hurricane irma charging a across the virgin islands. believe it or not the storm got stronger. 200 miles away in antigua, 95% of structures are said to be damaged. >> the entire country has been decimated. i have never seen anything like this before. >> just horrifying. this storm has killed 13 people. >> the storm has florida in its sights next. cameras on the international space station providing another incredible view of hurricane irma showing just how massive it is. >> about the size of the state of texas. abc 7 news meteorologist is tracking the storm now. >> this storm is making history as you have heard. take a look at the satellite picture. this is one massive storm. the eye of the storm right now nearing the turks and caicos. the reason irma i making history is it's the strongest

and longest storm on record anywhere. it's a very large eye. right now it's category 5 storm. it is expected to bring storm surge flooding of about 20 feet, drenching rains. 175 miles an hour winds right now. it will cross the turks and caicos as a cat 5. friday afternoon it's heading towards the bahamas and it's south of there. approaching southern florida and expected to hit the area. continuing across florida and into georgia and the rainfall will continue with this. rainfall amounts from saturday through tuesday 15 to 20 inches possible for parts of florida. there are three storms. hurricane jose and katia. jose is expected to hit the areas already hit by irma. that's the leeward islands it's heading for. it's a category 3. you can see it veering a bit away from the area.

most florida are heeding the advice to get out. they have already evacuated. this comes as workers rush to board up homes and residents pick up supplies and wait in long lines for gas. despite the sheer size of hurricane irma some people say they are not leaving. >> maybe it's stupidity of the first class but i want to stay at home and see if i can survive it. >> it's a chance he's taking. ambulances are stacked up waiting to take the last patients way. georgia's governor ordered mandatory evacuations starting on saturday. bay area first responders are answers the call to help in florida as others return from areas hit by hurricane harvey in

texas. >> reporter: the firefighters that came home are exhausted. they want to see their family. they just handed in their gear are ready to hand it over. the trucks rolled in one by one. inside heroes who spent the last week and a half in wharton, texas helping victims from hurricane harvey. fire chiefs came to welcome them back home. >> we're glad we were out there and had great experience. >> reporter: some are retireret. some are active. they specialize in water rescue.

>> there are always safety hazards and we had to worry about electrical wires. cars we couldn't see under the water, fences. >> the mix kind of evolves when you get out there. our job is to react to what's happening around us and find way to take care of those people. >> reporter: he's responded to four hurricanes including katrina and helped in the ok oklahoma city bombing. he keeps something close to his heart. >> we keep a couple of pictures in our helmet and it's pictures of our family. reminds you of what you're coming home to and why you need to keep yourself safe. >> reporter: for now he will keep his focus on helping other

families trying to survive. the hmayor is part of the ar national guard 129th air rescue wing. we'll stay on top of the hurricane but let's move onto other matters. a leading credit reporting agency is reeli ining from one the biggest data breaches in the country. >> equifax has been compromised and 7 on your side michael finney has been looking into this. >> this is the one consumer add voe c -- advocates have been worried about. this is equifax. one of the three leading bureaus in the country. it involves name, social security number, date of births and addresses. the number of victims

staggering, 143 million. nearly half our country. compare that to the target breach in 2013 when there were 41 million victims. you may be asking what happened. they say the hackers exploited a website vulnerability. abc news reporting the fbi is already investigating this case. the company discovered this breach on july 29th and there's no explanation on why it waited so long to report it to you and me. what should do you as a son coup consumer. go to equifax-security-2017.com. they will tell you if you're affected by the breach. you'll need to put in your last name and get the six digits of your social security. you have to make a decision on that. you'll receive a date when you can enroll in the credit monitoring service free for one year even if you were not affected by the breach.

i must give you one final note. when i went to the site today, it did not tell me if my data was breached but it did give me a date and that enrollment is six days from today. >> really? >> go check it out and make your own decision on what you want to do at this point. an oakland firefighter faces accusations of having child porn on his home computer. you're looking at video taken from a neighbor's home. he remains in jail. he's been placed on leave by the fire department. oakland's interim fire chief said he's appalled by the charges. you're looking now at an oakland police officer who is accused of drunk driving and resisting arrest. he's been on administrative

leave in late 2015. the rain this morning made the road slick. there were two separate big rig crashes around 10:00 a.m. no one was hurt in this crash on dry creek road. you can see part of a big rig ended up down a small embankment. no one was hurt in this accident either. vector control crews are busy in krcontra costa county dealing with a surge in yellowjackets. it's jumped big time because of our rainy winter. >> reporter: district officials have responded to several calls today. they advise homeowners to keep their garbage cans covered and open beverages open outside to avoid attracting the insects and

avoid being stung. >> you've got two more houses. >> reporter: it's not an easy job but vector control aid arrived beprayered for that pain staking task. she's suited up, ready to treat this yellowjacket ground nest. >> it was a pretty active nest. they were starting to let us know they didn't really want us around their nest. >> reporter: contra costa county vector control district has seen an 83% increase in calls from homeowners requesting service for yellow jackets. stay away from any ground nests. >> don't try to treat it yourself. they get more upset and aggressive once they have been treated with spray or soapy water concoction. >> reporter: the heavy winter rains and hot summer created just the landscape to draw more yellowjackets. >> unlike a honey bee that will lose its stinger and be done,

they can sting you over and over. >> reporter: the insects are showing up in record numbers. as the months get colder, they will die off. right now they are in full swing. all right. lot more to come. lyft tries to play catch up. they plan to launch self-driving cars on bay area roads as other companies step on the gas on their autonomous vehicles. not just people are getting out of florida. so are their pets. they are getting a big welcome here in the bay area. buying that first house. why the size of your mortgage is why the size of your mortgage is more important than the ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ wow! nice outfit. when i grow up, i'm going to mars. we're working on that. some people know how far they want to go. a personalized financial strategy can help you get them there. see how access

to j.p. morgan investment expertise can help you. chase. make more of what's yours.

in san francisco, chris nguyen, abc 7 news. back to the hurricane. pof the way.ets are getting out more than 150 animals in irma's path arrived hee ed here in the area this afternoon. they had to be moved out of shelters. laura anthony is live at the animal shelter. >> reporter: your timing very good. let's show you what's happening. these trucks, this caravan just

rolled up. these are the trucks containing these animals that were flown from florida to hayward today. they not only had to fly across the country, they had to brave bay area rush hour traffic. let's show you their arrival in h hayward. >> reporter: they are refugees of sorts from a hurricane that are yet to strike florida but expected to wreak havoc for humans and animals alike. these animals threw cross country from broward county to hayward to make room for those expected in shelter there. >> one of the lessons learned after hurricane katrina is you

allow people to take their pets when they evacuate or they won't. >> reporter: here in the bay area these dogs and cats will be given a thorough check and dispersed to three different shelters. the berkeley humane society, east bay spca and tony larussa's arf. >> when they called on tuesday, i spent all day tuesday trying to locate a plane so we could transport the animals. >> 39 pounds. >> reporter: these local agencies said they could use donation, volunteers and people willing to foster the animals. many should be available for permanent adoption starting next week. laura anthony, abc 7 news. >> for more information about the adoptions and everything you need to know download the abc 7 news app and enable the push alerts.

fixed mortgage rates sank to new lows for the year. the 30 year fix rate fell for the sixth straight week to about 3.8%. that's down slightly from last week but still higher than last year's average of nearly 3.7%. mortgages are definitely part of the conversation if you're trying to buy your first house. >> michael finney has some valuable information. michael. >> it can be done. >> really. before you sign on the dotted line, i want you to think about something. are your eyes bigger than your bank account. they just bought their first home. >> what's the first thing we need to do? >> when trying to determine their price range, they had to goals. keep their monthly house in costs below what they had been paying in represent and make sure they had enough left over

and then some. >> we were trying the break it up where we were saving a certain amount f money. >> reporter: their bank pre-approved them for a certain number but that number can be deceiving. left-hand sid lenders look at how much they think you can make them each month. >> that doesn't mean you can make the payments and still save for retirement and still manage to go on a vacation each year. >> reporter: deciding how much mortgage you can afford is personal. a good rule of thumb is to cap your housing cost at 25% of your take home pay. this should afford you a little wiggle room to keep up with anything that breaks down. >> you need to have money in case the air-conditioner breaks or you need to replace the roof. owning a home is very cost intensive. keeping your mortgage payments as low as possible helps you afford everything else that goes with it. >> they found a home they love for less than the bank was willing to loan them. leaving them enough room to start saving for the next big

thing. >> we really want to have a nest egg right now for vacations, emergencies and eventually down the road having our first child. >> having trouble calculating a number you can live with in consumer reports says working with a fj planner or a third party you trust could be a good move. that's important advice. 80% of current homeowners say their current mortgage payments make it difficult for them to save money. parents in particular have a hard time juggling their competing financial priorities. you immediate more thneed more . you need college for the kids and retirement. sky 7 flew over the kentucky fried chicken in alameda after city mandated repainting began. we old told you how many residents objected to the loud red and white paint

the city council vsaid it violated the cover palpalette. some people may have been surprised to see this, rain. let's check back in to see if we're done with that. >> we're not done with it. good evening to you all as you check out live doppler 7 now. we're still seeing the summer showers. let's close in to street level radar in the north bay now. slippery roadways also right around lucas valley road. you'll notice around wood acre when you check out what's happeni happening, the tropical air mass is still over us. we're still watching some moisture off the coast here and that is going to be heading towards the san mateo san francisco area. be aware of that. this area of low pressure that's been spinning off the coast continues to send moisture in our direction and as long as

it's doing that we're going to remain on the muggy to humid side which is what we're seeing right now. dew point 64 degrees. that's humid in half-moon bay. as you check out the 24 hour rainfall totals, anywhere from about nothing measurable in san jose. oakland .1 of annn we're not going to go with the rainy pattern. we're going with temperatures that will be rising as you -- sorry, that graphic just passed us by. temperatures will be rising in time for your weekend plans. if you do have weekend plans expect it to get hot inland. sunday, monday, upper 90s but tomorrow still pretty comfortable so you can just rest assured this is not going be a heat wave. just a couple of quick day hot conditions. showing you a few peaks of blue. you'll see more sunshine as we head towards tomorrow. 69 in san francisco. 71 in oakland.

gilroy 84 degrees. highs so far in the 60s to 80s. definitely cooler today. the cloud cover from our abc 7 news exploratory camera playing a role. one other live picture. it's a beautiful view as we look towards the bay from our emoryville camera. heating up this weekend and you're looking at a chance of showers early next week. hour by hour forecast, 7:00 tonight the rain the gone. you'll still see the cloud cover going into tomorrow morning. it will start out gray for your friday morning for the afternoon. most of you will see the sun with some lingering clouds right near the coast. temperatures first thing in the morning, upper 50s to 60s. drizzle at the beaches. remaining on the hue mid side across the bay area and tomorrow afternoon you're looking at mild weather. mid-60s to the mid-80s. mild pattern for your friday. humidity drops on saturday and the temperatures will rise. by sunday it's a sharp warm up.

upper 90s inland. sunday and monday, low to m mid-70s at the coast. we'll call it beach weather. seven-day forecast showing you a slight chance of a shower on tuesday. download the accuweather app and check out live doppler 7. you can track this moisture. thank you so much pm. fires in the sierra. there is progress but not before some national monuments go up in flames. escaping hurricane irma. the hassle facing florida residents trying to fly out and why getting back could be harder. that sto

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ wow! nice outfit.

when i grow up, i'm going to mars. we're working on that. some people know how far they want to go. a personalized financial strategy can help you get them there. see how access to j.p. morgan investment expertise can help you. chase. make more of what's yours. rj smoke from a nearby fire forced students to shelter in place today. investigators say the fire started in a homeless encampment and spread to surrounding trees. across the street students at the high school were kept inside while firefighters knocked down the flames. no reports of any arrests or injuries. crews managed to get the fire out in under one hour.

a wildfire threatens a grove where some of california's se c their are precious. people faced evacuation orders in fish camp. one man is staying at his home. it's one of 500 structures in the fire's path. >> they have interest here in a good deal of concern about other people whose homes are here. >> the fire has burned more than 18 square miles. it's 43% contained. there's a man in sweden who likes to blow things up. he's pretty popular on the internet. we'll show you his latest experiment, next. first, we want to thank satish for this picture in santa cruz. you may see your pictures on air or online at abc7news.com.

you're going to be hanging out in here. so if you need anything, text me. do you play? use the chase mobile app to send money in just a tap to friends at more banks than ever before. you got next? chase. make more of what's yours.

coming up on abc 7 news at 6:00, paying it forward. >> it's hard breaking to think that in the blink of an eye you can lose everything. >> a victim of tragedy herself, a bay area woman goes the extra mile to help hurricane harvey victims. she's not stopping there. the difficult decision facing the association. see what happens when free has a

price tag. a local man sprints to michael finney. that's coming up on abc 7 news at 6:00. >> see you then. there's man in sweden who really likes to blow stuff up. >> in fact, eric is a professional dynamite expert. he's blown up hay bales, piano and computer. >> he records his explosions and posts it on his youtube channel. this time he's blowing up a raft. >> okay. eric says he has love of blowing things upstarted at age 6 when he would use fireworks to blow up toy cars. >> he's used dynamite professionally since he was 16. >> i think that's one of those don't do this at home. >> yeah, don't try this at home. >> world news tonight is coming up next. >> all of us here, we appreciate your time. see you again in half an hour. >> bye bye.

tonight, breaking news from miami. hurricane irma now closing in on the american coast. miami and south florida could take a direct hit. irma expected to hit as a massive category 4. tonight, the deadly path of destruction already across several caribbean islands. americans trapped. images from barbuda and st. martin. ginger zee with the track just in, and it's not just florida. georgia ordering evacuations, states of emergency in the carolinas -- while here in florida tonight, a million people now told to get out of irma's path. gas pumps running empty. state police now escorting fuel tankers. the other major news tonight. donald trump jr. answering five hours of questions on capitol hill. the wildfires in the west, new reporting tonight, homes burning to the ground. the video. the famous nfl player claiming excessive force, saying