Cruz counties. Davenport is still threatened but the fire is subsiding along and we are uwatching the scu the coastline slightly but still exists. Fires. As we move around into the area sky ranger flew over all of the fires today and what you see is closer to felton, border creek, just skies filled with smoke. The fire has crested above those flames in the mountains and just communities and has moved its smoke no matter where you go. Way down to highway 9 just north nothing has really changed. These are all new pictures from of the community there, and we have resources and pen tphel in the last ohour or two, but this looks similar to what we have those areas actively fighting seen in the last few days. Fire and protecting structures and performing structure defense Santa Cruz County, this has the potential to grow into one of operations as we speak. The largest fires in state history. We have had a lot of part of the reason here is cal opportunities to save a number fire says it has less than half the personnel it would normally of striuctures, and a lot of had have on the front lines, reason being all the other fires that work by our firefighters working are happening across the region. Extra long shifts and we are ads were getting new information from san mateo and santa cruz counties now, and we will be waiting for the News Conference area possible to protect those from cal fire. It just started. We want to get the newest structures. We have evacuations in play for information from the evacuations the past number of days and that and the damage in santa cruz helped us tremendously by county and stan mateo county. Getting the guys out of the lets lesson into the news area, and having to get to where conference. The situation update, the fire as of 6 00 p. M. Tonight is the structures are without having to be concerned about the 48,000 acres, an increase of citizens trying to escape. About 8,000 acres. We are still sitting at 0 containment. We currently have 20,952 we do face challenges for folks that have stayed, and its a structures that are threatened by the fire. Problem with those issues, so if you are evacuated please stay 20,952. We can confirm 50 structures evacuated, and if you are not evacuated please leave to help us do our job to keep you safe have been destroyed. I will reiterate what we said and our firefighters safe as well. Over the last few days, those are just the confirmed speaking next from the santa structures. We believe that it will go to cruz county Sheriffs Office is the triple digits, its just too chief deputy clark. Good evening. Early to know what that exact number is. Thats going to take a i thought i would touch on a little of what we did today. Methodical approach and time. We have 48,000 people who have we pressed the evacuations and been evacuated from the the fully evacuated the city of evacuation areas. We still have the same number of felton, and now as the city of scots valley was warned, we firefighter injuries and we moved into the mandatory cant confirm there is an incident where there was a minor evacuation and will systematically be evacuating injury vehicle accident folks there. 48,000 people to include scotss valley will have been evacuated injuries. One piece of good news is we arr by the time we get through evacuating scots valley. And security is a major concern of ours, so we devoted a number of personnel. We had 65 personnel just doing evacuations today. Thats not to include personnel doing security and tonight just for security we will have about 30 different officers between chp and allied agencies helpi h folks doing things they should not be doing at a time when people are hurting. Moving on to reunification. I want to say if you have a loved one you have not heard from, there are ways in which you can potentially find out how they are. Theres a red cross web address that you can look up on the internet, and thats redcross. Org dash safe and well. Its a site where you can one h ev evacuated and safe, and if you dont find them there, call and report them missing, thats 8314717721 and make a missing persons report. Another point and i mentioned this this morning, do not go back in the evacuation zones. I know people have concerns with maybe regards with something they forgot or something to that effect, but going back into the zone creates a hazard for the firefighters and it just makes that job harder. We have also had reports of good natured people wanting to help, and so in trying to come back in to the evacuated zones to help. Grant it, we understand the help these people want to provide, but doing that only places our partners in greater predicament to be able to have to work and work around the civilians and other folks that trickled back in the area, as good natured as they might be. And with that, if you want to help, you can obviously you can reach out to the Shelter Centers and provide food and water and theres way to help besides returning back into an evacuation zone. Thank you. You have been listening live to the update from cal fire in the Santa Cruz County and los gatos mountains there. Here are some of the takeaway there, the entire town of felton and scotts valley, mandatory evacuations and in all 48,000 people evacuated in santa cruz mountains, and thats in addition to san mateo valley where theres pes cordero and davenport. 20,000 structures are threatened. If you want to listen to the rest of the News Conference we are streaming the rest of the News Conference on nbcbayarea. Com. We mentioned the death in Solano County and 100 homes burned there. Fire stretched so thin, people are fighting their own fires to protect their own homes. And jodi, it has been a taxing day for our crews including you watching the destruction. We see some of it right behind you. Yeah, and of course we have the sad news from the Solano CountySheriffs Department this afternoon. I just got off the phone with them and they tell me they had search teams looking through areas like this, burned out homes and looking for fire victims and this afternoon they found the body of a man along this road, and he was at his house, and that mans family reported him missing yesterday afternoon after the fire swept through this area early yesterday morning. They had not heard from their loved one and they sent out a search team to go and looking for him and got the sad news this afternoon. Unfortunately a lot of people who live out in this area felt like they had been forced to try and protect and save their homes themselves. The fire swept through his property yesterday morning, but cal fire is still racing to put out hot spots. I need to take care of that fire, and put out of that hot spot and its on my property. He had to sneak in past the roadblocks to get to his place today, without any firefighters in sight he said he must take matters into his own hands. Hes using a generator and fire hoses to pump water from his Swimming Pool on to the flames. Let the homeowner take care of their own property, if you guys cannot. He lost a barn and a few cars and his wine cellar. His house is Still Standing and he wants to keep it that w it w that saved his house, but his noticed the house start to catch fire. The five redwood posts holding up the front of the property were on fire, so i went to a fivegallon bucket and went to his pool and started throwing water on his. Johnsons house and boat were fully engulfed, so realizing he could not do anything to save his place, he pitched in to help his neighbor. Something fairly good happened, as opposed to losing everything everywhere. Firefighters joined the fight as the fire rages on, and johnson hopes they can get a handle on it. Its too late for me, and a lot of others. In addition to losing his house mike johnson also lost his treasured antique collection, and this is all that is left of it. Eut here, again, there are families that have lost everything and unfortunately a Solano County family who has lost the most important thing, a loved one, and we got that confirmation from the Sheriffs Department that a man was found burned in his home this afternoon. They also tell me they have reports of other missing people in this area, and so they have search teams out there looking for those additional missing people and they plan to have search teams out here all day tomorrow. Reporting live in Solano County, i am jody hernandez. As difficult as it is to lose property, when we start to hear about the loss of life, it puts it in perspective for all of us, so thank you. We did hear cal fire talking to us about the red cross and how you can check to see if somebody is on there or how you can file a missing persons report, so thats something you need to be aware of. The fires are burning all across the region, and they are forcing thousands of people to evacuate. In saw phoeponoma county, 25,00 were told to leave their homes, and napa county, more than 13,000 people have been told to get out, and just a short while ago as we were watching the News Conference, we heard 48,000 people in the santa cruz area were being told to get out. Now people are doing what they can to escape. The fire is large in santa cruz. You can see the smoke just billowing over the mountains, and flames also burning in San Mateo County. More than 20,000 people evacuated there, including our own governor who left scotts valley. Its a mad rush to get out safely before things get worse, robert. Reporter yes, it has been that kind of day for everybody, but it has been especially frantic and tiring for firefighters. Finally getting food and rest, but for people in the towns that have to look at this, theres no time to relax. The community has an eerie look, like ghost towns, as thousands got the word today to pack up and leave for their own safety. Michael and megan are doing whatever they can to protect their felton home, and after getting their evacuation notice this morning, grabbing what they need, including their pets. We just really got the essentials. The rest we have to pick and choose, and they are staying here. How about the rabbits . The rabbits are coming. Rabbits are important. They are family. I think its worse in boulder streak at the moment but it could come straight Downfall Creek and be right at us which is why we are trying to get out of here. Firefighters had no choice but to set backfires to keep flames away from the homes. The fire on the ridge was dark this morning, and i am hoping the wind doesnt pick up. And then the ghost town that is boulder creek, stayed open to the last minute. Thanks to the evacuee. Where are you going . I dont know. Reporter a lot of evacuees dont know where they are going, and we saw Shopping Center parking lots packed, and all probably wondering if they will have a place to return to later. Thats such a sinking feeling. Thank you, robert. Also helping with the firefight in Sonoma County is this, its a super tanker. A 747 super tanker. We spotted it dropping retardant in that area. Its helping another fire burning in marin county. The jet can actually drop up to 19,000 gallons of retardant. So many fires and so widespread impacting so many people, some of them your own friends and family and even us here, our coworkers, we showed you how they had to leave their homes today, and Garvin Thomas was evacuated from his home in Santa Cruz County with his kids, dog and his wife, and he is joining us now to tell us what you should and shouldnt bring when you are told you have to go. So as recording this on thursday morning, the closest part of the czu fire to our house is four miles in that direction. By the time you see the viel alf here in a and pets. I want to say a word about bringing your pets. I covered many fires before and heard stories when it got time to evacuate, they were trying to get cats and dogs in the car, and they would get scares and run away, and so keep a handle on them so you dont have to look for them or leave without them. And then laptops, hard drives, food and medication, and clothes for a couple days. Outside the home, move anything away you can. Even cardboard waiting for recycling. If your lawn or roof is covered with leaves, best to clean them radiant heat from the fire can travel through the window and catch these on fire. Close all interior doors to prevent any drafts and leave a light on in each room so fires can more easily spot your home through the smoke. And finally, and only if you have time, its not a bad idea to take a ladder and prop it on your house and pull your hose so firefighters can see it. They have to make choices about which houses they think they can save and which ones they cant. You have to make sure your home is the easiest one to protect. That was a lot to think of. Did you i know you left when it was just a warning. Did you have a little bit of a sense of panic as you were doing all this . I know you have covered it but never have been on the other end when you are the one actually leaving . Reporter never been on that end. One thing i would say is, the situation were in now, we had plenty of time for this. We knew a good day ahead that eventually we would evacuate, and we did not have to panic, because we had time to go through the house and get the house prepared. We were lucky, and as i said in the video, obviously by the time you see it we will be evacuated. The News Conference we were airing at the top of the newscast, we got word our warning turned into an order, so officially now we have been evacuated from our home. Yeah, just seems especially overwhelming when you are talking about putting the kids in the car and making decisions on what is really valuable and what is the most important thing to go. I think i would struggle with that a lot as we see people lose so many momentos and lose what they have in these fires. You never realize just how small your car is when you have to make those decisions. Theres so much where you walk around the house that you would love to get and you have to be careful and selective and say, what absolutely what are the things we can replace and what are the things with sentimental value we never could replace, and those are the decisions you are forced to make in a relatively quick amount of time and those are never easy. Theeou and your loved ones, d thats the most important. Be safe, and we just heard from cal fire that now with the evacuation of scotts valley, 48,000 people in the czu fire are now out of their homes, so be careful. Good to see garvin there. Yes, he got his kids and dog and they are safe. Almost anywhere you live in the bay area, you can see the smoke or breathe the smoke and all week we have had the worst air quality in the world. Chris, some of us got a break today. Yeah, this is thanks to iq air. Heres the leaderboard. You can see the color scale at the bottom. Green is good, purple very unhealthy, and in between, us ges and red, also unhealthy. In line with kuwait city and tehran, as far as air quality is concerned. You can see improvements on the peninsula. You can see the broader picture and you can see as you march to the east, the air quality declines and we get into the purples where actually the air quality is worse than places like tehran and kuwait city. Lets look at the tower cams. I can show you the dichotomy we have going on. Palo alto, you can see blue skies and its improving as we look at the 101. And the golden gate bridge, theres fires to the north and thats not fog, thats smoke, and we have seen declining places like mill valley, its in the red and orange, mill valley. And walnut creek, and we are talking about marching to the east and the declining air quality, you can see that thick haze and smoke. So do what you can to remain indoors as much as possible, and limit your Time Outdoors because its no good for you. Lets bring in jessica and rob mayeda. We do this every year, for the last ten years seemingly, and people might want to start about thinking where to buy their homes, if we are doing it in Solano County and in different areas, we may want to think about it year after year because its not getting any better. Yeah, we are seeing what appears to be moderate drought across much of the region, coming together to accelerate the wildfires in terms of how fast they are growing and spreading, and lets take you outside to san jose right now. What you are seeing is upper level smoke. The air quality, as chris pointed out, better today, but lets take you to the smoke plume. This is the big towering clouds you see in mt. Hamilton. We are seeing the most active weather on the fire lines. Storm ranger is in san jose, and you can see between felton and lowman, and its headed towards scotts valley, and the ash is heading towards santa cruz. The winds out of the westnorthwest at 17. Similar winds up on the hills there east of san jose, 84 degrees and still hot temperatures up towards napa and Solano County. Most of the bay area managed to cool down, but above the cooler edge of marine air, its plenty warm and dry. The radar switched over to wildfire, smoke and ash mode, and you can see how the bits of ash are being sent all around the bay area. The winds have picked up. I do think tomorrow, though, we begin a slight upward trend of temperatures. Notice from noon in the 80s to midafternoon temperatures in the inland east bay returning to the mid90s. So short term we will see temperatures climbing up over the next couple of days or so and not to the levels that brought us to excessive heat warnings like we saw most of this week, but a bit of a warming trend which means we could begin to see more issues with smoke, pollution and early next week, the next half hour we will take an important closer look at what could be another round of tropical moisture coming our way, which set the rest of us all at the beginning of the week. Up next, all those fires taking a toll on state parks. We will break down where you wont be able to go next weekend. As we continue our breaking news coverage, you can see live pictures from our bay area sky ranger. This is over San Mateo County and Santa Cruz County. 47,000 people have been evacuated with these fires alone. Security will be in full force to prevent looting. Sadly we ge