Latest information. Heres a live picture from sky 7hd over a geothermal plant near st. Helena which has been damaged by the fire. Apparently cooling towers have been lost. You can see the scorched earth around the facility in st. Helena. Firefighters say the fire is just jumping so quickly because of the winds theyre contending with through the area. You can see smoke rising from inside of the power plant. We know the winds are bad. Its warm. And of course, four years of drought has created a situation that is just treacherous. This is what we had feared all summer long. That a fire like this might take hold, and that is certainly what happened in this case. Now lets go to cornell bernard, live in middletown. Residents lost a lot of homes in. Reporter its trulying extraering. So many homes are gone after this fire storm engulfed much of middletown. Im standing in what used to be the driveway of a home here on as you can see the shells of appliances, barbecue, part of the the ferocious wall of fire moved like a freight train. I was unstoppable, sending residents running for the live. The scariest thing ive ever been through. Ten minutes to pack up and leave. Kimberly harper escaped the home she has owned for 16 years on Cobb Mountain. It was destroyed. Her two sons lost their homes as well and this was the ohm of a friend where she planned to take refuge but it also burned to the ground. But everyone is safe. I grabbed a couple of photo albums and you think youre going to be prepared. Youre not. Dozen of homes are gone. Neighborhoods reduced to an eerie moonscape. Cars melted down to scrap. The total number of homes lost will be staggering. As far as an estimate of homes, were going to be pushing close to a thousand. Reporter the firefighters were able to save many homes, Jose Martinez says his neighbors places are gone, his still standing. Im lucky. Im lucky guy. Thats all i can say. I dont know why, but my house still up. Reporter some bay area firefighters say this place, a haunting reminder of the 1991 Oakland Hills fire. You were there. What do you think . Probably, yeah. Absolutely. Reporter amid the rubble we found this. A garden gate and poignant greeting for all to see. Back live with the shot another a burnedout pickup truck on jefferson street. Lots of rumors about what was burned in middletown. Firefighters tell us, schools survived the fire just fine, along with most businesses along highway 29. Got to tell you a lot of ash still falling on us. Smoke is still very thick here in middletown, very grim reminder of what happened here just hours ago. Live in middletown, abc7 news. Devastating photos behind you, cornell. Thank you. Were getting our first look at one of four firefighters injured yesterday while battling the valley fire. The cal fire chief tweeted a photo. You can see richard reef, giving a thumbings up. The chief says reef is in good spirits. Cal fire says all four firefighters suffered second agreeing burns are and expected to make a full recovery. Mandatory evacuations arewga stretched from highway 281 in kelseyville down to highway 29 near the napa county line. Firefighters are urging everyone in the path of the flames to heed evacuation notices, leave their homes now. For a full list of mandatory evacuations visit our web site. The Evacuation Center at the napa valley fairground as seen a steady extreme of people. Let get to alan wang at the fairgrounds. Reporter this place is full of people who say they barely escaped with their lives. Let me give you a look around here. Everywhere you turn people are sharing stories, express hogue theyre still in shock, wondering if their homes are there. As fast as the fire struck, the fairground turned into a refugee camp. The red cross says 5line to a thousand evacuees are camp edhere. Its a chaotic collaboration between the understaffed red cross and Community Members bringing in supplies. We heave seen people bring in fresh produce. Theyre buying diapers at the store and shipping in pallets of water. The red cross says thank you, however, they say it is no longer needed. It now is asking for cash donations so they can get exactly what these evacuees need. Most people we spoke with say they escaped with the collects they had on. Just like a wall of fire coming straight at us, and it was leaping, big leaping flames, and boom, just like a war zone actually. Our neighbors were trying to get out. There was a line of cars, hundred cars trying to get out. And there was no escape. One way out. People were walking up and down the road saying, get out now. Reporter many people say they lost their animals. Those who saved them were only able to get them in the backs of their cars. A lot of people got their dogs out but their cats did not make it. Meanwhile, at least three kitchen setups for a 5 30 meal and theyre not sure how many people theyre going to need. Also, press conference or an update is set up for the evacuees who are anxious to find out about the status of their neighborhoods. Unfortunately the news is probably going to be bleak for a lot of these people. That update coming up and well bring that to you as soon as we get to it. Reporting live at the napa county fairground in calistoga. Back to you. The waiting and worrying. Many schools in the area are closed tomorrow because of the fire. Classes are cancelled at all Public Schools in lake county and yuba college in clear wake. Howell Mountain School district and pope valley elementary are closed. For the latest closures visit our web site. This fire actually exploded in size. Its so big and erratic, its creating its own weather, which is making it even worse. Drew tuma has more on that. Thats part of the reason why the fire has grown so quickly. I want to show you how chaotic the winds are around the fire. Winds out of the west nest. Middletown, out of the west, and then here our of the southwest. Theres no prevailing wind speed that firefighters can use to forecast where this fire is going to spread next. From all directions. Thats one of the challenges theyre facing at the hour. Encouraging news, were going to take you into future weather. By wednesday, morning and afternoon, yes there could be some light showers to help bring up the humidity and dampen the fuel we had that are in the line of the fire. Talk about rain chances in the fire bay area in just a few minutes. Thank you. Lets go live now. We want to join a News Conference at the napa county fairground in calistoga. We have new numbers. I thank everybody. Thank you for coming out. Thank you for your patience and cooperation. We cant do this without the cooperation of those of you that are affected, and i just want to share briefly, we, too, in the fire service are affected, all of us. When we have fires in california, we all come together and we become the firefighters of that community. In this case some our brothers were impacted, and we actually had four of our firefighters from our crew receive burns yesterday, and theyre still in the hospital today. So, we understand the impact, and we also appreciate the cooperation. Going to start off, yesterday the fire started at 1 30 in the afternoon in the Cobb Mountain year, reported as a structure fire but was outside the structure. The cause of the fire is under investigation. Shortly after that, because of the drought stricken fuels, and the heavy fuels in that area, that particular fire started spotting in all directions. Now, for those of us that are used to going and seeing these fires in the bay berryessa area and lake county, were used to seeing fires driven by the north winds, long and skinny and we know what direction theyre going. The reason its important to share that background is this year, the last 90 days, particularly lake county and parts of napa county, these fires are burning in all directions. Theyre fueldriven fires, creating its own weather, unpredictable. Theyre throwing spot fires out ahead of themselves over a half mile in all directions. The reason why thats important is when we are working with Law Enforcement to do evacuations, were trying to shoot far enough ahead to get enough people that are already ready to go and theyre set to go, and we say its time, its time to leave. Sew appreciate that. The fire is now approximately 50,000 acres in size. Grew over 40,000 acres in 12 hours. Give you a rough idea where the fire is currently. The north end of the fire is just at the south on highway 175. The north end of the fire. Crossing siegler canyon and murphy springs. The west side of the fire, sonoma county, geysers, and damage at some of the cooling towers in power plants sonoma county. Coming southbound, 175, into middletown. The fires there you go, middletown. Fire on both sides of highway 175, and i tell you, we did the best we could. Opposite the fire go into town, between the wildfire and the urban fires in the neighborhood, we did the best we could but the fire spread from structure to structure. The heavier the fuel, such as timber in Cobb Mountain and the homes in town, the more spot fires. Now the fires gone south on 29, down near dry creek cutoff on one side, the other side up towards the livermore rank, livermore road. Go up over the ridge. Those from napa county, just above Aetna Springs and north of snell valley we have resources in there. 50,000 acres. We are doing the best we can with aircraft. Were very blowed in calistoga, the air is relatively clear to lake county. A lot of resources can get shut down because its so smoky. I hope thats going to change. So, with that, the last thing id like too share with you is when the local area gets taxed with resources and needs, we, in cal fire, activate one of our Incident Management Teams, and today and then this evening, Incident Management Team three will be taking command of the fire. That doesnt mean the locals go away. We just kind of band together and make a larger family. So theyll be running the ons didnt at the lake county fairground. With that, ill turn it over to cheer beerman if he has anything specific to napa county, and questions that may impact the area. Good evening. Just want to let you know were here for you. We have a lot of, who to do. That fire grew to 50,000acres today in 24 hours. Those first 24 hours, we were we went around in fire engines and we couldnt put the perimeter of the fire out. Lots of homes needed to be evacuated. Lots of residents. Theres a part on the road, people trying to flee and fire engines were doing everything they could evacuate in a rapidly developing fire. We keep using the words unprecedented. This is on the way to be the same thing. Currently theres lots of approximately 700 homes consumed by fire, and those numbers could 0 go higher. Just now starting to get enough resources in there to start evaluating things. We are at this point starting to fire is not rapidly developing like yesterday, also were trying to get in there, do that perimeter control and slow the fire down. Doing structure defense as necessary, and ensuring everyone is evacuated. So, we have a lot of work to do, and hopefully well get this thing over with sooner than later, and we know you al want to get back to your homes and we are doing everything we can to help you get back there through. [applause] all right. So, for ten minutes we reside like to take questions and answers to the two chiefs. Anderson springs . As in . As in lake [inaudible] lake county on route 175, five miles west of middletown. If it has been damaged . Yes. Okay. Let me answer that fit one there for all those communities along highway 175, i want to make sure im answering your questions on 175, over although communities some of them have been severely impacted, and of them have not. The concern has not changed, though. The reason the concern hays not changed, i mentioned before this because the fuels are so heavy. When you burn grass and the grass burns and doesnt burn again. When we have the timber fires theres still a lot of fuel and still throwing spot fires that are still compromising some of the homes health already been protected. So, everything along highway 175, from middletown up to siegler canyon, those areas are all still very much a concern because the fire for some areas, its continuing and then its reburning areas. So we dont have a definite number of structures that have been damaged in that area. I know that is not a specific question, but well have better intel within three or four days. Were currently doing what is known as a wind shield survey along with the red cross, trying to get as much information, and then we good through the damage inspection teams that staff the cal fire and county resources to get specific information so we can post it so we can get the answers. I know you want them now. I want to give them to you now, but we dont have them and we dont want to give you wrong information. When is the power going to be restored . As far as the power, im not sure what portioner referring. To in mid. Town, pg e set up a command post and brought in massive amount of resources. They have not given us an eta but i expect in the next day or so. Anderson springs, and my cow was left behind. We have Animal Rescue in the area, and thats chief beerman mentioned yesterday, our number one focus was life safety. So the police officers, the deputy sheriffs, the Engine Companies, usually theyre directing traffic, executing evacuation, Engine Companies are laying hose. But last night, 95 of the effort was life safety. The same thing with animals. The animals we could take care of, we did what we could to get them to safe place. [inaudible] part of the water situation is tied to the power. Some of the pumps have been shut off. I met with actually the riviera water district, and we have calls in to middletown, and so theyre working on that. But they havent given us eta. A lot of that is tied to the power being shut off. What about middletown,. The current containment is zero containment. Questions over here. One person at a time, sir, go ahead. [inaudible] cant make it. Road conditions. They couldnt make it down here. They cant they have the fire in lake county, the supervisor there, and some of the roads were compromised and kelseyville shelter. What is governor jerry brown going to do about this . You have to refer that to your representative. All i can do is answer questions about the fire. [shouting] resort. Fire on both sides. I dont know to what extent. Still quite a bit of a fire knight rock road area. All of that area, theres still a firefight going on. [inaudible] what about Hidden Valley lake. The fire has crossed highway 29, to the east. There has been structures damaged and destroyed there. Thats another area all of the fires, the focus has been life safety and structure defense. The southern end of penn valley lake they have gone past that, over into peters and suspect by now, probably bumping up against the fires we had a few wokes ago. How about berryessa states. Fire is still going in berryessa estates. [inaudible] there was a two of them damaged. Im not sure if thats the plant or the cooling tower. Do you have specific information about the damage to middletown . Is it totally lost . Downtown middletown, as you drive down main street or main drag through town, most of the commercial buildings bordering are intact. Many of the homes and the businesses off the side streets have been impacted. Do you know about the high school . The high school is fine. Were using their water storage. The rumors were out of control. Hidden valley lake. The casino is still fine. [inaudible] the north end, just south, there were murphy springs, youre familiar with that . Theres fire in murphy springs, and to the north, it crossed highway 29, and on the east side, and theres Engine Companies taking action on that one when i drove through 40 minutes ago. How about during. [inaudible question] all of those areas, is a mentioned before, whether the fire already burned through them, theyre still a threat. All that area on 175, down to middletown, whether its burned who it burned already or still a threat. One last question. [inaudible question] that may be a couple days. Water . And we theres resources for the rescue. I would encourage you to go to the lake county web site, lake county oes and you can access it there or meet with one of our staff after were done here, and ill put you in contact with somebody. One last question. The gentleman in the black shirt. Thank you for everything. And i also want to say, when we dont have the what n front of us, whats the best way to find out when we might be able to and what areas to to rush in the best form of information we can look to. [applause] im going to give you three of then. One is cal fires web site, fire information. That information is also locate on the lake county oes site and napa county. The Incident Management Team will provide a Public Information officer to provide information to the shelters. Thank you. Thats all i have right nowment thank you for your cooperation. [applause] you just heard the update from cal fire at the napa valley fairgrounds. We brought it to you because the information is important for many viewers, wondering about their pick areas, and this is unusual because we heard evacuees present shouting out questions and asking for answers. And it gives you a sense of the sense of urgency and really craving for information that these folks have been displaced so rapidly from their homes, need. They have questions that they need answered. Its disruptive. Several people, 26 people treated for smoke inhalation, and looking at the live picture from sky 7hd you can see why there is such a significant concern about smoke damage, because this fire, which has spread to rapidly, 50,000 acres as least, has produced enormous amounts of smoke and ash. The north end of the fire is affect thing geysers now. Youre taking a live look at the joeow thermal plant. The cooling systems failed there. Theres a poignant moment when he mentioned middletown and the crowd erupted in applause. This community is a strong one. Lets look at you can see the cooling towers in the top of the screen. Lets go to sergioin tan na, live in a community so hard hit by the flames. Reporter it was really interesting to listen to a lot of the concerns from this residents, just trying to get information as to why they cannot return to their homes yet, and exactly how much damage has gone through the communities. I can tell you one reasons why a lot of these areas are still evacuated is because the fire is still active. As we were driving here to Hidden Valley lake there were fires alongside of the road, and there are fire crews actively trying to tend to those fires. That is dangerous. Thats first off, of course, then secondly, fire crews need be able to get up and down these narrow roads very easily. That is the reason why those roads remain closed. Here in Hidden Valley lake, not a whole lot of active fire but the whole area is still dangerous. There are homes that are burned, but there are a whole lot of power lines that are still down, and they are still active, and so pg e crews are in middletown, which has a lot of damage, but they havent really been able to get their way over here to Hidden Valley lake so they can, a. , assess the damage, and, then, b. , start taking down the power lines. Sergio, before you go, very quickly, there are homes in the immediate area around you that have survived these flames or is everything in the neighborhood wiped out . Reporter this is the erie picture. Here in Hidden Valley lake, theres a house that is gone. Those are several homes that have survived. Strange. Reporter some residents are still in this neighborhood who are on guard with their garden hoses in case there are embers that come back again. Okay. Thank you very much. Reporting live. Wow. Your posts have played a huge role in telling the story. We have a tag board with the hash tag abc7 new. You can see the smoke in the air. David says this looks like fog here. Taken in clear lake, california. Take a look. Take a look at this. This is moffet, a video my mom took of the valley fire after she was evacuated. Glads she is okay. Look at the sun. Looks like a firey ball of flames through that smoke in the air. This one also from david. Thank you so much, taken from clear lake. We appreciate you sending that in. More twitter posts. Robert mcwilliams with this dramatic piece of video of flames just moving through the night sky, just this thing spread so quickly, and we have seen a number of videos from viewers who send in this kind of picture. We know a lot of you guys are tweeting about the water situation there, and in that presser we heard them mention that briefly. That many of the residents say the water system failed entirely yesterday. That nothing was coming out of the hydrants. So territorially were investigating that and will bring you more information as soon as we have it. I if you have any pictures or videos of the fire, any news that happens where you live, please share it with us by posting it on social media. The fire appears to have damaged a power plant in lake county. In fact we know it has. This is video from sky 7hd. This is socrates area. The company says the lake county facility was built in 1984, a 66 mega watt facility. Actually the Geothermal Power plant where steam is pipe in to generate electricity. They tell us all employee have been evacuated and everybody is accounted for that. Thats good news. They cannot say the status of the power plant but we understand the cooling towers have been damaged at this facility. Breaking news from chp. It will be two to three days until people can get into their homes in this area at least. Of course that could change if this fire continues in the way it has. All right, as we wrap for the moment, one last update on the valley fire. It spread from lake county into sonoma county. Well bring you a live look. 50,000 acres. Thats not fog. Its just dense smoke through that area. That cal fire spokesman said it is unpredictable, grew 40,000 acres in 12 hours. Cal fire says theres damage to cooling towers and power plants. We saw images earlier of the geothermal plant. Showed that to you in middletown, on fire. Cal fire estimates the number of homes burned, saying several hundred homes but that could good higher. 27 people went to the hospital with mine moore injuries minor injuries. Four firefighters were burned and expected to recover. The cause of the fire is under investigation but thats a problem for another day. The immediate concern is how to deal with it and stop it from spreading. We appreciate your time, and you can find us on social media. Well be there. 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