fire really spreading and potentially destroying hillsides versus a fire being put out right away right down the street could be this firehouse being open and not being open. this is cbs news bay area with juliette goodrich. >> good evening. the start of the weekend, it marks a critical chance to gain ground on the southern california wildfires before more extreme winds kick in. two of the most destructive fires in california history, the palisades and eaton fires, they are still burning tonight, putting more than 150,000 people under evacuation orders. so all five fires burning in southern california now encompass more than 55 square miles. you can see from this map just how widespread the affected areas are. more favorable winds helping firefighters get better access today to the rugged terrain where the fires are burning. let's give you a live look at

what things look like tonight from the night sky. look at this. this is over the palisades fire, which is now burning toward the san fernando valley. we've seen intense flames and a home and truck on fire just in the last half hour. the new developments today, a curfew is now officially in effect for people in the evacuation zones and the red flag warning that started tuesday just expired at the top of the hour, giving crews a chance to make more progress before more strong winds next week. at least 11 people have been killed in the fires. the death toll is expected to rise in the coming days. more than 12,000 homes have been destroyed and the u.s. department of health and human services declared a public health emergency for the entire state because of the poor air conditions being created by the fires. earlier this evening governor gavin newsom called for an investigation into

reports of low water pressure from some hydrants as well as limited water resources. overall in a letter to l.a.'s water and public works departments, newsom called it "deeply troubling." a curfew is officially in effect with the national guard patrolling evacuation zones like in altadena. our katie nielsen is back out there tonight for us. obviously the curfew is officially starting. how are things looking right now from your vantage point? >> reporter: juliette, today has been very quiet both in terms of the winds, but also the number of people that we have seen inside the evacuation zone. that curfew you mentioned started at 6:00 p.m. this evening and doesn't end until 6:00 a.m. tomorrow. that means only emergency personnel and credentialed members of the media can be inside this evacuation zone and that is because already they've had 20

people arrested for looting in the palisades fire and here in the eaton fire. >> everybody's pulling together. it's unfortunate that people like the looters just don't respect. >> i emptied that thing out. >> reporter: doug rogers stayed behind wednesday morning during the worst of the firestorm in altadena, desperate to save his house. >> i saw embers flying and little fire starting and we had no water pressure. i knew i had a spa. so i just carried as many buckets as i could as long as i could and just kept fighting. >> reporter: he doesn't have any firefighting experience. he's a nurse and now all the homes on his block are gone except the four he protected with his home depot buckets. >> i took everything out i could. >> reporter: now mixed emotions as the reality of what happened sinks in.

>> just my -- just can't express how much i feel for these other people. >> reporter: for homes like his and others that are still standing, he said it would be unimaginable to come back and find while your house survived your fire, all your precious belongings had been stolen by looters in the aftermath. that's why he's glad to see the california national guard coming to help, working at all the roadblocks at major intersections in the evacuation zone and the smaller side streets. >> i'm glad they're here to protect us. the entire state and nation have put out as many resources as they could to protect the homeowners and citizens of this great town. >> reporter: while it can be disconcerting to see military vehicles on city streets, the national guard also came in to secure santa rosa after fires there in 2017. just imagine all of the work and efforts that have gone into saving the homes that are still here and then potentially have them robbed

during this evacuation time. that is why they are taking the security so seriously. we have seen the sheriff's department, chp patrolling these evacuation areas tonight and the california national guard is now stationed at basically every checkpoint going in and out of the evacuation areas as well as some of those smaller side streets which is not what we were seeing at the beginning of this fire. so definitely some changes here and i know that a lot of folks who stayed behind are resting easier tonight knowing that their neighborhoods are being protected. >> absolutely. katie, i can't help but look at what's behind you, someone's home, someone's car. it's eerily quiet because of the curfew, but it also seems very still, not a lot of wind. is that correct? >> reporter: it is, juliette. it's genuinely surreal to be here. i have covered so many major wildfires across california and the only thing that i can compare in to is

almost like the fires in paradise where we saw thousands upon thousands of home wiped off the map because of those winds. when we were talking with some of the crews from santa rosa who went through their own firestorm, they said the one thing they noticed about this area is the amount of wind damage that's here, the number of downed trees, downed roof shingles, things like that. they said they can't imagine what the winds must have been like during the overnight hours tuesday night into wednesday morning when all of this happened, but now such a different picture. we are barely getting any wind gusts and somewhat to be expected because the red flag warning did expire at 6:00 p.m., as you said. >> yeah. that break in the wind is necessary. thank you. we'll see you at 7:00. appreciate all of your reporting. closer to the coast crews are still trying to get a handle on the bigger palisades fire. this map shows just how much it spread over the last

four days, scorching more than 21,000 acres or about 30 square miles. then taking you back live to the aerials, look at this. the fire continues to threaten homes in topanga canyon. firefighters were able to boost containment to 8% today. that is thanks to the easing winds, but they are very aware of forecasts showing more strong gusts to come. >> crews worked very, very hard overnight strengthening our containment lines. we can report the palisades fire is now 8% contained. so chief meteorologist paul heggen is here to give us a better idea on the conditions. >> yeah. the winds have died down for now. it's unfortunately temporary. what they need are lighter winds and eventually some rain. the light winds won't last long and there's no rain in sight. let's look at the big picture setup for tomorrow as another burst of offshore winds is likely to affect southern california as another ripple in the atmosphere positions itself

just far enough to the south to help squeeze the atmosphere and produce the east to west flow running downhill, a very dry and mild direction. the fire threat will be high again. let's look at the hour-by-hour gusts the next couple days. for the moment the gusts are calm, but they'll start to pick up in the higher elevations already as the sun comes up saturday morning. it will take most of the day for the stronger winds to make their way down in elevation, but they will, especially saturday evening and sunday. this is bad enough, especially given the ongoing fires that are still in progress. the smoke from those fires will be pushed around by the shifting winds and the shift in wind direction will impact how the fire crews are forced to approach these fires and air quality will likely be hazardous the next several times, at least time to time. around the bay area our winds pick up tomorrow, 20 to

30-mile-an-hour gusts, a far cry from what they're dealing with down south. we'll talk more about our wind advisory for parts of the bay area in a few minutes. if you want to help the victims of the fires in l.a., just go to redcross.org/cbs to donate or call 1-800 red cross or text red cross to 90999 to make a $10 donation. meantime since the fires started, l.a. officials have faced tough questions about millions of dollars in budget cuts to the fire departments just months before the fires. the city's fire commission even sent a report last month claiming the fire department's ability to respond to large scale emergencies is significantly diminished. it is a concern we've heard in oakland with the fire department also facing cuts due to the city's budget troubles. fire officials warn if the budget was slashed during the oakland hills fire in october, the damage would have been a lot worse, but now two fire

stations in the hills are temporarily shut down and more closures could be coming. our lauren toms spoke to some concerned neighbors and city leaders who say the situation in l.a. calls for officials to reconsider. >> reporter: residents up here in the oakland hills have been shocked to learn just while i've been out here reporting that this fire station behind me, engine 28, has already closed. residents are now hoping city officials will reconsider this decision before disaster strikes and it's just too late. when john cook pulled up to this firehouse on grass valley road in oakland, he had a man to try to save it from closing. >> i was going to ask them how can we support you? we're keeping this station open. i had no idea. >> reporter: but he was shocked to learn it was too late. this firehouse closest to his home was one of two to temporarily close as oakland tries to remedy a nearly $130 million

budget deficit, but for john who uses a wheelchair, it's a terrifying reality, as he takes in stories from those in southern california of not being able to evacuate on time. does that scare you at all? >> yes, it does because you have to come up to get into this area. >> reporter: the closures are expected to lead to an increased response time for emergencies. that sounds alarm bells for the fire union president. >> folks will be waiting double, triple the amount of time for help when their heart stops or they can't breathe or their house is on fire. we are in dire straits and this is life and death. >> reporter: both stations that shut their doors were some of the first on scene when the keller fire broke out and even the fire chief admitted it may have been a much different scenario had the stations been closed when that fire broke out. >> the amount of work they did

initially made the difference between saving the houses up on campus drive versus we would be talking about a very different experience with tens of millions of dollars in fire loss and potentially life lost. >> reporter: dennis adams lives just a couple miles from where the keller fire broke out. he says the area by engine 28 is a popular dumping site for cars that are often set ablaze with combustible materials nearby. >> the difference between a fire really spreading and potentially destroying hillside versus a fire put out away right down the street could be this firehouse being open and not being open. >> reporter: he and others are calling on elected officials to reconsider the closures. ken houston is the newly elected council member for district 7 and tells me he's committed to finding the funds to reopen the station in his district. >> they said they would keep it closed for approximately that five, six-month period and then they will close another one and

reopen this. that's not good enough for me. just open it back up in three. i'm not saying it will, but i'm going to push the envelope to open it back up. >> reporter: but as he looks in the windows of the vacant station that's already had one break-in, he's volunteered to protect it himself with a warning to looters. >> you got a new sheriff in time. i'm going to drive up here and check it out myself. i'm going to roll through, have some of my staff roll through. if i see something that's not, look at it. this is hopeful to me. >> reporter: council member houston told me he has been in touch with interim mayor kevin jenkins who he says is also committed to reopening these fire stations, but it remains unclear where additional funding may come from or what other programs may be cut. >> lauren, thank you. good on houston. san francisco mayor daniel lurie appointed a new fire chief on his second day in

office, making battalion chief dean crispen the 27th chief in the department's history. he brings 34 years of service with sf fire. crispen has captained stations at chinatown, north beach, and soma replacing jeanine nicholson who stepped down in august due to medical issues. you may have been woke up by a 3.6 magnitude earthquake that struck after 7:00 this morning just off the coast of san francisco, not far from the zoo. it was reportedly felt as far north as santa rosa and as far south as santa cruz. there were a couple small aftershocks in the same area, the strongest, a 2.9 a few hours later. still ahead, autonomous cars aren't just a game changer for the rideshare industry. they're also giving the visually impaired more freedom to live their lives. >> i struggle getting around. i don't have to worr

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for the blind and visually impaired, commuting can be a challenge. public transportation can help and regular rideshares offer some assistance, but now more and more people are choosing waymo and other autonomous vehicles which they say offers more accessibility on their own terms. our amanda hari spoke with a visually impaired man who says waymo is changing the game. >> a honk horn feature so i can confirm which car is mine as i

walk up. >> reporter: a sound that signifies the ability for james gump to travel independently. go gump has been considered blind his whole life. while he has some usable vision, he uses a cane to help navigate the world and he can't drive. >> growing up in the peninsula and in a culture where everyone drives, i struggled getting around. >> reporter: for most of his life, he's used public transportation, but that has its own obstacles. >> i order to go do a couple errands, it would take a lot of time and multiple bus transfers. >> reporter: now autonomous vehicles are making it easier to get around without being reliant on anyone else. before driverless vehicles gump would use ridesharing services like lyft and uber, but he experienced ride denial because of his service animal. it would sometimes be difficult to locate his ride and other times

he felt uncomfortable or unsafe. >> i don't have to worry about the awkwardness of explaining my blindness to the driver and having them underhelp or overhelp. i've had situations where drivers will follow me to my door after i've asked them not to and that's a little disconcerting and something you wouldn't do for your normal customer. >> reporter: rachel kaman with waymo said they want to make transportation for anyone and everyone. >> the core of our mission is making transportation safe and accessible, to be able to independently hail a ride. >> reporter: waymo has worked with nonprofits to offer things like screen readers. they hope to offer more in the future. >> we're always evolving and we're never done, right? we're always working with the community and always learning more. >> almost to your dropoff. >> reporter: for many people, not having a human driver can be scary. while gump

understands people's concerns, he doesn't share them. >> i think it has a lot to do with the ability to give up control over the driving situation and in the blind world we had to give that up control a long time ago and rely on a lot of other drivers. so it's kind of a natural transition to not having a driver for us. >> reporter: without a driver, go gump feels more in control. >> a lot more freedoms through the travel that waymo allows us to do. >> reporter: currently waymo has a limited service area, but people in the blind community like gump are hopeful it will expand. for now, the future is bright when it comes to more accessible transportation. when we come back, chief meteorologist paul heggen will have our look ahead to the weekend, speaking of which -- >> hey, it's time to scope out conditions with the latest toyota tahoe report. i'm jonny moseley. let's see what kind

of weather we'll get into. >> you won't get into any new snowfall in the past 24 hours, not a surprise given the very dry weather pattern locked in over the western u.s., but all the resorts have a good base and will make their own snow, especially overnight and early morning hours as low temperatures drop to the teens and 20s. high temperatures, it depends on elevation, lake level around tahoe reaching the 30s, but going up in elevation you'll notice a drop in temperatures and increase in wind speeds, higher up 20s and the wind chill is only going to be in the teens. make sure you layer up appropriately. the lack of new snow means good travel conditions on u.s.

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first alert weather powered by kia. learn more at kia.com. kia, movement that inspires. >> finishing off an unseasonably warm and dry first full week of january, a trend that is going to continue as we head into the second weekend in january. looking outside in san jose, looking pretty good after a record high temperature in san jose, into the 70s. it's still going to be sunny and mild over the weekend, but record highs aren't likely. it's going to become breezy, especially saturday, a wind advisory going into effect at midnight tonight for higher elevations of the bay area

through 10:00 a.m. sunday. the dry weather continues into next week with occasional bursts of offshore winds, but nothing compared to southern california. the fog has rolled in through the golden gate, 50s for the most part, 62 degrees in san jose. the fog is not going to last long. it's going to get out of here before the sun comes up because the winds will pick up heading through tonight. the offshore winds will push the marine influence farther away from the coast. the wind advisory for the higher elevations is in effect because in the valleys the strongest wind gusts are mostly in the 25 to 35-mile-an-hour range, a few exceptions. half moon bay could get wind gusts up to 45 miles an hour and maybe up to 40 miles an hour for antioch and fairfield. the central valley close to 50 miles an hour for the strongest winds. let's look at temperatures tonight. those will drop down to the 40s across the board, hardly any variation, above average

because the wind will stir the atmosphere around and because the wind is going to stir the atmosphere around, high temperatures tomorrow will be above average, mid- to upper 60s in the santa clara valley to mid-60s east of the oakland hills, low to mid-60s around the bay, low 60s along the coast, low to mid-60s for the north bay, 67 degrees in healdsburg, one of the warmer spots along with santa rosa. those temperatures stay pretty consistent sunday but not as breezy. tomorrow does look like a pretty good dog walking day for a couple christmas pups, still making our way through the last of the christmas pictures with the festively attired comet and trick. their headgear may fly off in the breeze tomorrow, otherwise 60s, 5 to 8 degrees above average. i'll show you the seven-day forecast in a second, but first let's look beyond that at the six to ten-day outlook which continues the trend of drier than normal conditions and the eight to 14-day outlook shows very little hope of rain headed for the bay area through the

next two weeks and some of the long range data hints we might be rain-free through the end of january which would be weird. we are going to be dry over the next seven days, one day close to normal temperatures a week from today as temperatures return to the 50s next friday. >> thanks, paul. celebrities not affect

many celebrities are stepping up to help in the southern california wildfires and that includes royalty. this afternoon the duke and duchess of sussex, prince harry and meghan markle were seen helping. they also met with city leaders. you can go to redcross.org/cbs. cbs evening news is next. local news continues on our streaming service cbs news bay area. we're back here with more local news just for you at 7:00. we'll see you then. ♪ ♪ >> maurice: tonight, four straight days of devastating wildfires in southern california. the race for firefighters to contain the blazes. survivors return to what's left of their neighborhoods. the children whose schools are gone.