announcer: building a better bay area, moving forward, finding solutions. this is abc 7 news. >> you're watching getting answers live on abc 7, hulu live and wherever you stream. there is a fire burning in lake county. there are mandatory evacuations. the areas in red that we have on a different map but right now we pulled up that map for you. you can see in red, that is where the mandatory evacuation order is. the areas in yellow are evacuation warnings but you've got to be ready to go so have your to-go bag ready. that is the majority of lower lake, as you can see. now i want to pull up sky 7 which is over the fire right now. you can see there are a lot of

cal fire helicopters and aircraft and vehicles there. we're told a couple of dozen homes may have burned there and this is quickly becoming a serious situation. spencer christian telling me we have a red-flag warning in that area with winds gusting about 30 miles per hour out of the north, making the fire move very quickly. crews are going door to door evacuating residents. an evacuation shelter set up at kelseyville high school at 5480 main street in kelseyville. we should legality -- let you know wayne freeman is updating us through social media. he is covering this. however, he is in a lot of traffic heading to the area. you can see right now just the flames and firefighter effort putting water on it, tackling it by air with dropping of

retardant but we heard reports that two to three dozen structures have already burned and we confirm that visually through sky 7. lake county sheriff brian martin is joining us by phone right now to give us the latest. sheriff, i really appreciate your time. we can certainly see that this is a major fire that's erupting quickly. give us the latest on what you know has burned and what's going to with the evacuations. sheriff: [inaudible] kristen: we are trying to get the sheriff on the phone and they're obviously very busy there right now. we'll try to re-establish that connection and of course we will have coverage on this mandatory evacuation in lake county in kels kelseyville. i believe we have the sheriff on

the phone with us. sheriff brian martin, are you there? we will continue to cover this for you and definitely on abc 7 news at 4:00, wayne freeman is headed there. for now we will live this coverage but if you're in lake county, you're under mandatory evacuation or are under a warning and need to be ready to go. there are homes where the wildfire is burning quickly, the cache fire. fingers crossed and please do pay attention to what authorities are saying. in the meantime, we want to cover covid-19 because today we have a u.c. berkley official live with us to share about how they're minimizing transmission risk as the university returns to in-person learning with students moving in this week. first, major covid news with vaccine boosters and regeneron heaines. president n affirmed the c.d.c.'s announcement this morning that americans should plan to get a booster eight months after their second shot. joining us now to break this

down is stanford microbiology and immunology professor dr. robert segal. thank you for your time today. >> thank you for in inviting me back. kristen: the white house announced its plan making booster shots available starting september 20. you're eligible to get yours eight months after the second dose. we are waiting for the f.d.a. and the c.d.c. to sign off on that but what do you think about this plan? >> i think it's a good plan. i think that this is putting into play sort of proactively the need for boosters. kristen: dr. anthony fauci shared slides this morning with data to support this conclusion, that boosters are a good idea. tell us the main points he made. >> i'm sorry, i didn't see the interview. but i think the key is that over time, the immune response drops

a little bit. that's less of a factor than the fact that the virus is actually changing over time so the vaccine is probably just as effective for the original strain of virus but as the virus changes, the vaccine becomes a bit less effective. the booster has a bunch of different advantages. not only does it boost your immune response and make it stronger but it also broadens the activity of your immune system and so it actually makes it more effective against some of the other strains. kristen: that is interesting. i noticed one of the slides, showing antibody decline over time. i wonder if antibody decline translates directly into less protection and more vulnerability for an individual. is that proven? >> it's normal for whenever you get an immune response against any agent for the antibodies to drop down over time and what

really is important is that in addition to having antibodies circulating in your system, you have a large army of cells that actually can gear up quickly to deal with a new infection. those are the memory cells. those -- both are capable of making antibodies but also making other responses, response call cell mediated immune response so it's the memory cells is what we're trying to boost with the vaccine booster. kristen: they said higher levels of antibody may be required to protect against delta compared to the original but it seemed antibody decline was greatest with beta. i think that's the one that was originally spotted in south africa. how worrisome is that? >> it's definitely worrisome that there are new variants that may come about, particularly

worried about lamda, that that t antibodies may be less effective against. the antibodies of the original strain are less effective against some of the other variants. fortunately they're effective against delta. kristen: hopefully delta will peter out but there will be another variant on the horizon. the numbers presented today were based on the moderna vaccine. do you think pfizer would behave largely the same way? >> i'm seeing reports that there is difference between the two vaccines. it doesn't make sense to me. these vaccines are very similar. one of the only differences between the vaccines is the three-week versus four-week interval between shots. i would expect over the course of six or eight months, these vaccines will be comparable in terms of immune response. kristen: the f.d.a. has not gone

beyond emergency authorization use so far, right, for any of those vaccines. when do you suppose that will come? >> we're hoping that the authorization comes as soon as possible because i think we'll eliminate at least a barrier for some people who claim they're waiting for full approval to get vaccinated. some have said maybe we don't want full approval because that will allow physicians to use the vaccine off-label which is to say for groups like under the age of 12 or give people extra doses. i am less moved by that argument because i think the f.d.a. can also make requirements that you're not allowed to do that. kristen: do you think that eventually having a booster will be considered part of the completion of your series, if you will? right now we say you're completed if you did two. in the future, when people want

proof, they'll want to see the booster, too? >> i think two vaccines are very effective at dropping spread so i'm not really clear about whether that will be required in a work setting in the near future. i do think if we should think about boosters as something that's going to be an ongoing process as long as there's lots and lots of virus in the population. so as long as there's lots of virus, the virus will continue to change and we're going to need new vaccines that are actually either -- that will boost our response and i would like to see new vaccines coming out that also had multiple strains so they also were more directly targeting delta lambda or beta. when we get vaccinated for human papillomavirus, we get nine different vaccines. we get vaccinated for flu, we get four different vaccines combined together.

kristen: don't go away, the doctor will answer your questions on facebook live in the commercial break. we want to ask you about

kristen: a fire in lake county. lake county sheriff brian martin told us several structures have been burned and are lost. this is called the fire, spreading quickly. the mandatory evacuations are on for the majority of lower lake. wow. look at all those homes, now just debris and ash. really sad. this is a live look from sky 7.

lake county does not need this. there are no reports of missing people as of now, thankfully. hopefully it stays that way. and we're also showing you this map here. you can see the red areas which have grown since we last talked about this. those are the areas of mandatory evacuation. the yellow regions are under an evacuation warning. you're advised to pack your bags and be ready to go at moment's notice. we do know at least one mobile home park has burned and i think we saw video of that. and we are now also hearing about trapped first responders, or at least they were trapped but we understand they got out safely. an evacuation shelter set up up at the kelseyville high school at 5480 main street in kelseyville. so, folks, this is a very dangerous situation and destructive situation. spencer christian telling us a

red-flag warning is in effect in that area. we knew that the winds wieldrcee and they're pushing this cache fire and dozens of homes have been lost and are onir firefighters are out in full force. cal every building. we'll cover this in depth at 4:00. in the meantime, we want to take you back to new covid headlines, talking with microbiology and immunology professor at stanford, dr. robert sigel. sig. regeneron made headlines when we learned president trump was using it when he had covid-19. now texas governor greg abbott is using it. he has breakthrough covid, apparently not very sick. we first heard about regeneron used for covid at the same time we heard about

hydroxychloroquine so i think people are skeptical and wonder if it's legitimate. tell us what we know. >> yes, this is legit. and you have to remember that at first it was being used when there was no vaccine available so it's not really a substitute for vaccination. just to be perfectly clear about that. to back up a little bit. when you get infected or if you get a vaccine, your body produces a strong immune response that will basically try to protect you if you ever get infected again and one of the parts of that immune response is to make antibodies. what regeneron is antibodies to the virus but instead of getting them from your immune system or someone else's, these are made using a powerful technique called monoclonal antibody technology. these are antibodies directed to the virus. they work best if they're given early in infection.

kristen: for someone like governor abbott who reportedly doesn't have symptoms, does that mean his own antibodies are working and he's doing pretty well so is it typical that someone who doesn't really have symptoms who is infected would get this and how do you get at this time? talk to your doctor? >> yes. this is -- it's available in limited supply but should be available generally. we think that because most people who get vaccinated don't have very serious infections that most of them will not need regeneron so this is basically, you know, it's adding a little bit of protection but i think the key message to get home here is the fact that he's being largely protected by the fact that he's vaccinated and we need to emphasize that point. kristen: i know there are potential side effects. i want to ask you, it's coming out, apparently, i heard, in injection form soon? is that right? and is that different -- i think

previously it was i.v. does that make a difference? >> it makes a huge difference because before you would have to be in a medical facility for a while while they gave it by infusion so you would be hooked up to a machine and it would be giving you the antibodies slowly and i think that way there are fewer side effects but that's a costly and inconvenient way of giving this drug. giving it by injection will make it a little bit simpler. kristen: thank you so much for your time. i really appreciate it. let's talk again soon. take care. >> thank you for your excellent questions. kristen: we're going to take a short break on the air but the conversation continues on facebook live and when we come back, we'll give you the latest on the cache fire which is forcing mandatory

breaking news here, major fire in kelseyville or i should say in lake county, forcing mandatory wildfire evacuations. we can tell you sadly homes have burned down and sky 7 over the scene following some of the cal fire aircraft dropping retardant to try to slow the advance of this fire which is overtaking the entire neighborhood so quickly due to the high winds there, really picking up the embers and pushing this fire. spencer christian was telling us about red flag warnings in that area. we knew that was happening in lake county. winds about 30 miles per hour, really not helping the situation. right now you can still see flames and also we see smoke. ok, white smoke here as firefighters douse water on what seems to be a destroyed area. i'm getting information. it looks like the creekside mobile home park has mostly burned down. we understand the cache creek

mobile home estates partly burned down and we also understand that there is another mobile home park nearby called aztec r.v. trailer park. we don't know about that one whetherf any of that burned. we hope it hasn't been but what we can tell you is that this fire in lake county has forced mandatory evacuations. obviously there are also areas under evacuation warnings right now in yellow. together these areas cover the majority of lower lake and crews right now are going door to door to evacuate residents and you can see why that's necessary. right now we seem to be seeing a little less of the burning, the flames, the active flames and the black smoke. we're seeing more white smoke now. we do hope -- there you go. you see another structure burning there. it looks like fire has touched just about all the structures in

that area, in that neighborhood, and i don't see a lot that have been spared although they have burned to different degrees. but wayne friedman is trying to that area and is updating us through social media. you can see some of the mobile homes that still remain. there are some homes that have not burned yet and we hope they will be protected. you can see that street there, that road serving as a dividing line, line of protection. hopefully winds don't bring flames back in their direction. here's wayne's page on twitter and he is now in the cache fire zone. let's look at some of his as he was heading there. you see some of the cars, people trying to evacuate, difficult the road blocks there. really hard for people trying to evacuate there and here is one home that burned. that is the cache fire along dam

road, d-a-m, dam road. there are reporters on scene but zen hrush, trees. there are mobile home parks in the area. definitely we are getting reports that creekside mobile home park has mostly burned down and cache creek mobile home estates has partly burned. now we have lake county sheriff brian martin back on the line with us. sheriff, thank you for your time. sheriff: good afternoon. thank you for having me. kristen: i see you're in a car. give us the latest that you know right now in terms of which areas have burned and which areas need to get out and anything with regard to injuries or missing people. sheriff: all of our evacuations are still in effect. activ tinoe

there ar with medical needsren by don't havetaon so we'ref e ay as we can. we're having difficulty. there is reluctantance for people to evacuate. this isn't the fire to mess around with. when we tell you to leave, you need to get out of the area on this one and stay away from the area. if you don't have a need to be here, don't come down here. it causes congestion. we've lost several homes. as far as casualties, we don't have reports of casualties right now and we're praying we don't have serious injuries as a result of this fire. kristen: how many people would you say have had to evacuate already? and how many homes is that affecting? sheriff: i don't have the exact count but several hundred homes and a couple of thousand people it's affecting. affecting a portion of the city of clearlake, lower lake, and

into areas burned a couple of years ago by the clant -- clayton fire. there are a lot of people to be displaced tonight. kristen: this neighborhood we're looking at, we understand the creekside mobile home park has mostly burned down and cache creek mobile home estates has partially burned down. is that accurate? do you know of others? >> that is accurate. i don't know of others directly. i've been helping the evacuation. we're going to have some people that have lost their homes, yes. kristen: where are folks going? are there exit points open and safe to make that exit right now? >> there are. we've blocked off some of the areas that lead into the area to stop congestion. we've set up an evacuation shelter at kelseyville high school which is about a 15-minute drive from here, well out of the danger area.

our department of social services and non-government organizations are setting it up to take care of people that need shelter. we anticipate this will be a a couple-day event at least. kristen: do you anticipate a need for a triage area, where folks who might be injured in the evacuation process might go? >> anybody that's injured, we'll provide them with emergency medical treatment. i don't think we have reports of major injuries. much of what we're dealing with is people that are medically fragile and may have trouble with mobility. we're working to get resources to help them leave. kristen: tell us about the winds in the area. there's a red-flag warning. >> it's windy. wind is a factor, pushing the fire through dry brush. it's been up in the trees hitting really dry stuff and spreading quickly. the wind is not helping us at all today.

the red flag conditions are in effect and we're feeling the effects of here. kristen: tell us about the firefighting efforts. we've seen a lot of aircraft. we assume there's heavy cal fire presence. what other agencies and equipment are on the scene? >> our local fire services are experienced at dealing with this. they've got prepositioned strike forces in here. i saw a unit from talari county. we've got hand crews and inmate work crews with aircraft on top of this thing. it's looking like it's getting under control a little bit but i think it's too early to say we're out of the woods but there's tremendous effort going into this right now. like everywhern th,'vgotourcesps . there' when you need them, especially firefighters. we're making the best of what we've got. kristen: talk about the dry conditions. i know the creek bed of cache

creek is dry right now, and how that is impacting fire fighting? >> the dry conditions, low humidity, high temperatures -- temperatures a little bit lower with smoke. but the vegetation is extremely dry. it's a tinderbox out here againd ouof stuff is taking off with a vengeance. kristen: in terms of your water supply, is there a nearby lake you're getting it from? and talking about that process of how they're going about getting their water. >> we have -- california's largest natural fresh water lake right here. the lake level is extremely low but it has plenty of water for our efforts. aircraft are flying over, helicopters dipping their buckets there and pulling in water from that area. we have larger air tankers flying to various air forcebas p

with retardant they're dropping so we're in ok shape as far as that goes. kristen: can you put a number on how many homes you think might have been burned? >> latest i've heard is about two dozen. i don't have a final count. kristen: and sheriff, we have about a minute. i'd like you to take this opportunity to give instructions and advice to folks living in lower lake. >> my best advice is when you get the evacuation notice, it's time to go. especially this time of year. if you wait until you think it's safe to go and a bunch of other people waiting, if you put yourself in a position where we can't help you, unfortunately we may not be able to help you. if it's too dangerous for us to get in there, the best advice i can have is get out, get out early, evacuate early. we have areas set up for you at kelseyville high school so you can get out of the area but help us help you. the reluctance to evacuate is problematic. it puts yourself in danger, your neighbors in danger and safety

personnel in danger, as well. kristen: sheriff martin, thank you very much. we'll have the latest on the fire at 4:00. tonight, breaking news as we come on the air. the abc news exclusive with president biden. his first interview since the fall of afghanistan to the taliban. president biden one-on-one with george stephanopoulos. the president said just weeks ago, a taliban takeover was highly unlikely. so, was the intelligence wrong or did the president downplay it? how the president responds. did u.s. military leaders suggest keeping some sort of a footprint on the ground? and if the u.s. doesn't complete its evacuations by the august 31st deadline, will troops stay to get americans out? and what about the thousands of afghans who helped the u.s.? all of this amid the reality on the ground tonight. our team and what they witnessed just outside the kabul airport.

fear and chaos. gun fire