that moment when you spot a lemur on the playground. you'll hear from some kids that had the encounter of a lifetime. and flames roar dangerously close to some homes in san francisco, forcing people to grab their belongings and go. and a dramatic reversal. california's request for wildfire relief from the federal government was turned down. then there was a sudden change. contact tracing is a vital tool in stopping the spread of the coronavirus. but at what cost? a look at personal privacy during the pandemic. it is video that makes you believe in happy endings. you are looking at the moment a group of kids spotted the lemur that disappeared from the san francisco zoo. good evening and thank you for joining us.

i'm dion lim. well, tonight that lemur is back at the zoo thanks to those observant kindergarteners, and police have arrested a man accused of breaking in and taking him. kate larson joins us live from the san francisco zoo where maki is home. how is he doing tonight? >> reporter: dion, i am told by zoo officials that maki is a little agitated. he is back on his arthritis medications. all things considered, he's doing great. just like any other day, 5-year-old james was leaving school with his mom when everything changed right here. james spotted a wild animal in the parking lot, and called over his friends, who were astonished to see a -- >> lemur! >> reporter: james, braden, adrian, samuel and sophie all

students explained what happened next. >> then the lemur jumped over the cage and he just come inside. he was there. >> and then they called police animal control. >> reporter: cell phone video taken thursday shows him wandering around the yard. eventually the endangered primate found comfort in this playhouse. >> what was he doing in there, james? >> hiding. >> reporter: animal control and daly city police showed up and fortunately they had snacks for maki who at 21 is very old in lemur years and requires constant feedings. >> what did they give the lemur to eat? >> grapes. >> what else? >> banana. >> reporter: it all started at the san francisco zoo where he was born and raised. wednesday morning he was discovered missing from here. police later opened a burglary investigation when they found g the enclosure had been tampered with. 36 hours later, police arrested a 30-year-old man on suspicion

of shoplifting and stealing a getaway truck. they found photos of maki on his cell phone. >> it's kind of unbelievable. i just don't -- i can't understand it myself. >> reporter: the zoo director, tonya peterson, announced they are giving hope looeutheran the $2100 reward and the family a lifetime membership. >> they literally saved a life. >> reporter: school director cynthia wong said it was just the lesson they all needed. >> it really was a reminder for us that we can still experience happy moments during the pandemic and also let the children see that there is hope. there's light at the end of the tunnel. >> get better, maki. >> reporter: he is also being socially distanced and quarantined from his family right now, but we all can't wait to see him get better.

cory mcgilloway is charged with grand theft of an animal, vandalism and looting during the state of an emergency. i'm kate larson, abc 7 news. >> great stuff on this story, kate. good to see a happy ending. what a lesson for those kids. kate, thanks. well, the san francisco zoo has had other notable incidents. biologists believe a mountain lion may have killed through wall wallaroos and -- a tiger killed a teenager after escaping from its exhibit. police shot and killed the tiger while it attacked two other men. they both survived. in 2000 two teenage boys stole two koalas to be gifts for their girlfriends. they were safe, but scared. shifting gears, happening right now, it has been a busy day for south san francisco firefighters. this is the most recent of two big fires to break out within

city limits today. fire raced through a bakery warehouse on starlight street earlier this afternoon, and it reached four alarms. firefighters from all around san mateo county lent a hand. that fire is mostly out, but as you can see from sky 7, crews on the scene are still drowning the building with water to put out any remaining hot spots. now, just down the street in south san francisco there was a close call with a wildfire. it burned in the area known as sign hill, and residents were told they needed to evacuate as the flames came dangerously close to some homes. abc 7 news reporter cornell bernard joins us again from south san francisco where firefighters are still at the scene. cornell? >> reporter: yeah, dion, many neighbors are breathing a huge sigh of relief after that grass fire got way too close to homes. check it out, it happened right up there on the famous sign hill here in south city. luckily firefighters stopped

that fire just in time. the fire started around noon, quickly grew to ten acres, burning through a grove of trees adjacent to sign hill, carried by strong winds. evacuations were called. for neighbors living on ridge view court, carnelion road and mountain road. people grabbed belongs and took off, homeland for the best. >> there was a fire about 50 yards away from us, a brush fire coming down the hill. we gathered our stuff, grabbed the kids and were hoping the house wouldn't burn down. >> the fire did bump up against a couple of homes but the crews were able to make a quick stop and knock it down before the fire got interior. >> reporter: now, check it out, cal fire did several air drops of retardant. that air attack had to be paused for a time because people were flying drones in the area, making it really dangerous for cal fire pilots. police used a p.a. system

telling drone operators to stop. the chief says the cause of the fire is under investigation tonight. we're live in south san francisco, cornell bernard, abc 7 news. >> we appreciate the update, cornell, thank you. dangerous fire weather is expected to last through tomorrow morning. the red flag warning has been extended for parts of the bay area, so let's get a first check of weather with abc 7 news weather anchor spencer christian. >> it's really hot, really dry and gusty up in the higher elevations. that's why we have the red flag warning in effect. look at the heat, it's 84 in half moon bay, 85 in san francisco, 90 in oakland and low to mid-90s in virtually all the inland communities right now. as you can see wind gusts are still up to about 25 miles per hour or higher in some of the higher elevations. the red flag warning will expire at 6:00 p.m. for much of the area in red but be extended until 8:00 in the morning for some of the north bay and east bay. not surprising that a heat advisory is in effect until 9:00

tonight. if you expose yourself to this heat too long, you risk heat-related illness. i'll have the full forecast coming up a little bit later. dion. >> spencer, thanks. pg&e says it is restoring power to thousands of customers who have lost electricity as part of public safety power shutoffs over the last two days. the utility has received the weather all-clear. up wi 1,000 employees are inspecting lines. in a surprising turn of events today, fema reversed a decision about disaster aid to california following six wildfires. initially you may remember fema declined to grant assistance for fires up and down the state, including two in mendocino county. the agency claimed that they did not meet federal standards for losses. abc's wayne freedman has more on the decision and reaction to the reversal. >> reporter: there are firestorms in the physical realm, but today they were

political. the first sign that fema might change its mind came from jim patterson in fresno county, where the creek fire burned 350,000 acres and six homes last month. >> i have gotten encouraging response that fema is beginning to understand that they may have made a mistake here. >> reporter: almost as soon as fema and president trump denied california's claim, governor newsome and the state announced an appeal. this has been california's worst fire season ever. 4 million acres burned. that's an area as big as connecticut. for once, california democrats and republicans worked together, complaining loudly. >> the extra trauma that people that have lost everything have to go through was the trauma we're talking about right now is shameful. >> reporter: but fema, the president and politics have intermingled since the campfire when president trump suggested that california should rake forests to reduce its

flammability. >> the fact of the matter is 57% of the lands in the state of california, the forest lands, are federal lands. >> reporter: without today's reversal, there would have been serious implications in mendocino county where the oak fire destroyed 30 homes last month. john kennedy runs a nonprofit for rebuilding homes from the tubbs fire in 2017. >> i think we're tired of the back-and-forth nonsense that seems to be mostly politically driven. >> we need to be mindful that these fires are not red fires, they're not blue fires. they don't know boundaries, they don't know political parties. the victims that are left behind have to be taken care of. >> reporter: now it appears they will be taken care of in a fire season still long from over. in the north bay, wayne freedman, abc 7 news. a heads up if you plan on heading into san francisco tomorrow. there is a protest scheduled to start at noon at united nations plaza. that will go until 3:00 p.m. that's according to the permit

granted by the san francisco recreation and parks department. the group is then planning to head to twitter headquarters on market street at 4:00 p.m. it's a high-stakes game of contact tracing. a look at the challenges of keeping californians safe and stopping the spread of the coronavirus. and a look at how one group in the south bay is making sure one health challenge isn't intensified by another. and the covid college experience is unlike any other. what happens when a school tells students they aren't allowed on campus for the i'm jerome gage. i'm a full-time lyft driver. when this pandemic first started, i bought my own ppe because uber and lyft didn't provide it. these companies have been exploiting drivers like me for years.

now prop 22 denies us basic rights like unemployment benefits and sick time. uber and lyft are billion-dollar companies, and they still won't let drivers get access to unemployment benefits. that's just wrong. tell uber and lyft to stop exploiting their drivers. vote no on prop 22. the unfair money bail system. he, accused of rape. while he, accused of stealing $5. the stanford rapist could afford bail; got out the same day. the senior citizen could not; forced to wait in jail nearly a year. voting yes on prop 25 ends this failed system, replacing it with one based on public safety. because the size of your wallet shouldn't determine whether or not you're in jail. vote yes on prop 25 to end money bail. i'm voting 'yes' on prop 19. nineteen limits taxes on seniors. it limits property tax on people like me. nineteen limits taxes on wildfire victims.

it says so right here. if 19 passes, seniors can move closer to family or medical care. i looked at moving but i can't afford the taxes. will you help california's most vulnerable? vote 'yes' on prop 19. taking a quick look at the coronavirus headlines from today, the united states topped 8 million cases. that is according to johns hopkins tracker. as for california, the state reported more than 3,000 new cases today. the state has the most in the united states with more than

861,000. the 14-day positivity rate is at 2.5%, and that number is a good indicator of the transmission rate of the virus. stakes are high to protect nearly 40 million californians from getting infected and spreading covid-19. both apple and google have been working on providing tools to do mobile app contact tracing. however, privacy and getting the public to opt in can be difficult. abc 7 news reporter david louie looks into those challenges to improve health outcomes. >> reporter: utah was first in the nation last april to rule out a smartphone app to do covid-19 tracing. the app is used after ucf is conducting an app, challenges lie ahead. a survey of 5,000 adults indicates roughly half, 52%, are willing to share tracking data in an app while 28% are unwilling. 20% are willing only with

privacy protection. that falls far short of what experts say is needed. >> to get the level of benefit that would be needed to really bring the pandemic fully under control, you would need high levels of participation, 60, 70, 80%. >> reporter: the same survey showed nine out of ten young people ages 18 to 24 are willing to use contact tracing apps, but the number drops to 63% among seniors. the demographic difference could impact the goal of such apps. >> at 75% adoption of digital contact tracing, we'd get the benefits we need. between 56% and 81% reduction in infections. about the same level reduction in deaths. >> reporter: still, a high participant rate among young people could be useful in providing symptom assessment tools being done at brigham young university. >> if you have symptoms, you can know where do i go to get tested and does my insurance cover it and you get get results much more quickly. >> reporter: healthy together doesn't allow users to see if their insurance covers testing,

but there is information about c.a.r.e.s. act funding for test results. stanford's professor believes mobile app contact tracing is worth pursuing. >> there's going to be another virus. wouldn't it be great for a system like this to be stood up to preventing the losses we've seen this time around. >> reporter: david louie, abc seven news. mayor libby schaaf says the federal government has failed to come to the aid of oakland residents during the pandemic. she made the comment as test results for covid-19 in fru fruitvale neighborhood was made public. they continue to see the highest number of positive cases in all of alameda conte. over 1,100 were tested with 39 testing positive for covid-19. >> we are furious at the failure of the federal government. the fact that the federal government cannot get another

coronavirus aid package out of congress is outrageous. >> reporter: the data was also used to measure the disease's overall impact on the community. among the findings, 15% of latinos lost their jobs and 42% said they faced food insecurity. santa clara county public health officials are holding three briefings a week on the covid-19 health crisis. today's briefing focused on the importance of early cancer detection, and screening in the latinx community. officials also addressed access to health services during the pandemic. the efforts are supported by groups like latinas contra cancer which continues its work in the community. >> we have been working with our clients and our customers to help provide their needs. by that we had distributed $120,000 in cash aid to our low income latino households. >> santa clara county is one of three bay area counties now in

the state's orange tier for reopening. as of thursday, it reported 22,859 cases with 367 deaths. as we head to break now, taking a live look from our sutro tower camera, looking pretty clear and sunny still. we have had some scorching hot days that have led to fire warnings. spencer christian proposition 16 takes some women make as little as 42% of what a man makes.

voting yes on prop 16 helps us fix that. it's supported by leaders like kamala harris and opposed by those who have always opposed equality. we either fall from grace or we rise. together. proposition 16 provides equal opportunities, levelling the playing field for all of us. vote yes on prop 16. what? never. are you kidding me? for years, the residential burden has gone up.

while the corporate burden has gone down. prop 15 reverses that. it closes corporate loopholes and invests in schools, small business, and firefighters. and when the big corporations pay more, your tax bill goes down. that's right. a savings of a hundred twenty-one dollars a year for the average home. give homeowners a break. vote yes on 15. all eyes on the weekend weather, spencer. >> we're hope nothing a cooldown but it's going to be a gradual one. it's still hot out there. here's a look. it's sunny and very, very warm. in fact we have a heat advisory in effect. here's a view from sutro tower looking over san francisco where it is still in the 80s. in fact 85 degrees right now. 90 at oakland, mid-90s at mountain view, san jose and

gilroy. 82 at half moon bay. blue skies over the golden gate. you don't often see that view this time of the day, this time of the year. there's no fog around to cool us down. 95 in santa rosa and napa. 93 novato. fairfield 96, 94 at concord and livermore 91 degrees. here's the view from the rooftop camera looking across a calm embarcader embarcadero. coastal cooling begins tomorrow. it will be cooler in all areas. even next week as it cools down, the general pattern will be warmer than average for this time of the year. speaking of warmth, a red flag warning to high fire danger remains in effect until 6:00 this evening for much of the area in red here. we'll have strong gusty winds in the high elevations and it's hot. the red flag warning will be extended or has been extended until 8:00 tomorrow morning for some of the higher elevations of the north bay and the east bay and that includes the diablo

range. on we go, we'll have mainly clear skies. it will be mild to warm once again during the overnight hours with low temperatures mainly in the low to mid-60s which is really warm. up in the north bay valleys it will be a little cooler with lows in the mid to upper 50s. tomorrow look for highs ranging from upper 70s at the coast. a bit of a cooldown from today. mainly mid to upper 80s around the bay shore line. we had 90s there today. in places inland where it was close to 100, today it will be in the mid-90s tomorrow. so again not much of a cooldown. i'm trying to get this -- there, it moved along. even the clicker is not working very swiftly today. here's the accuweather seven-day forecast. there will be further cooling on sunday. in fact all regions of the bay area will be cooler on sunday so it will finally start to feel closer to fall-like weather. a little more cooling on monday but mid-week look for temperatures to bounce back up to 90. in our inland we have a warmer than average

week for this time of the year ahead of us. >> i like blaming the heat on all of our technical issues. >> that's true. >> spencer, thanks. the pandemic has upended everyday life. imagine getting ready to head off to college but then being but that's tough to do on a fixed income. i'd be hit with a tax penalty for moving to another county, so i'm voting 'yes' on prop 19. it limits property taxes and lets seniors transfer their home's current tax base to another home that's closer to family or medical care. being closer to family is important to me. how about you? voting 'yes' on prop 19.

the unfair money bail system. he, accused of rape. while he, accused of stealing $5. the stanford rapist could afford bail; got out the same day. the senior citizen could not; forced to wait in jail nearly a year. voting yes on prop 25 ends this failed system, replacing it with one based on public safety. because the size of your wallet shouldn't determine whether or not you're in jail. vote yes on prop 25 to end money bail. uber and lyft are like every big guy i've ever brought down. prop 22 doesn't "help" their drivers-- it denies them benefits. 22 doesn't help women. it actually weakens sexual harassment laws, which are meant to protect them. uber and lyft aren't even required to investigate sexual harassment claims. i agree with the la times: no on 22. uber and lyft want all the power. so, show them the real power is you. vote no on prop 22.

coming up at 6:00, new details about how local investigators broke open an unemployment fraud case that led to the arrests of 21 people. the red flag in another investigation that led to a crucial search warrant. san francisco's mayor is distancing herself from a plan to rename schools. why she says it's a waste of energy. and lawmakers respond to a bay area yoga studio accused of violating pandemic health rules. it's all coming up in half an hour on abc 7 news at 6:00. well, we have been enduring this pandemic since march. as part of our ongoing limited series covid-19 diaries, we are taking a look at how life is evolving. this one features a college freshman. instead of living out of a dorm at uc santa barbara and going to classes, she is stuck at home getting the college experience from her bedroom. >> i actually am now going to be

attending uc santa barbara. right now i'm on the side of hoping i can go down just because i am currently going to be paying those tuition dollars and that's a lot of money. so even though i'm attending my university, i am currently not down in santa barbara right now. covid cases have actually spiked near my school. what happened was four weeks ago, they just shut everything down. so when i got that email that i wasn't going into the dorms, i was honestly very sad. like i've mentally kind of prepared myself for the fact that i will be staying home for my freshman year and everything like that. and honestly, i think with everything going on in the world, i'm okay with it.

i don't mind being home just because i know that i'm keeping myself safe and my family safe. i started school october 1st. it's been very stressful. it seems like i'm doing more work, if that makes any sense. i feel like i'm sitting at my computer for like eight hours a day. i think it's just hard to make that connection with your professor and with your other students through zoom. i think as time progresses and as time has progressed, i've definitely gotten sick of being at home, but i think everybody has, no matter what age, no matter what you're going through. and i think the only way we're going to get through this together is if we all collectively decide to do our part. >> i like what she said. it is a collaborative effort to do your part. well, that's it for tonight. world news tonight with david muir is next. i'm dion lim.

for spencer and really all of us here at abc 7 news, we appreciate you for taking t

tonight, several developing stories as we come on the air. 18 days now until the election. tonight president trump and joe biden in a race to the finish. president trump knowing he needs seniors, with another appeal to them in florida. what he promised today. and with hospitalizations for coronavirus increasing in 39 states now, the president saying we are rounding the turn on the virus. joe biden, meanwhile, in michigan saying the reality is much different, the situation is getting worse, as scientists warned heading into fall. and the dueling town halls overnight and the reaction. the fight against coronavirus tonight. the u.s. hitting that new milestone today, more than 8 million confirmed cases now in this country. and tonight after coming down with the virus, former new jersey governor chris christie