potentially hotspots are burning to help people see which direction the fire is indeed moving. that's it for the news at 5:00. cbs news bay area with juliette goodrich starts right now. >> thanks so much, ryan. we do begin with a new fire erupting, putting more homes at risk, apocalyptic scenes across los angeles county after three days of raging wildfires and the winds are expected to pick up again. >> never going to be the same. i'm never going to be able to show my kids where i grew up. it's all gone. >> the devastation mounting. >> it's just not real. >> and the number of deaths expected to climb as the out-of-control wildfires leave neighborhoods unrecognizable despite the best efforts of first responders. >> so all hands on deck. we're going to work. the state was already facing a home insurance crisis and that was before this latest disaster. we asked experts how

the wildfires could impact coverage in california. this is cbs news bay area with juliette goodrich. >> good evening. tonight entire communities are in ruins from the series of wildfires that have now spread beyond the borders of los angeles county. while fire crews have made some progress today, another large fire broke out in the last few hours in the san fernando valley. so here is a live look from the chopper at the kenneth fire which exploded in size this afternoon in l.a.'s woodland hills neighborhood, burning nearly 800 acres. it is currently the third largest active wildfire in the state. evacuation warnings are still in place for neighborhoods nearby and within the hour an evacuation order in woodland hills has been downgraded to a warning. so here is another look at the fire from this afternoon. you can see just how close the flames are to some of these homes near the border of

l.a. and ventura counties. fire officials say strong santa ana winds allowed the fire to spread so quickly the strong winds and challenging terrain are making containment difficult for firefighters, but the most damage has come from the two largest blazes, the palisades fire that broke out in western l.a. and the eaton fire in altadena and pasadena. at least five people are confirmed dead. that number is expected to rise as two deaths have just been confirmed from the palisades fire. at least 9,300 structures have burned. those two fires alone have burned more than 51 square miles, nearly the size of oakland. officials say the national guard has been deployed to assist and officials say at least 20 people have been arrested on suspicion of looting in the fire zones. now on to aerials tonight on the destruction caused by the eaton fire burning just north of pasadena in altadena.

as you can see, there is nothing left but the shells of buildings, strong winds that helped the fire spread to more than 13,000 acres easing a bit today. you can see quite a few small fires still burning amid the rubble. that is exactly where we find our katie nielsen this evening. she's been reporting all day for us. how are things looking for you right now? >> reporter: juliette, thankfully, the winds have calmed down considerably from what they were yesterday and it gave some of these firefighters a chance to get in and put out some of the hotspots and one of the big things is we saw dozens and dozens of fire trucks from the bay area, engines staffed up here in the eaton fire. as one firefighter told me, it's almost like whac-a-mole. find a hotspot that pops up, knock it down, then look for the next one. the concern is if the

winds do pick up, any small smoldering fires could reignite and embers could carry in the wind to the next house or business and catch it on fire. crews are doing everything they can to save homes still standing. some evacuated residents found ways to walk back in today to see what was left of their neighborhoods. >> my neighbor was reporting their house was on fire and i knew it wasn't going to be the same when i got back, but no one knew about mine. i came back and it's not here. they told me the firefighters put out fire in the garage. there's really no reason why it should still be standing. i know i can't even live here for months, but my neighbors are saying they want to rebuild. i hope that to come back. >> the question always arises for people who have been through this why did this house burn and this house burn and this one didn't? there's no way to know for sure without having been there. sometimes

it's just dumb luck that you got some ember cast into an attic vent or a crawlspace vent and something got going and it just wasn't your day. >> reporter: this is a task force from santa rosa fire made up of crews who experienced these types of catastrophic fires firsthand around northern california and truly understand what residents are going through. >> reporter: now the embers still smoldering here is exactly what we're talking about. this is what is left of someone's bedroom here in altadena and what fire crews will be doing all night tonight is looking for these little flare-ups trying to put them out as quickly as possible because the last thing they want is for those embers to come back up in the air if the winds do pick up again and blow to a house that's still standing because right across the street from here there's still four homes that are still there. the last thing they want is to lose those. like we talked about, we have so many agencies from the bay area that

are here working on the eaton fire from santa rosa, sonoma, sebastopol, alameda county, contra costa county, oakland, fremont and the list goes on. you really do have firefighters that have some firsthand experience in dealing with true firestorms like these. >> absolutely. katie, they had been working around the clock. i'm just curious how they're holding up. i mean i had seen a report where some of them don't even have time to eat or nap. they just keep going on to their credit. what was the sense that you got as you were driving along with them? >> reporter: i think this is really personally challenging for the firefighters, especially out of santa rosa, because some of the task force members lost their homes in the santa rosa fire. so seeing this again is personally just very triggering, not to mention the fact they got in here very late

last night. it was too dark for them to start right away. they literally slept in their type 3 engines. that means they were sleeping in their fire trucks overnight, starting their shift at 6:00 a.m. and they won't get off shift until 6:00 a.m. tomorrow. if you can imagine and by the way, those seats do not recline. they're just sitting up sleeping in their fire trucks and somebody said oh, can't you just sleep on the hose beds? well, sure, you could sleep on the hose beds up above, but it was in the 40s last night. that sounds pretty chillily and definitely not the way you want to spend the night trying to get a good night's sleep before potentially attacking fires that could flare up again at any minute because those red flag warnings are not over until sometime tomorrow. >> you've made that clear. it's what they do and we can't thank them enough. thank you for your report and we'll see you in the 7:00 hour. the eaton fire is threatening broadcast towers on

mount wilson. so heavy smoke can be seen near a media transmission antenna. this mountain hosts broadcast towers for many local news and radio stations in los angeles. this video from our sister station in l.a. shows some of the flames reaching the equipment. let's turn back to the palisades fire which has burned 19,000 square acre nearly the size of the city of concord, thousands of buildings leveled from the mountains down to beachside villas. one young woman lost her home despite her and her boyfriend's best efforts to save it. it comes just one month after he saved his own home from the franklin fire in malibu. unlike last month, this time they came back to nothing but ashes. >> it was like a vortex of embers. there was no oxygen. i couldn't breathe. i barely even made it to my car. some people are saying i'm lucky to be alive. it's just not real. i mean a month -- less than a

month, my lungs weren't even better from the last time. >> take a look at this footage from a ring camera at a home caught in the palisades fire. this is from tuesday night. the wooden structures of this deck completely engulfed, the smoke so thick you can barely see and then let's look back out live at this latest fire. this is the kenneth fire. so officials just said it is very likely it will keep spreading fast and that is because of the wind conditions, but for that and more information, let's go to paul heggen who can give us a better look at what's happening there. >> yeah. the winds have been gusty once again today. so new fires unfortunately were likely. look down here at southern california, the couple black dots, those stand out even from space showing the footprint of those fires which stands out on the infrared imagery. as we look at the statistics, this is the latest statistic from cal fire, but they're running a bit behind in terms of total acreage because they have so many other things to do. less than 1% containment. they have had some

success in boosting containment lines around some of the very smaller spot fires, but the bigger ones are still at 0% containment unfortunately. there is some good news in terms of the winds. let's track the hour-by-hour wind gusts in the hills above los angeles as we head through the next couple days. while the winds are gusty at the moment and still will be gusty tonight, 40 to 60-mile-an-hour gusts in the higher elevations, they are going to diminish through the day tomorrow, still offshore in the higher terrain, but onshore winds will try to reestablish themselves for a brief period of time closer to sea level and the wind won't be a factor into tomorrow night either. there is the other shoe that's going to drop. as the offshore winds strengthen once again as we head through saturday morning, so another day of an elevated fire risk tomorrow but not as critical as conditions today. we'll look ahead at the entire seven-day forecast around the bay area and talk more about southern california as well in a few minutes. >> paul, thank you. cbs is partnering with the red cross to raise money for

those impacted by the southern california wildfires. you can go to redcross.org/cbs to donate, call 1-800 red cross or text red cross to 90999 to make a $10 donation. still ahead, how wildfires like the ones in the south could up end a volatile insurance market that

here is another live look from above the latest wildfire burning in southern california. this is the kenneth fire that is tearing in both los angeles and l.a. counties. at last check it's up to 960 acres. some evacuation warnings are still in place. let's turn back to the eaton fire where we are getting clearer pictures of the devastation. this is what one altadena neighborhood looked like just days ago and now it looks like this, a war zone with block after block of homes and businesses just gutted. jpmorgan chase estimates the economic losses from these wildfires now stands at nearly $50 billion and the number will likely rise. the insured losses

could top $20 billion. that would double the amount of the previous most costly fire for the insurance industry. that was the 2018 camp fire. that could also seriously impact how much homeowners will have to pay for insurance against wildfires here in the bay area. our kara st. cyr breaks it all down. >> reporter: the devastation from the raging fires in southern california is only just starting to come to light, but there's already questions about how it would impact insurance for all californians. the aftermath of this fire in dublin hills in 2022 left residents like sunita with sky high insurance rates and only partial coverage. >> i contacted multiple lenders and, you know, nobody would actually cover anywhere close to a wildfire zone. >> reporter: she's just one of the millions of californians who have had their homeowners insurance declined or limited the past few years in the wake of increased wildfires. according to the department of

insurance, seven of california's top 12 companies have denied existing policies or stopped selling new ones since 2022. in fact, state officials say this past summer state farm insurance dropped 1,600 policies in the pacific palisades neighborhood that burned this week. many of those have been put on the state's fair plan of last resort. >> with the climate changing and risk growing, you know, there's a price to pay for that. insurance companies are saying we aren't going to pay the price. our customers are. >> reporter: amy bock, executive director of united policyholders, says she expects coverage challenges to continue in the wake of l.a. fires. she says it's too early to determine exactly how the fires will impact insurance across the state, but she doesn't think it will be good. >> it really depends on what the final count is of homes down because right now it's under 2,000 as far as officially reported, but a lot of people are projecting that it's going to be a lot more. the number will have a big

effect. >> reporter: the state of california recently rolled out new regulations giving insurance companies new incentives to write more policies in the state, however, they're also being allowed to factor in the cost of climate change and wildfire risk that will drive prices higher. >> we'll see more rate increases and continued challenges for people who are trying to keep basic protection on their homes. >> reporter: sunita says time is of the essence for the state to come up with better laws regulating the industry. >> we'll continue to follow these devastating fires on air and online. for updates any time, head to kpix.com or download the free cbs news app. turning now to san francisco, here is a live look at city hall where on his first day on the job new mayor daniel lurie announced an immediate hiring freeze. he is also directing all city departments to pause new contracts. lurie says today's actions reflect his commitment to tackle the

city's budget challenges and curb spending. walgreens announced it is closing a dozen stores in san francisco. the company said increases in regulatory and reimbursement pressures have made it difficult to cover costs. walgreens announced back in october they would close 1,200 locations nationwide over the next three years. the 12 san francisco locations are set to close in late february. meanwhile kohl's announced it is closing 27 of its stores nationwide, including five locations across the bay area in fremont, mountain view, napa, pleasanton, and san rafael as well as its e-commerce fulfillment center in san bernardino. the department store chain said these locations were underperforming. the stores are scheduled to close in april. when we come back, the measures from one local fire department to try preventing wildfires like the ones raging in southern california.

before heading up the mountain in your toyota, let's see what's up with the weather. the toyota tahoe report is all set. >> it is a tranquil weather pattern across most of the region with the exception of the gusty winds from time to time, but the tranquil weather means snow-free weather, zero new snow in the last 24 hours, but all the resorts added up plenty of snow in 2024 and even last weekend, a good base of 2 feet to 6 feet depending on the specific location. temperatures will be favorable for resorts to fire up their own snow gun, overnight lows this weekend in the teens and 20s, highs in the 30s, should see plenty of sunshine. the wind is not a problem and travel conditions are looking good, all systems go to head up to the high country. we'll keep you updated here in the toyo

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our world class school of medicine and adult and children's health systems work together expanding what we know and sharing what we discover to accelerate breakthroughs and inspire the next generation of code breakers. stanford medicine, advancing knowledge, improving lives. (light gentle music) as fires continue in southern california, fire crews here are taking advantage of better weather conditions to conduct prescribed fires. in fact, our chopper captured moraga orinda fire crews today burning pile materials in open space along the moraga and lafayette border. the crew said they worked the last few weeks to create fuel breaks to mitigate fire danger and those living nearby say they're glad it's being done. one neighbor tells us she's been watching

the fires in southern california thinking of her family. >> so my nephew just saw his home on the television and noticed that it had been burned down. my other relatives have evacuated. let's go to our weather now to talk about the conditions in southern c and the winds. will they be able to do the wind attack tonight? >> the winds will be gusty tonight. that's a concern, especially the kenneth fire that continues to grow, and air quality continues to be a concern. this is the satellite perspective from 1:00 this afternoon, give you the daylight view so you can clearly see that plume of smoke reaching off southern california blown out over the pacific because of the offshore winds. the winds are going to shift a little bit over the next 24 hours in addition to weakening by tomorrow morning. that has some consequences in terms of air quality. let's go

to the monitor and talk about how that's going to evolve over the next 24 hours. air quality at its worst has been unhealthy to hazardous. when you just consider the stuff burning from all those structures consumed by the fire, it's nasty air, but as the winds pivot and become onshore at sea level, not as strong, the smoke plumes will drift in a different direction. spots that so far maybe have been spared from the worst air quality might now have the smoke plume pushed towards them even if they're not in immediate danger from new fires. so all sorts of concerns for southern california as we head into the end of the workweek tomorrow and the weekend because another burst of offshore winds is going to develop briefly saturday and then a longer period of stronger offshore winds looks likely by monday and tuesday. on saturday it's going to be breezy in the bay area, but not nearly enough to be problematic. the winds will stay below wind advisory thresholds. we're talking about the strongest winds saturday into saturday evening in the 25 to 30-mile-an-hour range for most of us, 20 to

25-mile-an-hour gusts, enough to blow you around a bit if you have outdoor plans, but again no, wind advisory is likely and because of the moisture we've seen so far in the rainy season, our fire danger technically not zero, but it should remain limited. in terms of additional rain chances, though, there aren't any. the only moisture we'll get is the formation of maybe some locally dense fog from time to time, but there is zero rain in the seven-day forecast and even the next two weeks look dry. looking outside from the mark hopkins hotel, clear skies, a mix of 50s and 60s. it made it up to the mid-70s in santa rosa, way out of the ordinary, set a few record highs of downtown oakland hit 70 degrees, redwood city in the mid-70s. it's still close to 70 degrees now in santa rosa, at least in the sonoma county aren't. downtown santa rosa is

cooling off a little faster. temperatures will reach the mid-60s, lots of sunshine for claus' dark fur to soak up. i'll put up the information on social media after this weather forecast. let's talk about tomorrow's forecast high temperatures which will be above average, mostly 60s by tomorrow afternoon and mostly low to mid-60s. along the coast there will be a couple upper 50s and on the warm end of the spectrum, especially in the santa clara valley, temperatures will hit the upper 60s and the warm spots tomorrow should stay just short of 70 degrees, but all those numbers are 4 to 8 degrees above average. we'll see temperatures continuing to run above normal even as we retreat slightly as we head through next week, but temperatures this time of year are supposed to mostly be in the upper 50s. anytime we top 60 degrees we're above where we're supposed to be as we head towards the midpoint of january. >> thank you, paul. when we come back, a sweet local tribute for the late

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well, one more live look at the kenneth fire burning in the west hills on the border of los angeles and ventura counties. the fire has grown to 960 acres since it erupted this afternoon. it is threatening numerous hillside homes in the calabasas area. evacuation orders are in place and fire

crews have been making airdrops. we will stay on top of this. today the country marks a national day of mourning for former president jimmy carter who died last week. tributes for the 39th president poured in from all over, including here in the bay area. after carter left office he became a champion for the homebuilding nonprofit habitat for humanity lending his own hands to help with thousands of projects over the course of several decades. today volunteers with the nonprofit set to work in front of san jose city hall to construct a mini memorial. they put up a door and framed wall that people could sign. that's it for us right now. norah o'donnell is next with much more coverage on >> norah: tonight, >> norah: tonight, wildfires burn out of control for a third straight day. hundreds of thousands under evacuation warnings. >> i was in denial. i didn't think that anything this devastating would happened. >> my wedding dress, our wedding album, we left everything. >> it's