commander put it, they were able to take advantage of the favorable weather conditions to be able to attack the fire by air. something they've been limited in being able to do so far. but, of course, we know this fire has destroyed so many homes as you mentioned and has already claimed the life of one person. now, cal fire, again, was able to do some of the airdrops and sky7 caught video of them doing some of those airdrops as visibility improved. crews were also busy shoring up containment lines to the north end of the fire in san mateo county and south of the city of santa cruz as the marine layer, once again, helped extinguish some flames along the coast. homes burnt to the ground in bonny doon and a group of locals who are grabbing hoses and renewsing to leave houses behind. >> no fire trucks and no one is helping us and we refuse to let people's houses burn to the ground. our local knowledge, our strength and the resources we do

have to pull the water and get down there and put the darn thing out. >> reporter: cal fire has warned time and time again that residents staying behind or returning to an evacuation zone is not just illegal but also puts the firefighters in harm's way if they have to stage a rescue. we know six people had to be rescued on on sunday. the number of homes destroyed could increase drasticlly as the survey crews make their way out there to survey the land and get a better look at the destruction left behind by the czu lightning complex fire. for now reporting live in scots valley, julian glover, abc7 news. >> thank you, julian. in the north bay, the lnu lightning complex burning is proving to be very challenging for firefighters. sky7 was overhead near sweet swatter springs road in sonoma county yesterday and you can see

that difficult terrain they're facing. the fire is now threatening the armstrong woods state park but firefighters say they're keeping an eye on its progress. the lnu complex fire has burned more than 351,000 acres, however, containment has climbed to 25%. now, breaking news from the abc7 live desk. at the live desk, we do have a little bit of relief for people under mandatory evacuation orders for the scu lightning complex fire. that fire has been downgraded to a warning for people in parts of santa clara county. the scu fire is now the second largest wildfire in state history. it's burned more than 360,000 acres and is 15% contained. five people have been injured in the fire. 12 buildings destroyed. abc7 news was embedded with the crew as it entered the fire zone at henry co state park, firefighters explained their plan of attack. >> we're burning out around

houses and to protect them and protect them and burning out around them and let the fire push off away from them so when the fire does come to it, less to burn. >> two strike teams of 44 firefighters from texas are among crews fighting the flames. the goal for crews today is to keep the fire west of i-5. cumassy, back over to you. new this morning an incredible survival story recovering from burns after narrowly esscaping the scu lightning complex. putting the final touches on protecting their family homes as the flames quickly approached. >> they were leaving and they caught themselves. nobody was coming for them. the only car that didn't burn dn and tom was able to find a battery and he was able to get the battery to go in there. >> both men are now in the icu at uc davis. there are a total of four patients recovering there for

injuries related to the wildfires. in the north bay, the first mandatory evacuation order came out last night for homes in west marin that are in the path of the woodward fire. an evacuation center is set up in san rafael. more than 200 personnel have been brought in to fight this fire which is about 5% contained at this point. the woodward fire has scorched nearly 2,500 acres west of olema and the point reyes sea shore. you can fight with our wildfire tracker. updated with the very latest information from cal fire. you can check in to see where these fires are spreading and how many acres are burned and containmentinismation in realtime. the wildfire tracker is now available at abc7news.com as well as our abcnews app. new developments this morning, investigators say this is the man who is wanted for stealing the wallet of a cal

fire firefighter. he's accused of using a stolen credit card at the shell gas station and safeway. investigators say the firefighter's wallet was stolen over the weekend from a cal fire vehicle at the bonny doon fire station. the thief then drained the firefighter's bank account. well, the fires could create some serious produce problems because items like tomatoes, melons, corn, peppers and pumpkins at bay area farms are now covered in ash. so, what this means is you need to give them an extra rinse before you cook. produce prices haven't gone up just yet, but because of supply and demand issues created by covid, as well as the fire, all of that could change. one farmer explains why. >> pg&e cut the power last week so we haven't been able to irrigate it all and then on top of that even, they closed the area off. so, we haven't been able to get

anybody in here to pick anything either. some of our crops have overripened. those will be just considered a loss. >> local food banks may also be affected because they get their produce from farms across the bay area. well, wildfire victims are now able to register for federal financial help. people can register at disast disasterassistance.gov. the grants are available to help cover rent, home repair and replacement. state emergency officials say people who suffer losses from the fires should, first, though, contact their insurance companies. now, if you want to help out, we do have a list of resources and how you can donate to help out wildfire victims as well as how to stay safe. you will find it on our website, ab abc7news.com/takeaction. it is a packed day ahead here on abc7 mornings. night one of the rnc

not holding back with california under attack. >> if you want to see the socialist biden/harris future for our country, just take a look at california. >> the biggest moments from the night, plus the president's pitch for four more years. plus, you've seen plenty of helicopters and planes helping fight these wildfires, but what about drones? how a local company building the next break through in controlling the flames. we have to be innovative because there's a lot and any help that we can get i'm sure firefighters would appreciate. >> i'm totally with you there. that's why we live where we live. at least we have the innovation and the smartest people around to help us get through this event, kumasi. all right, let's take a look at what is going on outside. quick look at the temperatures and show you what to expect when you step outside. just a little bit milder than it was this time yesterday. you can see mid 50s to mid60s ou at your

commute planner if you're one of our essential workers. you can see the low clouds mixing with a little bit of smoke here from our roof camera and just caution everywhere. wear a mask, covid. wear a mask because of the particialt matter and the closer you are to the coast, you'll have to deal with that this morning and then as we head through the ferry ride, a little smoother. won't be quite as breezy as it was yesterday but also without that sea breeze maybe the air quality at least closer to the coast won't be quite as clean as it was yesterday afternoon either. winds at the higher elevations which we're always worried about the chimney effect and worried about spreading the embers from one ridge to another. down in the lower levels, we're around 12 and even just a little bit slower. that's not too bad either. the winds will pick up just a little bit this afternoon. but not expecting to be too gusty. i wouldn't be surprised if the bay area air quality management district did extend our spare the air.

right now it goes through just tomorrow and then becomes moderate thursday and friday with so many of these fires burning out of control, the pollution in the air is going to be pretty much the same, we'll see if that does happen and if it does, we'll let you know. first, we'll talk about the commute and turn it over to jobina. nice to see you this morning, jobina. >> nice to see you, too, mike. thank you and welcome back. i hope you had a nice trip. happy to have you here especially covering all that we are right now. good morning, everyone. start off with a look at the fog and really smoke combination in the north bay. so, check out this video. this is from around 1:00 a.m. on southbound 101 right before you get into the robin williams tunnel there. we still to do have a fog advisory in effect for the golden gate bridge and as we bring in the graphics, you can see how this is covering the map, as well. just a combination of the fog and sh smoke in the area as we zoom in to the north bay and petaluma and novato and comes down along the coast, as well,

where these fire areas are and the road closures that we have been talking about all week long here. still, again, impacting highway 1 and 84. moving over to gilroy, we have the same full closure of eastbound, westbound 152 between ferguson road and also just want to let you know we have a full break down of the list of closures on our website abc7news.com. happening today, muni is shutting down rail service, again. just three days after it resumed. service was shut down for five months because of the pandemic. t an equipment problem and an employ employee's positive test caused a rail shortage. it is unclear when service will be back and the director says covid has caused a $200 million hole in muni's annual operating bu hey, my twitter is blowing up! dear jack box, bring back the spicy chicken strips, still waiting for the spicy chicken strips, so many about spicy chicken strips.

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couple areas ofunhealthy air and lake and mendocino counties and also down around the san joaquin valley and big story across the state today. our hot temperatures and smoky conditions, kumasi. >> thank you, mike. now your voice, your vote. today is day two of the republican national convention and we'll hear directly from first lady melania trump. her speech comes, here's abc news reporter ines. >> much of the republican national convention was scaled back because of covid-19. the republican party uniting behind president trump. >> this president has a record of strength and success. the former vice president has a record of weakness and failure. >> reporter: the rnc kicking off with a mix of live speeches and virtual content and a speaker lineup that included trump

family. >> take that money out of your pocket. >> reporter: president trump expected to make an appearance every day of the convention making a surprise speech on monday after becoming his party's nominee. >> what they're doing is using covid to steal an election. >> reporter: insisting it would strike an optimistic tone but a parade of dark and divisive fear mongering designed to distract from the fallout. releasing new this ad. >> we need a team up to the task. >> reporter: the first speaker melania trump who will deliver her speech from the white house rose garden. a fiery speech at the rnc by national chair of the trump victory financial committee. kimberly took aim at california. >> if you want to see the

socialist biden/harris future for our country, just take a look at california. it is a place of immense wealth, and immaculate environment and the democrats turned it into a land of discarded heroin needles and riots in streets and blackouts in homes. >> you can watch live coverage of the republican national convention tonight through thursday at 7:00 p.m. right here on abc7. well, when it comes to the wildfires burning up and down our state, silicoicon valley an new technology on the horizon to make drones an even more valuable ally to monitor the fire behavior and path. >> reporter: drones are showing promise to be the next important tool, work is under way by start ups like redwood city skido that

allows them to operate autonomously. flying a manned helicopter can cost $100,000 an hour. >> slow and oftentimes put the pilot and crew onboard at risk. with a drone, you can get into tricky situations where, you know, risking a drone to get critical data may be well worth it. >> reporter: a new generation of drone with 3d cameras will give drones the ability to steer clear and thermal cameras to identify hot spots and the direction the fire is moving. >> our key to attacking a fire and using every available tool is important to us. >> reporter: skidio said working with fire departments that deployed its drones. have drones mobilize on their own at the first indication of a fire in sync with the deployment of ground crews. >> i think the future where we

have autonomous drones on command to respond to emergencies like this, that's five or more years away. >> reporter: that may seem far off. the drone industry is acknowledging the need is now. david louis, abc7 news. let's zoom even further out to show you a view of smoke engulfed california from space. nasa's satellite took this image yesterday. the smoke trail running northeast to southwest is approximately 1,200 miles long. the red areas on this nasa indicate aeparticulates from th wildfire and they can be seen as far east as minnesota. mike, that is incredible to see how much of an impact these fires and that smoke is having across our country. >> yeah, the visibility is being reduced all the way, eventually

it will make it to the east coast. it will thin out a little bit, you know, all the efforts we do to keep our air clean and then something like that happens and one of the positive -- and then we have these fires that just wipe out so much of that. let's talk about what is going on. you know, we got through sunday night into monday. and yesterday afternoon relatively quiet. here's a look at the thunderstorms. we had the thunderstorms in auburn and wet weather moving into the sierra and definitely moving away from us. trending drier air and warmer temperatures and now our unhealthy air is slated to go through tomorrow. i think that women be ill be ex and the average and above average highs will get warmer as we head into the forecast. here's a look at fog and you can see the mixture of haze and low clouds and even when the low clouds make a b line back to the

coast, you can't get rid of the smoke and even the clouds at the coast will break up a little bit and you'll see healthier air quality just like yesterday when you looked at the visible satellite you can see the marine layer and how it was starting to bring some cleaner air in. not going to be quite as prevalent today as it was yesterday because the winds won't be quite as fast. let's look at our microclimate from 80 and places like sunnyvale and 84 in san jose today. 74 in millbrae and san mateo. everybody in the mid to upper 70s on the peninsula. low to mid 60s along the coast and upper 60s in downtown san francisco and 70 in sausalito and mix of 70s to 80 in the north bay valleys. 70s to 80s spread across the east bay shore and 87 to 92 inland and temperatures tonight about the same as this morning. mid 50s to mid 60s. accuweather seven-day forecast. pretty steady tomorrow and then little bit hotter and flirting with the upper 90s friday and

inland mid 80s around the bay and temperatures remain above average with morning sun and afternoon sunshine through monday. kumasi. >> thank you, mike. happening today dr. mark ghaly will give an update and this comes, again, after governor newsom indicated that some bay area counties could come off the state watch list. >> i encourage san francisco progress being made across the spectrum on hospitalizations, icus, positivity rate particularly over the seven-day period and continuing vigilance in this very difficult period. >> the state's seven-day positivity rate dropped to 5.6%. napa county was removed from the watch list last week. health officials say the most effective mask to protect yourself from the wildfires and covid-19 are surgical masks, as well as n-95 masks.

thousands of people reported a zoom outage which affected several states. in today's techbytes. a virtual snow day. people in several states were unable to use the software for hours. the outage affected classes for thousands of students learning virtually. zoom says it has resolved the issue. amazon is expanding its cashier-free checkout to whole foods. it's slated to launch next year and available in more than 20 amazon go convenient store locations. cameras, sensors and computers allow users to avoid cashier check lines. jeep's monster e-bike has a range of up to 60 miles. prices start at just under $6,000. hey, it's cheaper than a car, i guess. those are your techbytes, have a great day. it's something you've seen

from noah's ark. peacocks, llamas, cows. thafr all there and safe from the fires.

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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. all right. take a look at what's going on up in the north bay and see what the firefighters are dealing with this morning. you see the temperatures are still a little warm. 70, but down to 54. that's from the hennessey over

towards gurnville and the walbridge fire. the humidity is up a lot. i mean, 92%. the closer you are to the coast. only 39% over near the hennessey fire. take a look at the tropics and look what's left of marco. you'll see it will cause thunderstorms down in the south today. here's what's going on with laura. she's going to head up towards the gulf of the mississippi. the mouth of the mississippi, i should say. flooding rain is heading to the south. kumasi. >> thank you, mike. this morning, cal palace is definitely living up to its name. and usually it is used to host the circus, rodeos and dog shows and organizers say this is the first time in memory that it has been used as an animal evacuation center and now it's housing some 150 animals. >> donkey and a horse who are best friends that were relocated from the fire zone to the cal

palace and because they're best friends they're being sheltered together. >> we had a list and name cards already and they just took us right in and set up the horses. it's been fantastic. >> the palace says donations are needed to help care for all of these animals. coming up next here at 5:00, hear why there are fresh, new signs of optimism in fighting the lnu complex fire. plus, volunteers now doing what they can to donate to fire victims. see how one bay area how will 2020 census data be used? where there are more people, there are more needs for public services. that's why the census is used by the government to inform funding decisions each year. but that's not all. it's also used by nonprofits to inform services, by businesses to create jobs, and even by students for school projects. understanding how the population changes helps us shape communities across the country for the better. shape your future. start here. visit 2020census.gov.

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now from abc7, live breaking news. >> the last three or four years. now at 5:00, the bay area's historic wildfire emergency. officials say these types of fires are only getting worse. but when it comes to the lightning complex fires that are currently threatening the region, we are slowly starting to see some signs of progress. and here's the very latest look at where things stand this morning. the lnu lightning complex is torching more than 351,000 acres in the north bay. the scu complex in the east and south bay more than 360,000 acres. and the czu complex nearly 80,000 acres in the santa cruz mountains. so, combined, they have burned an area that is larger than the size of rhode island. good morning, everybody. it is tuesday, august 25th.