that breaking news is in redwood city, where firefighters are working to put out hot spots after a massive construction on fire and affordable housing site went up in flames earlier this morning, forcing people in a

neighborhood nearby to evacuate. at this hour, at least 50 people are out of their homes. good afternoon and thanks for joining us. you're watching getting answers. i'm j.r. stone the fire sparked at a building under construction on middlefield road . it was called to eight alarms and there are more than 100 firefighters on the scene. this map shows evacuation orders, which include pacific calvin and dumbarton avenues, which are all nearby. the evacuees are being told to go to the veterans memorial senior center. students at the nearby garfield community school were dismissed early today because of the fire. we have team coverage on this fire. abc seven spencer christian is standing by with the latest on the weather conditions. since wind is playing a big role. but first, let's get right to abc seven news reporter zach fuentes, who's been on the scene all day long. zach >> and jr, at this point, we are seeing some promising things. right now. we've seen a couple

of engines actually leave here. a hose starting to be rolled up. that's not to say that this fire is out that all that it's all clear right now that is not the case. but considering the circumstances, things are looking a lot better than when fire crews were first brought out here called at 1015 this morning. now, we do know that the building that caught fire is considered a total loss. let's go to some sky seven video right now to really just show you the scope of this fire that tore through this affordable housing project. there are two buildings here, only one caught on fire, a very big building. fire officials say it started at the north end of that building, and was pushed by winds all the way to the other side. construction workers were on scene at the time, but there are no reports of injuries. thankfully, the affordable housing project, it's been nearly a decade in the making in terms of planning, but construction really started getting underway about a year ago. the building, it just it sits just behind fair oaks health care center, which is a clinic that was evacuated. and the building is also very close to homes, which were also evacuated like you had mentioned. so really the proximity to homes, the state of

the building, which did not have a lot of fire safeguards in it yet at this point in construction, and of course, the winds have made this fire that much more challenging to fight. we had 100 firefighters responding to this from multiple agencies because, again, this is an unincorporated san mateo county. so while we said redwood city, he had different agencies coming here responding to this, crews believe it started on the fifth floor, possibly in the insulation. but the exact specific cause we don't know yet. we do know that cause investigators are out here on the scene right now, along with all of the other responders. the road, middlefield way is still blocked off to traffic. this is an area you're going to want to avoid. but again, crews are hard at work here and have made some very, very significant progress given these tough circumstances that they're fighting right now. we see the smoke behind me is clear right now. earlier this morning we had flames that we could feel right here, that heat from the flames. so again, when you take that into consideration, a lot of progress has been made in this fire. but a lot of work to go. >> still jr zach we want to keep

you here for a minute in some of those images. really incredible images of that fireball. and it was almost like it was going sideways. guys, i'm curious, what is the wind like right now? what do you feel, and is there any idea on those folks who were evacuated when they might get to go back home? >> yeah, fire crews saying that they hope. and san mateo county sheriff's hoping that evacuation orders can be lifted today, hopefully in a couple of hours, they said. but definitely today is what they were aiming for. now, as far as the winds, we've kind of felt it picking up, dying down a little bit, moving in different directions. we've been fortunate to not have the smoke in our face or anything, but we've gotten reports from people who have had ash going into their backyards from this fire, and we know that the air quality is also impacted by this, and i know spencer will speak to that some more. but again, the wind just a big factor in this fire at this affordable housing project that's so much work has gone into. and even some residents nearby, you sometimes get conflicting views as to an affordable housing project or

any new construction that goes into a neighborhood. but even some residents told me that they're sad to see this happen to this project, that they've seen going up. really, with the construction going up for about a year now. so a lot of people really just still processing what's gone on out here. but of course, fire crews still hard at work to extinguish this and people definitely ready to get home as soon as they possibly can as soon as they safely can. jr. >> zach, thank you so much. very important information there. and stay safe out there. as we mentioned, windy weather helped fuel this fire in redwood city. for a look at what conditions are like there right now, let's go to abc's spencer christian. >> all right j.r. the wind has certainly been a factor today as it's been gusty all day across the entire region. but certainly in the area of the fire there in redwood city, firefighters have done a great job by the way, of getting this thing under control. here's a look at conditions near the fire right now. now temperature hasn't been a factor. there's only 72 degrees there so it's not hot. relative humidity is relatively high actually. and that has helped the firefighting effort 65. the wind gusts have been at a in a steady range of 20 to

about 22mph. and of course they were stronger earlier in the day, which was a greater concern about the embers being blown into over to other buildings and starting additional fires. but it's the smoke from the fire in redwood city that has been traveling south eastward down towards places like los altos and palo alto, down towards, redwood city, and from redwood city, rather down towards sunnyvale and santa clara. so right now we've got the steady 21 mile per hour wind gusts still blowing out of the northwest in that same direction. it was blowing earlier today across the entire region. right now, it's still gusty, with gusts ranging from 20 to about 30mph generally. and that pattern is going to be with us for a while. as we look at the wind gusts going into the evening hours in redwood city, uh- pretty steady pattern into about 9 p.m. and then after about 10 p.m, we'll see the winds tapering off rather sharply. and this is why we have those windy conditions. looking at the satellite radar composite image, you see that cold front

sweeping down through the bay area and again all across the region. it is quite gusty looking at current temperature readings here in san francisco, 63 degrees 68. in oakland we've got 70s in hayward, san jose, redwood city, 59 at half moon bay. look at that fog at the golden gate. we won't see that tomorrow as some heat is coming our way, but for right now is having a cooling effect only 81 degrees in santa rosa, petaluma, 70 upper 70s to around 80 at napa, fairfield, concord, livermore 74 degrees. these are our weather headlines sizzling triple digit heat will arrive tomorrow and continue for a couple of days. thursday. the heat eases a little bit, but it will still be warm inland and going into the weekend we expect pleasant and seasonable weather. so overnight, look for a partial clearing. overnight lows generally in the mid 50s, so still pretty mild overnight and tomorrow it's going to be hot in our inland areas. upper seven upper 90s to low 100 seconds in the hottest spots like fairfield and antioch and up at santa rosa. and we have a heat advisory in effect from 8:00

tomorrow morning until thursday night across the entire region, except right around the bay shoreline and on the coast. under these conditions, of course, there's a greater risk of heat related illnesses. and in solano county, it's an excessive heat warning. so here's a look at the seven days ahead. hot weather, triple digits inland and the hottest spots tomorrow and wednesday. upper 80s to near 90 around the bay shoreline. the heat eases a bit on thursday down to low to mid 90s. finally as we get into the weekend, we'll have more comfortable weather and a more healthful weather pattern as well, with temperatures dropping back into a more seasonable range. jr. >> spencer, i know you talked about the temperatures getting hotter and those winds that are sort of subsiding a bit later tonight will those winds come back in the coming days to go along with those temperatures? >> yeah, that's a great question. and yes, it is going to be breezy to gusty over the next couple of days, even with the heat not quite so gusty as the last couple of days have been. but when temperatures are up around 100 degrees, all it takes is a gust of about 20mph

or more to add to the fire danger. >> thank you so much. you can keep up to date on breaking news like this. fire anytime with the abc7 bay area app. we'll send alerts with the latest information. just turn on your notifications. up next, facing california's wildfire season, head on as crews near tracy battle a fire that's burned more than 14,000 acres. is this a bad omen fort'to come? more on that when getting

in san joaquin county is 75% contained. cal fire says the conditions really improved

overnight compared to saturday, when the fire broke out and winds were fierce. the flames have destroyed one home and sent two firefighters to the hospital with burns. crews say this is a reminder that it's important for us to all prepare for wildfire season. >> we just want everybody to, of course, know several evacuation routes have their go bag ready, all the same messages that we're always talking about. >> that's good advice there from cal fire as the corral fire marks the first significant wildfire of the 2024 season in northern california. joining us live now to talk more about this fire and what's ahead is doctor craig clements, director of the wildlife wildfire that is interdisciplinary research center at san jose state university. doctor, thank you for joining us. now, we've seen three major fires in three days today in redwood city. yesterday in san jose, saturday with the corral fire. do you think weather is, you know, to blame here? one of the big factors here.

>> well for the wildfires like the corral fire, these are dry fuels, grasses that are curing throughout the spring. and we are in our fully cured time. so june is when we start seeing a lot more grass fires in northern california. and with that fire near tracy, very, very windy conditions in that region. so it was expected to it's not unexpected to have this type of fire this time of year. >> i know it's 75% contained, but can you talk about some of the conditions that firefighters are up against in a situation like that? obviously making a lot of progress now, but they were up against the wall at one point. >> yeah, saturday we had very strong winds in the altamont wind corridor there. the altamont pass area. and that's the area that's always uh- has a lot of strong winds continuously . and so when you get dry fuels and the ignition with very windy conditions, these fires tend to spread very quickly, gaining

lots of acres. and it takes you know, it takes a lot of time to get those fires out. >> i know you you talked a little bit about it before talking about the fact that, you know, some years we do see fires this early. i think, when i've covered a lot of the big fires it's been in that those fall months. and you often feel like, well, you know, you're okay if it's not 100 plus degrees outside, but maybe that's not the case. >> no. we get catastrophic fires in late fall with cool temperatures, the camp fire in paradise was in november with very cool temperatures. it's a factor of the winds, the fuel conditions, the fuel moisture, particularly. and just the ignition. so when you have an ignition with high winds and very, very dry fuels, you can have a very large wildfire. and that's basically what happened on saturday with the corral fire . >> and that one really spread quickly. was there anything unusual looking at that scenario that you saw? >> well, the fire started up in

higher terrain and it burned down slope and so on the lee side of mountain ranges. when you have strong winds, particularly in the bay area, you get like a downslope wind flow that much stronger than it would be up slope or upwind of the mountain range. and so that actually increases the rate of spread. so while it's not uncommon to have grass fires this time of year, something like that that large is, you know, it makes you wake up and think, wow, we are in fire season now. yeah, i think a lot of people had this feeling that maybe last year, you know, they felt we didn't have the fires that we had seen directly in our area that we had seen in in other years. >> so there was this belief that, oh, okay, i feel good about things, but when we see fires like this that kick up, you know, so early in the seeming or seemingly early, there is wonder about what is to come. >> well, generally we get a lot of grass fires in june. this is when the fuels start curing. so this is not uncommon, what we

can expect in the future is hard to say, but generally the outlook is that we should be below normal for very large fires in northern california because of the fact that we had a wet winter and a cool spring. and so that is going to change, you know, as we get prolonged heat waves, if we get a prolonged heat wave, intense heat wave that can really dry out the fuels and make, the probability of ignition go up. so we still, you know, we can't say that we're not going to have a lot of fires this summer, but, you know, right now it's looking pretty good that it will be below normal. >> are there any advances when it comes to fighting some of these fires? i know, you know, in certain years we've seen the governor get out there saying we're going to have more firefighters this year, we're going to have more equipment or we're going to have more planes this year. what do we have from a firefighting standpoint now? >> well, one thing that's, up and coming is, cal fire's new reconnaissance aircraft. so they're actually able to fly wildfires.

how fast it's going. i think we might have doctor clements here, it appeared he froze for a minute there. we've got him back , you cut off early on there, but you were talking about some of the advancements, you know, modern day technology, you were talking about some of the advancements in firefighting. if you could pick up where you left off there, because i think you're making a good point. >> yeah. so, what cal fire has this year is a new reconnaissance aircraft that actually has, provided new imagery on the fire line, which allows them to better understand where the fire is going and how fast it's spreading. >> yeah, i think that's certainly great to hear. i know over the years we've heard so much about the weather conditions changing and hopefully, you know, they can with that imagery, maybe, work at getting those areas out where it's constantly a changing situation.

>> yeah, definitely. this is going to really change the way, the fire personnel will be able to interact on the ground with better reconnaissance from the air. >> what's what's your advice? i mean, what's the best way that we can be prepared? is it having a package? you know, a pack, a bag of all the essential items or is it something else? >> well, i think if you're living in a wildfire prone area, which is are many californians do, having a go bag, having all your medications, everything that you need to take. if there is an evacuation, you need to be able to get out quickly. and so that's something that people need to prepare for in the event that there is an evacuation in their, region. >> yeah. and i find it interesting because you almost think, well, if i live in a rural area, then i definitely need that bag. and maybe if i live in a city area, not so much. but what we saw in san jose, yesterday was those winds kicked up and the embers spread it to different streets. and what we've seen in the north bay at times where neighborhoods, can fall victims to these fires,

to. >> yeah. well, there are areas in, in urban environments where, some housing development is more at risk than others. and so, most people should know that where their risk is with the risk factor. there are maps out. there's a lot of information out there to support residents, understand what their fire risk is. and so if you're in a high fire risk zone, even if you're in an urban environment, then please, you know, you should be able to, try to make sure that you're aware of their surroundings. keep up to date on information, and if there's an evacuation, have a go bag to go and get out of the neighborhood. as you can. >> doctor craig clements, we appreciate your time so much, especially in light of what we have seen over the last few days. thank you so much and have a great day. >> thanks for having me. up next, a historic election in mexico, as the country elects its first female president, we'll dig into the significance of this history making moment.

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a race where both top candidates were women. viva mexico! viva méxico! claudia sheinbaum led the cheers last night following her landslide victory over businesswoman soce galvez. sheinbaum once worked at the lawrence berkeley national lab. 61 year old former mayor of mexico city is expected to continue on the leftist agenda of the outgoing president, with sheinbaum victory. she's not only mexico's first female president, but she also becomes the first person from a jewish background to lead the overwhelmingly catholic country. joining us live now to talk more about the history making moment is professor juan pablo pardo guerra, a mexican sociology at the university of california, san diego. thank you so much for

joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> i was there outside of the consulate here in san francisco where we saw seven hour lines, huge crowds. and i want to ask, what makes this so unique, and is it solely because she is a woman, or is that just one part of it? >> i think that's one part of it. of course, the fact that we had two women running for president was in itself impressive, but i think that the support that sheinbaum has received a mostly derives from the last six years of government in mexico. and she's clearly running uh- or ran on continuing the policies of the mexican government. and that's where most of her support really comes from. >> i know, you know, so many people talk about the popularity of lopez obrador and he was a big backer of hers going into this. i think on one side of things, you have and i know so much has been done to help the

poor with military programs. but then, on the other hand, there are some concerns a growing violence, a growing deficit, cartel power and us relations. you know, how do people in mexico do? do they look at the situation there as a good one? and that's why maybe that accounts for her landslide. what do you think the feeling there is in mexico? >> so i think that there's a combination of people feeling a little bit of relief because of the direct transfers that the mexican government initiated a few years ago and that have increased the pocket money that lots of mexicans have. at the same time, those transfers haven't been built on the top of a sound fiscal reform. we have to remember that the government of lopez obrador, and indeed the promise of claudia sheinbaum, is to not pursue a fiscal reform that would, for example, tax some of the richest mexicans in

the country, just as a reminder, these include people like carlos slim, who has a fortune that is about 2 million times larger than the average wealth of the mexican household. so again, a lot of these policies provide this short term relief, but they're not built on a sustainable track for the future. and this is one of the concerns with the outcome of the election. >> how has she responded with questions about her religion? because a lot of people are very religious. >> i think that's been very much sidelined. it's not something that has been discussed. i think that the dynamics of religion in mexico are very different from those in the united states, and the identities that one adopts in terms of religion in, in, in mexico, again, allow people to have more fluid positions within the political landscape. so it didn't really become a topic of

conversation, in awe of the way she was presenting herself to the voters. >> this is a more generalized question here, but are you surprised that mexico has a female president before the united states? >> well, not too much, claudia has been working very closely with lopez obrador for more than 20 years. she was clearly one of his closest collaborators, and it was quite a large possibility that she would become, the, the next president, given the fact that she was governing the largest city in the country. and again, she was essentially follow ing his, sort of contributions or his politics into the future. so i think it's not entirely surprising, given the dynamics of mexican politics in the last few decades. >> i have a i'm curious how much and i'll explain, but how much can the elections there be trusted? and i say that because you had 30 or so people who were

killed leading into a lot of these elections, and when the consulates closed at 5:00 in the united states, there were still hundreds of people outside at many locations across the country. can they be trusted? >> so i think that these elections can be trusted. i'm not so sure if we can say the same thing going forward. one of the big promises of both schoenbaum's campaign and of lopez obrador's government is to reform the electoral organism or institution that is in charge of elections in mexico, and it would essentially strip it of its autonomy, make it something where those in charge of organizing the elections are themselves elected. and so it's sort of this like gerrymandering that is sort of being contemplated as the future of elections in mexico. and that is actually quite concerning. i think that so far the electoral institute in mexico has been

incredibly robust at trying to guarantee the cleanest elections possible, so i would trust these elections. but again, i'm not sure of whether i would trust things going forward. juan pablo pardo guerra of uc san diego, we thank you so much for your time and look forward to what's to come in mexic

experts around the bay area. world news tonight with david muir is next tonight, breaking news. the hunter biden trial begins. the first lady there in court to support him. in new york city, two nypd officers shot and wounded. news on the suspect. and breaking news on the border with mexico. what president biden plans to do. and the shark attack off the coast. the swimmer punching the shark