but lowenthal says the biggest lesson learned from the tubbs fire is preparing for the worst. sonoma county crews depleted their resources quickly before the fire was contained, but lowenthal says los angeles is ahead with something called pre-positioning, which means pooling crews and resources when weather conditions are favorable for a fire. if we had a significant wind event today, we would be doing exactly what they did in southern california by pre-positioning and up staffing additional resources, having them ready to go. that's not something that we had in place prior to 2017. another big lesson is the recovery process. lowenthal and his team learned that debris pickup, monitoring water systems and getting information out to the public in a timely fashion makes all the difference. in a disaster situation, we were reliant upon the mutual aid that we received, not only from around northern california, but our our firefighting friends and family in southern california. back in 2017, it was fire crews from los angeles working to battle the flames in wine county. this time a

and now lowenthal's team is returning the favor. this image, showing a santa rosa engine crew working alongside los angeles city fire. >> those three engines together is a prime example of how firefighters may not know one another. they may operate differently within their own jurisdictions, but when it comes to an incident like this, they work seamlessly together. >> situations like this really highlight the true mission of mutual aid. local firefighters say they don't know how long they will be in southern california. it could be weeks. in the meantime, fire stations like this one here in novato remain fully staffed. in marin county. cornell, bernard abc seven news. >> all right, cornell, thank you for that. now, those fires have many of us here in the bay area thinking about disaster preparedness. and that was emphasized yesterday morning when a minor earthquake shook us here in the bay area. the quake was centered about three miles off the coast of san francisco's ocean beach, not far from the zoo. and it hit just minutes after

but at the same you know, it makes it a little bit more personal for a lot of us. >> fire marshal lowenthal himself lost his home during the wine country. fires. and he's just one of the many from the bay area down in the pasadena area, lending a helping hand. >> here in the bay area, san francisco business owner is offering free clothing to victims who have local ties who lost everything in the eaton fire. our kron philippe djegal reports the owners helping out while still recovering from a recent burglary. >> aaron, the bags are you guys for michelle slater drives down to southern california to reconnect with her older sister. jean are ross is says that. friday she stops by kristin klein surplus storage container on treasure island. we're just going through the container trying to find anything that might fit anything that you might excited or feel good line owns the vintage clothing store vacation sf in the city's north beach neighborhood and is offering free clothes to eaton fire victims like ross whose house in altadena burned to the ground on tuesday. this picture shows her facing the

rosa fire marshal paul lowenthal knows all too well what people are going through. ever since the tubbs fire devastated santa rosa, we saw in 2017 what at the time was the most destructive wildfire in the state's history. >> that's a title that you don't want, but at the same time, that's not a title that you want to lose, because that means that somebody else has gone through something worse than you. >> the eaton fire has special significance to him personally. >> i'm actually from pasadena, born and raised down here. went to school in altadena. a lot of friends either displaced, evacuated or have had their homes destroyed. >> his childhood school burned. >> my middle school was elliottt and to see what this community's been through, obviously i and a lot of people from my area know it all too well. >> personal friends are suffering. >> i am aware of friends that i grew up with that have had their homes destroyed, and that's part of what i also want to be able to help with. but it also helps us with our responses down here, knowing what these communities have been

. >> bay area firefighters, they are in la, including santa rosa fire marshal paul lowenthal. he and a big crew there on the ground providing aid to the la teams there. he says. >> extremely dry conditions there. incredibly challenging. plus, the area's vast. he also mentioned that for many firefighters who lost their homes and fires in northern california fighting these fires is even more personal. >> there's obviously a lot of firefighters is as events like this continue to happen become a personally affected by these incidents. it's not unfortunately a common out to hear stories about firefighters that had their own homes damaged or destroyed. but at the same you know, it makes it a little bit more personal for a lot of us. >> fire marshal lowenthal himself lost his home during the wine country. fires and he is just one of >> many from the bay area down there in the pasadena area near where the eaton fire is around. altadena that. >> lost their homes as well. >> meantime, bay area app is helping people in la stay safe from these wildfires is called watch duty and its focus

chaos putting extreme strain on fire resources and experience that santa rosa fire marshal paul lowenthal says, reminds him of situations local fire crews faced back in 2017 and 2018 strike teams that were strategically staged in southern california in advance of this windstorm. >> and now we're seeing that surge of additional strike teams and task forces from northern california getting pushed to the south to help them out, lowenthal says two strike teams have already made their way down to l.a, and another task force will join them wednesday afternoon. >> that means a total of 15 local engines will be aiding in the firefighting effort. >> the winds have the potential to limit the air resources, where sometimes they're not only ineffective, but it could be unsafe, and it makes those ground resources that much more critical. >> lowenthal says at this point in time, fire crews focus is on saving lives. and with the fires nowhere being under control, hoffman is thankful for all the help they can get. >> these are the kinds of things that we're going to have to prepare for and contend with t

chaos putting extreme strain on fire resources and experience that santa rosa fire marshal paul lowenthalhim of situations local fire crews faced back in 2017 and 2018. >> strike teams that were strategically staged in southern california in advance of this windstorm. and now we're seeing that surge of additional strike teams and task forces from northern california getting pushed to the south to help them out. >> lowenthal says two strike teams have already made their way down to la, and another task force will join them wednesday afternoon. that means a total of 15 local engines will be aiding in the firefighting effort. >> the winds have the potential to limit the air resources, where sometimes they're not only ineffective, but it could be unsafe, and it makes those ground resources that much more critical. >> lowenthal says at this point in time, fire crews focus is on saving lives. and with the fires nowhere being under control, hoffman is thankful for all the help they can get. >> these are the kinds of things that we're going to have to prepare for and contend with these kind of ma

. >> paul lowenthal will serve as spokesperson for the combined strike force.m vacar caught up with lowenthal and found out why the fire marshal wanted to be sent to the fires. >> santa rosa fire marshal paul lowenthal knows all too well what people are going through. ever since the tubbs fire devastated santa rosa, we saw in 2017 what at the time was the most destructive wildfire in the state's history. >> that's a title that you don't want, but at the same time, that's not a title that you want to lose, because that means that somebody else has gone through something worse than you. >> the eaton fire has special significance to him personally. >> i'm actually from pasadena, born and raised down here, went to school in altadena. a lot of friends either displaced, evacuated or have had their homes destroyed. >> his childhood school burned. >> my middle school was elliot on north lake. and so to see it and to see what this community's been through, obviously i and a lot of people from my area know it all too well. >> personal friends are suffering. >> i am aware

. >> earlier tonight, we did speak with paul lowenthal, division chief and fire marshal, with the santa rosa fire department. he's deployed at the eaton fire in pasadena, where firefighters are ready for this next wind event. >> the concern, again, has just been some of those uncontrolled containment lines. there's parts of the eaton fire that are absolutely inaccessible to not only apparatus and engines, but to our firefighters on the ground, to the point where it's unsafe to actually insert some of those firefighters to those particular locations. so we're relying heavily on our aircraft, using the helicopters to essentially drop on those areas to help build and strengthen the containment lines, lowenthal said. >> firefighters are being pre-positioned for structure protection, and they're also on patrol looking for any hotspots that could flare up tonight. in the wake of the devastation left in southern california, bay area leaders are asking residents to be vigilant, emphasizing that fire season is no longer a portion of the year. it's now year round right here in california. ktvu ja

veterans of the bay area's own massive wildfires like paul lowenthal, division chief fire marshal with the santa rosa fire department, the eaton fire, where we're at now, the focus has shifted really to putting out a lot of the hotspots that are around the structures. >> even though we're at 15% containment, that doesn't necessarily mean we have 85% of just open fire line that is actively burning in the bay area. >> we know them well. the oakland hills, glass, carr, tubbs camp, devastating wildfires from which bay area fire crews can draw experience and in southern california, provide leadership, guidance and direction on the front lines. >> there's a lot of experience from a lot of devastating fires that does help when you come to an event like this, a lot of those experiences help those communities that haven't gone through it before, as well as firefighters that haven't experienced that level of fire activity or destruction. >> and it's not just fire crews. santa rosa city and sonoma county officials have been guiding local politicians as well, not just about the firefight, but also

. >> santa rosa fire marshal paul lowenthal is part of a team of 70 firefighters from sonoma county now on the front lines. >> unfortunately, we're getting pretty good at our responses to these large scale wildfires across california. you look at what occurred here or at our at our own, in our own county, with the tubbs and nuns fire of 2017, southern california firefighters provided mutual aid to sonoma county back then. >> and now lowenthal's team is returning the favor. this image showing a santa rosa engine crew working alongside los angeles city fire those three engines together, is a prime example of how firefighters may not know one another. >> they may operate differently within their own jurisdictions, but when it comes to an incident like this, they work seamlessly together. >> you know, it really highlights the true mission of mutual aid. many firefighters say they do not know how long they will be in southern california. it could be weeks. we are told by local officials that while they're gone, local fire stations remain fully staffed in marin county. cornell, bernard. abc s

. >> santa rosa fire marshal paul lowenthal is part of a team of 70 firefighters from sonoma county now on the front lines. >> unfortunately, we're getting pretty good at our responses to these large scale wildfires across california. you look at what occurred here or at our at our own, in our own county, with the tubbs and nuns fire of 2017, southern california firefighters provided mutual aid to sonoma county back then. >> and now lowenthal's team is returning the favor. this image, showing a santa rosa engine crew working alongside los angeles city fire. >> those three engines together is a prime example of how firefighters may not know one another. they may operate differently within their own jurisdictions, but when it comes to an incident like this, they work seamlessly together. >> situations like this really highlight the true mission of mutual aid. local firefighters say they don't know how long they will be in southern california. it could be weeks. in the meantime, fire stations like this one here in novato remain fully staffed. in marin county. cornell, bernard abc seven new

they are down in los angeles, including santa rosa fire marshal paul lowenthal. >> he and a large group of firefighters are on the ground there providing aid to the la cruz. he says extremely dry conditions in southern california are incredibly challenging. plus, the area is pretty vast. he also mentions that many firefighters who lost their homes in blazes here in northern california, fighting these fires is personal. >> there's obviously a lot of firefighters is as events like this continue to happen become a personally affected by these incidents. it's not unfortunately a common out to hear stories about firefighters that had their own homes damaged or destroyed. but at the same you know, it makes it a little bit more personal for a lot of us. >> fire marshal lowenthal himself lost his home during the wine country. fires and he is just one of many from the bay area who are now in the pasadena area, lending a helping hand. >> we've been tracking the winds as we take a live look over los angeles. still dealing with some winds. you can see they're they're dying down. a red flag warning

chaos putting extreme strain on fire resources and experience that, santa rosa fire marshal paul lowenthalminds him of situations local fire crews faced in 2017 and 2018 strike teams that were strategically staged in southern california in advance of this windstorm. >> and now we're seeing that surge of additional strike teams and task forces from northern california getting pushed to the south to help them out. >> lowenthal says three strike teams have already made their way down to la. that means a total of 15 local engines will be assisting in the firefighting efforts. you can help people affected by the california wildfires. donate at redcross.org. slash abc to help the red cross respond and help people recover. >> and this disaster is turning into a political battle between newsom and president elect trump, who is now calling for the governor to resign over the fires. abc seven news reporter lena howland joins us live in studio this morning and is breaking down the claims. lena. >> well, amanda, this is something familiar we saw during president elect trump's first administration as w

veterans of the bay area's own massive wildfires like paul lowenthal, division chief fire marshal with the santa rosa fire department, the eaton fire, where we're at now, the focus has shifted really to putting out a lot of the hotspots that are around the structures. >> even though we're at 15% containment, that doesn't necessarily mean we have 85% of just open fire line that is actively burning in the bay area. >> we know them well. the oakland hills, glass, carr, tubbs camp, devastating wildfires from which bay area fire crews can draw experience and in southern california, provide leadership, guidance and direction on the front lines. >> there's a lot of experience from a lot of devastating fires that does help when you come to an event like this, a lot of those experiences help those communities that haven't gone through it before, as well as firefighters that haven't experienced that level of fire activity or destruction. >> and it's not just fire crews. santa rosa city and sonoma county officials have been guiding local politicians as well, not just about the firefight, but also

. >> santa rosa fire marshal paul lowenthal is part of a team of 70 firefighters from sonoma county now on the front lines. >> unfortunately, we're getting pretty good at our responses to these large scale wildfires across california. you look at what occurred here at our at our own, in our own county, with the tubbs and nuns fire of 2017, southern california firefighters provided mutual aid to sonoma county back then. >> and now lowenthal's team is returning the favor. this image, showing a santa rosa engine crew working alongside los angeles city fire. >> those three engines together is a prime example of how firefighters may not know one another. they may operate differently within their own jurisdictions, but when it comes to an incident like this, they work seamlessly together. >> situations like this really highlight the true mission of mutual aid. local firefighters say they don't know how long they will be in southern california. it could be weeks in the meantime. fire stations like this one here in novato remain fully staffed. in marin county. cornell, bernard abc seven news. >

veterans of the bay area's own massive wildfires like paul lowenthal, division chief fire marshal with the santa rosa fire department, the eaton fire, where we're at now, the focus has shifted really to putting out a lot of the hotspots that are around the structures, even though we're at 15% containment, that doesn't necessarily mean we have 85% of just open fire line that is actively burning in the bay area. we know them well. the oakland hills, glass, carr, tubbs camp, devastating wildfires from which bay area fire crews can draw experience and in southern california, provide leadership, guidance and direction on the front lines. >> there's a lot of experience from a lot of devastating fires that does help when you come to an event like this, a lot of those experiences help those communities that haven't gone through it before, as well as firefighters that haven't experienced that level of fire activity or destruction. >> and it's not just fire crews. santa rosa city and sonoma county officials have been guiding local politicians as well, not just about the firefight, but also about

. >> santa rosa fire marshal paul lowenthal is part of a team of 70 firefighters from sonoma county nowont lines. >> unfortunately, we're getting pretty good at our responses to these large scale wildfires across california. you look at what occurred here or at our at our own, in our own county, with the tubbs and nuns fire of 2017, southern california firefighters provided mutual aid to sonoma county back then. >> and now lowenthal's team is returning the favor. this image showing a santa rosa engine crew working alongside los angeles city fire. >> those three engines together is a prime example of how firefighters may not know one another. they may operate differently within their own jurisdictions, but when it comes to an incident like this, they work seamlessly together. >> situations like this really highlight the true mission of mutual aid. local firefighters say they don't know how long they will be in southern california. it could be weeks in the meantime. fire stations like this one here in novato remain fully staffed. in marin county. cornell, bernard abc seven news. >> well,

. >> reporter: paul lowenthal from the santa rosa fire department knows this firsthand. not only was he on the ground in 2017 during the santa rosa fires, but he also lost his own home and now he's here in altadena, yet another personal connection. >> this is a community that i grew up in. i am glad and almost honored to be able to help this community right now. >> reporter: helping people, that is exactly why the california national guard is here, just like they were deployed to santa rosa in 2017 to help with security there, because if you can imagine, all the work doug and others did to save these homes only for the homeowners to come back and find that they had been broken into during this evacuation time. i mean absolutely unimaginable. so that is why there is a curfew in effect for tonight, 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. the only people allowed inside the evacuation zone are emergency personnel and credentialed members of the media and these overnight curfews are going to go on indefinitely. the sheriff's department has already arrested 20 people for looting between the pa

veterans of the bay area's own massive wildfires like paul lowenthal, division chief fire marshal with the santa rosa fire department, the eaton fire, where we're at now, the focus has shifted really to putting out a lot of the hotspots that are around the structures. >> even though we're at 15% containment, that doesn't necessarily mean we have 85% of just open fire line that is actively burning. >> in the bay area, we know them well. the oakland hills, glass, carr tubbs camp, devastating wildfires from which bay area fire crews can draw experience and in southern california, provide leadership, guidance and direction on the front lines. >> there's a lot of experience from a lot of devastating fires that does help when you come to an event like this. a lot of those experiences help those communities that haven't gone through it before. as well as firefighters that haven't experienced that level of fire activity or destruction. >> and it's not just fire crews. santa rosa city and sonoma county officials have been guiding local politicians as well. not just about the firefight, but also

. >> bay area firefighters, they are in la, including santa rosa fire marshal paul lowenthal.ew there on the ground providing aid to the la teams there. he says. >> extremely dry conditions there. incredibly challenging. plus, the area's vast. he also mentioned that for many firefighters who lost their homes and fires in northern california fighting these fires is even more personal. >> there's obviously a lot of firefighters is as events like this continue to happen become a personally affected by these incidents. it's not unfortunately a common out to hear stories about

. >> reporter: paul lowenthal from the santa rosa fire department knows this firsthand. not only was he on the ground in 2017 during the santa rosa fires, but he also lost his own home and now he's here in altadena, yet another personal connection. >> this is a community that i grew up in. i am glad and almost honored to be able to help this community right now. >> reporter: as you can imagine for folks whose homes look like this, those small acts of kindness can mean so much at a time like these and we've seen this time and time again throughout the northern california wildfires where everyday people who have no experience in this are stepping up in any way that they can just trying to figure out a way to help because as they're walking around, they just feel so helpless. they don't know what to do and so they're trying to find anything, any way to try to help their neighbors in need. >> katie, like you mentioned, you have been on some of the front lines of some of the state's largest wildfires across california. does that still surprise you, that human spirit where dur

santa rosa fire marshal paul lowenthal. among those on the ground providing aid to las angeles crews. he says extremely dry conditions in the southern california are incredibly challenging. and of course, the area so vast we he also mentioned for many firefighters who lost their homes in northern california. fires are fighting. these are very personal. >> there's obviously a lot of firefighters is as events like this continue to happen that become a personally affected by these incidents. it's not unfortunately a common out to hear stories about firefighters that had their own homes damaged or destroyed. but at the same you know, it makes it a little bit more personal for a lot of us. >> multiple firefighters from across the bay area are in southern california. they're expected to be there for at least 2 weeks. san francisco business owner offering free clothing to los angeles fire victims who have ties to the bay area. christian klein owns the vintage clothing store vacation sf in the city's north beach neighborhood. she s

santa rosa fire marshal paul lowenthal. among those on the ground, he says extremely dry conditions are making this fight challenging. he also mentioned that for many fire crews who lost their homes in the northern california fires tackling this crisis feels personal. >> there's obviously a lot of firefighters is as events like this continue to happen. that become a personally affected by these incidents. it's not unfortunately a common out to hear stories about firefighters that had their own homes damaged or destroyed. but at the same you know, it makes it a little bit more personal for a lot of us. >> the area fire crews are expected to stay in la county for at least 2 weeks. it was a growing health concern related to the use of toxic fire retardant. now a south bay company is aiming to protect firefighters from those toxic chemicals. profit is jack moment. reports from santa clara. >> more outside the city of santa clara spyer department because like dozens of other agencies around california, they have fire crews in lo

let's welcome santa rosa division chief fire marshal paul lowenthal to mornings on two. to learn more about what's happening. thank you for being with us. thank you. first of all, how many firefighters from the north bay are either in or heading down to southern california from just santa rosa and across sonoma county alone, we've got over 65 firefighters. >> that includes two strike teams, each with five engines apiece. a task force with five engines, as well as numerous overhead, including strike team leaders and other chief officers that are assigned to incident management teams. >> can you tell me how it works to southern california? say we need help. then you decide how much or, you know, because we don't want to leave our region bare. >> right. and that's one of the benefits we had here in northern california with the amount of rain that we've had locally and across the region, it allows us to coordinate those efforts. there's different regions that communicate with one another at a state level, at a region level, and basically balance the needs around the state an

. >> and bay area firefighters are in los angeles, including the santa rosa fire marshal, paul lowenthal. all he had a large group of firefighters are on the ground providing aid to the crews there in l a he says the very dry conditions in southern california are very challenging. plus the area so big. so it's a lot to go over. he also mentioned that for many of the firefighters who lost their homes and fires in northern california that fighting these fires and allay becomes very personal. >> there's obviously a lot of firefighters is as events like this continue to happen that become a personally affected by these incidents. it's not unfortunately a common out to hear stories about firefighters that had their own homes damaged or destroyed. but at the same you know, it makes it a little bit more personal for a lot of us. >> partial there did also lose his home during the wine country fires. so it is personal for him. he's just one of many from the bay area down in the pasadena area trying to help. we know that their crews from oakland, alameda, santa clara counties, all they're trying t

i just spoke with santa rosa fire marshal paul lowenthal. he's in southern california. he and a large group of firefighters from northern california are on the ground providing mutual aid to less angeles crews. he says that extremely dry conditions in southern california are incredibly challenging. plus, the area is vast and new fires like the archer fire that you mentioned. that's just igniting and granada hills. they're stretching resources. he also mentioned that for many firefighters who lost their homes and blazes in northern california fighting these fires is personal. >> down here in it's it's incredible how little rain that they've had. the fact that they're still under red flag conditions today until 6 o'clock. and it's cold. i mean, it is january, but it's cold. the humidity is extremely low and fuels don't know that. it's january. the fields are acting like it's it's in the middle of fire season. obviously a lot of firefighters is as events like this continue to happen. become a personally affected by these incidents. it's not unfortunately a common out to he

. >> and bay area firefighters are in los angeles, including the santa rosa fire marshal, paul lowenthal. he and a large group of firefighters are on the ground providing aid to the crews there and he says extremely dry conditions in southern california are making it very challenging. plus, that's really big area. he also mentioned that for many firefighters who lost their homel in fires in northern california, fighting these fires feels very personal. >> obviously a lot of firefighters is as events like this continue to happen that become a personally affected by these incidents. it's not unfortunately a common out to hear stories about firefighters that had their own homes damaged or destroyed. but at the same you know, it makes it a little bit more personal for a lot of us. >> the fire marshal himself lost his home during the wine country fires and he is just one of many from the bay area down in pasadena, trying to lend a hand. we'll take live now. >> at the area los angeles, the scene right now. we have a crew there driving around so we can see some of the damage. >> this is a neigh

tonight, we spoke with paul lowenthal, division chief and fire marshal, with the santa rosa fire department, who is down in southern california tonight. he says the firefight has been challenging, but crews have been able to hold containment lines. >> from a spread standpoint, it's been minimal, minimal to none, really. a lot of the burning and the flare ups have been interior. but the concern, again, has just been some of those uncontrolled containment lines. there's parts of the eaton fire that are absolutely inaccessible to not only apparatus and engines, but to our firefighters on the ground, to the point where it's unsafe to actually insert some of those firefighters to those particular locations. so we're relying heavily on our aircraft with the tinder dry conditions and chance for strong winds, crews are staying on alert. >> a fire broke out in riverside county late this afternoon, and at one point, evacuation orders were issued for one neighborhood. but crews jumped on that fire and forward progress was stopped without losing any homes. >> all right. so right now we're also followin

santa rosa fire marshal paul lowenthal is the spokesman for strike teams from all across california.e was sent to altadena as part of california's mutual aid response to the eaton fire. he says this is a personal mission. >> i'm actually from pasadena, born and raised down here, went to school in altadena. a lot of friends either displaced, evacuated or have had their homes destroyed. >> fire marshal lowenthal has seen devastation here at home. he was among the thousands whose homes burned in the 2017 tubbs fire, which devastated parts of santa rosa. >> well, los angeles county is still under a smoke advisory. the county's health department says the devastating wildfires have created a very serious air quality problem. the fires that have destroyed thousands of homes and businesses are generating a huge amount of smoke with dangerous toxins. these toxins are mainly coming from the countless number of cars, appliances and furniture that have gone up in flames. >> when you breathe in smoke, it causes inflammation throughout the entire body, and the negative health effects can actually