next at 5:00, new fire fears across the bay area. the intense heat is off. now the winds are on. and the north bay on edge again. new power shutoffs on the pandemic and the wildfires. it has people angry and nearly out of resilience. >> also ahead, santa clara county gets the go ahead to move into a new phase. what can reopen now with the new less restricted it tier? plus the consequences of climate change. one expert says it means our wildfires are here to stay. >> with wind events that we're experiencing currently and what we anticipate over the coming days, we have to be mindful.

>> the governor talking about fire danger once again. certain parks like mt. diablo close the as a precaution. conditions are extreme for most of the north bay mountains and the east bay. good evening. >> let's get right to abc 7 news meteorologist. >> yeah. let's take a look at the red flag warning in effect for the north and east bay hills. along with the santa cruz mountains. it's in effect until 8:00 a.m. tomorrow. the winds out of the north-northeast, 25 to 45. in the north bay hills, 65 miles per hour can't be ruled out. low humidity, dry conditions. any fires that develop will spread rapidly. we have a wind advisory until 11:00 p.m. tonight. downed power lines and definitely power outages are a possibility. check out the winds right now at the higher elevations. gusting to 29 on st. helena. 21 mt. diablo. take a look at the lower

elevations. some wind is translating down to the surface. gusts to 25 in vacaville. the air quality is horrible across the bay area. it is obvious from the east bay hills camera, wildfires to our north are coming into our region. i'll be back with a further look at the air quality now and spare the air coming up. >> all right. thank you. we'll check back. pg & e turned off power for thousands of people in the north bay in an effort to prevent lines from sparking wildfires and high winds. our abc reporter is live with. that wayne, a lot of unhappy people where you are. >> a lot of unhappy people and they're also just looking at the sky and saying, talk about bad air quality. if i were to point out that sunup there, we won't show it to you, maybe we should. okay. p it's orange. the sun is orange. the sky is orange. and people are just generally in a bad and very strange mood overall this.

in sonoma county, despite the hum of portable generators, the power is out and intersections now operate on the honor system. it is deja vu all over again and not a surprise either. >> i would say it's a little sooner than i expected. >> i'm not just plaming pg & e. i'm blaming our government. >> how can a company get way with this. >> the latest public power safety shutoff to prevent lines from sparking wildfires left some 17,000 sonoma county residents in the dark since 3:00 a.m. it may last through tomorrow. much the supervisor worries this may be the first of many. >> this is interrupting people's lives. >> with problems extending beyond their refrigerators, bill o'neal went to the oakmont village market to charge his wife's oxygen machine. >> my wife would start to have real problems with oxygen. and it could be fatal. so this is life saving.

>> that said, we did find good news today. a man limited only by the length of his extension cords. >> why you? >> because i'm -- because i can. . >> bill o'brien, the patron good sa mayor ton, he has an rv with a generator and it does travel feeding power to neighbors like patricia. >> i'm a single will woman living by myself and it's just nice to have somebody that thinks outside is, you know, his box. >> we would think nothing less from a decorated and retired new york paramedic. >> can you clone yourself? >> i'd love to clone myself. then i would have someone who could do that stuff for me. >> as i come back live, yeah, we would all like to clone him at this point. you're looking at traffic there on highway 12. in the brown. and we're all dealing with the strange weather with this weird

psps and all the other stuff going on. pg & e says tomorrow it should end tomorrow. people certainly hope so. along highway 12, wayne freedman, abc 7 news. >> win, the sky is erie all day. pg & e will be holding a news conference in an hour. we'll have them live. stay tuned for that. >> now to the governor's announcement on progress and reopening. two bay area counties now have the green light to move to the next phase of the process. abc 7 news reporter melanie woodrow explains what they're doing right. >> governor newsome announced santa clara county and santa cruz county are two of two california counties move from purple to red on the state's four tier reopening classification. red is the second worst category and indicates there is still substantial spread of the virus. santa clara county officials responded today saying that businesses and activities could resume under the state's

framework as well as the county's own risk reduction order. >> this movement to the red tier is a reflection of the fact that here in our county we're doing a bit better relate you have to many other parts of the state in combatting covid-19. >> personal care services like nail and waxing salons as well as tattoo and piercing parlors are allowed to reopen for indoor operations with modifications. museums, zoos, and aquariums can open at 25% capacity. gyms and if theness can open at 10% capacity. shopping malls are allowed to open at 50% capacity, up from 25% previously. if santa clara county remains in the red tier for 14 days, k-12 schools can reopen. indoor dining, movie theaters and gatherings remain prohibited in santa clara county under the local risk reduction order. marine county was expected to be changed from purple to red but the state opted to hold off and monitor the county's coronavirus

trends for another week. >> the last thing we want to do is see a county move one week and only to see the potential for backward movement again very soon. >> changes to the map will be announced weekly. mel any woodrow, abc 7 news. >> so how do businesses feel about this next phase? abc 7 news reporter amanda is live in the south bay with that part of our coverage tonight. amanned yashgs amanda, i wonder how they're feeling about all this. >> we know they're happy. it's a good day for business as cross its south bay. they tell me it's one that quomz bate of caution and reluctance. many say that within the last six months reopening plans have come and gone. changed time and time again. the now that they heard from the governor and heard from the county, they are feeling a bit better. business owners say they used the last six months to get familiar with guidelines, preparing to operate indoors while social distancing, taking additional disinfecting measures

and putting up barriers, doing whatever they can to get ready and hopefully stay that way. >> i learned after what happened first time, go day by day. whatever challenges wur facing, we'll hand will it as it comes. right now, we get to do indoors. i'm inviting my customers indoors if they feel comfortable. if not, we still have outdoors. we take it from it there. >> we hope we get to stay open. i don't want to ever shut down again. i know my members and staff that have been unemployed for six months don't want to ever shut down again. >> while the updated orders are effective immediately, both say it will take time for the staff to pivot back into the swing of things. blossom nail spo opened immediately this afternoon. with limited capacity. also retrofitness still has outdoor fitness class that's it's getting to just this evening. i'm in san jose, abc 7 news. >> everyone is adapting and adjusting. thank you. developing news on the fires.

wildfires in the county are causing this orange sky. look at it. the oak fire prompted evacuations in a 40 square mile radius and shut down 101 in both directions in that area. crews continue to build containment lines ahead of an expected increase in winds. one building is destroyed. fires 863 acres and has s. 5% contained. cal fire says much of the smoke seen around the county is smoke from the august complex. all the smoke is causing this ominous red sky about three hours north of santa rosa. that is scary looking. more than a dozen firefighters were hurt while fighting the fire in monterey county this morning. they had to deploy an emergency shelter. three firefighters were airlifted to a hospital in fresno. one is in critical condition. the fire burned 50,000 acres overnight. officials say it was started by arson on august 18th. the head of cal fire says he has never seen fires like the ones we are experiencing. of he says the conditions right

now are extraordinary and they all began last winter. >> we had had a winter that was very dry and then at last minute we got a lot of rain. a lot of grass. but the heavier fuels, the soil moisture never really recovered. so now it's even more dry than it would be just in an average year. and our lifetimes and the conventional history of fire suppression, we never seen fires like we've seen in redwood forest just in the last three weeks. we've seen over 100,000 acres of fires burning in redwood forests which we previously have thought of as the as best yoes forest. it really doesn't burn. the trees will probably survive by and large meaning the redwoods, but there have been very hot and intensive fires of many acres more than we would expect.

>> now that's cal fire director tom porter. more than two million acres have been torched by california wildfires just this year. climate scientists say this is a sign of what lies ahead. and our news reporter has the story. the. >> in the last three weeks, california has set highly concerning records with over 900 fires burning across the state. scientists saying this is unprecedented. >> the largest wildfires occurred in last two decades. and right now, just over the last three weeks, we've had california's second, third, and fourth largest wildfires. >> over 1.8 million acres burned in the past 30 days. the main contributing fires, the lnu, czu and the scu lightning complexes, all ignited by dry lightning, an event that only occurs every 10 to 12 years. >> the fact we had a dry rainy

season and low snow pack means that fuels everywhere are vulnerable. >> the bureau of land management noticed a patterns of wild fears happening sooner than anticipated. >> those are the types of things you see one, maybe two weeks out in the future. >> today governor newsome pointing to climate change. >> i quite literally have no patience for climate change deniers. >> previous fire data reveals patterns of what's to come. and the california landscape with dry brush doesn't help. the biggest question now is will it get worse? after a two year research stanford scientists concluded that continued climate change will will further amplify the number of days with extreme fire weather by the end of this century. solutions, well, diminishing -- >> green house gas emissions and by managing wildfire risk. home hardening, hardening hf the electrical grid. >> in san francisco, liz

yashgs abc 7 news. >> they agree to take a look at covid-19 data as businesses fume dealing with the delay. and a different story in another town where a school was able to bring students back. how it got the

propit provides property tax mostfairnessble. for disabled homeowners like cynde, stuck living with a broken elevator. nineteen helps wildfire victims, like ellie, one of 24,000 who've lost their homes to fire. and seniors like pam who need to move closer

to family or medical care, without a tax penalty. prop 19 limits taxes on our most vulnerable. yes on 19. marine county was poised to start allowing indoor dining, movie theaters to reopen and indoor personal stores like ma serious bodily injuries. but the state hit the brakes because of an issue with the county's data and it needs to be looked at again. our anchor found plenty of ownors frustrated by the need for a recount. >> in this marine county strip mall is champagne fitness, 2020 gym of the year. >> this should have been my year. p this was going to be my best year. >> the irony not lost on the owner gary champagne. >> i feel like i'm tied up in a bad dream. i don't know what to do. >> gary spent labor day weekend

preparing to reopen today. the county alerted businesses last week that marine was approved to move into tier two, the red tier which allows for businesses, gyms, personal care services and movie thiters to open indoor operations. last night word came from the state that the decision was reversed. >> i found out through a friend. i thought he was choking. this is the second time that county reneged on us being able to reopen. within takes of delg us we can. >> the rules have a ripple infect. business that's are open for indoor services rely on the foot traffic from other businesses. if the businesses are closed, it means less people walking in. >> such as the case for ann burke. >> the hair salon down the wa they brought people in. they had a parking place and walking past, they come in. >> reversal by the state also took the county by surprise. he believes an outbreak at a skilled nursing facility contributed to the decision.

>> we're also disappointed that is not a step the state feels we're ready to take right now. >> gary is fed up with the back and forth. he says he's already spent roughly $3,000 preparing to reopen. that includes buying nutritional drinks and bars for the clients which he's worried will expire before he can reopen. >> stop toying with us. you know, let us know when we can actually reopen and, you know, give us something that we can tell our clients. >> marine county, abc 7 news. >> marine county status remains purple, a total of 15 marine schools k-6 were allowed to reopen with waivers. one of those is in a nearby county. other schools in the county will be looking at them for ideas. >> children run income the school playground, a sight many welcomed as they say here reopened after being shut down since march due to covid-1919. >> everybody was equally excited to actually be back to some type of normal.

>> part of the daily requirements including wearing masks and frequently washing hands. everyone was tested last week before returning to in person learning. teachers will continue to be tested on a monthly basis. the smaller children are kept in pods of about 10 to 12 kids. the older students are kept six feet apart in the classroom. the school has been working on these protocols since june and refining them all summer long. they were granted a waiver from the marine county public health officer. >> it's always one thing to have the theory down. even this morning just with the flow of parents, we could see ways to make things smoother. but everything went well. >> while the vast majority of the students returned for in pu person learning, they're offering remote learning for parents that choose to keep their children at home. >> however, we know that it just doesn't quite -- it's not quite the same. we'll do everything we can and that is recommended by health

authorities so that we can welcome the children safely. >> if marine county can move from purple to red status, the health department says all schools here will be able to reopen without a waiver. abc 7 news. >> now a spare the air alert is in effect until tomorrow. things should get better after that. abc 7

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take a look. images show a very orange sun and yellowish skies around the bay area this morning. i was really weird. still is. this is because of wildfires nearby. definitely a talker from many people today. >> yeah. the smoke is definitely creating poor air quality across the bay area. as you take a look here, you can see on satellite the smoke from the fires burning to our north and northeast.

we take a look at a wider perspective, you can see a thick blanket of smoke moving across the bay area because of the north-northeast winds. here's a live picture from our san jose camera. you can see how bad the air quality is. so take a look at the current conditions. right now in the red to magenta which is unhealthy to very unhealthy. moderate to poor in the north bay and also in the east bay. concord, liver more, poor for sensitive groups. it's good to moderate across the region. best to avoid the smoke and stay indoors with doors and windows closed. air quality tomorrow, moderate to poor. another spare the air has been issued. this will be a record 23rd spare the air of the season as far as consecutive days. here's live dupe letter seven e. 7. it is a smokey mess along with the fog along the coast. 24-hour temperature change. it is a dramatic drop. we're talking 28 degrees cooler in santa rosa compared to 24 hours ago. down 22 in san francisco.

you're probably feeling andnessing how bad it is right now. the camera is hard to see anything. 63 in san francisco. 72 in oakland. 83 in san jose. you look at a live picture from our golden gate camera. the fog is keeping thing sucked in with the smoke. so what is bringing us the winds? it's a high pressure to our north and west. we're just getting sandwiches between the two. that's why the wind will remain gusty as we go into the evening hours. midnight, the winds come up. 31 in call stoega. going into the wee hours of morning, still gusty in the mornlg bay. . that is why fire danger is going to remain elevated. winds will begin to ease tomorrow morning. it's a merky view. we're looking at cooling continuing through the end of the work week. temperature in the morning, upper 50s to upper 60s. hazy, windiest in the north bay hills as we look at the afternoon highs.

still very hazy day. but it is going to continue to cool for most areas. the coast may come up a little bit. upper 60s to the mid 90s. here's a look at the seven day forecast. cooler with hazier skies for your wednesday. it is a spare the air day. temperatures dropping in some more. thursday, friday, back down to average for this time of year. not a lot of change in terms of the temperatures the next seven days. >> okay. >> all right, thank you so much for that update. >> still ahead, the smoke nado seen snaking into the sky. we'll show you that and we mention this as we go to the break. starting to night, abc news is launching a month long ground breaking series called "turning point." can you catch the first episode tonight at

coming up, we're expecting a live update from bgpg &g pg &

we'll check on the weather conditions driving that decision. abc 7 news i-team digs into data from thousands of traffic stops. they're staggering all the same. we'll explore those for you. and if you ever go back to the office, how will you get to the office? see how risky a high-rise elevator really is when it comes to coronavirus. all coming up in a half hour on abc 7 news at 6:00. >> before we go, the awesome power of nature created really a breath taking phenomenon, dan. >> it's something else. take a look. this smokenado spotted on sunday from the valley fire in san diego county. >> that is incredible. emt there to help firefighters captured footage of the smoke nado, that thick black column as it whirled nearby. smokenad. so a whirlwind of smoke. thap happens when smoke combines with cooler air that whips the smoke into the air. >> really?

now we have smokenados to deal with? >> what next? >> "world news tonight" is next. appreciate your time.

we sand my heart fell.oke i knew we'd lose our home... and we did. over 24,000 homes have been destroyed by wildfires in the past few years. wildfire victims need help so i'm voting 'yes' on 19. it limits property taxes on wildfire victims so families can move to a replacement home

without a tax penalty. you never know what you'll be faced with. please, vote 'yes' on 19. tonight, several developing stories as we come on the air. there is major news coming in right now involving the race for a vaccine. and the daring rescues under way at this hour. at least 25 major fires across california tonight. nine states with fires burning now. more than a dozen people still trapped. a wife waiting for her husband and boys to be rescued. national guard and navy pilots airlifting more than 160 people to safety. choppers tonight flying through blinding smoke and flames. families driving to escape. fire lines on both sides of the road. thousands of homes at risk as we go into the night. an entire town nearly burned to the ground. also tonight, that breaking news involving the race for a vaccine. one of the front-runners