affect their lungs. >> reporter: nasty air everywhere, but particularly in livermore at a very unhealthy level. the pollution so bad that scott haggerty's been handing out free masks in the east bay since monday. and today in livermore, he gave out all 1400 masks in just 20 minutes. >> i do landscaping. i have some, but i want to give these to my kids. >> reporter: meanwhile, live mo livermore school district haven't closed the school. >> we know the hvac systems are working fine. >> reporter: this is the principal here. and he says they're following government guidelines in studentsoors >> there's been no outdoor activity, no outdoor pe. >> reporter: in east bay, a big

electronic sign that reads campus closed. >> i've seen a lot of masks and respirators. >> reporter: we've just learned that all alameda public county schools will be closed tomorrow. anousha rasta, nbc bay area news. >> l >> liver more is just the tip of the iceberg. colleges and universities are shutting down. check your ma a the scroll, the ticker on the bottom of the screen. it shows the districts closed tomorrow. we have a running list on our website at nbcbayarea.com. the cable cars in san francisco not running right now because of the bad air. muni announced this afternoon they were sending them all back to the barn. they are being replaced with bus

shuttle the on the powell, powell-hyde and california mason lines. a look outside from san rafael to oakland to san jose. skies are thick with smog. nbc bay area skyranger and jeff ranieri are tracking it. why can't we shake this bad air? >> it's a cumulative effect. every single day, it's this conveyer belt of smoke. you can see it there. the second thing that is driving a lot of this smog that is just sitting across the bay air wrea smoke is stagnant air. we just can't get any wind in here to move this on out. take a look at the real time monitoring stations. the purple is very unhealthy. that's where you have to stay indoors and wear the masks if you have them. novato, san francisco, oakland,

fremont, all in the unhealthy category. doppler radar is sending out pulses into the atmosphere and picking up some of those smoke particles from sunol to livermore. tomorrow, still unhealthy across the entire bay area with our smoke advisory in effect right through the day. so when would we get some relief? i don't want to string you along on this. you can see by friday, still a dry northerly wind, but by next week, we have to wait, likely a southwesterly wind would start the ocean breeze that would eventually clear the air out once we hit wednesday. we'll talk about our rain chances next week as welcoming up in 15 minutes. >> nasa satellites are picking up the smoke from space. this is a time lapse using images from the world view satellite. this starts the day before the fire and goes through this morning. you can see it day after day, the smoke blanketing the bay area. as for the fire itself, it

continues to rage on at this hour. >> tonight we're getting the closest look yet at the destruction. we have new drone video. you can see entire neighborhoods leveled in that town of pa paradise. it's eerily reminiscent of coffey park in santa rosa. in butte county, this fire continues to be active. firefighters are knocking down hotspots. >> 9,000 homes gone with more than 15,000 structures still threatened. 140,000 acres have burned. containment at 40%. the death toll at 56, but that will likely rise when we get an update from the sheriff. we are live in chico where a tent city will likely be cleared out. >> reporter: this all started about a week or so ago where two drivers decided to park together

to stay safe. and it has ballooned into this. somewhere between 300 and 400 people are sleeping here overnight. this is a place where they can get a free hot meal, free clothing. but right now eviction notices are starting to go up. >> nobody wants to not take a shower for four days. >> reporter: this was never part of tammy's plan. just two months ago, she moved from illinois to paradise, california, to start a new life. and then the flames arrived. >> i don't regret it, you know. i still feel that there's something here for me. ♪ >> reporter: for now, this is home. a patch of grass near the walmart parking lot in chico. and whatever she can share amongst her friends. but now anxiety is setting in. >> don't take us,ecreate the trauma, bring us into a shelter for a non-permanent solution. >> reporter: it's not clear who

exactly is asking the camp fire refugees to leave. the butte county economic manager says the notice did not come from the county nor from the red cross. luigi says he helped organize the walmart parking lot settlement. but it's grown so much that it's now unmanageable. >> it's going to be a crisis, an overwhelming amount of people with nowhere to go. we can't sustain this for very long. >> reporter: and luigi, whom you just heard from, said with the rain expected next week, they want to bring some kind of housing for the thousands of folks out here. next at 6:00, we're going to explain what fema, county officials are doing tomorrow to help these fire victims. melissa colorado, nbc bay area news. so many people and so many tents where are you in chico. to make matters worse, many evacuees are dealing with the

norovirus outbreak. 21 evacuees are sick and have been isolated from the other 179 people staying there. the24-hour bug causes vomiting and diarrhea and is common when a lot of people are in a confined space. widespread devastation. new drone video captured by nbc news of the town of paradise. this video you're looking at used to be a papa murphy's, a safe way and verizon store. that's one of the main roads through town. you can see melted shelves in the rubble. for a little perspective, we've grabbed a picture of these businesses from google earth before the fire. you can see the difference. take a look. the entire shopping plaza now gutted. just a shelf tl of the large building standing. and this captures what's left of pine grove mobile home park. nearly everything is leveled

except one mobile home you saw there that somehow survived. here's a comparison with google earth, just unnirecognizable. the park had been around since 1972. ths behind the kmart store in the country oak area. you can see charred cars in the garages. heartbreaking to see these homes, people's belongings piled in ash and debris. these larger homes are on marlene court and don ridge court. almost every home is a loss. nothing looks the same as it did one week ago. >> amazing to see that. her family calls it a miracle. we've been following the remarkable story of this woman. she's disabled. and she escaped the flames by wheeling herself through her neighborhood until a firefighter happened to drive by. tonight we meet that woman and the firefighter who rescued her.

jodi hernandez is in paradise with this exclusive interview. jodi? >> reporter: imagine fleeing down their street with houses burning all around you, not in a car, not on foot, but in a wh l wheelchair. one very brave woman and heroic firefighter have quite a survival tos survival story to tell. >> i thought i was going to die. i really did. >> reporter: helen thomas didn't think she'd ever make it out alive. the 62-year-old stroke victim was home alone. she threw her wheelchair down the front steps and on hands and knees got out of the house. >> then i crawled the rest of the way. >> reporter: she crawled and somehow got into her wheelchair, and with her poodle on her lap wheeled herself more than a block. >> she said houses were burning

around her, power lines coming down. >> reporter: she made it to a main road where cal fire's scott mcclain spotted her. >> there's this elderly gal in a wheelchair. look closer, there's a puppy on her lap and her purse is hanging on the back. i do not know to this day how she got down to pence road alive. >> reporter: mcclain put her in his truck and drove her to safety. tonight her family says it's nothing short of a miracle. >> i can't tell him enough how grateful i am for being there. >> i love you very, very much. >> reporter: and we are back here live in paradise. helen thomas wants to thank mcclain in person and take him and his family out to dinner. thomas' birthday, by the way, was monday. she turned 62. it's a birthday she didn't think she'd be around to celebrate. reporting live in paradise, jodi hernandez, nbc bay area news. >> jodi, thank you. president trump now is

coming here to northern california on saturday. he'll be meeting with victims of the fires and assess the damage first hand. details of his trip are still being worked out. president trump has visited california once since taking office, that was to row view border wall prototypes along the u.s./mexico border. a ceo killed in an office. he was reported missing. when officers went to his office, they found his body. sources close to the investigation say the suspect, an employee, was called into the office for a performance review. the ceo accused him of stealing $100,000 from the company. the suspect allegedly got upset, tased the ceo and beat him to death. he was the ceo of rio mobility. a wheelchair mobility startup. they still have no idea where he is. the bizarre disappearance of that 49ers fan during monday's game at levi's stadium.

police releasing this video of yo ia pon. he was sitting with his girlfriend and her two children when he left for the bathroom. but he never returned. police said investigators had hoped that video might provide some clues to his condition. powers' girlfriend and other friends and family members continued to search areas around levi stadium today. still to come, electric scooters now being used as get away vehicles. the brazen crime pulled off in the south bay. and can new technology help solve the infamous alcatraz prison break. ase steps being taken to an update on rain chances that would help the smoke. that's coming up at 5:19 tonight. check out this video.

this snapchat post shows smoke alarms going off at uc berkeley. they )re being triggered because of our smokey skies.. nbc bay area )s cherly hurd is live on campus - she )s tracking this new development. cheryl? . a robbery at san jose state... has

triggered a warning. police say thieves are getting some high tech help...

thanks to those electric scooters -- that you can find just about everywhere. nbc bay area )s damian trujillo is at san jose state w/ the details. damian? a team from the fbi is helping to

the fbi is helping to preserve an infamous piece of alcatraz history. using 3-d technology.the y )ve created the dummy heads that 3 inmates used to escape in 1962. today -- agents showed off the new heads...nearly identical to those used by

frank morris and brothers john and clarence anglin..who were never seen again after disappearing into the chilly bay waters. for the last year and half the fbi team from their lab in quantico virginia worked in their own spare time using 3-d technology to create the heads. the originals have become too fragile. by the way ... the us marshall )s office says the warrants issued for the men are still valid. ad lib toss to jeff ad lib thanks jeff

up next... worried about insurance ... after several devastating

wildfires. nbc bay area spestions about whl continue to protect homes in high-risk areas. nbcbayarea

destroyed by fire, after fire, after fire. we )ve begun to with so many homes destroyed by fire, after fire year after year, we begin to wonder whether insurance companies will continue to cover these homes in high-risk areas. >> it might sound like an outrageous question, but it's valid. will insurance companies no longer insure californians? i guess it could be like earthquake insuranne of these days? >> yeah, looks like it's going to break-away. what you're going to see first and forecast most, there are going to be people who are going to get dropped. home insurance companies are going to drop many homes they determine to be a high-fire risk. you're going to receive a

non-renewal letter in the mail to give you 45 days to find another policy. you got to go shopping. you may end up with one company for fire, plus a different one for everything else. it's also possible no company will cover you. well, then what? your last resort is the california fair plan. it's assuran insurance pool set after fires in the '60s. it is basic and more expensive. we foresee many being forced into fair because of last year's fires and the woolsley and camp fires this year. please check it out. back to you, raj and janelle. >> thank you. >> if you have a question for chris, go to nbcbayarea.com/responds or call 188-996-tips. more cancellations because of the air quality. i am a family man.

i am a techie dad. i believe the best technology should feel effortless. like magic. at comcast, it's my job to develop, apps and tools that simplify your experience. my name is mike, i'm in product development at comcast. we're working to make things simple, easy and awesome.

okay. if you have kids in school, check with your district. check with your principals. among those closed. alameda county, contra costa. >> and buses won't run to those schools because there's no school tomorrow. uc berkley closing classes,

>> for now lester holt joins us with nightly news. thanks for joining us. breaking news. hundreds of people missing as wildfires rage across california. the death toll continues to right. and a new death threat on the way. twos marines charged with killing one of their own, a green benet strangled in his sleep. prominent ivy league professors accused of sexually abusing their students. a woman at dartmouth saying it's like 21st century "animal house." and a feel-good couple who raised $26,000 to help a homeless man in need. >> they put out a story that hood winked a lot of people. >> now cops say it was al