Transcripts For KRON KRON 4 News At 5pm 20240712 : vimarsana

KRON KRON 4 News At 5pm July 12, 2024

Firefighters, this is a fullon firefight at all levels we are working in just miserable conditions. Thank you for joining us everyone, i am Catherine Heenan im Jonathan Mccall that breaking news this monday night comes from the north bay is fast moving wildfires are destroying homes and threatening thousands more this began early sunday morning with the glass fire in napa county now grown to 11,000 acres that wildfire sparked 2 other fires, the shady and the boy some fires spreading to Sonoma County. Kron dan kerman he is alive in the sky hawk neighborhood of santa rosa. An area that has seen a lot of damage from the glass fire. And whats the very latest on what youre seeing tonight. Well a lot of smoke in the air right now one positive thing is that the winds have really come down and that is making residents who have stayed behind feel a little bit better if their house is already survive theyre hoping that if the winds continue in this way that there but they might survive another night. Let me roll some video for you so i can show you just a little bit more about this destruction that weve seen as opposed to seeing entire neighborhoods wiped out were seeing a house here in the house there. The house around the corner we spoke to one man who said he came home at a certain point to see the house next door to him completely engulfed in flames, but he said there plenty of firefighters on scene that they were really responsible for saving his house and authoritses are telling us that whats different about this fire in the one in 2017 is that they evacuated people early enough to get firefighters up here so they could provide structure protection as a result. A lot of these homes have been saved as to when people will be getting back inside as you know some 15,000 structures are threatened. Firefighters say it could be some time due to the nature of this fire. It was not one solid wall of fire that moved in the city limits, its spotted in the city and sometimes some areas a mile ahead of itself. So a lot of areas with a lot of work that needs to be done. And we understand that the evacuations of affected 10s of thousands of in santa rosa as well as in Sonoma County. We definitely want to be able to get people back home but its going to potentially be several days in order to do that. And again were looking at these areas where there is still a fire threat and evacuation is rincon valley. Skyhawk area which were in right now as well as the oakmont a leader and then its rally is the one that was most recently added and thats due to the a fire moving into an adele state park again a lot of spot fires in several different areas throughout santa rosa that is making this an even more difficult firefight but again. Theres one positive note, its at the winds have really died down now theyre hoping that they can put in some containment line now as a result of those winds calming but well have to wait and see back to you in the studio. In kerman live for us tonight. Dan thank you right now the glass fire at 0 containment and mandatory evacuations are in effect for more than 53,000 people and kron fours ken wayne joins us live from the newsroom with the latest on the evacuations in napa and sonoma counties can Katherine Johnson large areas affected lets go to the maps to show you exactly what were talking about this shows the evacuation areas in red were talking about the east side of santa rosa along highway 12 this is highway 12 right here running from downtown which heads out towards Sonoma Valley and you can see a large area on both sides of highway 12 are closed evacuated because of the fire conditions there if you look into this yellow area here on the west side of that area from farmers lane to summerfield this area is under an evacuation warning so People Living in this neighborhood should be prepared to have to leave at a moments notice. This is map that gives you a real perspective on where this fire is burning on the Sonoma County side of the fire because of fires straddling both napa and sonoma counties so this is the burn area in red or the evacuation area excuse me the evacuation area in red and this is the warning area we talked about on highway 12 as well as a warning area on the north side up north of us of santa rosa, but as you get dark dark into the heat of the center of this fire zone you can see just how widespread the fire is burning. These are all hot spots thermal hot spots that are picked up by satellite. Then we move over to the napa side to show you. The warning and evacuation areas there in this case in napa county they have blue to indicate mandatory Evacuation Orders and this is lena right here both sides of that community are under a mandatory warning you see just how close these little hot spots are to the town of saint. Course were all familiar with that place and just how significant that is and then we move up the valley toward calistoga we get another sense of just how bad the fire situation is in fact all of the east side of silverado trail here is under an Evacuation Order order and that is where we have seen some damage itself in trying zoom out and find calistoga heres calistoga right here. So you can see calistoga is either under a mandatory Evacuation Order south of the main drag through downtown or under an evacuation warning so that gives you some perspective on just how widespread. The glass fire is which started up here in the hills on the east side of the napa valley above saint helene and a little bit southeast of calistoga and is now extending across the county line right into the edge of santa rosa. Very reminiscent as we mentioned of the tubbs fire which burned just north of there north of calistoga came down to a Fountain Grove and santa rosa this way in this case were talking about the south and east sites. The same problem so you can get these maps by going to kron 4 dot com to find very specific information on specific roads in fact right down to exact buildings back to you guys. A check on weather conditions and of course how they are affecting the fires. Yeah, some good news the winds starting to die down kron 4 chief meteorologist Lawrence Karnow joins us. Right now with that red flag warning set to expire in just a few hours. Yeah were keeping our fingers crossed for them certainly. Terrible fire storm conditions developing last night we had some gust 30. And 50 Miles Per Hour you can see some of these gusts over the last 24 hours can brought up a very interesting point the tubbs fire was really just to the north of where the current glass incident fire is located now that means that this area that is burning this is all fresh wildfire in other words, theres plenty of shrubs trees dead things on the ground for the fire to burn through so thats keeping it a very hot area. The best news of all the winds have finally started to switch directions now, and it looks like were going to see an influx least a little bit overnight tonight of some moisture going to get a move in off the coastline. Heres the very in some of the winds around the areas were going to see those winds begin to start to subside a little bit you see the component here starting to see instead of that northerly component the winds that very dry hot air that was blowing the fire back toward santa rosa. Best news of all getting a little bit of a westerly south westerly component that pushed the fire back into the hills makes it harder for to make its way into santa rosa. Its still going to burn is still approaching the firefighters are still on guard here but were certainly seeing some help now from that sea breeze beginning to kick in and thats a trend thats not going to just kick in today, it is going to start to a ramp up over the next couple days so the firefighters are going to get a little help now from mother nature, the winds are going to start to increase the humidity is going to be on the rise in the coming days, but its still very hot out there and still very dry certainly hard to fight fires in those kind of conditions guys back to you all right lauren thank you very much we want to go now to napa county were Fire Evacuation center has been set up at the Crosswalk Church thats where we find kron fours Maureen Kelly shes been there all day long talking with folks who have gone there. To get away from those flames morning. Thats right jonathan katherine, im here for the Crosswalk Community church where people have been showing up all day long in order to get Hotel Vouchers here because theyve been forced to flee from the flames nearly 12,000 people are estimated to be either under a mandatory evacuation in this county or under a warning meaning theyve got to be ready to go when that order comes down. Meanwhile earlier today i spoke to people who woke up this morning opening up their front door and saw the flames visible. I was like well that the fire so close of. Like this is crazy the 15 yearold saint helene a resident says this was the view outside her front door of her apartment complex her family grab their belongings and fled around 02 00am this morning. It was just kind of crazy and then trying to get everything in the car quick. I kind of had a really bad anxiety so i was kind of mom i kind of dont want to be here no more. Now theyre waiting with many others here at the Cross Walk Community churches county workers coordinating with the Red Cross Work to get them a hotel voucher. We feel kind of like scared and mike ifill emotional because you dont know whats going to happen, you know what can happen like in the next hour words you dont know whats going on many people showing up here are bringing supplies for the evacuees even those. Who were forced to leave their homes themselves saw that everyone is waiting out here in the heat, so we wont spend years safe leg on water got some protein bars. A little apple sauce treat and just some gift cards as well they told us that would be a big help some people to go and buy whatever toiletries they need underwear socks things like that. The county says a several nonprofits have gathered together to take in donations because of coronavirus though they really only want to be taking cash and gift cards that could be brought here to the Crosswalk Community church theyre taking it also few other locations as well as online we have posted a link on how to help on our website kron 4 dot com Catherine Jonathan back to you all right Maureen Kelly, thank you very in Sonoma County tonight, the sonoma raceway is being used as an Evacuation Center kron fours michelle kingston brings us that part of our Team Coverage tonight. There is just one couple taking advantage of this campground right now, but it can hold up to 2000 campers there are bathrooms and showers and trash cans all you need to bring is your own shelter. A trailer, an rv a tent thats exactly what chris and Melanie Collins did theyre preparing to camp out tonight after having to leave their oakmont home last night it was very lot of sirens. We saw a lot of people speeding out of sonoma raceway Officials Say they will keep this campground open for as long as they need to. In 2017 about 200 people camped here for about a week the couple currently camping here says they are not sure if theyll have a home to go back to but for right now theyre just trying to stay hopeful. And theyre thankful that for now theyre safe at sonoma raceway michelle kingston kron 4 news. Our wildfire coverage continues in just a this is video from saint helene you can see the orange skies, th the unfair money bail system. He, accused of rape. While he, accused of stealing 5. The stanford rapist could afford bail; got out the same day. The Senior Citizen could not; forced to wait in jail nearly a year. Voting yes on prop 25 ends this failed system, replacing it with one based on Public Safety. Because the size of your wallet shouldnt determine whether or not youre in jail. Vote yes on prop 25 to end money bail. Welcome back everyone not cal fire is holding a News Conference it is im just getting underway. Lets listen in. The its size as of this evening. 36,300 section 36,236 acres. Percent contained. That game said the has weekend today currently im a city on highway 12 youre not really seeing any movement in the trees, maybe just a little bit around me, but smoky skies or under or a sign that theres not a lot of air movement out there moving the smoke around so very very stagnant afternoon out here and not good for air quality and folks out exercising great for us to work on maintaining the spire and now working on put that out so weve firefighters out on the line again today a double shift due to lack of resources to over 25 of 27 major fires to date. Stretching 17,400 firefighters deployed throughout the state to their to breaking point but our firefighters are holding the line. Digging in and finding that inner strength to protect the communities that we sworn an oath to do so so. Fire did make it to oakmont and into an adele early this morning. But there was a firefight by our local firefighters and our help firefighters on the east side of santa rosa. To save as many homes as they could and the statement i heard is they saved far more than they lost so there was while other were indeed structures destroyed and damage this morning. It it was a win overall or a valiant effort for the firefighters to circle up the resources that we did have and make a concerted attack where we would make the most difference. With that. I will call it and the a great thank you chief guys been able to join us yet i think were it was having trouble well well get him on as soon as we can. So lets lets go on for just update about the evacuation areas. We Sergeant Spencer crum of the Sonoma County Sheriffs Office started. Youre youre youre muted. Start here now you got it. Sorry our latest evacuation are mandatory evacuations are occurring in the area and adele and ridges of the latest ones as of a few hours ago we still have a mandatory evacuation warning up in line for area. Big note mark west springs. I just want to say that we have over 68,000 people evacuated. In sonoma our heart goes out to them i know this is tough on everybody. You know i think everybody is not counted in other every other places its hosted president , i know its very tough. Rest assured that we have a lot of deputies out there patrolling as well center isnt he. Officers out there patrolling neighborhoods. As of about 30 minutes ago, i was just notified of our first arrest. And other person who is in did not wish with no lawful purpose. Its a 17 yearold you can see nothing that says in the area of Maria Real High School and was arrested in the backyard of the residents in that area. Were not tolerating anybody being you know that shun zone does not belong there. Number one rescue everybody to evacuate on this mandatory Evacuation Orders if youre the highly sirens time to go. If you dont live in that area and you decide to come around that area and injured in attack is on you are subject to arrest and we will of course a lot of and and make arrests in that im not going to i just got word of this. Well be doing that soon and i think everybody for patients and like everybody. Please keep your eyes and ears open and all Law Enforcement and if you, yes. Thank you for that update surgeons. Next were going to go to Santa Rosa Police chief ray navarro. Thank you very so not a lot has changed for the Police Department since this morning. We still have mandatory evacuation zones that are still active in are not safe due to the serious threat of the fires. So as crime has has mentioned we do. Taking seriously when people come into these areas. We we do have officers that are patrolling the areas for looters and we are taking 0 tolerance approach to this. Every seeing east. Fresh Creek Mission boulevard and serve until road is still closed and no one has allowed back in right now. We asking for the publics help over the next several days as we addressing the evacuated areas, its very dangerous to go back in and it gets in the way of the Public Safety resources who are in there trying to fight the that is all i have to report. Thank you chief, we may have some questions for you in a little bit. For an update whats happening at county Emergency Operation center lets go to chris director emergency manager has been for some what increase carli hear a real briefly evacuation numbers and zones remain relatively steady as surging crime. We are looking at 6 shelters currently operating in the county at this point as well as were aware of several others that are being operated by a local communitybased organizations we are working with American Red Cross to over 7 shelter. At state university. Our focus remains on community sheltering. Communications engagement. We are starting to damage surveys of this time informally. Formal Damage Assessment of course will be conducted by cal fire. And as always worse urging our residents to touch base with socalled emergency dot org to receive the ways information both regarding the evacuations. The maps indicating which areas are being impacted as well as information references for such things as where to go for assistance or shelter, this time not conclusive brief. Thank you we are also pleased to welcome congressman

© 2025 Vimarsana