coming out of san jose this afternoon, where you can see a

fire at a goodwill, is sending up a lot of smoke into the air. sky seven was over the scene just moments ago, giving us this vantage point. and you can see there lots of debris along with trucks that we saw that were filled to the brim. this is the goodwill on north seventh street. this is not far from 101 and 8-80 there appears to be a lot of grass nearby, and it has spread those flames, but we haven't seen other buildings burning at this point. of course, the large amount of trucks and other goods that are on the ground certainly fueling the fire on this brutally hot day. now, from another vantage point, this is one of our cameras across the city, and you can see that big plume of smoke actually blowing sideways. we are working to get more information from firefighters about this fire. we will continue to update you as we get more information. well, moving on to a lot of news today on abc seven news at three. day four of our dangerous heat wave. and there is still a long stretch of

hot weather to go. firefighters raced to protect a town as a wildfire burns across a popular road in yosemite. and we are following far too many fires caused by fireworks in the bay area. plus a critical day for president joe biden sitting down for his first interview since that rocky debate. you can watch it right here on abc seven. with that, we say, good afternoon, and thanks for joining us for this edition of abc seven news at three. i'm dion lim. we will get to those hot temperatures in just a moment. but first to some wild video you just have to see. take a look. the owner of a gas station on hegenberger road in oakland shared this video of dozens of people ransacking his store this morning. the owner of the 76 station at hegenberger and edgewater tells us as many as 70 people packed his store at around 430 this morning, vandalizing the place. we are trying to get more information about the situation from oakland police. we know crime has been a huge struggle in this area. you'll remember this gas station is on the other side of the

shopping center from the in and out that closed again. we are working to get more details about what happened, and we'll have an update for you on the news at four. a popular highway into yosemite is back open after a wildfire burned on both sides. the french fire is threatening the town of mariposa, southwest of the national park. so far, it's burned nearly 850 acres, and containment is at 15. after firefighters built a fire line around the entire eastern side of mariposa, chp initially shut down a stretch of highway 140 because of the flames, but it has since reopened with traffic control. all other roads into yosemite are open, though park managers are warning about long delays. this is one of more than 230 fires that started across the state yesterday alone. the 4th of july kept firefighters busy with fireworks, causing multiple fires across the bay area overnight. it was mostly illegal shows, causing those problems, though firefighters in

san jose are investigating whether the sanctions show at lake cunningham started a small fire there. fortunately, firefighters got a handle on all of those fires quickly. but with such terrible weather continuing, they are really hoping the fireworks are done with. abc seven news reporter lena howland talked to firefighters in the east bay about the dangerous situation. >> a dramatic scene in concord as neighbors rushed to throw buckets of water on a fire, sparked just feet away from homes. fire crews were still on their way. it happened just before 11 off of richard avenue. this as illegal fireworks were going off across contra costa county, 4th of july. >> we're always stretched in, even when we up staff, you just can never account for the multitude of, specific fire incidents that will occur. and the timing of those incidents in antioch, one fire off of lotus court temporarily forced people out of their homes for about an hour. >> police had to help evacuate seniors in wheelchairs from an assisted living home right above

the fire. >> we identified that there was the potential for the fire to impact the home, so we just wanted to be safe, and give folks out of there, you know, we obviously don't take it for granted. when we ask people to leave their homes. so we only do it when it's absolutely necessary. >> then there was this fire in martinez off of michelle drive. fire officials say it scorched about three acres thursday nigh, though the cause is still under investigation. fire crews suspect this was caused by fireworks. thousands nearby watched the display. they continued to pop off above the crews as they fought the flames while we respond to the incidents, we have no control over what the what other folks do kind of around that. >> and so there were still some, fireworks activity going on during the incident, but, you know, that didn't distract us. we were able to still manage the incident through the weekend. >> fire officials are warning everyone of the continued high fire danger and that all fireworks are still illegal here in contra costa county in

concord. lena howland abc seven news. >> taking a live look now across the bay area on yet another hot day, day four of this brutal heat wave, now expected to last through wednesday. you can see there that qr code on your screen that'll give you details on places to cool down. abc seven news meteorologist drew tuma is tracking the hot temperatures and the dangerous wildfire conditions. sticking with us. >> look at the red flag warning. this continues through tomorrow evening. this will end at 9 p.m. tomorrow, but it still is in effect for parts of the north bay, the east bay hills, the santa cruz mountains, because it is quite warm in our hills, a lot of our hills have surpassed 100 degrees in the afternoon. and then you have that humidity that just drops to about 10% and some gusty winds. and that is the trifecta. that is why we have that red flag warning. the combination of the low humidity, the winds and the hot temperatures. speaking of the hot temperatures, we still have heat advisories around the bay shoreline. san francisco is now removed from the heat advisory, but we still have hot temperatures in oakland, palo alto, and then even hotter

temperatures underneath the excessive heat warning. that's that pink shading you see on your screen, encompassing most of the region away from the water. and again, that will last until wednesday evening. so look at the boat, beach and surf forecast. we do have just a light southwesterly wind and we'll keep that light wind through the weekend. and the ocean water temperature will stay in the 50s. so if you're headed to the beach, maybe saturday or sunday morning, cloud cover gives way to afternoon sunshine. it will be relatively comfortable along the coast with temperatures in the 60s and in the 70s highs today in our microclimates, we continue that heat wave with the excessive heat warning in the south bay, 91 in cupertino, 93. in santa clara, 105 in morgan hill, 103 in gilroy, santa cruz. quite lovely, though, coming in at 69 degrees now along the peninsula. the coast is nice in the 60s, but you hop over to menlo park. we're hot at 9193 in redwood city with that heat advisory in effect, 90 in mountain view, 89 in san mateo, around the city. it's kind of a choose your own adventure sort of forecast, quite cool and comfortable, close to the ocean

with temperatures in the 60s and low 70s. then you move downtown. it's warmer in the mid 70s and then south san francisco, even warmer than that, coming in with a high of 83 degrees later on. this afternoon in the north bay. the coast is nice. stinson coming in at 69. sausalito 72. but it gets hot once you move away from the water. 95 in novato, 107 in cloverdale, 106 lakeport 102, in calistoga, 97 in napa. with those excessive heat warnings into the east bay with heat advisories. 85 in oakland, 90 in san leandro going to 93, in fremont, 95 castro valley. and then it's even hotter as you move inland. the temperatures once again for the fourth day above 100 degrees in our hottest areas, 105 in fairfield, 103 in concord, 106 in brentwood hit 101 in pleasanton. overnight tonight, we'll keep that very thin layer of fog along the coastline away from the coast will have clear skies. we do get some relief in the overnight hours in our warmest areas. we'll dip into the 50s and 60s as we head into the start of the weekend. now, future tracker temperature shows you we don't have any change really to the temperature

profile tomorrow. it's hot inland with those warnings continuing. the coast is pretty immune from the excessive heat. that's where you go to beat the heat. and then we do this again on sunday. in fact, we do this through early parts of next week. it's not until later next week that we break this heat wave. here's the accuweather seven day forecast. the heat wave continues today. so too does the red flag warning that continues through tomorrow evening. the weekend is full of sunshine, but we're dangerously hot inland still, with the coast being comfortable early next week, we'll continue to track that heat wave. and by wednesday and thursday we'll break that heat wave. cooler weather starts to move in here with morning fog returning by thursday morning. >> a big moment for president biden trying to quash the questions after his debate performance. we are taking a look at what the president is up against ahead of his major sit down interview coming up next on world news tonight. plus, the california leaders coming to his defense and a wild rescue in the mountains of northern california. the reunion between a hiker who says he was attacked and the summer campers who saved him

a heatwave, it's kinda chilly in here. oh, that's because i'm pre-cooling the house with the ac before 4 pm. then i'll turn our thermostat to a comfortable 78 or higher that way i could stay cool later. ooh, what about me? you're never cool. oh.

after his debate struggles, the president posted on x today, quote, i'm the sitting president of the united states. i'm the nominee of the democratic party. i'm staying in the race. end quote. his crucial interview with abc news anchor george stephanopoulos is coming up tonight right here on abc seven. you'll see the first snippet of it on world news tonight, right after our newscast. abc news reporter and nguyen shows us now the doubts biden is trying to tackle mounting pressure on president biden today, fighting to prove he's worthy of four

more years in the white house. >> the president flashing a thumbs up at joint base andrews in response to a reporter asking if he's ready for the day, including a high stakes interview with abc's george stephanopoulos at a campaign rally in wisconsin. the president, fiercely putting down any calls for him to step aside. but it's been a tumultuous time for biden's reelection campaign since his poor debate performance last week, a growing number of members in his own party questioning his mental fitness. a third democratic lawmaker, massachusetts representative seth moulton, coming forward to urge the president to step aside to let new leaders rise up. other democrats worried about whether the president's campaign is doing enough. >> we needed a boost from thursday. we didn't get it, and the campaign has been very, i think, arrogant in their response. >> still, most of the party publicly continues to back the president. >> joe biden is our president, he said. he's all in. i doubled down saying, i'm all in.

>> meanwhile, donald trump spent the 4th of july holiday speaking with veterans and bashing biden on social media as a highly incapable president. the former president trying to capitalize on the chaos, calling for another debate with biden anywhere, anytime, despite one already set for september on abc, president biden has plans to visit several key battleground states this weekend. his campaign working to get him out in front of more cameras, meeting more people to show his party and voters he's still up for the job. and when abc news, washington. >> as we wait to see the first pieces of that interview ahead on world news tonight, we do want to dive deeper into this critical moment in the 2024 campaign. so joining us live now is doctor nolan higdon, professor of history and communication at cal state east bay. always a pleasure having you on, nolan. let's dive right in because the stakes are incredibly high. this interview will be broadcast in its entirety. no edits. this is going to be in prime time. what

does the president need to do to achieve in this discussion? to win confidence from the american people? >> thank you so much for having me. yes. uh- the goal that president joe biden is setting for himself here is he needs to convince the american public, or at least a substantial portion of the american public, that he's indeed up for the job and that that debate performance was simply an outlier, a rarity, if you will. and so i think biden is probably going to try and come off very energetic, very quick. uh- those are some of the things he's probably going to be shooting for with this interview tonight. >> yeah. and the president also is not known for granting sit down interviews. i actually read he holds the record for the fewest interviews out of presidents in the past 40 years. something along those lines. what does that tell us about how much he needs to talk to america? the importance of it. >> yeah. one thing that i can say from from studying uh- media and political communication is

that whenever there's any doubt or secrecy or perceived secrecy, people make up their own explanations. and so i think by biden having very few sit down interviews, that's given a lot of fodder for the people who believe that he's incapable of doing a sit down interview, either because he's too old or whatever it may be. so i think the less interviews he gives, the more it feeds into this narrative that he's he's incapable of having these types of conversations or speeches. >> yeah. and just today, there have been new growing calls from democrats who want biden to withdraw. we heard from massachusetts governor maura healey, who asked biden to carefully evaluate, quote unquote, if he should continue or not. biden has been so adamant that he is not dropping out. he tweeted it out earlier today. do you expect his messaging to change at all during this interview, or to soften it all? >> you know, usually i wouldn't put too much weight on a single interview, but i think for the biden campaign, this interview is huge. if he leaves this

interview anything short of convincing, a lot of his critics, you know, i could see them pressuring him more and more over the weekend because time is of the essence here. they have a convention coming up in august, obviously, the election is in november, if they think biden cannot win or uh- equally as important for them, turn out enough voters to support those congressional races and state level races. a lot of people within the party are going to be angry, and i think that's why you see a lot of people in congress and governors and donors stepping out of the party. they're concerned that this isn't going to be just a negative outcome for joe biden if he loses, but it might be a negative outcome for the whole party. >> well, let's talk about alternatives here, because recent polling showed vice president kamala harris as the top contender. if biden does bow out, do we think she has a shot at the presidency? >> it's really tough to tell, she hasn't really had a lot of opportunity to engage in national elections. of course, she was the vice president in

2020. but, when she ran for president that year, she couldn't find herself enough support to even make it to the first primary. so for the evidence we have historically, kamala has not done very well. there has been some polling that shows kamala much more competitive than joe biden. but like any candidate that can change once they get in the national spotlight, she could, you know, dramatically improve or worsen depending on what happens. >> all right. and, nolan, certainly we have to give an overview here because this is already such an unusual presidential race in so many ways. we have two presidents facing each other. former president trump, the first president to be charged with and convicted of a crime. trump also wouldn't commit to accepting the results of the election at the debate. can you talk about all of the norms we are breaking here? >> so many, yeah, i think you spoke to some there. certainly, donald trump still has not conceded the last election, which was almost four years ago. and you talked about his convictions of felonies. also, these are two of the least liked

candidates. that was before the debate. that we've ever had run against each other as well. one of the few things, the american public agrees on is they prefer neither of these candidates to be running, so i think we have that going there. and then let's not forget that this debate itself was a much earlier debate than has traditionally been the case. usually the debates are in fall, but they moved this debate up earlier in june, which allowed for a lot of these conversations to be taking place. we can only imagine what it would have been like had we waited until, say, september or october and people had this reaction. you'd really be out of time if you're the democratic party, if that were the case. >> okay, so you're saying that with however many months we have left to go, still, there is time to do a pivot. >> certainly. i think there's some time the convention hasn't happened yet, and one of the things is, is that obviously the overwhelming majority of delegates have pledged themselves to joe biden, so at the convention, it'll be an opportunity to figure out where those delegates go. if biden does indeed step down. you have an opportunity there, but let's be honest, that's a really short

timeline for a new campaign to launch, so you'd have to find someone who's already well known, someone you don't have time to introduce to a national audience, and who's able to get the funding and the message out there to compete against donald trump? well we are certainly watching this one very closely. >> doctor nolan higdon, always a pleasure having you. >> thank you. >> well, tonight, abc news anchor george stephanopoulos sits down with president biden for the exclusive first television interview since the debate. you can watch the 30 minute special at 8:00 tonight right here on abc seven. you'll see the first clip of it right after our show on world news tonight. it is an unsanctioned summer tradition, getting new pushback from san francisco police. the message from police trying to keep the dolores park

south bay in san jose. firefighters are battling this fire at the goodwill of silicon

valley. this is headquarters. this is their headquarters and donation center. from what we know, sky seven was over the scene on north seventh street just a little while ago. and we can see those pallets burning as crews try to douse the flames. no word on how this fire started once again though. this coming out of the goodwill of silicon valley. the elderly driver charged in a crash that killed a family of four at a san francisco bus stop, has pleaded not guilty. 79 year old mary fong law showed up for her first court appearance, arm in arm with her attorney and with her supporters backing her. prosecutors say law was speeding excessively on the wrong side of the road when she slammed into the bus stop. that crash happened on west portal avenue back in march. lao's attorney claims her vehicle malfunctioned, causing the crash. he says this should not be treated as a criminal case. >> i think it's unfortunate that we can't take this as an accident without some sort of

criminal culpability and liability here, because no matter what happens behind these doors, it's not going to bring anybody back. >> investigators have ruled out mechanical failure as the cause of the crash. police also determined lao was not intoxicated and had no medical issues. san francisco police are vowing to shut down the dolores hill bomb. it's an annual unsanctioned event where skateboarders ride down one of the steepest hills in the city, near dolores park. it's all set to happen again tomorrow. based on some social media posts, last year's event ended in nearly 100 arrests, many of them teens. police chief bill scott says after hearing input from the public as well as from some skateboarders, the police plan to stop the hill bomb for safety reasons. >> we're here to say officially, we do not intend to allow a hill bomb tomorrow. we're going to do everything we can to keep our community safe, to prevent that from happening. and as far as we're concerned, there is no hill bomb tomorrow. >> the city is still dealing

with last year's hill bomb. there's pending litigation over those arrests. some people who live in the area are calling for police to put an end to the event. summer camp heroes, the teens who found a south bay hiker injured and lost and helped him get home next

quite active. san jose fire just tweeting out moments ago that this incident at the goodwill on the silicon valley on north seventh street involved multiple trailers. you can see boxes of books along with wooden pallets. we know one fire has been one firefighter has been treated for heat exhaustion. they are asking

everyone to avoid the area. the good news we have not seen any other buildings burn at this point. we will of course keep you updated as we learn more. a hiker from san jose is thanking a group of teen campers who rescued him after he says he was attacked on a trail in mendocino county. that man and the teens were reunited today on good morning america. abc's morgan norwood has this wild story. >> this morning, a san jose hiker crediting a group of teenage campers and their counselors for saving his life when they found him bloodied and injured along this northern california trail. >> if someone didn't find me, i would have, you know, i would have bled out. and they saved my life for a fact. >> 34 year-old shashank upadhyaya still in a lot of pain, but now at home, recovering, reuniting with those quick thinking campers for the first time on gma. >> i honestly cannot express my gratitude to you all. you guys came in like angels. >> it's really nice to see your face and see you smiling. and i mean, the last time i saw you,

you were under a tarp. >> it's really nice to have the finality of you being all right. >> upadhyaya was on his first solo trek up the picturesque lost coast trail last week, when he says he was attacked by another hiker. >> something spooked me. around 10 p.m, i pulled out my bear mace and my two knives, and that's the last thing i remember because i woke back up in the water. >> a group of teenage campers and their two counselors had just started a four day backpacking trip when they say they stumbled upon him, realizing upadhyaya was still in trouble. >> it was pretty intense at the very beginning, but we kind of we all calmed down, got our med kit out, and began to run through our wilderness first aid checklist of evaluating his wounds, talking to him, getting his name, counselors, alerting officials at camp headquarters who rushed to the scene with supplies. >> california fire arriving at the scene about 90 minutes after that distress call, the local sheriff telling abc news the case is still under investigation. i was just very

thankful that they were there, like all of you guys were there. >> it's just amazing you know, all you guys just came out of nowhere and just saved my life. >> morgan norwood, abc news, new york. >> right place at the right time. well, you can once again take a spin on the sky star ferris wheel at fisherman's wharf. the wheel had to be taken apart for upgrades and has been closed for about two weeks, but it reopened today. the 150 foot observation wheel has been open on the wharf since it was moved from golden gate park ahead of aipac back in november. how fun! well, thanks so much for watching abc seven news at three. everybody i'm dion lim. world news tonight with david muir is next. we hope you'll then also stay with us for abc seven news breaking news as we come on the air. the abc news exclusive interview with president biden. the future of his campaign at stake.