today on getting answers. we're talking safety ahead of the 4th of july. from the danger around fireworks to heat related illnesses. a stanford doctor will share her best advice to keep your loved ones out of the emergency room. then keep tahoe blue. big changes are underway

at lake tahoe ahead of the holiday to make two popular beaches even more. visitor friendly. but first, an excessive heat warning is in effect for most of the bay area, and with an elevated fire risk, power shutoffs are now in effect for some bay area residents. hi there. thanks for joining us. you're watching getting answers. i'm dion lim already today we're seeing the impact of this heat wave that is driving up the fire danger. cal fire crews are battling a 50 acre brush fire north of calistoga. the toll fire, as it's called, is prompting evacuation orders in parts of napa county. we are keeping a close eye on this, and we'll have a live report for you coming up on abc seven news at 4:00. but first, let's zero in on these triple digit temperatures. you will notice on your screen we have a qr code that you can scan to get a look at the conditions where you live and get important health information, things like cooling center locations. but for more on the temperatures, which are also prompting a spare the air

alert, let's get to abc seven spencer christian monitoring it all. >> spencer okay, dion, we have numerous triple digit readings readings right now, not just a few locations. in fact, they range from the temperatures from 100 degrees to nearly 110. as you look at the current 109 in saint helena right now, 104 in sonoma and santa rosa, concord, 105 degrees right now, 104 in livermore, even around the bay shoreline, it's 98 in hayward. so it's hot everywhere except at the coast. so let's talk about the heat alerts. we have an excessive heat warning that has been extended now in effect until next tuesday. that's for virtually all of the bay area. the area there in the red or the darker color. now those areas in the orange are that's where an excessive heat advisory is in effect. that's for the bay shoreline for san francisco and for port parts of the santa cruz area. now we move along to the red flag warning for high fire danger. that's in effect all also has been extended until friday at 5 a.m. that includes the santa cruz mountains, the

east bay hills, and the interior mountains of the north bay. winds will be gusting up to 30mph at times, generally out of the north northeast, with humidity as low as 10. you can see why that increases fire danger. and speaking of fires, we'll take you to the location now of that fire in the north bay in napa county, where it's 105 degrees right now, relative humidity down to a dangerously low 17% wind out of the northeast at seven miles per hour, with occasional gusts up to about 12mph. the fire danger index shows in those areas in blue and orange, where we have moderate to high risk. right now , so only a few areas are covered by that moderate to high risk. but notice tomorrow morning, about 9:00 or so, there will be an expanded area, especially in the north bay, that has not only moderate to high, but even very high fire risk. and then that will take us into the afternoon hours where we'll see basically low to moderate fire risk across the entire bay area. and there's no, secret why is because no wonder

why. because temperatures are going to continue to be in this excessively high range. tomorrow's highs, basically about 104 to 1 10 or 112 in the hottest locations. so not much of a change at all in the temperature range tomorrow and even on thursday, as the heat eases just ever so slightly, we're still talking about high temperatures up to about 107 to 108 degrees in the hottest locations. friday. again, not much change there. so this excessive and dangerous heat is going to be with us for several days, heat wave this week. drink plenty of fluids in order to stay healthy during this excessive heat. wear lightweight clothing, take breaks in the shade or air conditioning if possible. recognize the signs of heat related illness. and of course, never leave people or pets in cars and for fire prevention, avoid activities with open frames properly discard burning objects like cigarettes. keep motor vehicles off dry grass, and if a fire does start, call 911. and finally, i'll give you a look at the accuweather seven day forecast. we are not going to

break this string of days with triple digit high temperatures in our inland areas through the next seven days, all the way into next tuesday. and once it does break, i'm sure we're all going to be, giving out a sigh of relief. yeah relief cannot come soon enough. >> spencer. all right. thank you. now, be sure to keep the abc seven bay area app and our website, abc seven news.com handy throughout this heat wave to stay up to date on the latest forecast, you have access to the same live doppler seven tools. spencer and our entire weather team use. we have a list of cooling centers open across the bay area as well. we'll send alerts right to your phone when there are any other important updates. now, given our weather conditions, preemptive measures are being taken to prevent fires. so p-g-and-e's began cutting power to residents in high risk areas this morning. joining us live now is tamar sarkissian, spokesperson for p-g-and-e's and tamar. before we dive into the psps, i do want to

ask you the p-g-and-e's outage map currently shows just about 6500 customers or so are without power in oakley. we have the map up on our screen right now that though, is not listed as a psps. can you tell us exactly what's happening in that area? >> yes, actually there are very few customers in the nine bay area counties that are impacted by a public safety power shut off. there's only 146 combined in napa, sonoma and solano. the other outages that we are seeing are unplanned. they are due to these very hot conditions. when we get these sorts of hot conditions, transformers can overheat. they don't get the chance to cool overnight. and that's when we see heat related outages. so right now, the majority of those outages are in the south bay. and in the internal portions of the east bay. i checked just before we got on the air, and we have

about 16,400 customers impacted in the nine bay area counties, the majority in the east bay and in the south bay. so that's what we're experiencing right now. we really want our customers to be prepared. this is not only a very severe, but also a very rare incident. we started tracking these kinds of conditions back in the 1970s, and since then we have only seen 18 incidents that compared to this one. >> okay. well, we will talk about preparations in just a moment. but getting back to the customers that are affected, can you tell us what are some of the factors that help you all determine how long the psps will last? >> we're really monitoring the weather. we have our meteorology department and they're constantly tracking the weather. what has to happen before those customers can be restored is that we have to be the weather has to subside, and as soon as that happens, we patrol our lines to make sure that there is

no debris or branches on the lines. and then we begin the process of turning those customers back on. so we really have to wait for the extreme heat. and it's not just heat, it's many factors. we are looking at low humidity, high winds, red flag warning, dry vegetation and also eyes on, on the ground. we have our crews and we also have our hazard awareness center constantly monitoring using cameras and technology that we have in place. >> certainly a lot of things to take into account. earlier on, you mentioned planned versus unplanned. can you give us a sense of what the difference is and also how people will know that they're going to be affected by a shut off? >> yes. so unplanned is an outage that happens in this case it would be due to the heat. the transformers will heat up to an extreme temperature. they won't have a chance to cool down overnight because the

temperatures aren't dropping. and then, the equipment has that potential to fail and cause a heat related outage. that is unplanned. a public safety power shut off is strictly for the purposes of preventing wildfires and keeping our customers and communities safe. it is a last resort when we see those multiple factors come together, and we feel like there is that concern, that is when we will take those steps. so in a in a planned public safety power shut off, we do notify our customers that are going to be impacted well ahead of time. we make sure that they have a chance to be prepared. they have that knowledge ahead of time, especially for our medical baseline customers. if we aren't able to connect directly with them, we will go knocking on doors because we understand that it is very important for them to have this information, and then as i mentioned, we have to wait for the heat to subside and we have to patrol our lines before we can turn that power back on.

>> and that leads me to our last question about preparations, because like you mentioned, you do give people advanced warning. what can families do to prepare? what supplies do they need to gather and get ready for? >> yes. so absolutely, we want to make sure our customers are prepared. so having things like flashlights with fresh batteries instead of candles for safety purposes, it's also a good idea to start charging electronics from now. your phones, tablets, electric vehicles to make sure that you have the highest charge possible should an outage occur. it's also a good idea to freeze either water bottles or containers with water ahead of outages, so that if you experience an outage, you can take those, containers of water and put them in your refrigerator or in your freezer to keep everything nice and cool. it's a really good idea to have important numbers. prepared

just in case your phone dies and you're not able to access your contacts. make sure to write out a list and have that in a handy spot, those are some tips in advance. and then if you do experience an outage, go ahead and unplug your large appliances electronics. but do leave one lamp on so you know the moment your power is turned back on. yeah certainly all of that excellent guidance for what is ahead. >> i'm sure we'll speak to you again in the coming week. tamar sarkissian, spokesperson from p-g-and-e's. thank you. >> thank you. >> well, coming up, staying safe this 4th of july, from heat to fireworks, there is an awful lot to talk about and a lot to prepare for. so the doc

control and prevention. over 8500 people in the u.s. are treated in emergency departments each year for fireworks related injuries, and approximately 40% of those are children under the age of 14. so between fireworks danger and the triple digit heat blanketing the bay area this week, there is an awful lot to talk about. so joining us live now is doctor stephanie chao, a pediatric surgeon and trauma medical director at stanford medicine children's health. thank you for being here. you would think after years and years of warnings about the dangers of fireworks, we would see a decrease. but is that not the case? >> you know, i think that when the holiday rolls around and we see sparkly sparklers and everyone's excited, people just forget that fireworks remain dangerous. so i'm so glad that we're talking about it today

ahead of the 4th of july celebrations. >> same. and you as a medical professional, what are you seeing families come in to be treated for after a fireworks incident? >> now, i think that people think most obviously that you would be a burn is the most common injury, and it certainly is. but a burn can happen not just from a large firework. it can even happen from those cute little sparklers you hold. believe it or not, those sparklers can go up to 2000 degrees, which is enough to melt gold. some of the other injuries we see are injuries where the little bits of the sparklers, sometimes there's metal in them. they can go into the eye, they can hit other parts of the body. and sadly, we even see kids who have parts of their bodies injured very, very seriously from the fireworks with severe lifelong injuries. >> wow. and of course, those are the most extreme cases, but let's say there are burn injuries. what do you recommend parents do for a home remedy and

when should they be going to the hospital? >> so i think the first thing is, when in doubt, bring your kids in. we're always happy to see them and take care of them. and worse, comes to worse, we send you home. if it was a false alarm, but injuries that occur on the hands, on the face, on the feet or on the groin and those should typically be seen by an emergency room, especially if you see that those are not just first degree, not just red, but there's blistering or even leathery on the rest of the body. a good rule of thumb is any area greater than three inches uh- it's better to have a medical professional check that out. yeah, no, that is good advice. >> and when it comes to actually handling the fireworks, we don't want to put a damper on people's celebrations. but are there some specific ways to handle them in a safer way that will prevent these types of injuries? >> you know, i i'm not a fireworks expert, and i think the reality is most doctors and

most parents are not. and so my best advice is don't handle them . watch them from afar. 500ft is a great distance and let the experts do what they're good at. >> yeah, certainly they can put on a bigger show and bigger spectacular than we can at home or in one of our backyards. i do want to pivot now to talk about the heat wave, because that has been on our minds for so long. what are some of the precautions parents should take when it comes to protecting their children from these heat related illnesses? >> yeah, i think that sometimes as a thermometer is rising, we don't realize that actually with the humidity, our body temperature can be rising much faster than we assume. and so what we need to look out for are signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. so that might be just a little bit of confusion. it might be headache. it might be excessive sweating. so parents really need to try to keep their kids out of direct sun in the shade. and extremely well hydrated during these periods of time.

>> and we have some tips right on the screen right there about the symptoms of heat exhaustion. talk about how critical hydration is for young people during the hot weather, and how the best way to approach it is because oftentimes i remember growing up, my mom saying, hey, just chug this bottle of water, but it's more than just a one time thing. >> that's right. especially with young kids who are active and running around everywhere, it's really hard to take a pause and get them to drink water, but especially on these hot days, we really have to keep hydrated. so a rule of thumb i would say is for kids who are eight years and under, they should drink a cup of water. so that's eight ounces of water for every age they are. and then for kids who are, older, they need to drink at least eight ounces of fluid every day. now, if you're active and you're doing sports, then you need to take about 500 mls of fluids right after your sports. and if your sports are going on for a while, try to drink 250 mls, which is almost a

cup of water about every 20 minutes. so that's a lot of fluid. >> yeah. so it sounds like just building upon that throughout the day, more so than just a one time event that is good guidance for that. and i do also want to ask about exposure to extreme heat, especially for children. and what type of long term effects this can have on their health. >> well, i think what we don't want is for kids to really suffer, through heat stroke where they can have seizures, they can fall unconscious and really have serious consequences that require serious hospitalization, i think in general, we really just want to have kids enjoy the sun in a, in a safe and smart way. just remember, take breaks, go to the shade. if you're in an area where you don't think there's going to be shade, bring a little beach tent. set up your own shady area. set up your own hydration station. >> all right, doctor stephanie chow, thank you so much for joining us. a lot of good, tangible advice for all of our

viewers out there today. >> thanks for having me. >> well, coming up next, the effort to keep lake tahoe blue, it is more important than ever. with visitors about to arrive for the holiday week, we'll show you how two popular beaches are getting ready when we return. a power outage is looming. that's just alert, he's always getting worked up about something. flex alerts notify us of preventable power outages. that way we always know when to help stop one. ok flex, just drop some knowledge on me again. oh, ok i will - i'll turn our thermostat to 78... i'll unplug the blender. the hair dryer. - my blankie? - yep! - let's talk about it! - nope. ooo, we can save the laundry til' the morning! oh, yes please! oh! little things like this help save our power and help save us from outages. with flex alerts, the power is ours.

trying to keep it clean. they're using some new technology, so. excuse me, i'm at a loss of words now. joining us live to talk about keeping the lake clean and pristine is chris joseph, communications director for the league to save. lake tahoe. chris, before we talk about this new robot cleaner being used at zephyr cove and soquel's, what is the message you are sending to beachgoers this year? >> basically. well, tahoe can't take your breath away, but basically it's just to leave lake tahoe better than you found it. that's really our message, this place is beautiful. especially in the middle of summer when the lake is full,

and that water is nice and clean and refreshing. but that means that big crowds are going to be coming up here. it's also going to be very hot in the valley, in the bay area. so if you're going, people are going to be coming up here looking for a little bit of refuge from that. but lake tahoe is not a national park. we get 15 million visitors every year. that's four times as many as yosemite. and there's no there's not as much staff to clean up after you. so just clean up after yourself. leave the beach more beautiful than you found it. so for next summer, it's just as, just as lovely. >> always a good reminder. we are looking at your background and some aerial shots and it always looks like a postcard. it is so perfect. i do have to ask you, you have a name change because in years past i think you referred to yourself as a different group. correct? now you are a league, almost like superheroes. >> we've. well thank you. that's that's very flattering. but we've we've always been the league to save lake tahoe. we're actually a 67 year old environmental nonprofit organization, people know us more frequently by our keep tahoe blue logo and our slogan. and stickers, though, so those

are what you see. but behind the sticker is this a six plus decade old organization who basically solves the threats to lake tahoe's health and beauty, and we're all about keeping tahoe blue. >> okay, that certainly makes more sense to me. now let's get to this robot, because i'm envisioning one of those roombas that we use in our living room to pick up debris. tell us how this works. we're looking at video right now, and it looks pretty cool. >> yeah. >> so, this is the bee bot, the beach cleaning robot. and we've, we've brought it to the lake in collaboration with our partners, eco clean solutions. and we actually have three bee bots now. and the way that they work is you can see it's a tracked vehicle that's kind of towing a sifting trailer behind it. and what that what that sifter does is reaches down below about, five centimeters below the sand and pulls out all of the tiny buried trash. and this these are things that, tiny pieces of, like, gum wrappers. the corner from your bag of chips, things like that. cigarette butts that volunteers cannot pick up

because they can't find them because they're buried below the sand. so the combination of human powered and innovative technology are going a long way to keep the beaches clean. >> that is really neat. and what does the trash situation like at the beach? not just during the holiday week, but all year round. >> it really depends on the visitation and the season, you're seeing right now, some shots from some unfortunate shots from zephyr shoals last year in 2023. and these were an extreme outlier and obviously kind of a horrific scene, this is something we never, ever want to see again, which is why i'm so pleased to be here talking to you and sharing this message that, really, just for the folks who are coming up to clean after yourselves, clean up after others, do that a little bit extra to leave tahoe better than you found it. because when that litter, if it gets into the lake, it's really, really difficult to remove. yeah, and we want to keep tahoe's water clean, clear and beautiful. but it depends on all of us doing our part. >> yeah. and speaking of doing our part, besides this new technology of these three boats, what other ways are you doing to

get the message out? working to turn that area into this blue beach, quote unquote. >> yeah. so the tahoe blue beaches program is something that we, we have worked on in collaboration with the us forest service, who owns upwards of 80% of the public of the land here in the basin. lots and lots of beaches, and over, over conducting ten plus years of litter cleanups. we gather a lot of data. we analyze that data. we've seen that different beach sites have different problems. so they need tailor made approaches. so tahoe blue beaches is intended to kind of deliver that customizable approach. maybe it's more trash cans here. maybe it's more parking management here. maybe it's more, portable restrooms over here. the idea is to provide the setting. so when you come and visit the beach, making the right choice for keeping tahoe blue is the easy choice. >> okay. and real quickly, one last word of advice a message to anyone who happens to be heading to these areas. this holiday week. >> yep, it is. clean up after

yourself. clean up after others. be patient. everybody is here to have a good time and also join us on july 5th. we have a cleanup event happening and you can find that at keep tahoe blue.org/july five. and i will say just based off of years past, you do try to at least your group does make these cleanup events somewhat of a, you know, gathering a celebration, a community type event. >> so it's not necessarily seen as picking up trash, but more like a collaborative effort. >> oh yeah. it's a it's a party. honestly. it's a way to keep the july 4th party rolling and get you get a big hit of dopamine, of instant gratification, leaving a beach cleaner than you found it. yeah, partners from across the community, businesses and all sorts of things. it's an

>> it's quite satisfying to see as well. i'm sure. all right, chris, thank you again for joining us. >> my pleasure. >> happy fourth. happy fourth to you as well. well don't forget everybody. abc seven news is streaming 24 seven. so be sure to get the abc seven bay area app and join us wherever you want, wherever you happen to be.

and every weekday at 3:00, answering questions from experts from all across the bay area. i'm breaking tonight, a monster hurricane turns deadly, and its track could take the storm to the u.s. growing pressure on president biden, after that debate debacle, as the president now agrees to an exclusive interview with abc news later this week. and sentencing delayed in former president trump's hush money case. first, the most powerful july hurricane ever in the atlantic. now taking aim