daunting conditions for the 10,000 firefighters battling the fires. a u.s. forest service fire fighter from south dakota was killed while working a fire. the married father of two, scouting ways to attack burning fire when he became trapped by flames. as the the fire ravages anything in its path. it looked like a bomb had went off over here. it s scary. reporter: the largest blaze, the rocky fire burned 60,000 acres in three counties north of wine country. there are firefighters that have 20 25 30 years on the job, that have never seen fire behavior like we have seen the last couple days here on the rocky fire. reporter: the reason fire officials say four years of drought and 100 d heat have created conditions perfect for explosive growth. so far two dozen homes have been destroyed. governor jerry brown declaring a state of emergency and evacuations have been ordered for more than 13,000 californians.
welcome back everyone. i m john vause, let s check the headlines. in california thousands of firefighters are battling about two dozen wildfires across the state. the fire has scorched more than - 54,000 hectares. the rocky fire was still only 12% contained. a forum in new hampshire offered a preview of this week s debate between the republican candidates for the u.s. presidency. 14 of the 17 candidates take questions from the moderator, but the front runner, donald trump wasn t there. a circus tent collapsed late monday. two people are dead, both of them children. a number of others have been hurt. about 100 people were there
behavior like we ve seen here on the rocky fire. reporter: the reason four years of drought and 100 degree heat have created conditions perfect for explosive growth. so far two dozen homes have been destroyed. governor jerry brown declaring a state of emergency and evacuations ordered for more than 13,000 californians worrying them that their homes may be in the fire s path. hopefully the fire doesn t come this far and burn our stuff down so we ll come back to at least something, our house still here. reporter: from the air you can see the intensity as the wall of flames moves across the 2003 line mountains. crews on the scene digging control lines setting controlled burns, hoping to stop the fire in its tracks by lighting brush and fuel in the blaze s path. to see conditions like they are now is concerning. one less spark this summer means one less wildfire.
residents evacuate this morning. flood watch remains in effect until tonight. and in california the fire that just won t quit is getting even bigger. the rocky fire has burned 65,000 acres of land growing by 3,000 acres overnight. it is still 12% contained. 13,000 people are urged to evacuate. nbc s jennifer bjorklund is live covering the fires from lakeport california. firefighters were getting some control yesterday but now the step back. what happened? well, it just is a very unpredictable fire francis. it s been a really rough couple of days. the fire has grown overnight, as you said. the containment line is still at 12%. it would figure the containment line grew a little bit as well. that s progress even though it seems like the it s the exact same number. once it s all growing, the percentage stays the same and so that has grown as well. so there s a little bit of good news. but the fire jumped over highway 20 yesterday on the northern
no rain in the forecast to help firefighters. just the latest in the string of wildfires that scorched 134,000 acres this year. it is hard to manage how much scorched earth that is in california. the fire reaching epic levels. the term i m using is historic. there are firefighters that have 20 or 30 years on the job that have never seen fire behavior. we get the latest from cnn s paul vercammen. reporter: christine and john the shifting winds. winds going one direction and flipping back in the other direction. late in the day, the rocky fire here actually jumped over highway 20 and firefighters had a new patbattle. here on highway 16 the eastern