good afternoon, everybody, i'm larry beil. >> i'm carolyn johnson. unprecedented five-day bay bridge closure begins tomorrow night at 8:00. hundreds of thousands will have to find another way back and forth across the bay, work from home or take time off through labor day. >> plus, for those who have to make the trip transit agencies are stepping up to try to add services to help you out. here is a look at the old and new span from our camera. we are live from treasure island now. heather? >> larry, bart will be running

some overnight service from 14 stations. there was question if they'd be able to staff service but today says sign ups will be open for staff to staff that until the last minute. and does expect to make it can't gaet cross the bay by driving over it. bart is the best bet for getting across by rolling under it. it's not the only option. >> thursday, friday, it's going to be very busy. we're encouraging people to modify their travel times and not travel during peak 8:00 to 8:30 in the morning time. >> the san francisco bay ferries were swamped in the bart strike.

with that in mind there will be additional service this weekend. ac transit will only be able to take transbay passengers as far as a bart station. >> people could hop on that bus but it would dump them off at bart station autos transit focuses on getting through the weekend people using the bridge are coming out to say goodbye to the old, hello not new. this berkeley resident marcus brought his 4-year-old daughter out for a couple pictures today knowing the old one will be long gone by the time she's driving. >> i was looking forward to the new bridge opening and i forgot the old bridge is closing. >> it is going to be dismanteled, piece by piece. >> abc 7 news reporter matt

keller continues now. >> with a look at how commuters are trying to plan ahead. >> car, truck, motorcycle, bus. the bay bridge closure will not discriminate, if you built up goodwill by carpooling or taking public transportation. >> i'm going stay home. >> you're not going to go into work? >> i don't think so. >> not worth it?. >> not worth it. >> buses will stop running after 7:10 wednesday evening until opening back up. instead, buses will run back and forth and riders seem ready for the change. >> sometimes i take trance bay into the city. just expect more of a crowd. >> casual carpoolers are now dropping their car autos nothing i can do. >> maybe i'll try an hour earlier. >> bart will be running 24 hours per day with overnight trains on an hourly scheduled,

serving 14 station buzz don't underestimate the desire to avoid it all. >> what are you going do when bay bridge is closed?. >> going to call in sick? >> you are? >> no. >> what are you going to do? >> take bart. >> last time the bay bridge closed in 2009, bart saw a 30% increase in passengers. in san flan, abc 7 news. >> for traffic updates during the closure you can down load our exclusive waze app for free. and waze works on new anier smart phone or tablet with a gps receiver. >> ask check out abc 7 news.com for a detailed look at thogs resources on bart, ac transit and san francisco bay ferry.

and see how close the bridge is owe to opening. as soon as itd does we'll notify our twitter follower autos we have breaking news and this is from berkeley where a construction worker was struck and killed by a big rig on a school campus this afternoon. the man was laying asphalt at king and middle street this, is news out of lay fayette. a high pressure gas line has been ruptured and sky 7 hd live over the scene. this is in 1300 block of pleasant hill road. residents have been warned to close open windows and stay indoors. expect traffic delays from that area. you know it's near 24-680 split. no word on when crews will have it happened. -- capped.

>> now back to breaking news of a construction worker struck and killed on a school campus at martin luther king middle school on rose stret. authorities haven't released the victim's name. a welcome fair was taking place at the time. cal osha officials are now investigating the death. >> grief consuller consullers -- counselors were at san ramone valley high school after a teenager died in a car crash last night. robert orlando killed before 9:00 p.m. near claireridge drive. they ran off the road crashing into a tree then went through a fence, students are##j devastated. >> i went to the lake with him and family friends of his and i just -- he was so funny just lit up a room. so cool. >> the driver and another

passenger are also seniors being treat forward broken rib skbz a broken leg. investigators do not think alcohol or drugs were a factor saying speed skro been the cause of the crash. >> massive fire burning near yosemite now, some progress but not a lot of it in the fight to contain the rim fire today, now 180,000 acre inferno burn nootd area near the hetch hetchy reservoir providing water to san francisco and beyond. officials believe there is little the fire can burn in that area. more than 3700 firefighters are now on the front lines so far, crews have man wrathed to contain about 20% of the fire but rapid growth of the fire turned night a 7th largest wildfire in state reported history. >> our coverage continues online. we're posting latest videos on our web site. also on our site we have seven

days you can protect your family in the event of a natural disaster we've posted advice from prepare nor cal and we're keeping our twitter followers updated with information on the fire at abc 7 news bay area. >> let's check out the forecast sierra. just widely scattered showers this afternoon, nothing so far weather wise hampered the firefighting efforts. low clouds and fog over san francisco, current readings 65 keg degrees in san francisco. 71 oakland. san jose, 79. 80 in los gatos, another live view from mount tam looking down on the bay under clear skies. we do have fog at the coast. it's 84 degrees now in santa rosa. 82 napa and novato.

90 in fairfield. sheer live view looking across embark dareo blue skies, these are, this is, i should say our first forecast. early in the morning lingering low clouds in the afternoon mainly sunny and mild. carolyn, larry? >> happening now in san jose, city council decide wlg to ban all styrofoam food container autos if approved san jose will be the largest city in california to enact such a ban. >> vick? >> the san jose city council members are still here at city hall debating this controversial issue on banning styrofoam containers like this one. and if you listen to statements it's likely to pass. if it does, the span starts in

january of next year for multi state restaurant chains then, following year for everyone eels most object to the ban on polly stir yeen and food ware. >> it costs more than regular styrofoam. >> victor runs a vietnamese restaurant and objects to the ban mostly because of the cost of converting to nonfoam alternatives such as paper or rigid plastic but says fighting sit useless. >> whatever they pro pose, we'll follow the rule autos san jose has been studying the ban for years claiming that kugt out polly stir yee yeen -- styrene saves money, reducing the amount of trash. environmentalists say styrofoam doesn't breakdown easily and banning would

improve water quality in streams and in the bay. joey runs burger barn and uses paper containers but says it's worth it. >> it's a cost that is of our social responsibility. >> small mom and pop restaurants will get a break. those making less than $300,000 a year will be exempt from the ordinance. >> a touching tribute for beloved sculptor that died this month. the city's school of the arts is named after her she. designed fountains outside of the grand hyatt near union square. >> that fountain you outside of the hyatt made apple can

computer rethink plans for the location. the original design did way with the fountain but outcry sent apple back to the drawing board and keeps the fountain but will move it north. >> still ahead at 4:00 walmart reaches out to same-sex couples changes the company is making next year. >> plus, is it a good luck charm is in the new bay bridge gets ready to open. it's a debate over what to do with a unique part of the old bridge. >> the families of murder victims are demanding answers from oakland officials. is the city doing enough? >> at 4:12 a live scene from sky 7 this, is a grass fire. you can seeroq it's very closeo some nearby homes, we're going to keep an eye on this as w

back now tloif fairfield. you can see this hillside is on fire. now we do know that you can see just how close the fire is to some homes in this area. of course we'll have spencer christian with updates on when conditions and weather conditions for you shortly on this. obviously the situation firefighters are doing all they can to get a handle on it this is thick, black smoke we've seen here in the past couple minutes. you can see the fire right there, this is fully involved

and dangerously close to what looks like a cluster of homes at the bottom of the screen. >> wor worry about flying embers. impacting homes and roofs around this area so we're going to be staying on top of this for you throughout the newscast. >> yes. following along with us on twitter at abc 7 news bay area. you can i can assure you we'll have updates on the air as well. let's move on to business news, facebook and the "new york times" web site, hacked, again. >> emily chang is here with this afternoon's after the bell report. hi, emily. >> good afternoon, rarey, carolyn, twitter plans to bring shopping to it's powerful platform hiring former ticket master president and tells us he will be offering tools inside tweets. the "new york times" web site has been hacked. eileen murphy is spokeswoman

says the initial assessment is this is a result of a malicious attack causing its web site to be unavailable today. the company is working to fix the problem but currently still down. in the wake of leaks, tech companies have been pushing to be allowed to reveal more about data requests received. facebook says it got 11,000 to 12,000 requests from federal entities saying it provide smd data but the vast majority concerned kidnappings and robberies. and u.s. stocks fell the most in nine weeks as growing tension over possible action in syria overshadowed a report showing confidence unexpectedly rose in august.f&zq

and now tring to refer to voice-asised siri by using command okay, glass to respond with snarky phrase smz answers include i think that glass is half empty. stop trying to strap me to your forhead, it won't work. larry, carolyn, try it, back to you. >> walmart has amounsed it will start offering benefits for domestic partners of u.s. employees beginning next year offering accident plans to same and open set sex spouses saying the move after the supreme court ruling in june. >> the new bay bridge span isn't open yet. there is a big debate

people know there is a metal figure known as bay bridge troll sculpted and repaired the bridge. you can see it's holding a wrench there. the debate is when to take it down and what to do with it. a replica is going on display this weekend. >> artist bill rowan made it for workers to install kind of good luck charm basing it on childrens story of a troll fro pro detectiving the bridge so. maybe it's been working. >> there is a section dedicated to construction of the original bay bridge and exhibit opens friday evening we've within following a fire along interstate 806789 spencer, what can you tell us about conditions there now? >> it's warm not seemingly hot

you can see there is smoke bending and moving faster space than right now. so there isn't any weather factor now that should hamper efforts. it's dry, as you knee look at this now. it appears the winds is blowing towards homes. >> yes. while looking at this i can go check conditions if you keep video there. >> we know fire again rates its own wind. but as sky 7 pulls out you can see this smoke just stretch add cross this part of 80 year. you can see flames burning close up against the freeway

here. >> it's 89, 90 degrees and winds not listed as gusty, only 8 miles per hour into the area. but fires have become more intense so that may be one reason we can see smoke. >> as you look sky 7 over a home that iseh fully engulfed here in, flames, we can see flames here. >> yes. >> one concern for firefighters has to be as we kind of go along what we believe is 80 in fairfield here, we're seeing four, five pockets of flames. and somehow, flames movedjox÷ >> this home is fully engulfed right here, we can see flames and smoke pouring from the roof top and yard here.

and we also saw that grassy area burning as well. >> right. >> this is an involved -- . >> one weather factor could contribute to spreading is that fuels are dry. it's warm. winds are not very strong so shouldn't be a factor now except as fire is growing if they do. >> if vegetation, grass, shrubs, trees are very, very dry. >> that is interesting. we weren't seeing a fire at that home now. >> you have cluster of noms a row here. not sure if is is what we'd seen earlier but almost like zero line homes. there is

it's easy to become engulfed. >> yes. which is the concern here. we have seen a lot of just dry grass in the area this is again, along marygold drive. we're looking at interstate 80 there as well. just homes are right up against this you can see just how dark and thick the smoke is now. >> problem here is that where do you go first? we noticed hillside, then coming back you're seeing homes probably a half mile away and are now fully

involved so homes here are certainly going to be threatened. >> this just in from fairfield fire telling us they're calling for evacuations in this area. and it's so thick, it's difficult to tell if this is yet another home or the first one we spotted from a different vantage point this, is massive fire >> spencer maybe you can jump here. when talking about dry conditions how quickly one ember can touch down then

÷ catastrophe its almost shocking how fast fires can spread. we're afraid this may be the case this summer but that he that we have much drier vegetation going into fire season z that is the case now. we're fortunate weather conditions are not exream. here is a heavier plume of smoke now. >> that is a tree. >> yes. yes. >> we can have strong gusty winds. so that is good. dryness we've got fuels and vegetation like that. >> we're seeing it happen. you can see cars are slowing

down here. this smoke pushes towards them. there is response from firefighters on the freeway trying to fight this fire from that angle as well. >> one of the things that has to be frightening from folks on the hillside is this has escalated within a matter of minutes. at 4:00 there was no fire that we knew of. it does look like there is fro pro gres some homes are fully involved and not going to be able to be salvaged. >> you can see how quickly vegetation can burn. it's a remarkable job to contain it. >> what is troubling you can see thick dark smoke and we've seen that hillside caught fire. it looks to be a whole set of

homes tlchl these homes are closer to interstate 80. right. >> you can see this is, i believe a structure. >> something just ignited. flames are more prominent and smoke, darker. >> we just saw a plume of black smoke. >> if you information we'd appreciate ut if you can upload your pictures you can also follow us on twitter for the latest if you want to share on facebook you can do that as well. >> another rim of fire right there. on the other side of the road we can pull out now.

we'll continue to monitor this and will come

we're following breaking news in fairfield. sky 7 hd is overhead firefighters contending with a massive fire that already engul6q)á3÷ two homes in the ara

and burning on a hillside here in fairfield. >> we want to bring in shelly who works at paradise valley dental. shelly where are you in relationship to the fire sth. >> we're locate add cross the street. from where the fire is. you can see slowly, maybe 10, 20 minutes ago it was rising and smoke was dark and rising and started blocking the sun. you can smell it inside of the building. >> i should ask you which fire? because looking freight sky 7 it looks like four or five hot spots. >> we're on skyway 80. >> you can smell the fire? is there danger at this moment? >> well, it's pretty

still -- still engaimpkering an apartment complex is what i heard from a patient of ours who just came in. >> we can see two homes bushing and understand the worst is happening near image knolla. at 80. and have seen flames on a hillside and spread and hopped to different structures so at this point you haven't been given evacuation orders? >> so far we have not been. all we hear is sirens down street we're on the corner next to mayor yi gold street. >> we're very close. [ close i'm surprised we didn't get evacuation orders a few car alarms went off. it's just the car alarm that's

went off. >> you're smelling smoke right now. >> you can smell it inside of the buildings. >> are you still taking patients? every one outside is just gathering and looking over the sidewalk and watching and other people just going on like it's nothing. >> i assure you, it's something. >> it's getting pretty dark outside. well, stay safe out there because we're noticing them hopping to different areas and there is a massive fire. >> yes. there are a lot of is a sirens, nonstop coming from everywhere. >> just be careful because

might want to flip on the television you'll see that this fire is all over the place in the fairfield area off of mayor yi gold drive so sky 7 is zooming from one location to another to another. >> i might thilt could perhaps be a mile. it's doifl see each time sky 7 pulls wider we seem to see more. so we see a lot of fuel in the form of structures and vegetation. >> what is on the back side of the trees once goes through trees next thing it's going to hit is house autos i believe that,

here we can see this home fully engulfed and now, the one next to it is on fire as well. so i believe we might be -- i believe those are two homes but the homes are close together. >> shelly are you still on the line? >> i am still on the line. >> the apartment complex is being evacuated near the area. >> do you live anywhere near here? >> i just work here. i was wondering if you knew people that live in the homes? >> i have a cousin living on mari goemd street. >> is your cousin aware of what's happening here? >> i have not been in touch with him. >> you might want to place a call, check in. this is marigold. there are evacuations ordered this this area

stretching quite wide. >> it's still 89 degrees warm but not excessively hot. winds are now about 15 miles per hour. and that could with problematic. now, they've picked up 15 miles per hour increasing possibility of the fire spreading. relative humidity is just under 30% but we're talking about air conditions. the fuels on the ground, vegetation is dry burning quickly. just from flames coming near. >> yes. certainly. dry conditions in this area we've seen a hillside that is close to homes here on marigold drive on fire. and there are homes threaten bid this.

>> we've seen that could create a further danger there. 15 miles per hour there out of the west, northwest mainly. yes. gusting totdñ 15 if anymore, we might see these fires spreading farther. >> carolyn mentioned possible impact on traffic. two right lanes of interstate 80 eastbound have been closed because. smoke. we have a moment here, we talked about this from the past covering other fire buzz maybe, people don't know fire creates their own weather inertia that overpower what's etchisting conditions might be. >> exactly.

they grow and that can cause flames to spread more quickly. and so the weather conditions in the general region may seem benign right there near the fire conditions can feed the fire. >> also just how stretched thin many fire departments are now. i know alameda county has sent a system down in that area. mutual aid had to be called in because many crews were gone from alameda county. so i know they're talking about this being a seven alarm fire. who is respond something we don't see crews battling this one. we can see perhaps crews here in this area.

>> yes. so it's depleted forces locally. we may have noticed this seemed to fires. as it spreads they have to direct more attention to that with limited forces they have. >> this is remarkable watching how quickly this home caught fire >> there was no fire at 4:00 we saw flames and have been on

the air 39 minutes now. this escalated to not just a lot of grass to now, well, i don't know how many homes here because fire has jumped around from location to location. >> yes. we're in continuing coverage mode right here on live television. you can follow us on abc 7 news.com. we're streaming live there as well. just devastating situation here burning nearby 806789 eastbound lanes are impacted now magnolia is a street impacted. marigold runs parallel to interstate 80 at this point. >> we just saw a big plume of black smoke which would be an indication that fire just ignited a new area.

>> right. sky 7 hd pulls out for us you can see it is far-reaching impact of the flames and are burning in these homes here but sky 7 can continue to you can see the hillside. >> there is another cluster of homes on the righthand side of the screen that would be impacted if that intense fi yes. this is where speaking with shelly. saying an apartment complex was being evacuated.

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now gusts to 11 miles per hour you can see here clearly.

the fire generating gusts around the area of the fire. temperatures have gone down to about 85 degrees in the area. and was near 90 earlier. humidity now 35%. increasing weather factors are improving. >> yes. moving into the right direction fchl you're living in one of the homes this has got to be terrifying. >> absolutely. >> yes. >> we're watching these hop from roof to roof. and it seems the homes are burning rapidly. >> structures so densely lined there is not a lot of space between homes so as soon as one goes up, it only takes, you know, seconds before the next house gets impacted as well. here again, you can see location just off the 80 in fairfield and marigold drive is where damage seems to be centered. >> we understand magnolia is

also impacted. one viewer said inside of the office smell of smoke just permeating the area and she was concerned perhaps evacuation orders would be called for her area. and you know sky 7 overhead for us just doing a great job of bringing us this vantage point. we can see what's happening in this neighborhood. >> one of the challenges here is that as soon as we zoom outlook like that is what we're going to do now you turn around and do a 180 suddenly there is another ember that is lit up. and there is a home nearby. >> what we did see earlier when noticing a grassy area crews did seem to have a good

handle on that. as we continue to mention, they're cles together there is a high likelihood other homes are going to be impacted which is what we're seeing. you can see one lane is closed and you can seat fire burning right adjacent to the freeway here. >> yes. i'm surprised traffic has not been more impacted they may now have shut down least one lane and imagine just driving. >> look here, sky 7 can pull back out a little bit not a place you want to be traveling right now certainly not a neighborhood you want to be in at the moment. there are orders in place

residents being told to go to fairfield high school for assistance. >> i can see if i'm seeing clear arely one fire fighter in the middle of that trying to tap that down. there another plume of black smoke. imagine the challenge on the ground at this point in any direction you turn. >> yes. we're seeing just incredible amount of smoke in this area impacting traffic of course and homes, this is marigold drive along interstate 80. that really difficult situation we've been trying to get ahold of the public information officer for the fire department have not been able to reach that public

information officer. >> it's challenging and we just see this one ridge line here that continues to burn and burn. there are fire trucks at the bottom of the screen there. it's burning potentially in many locations and places. as you al you'ded to, you only have limited man power you can't be in six places at once. >> if you're a homeowner in this area you've got to be concerned about what's happening. you don't want to day home and risk your live or lives of the family. so it's important to get out and he'd warnings. >> great point is that you may think that your home is not impacted at this point. but we see how quickly one home can become threatened and

then, here you go with another one. it's sad. >> we're seeing dry brush right now. so this is talking about how dry conditions are there now. base owed on what we've seen this house is going up. >> kerk becomes trying to minimize the spread of the fire sm. homes, we know this one, they're not going to be able to stop this. >> right. look at the brown home to the left. what is there? maybe six to 10 feet? it's become difficult to try

to draw a line saying we're going to stop it here. flames carry up into the sky suddenly next house goes amaze. >> yes. this is marigold drive we've seen five homes go up in flames. they have been destroyed. it's started with a vegetation fire this is after 4:00 then quickly spread to this neighborhood. a number of locations and there are a number of homes threatened because of this. >> the fire is in front of you, behind you. it's everywhere might

it takes. >> that is challenging to have those drops becoming a real issue. fours at which those are -- it's a challenge we're looking again at this. this dry hillside. >> you can see the daempker at the time at 4:00 but there is no threat there now. so that burned itself out or there wasn't enough vegetation right there. what is ensued is disaster for a bunch of the neighbor that's live nearby.

because while that fire is out, in that open area, everything else around it is under threat governoring up in smoke. you can see no flames are visible there. and as we pan down the line here, 80 east in airfield you can see the challenge firefighters have in trying to stop this from jumping from home to home. >> you can see the water hoping to prevent the spread perhaps fr vegetation here, true treez up against this home and there is some open sprais space that has burned that you can see. so that is a good thing. we don't want shift in the winds to have embers heading back towards homes right across the street. >> right. right. you're talking about another

dozen or so homes in this immediate area right here. it's hard to get this orientation but i'm in the sure how many fires there are burning. at one point we saw pockets of four or five blazes and flames going up at the same time. so near limb possible as we look to the right here. we can see smoke. firefighters battling this from both right and left to try to make sure this house doesn't go up. in flames completely. as cheryl jennings gets set to join me here get together top of the hour and start abc 7 news at 5:00 but a huge challenge because of the locations where fires have

been ongoing. so real difficult time and you almost don't have enough directions to point to that water in you can see one firefighter walking up the lawn to try to ensure this home does not go up in flames. five others to this point have have been in trouble. fairfield along marigold. we can see them now exiting that area there not sure that is good news or bad news. >> wife been watching coverage with you and carolyn. it's just horrendous situation for homeowners who are -- may in the be able to tell their homes are burning. >> it's hard to tell which is a new fire and which are older fires. doi remember a brown house

"v. there is a fire fighter they're trying to prevent it from get together home with the brown roof top. we're otherwise going see a continuation of this and the whole line of homes going up. >> we have a person on the line now watching this fire burn. jean, are you there? >> yes. i am. >> what are you looking at? >> parking lot in a church across the street from the corner of north texas and marigold facing the apartment complex the fire is coming down towards from highway 80 towards north texas. >> and are you in a position to see several homes?

what are you looking at? >> what i can see burned on marigold out of my view. >> it's a working town. a lot of folks might not know what is going on in the neighborhood. >> well, about five minutes heading to sacramento. >> of course, are you near this area? >> it's actually less maybe two miles. >> there is a tremendous amount of smoke. mostly it's close to the grass. i can