making news in america this morning, the fire disaster in california burns its way into the history books overnight. two massive fires now combining into one. the largest the state has ever seen. dramatic images as two hikers are trapped as another fire approaches. the military now sending help and this morning the response to president trump's claim about wasted water hurting the fire effort. new developments in the three-week search for iowa college student mollie tibbetts. missing after an evening jog. her father speaking out this morning on who he believes may have taken his daughter and the new information about a black suv seen circling the area the night mollie was last seen. the new research on sleep and how much is too much. the wake-up call this morning

about getting too many zs. plus, the shocking headline about this da vinci painting recently sold for a record $450 million. also forget uber, the new ride in town thanks to amish ingenuity. and from baseball-size hail at the zoo to leaping great white sharks to charging rhinos, the wild scenes caught on camera this tuesday morning. good morning, everyone. i'm maggie rulli in for diane macedo. >> and i'm kendis gibson. we will begin with the breaking news overnight, what emergency officials in california have really been fearing, two massive wildfires in the northern part of the state have now combined to form the largest fire in state history. more than 14,000 firefighters are now on the front lines statewide. >> take a look at this map. you can see the location of 18

major fires including a new blaze in orange county that's been exploding in size trapping hikers on a mountain. this morning, the california wildfire disaster is growing more desperate and historic. the fires known as the mendocino complex northwest of sacramento are now joining together fueled by dry vegetation and hot, windy weather to become the largest fire california has ever seen. burning an area the size of los angeles. at least 75 homes destroyed. more than 9,000 buildings threatened and the fire only 30% contained. the haze of smoke is so bad, health officials are urging people to avoid outdoor activities for the rest of the week. and this morning, dramatic new images from the southern part of the state. in the cleveland national forest the blaze dubbed the holy fire has more than quadrupled in size in just hours forcing evacuations. >> the flames were across the road. we couldn't cross and i was

like, whoa, so i turn around. we hurry home and we grab a few things. we're in the cabin only five minutes. but that five minutes the flames had already come up over the hills so those cabins are gone for sure. >> reporter: the massive cloud of smoke in these newly released pictures, down below, an elderly couple out for a hike were stranded on this mountain trapped by the fire. they were forced to retreat into the canyon without cell reception. they were later spotted by rescue teams and finally hoisted to safety into this chopper. officials say climate change has made the fire season longer with more intense fires, and they deny president trump's recent claim that the state's water policy is hurting firefighting efforts. total acreage burned so far this year across the state is nearly five times the seasonal average and nearly three times more than burned last year at this time. the u.s. military is now sending new help with 200 active duty soldiers preparing to join the firefight. at least nine people have died in the california fires and the simmering heat that's posing such a challenge for fire crews is not letting up today.

we'll have the accuweather forecast in just a few minutes. the star witness testifying against former trump campaign manager paul manafort is expected back on the stand today. rick gates told the jury that he concealed millions of dollars from the irs on manafort's behalf and secretly siphoned off some of that money for himself. abc's lynda lopez joins us with a look ahead. good morning, lynda. >> reporter: good morning, kendis. the hugely anticipated courtroom showdown bringing paul manafort face-to-face with his former right-hand man, rick gates. gates' explosive testimony yesterday key to the prosecution's case against manafort and the first trial stemming from special counsel robert mueller's russia investigation. before working together on the trump campaign, manafort and gates spent years working together making huge salaries, consulting for foreign political clients. now, manafort on trial for falsifying tax returns and failing to report millions in income. and gates having pleaded guilty to conspiracy and lying to federal authorities now

testifying against his former boss. gates telling jurors that over several years they hid their income in foreign bank accounts. prosecutors asking, were you involved in any criminal activity with mr. manafort? yes, gates answered. how much did you fail to report? gates replying over the years several million dollars. he also admitted to falsifying loan applications and other documents to help manafort obtain more in bank loans, gates admitting to jurors he knew he and manafort were committing crimes each time. at least some of the money hidden coming from manafort's work on behalf of ukrainian politicians with deep ties to russia. gates is expected back on the stand today for day two of his testimony, and since gates also admitted that he had embezzled several hundred thousand dollars from manafort, the defense's cross-examination expected to be bruising. now, this criminal case has nothing to do with either man's

work for the trump campaign and there's been no suggestion during the trial about whether the trump campaign coordinated with russia but rick gates is regarded as a crucial witness for the government ever since he pleaded guilty to those two felony charges and agreed to cooperate in special counsel robert mueller's russia investigation. kendis, maggie. >> and he'll be back on the stand today in northern virginia today. thanks, lynda. the first round of u.s. sanctions against iran was officially restored this morning. the sanctions went into effect at midnight after president trump signed an executive order and called for a change in iran's behavior. iran has rebuffed the president's proposal to discuss a new deal saying he cannot be trusted after pulling out of the nuclear accord reached during the obama administration. european allies are sticking to the agreement and iran's president said his country can still rely on china and russia. u.s. homeland security is sounding the alarm about drones after an apparent assassination attempt in venezuela. federa state and local law enforcement are currently prohibited from hacking into drones to track them. well, officials say congress now needs to change those laws.

the directive comes as venezuela's president promises to release evidence of that thwarted attempt on his life as he delivered a speech on saturday. officials say the attackers used those two drones armed apparently with explosives. six people have been arrested so far. the death toll is climbing from that powerful earthquake that rocked a tourist island in indonesia. at least 98 people have died. but crews were able to rescue a man trapped under the rubble of a collapsed mosque. rescuers are struggling to reach others in need. thousands are homeless. children are sleeping in the streets, and stranded tourists have been camping on beaches and in the lobbies of damaged hotels. back here in the u.s., we have time now to take a look at the weather. there was a hailstorm that forced thousands to evacuate a zoo in colorado springs. at least 14 people were injured by the baseball-size hail, and you'll see why in a moment. look at that. two animals were also killed and hundreds of cars were damaged. but for much of the country the heat remains the big story.

let's take a look now at the forecast for tuesday. good morning. hector is expected to pass to the south of the mainland dropping from a 4 to a 3 to a 2 by thursday at 5:00. now, in the west, the dry heat still a problem with sweltering heat that's causing more problems with the fires, and for the northwest, still that same problem. for the northeast it's about the steaminess along the east coast as the thunderstorms begin to advance across the ohio valley region, and then by midweek we're looking for widen spread scattered showers and thunderstorms along the east coast. i'm accuweather meteorologist paul williams. coming up, a rhinoceros goes on the attack at a safari park. we'll tell you why. but first the terrifying crash caught on camera. police releasing the video to teach drivers everywhere an important lesson. and gunfire erupts at a local radio station. was the deejay targeted?

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this was the scene at cape canaveral early this morning. another successful l h for spacex, and you can hear the crowds cheering it on there launching a new communications satellite. the company reused one of its falcon 9 rockets equipped with a powerful new booster designed to travel to space and back as many as 100 times. investigators in southern california are trying to figure out why a small plane suddenly fell from the sky killing all five people on board. video shows the twin engine cessna nosediving into the parking lot of a strip mall in orange county. three of the victims worked at a real estate company. one of them was married to the pilot.

officials say the pilot declared an emergency just before the crash, and they're now looking into whether he ran out of gas. >> in this case something catastrophic happened. whether it was a mechanical failure, whether the pilot lost control, we just don't know. but we do know from the video that that airplane was totally out of control in a vertical dive with a spin twist. >> amazingly no one on the ground was killed, and while commercial aviation has a good safety record, small plane crashes claimed nearly 350 lives last year alone. overseas a fiery crash on a highway in northern italy. watch as it played out there. two people were killed when a tanker filled with propane was struck during a chain reaction crash. the resulting fireball stretched across eight lanes. the heat was so intense, it collapsed the highway. you see the results there. at least 60 people were injured. police in toronto are sending a message to drivers everywhere. they released a video of a terrifying crash and we want to

warn you this is hard to watch but know that everyone survived. a man was on this highway after a crash when another car comes crashing right into him. again, this is terrifying to watch. everyone amazingly survived. police have released the video to show drivers just how dangerous it is to stay on the highway because of other drivers not paying attention. and police in madison, wisconsin, say a shooting at a local radio station was not a random act. a deejay was injured when a mass gunman opened fire on three people. now, detectives believe it was a targeted attack against a specific person. they're still searching for the suspect right now. the wounded deejay is now out of the hospital. great white sharks are big and fast. we know that. but now we also know they can jump too. researchers off cape cod got quite a scare. they wanted to tag a shark when this shark, look at that, it nearly tagged one of them. it jumped underneath that platform holding a biologist. everyone was okay. hopefully the shark is too.

in the meantime, a rhino took issue with a car filled with visitors at this safari park in mexico. it stuck its horn under the rear bumper of that suv and tried to flip it repeatedly bashing it. safari workers later managed to distract the animal before anyone was hurt. they say the presence of a nearby female rhino in heat got that male rhino a little bit too excited, and he took it out on that vehicle. >> oh, sure, blame the woman, kendis. blame the woman, you know. all right, coming up, the new research about sleep. how much is too much? but first the father of a missing iowa college student speaks out. what he believes happened to his daughter. and later, serena williams opens up about her postpartum struggles and feeling like she's not a good mom. at mccormick, we're obsessed with flavor. it's what drives our relentless search for the finest herbs and spices. it's the reason we partner with sustainable farmers.

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it wants to remove president trump's star on hollywood walk of fame. the council voted unanimously to do just that on monday night citing the president's treatment of women. the star has been vandalized several times. okay, so it's mostly symbolic move. only the chamber of commerce and city of los angeles can remove a star and that's considered unlikely. officials have said they won't remove a star over public criticism. . we're going to turn now to new details in the search for that university of iowa sophomore who has been missing now for 20 days. >> the father of mollie tibbetts is now speaking out about what he believes happened to his daughter. it was nearly three weeks ago that 20-year-old mollie tibbetts disappeared after going for a jog just east of des moines and was living with her boyfriend dalton jack for the summer and watching his dogs while he was working at a construction job 140 miles away. police do not consider him a suspect. but this morning tibbetts' father says he does not believe mollie was abducted by a

stranger. >> i do believe that mollie is with someone who she knows and probably someone who cares about her, but that that relationship was misguided, misinterpreted and went wrong. >> reporter: on the night mollie disappeared, a neighbor said she saw a black suv slowly circling the area. that fueled speculation that mollie's disappearance could be connected to the attempted abduction of a 10-year-old girl who initially said she was almost coerced into a similar vehicle. but this morning police are denying any connections between the cases. >> we've had no contact with any investigators to my knowledge with any connection to this case or the mollie tibbetts case. we don't believe there to be any connection at all. >> reporter: in the meantime, co-workers at the day camp where mollie worked are also speaking out holding out hope for the best. >> in my head i hear a voice and i remember events that have happened and i want those back and i know they can come back.

so, i just need to keep pushing forward and eventually she will come back. >> hope echoed by mollie's father. >> i really believe that what happened to mollie wasn't someone that set out to harm her and i think because they haven't found mollie, that mollie is still someplace, and we can get her home. >> and the reward for information in the case is now approaching $300,000. that includes money from more than 140 donors including individuals and businesses. we have a health alert about sleep this morning. a new study confirms too much can be a sign of health problems. the study determined that people who leapt more than ten hours a night on average were 30% more likely to die prematurely. that's compared to those who slept for eight hours a night. getting more than ten hours of sleep also increases the chance of dying from stroke and heart diseases by about 50%. >> i guess none of us will die prematurely. all right, to sports now and the ceo of nascar is apologizing

after being arrested on dwi and drug possession charges. brian france is taking an indefinite leave from his position there at nascar. now police say that he was drunk behind the wheel and carrying oxycodone sunday on new york's long island. >> serena williams is opening up about her recent struggles as a new mom. she posted this picture on instagram and said last week was not easy for her saying she was in a funk and felt like she was not a good mom. she says she spoke to her family who said her feelings about caring for her daughter are totally normal. she said, although i have been with her every day of her life, i'm not around as much as i would like to be. most of you moms deal with the same thing. whether stay at home or working, finding that balance with kids is a true art. you are the true heroes. up next in "the pulse," big news about george costanza from "seinfeld." also ahead, the shocking news about this painting that recently sold for a record $450 million.

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♪ we're going to start with a possible art scandal. his an historian is claiming a famous painting by leonardo da vinci was the work of his assistant. the painting shows jesus holding a crystal orb. >> it recently sold for a record 450 million bucks in new york but the historian claims da vinci only painted about 20% of it. back here at home, a man in michigan figured out how to put a little more horsepower into his ride sharing service. >> literally using a horse. an amish resident calls his horse and buggy amish uber.

>> he's not affiliated with uber and since he doesn't use a cell phone, riders have to hail it from the street. each ride is 5 bucks. >> you're never too old to rock 'n' roll. >> two men really wanted to attend the world's biggest heavy metal concert so they plotted their escape from their nursing home nearby but avoided all the cameras and no pictures of them rocking out. let's move to george costanza and big news from the colonel. >> "seinfeld"'s jason alexander is the latest to become the face of kfc playing colonel sanders and they're already running. check it out. >> tech vo: this teacher always puts her students first. >> student: i did mine on volcanoes. >> teacher: you did?! oh, i can't wait to read it. >> tech vo: so when she had auto glass damage... she chose safelite. with safelite, she could see exactly when we'd be there. >> teacher: you must be pascal. >> tech: yes ma'am. >> tech vo: saving her time... [honk, honk] >> kids: bye! >> tech vo: ...so she can save the science project. >> kids: whoa!♪

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hi, there. good morning. it's tuesday, august 7th. >> time to wake up. 4:27. never more than seven minutes away from your accuweather forecast. it was chilly outside at least in san francisco. >> a little mist in the air as the marine layer is back but it's not going to hold off the heat for all of us. temperature running 52 in san francisco. a cool spot along with santa rosa. you get into the south bay and east bay valleys and have mid 60s, even a few upper 60s there. let's see where we end up this afternoon. partly cloudy along the coast. low to mid 60s into san francisco. sunny around the bay and inland. 70s around the bay. 80s in the south bay, and 90s in the north bay and east bay. even near 100 in antioch and ukiah. the heat wave is here.

here's alexis. >> good morning, mike. we're off to a very quiet start on t morning. of course, that is welcome news. we obviously had a terrible day yesterday. extremely light volumes on the richmond side of the richmond-san rafael bridge. that's how all of our cameras look at this point. the only slow spot i'm seeing so far is getting out of tracey, about 30 miles per hour, and westbound 580, 22 miles per hour. we'll take a look at drive times coming up next. >> the mendocino complex fire is now the largest wildfire event in california history. >> it's actually made up of two big fires. crews are treating it as one big event. together, the ranch and river fires have scorched 283,000 acres. the smaller river fire is 58% contained, and the ranch fire is only 21% contained. firefighters say this is one of the most challenging wildfire seasons they have ever seen. >> we're looking at over 629,000

acres of ground and vegetation burned in the state of california since january 1st of this year. last year, same period of time, 223,000 acres. >> the mendocino complex surpassed last year's massive thomas fire which burned in santa barn raw and ventura. >> firefighters are slowly making progress on the carr fire. they have it 47% contained. the carr fire has destroyed nearly 1100 homes and burned 164,000 acres of land. it's blamed for at least seven deaths. meanwhile, the airbnb community has opened its doors to wildfire evacuees and relief workers. you can find open beds or rooms at airbnb.com. if you would like to help, you can offer the use of your own home. >> the sonoma county board of supervisors will consider approving a plan to install a network of web cameras to spot

wildfires. it would cost the county $475,000. eight cameras would be positioned on communication towers and other existing structures to spot fires in the lake sonoma watershed. they hope they will one day allow firefighters to detect wildfires the moment they begin. >> interesting idea. anything we can do to get a heads-up when the fires begin. it's been such a bad fire season already. >> one of the worst. at 4:30 in the morning, we'll check in with weather and traffic. we start with mike. >> hi, everybody. let's take a look at live doppler 7. it tells the tale of the morning. more gray out there this morning. mist and even drizzle as you get near the coast in san francisco. you can see from our exploratorium camera at pier 15, we're seeing a lowering of the clouds here and a little moisture infusion. temperature about the same. mid to upper 50s at 7:00. as we head through the 12-hour planner, we'll stay at the 50s at the coast, low to upper 70s at the bay, and low 80s to low 90s inland fro