wayne freedman, abc 7 news. >> 7 on your side's michael finney was at the sonoma county fair grounds helping out wildfire victims. finney and the rest of the team will be in the north bay taking your questions. today 7 on your side will be set up at various locations in napa starting at 11:00 this morning. you can follow abc 7 news on social media throughout the day for updates on where to find us. for a list of locations go to abc7news.com/7onyourside. >>> and breaking news a late-night fire at the largest refinery on the west coast. it's in the los angeles area. take a look here. heavy smoke and flames rose from the chevron refinery in el segundo. there was an explosion around 10:30 last night. some flames touched power lines creating even more sparks. firefighters used water and foam to put out the fire. it took them about an hour. police told people living nearby to close their windows, stay indoors and, thankfully, we have no reports of anyone injured. >> firefighters moved quickly to stop flames burning along highway 101 in sausalito. abc 7 news was there when crews attacked tw

abc 7 news reporter wayne freedman is live in sonoma where community meetingsevacuees are held today. >> reporter: meetings in snoem th sonoma, this afternoon, more meetings tonight in santa rosa. one of the big frustrations for the people is the kind of things behind us here, a road block on highway 12, that's keeping them from getting th inting to their. today they got answers and starting points. when fire victims gathered inside the sonoma veteran's hall, they came with heart ache. >> what do you have left? >> nothing. >> we just bought our retirement home, we've been there 14 weeks. >> reporter: that's just a taste of the emotional baggage following last week's fires, neighborhoods scorched beyond recognition, blackened unrecognizable regions blocked by orange cones, orange lights, orange signs. today homeowners like dell came looking for answers. >> it's frustrating. >> i want to know why i can't go home. >> the theme has been and continues to be patience. >> reporter: this was a briefing from local, state and federal agencies. some of whom admitted they don't have all the answe

santa rosa, wayne freedman. abc 7 news. >>> after ten days of working around the clock, pg&e has restored power to all of its customers who can access it at this time. about 350,000 customers lost their lelectricity and more tha 42,000 gas customers have their gas turned off. it is now 94% contained the atlas fire in napa and sonoma county is 98% contained. hundreds of homes there were damaged. laura anthony has the dramatic story of two people escaping the flames. >> reporter: jeffery morris cannot believe he and three friends made it out of their clear lake mobile home community alive. the 30 unit park was caught by flames on the eastern shore of clear lake in the middle of the night. >> it was hard. it was hard -- we did not know what to do. we paniked and we all ran. >> reporter: morrison and his friends evacuated neighbors and flames and the truck morris was going to make his escape in was self consumed by fires. he and his friends had to go by plan b. >> we came around from the backside and i went out from

wayne freedman is live. >> reporter: two meetings today. second is going on in santa rosa right now. first one in sonoma about 1:00 this afternoon and yes, lot of people are frustrated. one of the elements would be road blocks like this. roads are open, fires are over and think, gee, why can't i go back to my home? today they got answers and began to get some help. normally busy touristy downtown sonoma looked like ghost town, blame recent fires. only one location drew a crowd, sad one at that. >> bought retirement home. been there 14 weeks. >> reporter: filled with people like blanche. showed us pictures. it burned fast. >> five minutes. >> reporter: could you get anything out of there? >> nothing. >> reporter: blanche, her husband and all the fire victims came looking for answers. >> theme has been and continues to be patience. >> reporter: preefing from local and federal agencies small business administration and fema with applications for relief on site. >> won't know if they qualify unt unless they register. >> i want to know why i can

wayne freedman is live. >> reporter: two meetings today. second is going on in santa rosa right now. first one in sonoma about 1:00 this afternoon and yes, lot of people are frustrated. one of the elements would be road blocks like this. roads are open, fires are over and think, gee, why can't i go back to my home? today they got answers and began to get some help. normally busy touristy downtown sonoma looked like ghost town, blame recent fires. only one location drew a crowd, sad one at that. >> bought retirement home. been there 14 weeks. >> reporter: filled with people like blanche. showed us pictures. it burned fast. >> five minutes. >> reporter: could you get anything out of there? >> nothing. >> reporter: blanche, her husband and all the fire victims came looking for answers. >> theme has been and continues to be patience. >> reporter: preefing from local and federal agencies small business administration and fema with applications for relief on site. >> won't know if they qualify unt unless they register. >> i want to know why i can

wayne freedman with the woman helping to heal fire victims by clothing them. >> reporter: entered women's boutique, part communion, all frenzy and in the case of gina -- >> sorry you had to go through this. >> reporter: act of healing as well gina's boutique. how much have you given way? >> hundreds of items. >> everything down to our shoes. >> reporter: lived in fountain grove with husband and two boys. kathryn not far away. remains of her home. tonight feel whole again, wearing slightly used, donated clothing. >> amazing clothes that any woman would feel blessed to wear. >> reporter: come in from across the country, as far as atlanta. this room is one day's worth. >> i love that color on you. >> they leave not feeling alone anymore. talk with each other, get to meet other people who know what they're going through. >> reporter: garments are free, experience, priceless. in healdsburg, wayne by living off the grid. completely. or... set the washing machine to cold. do your thing. energy upgrade california. accused of obstructing justice to theat the fbinuclear war, and of violating the co

abc 7 news reporter wayne freedman got our first look inside the wildlife preserve. >> reporter: have you tried getting past the roadblocks on mark west springs road in santa rosa? with so much damage, destruction and despair getting to africa might be faster and easier. even though an african-type experience is only six miles down the road, safari west, a private wildlife preserve, somehow survived. >> miracle is probably the best word to use. >> reporter: the general manager, 1,000 animals representing 98 different species, none were killed or injured. when the fire roared through here sunday night winds were blowing at 80 miles an hour. safari west was right in the path of it. it turns out that hill back there may have saved the place. >> and it came up over the hill and jumped us and started down the valley. >> reporter: safari west did lose some buses and jeeps and equipment and lots of fencing which means plenty of digging right now. but not one animal escaped. >> that would be a scary thing because they're wild animals. >> reporter: spared by a wildfire that took almost everyth

. >> wayne freedman with the story. >> reporter: what is wrong with these pictures? napa valley wine train, epicurean delight that's major tourist attraction in the last quarter century but note the empty seats. talk to the guy who owns the business. >> down about 75% over typical october. >> reporter: blame the wildfires of two weeks ago. dangers have passed but tourists not returned to region. art gallery in napa is lonely. >> business is down, perception is we all burned up in napa and fact is we're more untouched than touched. >> reporter: blue skies and clean air, in bid to get message out, wine train filled with elected officials. whistle stop ad hoc press conference. asked about the difference between recovering from fire versus earthquake. >> earthquake was more repair and fire is more start over. >> reporter: but not in the towns of this valley. came as relief to angie and ronald of san diego. booked this birthday celebration vacation two months ago. admits to having been worried. >> didn't want to come to devastation and people losing their homes. but think

live, wayne freedman, abc7 news. >> fire burning in mendocino is 50% contained. redwood valley fired burned more than 35,000 acres and responsible for eight deaths. all mandatory evacuation orders in the county are lifted and residents allowed back in but some parts remain under evacuation warnings. >>> firefighters making significant process on the sulfur fire in lake county, 85% contained and all evacuation orders lifted. charred more than 2,200 acres near clearlake oaks. >>> after days of weather not helpful, the weather could help this week. >> looking for rain and talking about air quality. spencer. >> that's true. improving air quality, chance of rain early this week. cooler air coming our way. current wind gusts under ten miles per hour, light right now which is helpful. live view from mt. tam, much cleaner air than last week but still a bit of haze from fires up north. rest of the bay area has moderate quality right now. great improvement. look ahead to thursday, rain is expected to arrive. onshore flow, cooler, more humid air, gusting 15 miles an hour so

in he east santa rosa wayne freedman abc 7 news. >>> president trump is tweeting about the wild fires in california for the first time. he says our hearts are with all affected by the wildfires in california. god bless our brave first responders and fema team. we support you. at the white house press conference today sarah sanders said mr. trump has no plans to visit california right now but that could change. two more firefighters were hurt today battling a wildfire in the santa cruz mountains, burning rugged terrain from boulder creek. at least four structure have been destroyed and the fire is just 15% contained. mandatory evacuation in place for a handful of people. abc 7 news reporter is on that story. >> as smoke and haze fill the skies, residents of the communities here anxiously await their fate. >> i've never seen a fire that close before. that's where i want to live for the rest of my life. >> red cross volunteer virginiaia becker is not just staffing this evacuation center in los gatos she's also been evacuated from her home. >> it's a big reminder not to take anything for

. >> wayne freedman with the story. >> reporter: what is wrong with these pictures?a valley wine train, epicurean delight that's major tourist attraction in the last quarter century but note the empty seats. talk to the guy who owns the business. >> down about 75% over typical october. >> reporter: blame the wildfires of two weeks ago. dangers have passed but tourists not returned to region. art gallery in napa is lonely. >> business is down, perception is we all burned up in napa and fact is we're more untouched than touched. >> reporter: blue skies and clean air, in bid to get message out, wine train filled with elected officials. whistle stop ad hoc press conference. asked about the difference between recovering from fire versus earthquake. >> earthquake was more repair and fire is more start over. >> reporter: but not in the towns of this valley. came as relief to angie and ronald of san diego. booked this birthday celebration vacation two months ago. admits to having been worried. >> didn't want to come to devastation and people losing their homes. but thinking

above the fire zone with the air national guard, wayne freedman, abc 7 news. >> really great vantage point to see what's happening. 11,000 firefighters are on the front lines battling these blazes. this afternoon, in napa county, cal fire said 245,000 acres have burned statewide in just the last nine days, if you can imagine. the head of fema is in the north bay, as this disaster transitions into the recovery phase. >> california's a special state, a beautiful place. we have to be working very dilige diligently, not only today, but for many years to come. seeing the urban nature of the wildfire and what it can do to, you know, hundreds of homes in an area, you don't see that very often. it's pretty disturbing. >> administrator long will be meeting with governor brown tomorrow. >>> a convoy of trucks and trailers filled with supplies is part of a generous outpouring of support for victims. abc 7 news reporter leslie brinkley has a look now at how students in the central valley are helping. >> reporter: there's this alpaca, a flock of chickens, goat galore. no one knows their names. >>

. >> wayne freedman took an aerial tour with the national guard over the fire zones.and coffey park neighborhoods are mostly flattened. the major compared the devastation to iraq and the florida keys following hurricane irma. >> a few weeks ago we were in irma working hurricane recovery. in either scenario you start thinking about what it would be like to be that person with that loss and it's remarkable. it's got to be a tough spot to be in. >> cal fire estimates more than 5,000 structures are destroyed. >>> a golf tournament in the north bay that wrapped up only hours before the start of the wildfire is now donating to the relief effort. the safeway open is contributing $200,000 in support of napa and sonoma counties. it was held at seilverado resor and spa. the contribution comes just after albertsons, the parent company of safeway, announced a fund-raising campaign to benefit fire victims. >> if you'd like to help text to donate $10 to the red cross. just text the word red cross to the number 90999. you can also call the number on your screen if you want to volunt

. >>> abc 7 news reporter wayne freedman is tweeting photos from the fire zone. he shared this photo of the highway patrol and national guard keeping people away from one of the hardest hit areas. old redwood highway and mark west springs road. >>> two santa rosa schools that survived the fire could become an oasis for students and families. they are left standing when almost everything around them was destroyed. abc 7 news reporter laura anthony is live at one of those schools, ribley elementa >> reporter: hi, kristen, i'm standing at the play structure here at ribley university, in santa rosa, a school that barely survived when so many h homes behind me here within a few yards did not. these homes, many of them, belong to families with children who go to school here. they are two schools that are still standing amid the charred ruins among the hundreds of homes destroyed by last week's fires. perhaps they survived to serve as an oasis for students and families who have lost so much. >> when we went back into the fire areas, we went into school and schaffer scho