fire concerns as parts of the bay area spike into the triple digits. once again. a deputy chief from cal fire joins us to discuss the heat and its impact on your holiday. the fda has approved a new drug to combat the effects of alzheimer's. but do the benefits outweigh the risks and the pressure builds on president biden to bow out of the race? new polls explore how well kamala harris would fare if

she took his place. hi, everybody. thanks for watching. getting answers. i'm dion lim. we begin now with the heat and the fire concerns across the bay area. take a look. you will notice there is a qr code you can scan to get a look at conditions where you live and get important health information on places like cooling centers. but for more on the heat, let's get right to abc seven news weather anchor spencer christian. this is going to be a long one. >> spencer it certainly is. dion. right now we're looking at a nine day heat wave. it may even extend longer than that. so let's go to current temperature readings right now to show you just how hot it is. and some of these numbers are going to increase during this hour during this half hour that rather that we're on the air. it's 105 in fremont right now, 106 in livermore, 104 concord and fairfield, 107 in saint helena, 104 in cloverdale. a closer to home here, 76 degrees here in san francisco, 84 in oakland, 94 in san mateo, 96. in hayward at 99. down in san jose, it is hot.

all over the bay area. now. the excessive heat warning that has been in effect for several days now has just been extended to 11 p.m. next wednesday. so this heat is going to be with us for a while, obviously, and under these excessively hot conditions, of course, there's an increased risk of heat related illnesses. red flag warning for high fire danger remains in effect for much of the bay area, especially the santa cruz mountains. the east bay hills, the north bay mountains until 5 a.m. friday. relative humidity readings may drop as low as 10. that is, dangerously low, with wind gusts occasionally up to 30mph. which of course can increase the risk of fire. right now we're looking at breezy conditions. we're not looking at it. any sustained winds that are of high speeds, but occasionally we do get gusts. even now up to about 20 to 25mph. now the next three days will bring us more of this kind of heat tomorrow. look for high temperatures in our inland areas well above 100 degrees, up to about 105 106, in the hottest locations. similar range of highs on friday and almost no change at all on saturday. in

fact, even higher in some places 107 108, in places like antioch, concord and fairfield and up north, clear lake, cloverdale and ukiah, 110 111 degrees. as late into the forecast period as saturday. now the heat wave is with us for a while, so be sure to drink plenty of fluids, stay hydrated, wear lightweight clothing if you can. take breaks in the shade, or air conditioning if you can find it and recognize the signs of heat related illness. and of course, never leave people or pets inside cars to prevent fires. some tips as well. avoid activities that involve open flames properly discard burning objects like cigarettes. keep motor vehicles off dry grass and just to give you something to smile about, conditions for the fireworks tomorrow night for the 4th of july, we are going to have clear skies. virtually no marine layer at all. and after 9:00 tomorrow night, still clear skies. temperatures at that time 63 here in san francisco, 70 in oakland, mid 80s at san jose and

santa rosa, 78 at redwood city and 90 in concord. so all the locations that are displaying fireworks tomorrow night will display them under clear skies and mild to warm conditions. one place will still be hot, though. that's concord, which will be about 90 degrees uh. the full accuweather seven day forecast on abc seven news at four. dion. >> all right, sounds good. i cannot remember a 4th of july where it would be that clear. all right spencer a silver lining. yeah well the heat took a toll on our power grid yesterday with some big outages in the east bay. take a look. this is p-g-and-e's outage map, where things are looking a whole lot better, with only minor outages impacting up to 50 customers here and there. it also looks like those power shut offs due to the extreme fire weather in the north bay. those are over with only one remaining in sonoma county. now be sure to keep the abc7 news 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 very same live doppler seven tools. spencer and our weather team use. we also have a list of cooling centers open across the bay area. we'll also send alerts straight to your phone when there are any important updates. now, certainly with the hot, dry and windy conditions firefighters are facing so many challenges with containment. so joining us live now is cal fire's deputy chief nick schuler. thanks so much for joining us. i know you are exceptionally busy right no. >> thank you for having me, dion. >> you know right away. let's talk about the weather and how this is playing a role in fire season. this time. >> well it's a difficult week. triple digit heat, red flag warnings, extended heat advisories and unfortunately july 4th, which poses a significant threat to wildfires across the state, as spencer mentioned earlier. >> yeah. and before we get to some of the fires and the conditions you mentioned, 4th of july come fireworks as well. and i'm sure that's something that

you guys are keeping an eye on very closely. >> it is already this year, we've seen more than 2900 wildfires across the state and more than 133,000 acres burned. and to give you some perspective, that's a 1,600% increase in acres burned this year compared to just 2023. >> wow. some really scary numbers. 1,600. i mean, we're looking at some video right now of some of the firefighting efforts. let's address butte county because we are watching the thompson fire there. 3000 acres have burned. that's according to the latest numbers that we have. can you give us an update on the situation for residents there who may have been displaced? >> yeah, we have a pretty significant fire in butte. as many people know, that fire is now 3568 acres and 0% contained. we have more than 1500 personnel there, and we do uh- unfortunately, have to say that we have had some structures destroyed and damaged our damage. assessment teams are actively determining those numbers. now. we did have four

aerial helicopters last night that dropped more than 133,000 gallons, and more firefighters on the way. >> yeah. and as we take a look at the screen, you can see some of these images. some of them are just simply stunning. all of that smoke coming into the air. and you mentioned this firefighting technology. can you elaborate a little bit more on what type of methods crews are using for this fire? >> yeah. when we fight fire, it's 24 hours a day, both on the ground and in the air and the ability to access resources across california, not just cal fire, but local, state, federal, tribal agencies all coming together to support one another and our ability to access uh- aviation assets across the state, we are very fortunate to have the latest technology, the greatest assets and the support across california. >> it truly makes such a difference that team effort. we are also closely watching the grizzly peak fire. this is something we've covered since

the beginning. this is in the oakland and berkeley hills. now, unlike the thompson, where we're under the impression that fireworks may have played a role, do you have an update on that fire? >> unfortunately, i don't have an update on the grizzly fire, but for all fires throughout california and state responsibility area, they can visit fire ca.gov. >> okay. and what we're looking at on our screen, can you tell me a bit more about some of the tools? because i see firefighters, crews cutting back brush along a hillside. just tell us a little bit about some of their strategy. >> yeah. so for us, the number one thing is the protection of life and the defense of our structures on any fire we go to. and i think the important piece is really not what we're doing, but what the homeowner can do prior to a fire starting. and what does that mean? that means defensible space around your home, understanding whether you have an evacuation plan. also, if you have large animals or pets in general, what are you going to do with them when

you're asked to leave at a moment's notice? for firefighters, we're working around the clock in extremely difficult temperatures, and by you helping us, that will allow us to gain containment and protect lives. yeah >> still early in the season, still time to do all of those precautionary measures that you just mentioned. nick schuller with cal fire. we appreciate your time. thank you. now coming up, we have more on what is happening with the presidential race. ♪ do what you want ♪ get into an audi and go your own way. find your way to exceptional offers during the summer of audi sales event at you local audi dealer. hey, flex. considering there's a heatwave, it's kinda chilly in here. oh, that's because i'm pre-cooling the house with the ac before 4 pm. then i'll turn our thermostat to a comfortable 78 or higher that way i could stay cool later. ooh, what about me? you're never cool. oh.

♪ hey, come on, come on ♪ ♪ do what you want ♪ you're never cool. get into an audi and go your own way. find your way to exceptional offers during the summer of audi sales event at you local audi dealer. growing number of calls to step

aside as the democrats presumptive presidential nominee after last week's disastrous debate performance. abc's em nguyen has the latest now from washington. >> in the first stunning indication that president biden is seriously considering his next step, sources tell abc news. biden told at least two people his next few public appearances are critical to determining whether he can stay in the race. they say the president is keeping an open mind about his path forward, saying he knows he has to perform well on his upcoming campaign stops, as well as his friday interview with abc's george stephanopoulos to change public perception. separately, the new york times first reported that biden is weighing whether to continue his reelection bid, a claim the white house quickly rejected. >> the president is clear eyed, and he is staying in the race. >> the president's widely panned debate performance last week left his campaign scrambling to stave off mounting concerns

about his mental fitness. today, biden's speaking to senate majority leader chuck schumer for the first time since the debate, according to a top white house aide. just one day after he spoke to house democratic leader hakeem jeffries. >> he has done this outreach. he's having these conversations. it is important to him to do so with just four months until election day, many democrats now torn between backing the president or rallying behind a new candidate. >> central texas democratic representative lloyd doggett on cnn becoming the first to break ranks. >> i just feel that it's time for him to step aside. if we are to be able to protect what he allowed us to gain in 2020, which was a victory for democracy. >> sources say vice president harris cut her vacation short and flew back to washington to attend a lunch with the president. and tonight, biden also meeting privately with democratic governors as concerns reach a critical point. and when

abc news washington. >> joining us live now to talk about the presidential race is paul mitchell, the vice president of political data, inc. paul, thank you for joining us. what has changed in recent days? because i remember right after the debate, president biden was so set on continuing his run. >> well, i mean, i think what has changed the last couple days from a quantitative standpoint is that we've seen polling now that has been able to identify how the public views both his performance and this upcoming election vis a vis the race. the head to head race against him and donald trump. and the most recent poll to come out just a couple hours ago from new york times showed kind of an astounding eight point lead for donald trump, where he's edging up to almost a 50% in this presidential contest in a poll among all registered voters. it was a little bit narrower, six point lead among likely voters. but still, this is something

that i think that, you know, the administration and consultants and others around him need to address is that the polling numbers, since the debate have definitely shifted. >> that's right. and, paul, that's not the only poll we want to address, because there was also one with a hypothetical harris trump matchup. can you talk a little bit about what those results revealed? >> yeah. so the idea of a president harris campaign is something that has been tested in polling. but like we've talked about before, these kind of counterfactual polls like if this were to happen, it's kind of like asking you, you know, if it was freezing outside, would you want to go ice skating or snowboarding? like, it's a weird question when it's 100 degrees uh- we don't think that way. so to ask something that starts with, if biden weren't to run, would you want kamala harris versus trump? it's a little bit hard to really tackle in pollin, and it also is hard for voters to actually understand what they

would think about a potential harris versus trump race after, you know, 3 or 4 days, a wall to wall tv coverage and all the commentary and all that buzz that would happen. so i don't think that voters really are good at answering those kind of counterfactual questions. but in that polling, she does right now look to be at only a two point disadvantage to trump versus the 6 or 8% disadvantage uh- to trump that biden has, albeit in different polls. >> and speaking of president biden and his path forward, we know that he needs to, quote unquote, perform well. we've heard that terminology be used not only with his upcoming campaign stops, but also in his appearance on abc with george stephanopoulos in a couple of days. so with that being said, what does it mean for him to perform well at this point? >> well, perform well was really the goal of the debate. it was supposed to be that after the state of the union, that this debate was going to put the nail in the coffin of anybody who was

thinking that joe biden wasn't ready to perform it was joe joe biden's own words, the president's own words of watch me, to people who questioned his ability to, serve as president and serve as the candidate on the democratic ticket. now, what it means for form going forward, i think it would require a lot of extemporaneous, you know, at the microphone for an hour at a press conference taking questions from reporters. this george stephanopoulos interview, which what i'm told might be just a 15 minute interview, is going to be in a kind of cocoon of, safety, as opposed to the kind of thing of walking up to a microphone at a press conference where there isn't really that safety net. so, i expect him to perform well in that george stephanopoulos interview, but i also don't know that for sure. that's going to quell people who, you know, are concerned about what they saw in the debate. okay. >> and to wrap things up, we know and we mentioned this earlier, that biden is set to meet with those democratic governors from across the country within about an hour or

so. can we expect a mind shift or a mindset shift when it comes to the president's decision after that meeting? >> i'm not sure. and i think that's really important to point out that it is right now, the president's decision. there's essentially one person, one person only, that determines whether or not he's going to be going into the democratic convention in chicago as the party's, standard bearer. he won the primary, and it is up to him and his family and his own decision if he wants to continue forward in this contest. and i think that what's going to happen is if he decides to go forward in this contest, all those governors that are at the, at the white house right now, including our own governor newsom, are going to be 100% behind him. i think all the people who are questioning that debate performance are going to put that aside, and they're going to work hard for this president into the general election. i just think that right now, we do have this moment in time where there's still a little bit of, ability for, members of congress, consultants, the media to question whether or not this is

exactly the direction they want to take going forward. >> it seems like four months isn't a lot of time for there to be some kind of shift. so it'll be an interesting next several months. >> it will be very interesting. and we've never seen this before, and if we were to have a change at the top of the ticket, you might have, you know, must see tv with, whoever the democratic nominee is having a short window of time to really prosecute a campaign against donald trump. and presumably we would be putting up somebody, you know, the democrats would be putting up somebody in that contest. that would be younger, be a generational shift. and if there's one thing we've heard from voters in this country over the last year was that they wanted to see candidates for this nomination that weren't just donald trump and joe biden. >> all right. something we are watching exceptionally closely. paul mitchell, vice president of political data, inc. we appreciate you joining us. thank you. stay with us. we'll be right back with the new drug approved to combat

hope for patients in the early stages of the incurable memory destroying illness. the drug is called donanemab and will be sold under the brand name cassandra. joining us live now to talk about the new medication is claire day. she is the interim executive director of the alzheimer's association's northern california and northern nevada chapter. claire before we get to chatting with you, we do want to take a closer look at this drug, what it is, because the fda approved it based on results from an 18 month study and overall patients given the treatment declined about 22% more slowly than those who got a placebo. the results those were significant for patients in the early stages of the disease. but brain swelling and bleeding, those are some of the most severe side effects. so claire,

these drugs, they can delay the cognitive decline in patients. it's a modest delay though. just a matter of months. let's talk about the risks and the benefits and weighing that out because alzheimer's, there are different degrees of it. and no patient is the same as another. >> yes. such an important point. and i think a historic day to have yet another fda approved treatment. but you're right. i think it's important. like any medication that any patient would be prescribed for any illness, it's very important to know the to weigh the risks and the benefits and know what those side effects are going to be. it's not for everyone, but for some people it means more time, more time to be able to make those those memories with their loved ones, to be able to remain independent and do the things that they want to be able to still have control over and so i think, you know, it really is a matter of, of really

understanding what that's going to mean for you. talking with your health care professional, because i think your your point about side effects is, is a really important one. we don't want to under underplay the importance of really recognizing those. but i think for people living with alzheimer's disease, and i can tell you from experience working with our early stage advisors, they would relish the opportunity to have that that time. and i think it's an individual choice for everyone. yeah, i think that's a really good way to put it, because alzheimer's has affected my own family. >> and i know that that time is so precious. and really, it's a discussion to have with your health care provider. is this drug right for this patient? let's talk about the cost because oftentimes accessibility comes up when there is a new drug on the market. do you think this is something patients need to be aware of? >> i think it is certainly something that's a little bit different than we might see with other drugs approved by the fda, only because a there's a it's an

expensive drug, but there's lots of expensive drugs. and we're hoping that uh- cms will continue to cover these monoclonal antibodies the way they have, pledged to earlier. i think one thing to be cognizant of is that the there's a requirement for a registry for these treatments, and that can create a barrier to access and, and should be something that could be considered. but maybe not mandatory, so that it does provide an opportunity. and i think it is a great opportunity to talk about health equity and the fact that these drugs are while wonderful and monumentous for the alzheimer's community, you know, it's important for us to think about continuing work within this realm because they won't be for everybody. and i think it is very important that we think about who can access these drugs, who who has access to early detection, to an accurate diagnosis, to the testing that's needed to make a

diagnosis. and it is a complicated disease, and it's why it's so important that we continue to do this work. >> and because alzheimer's is so incredibly complicated. tell everyone why it is important for patients to have multiple treatment options. there is no one stop shopping. >> yeah. so i mean, i think what we know about alzheimer's disease in particular is you know what it is, right? it's a build up of amyloid plaque in the brain. it's tau tangles. not everyone with cognitive impairment presents with alzheimer's disease. there are different types of dementia, which is the underlying cognitive changes. and so these treatments that we've heard in the news in recent years are really for the biology of alzheimer's disease. so work needs to continue with those related disorders to uncover ways to be able to provide treatments for them as well. and i think it just is important to talk about recognizing those early signs. and symptoms of cognitive impairment, whether

it's alzheimer's disease or another type of dementia. the earliest point of intervention is when these treatments seem to be the most impactful and give people that larger window so we want people to really be talking about cognitive changes when they see them in themselves or in their loved ones. yeah communication is key. >>

muir is next. i'm dion lim. we'll see you on the news at four. >> welcome to market street for the greatest pride celebration

in the world. it's sf pride and we are your friends from abc seven. we all need the love and the celebration these days. >> that's what pride is. it's just the love. it's the pride, it's the adoration. that's what our community does. we support each other. we cheer for each other. there's people love each other. that's all we want the world to do. keep that spirit going all year long. >> and i think that's something that maybe we can all tonight, several developing stories as we come on the air. the pressure mounting on president biden, as sources say he's keeping an open mind about the future of his campaign. hurricane beryl slams jamaica as a deadly category 4. and now on a path that could reach texas. first, all eyes on president biden. sources tell abc news the president has privately acknowledged the next few days will be critical in his campaign. meeting with top democrats, including the vice president. and tonight, with some of the nation's democratic governors.