Tonight at 5 oclock everybody im grant lotus days after dry lightning swept across the bay area firefighters tonight are still battling dozens of wild fires that started as a result, some of them, burning dangerously out of control tonight, heres a map of where the fires are burning as we speak well start with the scu lightning complex fire that is the biggest grouping of fires of all of them scorching more than a 137,000 acres and contra costa Alameda Santa clara status. Lawson san joaquin counties to the bottom of your screen. You see the seas eu august lightning complex fires, burning in the mountains in san mateo and santa cruz counties destroying homes forcing thousands of people to evacuate their frantically overnight. And finally the lnu lightning complex. Thats burning in large area of the north bay, leveling homes and impacting thousands of People Living in Sonoma Napa Solano lake and yolo counties these fires are huge and so far those devastating north bay fires have scorched a combined 131,000 acres, a 105 structures have been destroyed 70 others have been damaged in right now the entire complex is 0 contained. Kron fours bringing you Team Coverage tonight on these wildfires burning in the north bay we have meteorologist Mabrisa Rodriguez tracking the conditions helping these fires burn out of control for Charles Clifford is in napa county where one particular fire has just devastated. The community of berryessa highlands, chuck well start with you whats the latest there. Yes so right now im a in various a highlands which is right on the edge or the shores of Lake Berryessa and this fire burned through here. Yesterday has left behind a trail of destruction the fire still active, its actually burning on the ridge right behind me there so this community is not out of danger. Throughout various a highlands home after home lies in ruins, there are melted cars burning gas lines and smoldering furniture some homes built on hillsides have collapsed into piles of rubble. Well the devastation is brutal most of the damage is limited to one area, many homes have survived thursday afternoon fire crews remained on scene knocking down hot spots and protecting the houses that are still standing. Along nearby steel canyon road more homes were destroyed by the fire this property is a total loss, but fortunately the chickens goats and pigs have survived even though this entire area is under a mandatory Evacuation Order some neighbors never left. Adam speeds stay behind to defend his home from the advancing flames with the help of firefighters, they confronted the fire with hand tools and one. Says generals see that house and the move to the next neighbor and same thing there and then because i have a big Defensible Space here theyve got all their vehicles over here and parked in. Luckily, we managed to save a few were happy. Back in various a highlands fire crews will remain on scene until further notice the hennessy fire remains a threat with flames burning just a few miles to the east the concern is the shifting winds could once again push the fire back towards the houses that are still standing. All right back live now bit of good news right now as we head into the evening hours. The winds here remain calm and best their various the highlands, so hopefully that will bode well for keeping this fire. From coming back in this direction. But for now in napa county Charles Clifford kron 4 news. Thank you charles, heres a look now at the evacuation map for napa county, the blue areas where evacuations are mandatory. The yellow area is an evacuation warning this map also shows the evacuation shelter where people can seek refuge. It said Cross Walk Community church. We continue our Team Coverage now with kron fours terisa stasio shes standing by in Sonoma County with more on the situation there teresa. And should certainly been quite a day i just want to set the scene for you out here i am kind of between guerneville and healdsburg i just came and healdsburg but you can take a look behind me and see how the smoke and the fire is racing over that ridge. Im here with bobby eric when he lands just on the corner here want to step in a little bit closer i know we have to socially distance but that said you and i were just noticing the flames leap high into the air we can see the air assault going on. Youre still here do you plan to evacuate. Still were nervous were still here a couple neighbors are around theres a lot of in your surrounding this area so were hoping that that the fires they were were definitely nervous and were keeping a good eye on their bodies out here, you know just waiting watching and hoping for the best, but you and i were talking just a couple of minutes ago and you raced into the house thinking that that was going to jump the ridge and it was going to come right down on us. Yeah yeah that was pretty scary once you see those plans come over that ridge you kind of feel like you know now its its go time so. Looks like theres some siding there that maybe the air crews up there, you know cal fire near body. Theyre doing a great job so. Hopefully theyll be able to stop that before it gets over that ridge again or or continue to climb down that ridge i guess so i i came from granville theres mandatory Evacuation Orders in guerneville do you have friends there. Known on that area, heard there could possibly be a mandatory evacuation coming through healdsburg soon so were just kind of waiting to hear what happens and go from there. Over on the other side we can see napa and they weve got flames coming in so youre kind of sandwiched in between 2 major fires, yeah try to decide where to go if they doing baucus so its maybe maybe had no no Muslim Population at south you know santa rosa, San Francisco bay area and everything to get out here, were just trying to see you know where their quality is going to be good for kids and families here too so its pretty dark right now so do you have your go go bag packed were we hope we dont have to go. But yet were my wife and kids are are ready to go and i may stay here to hold down the fort if if i can if not where we were all ready to go. Okay figures cross fingers crossed prayers everything and were hoping for the best ok thank you very much about him. So you heard from bobby what its been like in the past couple of hours are really kicked up over the ridge there grant and then again over in the distance and over west and east to west is where the napa fired the hennessy fire is burning out of control cell an unsettling time for a lot of these residents, not the first time of course, and theres been a major fire but bobby was mentioning that this is the first time its really gotten this close to being over on that ridge. Theresa kron 4 news back to your grants. Thank you theresa give folks now a closer look at where this lnu complex fire is burning again this is a actually a group of fires, stretching across 5 counties despite the distance between some of the flames cal fire has elected to designate the different fires as one incident. In part because of a lack of available resources. Its just easier this way. A cal fire currently has its hands full no doubt with dozens of fires burning not just here in the bay area but really up and down the state of california and joining us now for more on the efforts to try to contain the flames is Daniel Berlant assistant Deputy Director with cal fire. Daniel we talk every year about this time, but rarely are we talking about so many complexes here in the bay area this is really unique the lightning situation. Sparking this in most cases how are things right now. Daniel berlant obviously joining us virtually but he seems to be frozen their work to reestablish that connection in the meantime the weather certainly has been fueling the flames here. Our meteorologist Mabrisa Rodriguez is standing by with a look at Current Conditions and how firefighters are doing tonight rsoph. And yeah lets take a look at Current Conditions out there right now with that lnu lightning fire near napa 80 degrees so very warm out there relative humidity, 48 so tracking about half the moisture that we should be seeing and wind speed right now fortunately on the breezy side around 14 Miles Per Hour with gusts. Upwards of about 20 Miles Per Hour and for this lightning fire. Near the santa cruz area monterrey is the closest station there so 71 degrees a little bit more moisture there. Thanks to that sea breeze influence with the relative humidity right now at 59 and wind speeds noticeably. Calmer there were tracking wind speeds in the Single Digits with gusts upwards of about 1112 Miles Per Hour. So great news there, but current wind speeds out there for most of the bay area right now the strongest over downtown San Francisco getting a little bit of that westerly seabreeze influence with sustained winds at 30 Miles Per Hour really helping to improve our air quality today right along the bay area coastline and also east bay shoreline pushing that smoke and ash well to the east so right now tracking the pores concentration of air quality for those of you in our inland valleys in the east bay unfortunately, future wind gusts though im going to show wind speeds increasing by friday, but the one thing that we are going to notice, is that cool westerly breeze adding some more moisture throughout most of the bay area and some marine layer influences will also help with that moisture content to really help up with those popup flare ups with the fires so wind gusts upwards of 30 Miles Per Hour less expected really ramping up friday afternoon through friday evening, calmer by friday, but as we take a look at our future relative humidity levels going to truck a lot more moisture in the coming days, thanks to the cooler weather and the return of that marine layer that is certainly going to help out firefighters. But those gusts your wind speeds about 30 Miles Per Hour or less can help spread those flames even more unfortunately so a little bit of good with the bad but relative humidity around 30 to 40 of percentile range by around friday afternoon through friday night better recovery during the overnight hours just because of the return of that marine layer grant back to you. Ive been a good news. Thank brees said. Well another series of wildfires, were tracking tonight is this easy you august lightning complex. These fires have burned about 40,000 acres so far in the mountains stretching across san mateo and santa cruz counties, 20 structures have been destroyed 3 people have been injured right now this fire. 0 containment on it and heres an evacuation map for People Living in san mateo and santa cruz counties where that series of fires is burning the red a mandatory Evacuation Order. The yellow area is an evacuation warning at this time want to go now to kron fours Maureen Kelly she joins us live from cal fires base camp in Scotts Valley there in the Santa Cruz Mountains with the latest. On these devastating fires mowry. Grant where im standing now is one of those areas now under a evacuation warning. That order coming down late this afternoon also the area of Paradise Park and the ucsc campus now under in an evacuation warning. The Mountain Town of zion e is under an Evacuation Order a mandatory Evacuation Order. Now the town of felton was also put under that mandatory Evacuation Order this morning. This video shows how the fires raged overnight in bonny doon consuming homes and cars fire Officials Say the burning conditions are unprecedented. Overnight and this morning more people were forced out of their homes in order to flee the fires. Just coming down i can personally can see any of the fire. Coming through, but a lot of my friends and make. Family theyre being all push out of there and its just a mess right now i grabbed it i usually would grab for like i. 3 or fourday hiking trip that was that the survival stuff. Documents and stuff but not much felton was placed under a mandatory Evacuation Order at 08 00am the town under a heavy blanket of thick smoke. Some left signs thanking firefighters at the homes that they had to leave others left directions where to find water. To help them in their efforts one home left sprinklers running on its roof top i spoke to one resident coming back for some last minute items, nobody wants to leave their house and it might be the last time that you see it thats a good feeling with more evacuation warnings. The Santa Cruz CountySheriffs Office advises people to get ready now did you know Court Documents together the heirlooms together make sure that you have fuel to be able to drive your car or you have an ability to be able to leave. Looking ahead finding out is there someplace i can state going to stay with a Family Member out of the area. And if you can been there or shelter that are available. Now im told there are there is no more room for evacuees at the santa cruz civic auditorium. There is however room for people at the Santa Cruz County fairgrounds in watsonville hess Carroll High School in San Mateo County is also being used as a shelter, reporting live from Scotts Valley and Maureen Kelly kron 4 news. Thank you maureen our coverage continues always said kron 4 dot com where you can find a complete list of Evacuation Orders and warnings you can also track the wildfires on an interactive map and find out about alerts were guarding weather but not in your neighborhood all that and more is the kron 4 dot com and coming up after the break with hundreds of homes going up in flames throughout the state. How organizations like the American Red Cross are stepping up now to assist families. We have nowhere else want restaurants to open . And schools . Want the economy to get back on track . Youre not alone. And you can help make it happen. Stay 6 feet apart. Wash your hands. Wear a mask every time you leave your home. Choose to join the fight against covid19. Do your part. Slow the spread. Earlier we touched on the fires in the Santa Cruz Mountains as well as in the north bay. Were also tracking the scu lightning complex fires. The fires are burning in multiple locations across Santa Clara Alameda contra costa, san joaquin and status last counties encompassing more than 137 1000 acres biggest complex burning in the bay right now 2 people have been injured in those fires, but as of now fortunately, no homes or buildings have been damaged or destroyed the overall complex fire is 5 contained. We want to take a look at where the as see fires are burning specifically the red is the fire line and you can see the fires are expanding burning in a wide area right here Team Coverage continues now with kron fours phillipe djegal he met with cal fire officials today to get the latest on that su complex fire that expanded overnight. This is a calaveras zone of the at the lightning complex one of 3 zones encompassing 6 of the 20 fires burning in 5 east and south bay counties, including alameda contra costa and santa clara making up the se you lightning complex cal fire spokesperson, jake miller says s eu grew more than 35,000 acres overnight so far is currently over an area of 50 miles in all more than 137,000 acres of land have been scorched 6200 structures remain threatened. But none destroyed the fires are mostly tucked into rural wildlands away from communities and Firefighters Want to keep it that way the main goal is to keep it out in this area and protect those structures. And keep it away from from the them. From the more urban setting in Alameda County mines road in livermore is still closed off the area is under an Evacuation Order fires are burning along the hillsides usually relative humidity bumps up overnight in firefighters were able to get an upper hand on the fire during the nighttime. But right now the low relative humidities are still low overnight, which makes the fire burned for 24 hours. Im making it very difficult for firefighters to get out in front of it and get an upper hand to First Responders have been injured since the fire started sunday but no civilians cal fire says it could be weeks before the se you lightning complex fires are fully contained in Alameda County phillipe djegal all kron 4 news. All right, we have a signal now with a cal fires assistant Deputy DirectorDaniel Berlant want to. Go to him daniel sorry about the signal earlier but now that we have you can you give us an update on how all the crews are doing not only throughout the bay area but up and down the state. Well obviously its been a the several days for and our firefighters continued to battle. Hundreds of fires in fact in the past 4 days weve had over 540 new fires 2 dozen of those becoming major fires. Many of them required evacuation of a community and so weve been very focused on protecting life protecting property and working to fight against mother nature. The full the fires down. We talk every year around this time and usually its a big fire that starts or what have you but can you recall in recent memory a time when weve had so many fires obviously the lightning at something to do with that but we have the all these complexes even here in parts of the bay area. Really the last time we had a fire activity like that we caused by lightning would not 2008 back in 2008 we had similar conditions in the middle of summer. Dry Lightning Storm in the dry Lightning Storm meaning the storm system thousands of lightning strikes but very little to no rainfall and so all of those strikes from the lightning hit the ground. The boulder and with high temperatures low humidity and when those are able to quickly a growing into fires now while lightning fire and the type of is not common do not happen that weve been prepared weve been planning fire season to be busy weve brought on Additional Firefighters in fact. Governor newsom increase the number of people firefighting positions that we had available to us. Obviously were using every single one of them right now and even then it is still a lot of resources that we are bringing in from other areas. I just make sure we have every available fire engine fire Fighter Aircraft that 5 of the fires. Is it true that so firefighters are working 72 hour shifts instead of 24 hour shifts. In a normal we like to the keep our firefighters working 24 hours on and then 24 hours off. Its the affective to fight a fire. And if the net cruise on the front lines for the longest period of time. But in a situation like this where we are under siege with dozens of fires. We are happy to keep our firefighters almost from line for days at a time now were bringing in Additional Resources in fact. We have activated the National Guard crews be brought in a federal act that include enough federal air tankers and even 375 Additional Fire engines from other states. All of those resources while provide some relief. Our crews, our local firefighters who have been so busy last several days. And i know the pandemic caused inmates usually help on the front lines to not be as readily available where do you see this battle going, i know youre in the thick of it right now, but the weather is starting to how much longer would you expects the bay area to be socked in with smoke and 4 year. Crews to be scrambling. Well we are continuing to see dry conditions for the near future while the temperatures are lower than were just a couple is going over the weekend we had. Extreme triple throughout much of Northern California. We are going to be the temperatures go down however. In many areas of temperatures are still going to be hot. Its still going to be dry and so its very likely that will continue to battle the fires for the week to come. Yeah, and as you alluded to there is a battle ongoing as well for resources, i know the marin county fire. Chief said in his 25 years, hes never seen. Quest to get. Mutual aid that is been so challenging so i know everybodys dealing with it, hey daniel assistant Deputy Director for cal fire. We appreciate your time as always n best of luck to the men and women on the front lines and everyone at cal fire. Still to come tonight, we have more wildfire coverage ahead dozens of fires burning tonight. Keep it back to our top story tonight wildfires continuing to burn around the bay area tonight, forcing 10s of thousands of people from their homes and whenever disaster strikes organizations like the American Red Cross of course are there to support families and people who need it most joining us now to talk more about those efforts as jennifer drills ceo of the red cross operations here in Northern California jennifer. Thanks for a few minutes tonight where are you seeing the greatest need for a temporary shelter right now. I was like it has been 0. 1 place its really all over the bay which makes it. Of course very difficult to be able to respond and be there for for all the places i actually was just in and just they migrate back and sit in our shelters there and. Checking that make all in tears were safe and that people were taking care of us safer. Were following all the important protocols speed to follow during our covid19 experience. What are those protocols how have you guys pivoted on the fly essentially too accommodate people in this unprecedented pandemic. Yeah well. Its not so much on the fly because we knew where wildfire season was coming and of course covid has been here since march so weve been preparing. Weve been working on training for all of our volunteers weve been changing our policies and procedures we began that back in march because we always respond a Single Family home fires and we had to change how we do that and were doing most of it virtually. During this wildfire season we didnt prepare and weve been working with our county partners n local partners to try to find alternatives to shelter, it looks very different this year because normally people would expect to go to red cross shelters could first thing to do. Actually working to set up temporary evacuation points where people go to those points and them will work with folks to see what they need to do next. Were really highly encouraging people to be ready be prepared if you get a vaccination order coast of course the heat it but to try to go to friends and family first the temporary vaction actuacion points are there for you were doing feeding in providing food and things like that for folks there we are putting people in hotel rooms of hotel rooms are available are also looking for dormitories and campgrounds and other alternatives and then of course that we do have shelters open because we definitely need shelters open. We join a fewer people in shelters no more than 50 of possible. We have been socially distance we have fewer volunteers the volunteers that are there were 3 folks may come in and theyll take temperature we have they hope to prey on hand to temperatures to health tested all tracks somebody needs to be in isolation with isolation set up. And were just doing all the precautions need to make sure that our volunteers and the people we offer safe. I know fortunately the scu complex which is in the south and the east bay hasnt taken any homes today but thats not the case obviously in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Certainly not the case where you were in the vacaville area. You go to these areas annually unfortunately. How did how would you describe what you saw in vacaville and what are you expecting to see once you get to the Santa Cruz Mountains area. Yeah i think well all be shocked by what we see i think no no matter how many disasters respond to or how many how much devastation you see i think there always surprising and thats