flames blast through the roof as an inferno consumes a church in berkeley. the sanctuary is the heart and soul for many. >> it's a great loss to the community. >> fallout from the brock turner sexual assault case. it's just changed california law. >> every they are going to do the crime, you'll do the time. >> plus, fire in the santa cruz mountains. why water drops are off the table. >> and the healing power behind this lion den. breaking news. falling debris, checking smoke and a historic structure up in flames. the first congress a.m. church in berkeley is barely standing this evening. good evening, i'm dan ashley. >> and i'm kristein sze. thanks for joining us. the church has been a fixture in the neighborhood for over 100

years. the flames are just a punch in the gut for parishioners. >> yeah. first congressional church lies on the edge of the cal campus. flames began pouring out of the church on channing drive shortly after 1:00 this afternoon. >> abc 7 news reporter laura anthony joins us live from the scene. laura? >> reporter: hi, kristen. let's give you the very latest here. i'm standing at channing and dana. behind me the first congressional church or what's left of it. i can tell you obviously the flames are out at this point. the fire is contained. they did manage to keep it from spreading to the main sanctuary, but obviously the building sustained some major damage. it's a fire that could be seen for miles. heavy smoke billowing from a church that's just a few blocks from the uc berkeley campus. nicole suarez told us she took this video just before 1:00 as she walked by on her way to class. at that point just a few flames coming out from a chimney area. >> it was a chimney fire that started right at the base of the

chimney, and it was -- we started -- we were one of the people that called the police. >> it started small but got very big very quickly with flames shooting through the roof of berkeley's first congregational church going to four alarms within a matter of minutes. >> right now we don't have any reports of any injuries. we did have a fire fighter who had to bail out of the building as fire conditions drastically changed. >> uc berkeley is having some of their facilities obviously being affected by the heavy smoke that people see in the areas. >> firefightered tried to combat from the inside and had to make a quick exit when it was clear the roof was about to collapse. >> once the roof went, all firefighters could do from then on was pour water on the gutted structure from the outside. a take air center inside the church was evacuated along with a uc berkeley dorm building across the street. the church has long been a haven for the homeless offering services and shelter in the winter, and it's played host to many a musical event. >> they have a -- a good

ministry of helping the people in the community and they have been here for a while and they have great people there. >> it's a great tragedy for everybody. it's a great loss to the community, and i am sure that they will rebuild. >> and this is a live look down channing to the west here. you can see a huge fire fighting pesence still here. they are still dousing hot spots. as for the cause of this fire, still under investigation, but the church did put out something this afternoon saying that there was some work being done on the roof. now, one other note. this is channing and dana. we're told that this road, these roads around the church will remain closed here in berkeley through tomorrow. tomorrow is homecoming so folks going to the cal game for homecoming should be aware that this major thoroughfare will be closed tomorrow. live in berkeley, laura anthony, abc 7 news.

>> okay. laura, thanks. this photo gives you a sense of the smokey conditions caused by the fire. firefighters evacuated a daycare center inside the church. the children were led to safety down the street. the blaze also forced the evacuation of a ten-story residence hall at cal. you can see it here in this sky 7 video. look at all of this smoke. dorm unit number 3 is located right across the street from the fire on channing way. >> i lived in unit three. >> did you really. >> oh, wow. i know the area. people near the fire shared some great photos on social media. fred sent this photo to us on twitter. a reminder for you. when you see news where you life, such as the fire breaking out here and consuming the roof and posted on social media with the find it and share with our abc 7 community. >> moving on. in sacramento governor brown signed legislation inspired by the brock turner case mandating prison sentences for those who assault unconscious victims. abc 7 news reporter chris nguyen is on the story.

>> reporter: at stanford university this afternoon, some relief for students who have been calling for justice. >> an extremely important step. it's time that survivors be heard. >> reporter: stephanie pham is the co-founder for students for sexual assault preinvestigation. she was stunned when former stanford student athlete brock turner was sentenced to just six months in jail for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman after a night of drinking. >> it just screams that survivors were not going to be supported in the legal system, but they were not going to get justice, even when the perpetrator is found guilty of his crimes. >> but today governor jerry brown signed into law assembly bill 2888 mandating prison for those convicted of sexually assaulting unconscious or severely intoxicated victims. the governor who generally opposes adding more mandatory minimums says he signed the bill because it brings a measure of parity for sentencing to similar crimes. the co-sponsor of the bill also

included a provision for probation. >> if you do the crime, you'll do the time. >> reporter: many called turner's sentence too light. the judge who presided over the turner trial is now facing a recall campaign. >> rape continues to be seen as a regrettable mistake, when rape is a crime. it's a violent offense, and it's time that the legal system and universities treat it as that >> reporter: case also inspired assembly bill 701 which governor brown just signed as well allowing more forms of sexual assault to be cat grids as rape. in the south bay, chris nguyen, abc 7 news. now we september out a push alert from the governor signed these bills and you can be the first to now by downloading the abc 7 news app. free for apple and android devices. a break in the weather is helping firefighters battling the loma fire in the santa cruz mountains. you can feel it's cooler, and that's mailed all the difference. we have team coverage of the fire with abc 7 news reporter with david louie and

meteorologist sandhya patel. let's begin with david. >> reporter: kristen, just the past hour it has turned cool and breezy enough for me to put on a jacket. this kind of weather change is giving a big break to cal fire crews who are trying to contain this fire by monday. it is also impacted how they are handling hot spots today. short columns of smoke from spot fires have replaced the large plumes we've seen the past four days. the change is an indication that cal fire's crews are succeeding in boxing in the fire depriving it of dry brush to burn. air tankers are not flying today. their aggressive retardant drops no longer needed to help halt the spread of fire as the humidity has increased and temperatures have fallen. wind-blown embers are the big concern today. >> half had a miles, three-quarters, sometimes a mile out depending on the spotting potential to where if the fire happens to spot over that initial control line or primary control line we already have contingency lines in place or at least begun in those areas where

we expect to see spotting. >> reporter: cooler weather is providing better conditions for crews to cut control lines, to rob the fire of dry vegetation to burn. >> with the humidity layers coming up, we're able to slow down the fire growth. i know monday were some record heat here in this area, so that influenced fire growth right away. with the cooler weather, higher humidities, we're able to work in and get these containment lines improved. >> reporter: cal fire is planning to meet again with evacuated residents. abc 7 news was at last night's gathering on summit road on the santa cruz county side. the next meeting is saturday morning at 10:00 at the morgan hill community center. firefighters saved bill powell's house. >> they know exactly what they are doing and how to do it and when to do it. they have the resources and the people and the best attitude in the world. they did an incredibly good job. in santa clara county, david louie, abc 7 news. >> of course, there's concern of the winds around the loma fire this afternoon. let's bring in abc 7 news

meteorologist sandhya patel for more on that. sandhya? ? >> dan, with good reason. a live picture. you'll notice that the smoke is going up. a live picture behind me. flags are swaying around in the wind so it is breeze toe windy outside right now, and as we take a look at the conditions near the fair line, cool as david louie mentioned. 61 is degrees and relative humidity higher, 49%, and the winds are gusting to 9, but it's not going to remain that way. tonight at 7:00 gusts could be as high as 19 miles an hour out of the northwest, and then the winds will ease up a bit only to pick up again tomorrow afternoon gusting to about 17 miles an hour and eventually 19 by tomorrow evening. so really this is the concern. the winds around the rest of the bay area, they will relax overnight tonight as you'll notice. they come down and then guess what is going to replace the wind. live doppler 7 tracking an early season system that will bring us some showers. details on the time line, storm impact scale. coming up. dan? >> thanks, sandhya.

coming, a fight over a farm. >> we said we don't want to evict anyone. >> but they might have to. why san francisco's only commercial farm could be on the chopping block. plus -- >> we've got to play rough. >> it's all on the line right now. >> go, giants! >> rivalry renewed. we're live as the giants try to claw their way into the playoffs by removing the obstacle called the dodgers. >> i'm michael finney. with free chips and free

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. neighbors in one san francisco community are trying to keep a school from billing on a site currently used as a small farm. the up dark acre parcel of land is located in mission terrace, and it's the last commercial farm in the city. abc 7 news reporter lyanne melendez has the story.

>> reporter: the small farm nestled between homes is considered an urban gem. seasonal vegetables and flowers are grown here, a far cry from what it used to look like. >> now it's much better after a >> reporter: one-acre piece of land located at 203 kotter street has been a commercial farm since 2010. it's called little city gardens, but the farm doesn't own the land. two years ago a small school called golden bridges purchased it for $1.2 million with the intention of moving out of its present location and into this wide-open space which goes hand in hand with the school's philosophy of exposing kids to outdoor living. >> children spend a lot of their time indoors in front of screens and not moving, not experiencing nature, so we're getting them out. >> reporter: according to the plans, the school would only have a few small structures. more than 70% of the parcel would remain in open space area. the owner of the farm has agreed

to move on, but it's the neighbors who want the farm to stay put. >> they are very quiet and -- and it's nice to have some place with things growing when you're around here. >> reporter: neighbors have other concerns. >> it will be too much traffic. >> reporter: the school says it would have a walking bus from nearby balboa park to ease traffic. while the planning department has approved the project, the board of supervisors can overturn that decision. the school hopes to win the hearts and minds of neighbors. >> i really believe our school will be a really beautiful and positive entity on that property. >> in san francisco, lyanne melendez, abc 7 news. >> the renovation of alamo park has been extended a few months m.the park neither western addition shut down in may for upgrades to its irrigation system, lawn and pathways. >> new trees will be planted all costing $4.3 million and there will be a new viewing area for visitors to get a new vantage

point of the city sky loin and the painted ladies. that area should open in december. the rest of the park is scheduled to reopen in march. a century's old practice has a new home in san francisco today. abc 7 news was there as the ribbon was cut. sorry. we don't have that video for you. we want to tell you it was opening the first campus of the west coast campus of integral studies. the world's largest maker of traditional chinese medicines and the new campus features herbal remedies and advice on their use. of course, there's lion damages. we showed it to you a few minutes ago and they seem to approve of the medicines being offered. >> it's a battle royale at at&t park tonight. giants against the dodge. what a rivalry. a three-game series to end the season and to determine if the orange and black reach the playoffs. it's all on the line. fans are ready to go and so is abc 7 news reporter and anchor eric thomas live at at&t.

hi, eric. >> reporter: dan, i'm trying to figure out what all the excitement is about. only the dodgers in time and only playoff implications. if the g-men don't win to you out of three at least there's a chance their season will be over. what kind of incentive is that? >> we're bringing our spring training crew and we're still going to get you. >> i don't think so. >> reporter: no crying in baseball but trash talking, that's a pregame requirement when the dodgers come to town. >> that's all on the line right now, and i think all the hard core giants fans will be watching every single game. >> and this one do or dierickx giants have to win. i love it, i like our odds. >> these guys have backgrounds in politics and our polling data suggests after being well-fed and enjoying a gold beverage they will agree to disagree. last night the giants put the ball in johnny cueto's hands and got the win. tonight they hope to sail to victory on madison bumgarner's back. >> i say we've got it. bumgarner tonight, orange friday. have to go in there and get the

wild card. >> put it on madison's back and cueto's back, whoever. hunter pence comes in now and hits a bunch of home runs. that's what i'm feeling. >> reporter: winning two out of three against the l.a. would put the giants in a strong position for. second wild card spot in the national league. a three-game sweep would be an even better birthday present for this fan who is enjoying his 50th at the game. >> it is the dodgers. makes it that much more sweet, you know. they ain't going to eliminate us. >> reporter: sometimes the reason you want to win isn't so noble. sometimes you just want bragging rights. >> oh, i want to beat the dodgers because my friend is a dodger and i want to be able to tell her who the better team is. >> reporter: this weekend the home team better be, or they will be the team that goes home. >> go, giants! >> reporter: so the mets are one game up on the giants. the cardinals are one game behind. the teams could do us a favor and drop their last series of the season. that would help out quite a bit, but if that's not going to happen, well, the giants got to

get hot. live at at&t park, eric thomas, aches 7 news. good evening, everyone. a nice night for baseball, but it's feeling more like football weather. live doppler 7 track being the changes. we do have high clouds moving in ahead of a system that will bring us some showers. right now we are getting gusty winds you'll notice no 30 miles per hour at sfo. 33 in fairfield and hang on to the steering wheels. if you're stepping out tonight. from our east bay hills cameras, high clouds and beautiful view right here. temperatures 59 in san francisco and mid-60s around oakland and 67 mountianview and san jose and gilroy is 70 degrees. highs so far really in the 50s to the 70s range and from our emoriville camera we're watching the clouds filtering the sun. temperatures right now 73. in santor, rosa 60s from napper, to livermore. it's cooler outside and from our tower camera a bright view. mostly sunny and breezy and scattered showers on sunday and we're looking at cooler than

normal conditions into next week so here's your hour-by-hour day planner. tomorrow morning when you get going, a few clouds around. a cool start. sunny by noontime. breezy conditions at 4:00 p.m., but not as windy as today, and then at 7:00 p.m., make sure you grab that jacket. temperatures will be falling again. speaking of first thing in the morning, upper 40s tot mid-50s. if your kids have games, it is going to be one of those mornings where you need to make sure they have that extra layer. breezy tomorrow afternoon. mainly near the coastline. temperatures 60s to the mid-70s for your saturday. get your stuff done for your saturday because sunday things are changing. if you're going to the hardly strictly bluegrass festival in san francisco, breezy, cool, 63 degrees on sunday and possibility of showers, so saturday and sunday both days you'll need a sweatshirt or a jacket and on sunday might be a good idea to have the rain gear with you. a look at our storm impact scale. 1 on the impact scale for a light system. suns we're expecting a 1 with scattered showers.

less than .15 of an inch of rain and slight possibility of thunder. 7:00 a.m., a few showers in the north bay and possibly into the east bay, but we really have to wait until about noontime before those scattered showers shift into san francisco, the peninsula and then we head into about 2:00 in the afternoon. we'll see a few showers around, and this really will continue at least a chance through the early evening hours and into the late evening hours before we change things up, and on monday we'll have another opportunity, but it's a smaller chance of seeing some wet weather. rainfall totals. most areas, evenly few hundreds of an inch and could see some higher isolated totals and in the sierra nevadas, sunday, 11:00 to 5:00 a.m. winter weather advisory. i know it's fall. they are expecting up to 3 inches and if you're traveling there, expect slippery roads due to hail hand snow. can you always download our abc 7 news app to track the snow and rain here. accuweather seven-day forecast, upper 50s to mid-70s tomorrow.

it's dry for the first half of your weekend and possibly wet for some of you on sunday. one on our storm impact scale and cool. monday a slight chance of more showers monday night into early, early tuesday, and then we'll see the temperatures rising middle of next week. low 80s inrand and low 60s coastside. dan and kristen. >> that is nice. >> thanks, saida-na, very much. >> from fun snacks to fun times, you guys like the sound of that. they prey on our children, spending billions. addicting 17,000 california kids each year. eventually killing one-third of them. now tobacco companies are spending millions to... defeat prop 56. because in every state that's raised tobacco taxes, smoking rates go down. so who are you going to trust? pediatricians, cancer groups and the califronia pta who all... support prop 56. or the tobacco companies trying to kill it. vote yes on 56.

a federal jury has told coast co-to pay tiffany & c ho 5.5 million for selling counterfeit tiffany diamond engagement rings. last year a district judge said costco has knowingly used their name and was being sold by a

hefty discount. tiffany's trademarks were invalid because the name stood for a generic type of ring setting. >> interesting. >> if i'm not mistaken, it is friday. >> you're not mistaken at all. >> what a great way to end the week. >> and you know what that means. finney's friday free stuff. >> okay. what's on tap? >> bunch of games, dodgers. okay. >> yeah. they go together. san francisco. >> healthy chips. >> so check these out. >> these are chips that are actually made using beans. >> really. >> rather than corn or flour. a bunch of different kinds and let's rip through them. the fiber content is great. >> i know, there's crunch things which are kind of like cheese doodles or something like that. >> oh, wow. >> they are shaped like that. skinny dippers mac & cheese, sweet chili and sour cream. a local brand so we're very happy to be giving them out.

>> five grams of dial theory fiber per serving. >> pretty good. >> actually made with beans. that's pretty cool. now that we've filled you up and you've seen a couple of games, it's time to go elevate yourself. it's a museum. because we've got some free museum passes for you as well. they are all over the bay area. six museums available. we've got some video of it. there we go right there. contemporary jewish museum. >> deyoung. >> and then the legion of honor. there's a couple of museums up and outside of sacramento as well. these are if you have a credit card or debit card which is kind of new from merrill lynch or bank of america you get in free, debit card, a whole lot of people in the bay area so you might want to get in on that. >> and how do we get this? >> you've got your haul right there and the rest of it can get it by dalg 1-800-546-7177 or at any time logon to abc7news.com.

>> i'm going to eat chips before i if to the museum. >> probably would prefer that. >> yes. >> thanks, michael, very much. >> mission complete. a 12-year journey is over

coming up tonight at 6:00, only on abc 7 news, message to loma fire victims to the owner of an alleged pot farm where the blaze may have started. it's all part of an i-team investigation. >> also from "7 on your side's" michael finney, a plea deal for a man involved a major mortgage scam. his victims are angry. >> and making their way. it's a new kind of craft fair that thousands of people will be attending. all of that and a lot more coming up in kristen and i see you for "abc 7 news at 6:00." hope you can join us for that. >> finally for right now, after more than ten years of roaming across the solar system, the comet-watching rosetta spacecraft has gone to its eternal reward. >> that's right. a blaze of glory, right? >> yeah. >> in a deliberate act of

self-sacrifice rosetta plowed into the surface of a comet this morning at the spacecraft's operation center and scientists were riveted, of course, by a green line zigzagging across the screen representing the radio transmission from the craft. in an instant the line stopped. >> this is the end of the rosetta mission. thank you and good-bye. [ applause ] >> before rosetta went silent, it collected and sent back one last batch of data and images, including some very close-up shots at the comet's surface. >> that is absolutely fascinating. look at those pictures. >> a very noble, noble way to go. >> it was a very self-sacrifice. but the information they are getting is fantastic. >> absolutely. "world news tonight" is david muir is coming up next. i'm kristein sze. >> and i'm dan ashwari. for all of us we appreciate your time. hope to see you again in half an hour. >> i'm going to get in a little go giants. larry biel rushed out to at&t park. >> go, giants, and we'll see you at 6:00. >> bye-bye.

tonight, breaking news. authorities urging calm right now. just releasing this video. the deadly police shooting. police say the man had taken a shooting stance. you can hear the screaming on the video. the sister who said she told police he had no gun. tonight, authorities telling businesses to shut down. also breaking, the category 4 hurricane. winds up to 140 miles per hour. the potential path affecting the u.s. ginger zee is standing by. donald trump's tirade in the middle of the night. sending out tweets at 3:00 in the morning. about miss universe. about reports from members of s