santa cruz mountains. >> when you get down to the county is dealing with its latest calamity. nitty-gritty and find out the results of this fire, this is going to be devastating. >> it's a waiting game for evacuees ordered out on short >> they burned 771,000 acres. notice. how they're coping. that's greater than the state of >> the inspiring story of a napa rhode island. couple appreciated what sonoma >> we've increased our personnel by almost 100 since last night, which is good, it's still not enough. >> many of these firefighters have been on the lines for 72 hours. everybody's running on fumes, and everyone's a little ragged. >> a little ragged worked very hard, another intense day of firefighting, and right now, there does not appear to be any real letup in sight. >> i'm ama daetz, thanks for joining us once again the lmu lightning complex to the north, the scu lightning complex west of sfaens and the czu to the

south. the fires so far have killed at least three people. 64,000 have evacuated san mateo and santa cruz counties as the fire rages. cal fire expects these fires to grow significantly. that growth is putting a big strain on resources. ten states have contributed or pledged assistance. he's pledged help from australia and canada. >> we want to take a look at the czu lightning fire, 50,000 acres and spreading, still no containmt.e un where tens of thousands of people have been evacuated. >> ie know that cal fire can only give us statistics, we know that 20,000 structures are threatened, 50 destroyed, 64,000 people evacuated. it's one other thing to hear the personal stories behind those numbers. that's what we got as we went into the evacuation zones, the

air quality was downright dangerous, not as devastating as what we found there, homes burned to the grounds. >> we started to come back the next day on wednesday, and we were able to get a significant amount of the precious things. >> but for the family, the time line b a home standing and this, ash and rubble tragically too quick. >> by wednesday morning, we got word that our whole neighborhoo the photo, surrounded by what's left of the home he built over 42 years. his neighbor who stayed behind called him with the news. >> he's got a land line, he called his wife and told her, i just saw their house go up. forehat it was -- we don't

know maybe. we kept hope. on that morning, this is what was happening in their neighborhood and all over boulder creek. by morning it was all rubble. still there were streets that proved how unfair a fire can be. one house is standing next to another burned to the ground. >> you don't really grasp what it means to be in that situation until you're in it, so now here we are. we're kind of like whoa! we get what all these other people have been going through everywhere else all these years. >> you know, it's important to know this fire is zero percent contained five days in, that speaks to how stressed cal fire's resources are. they told me this morning they are in it for the long haul, and they're bracing residents to be away from their communities for

weeks. chris reyes, abc 7 news. >> so awful, thank you. >> the fires have triggered evacuation orders, leaving them wondering what will be left when they return. stephanie sierra joins us live from an evacuationenr in santa cruz with more. stepharere 79 evacuees living in this auditorium shelter, which has tents inside, they are spaced six feet apart, and volunteers are taking temperature checks before people can enter. >> we probably shun the have been there, this is our home, our livelihood, we earn vested a lot of money, this is all we have. >> this is bad news bears, an average they say now of 60,000 people have been evacuated from sang mateo, santa cruz county and that's a lot of people. >> this shelter is one of several in santa cruz county

assisting families with shelter and accommodations, if there's one positive message i can reate rate through all of this, these families are not scared, they're not giving up hope. as you can see behind me, plin. despite not being able to get into this shelter, they are not going to give up. live in santa cruz tonight, stephanie sierra, abc 7 news. >> thank you. >> in the north bay, a team of firefighters is on the way to battle a series of fires burning across five counties. the fires have burned at least 219,000 acres. you can see on the map where the individual fires are burning. right now, they're 7% contained. laura anthony joins us live with more there. >> hi, ama, we're in a very rural part of napa county, the

folks who own this property behind me said they were threatened by three separate fires from sunday until wednesday night, they were able to fend them off to fight them off by putting water on their buildings here, finally on wednesday night they realized they had to leave. >> i'm trying to look at the bright side, if you see over on that side. that's where we got married two years ago, almost to this date. it's all about appreciating what survived, rather than what was lost for this napa county couple. for instance, their wedding altar still standing. their main house and a garage were totally destroyed. a small guest cottage somehow survived. the flames coming. just a few feet from the back deck. for four days. they tried to defend their rural property, finally on wednesday night, the hennessey fire was too much, and moving way too fast. >> we kind of defended the three fires approach iing.

but the third one on wednesday evening was brutal. >> we gained a family in their neighbors. t i hav n kind of spread out, words. >> yes. >> just five miles up the road, three people did not survive, found dead on a property surrounded by scars from what was clearly a fast moving inferno that left no signs of life in its wake. it may not look like it now, but they say they got lucky. >> it's going to be a long pass, but i think we're waiting for that day we get to celebrate with everyone again. for version 2.0 of our dream home. >> it may not look like it today, but things have actually improved or may not look like it from what you can see behind me, in terms of what we're seeing on the ground today, the sun is

shining, the smoke layer has lifted quite a bit, we haven't seen, we've been driving for many miles, haven't seen any big flame activity, as for those resources within the past two minur the first time days, i sa large contingent of cal fire pig wray heiky were in a bit of a hurry, hopefully they're trying to get to a spot fire. obviously that will be the key in the days to come to keep the small fires from reigniting or being whipped up again by the wind. >> laura, thank you. one fire getting a lot of attention in the lnu complex fire is the wallbridge place. wayne freedman is live with that part of our coverage tonight. wayne? >> good evening, we have better news tonight. over my shoulder, you see a roadblock, you see the smoke

from the fire that has for the most part stayed down today, we've had much less spread of this fire, partly due to more resources, cal fire added 500 people in the last 24 hours, that seems to be making a difference. >> i'm going to stay here until i see flames coming down the road. >> that is one should be evacuee's opinion what he will do if and when the smoke behind the mountains turns the civiliz. on paper, this region is a ghost town. in reality -- >> no, there's hundreds of people here actually. >> you would be surprised. >> watching the mountains, hoping winds stay down. and the wallbridge fire follows suit. in days past, it's wreaked havoc. last night, drew an all out assault from cal fire. natural disasters come with the turf around here. >> flood, fire, flood, it keeps going. >> the die hards keep staying.

this was rionitu. >> there's been sheriffs and highway patrol, and helicopters telling us to leave. and i just -- i feel that this is our place, and thishewe. until it's over, whenever it's over, interesting how we got to this point. it began with a spectacular lightning storm sunday morning, and now we have this all these days later. fire officials hope those people do leave, they do evacuate. where would we go, there's covid-19 out there. it's an interesting situation. >> the largest fire in the state is the scu lightning fire complex.

that burned 350 square miles, twice the size of san jose. containment has doubled to 10%. the fire has forced more than 20,000 residents from their homes. an evacuation warning has been expanded for parts of marin county. and now includes the area west of highway one. and sir francis drake to the lighthouse and the ridge trail. this includes the communities at lee haven. so far the fire has charred 421 acres. right now the fire is zero percent contained. but -- >> we're starting to get additional resources, which is good. everyone's well aware of how challenging it is right now, across the state, the number of fire fires. those dead trees create huge hazards for us firefighters. >> officials believe lightning

sparked the inferno. a lot more to come on this busy friday night. critical to the firefighting is more weather and more lightning could come this weekend which already sparked so many of these fires. it is going to be a smokey weekend as wildfires worsen, one bay area city is opening a clean air center. a reminder our exclusive wildfire tracker lets you see where the fires are spreading. the tracker is updated with the latest information from cal fire latest information from cal fire and is available at abc 7 - [narrator] did you just reward yourself for spending a perfectly reasonable amount of time on the couch with tacos from grubhub? rewarded! get a free delivery perk when you order. - [group] grubhub.

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vielxiidra is the only fda approved treatment specifically for the signs and symptoms of dry eye disease. one drop in each eye, twice a day. don't use if you're allergic to xiidra. common side effects include eye irritation, discomfort or blurred vision when applied to the eye, and unusual taste sensation. don't touch container tip to your eye or any surface. after using xiidra, wait 15 minutes before reinserting contacts. got any room in your eye? talk to an eye doctor about twice-daily xiidra. i prefer you didn't! xiidra. not today, dry eye. a pair of fires broke out this afternoon in san jose. cal fire says it burned from 15 to 20 acres. you see the smoke t

this is just another example of how dry and hot it is in the bay area. it's too soon to say how this fire got started. public officials are urging the public don't visit the coast this weekend, for that reason beaches in half moon bay are closed until monday. it's critical roads are clear for firefighters and emergency responders battling the closed south of tuesday ka dare row, meaning there's already more traffic on highway 92. more lightning could be on the way this weekend. we really don't need this. >> no, that's the last thing we need. we're talking about dry lightning with the potential for erratic winds. that is the biggest concern. let's take a look at the current conditions. it is warm, upper 80s to low 90s, relative humidity has increased since earlier in the day. north wind is not helping, it's gusting to 18 miles an hour,

near the hennessey fire. in the san mateo, santa cruz county line. winds are coming up, gusts to 12, but the relative humidity creeping up, 61% right now as the fog is out there, wind gusts over the higher terrain, not that 20 at hawkeye, 23 at mt. diablo. san francisco gusts to 40 miles an hour. here's a look at the air quality, so it is poor for sensitive groups in the santa cruz area. look at how ro concord to livermore, it looks pretty bad. it's the red there, in the north bay we are seeing some of the better air quality except around arts ield and vacaville. of the bay area this afternoon, here's a look at your temperatures, low to upper 70s from san francisco to oakland, it's 83 in san jose.

hazy skies from our east bay hills camera, and a look at those temperatures, 91 in santa rosa, low to mid-90s from fairfield to concord. another live picture showing you just how smokey it is. air quality suffers, spare the air alert in effect through sunday. poor to unhealthy both days. live doppler 7 is watching the fog. that is helpful to the firefighters as the humidity has come up in the last 24 hours. santa cruz cameras, just how thick the smoke is down there. mild with fog at the coast. hot inland the next two days, we're looking at a chance of thunderstorms sunday night into tuesday. temperatures first thing in the morning, anywhere from the mid-50s to low 70s. afternoon highs, mid-60s to the upper 90s, breezy conditions, typical sea breeze along the coastline.

fire weather watch has been posted for sunday morning through tuesday morning. 40 to 60l milr tnderstorms and that could cause some fires to be started and existing fires to get worse for those firefighters to battle it. hour by hour forecast, remnants of former hurricane genevieve expected to head into our area. that's going to increase the humidity between sunday night and monday. there is potential for showers or thunderstorms. the models aren't quite picking up on this, as it gets closer we will get a better idea. picking up on the smoke getting pulled up by the remnants of genevieve, friday night into the weekend you're going to notice very heavy violet purple in there, indicating heavier smoke right on through tomorrow afternoon and evening, which is why that spare the air alert is up. the accuweather 7-day forecast,

hazy the next two days. a light night chance of thunderstorms sunday and tuesday. very little rain to no rain is expected. that's why the concern is there, it will be hot in our inland valleys, mild near the coast next week, temperatures will not change a lot. >> sandhya, thank you very much. these fires are kicking up a lot of smoke as you know. you can see in this live picture how hazy it is out there, the air making it difficult to breathe. because of the poor air quality. the city of alameda opened up its main library as a clean air center. dion lindh has that story. >> reporter: as fire ravages the bay area, a unif es presents itself. compounding extreme heat with the burden of coronavirus. the dubious title of the the worst air quality in the world. >> the east bay and south bay namely. so in those places, if you smell

spoke, you should stay indoors. >> this has created a conundrum for nose without air conditioning, stay indoors sweltering, breathing clean air or visiting a cooling system. >> the heat would be -- it's a bigger risk, health risk than smoke. if you have to choose. >> for the first time, the alameda free library is addressing both. at a clean air center, open through the weekend that seeks to solve both. >> we are a community service. and so we want to be able to serve as much as we can, as safely as we can. >> to enter, a face covering is required. and you'll have to check in at the wellness station. you'll have to sign in, so the library can keep track of everybody who comes in, unlike years past, this cooling center doesn't include the library, but this room instead. there are plenty of covid precautions in place. >> and you'll have to provide your own entertainment.

no library books allowed. >> to prevent cross contamination, the center will be open through the weekend from 1:00 until 5:00 and as long as the heat index is high. at least the alameda free library is here for you. >> if you're in a bad situation, we'll be happy to help. news. still ahead, a mural unveiled, wait until you see the vision of some

there's some new art in oakland. it was the vision of seven unified students. >> bart was looking to see how it could create a more youth friendly environment. the students became bart interns and managed the planning of the mural, conducted outreach and flexed the artist marco -- >> i'm excited and grateful to

be a part of this mural. it's a lot of kids from oakland don't get a chance to be a part of history, i'm thankful and excited. >> this project allowed a lot of us in the class -- what they did do and didn't do, everyone was engaged. >> you can check out the mural in the beds, an enduring image from the fire lines, stay with us.

abc 7 has launched new streaming apps. wherever you are, you can get more with our app, apple tv, fire tv and roku.

finally tonight an image that caught our attention, one we thought was an appropriate way to end the week. >> you can see a firefighter saving an american flag. the crew took a moment as they defended the property from the approaching fire burning across santa clara, alameda, and contra costa counties. they saved that flag. nice image. we appreciate your time as always. i'm dan ash la. >> i'm ama daetz. thank you for joining us tonight. our next newscast is coming up at k36 00. (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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tonight, the abc news exclusive. democratic presidential nominee joe biden and vice presidential nominee kamala harris in their first joint interviews. we just wrapped up a short time ago. hours after accepting the nomination and delivering the most important speech of his career, joe biden and kamala

harris sitting down with us. no questions off-limits. and tonight, the first look right here. biden on what he would do differently in this pandemic. would he shut down the country again if needed? the issue of race and policing in this country. robin roberts asking what president trump has claimed about biden -- will he defund the police? and tonight, my question to senator harris. what she