. >> reporter: janice clark has all she needs now, her son says after fearing the worse, he's never been happier. >> she's here now that's all that matters so -- the best birthday gift i got this year. >> reporter: shelters are full in the area and neighboring cities are trying to help out to find places for people to stay. in paradise, cheryl hurd, nbc bay area news. >>> this morning many people don't even know if their homes are still standing. one man we caught up with left his home thursday night. he returned last night and was stopped at a roadblock just blocks from his home. >> i stopped to see if our home had burned down. >> reporter: don't know? >> i don't know yet. >> his home was spared we learned. many others were not so lucky. as of this morning, cal fire says more than 6,000 homes were destroyed by the camp fire. how did this most destructive wildfire in california history start? there are several signs pointing to pge power lines. they filed a report with the state admitting there was an outage on a transmission line in the fire zone right before the fire started thursday m

. >> reporter: that's how janice clark describes the scene she escaped from yesterday. she packed up and fled from her butte county home. her familiar any sacramento had no idea if she'd survived. >> yesterday, november 8th is my birthday. and she's never in all my 35 years, she's never missed a call. and yesterday just going an hour, just hour after hour, not knowing. >> reporter: but late this crk searched. she got there late last night. >> i'm emotional right now. she lost everything. made it out, thank god. all that matters. >> reporter: tonight hundreds of families are reuniting after a harrowing 24 hours. the mcalisters met up at a walmart parking lot. >> we have no home, our home is gone. my neighbor just confirmed it. >> reporter: the paradise family grabbed what they could, grabbed their pets and took off now they're trying to figure out what's next. >> we're a strong group, we're going to stick together and figure out something to do, you know, a place to stay. >> you look at what you have, you have all each other, and that's what counts. >> reporter: janice c

. >> reporter: janice clark has all she needs now. her son says after fearing the worst he's never been happier. >> she's here now. so that's all that matters. best birthday gift i got this year. >> reporter: now, shelters are full in this area, but surrounding areas are trying to pitch in to makem people who need a place to stay. reporting lhurdin nbc bay area . >> okay. thank you, cheryl. such a difficult situation. many people still don't even know if their homes are standing. now, we did catch up with one man who left his butte county home last night as the flames swept toward his neighborhood. august jermar returned tonight and was stopped at a roadblock just a few blocks from his home. >> i came back to see if our house had burned down. >> and you don't know? >> i don't know yet. >> well, we do. it turns out germar's house was spared. many others not as lucky. as of tonight cal fire tells us more than 6400 homes have been destroyed by the camp fire. >> so how did this all start? tonight there are several signs pointing to pg&e p