i'm concerned about the house right now. we've got everything we could. >> thousands under evacuation orders as fires burn up and down california. >> what has occurred over the last 72 hours has certainly stretched the resources of this state. >> leaders are now asking for hundreds of fire engines and hand crews to come out from out of state to help fight these fires caused by a historic lightning siege. >> and our air quality, we're seeing unhealthy levels across the bay area. here is that breaking news. you are looking at the hennessey fire burning in fairfield. you can see the smoke in the distance there. within the last hour 80 was shut down in both directions because air base parkway -- between air base parkway and cherry glen

road. there's an evacuation order for the paradise valley neighborhood on the east side of 80. we have our j.r. stone on the phone with us right now. j.r., where are you and what are you seeing? >> reporter: well, i am in the rolling hills neighborhood right now, and it is a neighborhood that has been evacuated. i'm going to get back into up. from where i am, and i know you'll be able to see some of my video of what it looked like when i came in on i-80, you could actually see smoke from some of the hilltops and see flames near the area near travis boulevard. that is the video that you'll be able to see on the screen in one moment. that's a very busy section of fairfield. but where i am now is -- in that rolling hills neighborhood. i'm looking at normal homes on the block. then you look above at the hilltop and i'm seeing that hilltop right now and it is charred black and there are small flames with a lot of smoke. coming into this section, there was this long line of cars just

trying to get out of the area, and so there are major traffic backups here as well because now you have evacuations on the western portion of i-80, but also on the eastern portion in that paradise valley neighborhood which is the northern section of fairfield. so you have concerns coming from both sides of i-80 here in fairfield. >> all right. really compelling video that you sent us, j.r., thanks very much. we'll check in with you shortly. sky 7 showing the woodward fire burning in west marin county. at least 1,100100100 burned. molinas is in the evacuation area. good evening, i'm dan ashley. >> and i'm ama daetz. we thank you for joining us tonight. there are more than 300 fires burning in california. some of them caused by the more than 10,000 lightning strikes that hit in 72 hours.

nearly 7,000 firefighters are on the front lines, but officials say they need a lot more help. cal fire is grouping these fires by region. here in the bay area you see the czu august fire to the south, the scu lightning complex fire is burning to the east. in the north bay the lnu lightning complex fire. our live team coverage begins with cornell bernard who is live in sonoma county. cornell. >> reporter: yeah, ama, winds are really picking up here in the town of guerneville and all eyes are on the mountain behind me full of smoke and flames. just an incredible sight here. this fire now known as the walbridge fire has burned 1500 acres and 0% contained. about 13,000 people have been told to evacuate but many say they are not leaving just yet. you're looking at a fire burning out of control. this ridge exploding in flames. the town of guerneville below evacuated, now quiet and

slightly eerie. >> so we're ready to go. >> reporter: she was told to leave tuesday night as the walbridge fire slowly moved towards guerneville, but she's staying put until she gets word from the fire chief himself. >> he told me if you see fire, then i guess we're just going to go but that's what a lot of people are doing, i guess, that live here. >> reporter: fire was creeping onto sweetwater springs road. we found this cal fire crew making a stand pushing back the flames. so much dry brush burning within seconds. these firefighters were going door to door doing checks, making sure people evacuated. firefighters clearly stretched to the limit, needing more help and resources. >> resources are also important but we need the weather to cooperate. that's our biggest challenge, high temperatures, low humidity and the winds. >> reporter: nearby firefighters were clearing debris near the entrance of armstrong woods state reserve, home to iconic old growth redwoods, now under threat. >> we're here at the fairgrounds

with sonoma animal response teams. >> reporter: large animals came to the fairgrounds in santa rosa. by 10:00 a.m. there were a dozen horses and michael's two goats and lots of chickens. >> got all the animals loaded up and stayed in the truck with the animals overnight and then bringing them on in here to get them a stall to be cared for. >> reporter: now, evacuation centers in sonoma county are set up in bodega bay, santa rosa and healdsburg. large animals can be taken to the sonoma county fairgrounds in santa rosa. we're going to come back live with an incredible shot of this smoke plume, which continues to grow. cal fire says this fire is expected to grow in size considerably by tonight. we will certainy keep you updated on what's going on here. live in guerneville, cornell bernard, abc 7 news. >> cornell, thanks very much. the hennessey fire is the

largest of the fires that make up the lnu complex. it's burned dozens of homes in the english hills community of vacaville. abc 7 news reporter laura anthony continues our team coverage live in the north bay tonight. laura, these scenes have become all too familiar the last few years. >> reporter: yeah, they sure have, dan. and like those firestorms of the last few years, this one did an incredible amount of damage overnight, blowing over the ridge into solano county here, destroying dozens of homes, this being one of those. unlike those homes, though, that were destroyed overnight, this one didn't even go up in flames until about 2:00 this afternoon. it's up on a hill, it's all by itself, but fell victim to a spot fire. >> it was pretty chaotic. there was lots of multiple explosions. >> reporter: and it wasn't over with dawn's first light, far from it, as this huge home on a hill burned with abandon in northwest vacaville.

a few hundred yards away, an outbuilding totally consumed, but the home itself spared, at least for now. while others evacuated, this vacaville homeowner stood his ground, after he got his family out safely in the middle of the night, as the roaring hennessey fire beared down on his neighborhood. the official numbers aren't in yet, but it clearly burned dozens of homes and outbuildings, whipped by high winds it left a haphazard display of some buildings spared while others completely destroyed. some evacuating their animals, like horses safely. other wildlife simply left to wonder what had happened, much like the people who lived here. >> did some pretty bad devastation here. you can see the homes around he here. hopefully there were no casualties. i was thankful to get my wife and kids out when i did. >> reporter: now, i know cal fire has talked throughout today

about a scarcity of resources. unfortunately, we've seen it firsthand here today. this home, several others we saw go up in flames after a spot fire, an ember got into the eaves perhaps. no firefighters in sight. or by the time they got to the house, like in this case, it was too late to save it. live in vacaville, laura anthony, abc 7 news. >> man, those flames, laura, thank you so much for that report. so let's get to meteorologist sandhya patel with a look at our current conditions outside. sandhya. >> yeah, ama, the smoke is so bad that you can't even make out the bay bridge and the san francisco skyline. look at this view from our emeryville camera. as you look at live doppler 7, the flames are so intense that the fires are getting picked up by radar here and you can see which direction they're moving. and the satellite picture showing you the immense amount of smoke that these fires are putting out, blanketing the bay

area. air quality has improved believe it or not. it was in the unhealthy category for the peninsula. we also have poor to moderate air quality around vacaville. spare the air due to smoke for the wildfires tomorrow, poor to unhealthy and that continues right on through sunday. right now north bay fires, it's hot, mid to upper 90s, very dry. 15% to 16% relative humidity and the winds is up which is not going to help those firefighters. gusty winds around the la honda fire. it is also warm, dry winds, though, thankfully not as strong in that vicinity. i'll be back with a full look at the forecast which includes the smoke and heat coming right up. dan and ama. >> thank you, sanldhya. now we want to get to the peninsula where there are more mandatory evacuation orders. this is from the czu lightning fires. it includes loma mar, pescadero

creek county park. there are communities around the boulder greek golf course and areas around empire grade road and bonny ad is live on the sit there. >> reporter: good afternoon, ama. wee we're in scots valley where cal fire has a staging area. it's very smoky, hazy here, soot flying everywhere. earlier today we were in the boulder creek area about ten miles from here. we talked to residents there who had to leave their homes late last night. this spot fire on jamison creek road just one of many burning sparked by the weekend's lightning storms. >> we saw the winds really kick up and that was just a game-changer. that's when all of a sudden we had to start evacuating lots of people in a quick amount of time. >> reporter: that's exactly what

this group of neighbors from boulder creek had to do late tuesday night. this the night sky against one of their homes as they left. >> i'm concerned about the house right now. but we grabbed everything we could. >> reporter: in a neighborhood we found empty homes, helicopters overhead loading to do water drops, roads closed. santa cruz county sheriff's office reporting multiple structures damaged. >> be prepared, even if you think the fire is a far distance away, we don't know what's going to happen. we need everybody to take responsibility for their own evacuations. >> reporter: cal fire reporting three first responders have been injured, we don't know their condition but we are set to hear from cal fire. they'll be holding a live briefing just across the street and we'll bring that to you live at 6:00. if you are in santa cruz county looking for an evacuation center, it is in the fairgrounds in watsonville. live here i'm kris reyes for abc 7 news. >> kris, thank you. there are a lot of fires burning, as you can tell.

abc owned stations around the state are working to bring you the very latest on them. you can follow developments with our exclusive wildfire tracker. see where fires are spreading, how many acres have burned and get containment information all in realtime. the fire tracker is on the fire tracker is on abc7news.com and the (birds chirping) (woman chattering) - [narrator] ordering dinner for the family? (family gasps) rewarded with a side of quiet. (baby murmuring) grubhub rewards you, (scooter horn honking) get a free delivery perk when you order. (doorbell rings) - [group] grubhub.

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before starting, get checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor about an infection or symptoms, if your inflammatory bowel disease symptoms develop or worsen, or if you've had a vaccine or plan to. serious allergic reactions may occur. learn more at cosentyx.com. taking a live look as we continue to follow breaking news, wildfires all around the bay area. this one as you look live from sky 7 showing a fire in san mateo county. it is contributing to the poor air quality we're seeing all around the bay area as you look live from sky 7. again this is san mateo county at the enormous amount of smoke this fire still burning out of control is causing. let's take a look at the hennessey fire burning in

fairfield. it has jumped 80 and 80 is shut down in both directions. there's an evacuation order for the paradise valley neighborhood, which is on the east side of 80. and we've mentioned there are hundreds of fires burning in california and there just aren't enough resources available to fight them, so the state is asking for help. melanie woodrow joins us with reaction from governor newsom. >> reporter: well, some good news perhaps is that people seem to be heeding those flex alerts. they're cutting back on the electricity they are using and there are no power outages expected tonight. californians are being asked to reduce their electric use when possible between 2:00 and 9:00 p.m. that window of time increased from where it had been. >> tonight we believe in the immediate is the last night we really need everybody to do everything in their power to flex their power use, power consumption. >> reporter: scorching heat and lightning strikes have led to wildfires up and down the state.

>> we currently have active addressed some 6,754 fires since the beginning of this year. this fire season has been very active. >> reporter: california declared a statewide emergency yesterday. the state is currently battling 367 fires known statewide. there are 23 major fires or complexes of fires in areas close to one another. >> we are looking forward to things cooling down on the west coast of the united states. we are anticipating that will help with our energy procurement, allow us to work through and not have flex alerts every night and we think it will help get even more resources into the state of california. >> and those emac requests are for hundreds of engines to come from other states here to california to help. in the newsroom, melanie woodrow, abc 7 news. >> thank you very much. our skies, as you well know,

are hazy from the smoke coming from all of these fires. the air quality is unhealthy and people are being urged to stay indoors. meteorologist drew tuma is up on the abc 7 roof with more on the air quality, drew, which is really terrible. >> yeah, dan, it's impacting everybody. it was terrible this morning. we are seeing pockets of improvement this afternoon. this is the particulate matter that comes from smoke in the fires that can really disrupt your respiratory system. redwood city along the peninsula, we've seen improvement, now moderate air quality. but the big issue, pleasanton, san jose, unhealthy air quality at this hour in the south bay and the east bay. look at satellite today. so much smoke in the area, but one fire in particular earlier this morning, the walbridge fire in sonoma county was really putting a lot of smoke into the core of the bay area. look at all the smoke from the fires in santa cruz county impacting so much of the south bay right now. winds right now are breezy.

they are helping a bit. tomorrow, though, the winds really calm down. what that means, the smoke is going to fill right back in tomorrow morning and that means we are forecasting poor to unhealthy air quality again tomorrow. another spare the air. meteorologist sandhya patel has a full forecast in just a few minutes. >> all right, drew, thank you so much. and we are continuing to track all of these fires as we take a live look at sky seven over the la honda fire

a firefighting helicopter contracted to do water drops on a burning hillside in fresno county crashed this morning sadly, killing one person onboard. it went down around 10:00 a.m. nine miles south of a new coalinga municipal airport. the pilot was the only one onboard and did not survive. cal fire says the helicopter was performing air drops on the hills fire in western fresno

county. an faa spokesperson says the helicopter went down under unknown circumstances. the faa along with the ntsb will investigate this crash. we are keeping an eye on the river fire. this is burning in monterey county. more evacuation orders have been issued today. thousands have been forced from their homes. the fire has burned more than 10,000 acres and is contained. it was sparked by lightning early sunday morning. and my brother, who's in that area, actually reported a lot of ash on his car. he's not near that river fire, but certainly in that vicinity and has been seeing all the smoke and the ash, so it is bad out there. here in the bay area as well because of the all the wildfires burning. i want to show you those temperatures in the triple digits. 102 danville, brentwood, fairfield. temperatures got up to 104 in our hottest locations. as you will notice, the coast and the bay beginning to come down in terms of the

temperatures. 67 in san francisco. but as long as this heat is around in our inland areas arouand around parts of the north bay we are looking at heat illness because of the prolonged time. still take it easy and stay hydrated. live doppler 7 picking up all that smoke on radar from those fires that are burning in our region, and the wind certainly not going to help the firefighters, but what it is doing is mixing out our atmosphere and pushing some of the smoke. i'm looking outside my window and i'm seeing blue skies and it was just a thick, heavy coat of smoke this morning. you couldn't even see the sun when i woke up so gusts to 25 right now and 24 in san francisco. red flag warning because of the gusty winds. fires are already burning and more fires could break out because of those conditions that are there. air quality suffering. we have a spare the air alert for the next four days.

poor to unhealthy tomorrow, poor friday through sunday but stay tuned, because that may change and you may have periods of unhealthy air. we'll keep you posted on that. from our east bay hills camera, seeing just how bad the air quality is. cooler tomorrow. still smoky and hazy. humid with a slight chance of thunder sunday night into monday, still watching that for you. also watching the fog. tomorrow morning we'll wake it to it along the coast 5:00 to 8:00 a.m. and it hangs around the coastline well into the evening. that will help to bring those temperatures down along with the sea breeze. it is going to be hazy tomorrow morning and a cooler pattern, mid-50s to the low 70s. temperatures in the afternoon in the south bay 86 san jose, mid-90s around morgan hill, gilroy hazy skies on the peninsula, 82 in redwood city, 63 in pacifica, downtown san francisco, 64 in the sunset district. still a lot of smoke and haze. you may see ash in the north bay. 87 napa, 86 in san rafael.

east bay 79 in oakland, 81 castro valley, 82 fremont. 95 concord, 93 in livermore. heat wave is over after today. tomorrow we're dropping to the mid-90s and low 60s coast side. still smoky thursday through sunday. humidity comes up sunday into monday and that's when we may bring on a chance of some more showers and thunderstorms which means there could be more fires so stay tuned. >> thank you, sandhya. it is one thing evacuating a family, that's tricky. but what about all the horses and cows. the place that's like a noah's

an update on breaking news in fairfield. interstate 80 is now closed as the hennessey fire has jumped the freeway. this is eastbound at manuel campos parkway. evacuation orders are in effect for the paradise valley neighborhood on the east side of 80. and sky 7 is live over the la honda fire. this is burning in san mateo county. look at all that smoke. it is part of the czu august lightning complex fire. there are several evacuation orders in effect. they are all on abc 7 news.com.

click on our story for all the latest info. an evacuation center has opened for large animals at the fairgrounds in vallejo starting at about 4:00 this morning. the center began taking in cows, goats, horses, chickens, even e emus. they were checked in by solano county animal control and will be fed and housed. a veterinarian is expected to come and check on their health. the ceo tells us what they are prepared to do. >> we're prepared to house them as long as need be. in 2017 we had animals on site for almost three weeks. our hope is, is that this is a short term and all these animals have a home to go back to. >> now, keep in mind this is for large animals only. no dogs or cats. the fairgrounds management prefers that people call first, but if it's an emergency, just drop in. we'll continue to keep you updated. we appreciate your time. i'm dan ashley. >> and i'm ama daetz. for sandhya patel, drew tuma,

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tonight, several late headlines as we come on the air. the coronavirus, the new turn with schools. and the president speaking on this moments ago. also, the democratic convention, and what we just learned about what you'll be hearing tonight. and the emergency unfolding at this hour. what authorities are calling an historic lightning siege. california declaring a state of emergency tonight. multiple wildfires. thousands rushing to escape, some with only seconds to spare. dozens of fires burning at this hour. harrowing images of families driving through the flames. homes burning to the ground. more than 10,000 lightning strikes sparking more than 300 fires. our team from the fire zone. night three of the democratic national convention. just in tonight, what president obama will say. and senator kamala harris and her big speech tonight.