Destroyed. Thats the latest count. At least three people have been hurt. Robert handa joins us from felton. Robert . Reporter thats right. Were here at the Cal Fire Base Camp thats been set up here in felton. Im here with a lot of weary firefighters, which, as you heard have been battling fires, steep terrain and tall trees which have limited the usual aerial attack. The smoke has almost washed out the mountain scenery. The aerial view shows how much the fire and smoke have blanketed this stwrech from the Santa Cruz Mountains to San Mateo County and has those underneath it moving frantically. Michael herzog and megan are doing whatever they can to protect their felton home. After getting their evacuation notice grabs what they need. We just got the essentials. Reporter it was difficult for firefighters to move around in this terrain, so they set the backfires to keep the fire from spreading into neighborhoods and businesses. One business was in Boulder Creek where the redwood keg stayed open until the last possible moment. I gave free water to people, just because. Reporter looks like youre out of power, though, huh . Oh, we havent had power here for a while. Three days . Yeah. Reporter whats your thought about going through all this . Oh, its just horrible. Its devastating. Reporter it blder creek look like ghost towns with people pretty much abandoning businesses and homes. Well have to see as the fire keeps getting clo closer. Robert handa, nbc bay area news. And we cant just get ahold ever the fact that this is happening during a pandemic, when so many people are losing their businesses as well. It can really be easy sometimes to gloss over the fact that lives are being changed in real time, but when you see video like this, it just hits home. One of our crews drove into some of the evacuation areas near santa cruz and saw this. Several homes on fire. So far, 25,000 people have been evacuated from the fires in santa cruz and San Mateo County. Were seeing the same thing in the north bay, a series of fires there, burning through sonoma, napa and solano counties. At this hour, 0 containment. 131,000 acres have burned. 70 homes damaged, 105 buildings destroyed. And resources are stretched so thin. Cal fire just cant keep up and get every house safe, so now people are taking the chance to rescue their own properties into their own hands. Nbc bay areas Jodi Hernandez is in vacaville. Necessity really is the mother of invention, and people have been turning into their own firefighting forces out there. Reporter they really are. Theyre getting quite inventive, forced into a tough spot. Im standing on what used to be the home of the former Solano County administrator. He had to watch it go down in flames without a single firefighter here to help. And like you said, many homeowners out here have been forced to take matters into their own hands. The flames were 50 feet in the air maybe. And all at once, just the whole thing was just engulfed. Reporter mike johnson describes how quickly his house of 28 years went up in flames. The fire destroyed his house, his brandnew boat and treasured antique collection. I thought some of my antique bronze sculptures might survive the fire, but it looks like its all melted and deformed. Reporter he realized there was nothing he could do to save his own home, his neighbors was just starting to catch fire. The five posts holding up the front of his property were on fire. Reporter so the 71yearold jumped into action. I got a 5 gallon bucket and went to his pool and started throwing water on it. Reporter baltazar is grateful. His house is Still Standing. He still hasnt seen a single firefighter, though, so hes taking matters into his own hands. Using a generator to pump water from his Swimming Pool to fight hotspots. Let the homeowner take care of their home property if you guys cannot. Reporter were back here live where you can see mr. Baltazars house is Still Standing thanks to his neighbor mike johnson. This is what mike johnson saw, im standing on his property, his neighbor right there, he saw those flames burning and ran down there and tried to help the best way he could. Now he has been unable to salvage really anything from his house here. Again, 28 years, but late today he did find this little memorabilia, i mentioned he is the former county administrator, and he found this coin that survived. It was in a box. Its all burned, as you can see, and, again, showing this mans generous nature, he has given this coin to us. As a memento. So something definitely im going to always treasure. Reporting live in Solano County, im Jodi Hernandez, back to you guys. Wow, jodi, i can see how moved you are, its so intense when you are out there, and you see people lose these things. To have an act of generosity and kindness, i can see how moved you are. Wow. Reporter it really is amazing. You know, this is my home county. I live in slaw knolano county. Weve been on pins and needles over the last 30 hours or so. We were under an Evacuation Order ourselves. This is the spirit of sew law know county, the entire bay area, when were in circumstances like that to help a neighbor and give one of your last possessions as an act of gratitude. Its just amazing. That is an act of humanity for sure. Thats just remarkable. Thank you. Well, also helping with the firefight in Sonoma County is this. Its a massive 747 super tanker. We spotted it dropping retardant in the area and later helped with another fire burning in marin county inside the Point Reyes National sea shore. That particular jet can drop up to 19,000 gallons of retardant. The flames are spreading in the east bay and south bay. This is the fire known as the scu complex fire raging across five counties, roughly 20 separate fires of essentially combined and thats why we get these complex fires where all these independent fires coming together. Flames are in santa clara, alameda, contra costa, san joaquin and stanislaus county. You can see the Coverage Area right to the san jose foot hills and then east, some into the central valley. Nearly 140,000 acres have burned. Evacuation orders are in effect for parts of alameda, santa clara and stanislaus counties, that includes people in parts of the East San Jose foothills. 6200 structures are threatened. Thankfully, though, so far none have been asteroid destroyed or. A lot of action on mt. Hamilton. Crews working hard to protect homes and the National Landmark up there. The flames came right up to the parking lot of the observatory on mt. Hamilton. They went into a defensive position, clearing dry brush around the structures. So when the flames did arrive, firefighters were able to put up a stronger fight, and it worked. Absolutely. Anytime we can save life, property or even the environment, the watershed, it feels good that we did our job and were here too protect and serve. Not just a local gem but a national treasure. The fire did damage a few homes. Heres another look at how scary that situation was on msmt. Ham. This is from the ham cam. You can see flames rolling closer and closer to the buildings. Thankfully firefighters were able to stop the fire there. Lets fwgive you another loo of the czu fire, santa cruz, smauSan Mateo County, davenport. Evacuation orders all across the bay area, but other places two, Evacuation Orders are pretty extensive. Lets bring in chris chmura. You said they were massive. Lets talk about one of the newest ones we have into the nbc bay area newsroom. This is scu. This is what they say here. A new evacuation warning. Which means if its going to take you longer to evacuate its time to go if you have livestock, its time to go. For everybody else, its just a warning to be alert. Were talking about east of lovers lane and the Santa Clara County line south of 152 to the San Benito County line. North of the san benito line to 152. Earlier, we measured this out. It was 54 miles from north to south. It does appear that area is now growing. This map is not yet updated. Across its about 35 miles. Heres the czu. This is where we have the warnings and also the orders in the san mateo and then down to the south and santa cruz, the red, that is an order right now where youre supposed to leave. The warning is in the yellow. Take a look at this real quick. If you want to just look at the view from space, if you will. These are active fires as noted by satellite fire detectors over the past 12 hours, ill in 24 hours and heres 48 hours, you can see how much incredible fire activity is taking place around the San Francisco bay area, kne thousands upon thousands upon thousands of areas. They are continuing do grow specifically in the south bay and morgan hill and the east. Back to you guys. Another good resource for these evacuations is our website. Nbcbayarea. Com. We are just continuously posting them as they come in, and they change and they alter. We fix it for you. Check it out. Nbcbayarea. Com evacuations. Lets bring in rob mayeda. Were talking about wind direction and smoke. Even right now in marin county, a lot of that smoke going into mill valley and those communities. Whats happening in the east bay and north bay, robbie . What were seeing in San Francisco is part of that fire in marin county drift into the west and the bay and into marin county. Meantime the fire generating the most smoke is the scu fire east of san jose. One of the signs weve been watching are those big column plumes. The hotspots extending high into the spheatmosphere, and the win inside there can really lift some big pieces of Little Leaves and ash miles away from the actual fire site. Were taking storm ranger, 86 degrees. A wind shift and the fire is moving a little bit more south than it was over the last 24 hours. Cooler temperatures but added wind, still not a good combination in the santa cruz mountaines. In the north bay, winds out of the southwest. The bay area radar, including storm ranger is scanning multip multiple wildfire plumes. After this, that smoke tunnels down impacting air quality like weve been seeing the last couple days. Were talking a lot about the air quality. Well show you where its causing the most problems. And another one of our now, y close to the fire lines. Were going to check in with Garvin Thomas whos evacuating his family right now. Working ar its hard to take an offensive approach. They are simply playing defense. One cal fire to try and g firefighters are simply working around the clock. Its hard to take an offensive approach. Theyre simply playing defense. One fire official saying they are working with about one tenth the size in terms of personnel that they normally would. You are seeing fire retardant dropped in Sonoma County. This fire impacting the north bay. Just trying to get an upper hand here, so many fires continue to burn. So many homes in the fire lines. Lets take a look at the various fires burning across the bay area, and this is something were just not used to. You can see from santa rosa, north of santa rosa in the healdsburg area, that smoke going into mill valley and lmu lightning complex fire in napa and slaw know county, down in the south bay. Santa cruz county and the East San Jose foothills. Dozens of fires continue to burn, and some of the disheartening parts in all this, the homes being damaged, and really its 0 to 5 containment at all these various fires. These fires are so widespread theyre impacting so many of our friends, family, coworkers here. Yesterday, damian true he yoe had to leave. Today its Garvin Thomas. Garvin joins us. I know you packed up the kids, you and karen headed out. Were you under an order or a warning . Right now were under a warning. Chris showed the map with the yellow and the red. Were in the yellow area, so we are under a warning, but we didnt want to wait until the last minute. So we decided to get out. My daughter and i let juift jus within the last hour to come up to highway 17 to talk to you. Ive covered this story so many times as a reporter, this is the first time as a homeowner. That gave me tips to get ready, what you prepare, what you pack. Computers, laptops, hard drives, medication, pet foods. As far as outside the house. Get everything you can away from the house that might burn. We took deck chairs away, propane tanks away, like a lot of people, we had cardboard boxes ready for recycling. On the inside of the house, you want to close all the windows, take curtains down, because the radiant heat can travel through a window, catch a curtain on fire and same thing with furniture, close all the inside doors so there are no drafts. Heres one i just learned today. Leave lights on in all the rooms. When firefighters get there and things are smoky, you want to make your house as visible as possible for them. Put any ladders or hoses that you have outside. They have to make tough choices about which houses to save, you want to make sure yours is one of the easiest ones. Ive learned a lot of those tips and put them sadly into effect today. I know youve got to go, quickly, hows indy handling leaving with you . Shes been a trouper. Shes been by my side the whole time. Very supportive, very helpful. Thats good to know. Be safe my friend. Okay, were also sending out breaking news alerts including evacuation warnings and orders like what garvins under. That includes a new warning coming out of Santa Clara County. Get them on your phone, sign up after downloading the nbc app. The heat, which was much cooler today, but whats coming as the weekend approaches . Well, were watching a few changes. Were going to see temperatures on the rise as we go through the next couple days, not to excessive heat warning levels. Thats a bit of good news. But what may be more concerning is the potential of another round of tropical moisture. Lets talk about the air quality. If youre not directly affected by wildfire, you still are. The air quality is the worst weve seen since the north bay fires as were still seeing levels twice the level that would normally trigger a spare the air alert. The worst of it in the background of the graphic. Walnut creek, inland east bay, south bay. If you can smell the smoke and skies look like this in your neighborhood, you do want to stay sheltered indoors. 88 degrees in walnut creek. San jose 82 and still the big column plumes associated with the scu complex fire which does seem to be taking off there to the south this afternoon. Temperatures bay area wide, noticeably cooler, more so on the map when we show you the 24 hour temperature change. Look at napa, a big change as the winds have returned out of the south out towards napa and should bring in patchy low clouds. Temperatures in the low 50s and 60s. But i do think you will notice a slight warming trend. San jose 90 degrees. Tri valley in the mid90s. A three to five degree jump from todays highs. San francisco climbing into the mid70s for tomorrow. And north bay temperatures trending a little bit warmer into the low 90s. So the important part of the forecast i think is going to come midway through the weekend. If you look closely on the map. Y you see batches of clouds. What we had earlier this week was a weakening Tropical Storm that sent moisture to the bay area. Longterm weather models by next monday and tuesday may try to send more moisture our way. Its something were watching very closely. Plan on seeing a few more late tropical clouds in the weekend. Temperatures not quite as hot. Well watch the day to day wind shifts for air pollution. But stay tuned on the forecast for early next week. Well have more news after this short break. This isnt our first flip. And sure, some renovations can require a bit of compromise. But, theres no settling here. At floor and decor, she gets to fulfill her vision while i get instock products at budgetfriendly prices. All in one trip. Plus, we get the installation materials we need to get it done right and right on time. Its a winwin. Now thats shopping like a pro. Explore floor and decor, now open for safe instore shopping and curbside pickup. If its not the flames, its the smoke and the smoke crippling our restaurants and other businesses even more. Take a look at this, this is a live look in walnut creek. Christie smith is just up the road in concord with the very latest. Whats the air quality like where you are now, christie . Reporter you drive around here, and you can really see the haze in the sky. There are people out, but were told that at places like this and the park across the street e it does seem like foot traffic is light. And some businesses tell us theyve had to make some adjustments because of the smoke too smokey, too unpredictable. We can see the ash falling down on the tables. Reporter at main street kitchen and bar, the dining chairs are stacked up. And the sign explains theyre closed today due to poor air quality. Yesterday we noticed it was getting a little smokey. This morning we got up, 8 30, we called each other, you know what . I dont think its going to work today. Reporter across the street, a reminder to keep the doors closed as the air quality is reduced. In inland parts of the east bay near concord, levels reached unhealthy. My advice to the public is that people should be sheltering in place as much as possible during this bad air quality from wildfire smoke. Stay home with windows closed, with the ventilation system turned to recirculate. Reporter Ashley Sanders is packed and ready to go, too, if the time comes. Meantime, shes using an air purifier and watching air quality. You have to close up the windows, try not to let anything else in. Reporter now the eatery that we spoke with today told us they hope that conditions do change quickly, because tomorrow, friday, is typically a very busy day for them. Well be right back. Experience the ultimate sports hub. Where you can find games, news and highlights. All in one place, right on your tv. The xfinity sports zone. Use your voice to search every stat, standing and score. Follow the teams you love. And, even get notifications with breaking news alerts and more. So youll never miss an update. With the xfinity sports zone everybody wins. Now thats simple, easy, awesome. Click, call or visit a store for details. Before we send it over to lester holt, lets get you caught up, the scu fire in the East San Jose foothills and parts of the east bay, there are evacuation warnings in East San Jose. In santa cruz and san mateo counties, more than 20,000, including our own Garvin Thomas have evacuated. Several homes, sadly, have been destroyed. A lot of you are taking to social media with pictures for us. These photos were taken on a flight from portland to santa barbara, and theres that perch on an airplane. And a photo of smoke passing by the sun. We certainly want to take a look. Lets send it to lester holt, and we will see you again at 6 00 with more updates. Byebye. Tonight, president trumps former chief adviser indicted on federal fraud charges, steve bannon accused of an alleged scheme to rip off donations to build a border wall the 150 foot yacht where he was arrested, his plea in court late today and our correspondent inside the Oval Office Getting reaction from president trump. Alsooe biden, the biggest moment of his nearly r50 year career, ready to accept his nomination on this final night of the dnc. And my one on one with jill biden, the first look at her husbands message. The wildfires turning deadly in california, new evacuations, tens of
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