>> amy hollyfield is live for us as our fire crews head in two different directions. >> reporter: the bay area is responding. this is a regional effort. san mateo is one of five counties sending firefighters to help out. a group of them left south san francisco yesterday. this group headed north. they will help on the carr fire. they say they're willing to jump in with the attitude it could happen here and we would want the help. 22 firefighters from san francisco are headed south to the cranston fire in riverside county. >> not necessarily surprised that we're doing it. it's unfortunate that we're at a point we have so many of these devastating wildfires that we do have to do it. >> reporter: firefighters are headed down south to help out on that cranston fire, down in riverside. the whole area responding. wanting people in the bay area

to know that they are keeping staffing levels here safe so no worries about them sending too many people from here but they're sending who they can. live in san mateo, amy hollyfield, abc 7 news. >> thank you. governor brown has declared states of emergency in several counties including mariposa where the ferguson fire is burning. it's charred more than 44,000 acres of land, is 27% contained, there are no flames in yosemite but the fire has resulted in a closure of the park's valley floor. at least until sunday. the state is burning and it is 4:31. mike nicco, i wonder if these firefighters will get a break. >> unfortunately, no, reggie, they aren't. in fact, we've got a red flag warning for the i-5 corridor almost to mt. shasta. this takes over 143,000 people and it's until midnight tonight and it's because of those northwest winds at about 25 miles per hour.

extremely dry conditions. and the heat, we've got excessive heat warning for the same area for highs 105 to 112. the lows at night, they never really cool. 74 to about 80 degrees. all right. let's take a look at our forecast and see if we have to deal with any of that. you can see the marine layer is back as we look from the exploratorium camera at pier 15. comfortable this morning, mid to upper 50s, we'll hang out in the 50s to near 60 at the coast, 71 to 84 around the bay and inland by noon and then that spread develops once again, 74 around the bay, but nearly 20 degrees warmer inland. a look at coming up. a look at your drive times. there was a look at your drive times. you had to look real fast. okay. let's see, there we go. tracy to castro valley 43 minutes, highway 58 to the airport, 12 minutes, smooth going so far. but it's early. there's the golden gate bridge maybe. can't really see it because it's pretty foggy.

however just because it's foggy doesn't mean there's a fog advisory. . happening today the man accused of stabbing nia wilson to death is scheduled to be back in court. 27-year-old john cowell charged with first-degree murder and did not enter a plea on wednesday. today cowell is said seth to be arraigned on a parole violation at 9:00 a.m. scheduled to enter a plea on the murder charge next month. the funeral for wilson will be held next friday at ax gospel church in oakland and open to the public. a 28-year-old woman is in custody for the hit-and-run death of a bicyclist in crocket. christopher bounag was killed after a driver hit him from behind. chp received an anonymous phone call about the driver which led to an arrest. president trump's former personal attorney michael cohen is making a claim that could dramatically shift the russia

investigation. cohen says then candidate trump knew about a june 2016 meeting at trump tower with a russian lawyer before it happened. abc brings us up to date from washington. >> reporter: good morning. this is the 2016 meeting where donald trump, jr. met with russians promising dirt on hillary clinton. president trump has repeatedly denied knowing anything about that meeting but now his former right-hand man is saying he did know. a new bombshell dropping overnight in the ongoing russia investigation. multiple sources tell abc news michael cohen, the president's former attorney and fixer, claims then candidate donald trump was aware of the june 2016 trump tower meeting beforet haened. >>hi expec aeeor >> rorr: the presidt's attorney rudy giuliani telling cnn cohen isn't credible and his claims contradicts denials by president trump, his son don

junior and lawyers. they say trump knew nothing about the meeting in which russians promised dirt on hillary clinton and in his first in depth entire after the fbi raided his home office and hotel room, cohen signaled his willingness to cooperate with special counsel robert mueller and federal prosecutors even if that puts president trump in jeopardy. abc news news, washington. north korea has turned over remains of what are believed to be u.s. service members who were killed during the korean war. a u.s. air force plane carrying the remains landed in south korea last night. kim jong-un committed to returning the remains during his june summit with president trump. about 7700 u.s. soldiers are listed as missing from the korean war. the remains of 5300 of the soldiers are believed to be in north korea. the trump administration is still working to reunite hundreds of children taken at the border with their families. officials say more than 1800 children are now either with

their parents or sponsors, but about 700 more remain in government custody. there's no clear idea when they will be reunited. a federal judge gave the trump administration until yesterday to reunify all eligible children. officials say some parents have been deported and their children now need to be flown to their home countries. abc 7 news has learned that two girls are back with their families after living at a children's facility in pleasant hill. the girls had been separated from their families at the border. east bay congressman worked to reunite them and a group called southwest key runs the shelter that's for children ages 12 to 17. facebook's mark zuckerberg under new pressure this morning. some people are calling for him to resign. now they had a major loss yesterday thatd at6 a mor p fr wsd's hh

close. investors ac tisd s was the biggest one-day drop for any company we have ever seen. you are never more than seven minutes away from my accuweather forecast. temperatures in san francisco, 52 in the sunset the cool spot, financial, 55. not much of a spread as you would expect when you have all that cloud cover and that mist in the air this morning. you may have to use your windshield wipers a couple times. mid to upper 50s for most of the bay shore. south bay low 60s there. 59 in walnut creek. pittsburgh and tracy, mid 60s. mid-50s across the north bay. let's take a look at your commute, at least weather wise. san mateo bridge you can see the clouds hanging overhead. you may run into mist also. heading westbound towards the peninsula. caution for that. a little gusty north of the bay bridge for your ferry ride today and a huge spread on mass transit. as far as temperatures go, let's start in the east bay valley. some of the warmest weather once

again as we start off with a comfortable 63 at 8:00. 20 degrees warmer at noon and then low to mid 90s into the afternoon hours and about 79 at 8:00. a little more comfort during the evening hours. north bay is another one of those areas that could touch 90 but only for about an hour or two. unfortunate you'll be in the 80s the better part of the day. weekend forecast coming up next. >> thank you. let's take a look at your san rafael camera here on the 101. you can see it's a smooth going ride in that area. i think we're going to check mass transit as well. there it is. bart, no delays. ace one on time. no delays there. normal service on your ferries. looking good for mass transit this morning. governor brown has a plan to upgrade california's 911 system. a report on the towers on the golden gate bridge. why you can breathe easy. why you can breathe easy. >> stuck at the stop, san

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whatcha' been doing braydon? reading let's see pictures, pictures,pictures there's a boy riding on his bicycle you can read too grandpa! ♪yea it's always better when we're together♪ you are never more than seven minutes away from your accuweather forecast. >> this is "abc 7 mornings." >> we're going to talk about what's going on around the state. it's going to be another hot one out there with those heat advisories and excessive heat warnings continuing today. as we get deeper into the forecast, we could also see that there's going to be some issues with air quality.

especially in the southern central valley that's going to be through the afternoon hours again today. all right. let's send it over to you diguy traffic. >> we're going to move on with other news today. californiaens may have to foot the bill to overhaul the aging 911 system. governor jerry brown is proposing increasing taxes to pay for the upgrade. he wants to play a fee on cell phones, land lines and other devices capable of contacting 911. the upgrades would make it digital allowing 911 dispatchers to receive not only calls but text and video. any tax increase would require the support of two-thirds of the members of the state legislature. if you feel like you're spending more time waiting for the bus you're not alone. as we told you yesterday morning there have been long wait inanat explains why. >> such a log jam. buso and from work in san the

francisco every day but says the past few months catching the bus has been tough. >> they're so packed like this right now where you just can't have the opportunity to get on. you have to wait sometimes three busses to come by. >> we have been working on this since about march. the number started to increase as far as operator unavailability. >> reporter: paul rose says the transportation agency has a shortage of bus drivers and they have 40p operator openings but struggling to train existing employees. >> we have to train operators on the new vehicles we have, the new radio system we have, we have to train operators to run the bus shuttle for the twin peak construction. >> when new operators apply they sort of have a false reality of what it is to be a muni bus operator. >> reporter: roger marenco is president of the union that represents muni operators. a bargaining that restricts pay is one of the major factors that

restricts. >> it takes 48 months, when it used to be 18 months. >> reporter: they expect more to be trained on the new vehicles by the end of august which should relieve some of the congestion. in san francisco, kate larson, abc 7 news. some welcome news if you drive the golden gate bridge. in april engineers began scaling the 700 foot tall towers to get an up close inspection. their report says despite 81 years of rain, wind and fog, things are looking pretty good. the team of climbers found some rust and some corrosion on some of the rivets but no real structural issues. the towers could use a paint job and cosmetic work which bridge officials say they'll be working on. if you plan on driving or walking around san francisco sunday morning a marathon could complicate the travel. some will be closed for the san francisco marathon. the race starts at mission and the embarcadero at 5:30 a.m. and then the course loops around the city, part of it does take runners across the golden gate bridge. the sidewalks along the bridge

will close for five hours starting at 5:00 a.m. a free shuttle will take pedestrians from the welcome center to vista point and back. looks like we'll have great weather for that too. >> good. >> temperatures in the 50s. >> okay. >> i think people like that when they're running. maybe a little mist in the morning, too, to try to keep you cool also. here's a look at what's going on this morning. hi, everybody, you are never more than seven minutes away from my accuweather forecast forecast. hazy sunshine and widespread in temperatures once again. partly cloudy, foggy and mild again tonight and it looks like the heat will ease a little bit as we head through the extended forecast. cloud cover making deeper penetration into our inland east bay neighborhoods which have been our warmest and that like yesterday is going to pull us back but be hot no doubt about it. notice by noon, clouds back to the coast and that's where they're going to stay. looking for some sunshine, at the coast today, i would head up along the sonoma coast.

you can see a little blue showing up and around santa cruz. the temperatures first in santa cruz, we'll have about 76 degrees, low to mid 80s through the south bay, usual areas in the low to mid 90s, los gatos, morgan hill and gilroy. peninsula, 80s around redwood city and palo alto. south bay around los altos, everybody else for the mid to upper 70s. low to mid 60s across san francisco. across the north bay today, mid to upper 80s. santa rosa, clover dale, low to mid 90s and triple digits in lake port and ukiah once again. upper 60s with breezy conditions in richmond and berkeley. low to upper 70s for the east bay shore. as you move inland 90s 234 san ramon for the cool spot, 100 in brentwood. 50s and 60s tonight and notice the temperatures will stay near 60 at the coast. we'll drop into the mid 70s this weekend around the bay and low 90s inland. a live look at what's happening with traffic right now. drive times, you can see tracy to dublin is not bad, 37

minutes. everything else pretty much what we would expect this morning. a live look at richmond/san rafael bridge and two people driving across it. the longest lunar eclipse of the century is going to happen today. it's supposed to last one hour and 42 minutes and 57 seconds. the event however will happen during the daytime in the bay area so unless you're on-line or happen to know someone in new finland you are not going to see it. the earth will be lined up directly with the moon and sun, but the moon is not going to be completely blacked out. amazon's second-quarter profits smashed expectations on wall street. radio shack is trying to make a comeback. it's in this morning's tech bites. >> in today's tech bites, it could be a big day for amazon stock. >> the company reported a $2.5 billion quarterly profit. that's a record and it's double the amount wall street estimated. amazon said it's reduced spending and increased ad sales are the reasons for the increase. a study finds cell phones are a distraction especially for

students. >> get this, researchers studied two groups of students in the same class, one had access to the devices during class and the other did not. the study found the group with their devices scored about half a letter grade lower on exams. >> pretty significant. radio shack is making a comeback. >> the electronic retailer is opening 100 express stores inside hobby town retailers. it shut hundreds of stores after declaring bankruptcy last year. >> let's hope it's a trend. circuit city. >> crazy eddie. >> insane. >> those are your tech bites. >> a lot of like northeast references by the way. a big court victory for hourly workers in california. the state supreme court says minutes do count. >> and chilling new details are emerging about the thailand cave rescue. why the 12 boys felt and saw nothing as they were being pulled out. >> plus, 28,000 feet up, a

you are never more than seven minutes away from my accuweather forecast forecast. christmas in july the theme today as we have another game with the brewers and giants. 7:15 first pitch, 60, cooling down to 57. wear that ugly sweater. it's appropriate. >> that's right. who doesn't like christmas in july? mike, thank you. pg&e lost nearly a billion dollars in the last quarter because of claims from the north bay wildfires. state investigators blamed the

utility for some of the fires that destroyed thousands of homes and businesses. 45 people died in those fires. pg&e faces more than 200 lawsuits that could cost it more than $10 billion. governor brown is proposing steps to reduce wildfire liabilities for utilities. pg&e says those measures are not enough. a big ruling for employees in california who are hourly workers. the state supreme court said employers have to pay workers for time they spend after clocking out doing things like locking up or setting store alarms. the ruling comes in a lawsuit by a former starbucks worker who said that he was forced to spend ten minutes a day closing. the court says under california law workers have to be paid for any time they're required to be on their employer's premises. new information gathered by abc news revealing the team thailand was more improbable than everyone thought. the u.s. air force major involved told thai officials he

deemed the operation a success if just one of 12 boys made it out alive. members of the british dive team who reached the boys first couldn't believe how calm they were. >> the children were extremely brave, very confident. there was no sign of distress and no hint of a problem. >> we are learning the boys were out cold, completely unconscious during the rescue operation. not just sedated as previously reported. according to a rescuer, the boys felt and saw nothing and matt gutman will reveal more details about the rescue in a special edition of "20/20." watch it here on abc 7 at 10:00 p.m. followed by abc 7 news at 11:00. a $40 million yacht owned by education secretary betsy devos was untied from its dock and set adrift. the captain of the sea quest called police on sunday when the crew realized the boat was floating. it had been moored on lake erie, west of cleveland,

oolong yachtitnddo cost and onen vessels owned by devos and her family. investigators are reviewing surveillance video to try to identify who did it. a bear in colorado wound up in a tight spot getting stuck in a storm drain. crews popped off the manhole cover and as you can see from the video the bear was able to figure out the rest and get out. went behind a colorado springs neighborhood. officers are not sure how the bear got stuck but they did find a dumpster that had branches and berries in it that may have caught his attention. >> poor guy. >> he's okay, though. hey, mike. >> you are never more than seven minutes away from my accuweather forecast. i don't think we'll see bears at the garlic festival. the special event we have in gilroy for the last 40 years. another hot one with spicy temperatures in the low to mid 90s. raon off and sty at 5:00 in the

57, by the time we're finished some of us that are brave enough to try it, 11:00, 63 degrees, but it's going to get a little breezy. hopefully that will bring relief and you're not running into the headwind. hopefully it's a tailwind. guys, back to you. >> thank you. let's take a look at your traffic out there on southbound 280, we have the southbound ramp, off ramp temporarily closed. someone changing a tire at the off ramp, so head's up if you are trying to get on there. or get off there i should say. and let's take a live look at the san mateo bridge where you can see more cars than we saw earlier this morning but things. when you think of a police chase you might think of someone trying to speed away from the law, except when the suspect is driving pretty slow piece of construction equipment. >> concord police found themselves chasing a stolen backhoe on wednesday. it can't make it past 25 miles an hour.

officers worried someone might get hurt because it was driving erratically. they eventually stopped it and arrested the man driving it along willow pass road. and speaking of failed getaways, you don't see this quite often. a texas inmate tried to escape a moving patrol car by kicking out the windshield and climbing on top of the vehicle. his bid for freedom did not last long. he was taken into custody after backup officers arrived. a skier has set a pretty amazing world record. take a look at a drone video of a polish daredevil of a first person to ski down the second highest peak in the world. he strapped on the skis after he scaled the 28,000 foot peak and took him seven hours to reach the bottom. k 2 on the china/pakistan border is considered one of the most dangerous mountains in the world to climb. just 350 people have done it. >> unbelievable. next at 5:00 a.m., breaking news in the south bay, a chp officer hurt in a hit and run. we have a crew on the scene

right now. >> the housing crisis in the bay area is it worth it to represent or to buy? and a wildfire in northern

good morning, east bay. let's get up and get going. >> this is "abc 7 mornings." >> now at 5:00, wildfire raging in northern california. >> the carr fire spreading quickly and burning homes in shasta county. we know one person has died. it's a really dire situation. >> it is 5:00 a.m. good morning to you on this friday, july 27th. reminds me of the north bay wildfires. >> sure does. yes, it does. >> people having to evacuate and then the weather not cooperating, mike. >> not at all. they have a red flag warning for the high fire danger due to a

northwest wind, 25 miles per hour and temperatures well over 100 again this afternoon. it is bone dry up there. conversely back here at home a nice sea breze keeping once again most of us out of this extended and expanded heat wave that's gripped our state for the better part of a week. it's pretty misty out there also around the bay. let me throw up the clouds and see they're spreading to more neighborhoods and that's going to help take a sting out of the heat even inland where low to mid 90s will be dominant than the mid and upper 90s we've had the last couple days. we're waking up this morning to mid 50s to about 60s, my accuweather 12-hour planner, 59 at the coast, 72 around the bay, 85 inland at noon and comfortable evening for most of us, still a touch warm inland at 7:00, about 82 degrees. how about the traffic. >> let's see what roads are doing this morning. here's a look at your drive times.