killed three people including twin sisters. >> katie utus is live with the story tonight. katie? >> reporter: there's a vigil expected tonight at 7:00 but as you can see people have not wait today pay their respects to the young people killed here. you can see candles, lots of flowers and there's especially sad about the twin girls lost here over the weekend. what started as a suspicious fire investigation has now been deemed a suicide and double homicide. the police say 47-year-old mau dow set herself on fire on sunday morning around 2:45. her 11-year-old daughter escaped the burning home from a window. she flagged down a nearby officer for help. the 14-year-old twins trin and tran did not survive. investigators say both physical and electronic evidence as well as victim and witness statements support their belief that dau ignited the deadly fire. friends of the twins spoke out

earlier this week after learning from their deaths. >> it's quite horrible what happened to them, how they died and how they should've -- they shouldn't deserve this. this is not what they deserved. >> reporter: now the twins would have been sophomores at the high school next year. the police did not speak out on camera today but they are asking anyone with information to come forward. that vigil is planned for 7:00 tonight. live -- residents near windsor way and madison avenue are being asked to stay in their homes. police have issued a voluntary evacuation order because of a barricaded suspect in a home. multiple streets are shut down in the area. we'll have more updates on this ongoing story. it was an emotional day inside an oakland courtroom as the sentencing for the defendants in the ghost ship warehouse began. >> today we heard from dozens of

families of the victims, the judge even started crying. >> we're live outside the courthouse with the story there, tonight, carlos? >> reporter: that just goes to show how emotional things got inside the courtroom, many tears throughout the day from family members as well as the judge you mentioned there. families urging the judge to reconsider what they consider light sentencing on these two defendants. people left the courtroom, many still in tears after hours of emotional testimony from friends and families of the ghostship warehouse fire victims. 36 people were killed in the massive inferno after being trapped inside. families spoke of the pandemonium during an after the december 2016 oakland blaze as they desperately searched for loved ones. they also shared the victim's dreams. >> right now i can't think clear. >> reporter: the aunt of 20-year-old victim urged the judge for a stricter sentence for the two defendants. one of them had his back to the

families the entire time. >> i think they should've faced us. they should've looked at us. >> reporter: through a plea deal, derrick almena and creative director max harris pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter charges last month avoiding a lengthy trial. >> by not having the trial, we've been denied the opportunity to know specifically who to hold accountable, what specific action we could really do as a community to address this. >> reporter: most if not all critical of what they call a lenient sentence. almena is set to face nine years, harris six years. >> this sentence is unfair. it's unbalanced. it's negligent. >> reporter: and things wrapped up about an hour ago. the court will reconvene tomorrow morning. we will hear directly from the defendants prior to their sentencing. reporting live in oakland, abc 7 news. >> carlos, thanks. california senator is in

middletown tonight visiting with fire victims about 40 minutes ago she talked about what she'd like president trump to see if he chooses to visit our fire ravaged state. >> i want him to see the faces and the stories and the human beings who are the people on the ground experiencing this every day and understand that theirs say story of great courage and sacrifice and that this can't be about politics. it's got to be about doing the right thing and helping people who are in need. the complex fire is now more than half contained tonight. fire officials today said it will still take several more weeks to fully surround this massive wildfire. the complex fire incident has burned 475 square miles and is 51% contained. more residents were able to return to their homes today. people living in spring valley, high valley, and the double eagle communities are now at an

evacuation advisory. an eighth person has died. 40-year-old california fire heavy equipment andrew brake was killed in a traffic accident this morning on highway 99. the six year veteran was on his way to help battle the carr fire that's burned 178,000 acres and destroyed 1,077 homes. it's 48% contained. governor brown has ordered capital flags to be ordered at half staff. he offered condolences to brake's family while honoring the many other brave firefighters and responders who have risked their lives to protect others. the smoke from these wildfires is not only been affecting us here in california, incredibly, it has reached new york city, 3,000 miles away. this map from the national weather service shows the smoke spreading across the country. thankfully for those on the east coast, more than a mile above the service and no one can see

it or smell it but it's there. not very common. abc 7 news meteorologist is here with when we might see a little bit of relief from these smokey conditions. >> this weekend i think with the wind switching directions that should start to clean out our air and see better air quality. as you can see from our walnut creek camera it is still very smokey out there. air quality today, poor to moderate, spare the air alert is up today. some parts of the bay area will see good air quality. you'll have to see this weekend to notice a big difference. smoke from the fires around the state continue to impact us because of the wind direction. as i mentioned much better air quality expect this had weekend. dan? >> that's good to hear. thanks very much. moving on now. the jury's expected to continue its deliberations in the landmark case against weed killer maker monsanto at least until tomorrow. the jury has been asked or has asked for more detail of studies referred to in the expert

witness testimony. 37-year-old dwayne lee johnson filed a civil suit against the pesticide manufacturer. johnson's attorney say he was diagnosed with nonhodge kin lymphoma after spraying weed killer for 2 1/2 years. monsanto says its product is not responsible. now we want to get to melanie woodrow who is talking about bart safety. she is live at the bart station. melanie? >> reporter: there was a bart board of directors safety meeting that happened earlier today and a lot of discussion about privacy issues as it relates to policing. ultimately the board did not vote on a safety proposal but they did vote on which issues to table for the moment and which ones to continue researching. people at this bart board urged the board not to use the stabbing death of nia wilson as an excuse to increase

surveillance. >> it's bias, inaccurate and dangerous. >> reporter: earlier this week bart board member told abc 7 news he wants to consider facial recognition software but the board's general manager said that is not part of the safety plan introduced. >> even if you do not currently apply facial recognition yourselves to this data, other people will apply it. >> i respect peoples' right to privacy, so we have to define that balance and that's going to be tough because there are directors who feel very strongly one way and there are directors who feel very strongly another way. >> reporter: the board ultimately decided to table discussions on a physical security information management system. video surveillance screens, a no panhandling ordinance making it harder to by-fare gates and an additional proof of payment team for evenings. those discussions will be held until a suburban evening public meeting within a month. >> how about helping the people

who need bart and have no other option? >> reporter: the board voted to continue researching now the expansion and conversion to a digital camera network and platform emergency call boxes. this lady wants more bart police officers. >> i believe that we need them to protect our riders. >> we're currently under emergency staffing so our officers are working six days a week with one day off. >> reporter: the board also voted to better engage city governments on issues of homelessness and mental health. the board of directors will meet again on september 13th. they are expected to vote on a surveillance policy that has been in the works for two years. live in san francisco, melanie woodrow, abc 7 news. >> thank you. the coast guard says the owner of this abandoned cabin cruiser has seven days to salvage it before its scrapped by the east bay regional park district. sky 7 was over the scene near the berkeley marina and somehow went adrift before running

aground on the rocks. it's not leaking but the coast guard says it is nonetheless a safety hazard. we have much more ahead on abc 7 news at 5:00. important household products may put your children at risk. michael finny is next with the important consumer alert. also outside lands countdown what you need to know before the big san francisco music festival gets under way this weekend. plus how you can get from san francisco to l.a. for a dollar? >> wow. and steph the golfer silenced a lot of skeptics l

tonight, a steph curry is trying to drain puts and drive his way into making the cut into a pga tournament.

this is his second running. eric thomas is there. >> now on the tee, steph curry from charlotte, north carolina. >> reporter: he's not the most famous name in golf, but he is one of the most famous names in sports. christy and michael hughs came to the classic at tpc in heywood for the same reason everyone else did. >> everybody came out this year to see steph. >> reporter: he tee'd off just after nine this morning for the second year the pga gave him an exemption allowing curry to play even though he's not on the pro-tour. >> he doesn't seem like much of an amateur at least for the first three holes. >> reporter: he was at even par at that point. he is a talented amateur, one that a lot of pga pros want to play golf with. >> we get countless requests from our players saying can i play with him and in order to be fair we decided the best thing to do was to go right down our money list.

>> reporter: the top money earners who weren't at the pga championship in st. louis were playing here. steph shot a 71 that's 1 over par and he had to have a big comeback on the back nine to get there. >> i three footed, it was 4 over. it could've gone, you know, in the trash can the whole round if i let my emotion get the best of me. i had a good drive on the next tee shot made a birdie there and parred a birdie all the way in. >> reporter: he'll have to keep that back nine magic going for three more rounds if he wants an impressive finish in this tournament. eric thomas, abc 7 news. supporters of lebron james are taking a swipe at president trump with the new petition drive. so far more than 11,000 people have signed the petition on a site which calls for james to replace current education secretary betsy devos. the petition comes in response to a tweet by president trump last week in which he questioned lebron james's intelligence. the president's comment came

after james appeared on cnn to talk about a newly open school for at risk students established by the lebron james family foundation and akron public schools. the low cost bus service flit bus just got a lot cheaper. it's having a 99 cent flash sale. can you believe that. it services several cities. south to l.a., palm springs and san diego. now tickets must be purchased today with travel taken before september 5th. the fda announced a recall of a common over-the-counternasal spray. the manufacturer held 12 hour sinus relief nasal mist initiated the recall because of bacterial contamination. the bacteria can cause pneumonia. so far there are no reports of people getting sick in connection with the drug.

you'll want to hear this report about how every day household chemicals, stuff you probably have may put your children in danger. >> michael finny joins us now with those details. >> this is amazing. a new study out shows recent data that out of 2 million calls made to poison control centers, nearly half concerned kids aged 6 and under each year. so which household products are the most risky and what can you do to stop your child from accidently ingesting a it was a battery that caused a terrible scare with her young daughter. >> she opened the toy and put the battery in her mouth. i thought, like, she's going to die. >> reporter: according to the nonprofit save kids worldwide more than 2,800 kids per year in the united states are treated in emergency rooms after swallowing

nickel sized batteries. consumer reports suggests that toys and other household electronics have battery compartments secured with a screwdriver or a similar method. >> button cell batteries are small and look like coins. it becomes a choking hazard. >> reporter: there are more dangers in your house you may not think about. cosmetics and personal care products were the most common exposures reported to poison control centers for children under 6. >> many of them contain the same type of alcohol contained in alcoholic beverages. just a small amount can cause a 25 pound child to become extremely intoxicated. >> reporter: cleaning products, you can do more than just store them out of the reach of children. >> keep personal care products and cleaners and other things in the package in which they were bought because typically they have a child resistant closure on them. >> reporter: as for those colorful laundry detergent pods that can look like candy,

consumer reports recommends not even having them in the house if you have young kids. after smiley toppia scare she now has specific strategies to keep your house safe. >> i believe you should keep everything in a safe place even though you think it's nothing because you never know. >> reporter: remember that even if you put some of these products up in a high place in the house, the curious child might still use a chair or something else to reach them. now, if you suspect your child ingested some kind of toxic product, contact the national poison help hotline in case of an immediate emergency call 9-1-1. don't mess around. >> absolutely, thank you. outside lands is almost here, the three day music and art festival kicks off at noon tomorrow. >> headliners including the weekenders, janet jackson. organizers were putting the finishing touches on the venue which includes several sound stages and a new grasslands area celebrating.

were aafety features. >> only letting clear bags through our gates here. if you have a small purse or fanny pack or something like that, that's okay. >> the festival will feature 83 local restaurants, 41 wineries and 30 breweries. local art, comedy and a series of speakers as well. will the weather hold? announcer: now your accuweather forecast. >> we wouldn't have it any other way. it is going to be very nice weather. friday, breezy, 15 to 25 mile-an-hour winds, cool and breezy on saturday and a mix of sun and clouds. the temperatures in the low 60s in the afternoons, low 50s in the morning. so if i were you i would just take a sweatshirt or jacket to keep you comfortable. live doppler 7 showing you some fog hugging the coast right now. we do have a red flag warning for lake county until 11:00 p.m. saturday. winds are expected to pick up a

little. humidity is going to be low so the fire danger remains elevated. a live picture from our south beach camera where the wind is blowing, air quality is beginning to improve. 70 in the city, 76 in oakland. 89 degrees in san jose and 99 in morgan hill. cameras showing you blue skies there, 80s from santa rosa to napa. our temperatures have ranged from the 60s at the coast to the 100s inland. this is the hottest day of the next seven days. here's a look at the forecast. still hot inland but not quite triple digits tomorrow. smoke from the fires will linger and we're looking at a cooler pattern that will begin this weekend. live look from our camera showing you the sun is shining as we look across the bay. tomorrow morning, temperatures in the low 50s to the mid-60s. fog at the coast could be dense. hazy due to the smoke and then for the afternoon mid-90s from fairfield to concord, 94 in livermore, 86 in san jose.

temperatures coming down a few degrees. 90 in santa rosa. san francisco 66, some fog will hang around near half moon bay, 62 degrees and in santa cruz 75 degrees. you can track those temperatures on our app. i do want to show you a live picture from our east bay hills camera. still very hazy and smokey, hard to see because of the smoke from the wildfires. air quality does get better for parts of the bay area but still is going to be moderate across other parts. i do want to show you quickly the tropics. two storms here tropical storm john and christy. christy is going to continue to weaken and move away. john we're keeping a close eye on even though it weakens to a depression by saturday, it's going to send a swell towards southern california and eventually it will come in our direction in the form of just higher clouds and higher humidity early next week. the seven-day forecast still hot inland. we'll go cooler saturday, sunday and then next week we'll see some upper 80s mon through

wednesday, inland upper 50s coastside. what you will notice, you might feel is it's just more humid, more sticky as remnants of tropical storm john eventually make it up here. we'll keep you posted in case we start to see more than just humidity going up. >> thanks. it is docked right here in san francisco. a special sneak peak inside one of the most technical logically advanced boat anywhere in the world and you can see it. a button collection gets in a jam after hitting the wrong button on her cell phone. michael finney reports on the mistake that is get to the ross shoe event and get the shoes you want...for way less. oh yeah. ross has the top brands at big savings. for the latest styles and trends... at prices that make them even cuter... ...get to the ross shoe event. yes for less.

...which means you can saynally hyes... ...to the shoes your family wants. find top brands at big savings... ...for men, women, boys and girls all for a whole lot less... ...at the ross shoe event. yes for less. a skier had a front row seat for a volcanic eruption in chile. take a look at the cell phone video taken on a chairlift yesterday. it spewed dust and ash in the

air. next month climate experts from around the world will descend on the bay area for the global action climate summit. visitors to san francisco's explore tor yum can get a jump on the summit for a special exhibit including a tour of the premier ocean going research festivals in the world. the research ship reuben lasker sails the high seas for noaa. but this week its docked on san francisco's dock just a few feet from the explore tor yum and the commander says there's intense interest in the crews work. >> everybody's paying attention to the climate and the changing ocean and species, that live in the marine environment. >> reporter: below deck research biologyist is tracking those species using sophisticated equipment. >> we have a system that is highly sensitive.

we get -- we can get reflections out of small plankton. >> reporter: it's from the tip of san diego and -- it allows researchers to examine and catalog hundreds of species of fish and marine life besides establishing the health of the week system they're also on the lookout for shuttle shifts caused by factors like climate change. >> species like false killer whale that's typically you would have to go hundreds of miles south along the baja coastline to find. >> reporter: the public is now able to get a look at their work. noaa is offering tours in partnerships giving visitors a chance to sail along the cutting edge of marine science. >> it's fully equipped with the latest technology to collect as much data as possible. >> very impressive. if you're interested in learning more about the ship including

the onboard tours, we have links for you on our website, abc7news.com. tonight a nasa astronaut says he spotted an alien-like object floating near him on a space shuttle mission. he came across the object while working on the space shuttle atlantis several years ago. he only revealed it during a chat on twitter. nasa told him it was a piece of ice. when asked if its possible it wasn't and was something more alien like he said, i don't think so, but you never know. >> conspiracy theorists go crazy. some disgusting new jelly beans just hit the shelves. how you won't be able to

♪ ♪ ♪ raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens ♪ ♪ bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens ♪ ♪ brown paper packages tied up with strings ♪ ♪ these are a few of my favorite things ♪ ♪ ♪

coming up tonight, some break through technology on display today in silicon valley. innovations that could help america's space defense systems. plus -- >> it's been a long time coming.

i wanted to do this 20 years ago. a special tribute to an officer and friend lost in the line of duty. that's all coming up in just half an hour on abc 7 news at 6:00. they are rolling out some disgusting new flavors. there's a catch. >> the fairfield base company is adding stink bug and dirty dish washer to its bean line, unfortunately for you, all of the companies jelly beans on that line are made to look exactly like much more palatable options. >> stink bug looks exactly the same as toasted marshmallow. >> why are they doing this? >> dirty dish washer's a funny name. maybe go with clean dish washer. >> i think so. thank you for joining us. world news is next.

tonight, breaking news as we come on the air. flames erupting as california's holy fire explodes in size. closing in on homes and neighborhoods. our team right there. >> these flames have raced up this hillside. check out just how close they are to this home. >> plus, the moment the man who allegedly started this blaze is arrestedce this, as now prison inmates are being enlisted to help fight the fire. new images of that deadly police shooting. the young officer running after a suspect, shooting him in the back. what the police chief is now saying. president trump's call for a space force. the vice president and the pentagon launching plans to establish a new military service for space. will congress give it the green light? plus, the abc news exclusive.

the last kno p