge of tracking down those still unaccounted for.

and the emergency operations center is fielding the public's calls about them but if fires continue to rage with little to no containment, finding them is not an easy task. >> what is your reaction? >> at this point, they haven't asked us for names unless they are looking for someone in particular. when the shelters first opened, some people were reluctant to give names probably thought they were coming for a few minutes and were leaving. in the meantime, though, the sheriff's office is asking and if you have found your loved ones and told them that they were missing, call them and notify them that they can be taken off the missing persons list and they can concentrate resources elsewhere. >> reporter: mily turner, kpix 5, sonoma county. when flames covered her street, one santa rosa pregnant woman decided the only way to save her family was to escape by bike. she put her daughters in the toddler trailer and started pedaling. she had no choice with her husband stuck in traffic and the wildfire burning fast in the neighborhood. ruiz managed to pedal until a good samaritan helped the group

get to a friend's house. she said it felt like life or death. >> honestly, i have never in my life felt like i was going to die like that moment. >> the family isn't quite sure what they will name the baby boy. they said so far they are considering phoenix, like up from the ashes, but one week out from the due date the family is coping with the reality that their house burned down. time now 4:12. we are hearing some incredible stories of survival as people rush to escape the flames. we'll show you what it was like for two roommates trapped in the cascade fire. >> plus, a mobile vet hospital is racing toward damaged properties to care for animals in the fire zone.

entire neighborhoods are ou can see chopper 5 giving us our first good look at the devastation in santa rosa. take a look at this. entire neighborhoods completely gone. you can see block after block reduced to rubble. firefighters hope to contain the wildfires before more neighborhoods are destroyed. and we're hearing many amazing

stories from people who were forced to scramble for safe ground as the flames closed in. that includes two roommates who escaped the cascade fire, which has burned more than 12,000 acres and merged with another fire near yuba city. reporter angela greenwood shows us the dramatic video. >> oh, my god! >> reporter: when faced with life or death. >> we're going to die! we have to get out of here! >> reporter: there's no time to think. just do. were you afraid you were going to die. i did, you know, think that we weren't going to get through it for a minute. >> reporter: and in the scariest three minutes of mike's life, he pressed "record." >> so everyone gets a better perspective of what fire can do to people, the property and how fast it moves. >> reporter: an orange glow around them, the cascade fire closing in. they grabbed their dogs and peeled out. >> you have no time basically.

>> reporter: and no warning. by the time the car pulled to the front gate -- >> the fire was coming right at us. >> i can't breathe! >> reporter: embers came flying from all directions. >> i can't see the road! >> you're on the power line right now. >> reporter: the smoke-filled sky blinding. >> my eyes are burning, dude! we still got oxygen so we're not dead yet. >> reporter: and then another gate. finally, away from the fireline, the two were able to breathe. >> wow. we're okay. we're okay. >> i'm actually surprised we got through it and happy we got through it honestly. >> reporter: the two men did lose their home and one of their vehicles. they are now hoping to raise funds to help recover some of what they lost. but again, they both say today they realize they still have what's most important. in sacramento, angela greenwood, kpix 5. needles, syringes and

others are on board this mobile vet hospital to save animals from the wildfires. a 12-man team from uc-davis is running the mobile hospital. its members are racing from property to property searching for animals. >> when animals are scared by fires, they run through fences. they tend to fall into ravines. they -- they -- they get themselves into all kinds of problems and get injured that way. >> these llamas from a farm is one success story for the team. and sonoma county animal services is tweeting out the way you can help save animals in trouble. it's encouraging people to drop off or mail donations to its office on 1247 center court in santa rosa. one llama that was on the loose is actually now safe. >> take a look at this. the chp escorted the animal to safety in sonoma county. first an officer helped to fix a fence damaged by fire and then he and an animal control officer herded the llama back into its corral.

the officer snapped a nice selfie. nice moment. [ laughter ] >> nice. so we are expecting winds to pick up this morning, not good for firefighters. overnight gusts were up to 75 -- no, not 75, 45 miles per hour up at mount diablo so higher elevations will feel the gusts especially on the ridgetops. let's show you what it looks like now. here's a look at sfo. the hazy skies are still hanging around and they are going to stay that way throughout the day. yesterday, in fact, sfo had several delays because it was so smoky. hard to fly those planes in and out of the airport. san francisco 55. santa rosa 50 degrees. so at least it's cooler in these morning hours. temperatures will be below

average. so here's a look at that hour- by-hour forecast for the wind. so i want to show you what's expected. in the next hour, napa could start to feel an increase in those winds up to 18. fairfield 26. winds pick up in napa by 6 a.m. fairfield 29-mile-per-hour winds. santa rosa feeling a breeze but in the next couple of hours, it should die down there. instead more dry northeast wind will continue through 7 a.m. at 8 a.m., strong at 17 napa in a, 25 for fairfield, san rafael strong at 14. by 9 a.m., it should calm down slightly but still between 15 to 25-mile-per-hour winds sustained winds, so gusts could still be up to 50 miles an hour this morning. by 10, 11 a.m., we'll start to see the areas of red turning yellow so that means a little less of a breeze.

by 1:00, it should get a little calmer. by 2:00. even calmer. this afternoon winds die down. 6:00 santa rosa may get northwest winds coming through. then the red flag warning will be eased up so by 5:00 today, the wind advisory and red flag warning will be let go for the north bay hills, the east bay still will have that red flag warning in effect -- excuse me, that wind advisory in effect until 11:00 tonight because of what's expected. so here's that wind advisory. the gusts could get up to 50. that means more blowing embers and debris. also, that red flag warning here, the details, humidity will drop as we continue to get those northeast winds. humidity right now is still up there in the 60s and 70s for most of the bay area. the only place that's extremely dry now is fairfield because those winds are coming out of the northwest and they are stronger. napa still not feeling the extreme winds that they are expected to get in the next couple of hours. so it's all because this low is now moving east. that's bringing us that dry north wind and as that low

continues to move east, we are also going to see this high work its way in. once that high comes through, these lines are going to get thinner and thinner and closer and closer. that means another wind event happening friday through saturday. so now we have a fire weather watch in effect for friday night until sunday because of more critical fire danger out there. and this is again for all of those higher elevations northwest winds, 15 to 25 miles per hour. humidity low at 15%. no break for the firefighters for a while, at least temperatures are cooler than average. the bay area is 5 to 7 degrees below average. our air quality will be bad. but at least we have cooler conditions. it's not going to be as hot. we are going to get hot again saturday, sunday into monday. so that's when the warmer air will be back. the high pressure will be back.

and the increase in winds will be back. right now, we are seeing speeds in the green for drivers heading along 101. this is right through the santa rosa area at highway 12. not too many cars out on the roads. we wanted to check in with that. we have ramp closures on the route and those will remain in effect throughout the day. southbound 101 at hopper avenue, that remains shut down as well as bicentennial and some river -- river road, those are all closed. we also have calistoga road that remains closed. no delays on mass transit in san francisco area. we have limited service for vine as well as golden gate transit and all service is restored for the north bay

connections with capitol corridor amtrak. now we have modified schedules for smart train and they are continuing their free fares throughout the rest of the week until sunday. and other transit agencies that are offering free service is santa rosa city bus as well as petaluma transit and sonoma county transit. back to you. time now 4:23. frustration is mounting for evacuees forced to spend yet another day in shelters. >> and more help arrived overnight to provide some relief as the fire put an incredible strain on the first responders. >> and let's take another live look at the atlas fire in napa. this is one of 22 fires burning in the area. we'll be right back. more than a hundred members

more than a hundred members of the california air national guard we have bad air quality

today but the one bit of good news is cooler temperatures at least not as hot and hazy. temperatures low 70s mountain view, santa clara, san jose today. so we're 5 to 7 degrees below average. antioch 77 the high. pittsburg 77. benicia 73 degrees. that's a bit of welcomed relief because of all those fires burning so at least the cooler sierra helping provide somewhat of a more comfortable condition to the north, temperatures will be in the low 70s. jaclyn. portions of highway 121 shut down as well as highway 12 between wathmaugh and highway 121. we have speeds in the green on 80, 37 and 101. we'll have the rest of the traffic coming up. more than 100 members of the california air national guard flew from southern california to moffett field last night to help in the fire region. they will be helping with

logistics, communications and humanitarian efforts. >> particularly, this group they will be helping with setting up shelters and helping with some of the other local law enforcement efforts that are out in the area. >> the captain says the national guard members were notified yesterday evening that they had to pack up and leave. many of them had just gotten off their day jobs. in santa rosa, many evacuees aren't sure about their homes. kpix 5's susie steimle shows us how they are getting through the waiting game as one evacuation center in santa rosa. reporter: dave allen swung by santa rosa's veteran building where nearly 300 evacuees are sleeping to bring calm to the chaos. >> bring a little bit of cheer to the crowd. everybody needs to be lifted up. >> when they first arrived, they are in a state of shock, right? and they are emotionally upset and rightly so. and then over the course of time that starts to ease a little bit. but now, it's the frustration

of when can i go back? >> reporter: mike conroy with the red cross says he can feel people starting to get restless. they are sick of feeling stuck. most are wondering if their homes are still standing. do you know how your house is doing? >> no. and i wish i did. >> reporter: john and his wife ran from their home in oakmont at 4 a.m. monday. >> you could see the flames coming down the ridge. >> reporter: he learned to lower expectations. >> they just told us that, you know, don't expect to even be allowed back to your homes for maybe even a week. and we're just, like, your heart drops, you know? >> i thought i was calm and cool, but i'm nervous. >> reporter: volunteers are nervous, too. he lives nearby and knows it wouldn't take much to turn him into a fellow evacuee. >> it's going to get windy. we don't know what's going to happen. we are ready to move out. >> reporter: one thing that the red cross asked to us pass along, if you want to come down

and volunteer or donate any items, go to their website first so that you're bringing something that will go to use. in santa rosa, susie steimle, kpix 5. investigators are still trying to figure out how these fires started but this may provide a hint. the first call came in sunday, emergency dispatchers also got reports of downed power lines in sonoma county. take a listen to this. >> rincon centrally electrical investigation 1047 maverick, mark west springs. possible transformer explosion. fulton road and old redwood highway. >> we have been advised there are power lines down with a transformer blown. [ beep beep ] s of wires down, broken poles and impacted in e have pg&e said: t now, p-g-and-e says 52- customers are without power. sonoma county is facing most of those outages - some 39-thousand

according to p-g- and-e. effo pg&e says 52 customers with without power. sonoma county has most of the outages, 39,000 according to pg&e. efforts are under way to save wine country history. the state department of recreation is saving artifacts from sonoma state historic park. the park is closed because of the fires. it's spread over 6 locations in snow. the national guard is in downtown sonoma to help protect the historic buildings. a stretch of northbound highway 121 in sonoma county between highways 12 and 37 is open again. it was reopened late last night after a closure that lasted just a few hours. the atlas fire is taking over parts of napa and solano counties. we're long side highway 221. we'll show you the flames from our view. >> and yet another fire