we're still bringing in resources from across the northern part of the state, and we will do our best today to get this fire uh- some more containment by this evening. but those winds are going to be our biggest challenge. so we're cautiously optimistic. but the wind is not in our favor today.

>> right now, mandatory evacuations are still in place as hundreds of firefighters work to contain the point fire burning in sonoma county. it is burning just west of healdsburg and south of stewarts point skaggs springs road, where the evacuation orders are in place for several hundred residents. good afternoon. i'm kristen sze you're watching, getting answers today. our top story is the point fire, which has exploded in size overnight since it first started yesterday afternoon. and here is the very latest. the fire has now burned nearly 1200 acres, which makes it one of the largest wildfires currently burning in the state. luckily, firefighters are getting a handle on it with containment up to 20, but some structures have been destroyed and a firefighter was injured. and as you heard there, the wind is the big concern on the front lines today as well as blowing the smoke from the fire to communities in the north bay and east bay,

which is why spare the air alert is in effect right now to track it all for us. abc seven news weather anchor spencer christian. spencer. what are the conditions like right now? >> oh, kristen i'll show you right now how graphic that indicates exactly what the conditions are at this moment near the fire temperature reading 85 degrees, which is warm but not hot. relative humidity still dangerously low, at only 17. don't be misled by this. automatically uh- hour by hour report that the wind is calm. it's adjusting its automatic readings because we're at the top of the hour right now. but the last winds i saw in that area were surprisingly light. as we look at the wind speeds across the region. notice, up in the north bay we have the lightest winds blowing right now, but that doesn't mean the gusts are still not a problem. the gusts are still occasionally 25 to about 30mph, or even higher in the area of the of the fire. so now notice we've got gusts around the bay and on the coast over 25, 30mph. and we'll see the gusts picking up a little bit later in the north bay as well. checking out

the air quality. you know, we you mentioned we have a spare the air alert today because of the smoke from the fire moving down into other parts of the bay area. but as we look ahead to the remainder of the week, you can see our air quality will be improving and there's no spare alert. spare the air alert for tomorrow. take a look at the surface smoke and how it is being pushed down by the winds out of the north into areas south of the fire. the heaviest concentration of smoke, of course, represented by those darker colors. the lighter colors indicate smoke is moving, but the concentration is not so, so heavy. so as we get into the evening hours, we'll see an expansion of the smoke continuing eastward and southward over other parts of the bay area. but those lighter colors indicate that, again, the concentration of the smoke as it expands will not be significant, more significant, closer to the fire, where more the more of the smoke is, is residing. so as we get back to 9:00 tomorrow morning, you'll see again heavier concentration of smoke near the fire, not so much in other parts of the bay area, and

it's worth mentioning this red flag warning once again for high fire danger notice in those higher elevations of napa county and sonoma. the red flag warning will expire at 8:00 tonight. still, though, we expect dangerously low humidity there and winds gusting up to maybe 40mph at times. the remainder of the area covered by this red flag warning, which is the northern sacramento valley and lake county, is under this warning until 8:00 tomorrow morning. so it will be in effect even longer there, where there's a greater fire danger there. and i'll have more to report on the weather report on abc seven news at 4:00. kristin. >> yeah, we'll see you then. spencer. thank you. this fire burning in sonoma county is one of the first big wildfires we've had this season. and it's an earlier start to fire season than we've seen in the past. joining us live now to talk about wildfire preparedness and what to expect as summer approaches this week. in fact, lieutenant mariano elias, help me correct me if i'm wrong there, elias with the san francisco fire department, thank you so much for joining us.

>> how are you doing? yeah, it is elias. all right. thanks for having me. >> yeah, absolutely. so glad you're here. because i know you're busy. i know you have a strike team deployed to the point fire, don't you? >> we sure do. >> and how are they assisting? what are they doing right now? so they've been deployed, to the point. >> fire. and they are basically on the line right now preparing to, have structures, clear of the fires and monitoring any new fires that may be picking up along the main body of fire at this time. >> okay. look, i want to ask you, we are used to seeing a very active wildfire season, certainly later in the summer, maybe september and october peaking. what are your thoughts on seeing fires already? really in the middle of june? >> yeah, basically the cal fire has put out a report saying that there has been some rain in the earlier months, but, there is some drying with the heat. intensifying. so there are some dry areas and some of the

vegetation has grown. so because it is, a little bit of growth has started now fires are starting. we'll see the temperatures increase and they're starting to be more popular, with fires happening all across the state. >> right. explain to us the impact of a wetter winter. right. because on the one hand, you would expect things to stay green longer and all the vegetation to be moister, longer, if you will. but on the other hand, that all eventually turns to fuel for burning, right? so when you add it all up, basically, are we expecting a better or worse fire season than usual? >> yeah. over the last few years, the fires have been, a bit less than in previous years. and you're correct, with more rain brings more, green and, the basically the vegetation grows, in height and when the temperatures, increase, those

tall and lush vegetation now turns into, worse off dry grass. so then that becomes the issue with having the vegetation. so large that the fires do get larger in size. >> so if that is the case, what are you all doing? i guess to prepare. >> so all fire crews in the state basically, have yearly training that they have to, is mandated to, continue their wildland recertifications, and then each county and cities, each have their own, ways about going about, weed abatement and, public service announcements to the residents in their cities and counties, so for here in san francisco, we had our annual refresher wildland training, we also have, additional training where, folks are going around and, practicing and, and going around their areas with their

first alarm, residents are and looking at the vegetation that's dry and working with our partners to clear vegetation, prior to it getting out of hand, to prevent any fires going on. right. >> and that work has been underway. of course, lieutenant elias, in addition to training, what about technology? any new tools in terms of detecting or fighting wildfires that you're working with? i'm thinking drones, ai, anything else? >> yeah. drones are very popular in the fire service at this time, basically each individual department is, getting drones to assist in getting an overhead view of whatever the situation may be in any kind of emergency, it does give us a better overhead view and a perspective that sometimes we're not able to see, so we're just using it as another tool for our overall, eyes and ears in the sky, if you will, you traditionally have been helicopters, but we don't

have that ability to have that. so, the drones are, a cheaper way about going about it. and, relatively quickly, up in the air to, to get eyes on, on whatever the incident. >> because in a year of budget cuts, you know, a cheaper way to allow you to do something similar would be amazing, helpful. i can only imagine. talk about the partnership between your department, sf fire department and cal fire as well as other agencies around the bay . >> yeah. so cal fire, basically they, are are the largest department in the state of california, we do, partner together with the master mutual aid program, where, any city and or county in need of fire resources. our firefighters, once called by the office of emergency services, are able to deploy, and then we join together and go to the fire, the strategically chosen, whoever may be closer and then they, and whatever region they're based in, and then they go directly to

the fire and help out with. >> all right. well, before i let you go, what tips and advice do you have for homeowners to both safeguard their homes and also to prepare for the season and any possible fires in their area ? >> we basically do tell mostly anybody who has any dry vegetation around their home to, create a defensible space around their house that will prevent any fire from, butting up against their, their home, also, you know, with the warm weather, we want to barbecue, be outside, not to put the barbecue so close to the structure of the home. and and, keep that away, we also are cautious to tell people to, be careful with their children and their pets from outdoor fire pits and barbecues as well, and even cooking within the home. clean their gutters out if they live in an area that's underneath trees and kind of just monitor, their own, you know, use of any kind of,

exterior fire, like the fire pits. also fireworks. fireworks are a big one coming up, too. so that's, illegal fireworks or, not, you know, condoned here in the city, and, and we basically want people to be aware of that. that does happen quite a bit, unfortunately. >> and they do start fires. lieutenant mariano elias, i'm so glad you got that final point in. thank you so much for your great information. >> you're welcome. thank you. >> and don't forget, abc seven is your place for information on wildfires across the state. this is our abc7 news wildfire tracker. the orange icons mark active wildfires, and you can click on them to find out the latest details, including acres burned and containment. head to abc seven news.com and you'll find it right there on the home page. coming up, could we see strong voter turnout among california voters in the general election? we'll tell you about the

election campaign began airing a new ad in battleground states for the first time. his messaging frames this race as a choice between a president fighting for you and donald trump, a convicted criminal. >> in the courtroom, we see donald trump for who he is. he's been convicted of 34 felonies, found liable for sexual assault, and he committed financial fraud. meanwhile joe biden's been working on a new berkeley institute of governmental studies poll shows. >> many californians are planning to vote in november, 78, in fact, say they're highly likely to vote. but look beneath that number and you'll see vast differences in who's more likely to vote and determine our

collective future. joining us live now is mark dicamillo, director of the berkeley igs poll conducted on behalf of the evelyn and walter haas junior fund. thank you so much for joining us, mark. >> hi. thank you very much. so when was the study conducted and who was polled? we conducted a study of california voters. it was a random sample. over 5000 voters participated in the poll. it was completed the first week of june. so very recently. >> okay, so that 78% that said, they are very likely to vote. how does that compare to previous general elections in a presidential year? >> well, actually, if you compare it to the last presidential election four years ago, we actually had over 80% of voters turning out uh- this isn't actually a necessarily a forecast of the actual turnout, but it was a meant to just identify which voters seem to be most likely to be on board to participate and which ones may or may not. and we also asked

them the reasons for doing so. and one of the most striking findings was that when you ask the likely voters who why they're likely to vote, they basically say they want to vote for president. it's an important race, and that's their top reason. they give a lot of other reasons for voting in california elections, but that's the top one. and when you ask the people, less likely to vote, what's their main reason they don't like the presidential candidates. and so it's kind of cutting both ways. it's both a positive for those who are likely to vote, but those who are not. it's actually an inhibiting factor. yeah. >> and of course, the presidential race has always driven, you know, people to the ballot or kept them away from the ballot. but really the stark differences you notice are in which groups plan to vote. and i think there are huge differences by race and age right there are always are in california. >> and that's really one of the issues that faces california. we've always had an electorate that is kind of the more exclusive electorate. people who

are better educated white voters, older voters tend to always be there, no matter what kind of election you have, the larger turnout elections tend to bring in the younger voters and the voters of color, but even in this election, which is a pretty high turnout, you're seeing differences that younger voters and voters of color are much less likely than white voters and older voters to say they're already on board and likely to be voting. >> just a couple examples of the gaps, if you will, just to make the point. so we can kind of see it, and then also how we can drive up, i guess the vote participation for minorities and younger people. >> right. well, you can see that in our, in our i don't know if you have a the report that we issued, but the voters who are the most likely to participate, almost nine out of ten white voters, say they're going to be voting, but it's almost about two out of three among voters of color, higher educated voters,

similar kinds of numbers than those who have only a high school education, younger voters also different than older voters. so those are the key segments that, you know, just aren't as likely to be participating. but outreach efforts are in place. and that's one of the reasons, the poll was done to try to identify those most likely to vote and to see if an outreach can be made to those who are maybe on the fence to vote. and i think that's one of the foundations uh- main goals in having us conduct this survey. >> i thought it was interesting that one thing you found was that lack of information or believable information is a factor for some people. talk about that and how we can rebuild that, if you will, that trust. >> right, there's lack of trust in, not among all segments of voters, but latino voters are more likely to say they need to, reference information that they can trust, they don't have it as much, white voters are less

likely to say that they're most likely to be saying that, you know, it's really about the, the presidential election. but they also say they want to stand up for what they believe in, in fact, to protect the democracy is mentioned quite a bit by older voters, much less so by younger voters, so it's kind of a polyglot out there, depending on what who you're talking to and the reasons that they give for either voting or maybe, maybe not voting, look, you know, i know some of the results might give us pause and make us worry somewhat about civic participation amongst all our demographic groups. but are there things that offer you hope in here as well? >> well, i think we're still five months out of the election, there's a tremendous amount of time and there's going to be significant events. you referenced the fact that there's going to be a debate coming up shortly. former president trump

will be announcing his vice presidential selection. i think that will be a major point in the in the campaign as well. so i think once we begin the process of actually measuring preferences, this poll did not attempt to do that. this was just more about the interest in voting, we'll see where things stand, you know, i think it really california is such a blue state. i don't think there's a lot of doubt that biden will likely turn out and win this election. california but i still think there's so much on the ballot that it's important that the entire electorate, as many of them as possible, turn out because there's going to be major propositions on statewide ballot propositions. there's a senate race there are key congressional races all across california that will could determine who's going to be controlling the house. >> that's right. you show up for the president. but you know what? you got to check the boxes after studying the ballot measures and the props as well, because those will affect you.

mark dicamillo. thank you so very much. appreciate your time. >> great. thank you. >> still ahead, we all know that the pandemic was challenging, but one group that might have been most profoundly impacted is the most recent high school graduating class. we'll hear from a bay area public

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who proudly walked in their caps and gowns as the class of 2024. but their path, like the rest of this class that began high school with covid and ended with political turmoil and chatgpt has not been an easy one. joining us live now. bay area public high school english and journalism teacher who has a newsletter and contributes to national and local publications. andrew symonds andrew, welcome to the show. happy summer. >> hi. nice to be here. >> all right. you wrote an op ed in today's san francisco chronicle in which you say covid made this year's graduating high

school class different. and you surmise that based on the speeches, many ted talks, if you will, that you asked each senior to give in your english class what did you notice? >> well, i noticed a number of things, the class of 2024, they have kind of a unique profile, that comes with assets and also challenges. so they were pulled out of middle school, the end of middle school. they missed out on a graduation, and then they spent most of the first year of high school on zoom. and so they had unfettered access to technology, their, their academic life was dependent on the use of a laptop, and this kind of coincides with, of course, many of them kind of getting smartphones for the first time, the rise of ai happening, maybe a couple of years after, coming back from this. so, i think some of the features of the class of 2024 definitely less comfortable with public speaking and also less

comfortable with seeing the classroom as a place to feel part of a community, and sort of, a tendency, i tnk, to, not just struggle with public speaking, but also struggle with sort of being present in the moment, being a good audience member, seeing the classroom as a place where community can happen, to feel invested in it and sort of responsible for nurturing it, whether that means, listening patiently and avoiding multitasking, while a classmate is speaking, you know, and they're part of the audience, or if it's, you know, simple. a collaborative group project that involves them kind of coming together and creating, something sort of authentic together to sort of interact with each other academically, and a meaningful, productive way, i think is harder for them than it was for students who at least had a year or two of high school under their belts, before being pulled out with school building closures. >> i have certainly seen all

that you're speaking of right now, you know, the level of engagement is lower. the sense of community is lower. so what should they do? what can they do as they go forth? now to many of them to college or perhaps to jobs or trade schools, etc, just adulthood. what can they do? is there a fix, well, the fix, it's a complicated challenge, and the fix is going to have to be multifaceted as well. i think it's really important to remember that this was a major event that affected all these students really differently. it was harder for kids of lower socio economic status, harder for students of color, and it really benefits them, i think, to have chances to talk and write with and for each other about that experience. i think it's really good for them, and one thing i did notice with all the writing that my students both juniors and seniors, did towards the end of the year, actually was that many of them reflect on the pandemic experience, as a really powerful

one. and i don't think we should necessarily, you know, view that experience as entirely negative. of course, it was a catastrophe, and it remains quite challenging for us, but many of them really use that opportunity to see themselves and their values. and now that we're a couple of years down the road, when they have these opportunities to, like, write a memoir of their education life or to give a speech in front of others, they end up seeing sort of who they are, via the lens of that experience, and so i think that's been really good for them. and the more chances they have to do that in the future, the better. >> yeah. i mean, andrew, you know, as they say in every challenge, there's opportunity. thank you for coming on the show to share

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coverage begins at 5:00 right here on abc seven. that's followed by after the game and warrior center trace jackson davis will join larry and the guys then at nine, catch wheel of fortune and jeopardy! we have a special hour long abc seven news at ten. then stay with us for abc seven news at 11. thanks for watching. getting answers. we'll be here every weekday at 3:00, answering questions with experts from around the bay area. world news tonight with tonight, several developing stories as we come on the air. the extreme heat right into the east. philadelphia, new york city, boston. also tonight, the first alert of the hurricane season. the tropical storm watch tonight along parts of the u.s. coast. the wildfires raging out of control in the west at this hour. and the scare on a passenger t.