Transcripts For KNTV NBC Bay Area News At 11AM 20171011

The atlas fire burning in napa and sonoma counties scorched 42,000 acres, nearly double what it was last night. We have reporters all over the region. Lets start with nbc bay area pete suratos live in napa valley college. Now an evacuation shelter. Pete, we just got an update from firefighters. Reporter yeah, thats right, marcus and kris. Napa valley college, youre see a lot of people come here. Its one of the Evacuation Centers as were trying to get away from these areas because of these fires. I want to show you guys the crowds that are here right now, i went inside and talked to someone said hear at napa valley college, were talking about a few hundred evacuees as a result of a mandatory evacuation or the voluntary evacuation. As you mentioned, marcus, i did get a chance to speak with cal fire, they said the winds that are coming in, the low humidity, the red flag warning could lead to more evacuations. Our fuels are very low. Some are at historic low values, which means they readily burn. When you put this all together, it is going to be a very challenging situation. Reporter that video youre watching, this is Oakland Police this morning. Our camera crewaires right there. Going doortodoor in calistoga. After a manned doer evacuation was put in place for folks north of grant street. Due to the change in conditions connected to the tubbs fire. One of the four fires theyre battling here in napa valuey. The tubbs fire originated in calistoga before moving towards know ma county. I had a chance to speak with a guy heading out of town who said he had some sleepless nights preparing for this morning. Whats running through your mind at that point . Next step is kind of enough time to put the plan into, you know, action, so well go ahead and walk drive on down to san alina, rally with some family there at the familys winery and take a move off from there. Probably go further on south towards the bay area, sacramento, more family. When it comes down to it, the material things arent a big issue, just making sure everyone, friends and family have what they need and get out in the remaining time is really what counts for me. As you can see right there, that is the napa county where pete was today. A lot of people going doortodoor make assuring people got out of there. The forced evacuations in the area, something were potentially going to see more of. You heard the firefighters talking about the fact that the winds are shifting. The danger is far from over. The winds will pick up again this afternoon. There is a red flag warning in effect for later today. Lets bring in meteorologist kari hall to give us a better view of what we can expect. Right. As we take a look at all the wildfires burning in the north bay, a lot of acreage here. The atlas fire has grown to at least 43,000 acres and the we are seeing all of these increasing in acreage, unfortunately, as we have not yet had a chance to work on containment. So with a red flag warning going up later this evening, its for all of these areas shaded in red. A red flag warning means that we will have lower humidity and increased winds, and that will increase the danger of some of these wildfires that we already have ongoing that could spread, especially in Different Directions so with the winds coming in from the north at about 20 to 30 miles per hour, we will have gusts in some of the ridges up to 50 miles per hour. That could cause things to change very rapidly as we go throughout the rest of the evening. If you have wildfires just to the north of you, you must be on alert. Have that bag packed and ready to move. Embers may move to the south and things could go very downhill quickly as we go into tonight. Now, the winds are expected to pick up after a5 00 this evening, but the worst of the wind will be before sunrise. Unfortunately, thats when its dark and you wont be able to see a lot of whats going on. People are expected to move out of harms way before things go downhill. Well continue to monitor those wind speeds and also the humidity. Coming up in just a few minutes. All right. Thank you very much, kari. A look at the sheer scope of devastation in the north bay. This is a time lapse look at some of the neighborhoods in santa rosa completely ravaged by the tubbs wildfire. On many streets, there is simply nothing left. This video was taken by the Sonoma County Sheriffs Office and posted to facebook. Overnight, officials did order more evacuations for two other areas in the north bay. People told to leave as soon as possible. Nbc bay area reporter joins us live from an oakland neighborhood. What have you been able to see this morning . Reporter yeah, thats right, marcus. In fact, there has been a mandatory Evacuation Order issued to this area, and heres why. Already one house has been burned down. We can see fire crewaires sti a on site trying to figure out how this started. Now, what weve been seeing is the neighborhood sits along a huge hillside, which is just fuel for this advancing nuns fire. The wind is already slowly starting to pick up. We know a red flag warning has been issued for tonight when these winds are really expected to take off. I spoke with a fire official about 30 minutes ago, he said whats making this fire so challenging is how the fire seems to be jumping around. Earlier we saw fire move down another hill in the same neighborhood, and then start to pick up speed, but it hasnt hit any homes yet. This all stems from the nuns fire, which is burning in annandale state park. Burned more than 5,000 acres and just 2 contained. Its threatening more than 5,000 homes in the region, according to cal fire. At this mornings press conference, state officials said they are asking that more resources be diverted to this area. Now, as we drove up the hills here to get to this oak monday neighborhood here in santa rosa, we could see a significant change in the air quality. Thick smoke and haze, as weve been reporting all morning, Health Officials are warning people here, especially those of you in the north bay to use face masks. Breathing condition will only become more dangerous as this fire continues to spread. That goes for People Living in San Francisco and the east bay, as the wind will push south starting later on this evening. Reporting live in san jose. Nbc bay area news. Nbc bay area lets wait for that for just a moment. We want to go to this where the fire is burning in the north bay area. Among more than a dozen wildfires burning across the state right now, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate. We are expecting though winds to intensify this afternoon. So firefighters are worried that those flames could grow as well. Nbc bay area jay gray is live at the Silverado Country Club this morning, which has been one of the hardest hit areas, to show us the damage, the devastation left behind. Jay, weve seen you at a number of wildfires throughout the years. How does this compare to what youve seen before . Reporter overwhelming, kris, marcus, and just to reiterate what you guys are saying, firefighters are telling us they feel that wind starting to pick up. Its coming out of the north this time. Thats pushing the fire into places they had yet to fight. Its really expanding the effort here. When you talk about how this compares to other fires, take a look. This really you cant compare this to anything. Its completely burned down here. This is the garage of what was a home here. You can see kind of the remnants of two what looked like golf carts there. The rest of that is just debris. Its damaged and ash and there will be nothing pulled out of this or anything in this home, in fact. As you work through the garage area and up into the meat of the home here and up the hill, you can see its been gutted by the flames here, and this is something thats playing out house after house, neighborhood after neighborhood across the entire area. Take a look up the hill and you can see there is just a really nothing left here. When people start to get back into these neighborhoods, i think theyre getting the realization, there are a few people who have been back in and get the idea, yeah, were starting over, were starting from scratch. Many of these people, remember, left with what they could grab, throw into their car and get out as quickly as possible. All of this happening and the fires are still raging. More than 3,500 structures now burned. Many of them homes just like this one. And there is a big concern right now that that number is going to increase. All of the numbers, the horrific numbers associated with this firestorm are going to continue to rise. Again, those winds pick up and the fire becomes much more difficult to manage. They have not any kind of handle on this thing at this point and firefighters saying theyre not sure when they will. Right. They have been saying that this is a life preservation, lifesaving operation, not a fire fight at this point. And that is very difficult. We dont usually see that this far after the fire started. Thank you so much, jay. Stay safe out there. Reporter thanks. Well, coming up, the latest on all of the fires that are burning right now. Well bring you the latest numbers from cal fire our collaboration with pg e is centered around public safety. Without pg es assistance, without their training we could not do our mission to keep our Community Safe. Anytime we are responding to a structure fire, one of the first calls you make is for pg e for gas and electric safety. Its my job to make sure that they have the training that they need to make the scene safe for themselves and for the public. Its handson training actually turning valves, turning systems off, looking at different wire systems all that training is crucial to keeping our Community Safe and our firefighters safe. Together, were building a better california. Grown right here in california, with absolutely no antibiotics ever. A better way to grow, a better way to eat. And it starts with foster farms simply raised chicken. California grown with no antibiotics ever. You re looking at new video tht one of our crews took and continuing wildfire coverage this morning. Youre looking at new video that one of our crews took overnight. This is showing the nuns fire burning in Sonoma County. More ka evacuations are issued and they were issued overnight as that fire continues to burn as you can see right there. And those Evacuation Orders that were issued overnight in Sonoma County, where people in the area Moon Mountain road, mission way, london way, martin road, kay bail road and adobe way in Sonoma Valley are all being told to leave their homes immediately. You see that on the map. This is napa county, part of calistoga is now under new mandatory Evacuation Orders, and that covers all residents north of grant street. For people south of grant street, evacuations are still voluntary, though we did hear the sheriff say if you have somewhere else to go, you should go. Meantime, in Solano County, upper and lower green valley, this is off 180 near fairfield, twin sisters road also still under mandatory evacuation. Now, if you need to find an Evacuation Center in your area, we did make it easy. Weve put them all in the same spot. Log on to nbcbayarea. Com for a running list of Evacuation Orders and places that you can go to be safe. And now to a heartbreaking moment. This is ricardo. He arrived home and whats left of that home in glen ellen yesterday. His threebedroom home where he lived with his wife and three daughters, as you can see right there, gone. Both of their cars also destroyed. You can see he is overcome with emotion there. He said this is the only thing that is left. That little doll there. That pink little doll. Thats the only thing thats left. He doesnt know how hes going to tell his daughters that the only place theyve ever known as home is now gone. Okay. So the weather watch is extremely critical at this point. Meteorologist kari hall has been tracking that red flag warning that goes into effect at 5 00. We heard earlier in the press conferences, the updates, kari, the fire Officials Saying they expect the fires are going to go in the opposite direction they did last night. Some areas could get a second pass. Thats possible. It could spread a lot more quickly that we had with the weaker winds that we were seeing last night. A live look outside in san rafael, looking really smokey. We can already tell that the wind direction has changed. Look at San Francisco right now, as we are seeing very smokey, hazy conditions and very poor air quality. Even extending into the trivalley. Look at dublin right now. You can barely see anything. And it looks cloudy, but this is all smoke being pushed down from the north bay, even into the south bay as we speak, so very poor air quality. It is dangerous to be outside. And were breathing in all of these chemicals that are burning in those wildfires from houses to gas lines and also, once again, hazardous materials. And it will be unhealthy as we go into the next several days, there will be times of off and on smoke, especially when the winds come from the north and push that smoke into the rest of the bay area. As far as humidity, we are seeing the humidity decreasing. Earlier this morning, it was up to almost 100 . When we had the higher humidity, that kind of suppresses the fire activity, but now as that humidity decreases, thats the reason why the red flag warning will be in effect. We also will have some stronger wind. Looking at sustained winds here in miles per hour. Here we are at 6 00 this evening and the winds coming in in santa rosa. Coming in from the north and some northwesterly winds at about 22 miles per hour. Now, there will be some higher gusts, especially in some of the mountain ridges and the higher elevations. Thats where we will have those gusts potential up to 50 miles per hour. Sustained winds in napa picking up at about 10 00 tonight, and the rest of the bay area will also have some gusty winds that will increase the fire danger for some of our even into the east bay. Looking at todays forecast, temperatures will be cooler. Its all been about trying to move people away out of harms way, and for the north bay, temperatures will be in the upper 70s. The rest of the bay area also feeling some cooler temperatures. Then we look at the sevenday forecast. This is for the north bay. We will have some gusty winds throughout tomorrow morning and for friday, 73 degrees. A little bit of a lighter wind, but then it does increase for the weekend as we will have some warmer temperatures moving in and possibly a shift in the wind. Heres a look at San Franciscos sevenday forecast. It will be cooler the next couple of days, but very smokey and poor air quality, even into the weekend and for the inland areas, this includes the east bay and the south bay, high to mid70s through the end of the work week, and this weekend warming up. Once again, we talked about the winds increasing once again as we will have another change of surge of temperatures and humidity as well. Mike, youre tracking whats open and whats closed on the roads. Thats right, kari. Folks, stay out of the area if you have no business there. If you have not been called or told to go into the area. The reason is all of these orange squares. Those are closure notifications for the local roadways. 101 has remained open through santa rosa and even up in the willits area where the fire goes on. That has cleared up. As far as highway 101 is concerned, thats open. Weve had the fire move open, this new portion closed to highway 29. Grant street and north of there. Pete showed you where the evacuations are now mandatory north of grant street. A small section of highway 29 that will take you down to 128. Get out of the area, as petes been telling you all morning, thats one area thats had a change. Kari talked about the winds that were changing. Blew over toward upper and lower green valley. More smoke in this area here between 121 and i80. If the winds continue to blow south as karis talking about, that could take smoke and perhaps fire down into the fairfield area. Were continuing to follow that. Fairfield police have been giving great notifications on their facebook page. We have limited service for Sonoma County transit. Limited bus service there as well as the napa vine bus. South of santa rosa, into san rafael and golden gate transit has limited service to and from santa rosa. You saw all the cars burned out in the area, folks. Trying to give people options, guys. Well send it back to you. Thanks, mike. Coming up, were looking into the cost of the fires next. Our scott mcgrew breaks down the numbers. First, happening now, facebooks coo is on capitol hill. Nancy pelosi, adam schiff and mike conaway are meeting with samberg. Not classified and not official testimony comes as congress investigates hacking of the 2016 lengths, including what role facebook may have played. Also right now, the boy scouts are becoming more inclusive. Ground breaking news that girls will soon be all to become cub scouts, eventually earning the coveted rank of eagle scout. A separate program for older girls might be available in 2019, allowing them to become eagle scouts as well. Were back in two minutes with more news. Red flag warning a as the wind picks up overnight our crews will be on the ground, tracking the wildfires tearing through wine country. For every development, as news breaks, join us now on nbcbayareadotcom. And tomorrow morning on breathing conditions. Health Officials Say People Living near these fires need well, another big concern right now is the breathing conditions in napa and Solano County. As well as Sonoma County. Health Officials Say people who live near these fires need to be wearing proper face masks as the air quality continues to get worse. They say this kind of thick smoke can have a major health impact, eventually for children and the elderly. Earlier, we heard that veterans from the california veterans home, 80 of them with compromised breathing, they were move out and evacuated out of the county. Not just any mask is going to do, though we have seen folks using makeshift masks. Those surgical masks, theyre not going to protect your lungs from the smoke, theyre going to make it a little less stinky to breathe. Health Officials Say use a mask that looks like this that as a particulate respirator, the square thing right in the middle. That will filter out the small particles out of the air as you breathe it in. The valves help to protect you from bacteria and viruses as well. The valves will also help reduce heat buildup inside the respirator so youre more likely to keep it on your face. They cost anywhere from 10 to 25. I bought one this morning at the hardware store, a twopack for 6. Find them at lowes home depot, other stores as well. Chris chmura will be at thenally Community Center in santa rosa passing out face masks and other items. He will also answer insurance questions if you have them. Later in the day, he will visit napa valley college. Answer a lot of consumer questions as well. So a lot of folks will certainly be lining up for that. At some point, Insurance Companies and the federal government will have to total up the costs of the fire, but right now, guesses are really the best bet anybody can do. Scott mcgrew, whatever that number is, it will be billions. Yeah, billions upon billions. We cant estimate the dangers there damages, rather, marcus, because the damage is, frankly, not over. Its actually getting worse out there. Even this morning, were hearing of those new evacuations, the wind picking up. The Real Estate Group core logic has taken a look at the overall value of whats burned and what may burn and says it estimates 5 billion in damage based on what its going to cost to rebuild the homes that have been leveled or are in danger of burning down. Core logics says about 11 of the homes in napa and santa rosa are at high or extreme risk of damage. By comparison, the 1989 loma earthquake did about 7 billion in damages in modern dollars. From the marina all the way down to santa cruz nick watsonville. I have a map for you so you can see what were dealing with. A combination of satellite imagery and on the ground sensors. A joint project between cal fire and uc san diego and other schools. It shows where firefighters shows them where the fires are, its capable of telling them where the fires going to go based on wind and other factors. Now, as we try to figure out how much all of this is going to cost, we have to deal with a lot of unknowns. We already have a shortage of construction crews in the San Francisco bay area. Presumably, they will return to help rebuild. Here is a big problem, the effect of budgets on City Councils and counties. The rescues, the firefighters and no tourism dollars coming in, maybe for quite some time, means fewer tax dollars. If your house burned down or suffered as little as 10 damage, California Law says you can ask for an emergency suss spngs of our property taxes. I tweeted out how to file that appeal. There is no reason to pay property tax on a home that is there, after all, kris and marcus, but, again, that means less money for cities and counties that all of a sudden have these tremendous expenses. It is very difficult. Thank you very much. Were going to repeat that link as well. I thought it was interesting. Another area hard hit is the oak mont area of santa rosa. This is where i was yesterday morning for today in the bay. Firefighters dealt with shifting winds and fastmoving flames. People living there jumped in to help fight those fires alongside with the firefighters and they tell us this is an experience that is exhausting and dangerous. It was pretty emotional. Last night it burned down to the fence and stopped and turned back around this morning and probably a couple of hours ago it the wind just flared up and it was here in five minutes. The house is saved. So it does feel good. You know, one thing i wanted to point out is that, you know, we have at least a dozen guys in our department that have lost their homes. And those guys are on duty working. Santa rosa firefighters say several of their own coworkers have lost everything in the cubs fire. But they keep going to work trying to fight those flames. Right now, many people are wondering, theyve been asking us on social media, how can i help the victims of the fire . We posted a link on our website with a few ideas. Visit nbcbayarea. Com. We made it easy for you. The link is right under the top story box. All right. Live report on the wildfires coming up as we prepare to get another update from cal fire. Also, governor jerry brown as he declared a state of emergency in the last few days. Hey, folks, before we got go to break, i want to show you how to join our community on the waze application. Leverage the power of us all as well as the power of google. Go to your waze app on iphone or android. A magnifying glass. Click on that and then your name at the top. Thats your profile. Pick ours, nbc bay area wazers. Thats how you join the community and thats how we help each other out. Well get back to you right after this break. You could save energy by living off the grid. Completely. Or. Set the washing machine to cold. Do your thing. Energy upgrade california. You re looking at new drone video, capturing the widespre and back to our wildfire coverage this morning. We have been looking and youre looking right now at this drone, this new drone video capturing the wide spread damage from the fire in santa rosa. At least 17 people are dead in the wake of the fastmoving fires across Northern California. More than 20,000 people have been evacuated from their homes, both sonoma and napa counties have been hit extremely hard by these fires. Were awaiting a News Conference from Governor Brown. He will speak about those fires and what happens when that happens, we will bring that to you live right here on nbc bay area. We do have continuing Team Coverage on the north bay fires with reporters all over the region. Yeah, lets start with nbc bay area pete suratos live at napa valley college, which is now an evacuation shelter. And, pete, we know you also got an update from firefighters not too long ago. Reporter thats right, marcus. We did get an update from cal fire, talking about the challenges of the winds as far as battling these fires in napa county. I want to point out the air quality is pretty bad here. In between live reports, im wearing this mask, which theyre encouraging people to do. Behind me here at napa valley college, people coming here. Saying there are about a few hundred people coming here for help. They have food, they have water here for them. In speaking to cal fire, theyre saying those wind, that red flag warning, the winds and the low humidity, the combination could pose challenge for them and could lead to more evacuations. Our fuels are very low. Some are at historic low values, which means they readily burn. When you put this all together, it is going to be a very challenging situation. Reporter yeah, there was a i dont know if were showing the video right now of oakland place going door to door in calistoga. Thats where we were at earlier this morning. A mandatory evacuation for folks north of grant street due to changing conditions connected to the tubbs fire. Now that tubbs fire originated in calistoga before moves towards Sonoma County. I did get a chance to speak to some of the evacuees. A guy head out of town said he had some sleepless nights preparing for this morning. Whats running through your mind at that point . Next step, i mean, just kind of enough time to put the plan into, you know, action. So well go ahead and walk drive on down to san alina, rally with some family there at the familys winery and take a move off from there. Go further on south towards the bay area, towards sacramento. When it comes to more material things reporter you guys are taking a look at the number of people here, the evacuees that are here in napa valley college. I want to point out as far as shelter needs, theyre telling me they could use more water, dry food, as well as pillowcase for folks that are coming here. They continue to possibly hit capacity here at napa valley college. As far as what county officials told us earlier during the News Conference regarding the fires, no number has to how many people have been evacuated, and unfortunately, they still dont have an estimated return date for folks who want to get back to their homes. Were live in napa. Pete suratos, nbc bay area news. All right. Thank you very much, pete. Well post that information with specific requests that pete mentioned at napa valley college. Dont forget, chris chmura and the nbc bay Area Response team is going to be out there answering questions and handing out faces as well. The weather isnt helping the firefighters battle these stubborn flames at all. Meteorologist kari hall is continuing our Team Coverage with a closer look at the red flag fire dangers crews will be facing in the coming days. Kari . We have some poor air quality okay. We dont have kari right now. She was talking about the poor air quality that we are experiencing. Yeah, you can see that poor air quality right there. That smoke is so thick, kari, and its going to be whipped around bied winds. As we take a live look at that camera in santa rosa. You can see all the smoke just lingering there in the air. Looking at our surface winds and what we are seeing right now, wind speeds coming out of the north at about 10 to 15 miles per hour. And the winds will be picking up as we go into the evening. So thats going to be the concern. As those winds increase and temperatures will be going down, but also looking at some very dry conditions. Marcus and kris . Right. Right now, we want to go to governor jerry brown and other officials giving on update on those wildfires. Right now, this is just near sacramento. And we are all hands on deck and doing everything we can to continue to support our local authorities and the communities to get through this process. Were running a 24 7 operation here at the state Operations Center. Weve got close to 5,000 people deployed in supporting our local authorities in the various fires. We are working and reaching out and have reached out to our neighboring states for additional support, which well go over in the briefings in a minute here, which outlines all the various agencies and departments that have contributed to the fire fight. So, what well do as we do our typical fashion, well begin the briefing by having each of the various agencies that are leading certain parts of this. Well start off with the director of the cal fire. Thank you, mark. Yeah, and i just want to reiterate, this is what weve said every morning all week since this began, were not out of the woods and were not going to be out of the woods for a long a number of days for a great number of days to come. The weather conditions that surfaced sunday evening continue to plague the state. While we yesterday had a brief respite from the winds, we have returned today to red flag conditions, very dry humidities, 8 in many locations, and winds that are surfacing out of the north in some places 40 miles an hour. But even yesterday without winds, these fires were driven by the critically dry fuel bed. We are still impacted by five years of drought. With the significant rain we had last winter, those effects are gone of that moisture and we are literally looking at explosive vegetation. These fires are burning actively during the day and at night when one would expect the fire to subside. Make no mistake, this is a serious critical, catastrophic event. We have over 22 fires, major fires burning in california, primarily in eight counties here in Northern California this morning. Over 170,000 acres have burned since the beginning of this event just a few days ago. And whats challenging about this is that these fires arent just in the back woods or out in the wildlands or the forest and the state. These fires are burning in and around through developed communities. The city of santa rosa, very classic example of the kinds of challenges were facing in these fire fights. Developed areas a mile or two outside or within communities away from the wildlands. Box stores, buildings, hotels, homes, all of it, these are the kinds of challenges because all of these areas not only have this infrastructure but have people. Lots of people that we are dedicated to protect, and thats our first priority, is the protection of life and property. Thats what we have been focusing on every day and will continue to focus on as our priority from the beginning of this event. Heres where were at this morning. Very active fires all night. As i indicated, 170,000 acres. Unfortunately, just moments ago we updated the count of fatalities associated with these fires. Its now at 21. And, again, this is continuing to evaluate and adjudicate the missing persons or unaccounted for individuals. We continue to work on that as we get into some of these fire areas. Im going to tell everybody straight up, the potential continues to exist for peril if folks dont get out from in front of these fires. So please pay very close attention to Evacuation Orders. Its very dynamic. These fires are changing by the minute. Information is going out via social media, via local doortodoor contact. We have Law Enforcement officers and firefighters yesterday afternoon in Solano County going doortodoor pulling people out of their homes ahead of the atlas fires. So, again, very serious. Just a quick update, and, again, more information is available locally on these fires, but, for example, this morning the atlas fire in napa, now Solano County, is over 42,000 acres. The tubbs fire in santa rosa is about 25,000 acres. These numbers are very fluid and theyre going to change throughout the day as these fires grow. We initiated additional Evacuation Orders early this morning for portions of the community of calistoga. Also looking at evacuation advisories for the town of milltown in lake county to the north. Were concerned and anticipate that before the day is over several of these fires will merge into one fire. Literally, and if you looked at the napa valley, we have fire on the ridgeline of town to the west and to the north of town. So a great deal of fire all across these landscapes. Fires are wellorganized. As i said yesterday, we have four intimate manage teams organized to bring all of these fires uppnder an organization. We spent over an hour speaking to the four incident commanders this morning to determine what were their critical challenges, what do they need, what do we as the state, local and our federal partners need to do to support them to get what they need . I can tell you right now across all of these incidents we have 73 helicopters committed to this fire fight. We have over 30 air tankers. We have over 550 fire engines just deployed or immediately en route to these incidents. All told, close to 8,000 firefighters committed to the fire fight. Thats just what were doing right now on the incidents. We are leaning very far forward. Were anticipating requests from the incident were actually ordering Additional Resources beyond what the fires are asking from us to get well ahead of this. I can tell you that yesterday i ordered 170 fire engines from neighboring states, oregon, nevada, washington and arizona have all stepped up to the plate and are sending resources upon our request. We are also working through our federal partners to get Additional Fire resources from around the country. That includes almost 60 Additional Fire fighting hand crews. An additional 154 fire engines and an additional six bulldozers. We are also rapidly redeploying resources from fires within california that are being contained and moving them into these critical fires. The canyon 2 fire in Orange County is 8,000 acres this morning, but the containment is coming up very rapidly. We are rapidly releasing fire engines from that incident and moving them into Northern California. We are going very deep into our system. Were going very deep outside of the state to get these resources. Dire the director, as well as our general baldwin will talk about the asset that the military is providing. Were going very deep into the National Guard and federal military assets here in california. Again, i want to reiterate, we are leaning very far forward to get all of the resources ahead of when we need them. Understand, weve got firefighters, Law Enforcement personnel and others on the fire lines that have been out there for 72 hours, so our primary goal is to get these resources into the fires, get these folks relief and get firefighters on the ground and cutting a perimeter line and containing these fires. Were going to keep folks very well updated throughout the course of changing events, but i also want to really directly address some of the concerns that have come up relative to aircraft and air tankers and aviation assets. I indicated weve got over 73 helicopters and over 30 air tankers, airplanes fighting this fire. We have access to every available asset in the country as it relates to aviation assets. Those are all in here or coming. Theyre all being used. The incidents are getting everything they need. The challenge yesterday, as many saw, the smoke inversion literally pushed down across the ground and the aircraft could not fully see, not see what was on the ground, they could not see each other flying in the air. In effect, this couldnt work. So they couldnt work in many areas. They still flew where they could. Today, a very different picture. Every one of the incident commanders indicated to us aircraft were already up and flying when we were speaking to them early this morning. So they continue a very aggressive aerial assault across all of the incidents based on the needs of those incidents today and that will continue for as long as we can continue to fly. We will continue to do that. So with that, i will turn it over to acting commissioner of the california highway patrol. Thank you, director. As far as the chp personnel, we have 112 personnel assigned to this event right now. Mainly with traffic control, general Law Enforcement in the santa rosa area, dealing with looters and also general Law Enforcement. I also have a small contingent helping out in shelters. Last night, we assisted the National Guard and some people down in the Napa Yountville area that needed to get to the yountville veterans home. We gave them an escort and got them taken care of. Also, we assisted additional 80 other people that needed to get to the hospital. We have the assets we need. If we need more to assist with evacuations, well coordinate that with the director and provide those services. And also, the other assets we have is our rescue helicopters. I dont know if many of you know this, but on sunday night into early monday morning, two of our chp helicopters, one based out of the napa airport and one based out of redding, between those two helicopters and those crews, they rescued 44 people, five dogs and two cats. And were very helpful and thankful to get those people to safety. And we look forward to continuing to work with our partners there and address this very catastrophic problem. Thank you. Im Major General dave baldwin with the california National Guard. We currently have 700 soldiers and airmen on duty supporting both Fire Fighting efforts as well as consequence management that comes with the evacuation of people and assisting their care and shelter. Were mobilizing an additional 1,800 soldiers and airmen today that will be available for duty later today and tomorrow. That includes the entire 49th military police brigade, which is based in Northern California. Military police and engineer assets to the affected area. Weve mobilized 13 Fire Fighting helicopters, in addition to two medical evacuation helicopters and two life observation helicopters. Were in coordination with the nevada and oregon National Guard to bring in additional helicopters if necessary. And weve also begun coordination with United States navy and the United States marine corps to bring in any Fire Suppression capable aircraft and crews that they have, either into Northern California or to fight fires in southern california. Were also flying two m29 reaper unmanned aerial platforms that are providing fire Mapping Services to cal fire, as well as damage assessments to the local jurisdictions and to fema. Weve deployed four Communications Systems to be able to provide Telephone Services in areas where Cell Phone Service is out, including one system for the nevada National Guard. We are also providing linguistic support to evacuated areas for those areas where evacuated personnel do not speak english or have difficulty with that language. We are continuing to work very closely with cal fire and the sheriffs in all of the affected counties, and were prepared to deploy more resources either from the National Guard of california, the surrounding states or the federal military, if necessary. Ill be followed by mr. Bob fenton, who is the regional administrator for fema. Thank you, general. On monday, Governor Brown requested a declaration from the president. Tuesday morning, president declared a major declaration for california. In addition to the ten Fire Management grants, we issued sunday night through monday morning, that declaration authorizizes me to coordinate the federal governments activities in support of the state and local governments. As you heard from previous speakers this point, it includes resources to help fight the fire. In addition to that, we are providing resources to help with the sheltering, such as commodities and other resources. Today, my focus is to further assessments, to turn on additional programs from the federal government that will be able to help individuals that with the recovery from these events. Thats our focus. With that, im going to turn it over to the director from the state office of california emergency services. Thanks, bob. Okay, so, youve got kind of an overview. Let me reiterate that all hands are on deck in this particular situation. We will continue 24 7 operations until the situation is mitigated. We are receiving huge amounts of resource support from our local governments and other mutual aid assets from the Mexican Border to the oregon border and beyond. We have over 330 Law Enforcement personnel committed in supporting our local authorities, and in the shelters, which the populations are currently about 4,400, in support of those shelters we have already distributed over 40,000 meals, 60,000 liters of water thank you, sheriff. 60,000 liters of water. Almost 2,000 baspecial cots, ad compliant, 12,000 blankets and sheets and 100,000 masks. These are commodities that are being distributed through points of distribution to support the counties and their operations. Mr. Fenton mentioned the support from the federal government which has been outstanding and very appreciative. Thats helping us move forward. In addition, a big question and a concern, at the height of it, 75 major cell sites that were damaged or burned. Im happy to report that 64 of those 77 have been restored and beginning to get cell coverage back into some of the areas, particularly in downtown napa and some of the areas around the shelters in Sonoma County. As well as the fiber lines have been repaired enough that they could actually do some work around and be able to start moving data through those lines. Power still roughly about 50,000 individuals without power throughout all of the complex fires. They are working on trying to restore that. Downtown napa was restored and the number of parts of sonoma as well. They also are trying to get gas turned on back into areas they can today. The areas where gas was turned off, they have to go back in and reset pilot lights. That is a major effort of pg e and the other utilities that are going to be doing that today. Lastly, our private sector partners have been tremendous. Weve had tremendous commodities of support, walmart, target, california grocers association, google, facebook, these have call come together and coordinated here through the state Operations Center to provide whether its funding or personnel support or Technical Support or commodities, all of them have been very, very appreciated and are part of this overall effort. We will continue this pace. We will continue to support this until this situation is mitigated and we are getting those communities back up online again. So with that, at this point ill turn it over to our governor, Governor Brown. Well, youve heard the story here. Its a very serious fire. Weve had big fires in the past. This is one of the biggest and most serious. Its not over. The restoration of all the mon pow manpower and resources, its a lot. It has to be a lot because we have People Living in communities and cities and very developed situations they are connected to, the forest and the brush and all the rest of it becomes kinding. Thats the way it is with a warming climate and dry weather. These kinds of catastrophes have happened and continue to happen. We have to be prepared to do everything we can to mitigate. Its going to cost a lot of money. The president declared a major develop. Elsewhere, this will be tens of billions. Weve got to get ready to deal with this situation and then prepare for others that will follow in the years to come. Ill answer any of your questions. Governor, you mentioned this would cost tens of billions of dollars i mentioned the whole country. There is a 30 appropriation it will have to grow. Does california have enough in the reserve fund to pay for this . I think we have enough . But the federal governments going to help us, as theyre helping the other states. Its just part of the facts of a highly developed society is that you have a lot of people and a lot of assets and in the face of floods and hurricanes and fires, this is what happens. So this is all part of the budget. We have we can pay our share. We want to make sure the federal government is a good partner. So far i think theyve been a very good partner. Do you have an estimate was to what californias cost will be . I dont have an estimate. I doubt i can get one quite this early. It will be a lot of money. On the economy, you know, grape growers, this is a huge part of the california economy. Are we prepared to handle that as well . Well, obviously fires destroy crops, they wont produce food. Id say overall the california economy is very large, about 2. 5 trillion, so it grows even in disasters and tragedies. The machinery of the market grinds on. So i dont think youre going to see a slowdown because of the fires. The other things that are going on in the firearm world that could affect this, but i think the effort were putting in, and then the repairs, the rebuilding, that will also help. Individually, there are great tragedies. People have died. People are injured. And their wellbeing and their homes and loved ones are deeply affected so that cant be recovered, but a material basis. Question for oes. When somebody is kidnapped and the amber alert system is used to notify people. Was a similar system used to notify people of the wildfires . If not, why . There are a number of systems that have been utilized by counties and they have the redundancy to use those systems when they want to notify the public. One is maybe reverse 911. One is Emergency Alert system. One is through a program called nixle. Various counties use different ways to push information out to the public. And to my knowledge, they were used by the counties where they could be used and as part of our protocol they were implemented in this particular what was used . Did they send out Emergency Alerts . People were saying they didnt get anything. They werent told through an Emergency Alert system they had to evacuate. So these alerts come out in various forms. They come out over social media. They come out by notifying your phone directly. If its a reverse 911, they have that in a database you can opt in. You could opt out of those. You would be able to get notifications from the dispatch centers of these communities. The idea is that there are multiple ways to be able to notify them. I cant speak to who didnt get, what they didnt get at the time. This fire came through the night. It was rapidly moving. Some people were awakened by while the fire was actually at their doorstep and in the middle of the night. So i think that time will tell where were at on who got the notifications in the area. Do you know if they actually used the text message alert system that they have access to . To my knowledge, they used all of the different modalities they have within their capacity to use. Are you satisfied with the way that it worked or something more that can be done along that line . Again, think its a little too premature to determine what actually worked and what didnt. I think right now its been the focus of continuing to fight the fires and get people out of harms way. You mentioned out of state Fire Fighting assets. Can you tell us what are they on the road . Are they preparing . Are they going to get there when theyre supposed to get there in terms of fighting the fire and relieving the crews that are there . Absolutely. Theyre all in various stages of response. We already have some assets in the state en route and assigned to incidents. We have others on the road and will be coming in here today, tomorrow and the next day, which is what we need because that allows us to plug them into these incidents at the right time and at the right places. Were very comfortable with that. Every day the incidents are reevaluating what their needs are and that allows us to respond to that and get out in front and get them Additional Resources if they need it. You havent mentioned containment. Are we still 0 containment in most of these fires . We are at very low containment on most of these, but i do want to bring that up because i know i committed over the week to say we would get you some. Folks are working really hard, you know, and a day like yesterday, you know, specifically the atlas fire, these fires are literally burning faster than firefighters can run in some cases. So imagine being out there in difficult terrain with miles and miles of fire lines and to try to catch up to that and put in hand line or lay hose. Its very challenging and fires are spotting thousands of feet, miles in some cases ahead. So its just very difficult to get any kind of containment. But i will tell you the marsh is