Transcripts For KPIX KPIX 5 News At 600PM 20171010 : vimarsa

KPIX KPIX 5 News At 600PM October 10, 2017

Devastation of this fire because apocalyptic is not out of the question. If hollywood wanted to create a movie set for after a nuclear bomb, this is probably what it would look like. Let me go ahead and ask for chopper 5 video. If we can show you whats happening, chopper 5 above the flames, they are still burning out of control across parts of sonoma and napa county. The latest for you now, 73,000 acres have burned in multiple fires. At least 1,500 structures are destroyed. We dont know how many of those are homes, but earlier we were talking even if 1,000 of those are homes, weve lost 1,000 homes in a four county area, 20,000 people evacuated. 10 people were told have died. We have some video from just after midnight last night. The flames were the most fierce then. Its just a firestorm. Kpix5 reporter Wilson Walker arrived in that fire zone, captured just some absolutely amazing video right in the heart of it, fire swarming across the Sonoma County hillsides and the roads, taking over those highways. People did not know which way to go. Embers were just whipped in a circular direction in the wind that was blowing. In that early hour it was already too late for dozens of homes, flames ripping through neighborhoods. The fire was jumping house to house to house going around vineyards. Let me show you some video where i am right now taken earlier, the journey zen Mobile Home Park in santa rosa a few blocks from the hospital. 100 of 160 are gone with the peoples belongings in them. Sutter santa rosa Regional Hospital evacuated 80 patients and among all this 100 people have been injured in the fires, a lot of them, of course, needing medical treatment. We talked about some of the evacuees and im going to have my colleague len ramirez come in here. Len has covered some of the Evacuation Centers. Earlier you said the hilton hotel was destroyed and you talked to some people who got out of here barefoot. Reporter you wouldnt think it possible, but here we are so many hours later and the hilton is still on fire. A lot of santa rosa is still on fire with this thick haze of smoke still hanging over the city. Its really a tragedy for people. Were talking about personal loss of just about everything they own. I talked to any people today at one of the Evacuation Centers who ran out of their houses with just the clothes on their backs. By the time he reached a red cross Evacuation Center, Derek Schaffer was devastated. This is what his home and neighborhood look like today. I thought the a pock himself apocalypse was going on. The winds were 80 miles an hour swirling left and right. It was a firestorm. There was ash, wind. You could see just red flares. It was all around. It was insane. Absolute pandemonium. Everyone was banging on each others doors going nuts. It was crazy. Reporter rusty racquet said he and 30 others hopped into cars and drove from their lives from a Substance Abuse Treatment Center at glen ellen at about 2 a. M. We couldnt see 5 feet in front of the car. It was light and smoke and everything and it was like the Space Shuttle and reentry into the earths atmosphere. It was light and smoke and we couldnt see anything. It was shaking and the glass was squeaking. It was absolutely awful. Reporter another group was staying at the santa rosa hilton, a Wedding Party from lafayette, indiana. Knocking on the door and were like what . We smell smoke. Were running out of the hotel, my aunts and everyone, seven of us and we couldnt even get in our car, didnt get our keys. I had no shoes, no glasses, about 1,000 of personal items probably went up. Now were at the red cross. Reporter the red cross has turned the finally Community Center into an Evacuation Center for hundreds of people burned out of their homes. Seems to be pretty out of control. People seem to be pretty calm. Of course, theyre traumatized because they had to leave their houses quickly. So were providing them with Mental Healthcare and a place with food and respite to collect their thoughts. Reporter the family Community Center one of several Evacuation Centers that opened up here in santa rosa and, in fact, throughout the region because the need is so great theyre estimating about 20,000 homes and structures have been burned im sorry, 20,000 evacuees in this area, a wide area and you can see earlier in the day people were on the freeway overpasses with pickups full of their belongings in the back and they had binoculars kind of looking out at what used to be their neighborhoods and you can see the flames and smoke devastating that area. Reporter they just need someplace to go. Reporter someplace to go and where are they going to go after a couple of days or a couple of months . Reporter imagine if you came back and this was your home, what would you do . Theres got to be an answer here. Reporter yeah. And fema so drawn out from all the other disasters that happened it may be a while before they get the shelters and things people need in this area. Reporter the community will step forward. Im sure of it. Thanks so much, len. Weve spoken several times about this hilton hotel just behind the camera on ridge still burning, whats left of it. Its the shell of a very big hotel, but earlier in the day kpix5 reporter Katie Nielsen was there. Heres her account. Reporter as you can see behind me, the Hilton Wine Country Hotel is actually engulfed in flames right now. You can see the fence is on fire and behind that what we think used to be the restaurant here at the hilton. Whats really interesting is as weve been standing here, we cannot only feel the heat from these flames where having the debris and ash come rain down on us because we are so close to this fire, but then also were hearing these loud booms from inside. Its not explosions. Its portions of the hotel that are collapsing in on themselves as this fire continues to burn and the eeriest part about in is there is not a firefighter in sight. We have not heard a siren. We have not seen a fire truck, nothing and that is exactly like what weve been talking about all morning. These firefighters are trying to save peoples lives and so now that they know that everyone has been evacuated from the Hilton Sonoma wine country they know theres nothing they can do. It is just going to burn until theyre able to get Additional Resources and unfortunately for a lot of the businesses in this area it means they could burn to the ground. Reporter now within the past hour state and local officials have briefed both the community and media on the firefighting efforts and the evacuations and all the rest of it. Kpix5s Susie Steimle was there. Shes got the latest on what they said. Reporter cal fire, Sonoma County Sheriffs Office and police just briefed the media on whats going on and one of the most incredible things they said it is more than 17 hours now after this fire broke out, they are still at 0 containment, Santa Rosa Police calling this a horrific and terrifying event for everyone in sonoma and napa counties. Now we have some video for you from earlier of what theyre calling the epicenter of the fire today. This is the Fountain Grove neighborhood. You can see an active fire. This is what we saw all throughout the afternoon, firefighters forced to just allow homes to burn saying that they just did not have enough resources, whether it was manpower or water, to take on the flames. So this happened over and over again throughout the day. Now they set up this press conference. They are still not yet in search and rescue mode. Theyre still actively evacuating people from that Fountain Grove neighborhood. They have said that they still want to go back in and dig through the rubble to see if there are any survivors, but they dont have the resources to do that just yet. Thats also why theyre telling people if you can employees avoid it, dont go home at this point. They dont want you on the roads. Theyve enacted a curfew that starts at 6 45 or sunset through sunrise. They dont want you on the road. They want you in Evacuation Centers or staying with family. Theyre asking for more cots at the Evacuation Centers saying a lot of them are at capacity. One of the people who spoke at the press conference was mayor chris corsi saying hes just as frustrated as you are. Im as frustrated as all of you at the scarcity of information we have at this point. I want to know how many people have died, been injured, are in shelters and been evacuated, how many structures have been lost. Its frustrating. On the other hand, for the last 17 or 18 hours our personnel have been out there doing the job of saving lives and thats got to come first. Reporter we also heard from congressman Mike Thompson who said he took a helicopter tour today and is sending video personally to fema and the white house so people know just how bad things are here in santa rosa. Live at the santa rosa fairgrounds, Susie Steimle, kpix5. Reporter thanks, susie. A lot of neighborhoods besides the journeys end Mobile Home Park have been devastated by this fire. Coffee park neighborhood is one of the hardest hit and kpix5s jackie ward has spent the day in that neighborhood. Reporter you were saying it was quiet there, but its only gotten more active here in coffee park. This is the devastation people have been looking at. Cal fire has been here intermittently putting out hotspots and flareups and the neighbors are now using garden hoses to limit smoke and flames. We were on our way from kaiser to Sutter Health earlier today because both those hospitals had to be evacuated, but we found the remnants of this neighborhood called coffee park in the northwest part of santa rosa. Its known as coffey park and this resident is in disbelief of what hes seen. Ive never seen the place like this. When i woke up this morning, i was in shock. It was surreal. Reporter earlier this is video that we took and from where we were standing you could do an entire 360 and you wouldnt be able to see a single home that survived this fire. Firefighters have been driving up and down san miguel road all afternoon, but as of a couple hours ago we hadnt seen them tend to any hotspots. Lots of people now are Walking Around checking on their friends homes, checking to see whats left of their homes. Thats what the traffic is behind me. Some are evacuating santa rosa, others gawking at whats become this local spectacle. In Santa Rosa Coffey park, jackie ward, kpix5. Reporter thanks, jackie. As you say that, im counting. Theres maybe six streets of mobile homes here, 100 in total, that are no longer here. So this neighborhood is devastated, this journeys end Mobile Home Park. I can tell you the temperature is starting to drop a little bit, but as cool as the air might feel, we can still feel the heat coming off this metal and Everything Else thats melted and smoldering. Thats good news anyway the temperatures are coming down. Thank you. Well get back to you and our fire coverage will continue. We want to update you on another breaking story in the bay area. Paul deanno with an earthquake felt moments ago on the south bay. On the other side of the bay area we have all the fires burning in north bay. Those of you in the south bay about 15 minutes ago felt a 4. 1 earthquake that struck outside the city of san jose very close to allen rock about 7 miles deal, 4. 1 magnitude deal, deep deep, it was a jolt that lasted about five seconds. In the north bay we have numerous fires burning out of control. In the south bay we just had an earthquake, magnitude 4. 1 along the southern fringe of allen rock, felt all throughout the south bay and all the way up to the city of San Francisco. Back to you. Paul, thank you for that update. The fast moving wildfires roaring across the north bay, well take you to one of the hardest hit neighborhoods in Sonoma County. Before we go to break were learning a curfew is in effect, mandatory evacuation areas, 6 45 tonight to about sunrise tomorrow morning. Well be right back. North bay wildfires from chopper 5. Lets give you a recap of what we this is a live look right now 2 miles east of the napa airport. Take a look at the heavy smoke there over the north bay over the wildfires right now, a live picture from chopper 5. Lets give you a recap of what we know right now. In all cal fire says 15 fires are burning, at least 73,000 acres, at least 1,500 structures destroyed and 20,000 people forced to evacuate. At least 10 people have died, but we are told those numbers are expected to go up. One area that was hit especially hard, the homes around the Silverado Country Club in napa, our cameras there as the flames tore through that area overnight. This was just hours after the completion of that big pga tour event at the club. Kpix5s maria medina is live in Sonoma County near glen ellen where flames engulfed an entire neighborhood. Whats the situation there . Reporter just devastating. Here we are almost sunset and these fires are very active. Its become a spectacle out here with a lot of people on the side of the road taking pictures of all of the smoke, but many people focused on what theyve lost. Absolutely nothing. It looks like a nuclear bomb went off. Reporter all evacuees left without much. There was no time to grab anything. Reporter and some came back to nothing. Is there anything that was saved, do you know . Nothing, absolutely nothing, armageddon. Its just gone. Everything is gone. Reporter Michael Etheridge not only found his home burned to the ground, he said his mother owned a handful of homes steps away and lost it all, too. My mom is going to come home to this and all she had is what she could throw in the back of the car to evacuate. Shes 80. Reporter they say they had minutes to get out before the flames took over. You just have to say what do i need to do to save this house . Reporter kevin couchs home spared by the wildfire, but his neighbors just steps away werent so lucky. I was pretty concerned if this house went, theres no way we could save our house. I managed to get here just in time to start knocking flames down around it. Reporter now they begin the journey of rebuilding, some of them starting over from nothing. Catastrophic. Reporter i got to tell you going down some of these roads you can see just how lucky some of these homeowners were. You can see a home burned to the ground, but just steps away a home untouched. The Sonoma Developmental Center had 240 disabled patients and they were able to evacuate those patients safely. Back to you. Thank you. Posting on social media this video posted to twitter shows as from over 75 miles away reporters smelling the smoke overnight in the bay area, many posting on social media, this video posted to twitter showing ash falling in the sunset district in San Francisco. You can see the little streaks of ash there and light. Right now the air quality is an unhealthy levels rarely seen here in the bay area and it extends across the region. Kpix5s Christin Ayers is in one of the smoky areas, the Oakland Hills. Reporter the east bay, one of the areas thats seeing some of the heaviest smoke along obviously with the north bay. If you look from a birds eye view in the Oakland Hills, you can see what that actually looks like, all this smoke socked in there, that very red sunset you tend to see. Normally from this Vantage Point you would be able to see across the bay to San Francisco. You can see now that view is barely visible. You can see a few buildings from here. That smoke is also spreading to the south bay were hearing a few reports tonight. The wildcard here is the wind. If it picks up, it could push some of the smoke out, but it could also get those fires moving again. Susan rodriguez said she smelled it first thing in the morning at her fairfield home. It was bad and plus you could look over the ridge and see the glow of the fire on the other side of the ridge. Reporter it looked clear at this park in alameda when we met her, but when we went to higher ground, the view from Oakland Hills mostly obscured by fires. Its thick with particulate matter which can get deep in the lungs and worsen breathing problems. If you see and smell smoke, protect yourself. Keep indoors with windows and doors closed and try not to do a lot of heavy exercise outdoors with smoke present. Reporter the groups most vulnerable, young children, the elderly, pregnant women and those with respiratory issues like asthma. Health Officials Say theres no telling how long the haze will hang around. If the wind patterns shift, we might see a clearing of our skies, but its really dependent how long these fires burn and where theyre burning from. Reporter again we can still smell that smoke in the air. Air quality officials telling us that one of the telltale signs of whether it truly is having an effect on you is whether you start to wheeze or have chest pages or that sort of thing. They pains or that sort of thing. They say if that happens, call a doctor or your healthcare provider. It could be

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