Page 19 - Fire Activity News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> >> reporter: that's right. the number of residences destroyed has gone up from 24 to 39. now, that's not because of new fire activity that's because crews were able to get into some burned out areas and get a better assessment of the damage. cooler weather is helping out. firefighters have been slowing the spread of the flames and the fire is 20% contained and temperatures are expected to rise today. this thing is behaving so erratically they are saying the fire -- that everyone is not safe until the fire is out. as the rocky fire rages on this morning, thousands of evacuees are waiting and...

The worst of them dubbed the rocky fire, 100 miles north of san francisco and it's only 5% contained. it's already destroyed two dozen homes and it's threatening thousands more. cnn's stephanie elam is live for us now in california with the latest. stephanie? >> hi, fred. yes, we are out here pretty much at a good intersection to take a look at what is happening here. you can see behind us we have cal fire trucks here. this is a staging area coming in from the fireline, some about to head out. this is a 24 hour production out here where they are constantly battling these flames because you can...

>> reporter: the good news, no honests have been damaged. so far no injuries and at last check the fire was some three, three and a half miles. the side where the firefighters are concentrating their efforts. the northwest flank of the area where they're doing dropouts or burnouts, dropping the fire retardant, we're not out of the woods yet. the next three hours will be crucial. mother nature is the big x factor and the winds are still not predictable. you see the huge plume of smoke that is really magnified because the sun is setting, here behind me showing the fire activity that is still bur...

Wind blew hot embers into the brush. it's at least 30% contained. looking at live pictures there. 1700 acres have been scorched so far. five homes destroyed. more than a dozen other buildings damaged. all this while california is in the throes of its worst drought since 1980. >> reporter: good morning, carol. as we show you these pictures from our affiliate knbc, the wind has picked up this morning and it's causing some of this fire activity to sort of pick up again. it's been pretty much calm overnight. 30% containment so far. authorities hoping to get more conin thement today. meanwhile 2,00...

I never been in an area where they had bad fires and then we came up here yesterday morning, it was very thick coming through the valley and then cleared. we're hoping we're okay. >> reporter: and it's been difficult for everyone that's affected by this fire. just in the few days and the two days that we have been here, this fire has grown to more than 15,000 achors and as you mentioned, fred, just 7% containment. fred, back to you. >> nick, thanks so much for keeping us posted. so the winds in that fire area have been dying down just a little bit but the conditions overall are still feeding...