. >> reporter: fire crews work in 24 hour shifts, the pain is now 24/7 for ed bledsoe of redding. his wife was watching over their two great-grandchildren on thursday when flames surrounded their home on court hill drive. >> when you have a 70-year-old woman in poor health that can't go sprinting down the road like an nfl leaderboard and you have two small children, a 5-year-old and 4-year-old. >> reporter: the fire said they never heard of an evacuation order. if they heard it ed would have made sure his loved ones got out. >> imagine a home not at home with his wife and grandchildren. he was trying to get supplies. imagine how you can't blame yourself even though that man did nothing wrong. >> reporter: wildfire crews work in 24 hour shifts. the pain is now 24/7 for the bledsoe family of redding. 70-year-old melody bledsoe was with her two great-grandkids. the family claims they heard no evacuation order and the three were trapped inside their home. the family confirmed on saturday that all three died in the fire. looting is another concern and redding police tell us they have b

. >> reporter: while fire crews work in 24-hour shifts, the pain is now 24/7 for ed bledsoe of redding. his wife, melody, was watching over their two great grandkids on thursday when flames surrounded their home on quartz hill drive. >> when you have a 70-year-old woman in poor health that can't go vicinitying down the road liken nfl linebacker and two small children a 4-year-old and 5-year-old. >> reporter: the team says they never heard an evacuation order. if they had heard it ed would have made sure hess loved ones got out. >> imagine being the man who wasn't at home when his wife and grandchildren who he has been raising since day one because he wasn't told. imagine how you don't blame yourself even though that man did nothing wrong. >> reporter: heart breaking. looting is another problem. police tell us they haven't made arrests but they are beefing up patrols especially in evacuated neighborhoods just like this one to make sure that no one is taking advantage of an already heart breaking and devastating situation. that's the latest here in redding. melissa colorado nbc bay area

of redding. evacuation orders in place for several neighborhoods, but ed bledsoe says he didn't hear any. you get any sort of evacuation warning? >> nothing. absolutely not a word. >> reporter: the fire was far away at that point. >> it was plumb across the river. that's two or three miles from my place. >> reporter: bledsoe's wife melody was there with their great grandchildren, five-year- old james and four-year-old emily. ed said he needed to run a quick errand. >> they wanted to go with me but i didn't take them with me because i didn't have air conditioning in my damn truck. i said, "no, it was so hot out there," i say, "stay here, grandpa will be right back." i was only gone for 15 minutes when my wife called me and said, "you got to get here, the fire is coming up the hill." >> reporter: he tried to race back, but the roads were blocked. bledsoe felt helpless. >> i was talking to my little grandson on the phone. he was saying, "grandpa, please, you got to come and help us. the fire is at the back door." i said, "i'm close by, son. i'm trying to get there." i said, "i'm right by you.

of redding. evacuation orders in place for several neighborhoods, but ed bledsoe says he didn't hear any. get any sort of evacuation warning? >> nothing. absolutely not a word. >> reporter: the fire was far away at that point? >> it was plum across the river. that's two or three miles from my place. >> reporter: bledsoe's wife was there with their great-grandchildren, 5-year-old james and 4-year-old emily. ed said he needed to run a quick errand. >> i didn't take them with me because i didn't have air-conditioning in my damn struck. i said it's so hot out there. i was only gone about 15 minutes when my wife called me and said you got to get here. the fire is coming up the hill. >> reporter: he tried to race back, but the roads were blocked. bledsoe felt helpless. >> i was talking to my little grandson on the phone. he was saying, grandpa, please, you got to come and help us. the fire is at the back door. come and get us. i said, i'm close by, son. i'm trying to get in there. i said i'm -- i'm right by you. i said -- i said, i'm right by you, honey. just hold on. grandpa's coming. >> repor

rescuers s they found the body of melanie bledsoe and her two greatie oregon who trying to evacuate their redding lighborhood. >> thet we knew of, they were in the house. ed was on the phone with them. cey tried to get help. they triedling 911 and they couldn't get anybody out here. >> the flames are m so fast, people don't have time to react. >> all of a sudden i hear the cops poundinghe on front door, saying, you gotta go. we gotta go. >> reporter: fire has already destroyed at least 500 homes th thousands more at risk after the car fire doubled in size overnight. thousands remain under evacuation orders. chris corona's family lostyt evng. >> there's a lot. a lot of memories. my sister pushing me on the swing when i was really little, like my daughter's age. >> reporter: nearly 9 fires are burning across 13 states. president trump has declared a state of emergency in california, which will speed up the effort to help tho affected by fire. chris pollone, nbc news. >>> a major scare at a texas mall. why shoppers feared an active shooter was on the loosego >>> and we'vsome nice conditions out there right now. temperatures are in the 80s, coming into the 70

of redding. reporter mark thompson on the frantic but futile efforts to save them as the flames closed in. >> reporter: the fire was still miles away when ed bledsoesday running a quick errand he'll now never forget. >> nobody told us nothing. if i had had any kind of warning, i'd have never, ever left my family in that house. >> reporter: as the flames from the carr fire raged into the neighborhood, bledsoe got a desperate phone call from his great grandson. >> he was saying grandpa, please, you got to

ed bledsoe says he raced to get back, but couldn't. their bodies later discovered inside their redding home. seven others remain missing. and at the ferguson fire, near yosemite national park, captain brian hughes of the arrowhead hot shots was killed by a falling three sunday. >> brian was one of the best. he was a pillar of strength for that hot shot crew. >> reporter: he's now the fourth firefighter killed in the line of duty in the last two weeks. >> and kayna with us live tonight, just incredible destruction there behind you, kayna. some people got a chance to go back today, but as you reported in earlier, many of them, there's nothing to go back to. >> reporter: i know, david. nearly 1,000 structures destroyed. and homes just like this one -- look, this home had a tile roof. but there was no stopping this fire. these big, destructive wildfires are now the new normal. firefighters say it's basically everyone's worst nightmare. and we haven't even hit peak fire season yet here in california. david? >> yeah, that's the unbelievable part of all this. kayna whitworth leading us off tonight. thank you. >>> let's get right to meteorologist rob marciano, as we begin another week. the focus on the wi

of redding. this time lapse video shows the fire's intensity, creating winds strong notenough to uproot tree. ed bledsoe's home is one of the structures destroyed. did you get any evacuation warning? >> nothing, absolutely not a word. nobody told us nothing. if i'd of had any kind of warning, i'd have never, ever left my family in that house. >> reporter: he said he didn't hear any evacuation warning. >> we're looking into that. >> reporter: shasta county sheriff tom bosenko said his office did tell people to evacuate. they're investigating to see if the home got a warning call or door knock. >> in the areas both before ands evidence that there were door to door notifications. >> reporter: authorities say one of the people who was killed ee ignored evacuation orders. police are battling another problem as well, looting. they've made three arrests so far, including one man who was wearing camouflage and carrying a loaded gun. >> carter, that is a tough, tough story to hear. really tough. heartbreaking. gut-wrenching. the bledsoe father, our prayers go out to them. >>> more firefighters are battling the nin

of redding. reporter mark thompson on the frantic but futile efforts to save them as the flames closed in. >> reporter: the fire was still miles away when ed bledsoe left home thursday running a quick errand he'll now never forget. >> nobody told us nothing. if i had had any kind of warning, i'd have never, ever left my family in that house. >> reporter: as the flames from the carr fire raged into the neighborhood, bledsoe got a desperate phone call from his great grandson. >> he was saying grandpa, please, you got to come and help us. the fire is at the backdoor. >> reporter: but bledsoe couldn't make it back in time. the bodies of his wife, 70-year- old melanie bledsoe and two great grandchildren james and emily roberts ages 5 and 4 discovered saturday morning, the children wrapped in a blanket. >> yeah, it's sad. >> reporter: gary baldwin calls the bledsoes his adopted family. he lives next-door. he had just left to evacuate thursday when he, too, got a frantic phone call, this one from melanie bledsoe. baldwin also tried to make it back but could not. the flames he says were too intense. >> there's big power lines there and the flames were lik