>> this is the bay area is a news station. we start now with breaking news. >> welcome back, to the breaking news coverage of the north bay firestorm. we have updates to bring you. we have learned that there are now 10 debts associated with the firestorm which covers so many counties. seven of those -- those deaths are from napa county, mendocino county is the first death we learned about today and we learned that two people died.

within about the last 20 or 30 minutes, we learned that seven people have been found dead in sonoma county, in the fire around santa rosa. as it continues to decimate and progress unchecked. one in mendocino, two in napa, seven in sonoma, that brings the total to 10.>> this is a widespread firestorm, we are awaiting a news conference from fire officials to give us a sense of where things stand at this time. throughout this day we have been showing pictures like this of the devastation that happened so quickly for people who woke up in the middle of the night being told to evacuate. now seeing these pictures of homes and businesses which have burned to the ground.>> major businesses in santa rosa are gone, kmart, mcdonald's, arby's, the hilton hotel. this fire

jumped over highway 101, that idea alone is jarring. all of these fires started around last night around 10:00. or after early this morning. as people slept, more and more fires started.>> the fires are driven by the wild winds. it started last night, even outside of the north area. you could hear the strong winds throughout the bay area. these fires were pushed quickly.>> we are awaiting a press conference. when that begins we will take you there. in the meantime we can tell you, the two biggest fire, the atlas peak fire, more than 25,000 acres. and then the fire near santa rosa -- santa rosa is a series of fires exceeding 25,000

acres. there are a series of 3 to 5 little ones, that are anywhere from 1000 to 6000, and that doesn't even account for the northern california fires, when we expand the map there are more than 14 fires burning around northern california. including lake county where there is a burn water notice.>> 70,000 acres affected by wildfires in just the last 24 hours or less. mendocino, nappy -- napa, calaveras, all affected areas. a state of emergency has been declared for cuba, napa -- napa and sonoma counties. also fema has been called for supplies and shelters. there is a need for water and

food. this fire is still being fought.>> we should mention that the number of homes and businesses destroyed, this was given around 11 deck 30 today. -- 11:00 today, was 1500. what's go to this press conference.>> we can have everyone come in to talk about the fire and their areas. we will take some questions. you will be able to take some individual questions as well. we will start with the santa rosa chief. >> hi everyone, i am the fire chief of the city of santa rosa. last night around 730 we had multiple fires throughout the city. we had a mutual aid come in. at this time, another fire was

marching towards us. early on we realized with the wind. that this fire is going to come into santa rosa. we did what we could, we ordered aid early. we established a unified command with cal fire, we set up our staging area in the kmart parking lot. it did not take long before we realized that was not a good spot. we moved later to our fire station three, at that time we had three strike teams. we had a 25 other strike teams inbound. it was all he could do to put engines in the right areas. we had every resource in the county. we recalled every firefighter

in the city, and use every -- we used every resource as well as we could. we are not sure when the fire started but it blew into santa rosa around midnight. by morning time, the fire was about 25 to 30,000 acres. it came in hard and was very windy. it was very dry and very taxing for the entire city. with that i will turn it over to cal fire commander brett go van. >> good evening, i and the incident management team commander. team one was activated approximately 1:00 this morning to come down and support the incidents in sonoma and apple

county. this morning we were assigned the responsibility of command. we worked with santa rosie -- santa rosa county fire. in a unified effort to command. the current situation is 25,000 to 35,000 acres 0% contained. the fire has done a great deal of damage. we are still working with putting our damage assessment teams together and getting them out to accurately document the amount of damage we have. we have had a great cooperative effort throughout the night from local fire agencies in sonoma county and local law enforcement agencies. and the continuing effort from the local state, and federal fire

departments across the state of california. cal fire would like to urge you to, and the public to help us with any new fire starts so we can ensure we don't get any. as you can see how bad the conditions are up and down the state. resources are spread thin, with the massive amounts of current fires. thank you. >> good evening, the sheriff's office role started late last night. we started evacuations. we had deputies up on mark west, we had deputies who were pinned down with civilians so it has been very challenging. we want the public to stay off the roads. please stay out of the

evacuated areas. we will make arrests for looters. we are already seeing that problem, stay out of the burn areas and the evacuated areas. bear with us, there are a lot of good first responders working but we are actively trying to rescue people right now. that is the stage we are in. we have seven confirmed death -- deaths related to this fire. that number will change and it is too early. are there any questions? we are not going to let anyone into the burn areas. all the controlled areas, we are prohibiting anyone to enter. i don't know. >> are you evacuating people now?>> we are still doing evacuations down south county.

>> are people being notified by phone x>> we will take questions afterwards. >> good evening i am mike palacios, i am the commander for chp in sonoma county. i would like to say that our hearts go out to the friends and family of those who lost their lives and their homes. it is a devastating thing to see what is going on out there. last night we darted answering calls for service on the east side of the county near the highway 12 area. we have continued to do so throughout the morning hours. we have brought an extra personnel, to help assist with road closures and calls for service and evacuations and medical aid. all of the various things you can think of, including our aircraft viewing things from

the sky. it has been difficult for everyone, our allied agency partners and both fire and police have been outstanding and i can't thank them enough, they are true professionals. we are trying to do everything we can to keep the roads safe, but as the sheriff mentioned, if you don't have to be out on the roads, don't be out on the roads. it will take a while for things to subside and roads to become safe again. closures are minimal at this point but we did have some major arteries closed. those areas are now reopened for the most part. there is still a lot going on. please drive safe and within your means. don't drive on the roads unless you absolutely have to. i would like to introduce greg schwartz, the active sheriff.

-- chief. >> i am the acting chief, as the others have said, this started about 17 hours ago. when we first were notified about these fires moving into santa rosa. since that time, the police department along with our fellow law enforcement officers throughout the county and region, as well as firefighters have been engaged in continual evacuation and rescue efforts. those efforts are still ongoing. we do still have new fires flaring up within the city. our officers are continuing to go around and evacuate people from the affected areas, when those people are unable to get out of the area going --, going into perform some rescues. it has been a horrific and

terrifying night for the people. -- many people. we ask that as we continue with these efforts, stay out of the mandatory evacuation areas for your own safety as well as for the safety of the first responders who have to go in and try to contain the fires and rescue people in the areas. to that end, the city of santa rosa, under a emergency declaration has enacted a curfew. from 6 to 45 -- 6:45 to sunrise, anyone out within those hours in the zones will be subject to stops and potentially arrest if they refuse to go back inside. that is for, the safety of the

people in that area as well as the safety of first responders to allow them to get through as efficiently as possible. with that i would like to introduce the city manager. >> good evening, i just wanted to take a chance to thank the citizens of santa rosa for their resiliency in this very trying and difficult time. also to acknowledge the astonishing work that our public safety team has done over the last 17 hours. when i stepped into the situation at about 3:00 this morning, we had to declare a local state of emergency. shortly thereafter, the county declared a state of emergency and now the governor has declared a state of emergency for the county. i would just be remiss without

also acknowledging all of the hard work and support we are getting from across the state as people come to deploy and assist in this very difficult and trying time. i will tell you, the men and women of the city of santa rosa, are committed to seeing this through and helping everyone they can. what i would say is i urge everyone and the citizens to go to our website srcity.org and connect with us. now i would turn over the podium to the mayor. >> first of all i want to acknowledge that i am as frustrated as all of you at the scarcity of information that we have at this point. i want to know, how many have died, how many injured, how

many are in sheltered -- shelters. how many have been evacuated and how many structures lost. it is frustrating. on the other hand, for the last 17 or 18 hours, our personnel have been out there saving lives. that has to come first, there will be time later on to measure the damage. i want to just say that my heart goes out to everyone who has suffered loss in the last day or so. i am lucky, my house is fine and my family is okay. my city is not okay. it will take a long time to recover. i am really glad to have the support of our local, county, state and federal partners. we will need you as we go through this ethical time.

-- difficult time. santa rosa is a strong city, we are resilient, and we are indivisible. we need to hang together as we go through this. thank you, next up is the board of chairwoman supervisor. >> along with me is supervisor david rabbit. i want to assure our residents that it has been all hands on deck sense 3:00 this morning when we opened and operated. and began to begin our operation center. the amount of people who have come together is truly amazing. i will also tell you i am devastated in terms of what i have seen. it is beyond belief. as the mayor said, i think a

lot of us are frustrated, we want to know what is going on. i did spend some time out at the evacuee center, and a special interest and concern for me is the many seniors who were evacuated from assisted living and nursing homes who need medication, additional oxygen tanks and other very fragile medical needs. i will also tell you i spoke with the senator, about some of those needs. i am very encouraged that the state and the federal government is here being represented as they understand the devastation we have experienced. we are a resilient county. we will come back from this.

right now we need to grieve because the loss is significant. we promise we will try to get as much information as we can through multiple means. now i would introduce my colleague supervisor rabbit. >> i just want to shout out to all of the brave men and women who are manning the lines. i also want to thank those who are detecting them -- >> we have been listening to a press conference in santa rosa, we lost the audio signal it appears. we will work to get that back if this will continue. in the meantime we can recap. let's go back live, we are back online. >> okay we are still having some issues, we are working on that. some of the headlines, i guess

we have a curfew that will be in place as of 6:45 tonight. it will remain in place in areas where there is an evacuation order. mandatory evacuation zones are covered by this curfew. they want people out of that area for the safety of the first responders. this gives you an example of the area, the large area affected by the evacuation. >> one of the most chilling parts of that press conference is when they were talking about the death toll in sonoma county. this is basically the santa rosa area. seven people confirmed dead but that number is going to change. according to fire officials, that was the exact quote. they are not able to get into all of the hardest hit areas. they fear they know, that more people than that seven number

were probably not able to get out. >> there is no chance at this point for them to go house to house and make sure that people are okay. they are trying to make sure everyone is evacuated. they are still rescuing people and trying to fight the fire. they have not gotten to the point of actually trying to figure out, are there others still missing? how many are in evacuation centers? the mayor expressed their own frustration about the scarcity of information on the number of deaths, injuries, people in shelters, there is a lot of frustration. they are also asking for calm and understanding. this firefight is still well underway, they do not have containment under any area of the fire that we have seen. it is still spreading. when you are talking about over 70,000 acres burned, they don't have enough manpower to do everything at one time, they are doing the best they can.

>> it has to be frustrating, almost like a fight for mutual aid resources, with all of the other fires. with the atlas peak fire and so many other smaller fires, they are starting to see looters. that was a disturbing revelation that came here. we knew that our reporters on the ground, said they saw police looking for looters. we got confirmation that they are already starting to see looters. they are very clear they will be making arrests if that happens. they do know some of the fires started earlier than reported. they said they started getting the calls around the 7:00 our and then as they realized how quickly the fire was picking up, and how fast it was spreading. other agencies in the area were alerted and the fire continued

to spread bringing in many agencies, the other thing they made clear is that they want people to stay off the roads. there will be a curfew in effect. some arrests have already been made because of looting in some areas. no one will be allowed in the burn area. in fact they are still evacuating in the south sonoma county. it gives you an idea of just how widespread of a challenge this is for the emergency crews. trying to move through and make sure people are okay.>> and they had all these small fires popping off in the 7:00 our -- hour, but then coming from the calistoga area, they could see the massive tubs fire. that fire kept coming from the east and there were a series of fires within city limits. mutual aid was called, the fire

chief said they have done everything they can, they made the call early for help and help came. mother nature was a force to strong with which to contend. 50 mile-per-hour winds shooting embers every direction. all the sudden they had a firestorm on their hands. they are still seeing new fires within the city popping up. >> and santa rosa has been the hardest hit as far as we know so far. so many commercial buildings in the downtown area have been burned to the ground. the kmart store, the hilton hotel, the ammunitions facility. that is because fire crews were so busy trying to save people they did not have time to deal with the commercial holdings and had to let them burn. >> just west of highway 101, that shopping center is

affected. in the general vicinity, mcdonald's, arby's, applebee's, kmart, trader joe's, and it just west of that, is the coffee park neighborhood -- coffey park neighborhood. >> you can see all of the damage and destruction to homes in this area. we can tell you there were homes that were saved. you can see this house right here, it is standing, the one next door is not standing. bill, you live here. take me through what happened yesterday.>> around 11:00 last night we smelled smoke. we looked outside and saw some smoke but we just thought maybe it was a fire in the distance. two hours later we got up and

we heard commotion in the street, we saw embers and the winds were very - >> you said those embers on this street were coming fast?>> i don't know how fast, 20 to 35 miles per hour, they were shooting down the street. everyone was trying to get out. there was almost a traffic jam. that is when i told my wife and daughter we need to go now. we grabbed the dog and a few things and we got out. at that point there was no, there were no houses on fire. >> all of these homes were still standing? >> yes. no fires burning, we went to the memorial building here in santa rosa, there was a center for all evacuees.>> did you get word that it started burning? >> we did not. i made my way back because we left without clothing or food

or anything else. we forgot our laptop so i came back. i parked about a half-mile down and i was just devastated. i knew my house had not survived. i was walking down the street and could not believe the destruction until i got to my house. just unreal. it is crazy that the house is standing and we have been blessed. at the same time, how could you be happy when all of my neighbors have lost everything. >> you said your fence barely got hit? >> we lost some of the fence, apparently that is where they saved it. apparently around 4:00, the fire department got to this neighborhood, and most of it was engulfed. they started five -- fighting the fire right here. they were able to save my house

and my neighbor. out of the 27 homes they were able to save 7. >> those who live in this neighborhood call at heritage park?>> yes, we are all original owners. >> to think that it just came down to that. >> it is unreal, it is a war zone. you can see for miles in all directions there is not a structure that hasn't been touched.>> have you talked to any of your neighbors who were not so lucky?>> i spoke to one of my neighbors, they got out, i knocked on his door last night, and got him out of his house. he fled with his kids and wife. they just lost a house in lake

county two years ago, so they have lost two houses in two years. >> he has to be devastated. >> i don't know >> we wanted to thank you for talking with us and we are glad your house is still here. we want to show you again how close it got to his house. you can really see that fence off in the distance, that is where this fire stopped, you can see that fence and all this destruction. for as far as you can see in the distance, let's go back to you in the studio. >> that was j.r. stone, governor jerry brown has added a number of counties to the list where he has declared states of emergency.

in light of the fires burning out of control, as we told you earlier, napa, sonoma and yuma counties, later this evening, just about without the last half hour or so, the governor also added butte county, lake county, nevada county, and orange county also has a fire there between 2000 or 3000 acres in the anaheim hills. this is happening near disneyland. we have a number of additional counties which will be able to qualify for emergency help from the state in terms of crews and resources add -- as they are needed. major fires and the resources for them are stretched thin.>> we have been talking about the fires all over california. the other big fire in wide country -- wine country is in

napa county, this is being called the atlas fire. two people are confirmed dead as a result of this fire more than 25,000 acres. last check it was not contained, you have this huge fire and then further west you have a huge fire around santa rosa. this is burning right around the silverado country club where the pga hosted a tournament, the safeway open just wrapped up last night and a few hours later a fire engulfed the area around the silverado golf course burning part of the grandstands. several homes are gone in that area, i million-dollar homes. that is an area of extreme concern right now as well. crews are still trying to, we don't know if they are rescuing people in napa county as is the case of santa rosa.

but they are certainly still in a big-time fight. with that fire.>> as you know we have been talking about this. we are looking at something like 68 square miles affected by fire. that is a challenge for any fire department, any number of fire departments. this is happening so rapidly, as you can see in the pictures we have been showing, these are people who left their homes last night in the middle of the night. they are looking at pictures that show the devastation into their communities. napa was trying to bounce back and has done a lot to recover from the 6.0 earthquake that took back -- place three years ago. much of downtown napa was trying to bounce back. things were starting to take strong economic footing and now they will be faced with this new challenge.

this may be even more of a challenge because of the impact on the wide industry -- wine industry.>> the loss of life is most important, but when you are talking about a multibillion dollar industry, this is a horrific timing. we will get to that part of the story in the coming days and weeks and months. robert is standing by in santa rosa, where are you now and how do things look?>> reporter: right now i am standing in santa rosa, i have been in a section of the north bay, i've been up to glenallen and napa. i have driven 200 or 300 miles. some areas i drove through, so much smoke it was almost impossible to see. imagine being told by the highway patrol, you are on your own if you go back here because no one is there to save you. resources have been stretched

so thin. i saw a san mateo county sheriff out here doing patrol, that is how thinly they are stretched. >> stanley i know you -- we have a video that shows part of a structure, some of this video i guess you fed to us. how demoralizing is it to see the lives of so many people change so dramatically?>> -- >> reporter: it is interesting can't you see one house that is not touched, a few feet away, not 100 feet, there is a house that is completely gutted. there was a firefighter that was hit by a propane canister exploding. they took him away as well. it is crazy when you drive around and see all this devastation. i have covered fires for years but this is really amazing that i could see so much devastation in one area just driving by.>>

are there any active flames? >> reporter: in some of the video you can see the flames from the side of the road. the strange part is that sometimes the flames would skip the vineyards. the vineyards themselves are rich in moisture as the greats carry a lot of moisture. the flames don't catch as well there. but a few feet away, flames on the side of the road and smoke everywhere. since you can't see ahead of you you have to drive slow with your flashers on. there were a few times that deer were crossing across the street. there is a lot of smoke out here, you can barely see the sun, it looks like nighttime. >> people know you from your people behaving badly segment, we have heard of looting happening in some pockets of santa rosa, there should be a special place in hell for people doing that right now.

have you seen any of that, what is the situation? >> i have not personally seen any looting, but i have heard some reports and units going code 3. there is a very good chance that that is what they were heading to. i did not see any looting but that is something to look at later.>> described glenallen, when you went through that area.>> reporter: when i went through that area, you could see the houses burned up, i was trying to find the school. a lot of the roads were closed and i was told i could not access it because of downed power lines. some areas i could not see but there were people standing around looking, mostly light -- mostly like around here, they had gas masks and i had to do the same thing. it is unbelievable what we are seeing out here.>> how is the

air quality now? and what is the wind like, it doesn't look too windy. >> reporter: the interesting part about that, here it seems kind of calm. when i was over by silverado trail, the fire and smoke started making its own wind. i spoke to a man using his own water trying to douse hotspots, we watched the wind pick up. you could see more plumes of smoke and you could hear explosions in the background but you did not know where they were coming from. everything was burned up but there were still some houses intact. when you look around and hear explosions but don't know where they are coming from, the fires are unpredictable and you don't know which way they will go. they create their own wind. i have seen firewalls like this just spinning around. and going a different direction.

and seeing light poles leaning over as they have been burned from the inside out. it is really dangerous, at night time it will be worse and i recommend if you are in a home stay home -- stay home.>> did you see any homeowners trying to protect properties?>> reporter: i spoke to a firefighter, a former firefighter who worked in richland, he was out there with a water hose trying to spray his lawn down. he said because he was a firefighter, he laid it down to three lines to try and protect his home. the video you saw of a camper on fire, that was across the street from him. his house was unaffected at that time.>> do you see new fires popping up as you have been driving around? the officials we just heard from our saying they are still seeing new activity, have you witnessed this?>> we call this the plume of black smoke going

in the air. as you look around you will see calm and then you will see the plume of black smoke. the flames were shooting up 100 feet in the air. the strange part about this fire is that you will see little hotspots in areas where there is no fire. the ashes and embers floating around in the air landing in random locations. they are starting things on fire like a telephone pole or maybe a fence. then that ignites which sends more ambers -- embers to another area. >> you spoke about road closures as you were moving through the affected fire zone, we are noticing the traffic behind you. give us a sense of the traffic flow in santa rosa, and where you were traveling. >> reporter: where i travel to,

when i came here it was not too bad. this area is not too heavily affected except for the smoke. as i am driving through, on the 101, as i got into santa rosa the road was closed with an officer there. i told him who i was and he let me in. other areas don't even have police but county workers, directing traffic. if you don't belong they won't let you in. if you don't have media credentials, law enforcement, fire, or paramedic, they won't let you in. even if you have a home there, they probably won't let you in as it is too dangerous.>> i know nearly 100,000 people are without power tonight. there has been sporadic issues with cell phone service, do you

get cell phone service there? or no?>> this is a little pocket of self-service here. when i was in napa, zero cell phone service. when i got to starbucks, they have wi-fi if the power is on. the power was on but they were closed. there was a line of people standing out side of starbucks using their phones just to try and communicate. i could not use the bandwidth there because it was arty full to capacity. let's talk about something important, the power is out. and the traffic lights are out in many places. people are just rolling right through, let's put it this way, if the lights are out, treated as a four-way stop. people are just rolling right through, i almost caught myself a few times not paying attention and not noticing and out light.

you got to pay attention as crashes could happen. >> stanley roberts, thank you for that perspective. i know you have put in a hard days work. thank you for all your video and perspective, we will be checking back in with you, just so much devastation there. he has traversed through wine country, some roads are closed and some not. similar stories all over.>> and of course the big issue as we approach 6:00 is nightfall. that makes a more dangerous situation for people in the area and fire is. as well as the firefight itself, if the winds pick up like last night, there is big trouble. we are hearing that the winds are weakening in ferocity today , and that is been good news, but the weather is such a major factor.

also, we heard from santa rosa officials, they have put a curfew in effect that will begin in about one hour. in the affected evacuation zones. we spoke to someone in santa rosa who said they will not evacuate, let's listen in.>> reporter: i am here in the parking lot of the montgomery plaza, in the heart of the evacuation zone. although this area is under a mandatory evacuation order, some residents i spoke with today told me they are going to try to ride the fire out. the mac i haven't slept at all -->> i have not slept at all. the fire has gotten worse and worse.>> were you able to look out your window?>> you could clearly see the flames, you could even hear them. you could see the flames surrounding all around. >> reporter: did you consider evacuating?>> i don't want to,

my dad is working hard for this property here, we will make sure it stays.>> reporter: is anyone home here?>> everyone left, when they needed to. everyone i know was able to get out okay with their livestock and personal belongings.>> reporter: so you're going to write it out?>> as long as we can, we can escape out the back and hopped some fences and we will be good.>> reporter: i spoke to a patrolman at a roadblock and he told me, as a member of the media i am free to as go -- go as far as i want. but he cautioned that if i get boxed in, they have limited resources right now and if i get overrun, there would be no one in there to help get me out. i decided not to take that route and i am here at the montgomery plaza reporting live.

>> santa rosa officials at the 5:00 news briefing said that they want everyone out of the evacuation zone. there is a curfew in effect for that zone. anyone who is in violation of that curfew, faces a potential of arrest. they are doing this to make sure first responders can feel safe and move safely through a difficult set of circumstances>> the curfew starts one hour from now at 6:45 -- there is a legitimate concern that looting would be a problem. keep people off of the roads and hopefully eliminate part of that threat. they are still going through trying to rescue people in some areas, they want emergency vehicles to have clear access to get through these roadways.

it just makes everything easier , especially when the fires are still burning if you don't have random people on the road. we are going to our chief meteorologist brittney shipp, the winds were such a big part of this story, and you spoke about this as long ago as friday. >> sadly it was true, our peak wind gust were right around 40 to 45 miles per hour came right around 1:00 this morning. it caught a lot of people off guard. the warning is shifting a little bit, it will stay into effect until tomorrow at 5:00 a.m. we have winds coming in at speeds from 30 to 50 miles per hour. we will see more of an onshore flow moving in, our wind speeds will be calmer tonight moving

into tomorrow. we will also see recovering humidity, more moisture. i'll humidity levels were anywhere from 10 to 15% and by tonight they will go up to 25 to 40%. right now in santa rosa we are still at 20%. it is still extremely dry in napa, novato at 13%, our wind gust at 145 this morning were closer to 45 miles per hour. this stayed like this for hours, for about five hours until the clock and. -- a.m.. that is why we saw so many wildfires fretting quickly. the culmination of dry air moving in, drying out the atmosphere and then you have the wind speeds gusting up to 40 miles per hour. as we look ahead toward the

afternoon, the wind speed is decreasing down to the single digits. as we go through tonight we see calm conditions overnight into tomorrow. that is one thing we are watching for, calmer winds and more moisture moving in. the wind speed now is moving at seven miles per hour, it is very calm. air quality is also a concern, if you are closer to san francisco. the south bay zone, with the wind moving in lowing all of this smoke to the south. you may end up with flight delays. this was our weather pattern, dry air moving in from the north, this will shift, and we will get more moisture and cooler temperatures. we will take another look at the weather coming up in just a minute.>> before you leave us, you are saying things will be better tonight as compared to last night?>> in terms of the firefight, it will be better,

last night we had wind gust up to 40 miles per hour, our latest models suggest, wind speeds from 5 to 10 miles per hour. this will be helpful, the only thing we are watching is the wind direction, that typically does not help firefighters if we are dealing with changing wind direction. at least it will be calmer with more moisture and it should also be cooler.>> when do you think we will stop seeing the smoky air throughout so much of the bay area? >> i think with the wind direction shifting, it is possible we will see even more spreading in different places. what we saw earlier today was a lot of smoky air from the north bay transitioning towards the east bay. we will start to get air coming up from the south, that has a little bit more moisture. we will also see more of an onshore flow and that will help

to get more fresh air. that should help the air quality a little bit. >> we will be checking back in with you shortly, we want to go back to santa rosa, we have our team of reporters scattered all throughout the fire zone. we got a close-up look at the destruction in the coffee park area of santa rosa.>> reporter: the fire with through this development in santa rosa. leaving destruction behind. this is what it looks like driving around coffey park . homes are smoldering and cars are burnt and melted. all that is standing our stone chimneys. i spoke with one family who lost everything.>> all of the neighbors houses were on fire, all of the embers came this way. this is my garage, the living

room was over there. there is nothing left there is nothing left. >> reporter: it is a sad and scary sight to see. you can still see the destruction. the man who escaped is happy to be alive. he like many others are not sure where to go from here. in coffey park . >> boy oh boy, coffey park is just one area that fire has torn through. we have this map here showing evacuation orders currently in place in santa rosa. i will run through some of the roads quickly. if you live there or have love one. -- loved ones. cross creek road. saint andrews drive, all homes

north of fountain grove parkway. montecito heights. the hopper avenue area, between dennis lane. all homes east of fulton road, kaiser permanente hospital, they have been evacuated. all homes in rincon valley, north of montecito boulevard. all of the oakmont area east of the militia road area. that is a long list, that is where you can not be out past 6:45 tonight until sunrise tomorrow. a mandatory evacuation area in santa rosa. crews will be patrolling, the police department will be out making sure people are off the road. that is where neighborhoods have been burned or there is

still active fire. that map by the way is on our website at kron4.com .>> fire crews throughout the state of california are stretched very thin. this is video from southern california, this is live right now, pictures of southern california where the firefight continues in the anaheim hills. this is near disneyland, the fire between 2000 and 3000 acres at the last count. you can see smoke still pouring out from the community. people were at disneyland taking pictures of the bright red sky. the flame for the backdrop for disneyland. they were there with their families today when the fire broke out. this fire started just before 10:00 this morning, it has grown to 3000 acres. a number of homes have been lost. the winds are also a factor, as

they have been for fire crews here. major problems for southern california during this fire season. we just saw a water drop. there are some stretches where retardant has already been dropped. earlier, the count for evacuation was 1000 homes. the early count was that maybe six homes have been burned, but we have seen video since then to suggest many more. no word on whether there have been any deaths. one injury reported earlier from a firefighter in southern california. there is no containment on this blaze either. imagine how state officials are trying to divvy up resources to try and keep this fire from spreading even beyond the 2000 or 3000 acres it is now. and the nearly 70,000 acres we are faced with in the north bay.

there are only so many resources stretched out throughout the state. they are using aircraft to do fire drops, and nightfall is approaching. that will make it so much more difficult for these crews to try and use water drops and fire retardant dropped as a way to build some fire lines. once nightfall has, the planes cannot go up, there is too much smoke. you can put the first responders and the chopper pilots at risk, trying to go into those zones under such difficult conditions. they are working against the clock to try and get things under control before sunset. ufiufire contained as possible, right face here they are facing in southern california with zero containment at this time.>> let's go back to santa rosa.

back to the santa rosa five hood, a stunning before and eric -- after the -- picture. on one side of the screen is the before image, and then a chp helicopter took the image on the right a short time ago. you can see blocks and blocks of homes are gone. stanley mentioned in some neighborhoods you will see a home on one side of the street and then on the other, the house is gone. it does appear that this neighborhood was entirely decimated by fire. if you are familiar with that, we are talking about coffee lane, little cul-de-sacs in there. san diego drive, jenna place, nina court, dogwood drive.

so many homes around those streets have been lost. it is heartbreaking, a lot of these folks may not have had a definite indication that there homes are gone. they had to evacuate and get out. these images begin circulating, it will become crystal clear what the new reality is.>> unfortunately all of the bay area is affected by this. this is an impact, and situation that will affect all of us in the days and weeks ahead. we will be back with much more of this coverage of the north bay firestorm any moment. who are these people?

the energy conscious people among us say small actions can add up to something... humongous. a little thing here. a little thing there. starts to feel like a badge maybe millions can wear. who are all these caretakers, advocates too?

turns out, it's californians it's me and it's you. breaking news starts now. the north firestorm that started sunday morning, ashley last night about 7:30 pm. the first call started coming in to cruise in santa rosa and the fire expanded group. 70,000 acres have burned in north county, there are 10 deaths reported, and there are more fatalities expected. yes, that number is expected to soar, we have breaking news in

a different realm. we just had an earthquake. in the northern part of the bay area, we have an earthquake to report, a 4.4 magnitude earthquake. there were 2 of them. it was felt at san jose city hall, it was felt in seven trees california. it took place at 5:53 pm. we are getting on top of this, there are no reports of injury or damage. people are concerned right now in the south bay. back you guys in the studio. thanks for that update. as we needed additional news, we will continue to track the big story of the day. a 4.4 magnitude earthquake will not move the needle like this. will be reporting about this

for years to come saturday. you think about the 1994 oakland hills firestorm, you had the valley fire in lake county 2 years ago and now this one. this is adding to a dubious list of major fires in the bay area. we have a number of reporters stretched out through the north bay area trying to keep up with developments there.>> reporter: can you hear me? bring us an update.>> reporter: it has been a horrific day appear in the northern part of santa rosa. i am here in the valley area near the middle scale just off of -- middle school off of montecito. when i first got to this area, i was over off of fun to grow parkway and i -- fun to them --

fountain grove park way. i saw a foam -- home fully engulfed in flames. it was sad to see this. i was pushed out because the police said it was not safe and i went down and around the corner. there were more flames over by the middle school. the whole field was on fire and that was a firewall behind that wall. there were crews that were fighting, a little bit later on, i talked to some residents and they saw crews working hard. no matter what their efforts were, home after home, those homes were completely destroyed. i talked with neighbors and they say that their hearts and prayers go out to so many people that have been impacted. i think your seem some video that i shot earlier in the santa rosa area.

you can see the flames from gas lines. those lines are very active. no firefighters could be seen because they were in other areas just trying to be back the flames at other homes. the fire is so widespread and in so many different regions, it is nearly impossible to get a handle on things. pam? teresa, thank you. give us a sense of anyone who you have talked with. what are people saying? what is the mood? it has to be so dark and desperate.>> reporter: it is dark and desperate. a lot of people walk up to us and ask us where do we go, what do we do? they are looking for answers and right now, we don't have any because it seems that in every direction, fires are burning. a couple of minutes ago, firetrucks raced by and simply

because, i could hear sirens going on right now and in the distance. it has been like that throughout the day. if you go down this road, there are flames, if you go down that road, there are more flames. we are near calistoga and that area has been impacted as well. as far as that mood, is very somber out here throughout the entire day. pam? grant here, teresa. you mentioned the word somber. you described it as you are driving into [ null ] . i know there've been scary moments for you. i know that you have seen convoys of ambulances come to convalescent homes to evacuate people who had breathing problems. their trying to take them to a safer spot, has the mood gotten better? are there any hopes of the fires lessening?

are there any good news stories?>> reporter: in one word, no. i don't feel any sense of calm right now. i don't feel any sense of hope for a lot of the residents in this area just because, in particular, there have not been any air tankers that dropped water to the fires that are still burning close to where we are standing. we are right here on mission boulevard in the nose -- where the -- north east section of santa rosa. i was standing on the side of the road and there were 30 ambulances that race by me and they were going to friends convalescent hospital. one by one, they evacuated all these people and my heart went out to all of those people because they needed to get out into a better location. the smoke is intense and it is difficult to breathe. is getting into our eyes, our

cars are covered with soot as well. the son has been this weird, pleasing color all day long. i would say that i don't have a good -- lot of good news to report. they can't seem to get a handle on this fire. they are not able to cut it off. it's kind of like an octopus that has all of these legs, if they go after this leg, then the other leg goes. the wind is also kicking us fires and those embers. it is making it even worse. grant? what are the conditions like where you are right now? i know the wind has been a huge part of the story and it has been dissipating throughout the day. looks fairly calm right now.>> reporter: it is, right now but is one of those weird kind of feelings where is it the calm before the storm? at night, it shuts down, but sometimes is when gus come up.

i'm sure britney can tell us more about the conditions that people will be facing. as i was mentioning, there was a man that came up right before he went live, he asked what do i do and where do i go? it is really hard to see what is going to happen overnight. when i first got in this area, is about a clock a.m., and the wind gusts were tremendous. 50-60 miles per hour and overhead , i could see the embers flying. the embers would go over the road and burst into flames and setting another fire. grant? what it is like a sick game of whack a mole. as teresa was mentioning, people are concerned about where they go. there is so much going on in the same general area that it is difficult to determine exactly where is the safe zone.

are reported to get a chance to visit a -- and evacuation center located in petaluma. >> reporter: here in the calvary church in petaluma, another feature for this refuge is they are offering space and shelter for animals so people can be close to their pets. it's one of the many ways that the chapel is making disaster relief more bearable for the 20,000 people forced out of their homes.>> our home is not far from here and the fire is all around us. now is earning up lakeville. i'm not sure how things are out there. we will stay here and help.>> reporter: unable to do anything to stop the raging fires, locals focus on whatever they can do to help each other. the petaluma shelter is housing those forced to flee from the fire. it's now known as the tubbs buyer which is charred more than 20,000 acres.>> it is so

heartbreaking and devastating. there is nothing you can do about it. all you can do is help.>> reporter: people have stepped up to lend a helping hand dropping off necessities. this family are the few of the grateful. >> it is incredible and surprising, is the first time we've been through an experience like this.>> reporter: you can see here, car after car bring in help. there's always a need for more volunteers to help. >> it is in my nature, i worked up -- woke up at four clock a.m. and i started thing about what everybody needed. i said asking our community, i asked neighbors and kept filling up the car and calling businesses here in petaluma. everybody that i asked gave us what we needed.>> reporter:

there's still room for about 100 more people in need of shelter.>> there are about 140 people being housed here.>> reporter: they have a capacity of up to 240 people. this is one of the shelters that is accepting pets. if you like to donate, they are at the cavalry capital -- chapel in petaluma. there are many other evacuation center's. we want to run through those. this is still an active fire and people need to know where to go. there are evacuation center's in napa and sonoma counties. the calistoga fairgrounds, the sum ola -- the sonoma county fairgrounds, also in santa rosa, the veterans memorial home, the sonoma valley high school, we have been told that twin pine can see no in littleton is old and -- twin

pine casino is full, the napa valley college gym is being used as a shelter, the city of the festival, the festival cultural center is set up. cloverdale, the cloverdale citrus fairgrounds is open for those in need of shelter. in fairfield, at the community college, there is a area there for evacuees. small pets can be taken to napa county animal shelter. will have more on where to take pets as well coming up later in the new cast. cook middle school is open in santa rosa, the newlife christian church in petaluma, the church of christ in petaluma and the healdsburg community center is open for evacuees. an evacuation

center at the veterans hall, windsor high in windsor and petaluma high school. if you are in averill park area, you can go to the assembly of god church, and the paul tomato cafe and bar. at lake county, a shelter is open at grace church and at mystic theatre in petaluma and mcnear's restaurant has food for people that might need it. if you need to get in touch with sonoma sheriff's, they have a wildlife hotline set up and that phone number is 707- 565 high ---3685. there's so many large animals out there in one country. as we move into the nighttime

hour, how will the wind and temperatures affect the fire? our chief meteorologist britney is standing by. let's focus on our current wind speeds. we know that overnight, the windspeed started gusting up to 40 miles per hour for a prolonged amount of time between 11 pm to 5 am. you had a long window with these really strong winds. as we went through the wind -- day, the wind speeds up and coming down. we're down to seven miles per hour. as we go into the rest of tonight, a relative humidity will go up. will see more moisture moving back into the atmosphere, a closer look at her when gus, the back this up to 2 am where we felt strong when gus in santa rosa, napa and fairfield. this paints a picture about how

we got to where we are right now. those really strong when speeds continue till at least 6:45 am with when gus in area up to 30 miles per hour. it is starting to decrease as we went through the day. we want to show you that the rend -- when direction is starting to shift, it is not great news for firefighters because as we start to see the wind direction shifting, it means the wildfires can spread into different directions. the thing that is working with firefighters, we are seeing calmer when speeds and cooler temperatures and marvin onshore flow as we get into tomorrow. that means my -- more moisture. let's take a look at the san francisco airport where we see smoky conditions. we'll talk a little bit more about what is in store and what to expect tomorrow. we will be staying in touch with you britney. it is such a -- an important

factor. how do we figure out which part of the bay is safe? how do the firefighters decide to approach the way they disperse the cruise through the night? all of that is very important, which roads are open? we will be staying in touch with britney for the weather conditions for the rest of the evening. we want to check with matt mendez who is life with the -- at the sonoma county fairgrounds.>> reporter: the firefighters say they will set up a command host -- post here at the sonoma county fairgrounds. we heard from the county officials often are go. we got some updates on the fire. they say that 10 people have died in all these fires appear

in the northern bay area. want to tell you that the sonoma county sheriff said the bodies were found in burned areas, the sheriff is also telling us that they are seeing problems with looting. the city of santa rosa has created a mandatory curfew at the evacuation site. people must stay in from 6:45 pm to sunrise the next morning. the county says there been about 5000 people evacuated in santa rosa. there are 24 evacuation sites which are filling up quickly. they just opened up 500 more cots. we heard from the board of supervisors under, they said that this committee is resilient and there are drivers lining up four evacuation site with goods for people who are forced from their homes. we see a lot of resiliency, we saw people driving around handing out bottled waters to complete strangers. we will stay out here and

monitor any new developments. for now, we live at the fairgrounds. and you. we have a few questions for you matt. give us a sense of what is happening there at the command host as a set up to move through the night. are you seeing a lot of officials converge there to get set up and plan the fight for the night? give us a sense of what is happening.>> reporter: sure. there are a lot of different fire agencies here. there are a lot of fire engines gathering. when i talk to firemen about five minutes ago, they are moving the command post to the fairgrounds. more are expected to arrive here. matt, what has it been like today just driving in and around one country and seeing some of the areas that have been hit so hard. it feels surreal to see neighborhoods completely burned down.

to talk to victims who have lost everything, it is really heartbreaking to talk to a lot of family members who are looking and sift through the rubble to find anything they can salvage. a lot of people like family photos and lost a lot of important, sentimental items that they may never get back. it is a heartbreaking mood out here and it's kind of a neat thing to see the community come together to help one another. right behind you, we see a couple of vehicles, is there an area where everybody's gathering as a plan the meetings for the five -- firefight head? >> reporter: as i mentioned, there are a lot of fire trucks that are gathered here, a lot of fire crews here from cal fire. also, from the news conference we heard from a lot of county supervisors, the sonoma county

sheriff's department, the santa rosa police department, we are seeing a lot of officials and first responders here, but i mentioned that they are moving their command post here. we will see a lot more firetrucks, fire engines and first responders stuck together in a little while. matt mendez, my first tonight at the sonoma county fairgrounds. that's where the command post is in the process of being set up. thank you matt we appreciate it. there are so many jurisdictions involved, sonoma county, napa county and so many other counties as we mentioned earlier. the governor has issued states of emergencies for a number of counties throughout california because the fires have moved so quickly. they're trying to get all of the resources needed to take care the many people who are affected in our state. earlier today, you about, napa

and sonoma counties work identified four states of emergency. now the governor has added lake county, mendocino, nevada, butte and orange county of southern california because of a fire burning your anaheim. as we heard from officials in california, they acknowledge that the resources are stretched quite thin. they're trying to be very judicious about how they use the resources. the trying to get the fire line solidified before the nightfall. santa rosa acknowledge that there are still cases where they are evacuating people out of the area. this is still very active in fluid and fire crews do not have a handle on any of this yet because of how rapidly is

happening. schools were closed today. again, we will have schools closed in santa rosa, napa valley, unified public schools closed as well, sonoma state and santa rosa junior college are all close tomorrow because of the fires. it would be stunning if any schools were open this week in the city of santa rosa. it's hard to assess what is going on in napa in terms of the grand scope. but the alice peak fire is quite devastating. we will keep you posted and that information is on our website if you want to reference it. the schools are closed tomorrow. these fires have already turned deadly here in northern california. at this time, there are 10 debts confirmed all fire related. 7 of those deaths took place in

sonoma county. 2 in napa county and one in mendocino county. 10 debts in northern california from the firestorm which is burning out of control. more than 70,000 acres already destroyed. at least 1500 structures have been destroyed. that number certainly is likely to go much higher than 1500, sadly. 1500 at this point so far. they had an ominous assessment of that. going to go up, the deaths, the grand total of lives lost is 10 in northern california. sadly they have not been able to access some of the hardest hit areas as they are getting people out of harms way. they are not trying to assess

damage and destruction at this point because their focus is keeping life safe and getting people out of areas where the fire is moving towards. 0% containment in santa rosa is not a good thing especially as night is falling and you have a harder time dealing with a firefight and you hope that the winds cooperate unlike last night. our reporter said there were people refusing to leave the fire zone despite the mandatory evacuations that it been ordered. let's listen to some evacuees. >> reporter: the wind is starting to pick up here at the city of santa rosa. we are here at the parking lot of the montgomery plaza. the route evacuees are taking to get to the 101 freeway. not everyone is leaving, but i

did speak with someone earlier i did evacuate their home and here's what they had to say. >> we evacuated 130. it was frightening. at 1:30 am, i heard noise and so much smoke. there was so much noise. a police car drove down our neighborhood and said that we had to evacuate. we had to leave now. we just got up, got dressed and left. i'm thinking that i want to see my home again. we don't know if it's there, we can't get there. that was haaziq madyun reporting. so many people are struggling. what happens tonight? what happens tomorrow? imagine all those questions at a ruptured over the last 24

hours. talk about anxiety, not knowing if your home is there. it is tough stuff. that is happening in the north neighborhood. we are tracking breaking news in the south bay. an earthquake happened. here is steve monitoring that story.>> reporter: this wasn't a big story, but we reported nonetheless, because there's been a swarm of earthquakes during the past 6-7 days. these are all 2.2 magnitude quakes, but today, something a little bit more. this is located about nine miles southeast of san jose, it was deeply underground, but it was a 4.1 magnitude quake. david up on hiring her -- oppenheimer reports that these type of earthquakes happen.

we have had a number of emails in the newsroom, saying that they did feel a gentle sway. that is the news here on the earthquake. let's go to britney who has a update on it. it happened just before 6:00 p.m.. we also felt that here. if you of the light started swinging back and forth. we've been checking in on social media and a lot of folks did feel that earthquake. there it is, you can see it. it is 14 miles east-he southeast of alan rock. you can see where this earthquake happened. it was a 4.4 that happened just before 6 pm. a magnitude 4.4, we did feel it here at the studios.

i could see the light swaying back and forth at the kron4 studio. we are also tracking moisture. we are starting to get a little bit of moisture back into the area especially at napa where we needed the most. this still dry and lots of locations. our wind direction shifted earlier, we had a dry northerly wind moving in, but we will start to see those arrows shifting as we go into the overnight hours. we will expect to see some onshore flow which brings in more moisture which helps our community recover. our wind speeds died down earlier this morning, we so when gus around 30 miles per hour at 1 am this morning. we are now seeing calmer wind speeds. we are expecting the immunity

to rise up to 40% versus what we were seeing earlier which is 10-15%. it was extremely dry plus when gus at 2:30 pm -- wind gusts at 4:30 am in the morning. we saw when gus over 40 miles per hour, this was sustained four hours. we are still dealing with wind gusts, we'll talk more about how your weather conditions will shift. because the wind gusts direction is shifting, it will be a challenge for firefighters because the direction of where the flames are going will shift with the wind direction. horrific and terrifying for a

great many people. those of the words from the acting police chief and santa rosa. we are hoping that they have a calmer night this evening. we will take a break, will be right back. lots moorehead. stay with us.

welcome back. 10 people have died today in the firestorm in the north bay. more than 1500 homes and businesses are gone and we are less than 15 minutes away from the curfew going into effect for mandatory evacuation areas in the city of santa rosa. are justine waldman is in santa rosa tonight. she is been there most of the day today. let's check in with justine now to get a sense of how the -- things like tonight. justine?>> reporter: they do not look good pam. i do want to touch on the curfew that greg just talked

about. will start about 15 minutes from now, i've seen several police officers patrol around this neighborhood. this is coffee park, this is a horrible sight to see as you look all around us development that was filled with hundreds of homes, hundreds of families lived here. as far as your and can see, -- as far as your eyes can see, there is nothing but destruction. homes are burnt to the ground, there are some fires burning out of the gas lines, you can see these cars, there also burn, their tires have melted. it is difficult to walk around here and see. there have been glimmers of hope this evening including a group of men that i saw while i saw -- was driving around here in coffee park. they were driving buckets in

garden hoses, they were throwing the water on homes that had not burnt. they trying -- they're trying to say what had not been destroyed. i want you to listen to a woman who was with her son-in-law trying to assess the damage here and he just did everything he could to help.>> i'm just scared. my son-in-law started to fight the fires. he's been trying to put the fire out ever sense. it's just devastation. my house is okay. my neighbors houses are not. i just don't know where to go from here.>> reporter: a due process that? everything around you is gone.>> i can process it. we just go minute by minute.>> reporter: the cat that the woman found hiding underneath the car, its whiskers burnt but

the cat is okay. there were men who were trying to say the houses that they could, they were wearing nothing but flip-flops and shorts. they were not prepared to be fighting an actual fire, walking in smoldering ground, i tried to lean up against one of the buildings to take a cell phone picture and even the house was hot to the touch. that one had not burnt. it was very kind of a gentleman who is driving around here and santa rosa to hand me one of the spoke masks to cover my mouth to protect my breathing. is still extremely smoky here. the air is thick with smoke and because it's about to get dark, we expected to be pitch block -- black, because there are no streetlights. the only thing we expect to see burning in -- here are flames coming from the gas mains. justine, before you go,

with dark is beginning to settle in. we are at 6:35 pm, are you seeing visible flames in the distance where the fires are still burning wax for most of the flames are coming from the gas lines that are burning. it looks like a fire truck is pulling into the neighborhood as we are talking. maybe they know of something different. i also don't see any of that thick, black smoke that comes out when you see an aft of -- active burning fire. is just sort of a white haze that is here all around us in the sky. justine, so many homes gone in that coffee park area neighborhood. i know you saw a handful of businesses that were leveled today.>> reporter: absolutely. most of them were on cleveland avenue for people who know this

area. the ones that i saw were burnt included a mexican restaurant, is a part of buyer to restaurant, that was burnt. what was so sad was water was still cascading down on it from the firefight effort that have been going on trying to save the restaurant. there was a storage unit, one of those self storage units. that looked burnt to me. you think about how much stuff people put in a place like that, personal blind knees, things they are trying to keep for a long period of time. it looked like that storage unit was burnt. there was also the chevron station right here in your coffee park. it was shut down, but there was an applebee's restaurant that is burned, and arby's restaurant gone, and a mcdonald's. it was eerie seeing those. you can still see that the

speaker systems ron in the restaurant despite them being burnt and collapsing in on themselves. whatever effort the sprinklers tried to do to save those businesses, it didn't work. what is the air quality like right now? i know you are saying that your eyes hurt, your nose is running, your lungs are hot? is that still the case? >> reporter: it is still the case which is why am glad that man handed me one of these masks to wear. my eyes are still burning, they are watering, reading in is hard, i'm starting to feel nauseous. i have had some breaks, but the air is thick and it is hard to breathe. justine, you have seen so much devastation. was there anything in particular that's not to you in that devastation zone?>>

reporter: i think it's really hard to talk to people who have just lost everything and to walk up to them as they are working -- walking into the driveway and there is nothing left anymore and trying to talk to them about how they feel. to know that they were sleeping in the middle of the night and they wake up, their homes are filling with smoke, they look at their windows and see flames around them. they just bolt, they don't take anything, they don't take their wedding albums, they don't take their kids first great pictures. they don't take any of their insurance documents or jewelry. no memories. they take nothing. sometimes they'll even take their cell phones or wallet since they are in such a panic to leave. they rush out and don't know what they're going to come back to if anything. you walk to them -- up to them

and standing in what was their living room and looking around. they have nothing, how do they go forward? they have just woken up into this nightmare and you are trying to help them figure out what to do next by asking them what they should do. i do feel a lot of time that when i'm done talking with those people, they need a hug. today was one of those days, i think i needed how to from them. justine, so sad but you see some of these uplifting stories of neighbors helping neighbors and it may restore your faith in humanity. all of the negative news recover in the people's worst times, it sometimes brings out the best in others.>> reporter: absolutely. even the family that grab the cat with the melted whiskers that was just whimpering and in pain. to see that someone saw that little animal, get up and take

a picture of this and put it on social media. we want to connect this cat to the owner. there is no tag, they have no way of checking the microchip on it. there are good people out there. i was so hurt when i talked to a santa rosa police officer who has been working since the fire started trying to evacuate people. he had no idea of his own home, he did know if it was still standing. his job was to look for looters, trying to stop people in this devastation, trying to take advantage of people who are of echoing a homes. they probably didn't think of liking their front doors, there are people out there trying to steal from them. it is that police officers job, that is why i believe they have started this curfew. it also was very heartwarming to see that this group of guys,

their house and apartment was fine. they got out, they were safe, their things were safe. what they did, they came out here with pockets and started turning on garden hoses and spring it on homes that were still smoldering and burning and spring in on homes that were standing, they are trying to save them. they were wearing flip flops, shorts and t-shirts and standing in the smoke and rubble and tried to help people that they don't even know because they didn't want to see another home burnt to the ground. that is inspiring justine. you mentioned people who have their own homes to worry about, we learn that the mill valley fire chief, tom walsh who lives in santa rosa lost his house last night. just one of the many stories that will get some information on. there will be a fundraiser to help him rebuild. we will be checking back in with you justine.

be sure to stay safe. we want to go to another story. want to encourage anybody who needs information, go to concorde.com, we have all kinds of information regarding information -- resources available, anything you need to know related to this firestorm. it will be posted at kron4.com . we've been talking to justine, we have been talking to people affected by this firestorm. was listen into a father and son in santa rosa.>> pretty scary. the fireside around 11:30 pm and got worse. the winds got bigger and bigger. >> i'm with you. this home is 100 years old. this is so sad. >> reporter: you to be scared, your home is across the street.>> yes. look at this right here.

i know i am safe. i'm thinking about my house. and my neighbor's house to. -- too. it was so scary. i have my son with me.>> reporter: what is that sound that you hear? >> that is a gas. they can't turn the gas off so it is still burning. it is very dangerous. all right. so many a counselor to that. i want to give you a quick list of schools closed tomorrow. here is the list. napa valley college will be closed. the napa valley office of education will be closed

tomorrow. family and staff is a vice to follow public health advice regarding smoke issues and be sure to stay safe. calistoga joint unified school district still has announced -- not announce plans for tomorrow. you can be sure that most of the schools in the affected fire zone will be closed tomorrow. stay in touch with us at kron4.com . we will continue to update these lists. in addition to the obvious issues with the fire, you have some health issues with the nullity in the bay area. the bay area air quality district has issued warnings this morning. they have not listed this morning. you could still have the warning through tomorrow, based on the devastation you're seeing in parts of napa county and in parts of sonoma county. schools could be closer several days to come. r stanley

roberts has been traveling to the fire zone. among his travels, he spoke with a retired firefighter who compared what's happening right now in the north bay to the oakland hills fire storm. let's listen.>> the wind, the wind and fuel load. it is made of the trees, this fire, i couldn't believe how fast it spread. it was just flames. he went this way and then it went that way. i don't know where it jumped over to get to silverado. the guy that came back with a big excavator, he said the whole west woodside of silverado is gone. the houses of just burned down. oakland was about like this except the houses were more compacted, everything was just next door to each other.

it was like somebody threw a bomb on it. here, the stuff is spread out and the fire had to travel to them. that was r stanley roberts you talked with a retired fire chief that was talking about this place to the firestorm in oakland in 1991. several thousand homes were lost to that place and winds were a major factor. but the fire agencies around california learned a great deal from that fire in oakland hills. they learned about cutting back brush, they learned about keeping roads open and educating the neighborhood about keeping streets and cars off the street when there are emergencies so that the first responders can get through. it was an education tool for

fire crews all over california about how to handle these urban wildfires. these wildfires are different to fight than just normal fires. they both have very different challenges. the oakland firefight helped educate fire crews up and down the state. this northbay firestorm we are dealing with is a hybrid. you have some of the fire burning in some of the most remote mountainous rural areas, but it charge right towards the city of santa rosa and for a couple of blocks, it is as urban as it gets. the shopping center with a kmart that is not gone, mcdonald's, arby's, applebee's, the oakland hills fired killed 25 people. we have 10 confirmed deaths in northern california right now. more than 2800 single-family homes and nearly 500 apartments and condo units were gone and the oakland fire.

the estimate right now is well over 1500 homes and businesses gone thanks to the northbay firestorm. i want to check in with catherine who was and by live right now with information on another whole aspect of this story. catherine, that is animals being evacuated.>> reporter: i know it seems a little secondary, but if you are an animal lover, that is a huge concern. today, there was some help coming from one of the places, it was the ronan park animal shelter. start -- stop and consider all the people that have been evacuated, a lot of them have animals. they're taking in a lot of small animals such as dogs, cats and chickens and rabbits. they're making room for them while the owners figure out where to find shelter. submitted animals could be here for a while.>> we've taken about 20 cats, 12 dogs and five

chickens. we are still taking animals in and we have space. it was pretty crazy this morning, it has slowed down a little bit but i'm sure we will state -- take animals.>> for them to be secure and not have to keep opening and closing the cage, we will not turn away anybody. we will not turn you away.>> they opened hours early, they will be there as late as they need to be. other shelters are helping. the ronan park animal shelter is welcoming donations, anything, dog or cat food, blankets, towels, they will take it. thank you so much for that catherine. many people had to leave their homes, that information will be important to them. we are moving into the

nighttime hours and the present different challenges for the fire crews. let's check in with our chief meteorologist, britney shift to get a sense of what is happening as we look to the weather. things will improve because last night was the worst combination we could have, we had wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour and humidity in the single digits. around 7:30 am car humidity levels in napa were at 7%. as we went through the day, we saw our community drop even more. at 2:00 p.m., it was down even more. we will have community levels down into the single digits in santa rosa. we were dealing with pretty strong wind gusts at the time as well. as we go into the rest attack, -- the rest of tonight, our wind direction will shift. by this time tomorrow, are humidity will be up to 40% in

napa. this is good news, we have a lot more moisture in the atmosphere. in terms of our wind gusts, we were close to 40 miles per hour wind gusts. that really paints the picture of how these fires could've spread so quickly overnight within a few hours. within those few hours, we saw these wind gusts stay around 40 miles per hour. there was also really low humidity levels. as we going to tonight and tomorrow, is when speed -- front-end levels will drop down and temperatures will be 5-7 degrees cooler tomorrow. that is some good news with an improving forecast for firefighters. you can see the wind direction is shifting. things are slowing starting to shift here. we have a fire warnings that

will stay in effect until 5 am on tuesday for all bay area hills. the one spirits -- wind gusts will come up through the south. will go over more details in terms of your weather coming out of just a bit. thank you britney. california is known to have what we call fire season and this is october which is always considered fire season and it is living up to its dubious name. i will take you down to southern california. these are the anaheim hills where i wildfires started in the middle of this morning about 10 a clock a.m.. it just exploded in size, 5000 acres with six foams -- homes destroyed and thousands more are threatened. there are evacuation orders all over orange county right now. people at disneyland saw huge

loss of smoke in a lit up orange sky. the neighboring city of orange are threatened tonight. you about 5000 homes that are threatened when evacuations are underway. the santa ana winds. they are gusting up to 45 miles per hour and firefighters are at the mercy of mother nature. those winds are whipping this thing and they don't know which way it will turn next and it is near the 91 and two 81 freeways -- 91 and 241 freeways meet in santa ana. it's not to the scale we see up into one country but it's speaks to the statewide threat. this fire starter onto a clock a.m. and look how quickly -- this fire started around 10 a clock a.m. this morning." quickly it started.

i want to take you back right now to santa rosa as we can -- continue to monitor the live areas in southern california. this is a live picture that appears -- that shows a live home -- that shows a home that appears to be smoldering. this home is in the montgomery plaza neighborhood. it is hard to tell if this is a residential area although it does appear to be. the santa rosa fire officials, they acknowledged that the reason they put the 645 curfew in effect and the mandatory evacuation zone area is because this fire is so active is that

the wind is occasionally coming back up. weather conditions will be a lot better tonight and humidity will be a lot more. this areas just east of the highway 101 right near the hilton hotel. both sides of 101 is decimated by this fire. so many folks are on either side of the highway and when you have a wildfire jump on the hard way -- highway, you know it is when driven. thank goodness the winds have settle down a bit but firefighters are not focusing their efforts on putting out

the fire like that, they will let it burn and there have been well over 1000 homes destroyed. that number will exceed. -- 2000 or more. they are still evacuating people. the status of all the news is there been 10 deaths so far because of the fires in north bay. our coverage continues after the break, stay with us.

we understand he is with friends and hopefully they have not had to be evacuated