bringing the death toll now to eight. cnn s stephanie elam is joining us now from what s been dubbed the holy fire in southern california. stephanie, 20,000 people, i understand, have been evacuated. reporter: that s right, wolf. and they ve actually increased the evacuations and this is part of the reason why. because you see that flame there, right there by that tower, right here behind these homes. and you can probably also see that the wind is picking up here. these are all the concerns in the afternoon when they re fighting fires. and this is what they re dealing with across the state. tonight, responders are scrambling to save lives and contain the damage, as fires blaze across california. these images from the holy fire in orange county show what looks like a fire tornado. the smoke billowing as flames swirl along the hillside. i m caught on fire. i m burned. reporter: authorities believe the holy fire was man-made, allegedly started by this man,
search is on for the person who forced florida atlantic university to cancel graduation ceremony calling off commencement after a staff member discovered a note, credible threat in the women s bathroom. the california wildfires are not expected to cool down anytime soon. the mendocino complex fire will likely push back the start of the school year. it is the largest fire ever reported in the state. it is even tougher. look at this fire tornado popping up in southern california. 14,000 firefighters battling blazes across the state, a team of 200 active-duty soldiers join the fight next week in a war
wildfires. why he is way off the mark in distracting from the real cause of these devastating wildfires. one is now the biggest in the state s history. and our monumental american today is in fact a great lost h battling the carr fire on july 26th. his name is jeremy stokes. he was a fire prevention inspector and will be with the redding fire department since 2004. he was killed on the front line while evacuating residents. the new york times reports he was caught in a 400-foot-wide fire tornado. his fellow firefighters built a makeshift memorial for him before returning to fight the flames. stoke will be celebrated this saturday with a memorial service and honor guard of firefighters. he lives behind his wife, his 10-year-old daughter, and his 14-year-old son. mr. stoke was only 37 years old. that s a great american right there. the fact is, there are over ninety-six hundred roads named park in the u.s. it s america s most popular street name.
firefighters continue to battle the carr fire around the clock which is at this hour, 41% contained. one of the many large wildfires currently burning in california, including the so-called mendocino complex fires. one of the most active fires burning north of san francisco, and so far burning more than 200,000 acres, causing hundreds of evacuations. governor jerry brown trying to reassure californians but reminding them there s still a difficult fire season ahead. uncertainty a part of life, and obviously when i see one house burn down, another house not. when i hear about the fire tornado that moves at 140 miles an hour and didn t see that before, i know i don t like to scare people, but i always want to say we ve got tough times ahead, and no matter how comfortable you feel, or how everything looks good, the part of wisdom is to be ready for
are back in their home countries. the aclu sued the government on behalf of the parents. and now the administration argues that the aclu should use its considerable resources to fund them. again, the administration created a policy that created this and now they want the aclu to clean it up. lawyers for the aclu say they re willing to help but the government should lead. wild fire alert. today s weather is not helping crews fighting deadly destructive wild fires in northern california. forecasters say humidity levels are low making the land dry and ready to burn. the carr wildfire near redding has killed six people and destroyed more than 1,000 homes. that make it one of the most destructive fires in california history. the national weather service reports a fire tornado that spun up just last week had winds of