vice president kamala harris and

former president donald trump as they face off for their first ever presidential debate, hosted by abc news. here's a live look we have at the national constitution center in philadelphia. the exterior where this is all going to go down now, as you can see on our countdown clock right there in the lower right corner of your screen. it is one hour and 59 minutes before the start of our coverage. and begins at 5:00. good afternoon, i'm kristen z. thanks for joining us. tonight's debate comes as the latest polls show the race in a virtual tie. and many believe what happens tonight could set the course for the remainder of the campaign. today we have team coverage of what to expect, the rules of the debate and what to watch for. so let's begin with abc news reporter christiane cordero, who is in philadelphia for the first time ever, vice president kamala harris and former president donald trump will step into the spotlight a mere six feet apart and with a razor thin gap in the latest polls. >> i think this is a very exciting and nerve wracking. and

there's a lot of tension in this country. >> i think it's going to be interesting to watch. i'm interested to hear what both individuals have to say. >> they each have two minutes to answer each question, two minutes for rebuttal, and an additional one minute for a follow up clarification or response. no audience, no campaign staff allowed in the room. abc's david muir and linsey davis will moderate the debate while sitting below a countdown clock facing the candidates. to prepare, harris has spent the past several days in a pittsburgh hotel running mock debates under full studio lighting, briefly stepping in and out of the campaign trail to push her economic agenda and push back against her opponent. >> there is no floor for him in terms of how low he will go, and we should be prepared for that. we should be prepared for the fact that he is not burdened by telling the truth. >> trump has not held mock debates, instead meeting with advisers and going after harris's record as vice president in the biden administration. >> she will be the worst president. he is the worst president in history. she will

be worse than him. >> as he rallied voters in wisconsin over the weekend, days before heading to philadelphia. >> is anybody going to be watching? >> no. opening statements to kick off the debate, but there will be closing statements. each candidate gets two minutes. the order was decided by a virtual coin toss. trump won and opted to have the last word. christiane cordero, abc news, philadelphia. >> all right, so the stakes are extremely high for both candidates. and joining us live now to talk more about what to look for is abc seven insider phil matier. you know, phil, they always talk about the importance of debates. oh, they don't move the needle that much. yes they do. in this particular case, with these particular candidates, with the history of what has happened and this moment in time, how important is this debate? >> well, it is very important in large part because the last debate really moved the needle. as a matter of fact, it moved the needle. so far completely that president joe biden decided not to continue his candidacy. that is unprecedented in history. so what we have here are people taking the stage in philadelphia. it's going to be a

very controlled i wouldn't call it a debate necessarily. it's going to be a job interview. the moderators are going to be asking questions and these people are going to be responding. the mikes are going to be off in between. so there's not going to be a lot of chance for them to go at each other. so we have, however, is an american public that is split, as you said, even after the biden withdrawal, harris entrance and the big push at the democratic convention, they're still equal even after his assassination attempt on him. and his big convention. they're still equal. so america tonight is doing what it has to do take a good long look at the candidates, and it needs to do. >> all right. so let me ask you in her rallies, harris recently has been really leaning into the whole prosecutor versus the felon thing, right. hey, i've seen donald trump's type. do you think that would be a good strategy for her tonight, or would that be a mistake? should she focus less on him and more on herself? or what do you

think? >> i don't think she has a choice now. she can be the prosecutor. that's how she is. we the people. she's been that for a long time. that's how she she she's operated, but she hasn't used that often in a debate. the last time she really used that was with president joe biden in the democratic primary, when she uttered that big line. i was the girl on the bus that you were friends while you were friends with segregationists. being a prosecutor is effective in the courtroom, but it's not necessarily effective in the court of public opinion. you know, you come across on the attack. that's what people see is the attack. it doesn't necessarily show your best side. and the other problem with it is that donald trump is the equivalent of a car that has been through 12 demolition derbies. i mean, you do seven of these presidential debates. >> no, he's been he's been through trials. >> he's been through scandals. he's been through administrations. he's been impeached twice. he has been about as beat up as you can get. and reminding people of another dent isn't really going to make that much of a impression, because he's still running.

>> but in her case, though, because many of the public members will say, we still don't know too much about her, that is a risk for her, right? >> it is. it it's a challenge for it. it's not a risk. it's a challenge. so america is not going to be selecting the top prosecutor tonight. so her history as being a prosecutor what america is looking for is a leader. and so she has to somehow be a fresh face. she has to say what it is when she says, we want to turn the page and move forward. while at the same time saying that joe biden's administration was great. so it's she has to she has to sell the history and the future at the same time. whereas trump can just lay back and attack. >> let's we cannot address the gender. even though he went wity clinton, why can't we address the gender? >> it's part of the equation. >> yeah, it is front and center. absolutely so how do you think that plays in. right. i mean, he needs to avoid looking misogynistic and looking like donald trump is going to look misogynistic because that's he's never shied away from that before.

>> the norms of past. you just get rid of that. okay. so he could look, you know, does she look like she is. what's the female aggressive. the b-word you know she doesn't. she. does she look like that? does she have to look to women for. exactly, exactly. so she has they both have these this this sort of they have armor and they can double up as baggage when they walk on the stage. yeah. >> well, all right, we are just about out of time. but let me just ask you, you know, it's been a wave of good polling numbers, good feelings for kamala harris since she stepped in for biden. is this a potential juncture where it could continue or go the other way? >> this is probably where we will see both either continue, stay a c on both sides, it stays the same. if one comes up ahead, no one's going to win this debate. the trick is not to lose it. >> i see that's an interesting way to frame that. but i think you're right. i think you are

right. all right. phil. really interesting. we'll both be watching, of course, with our popcorn at the ready and all that kind of good stuff. and we'll be sharing things with our viewers at ten and 11 tonight. so thank you so much. all right. our coverage continues right now with abc news perry russom, who also is going to join us right now from philadelphia. and perry, go ahead and set the mood for us in terms of what's happening there right now. >> yeah. so right now we are in the spin room. this is where some surrogates in both campaigns are talking with reporters, trying to get the word out tonight on what they think is going to happen, what they are expecting from their candidates. that's where we are. the debate is happening at the national constitution center about half a mile from where we are right now. but the entire city is really anticipating tonight. looking forward to tonight. >> all right, perry, tell us a little bit more about the stage and setup. right carefully. yeah. what can you tell us about the final results which we touched on with phil. but you know, who might this favor? explain what it's going to be like.

>> yeah. so i saw the stage yesterday before the end of the day, and it was a pretty intimate setting. it's kind of striking how close they are going to be together about six feet apart. and remember too, this is the first time harris and trump have met each other. the first time they are ever going to talk to each other is tonight. so that is an added element to this. in terms of the podiums trump is a lot taller than harris, so the podium is a little bit larger for him and then her size as well. but when you see them side by side they will be equal with that. >> remember he said something about no standing on an apple box for her. he likes to maintain that stature, dominance, if you will. how did they finally resolve that? is there an apple box for her? because she's a whole foot shorter than him. >> i have not seen an apple box per se. i do not see any box at all. but what they did do is they kind of constructed two podiums. trump's podium is about a foot larger, and harris's is a foot smaller. i'm not sure you're going to be able to tell the difference on tv, but when you have them side by side, they

do look equal. and that's something that they were trying to go for, is make sure that both candidates look equal for the viewers. so everybody is just focusing on what they're saying rather than what they look like. >> can you tell us a little bit about who are the surrogates that will be in the spin rooms to, you know, talk about the debate performance of their candidate afterwards? what do we know about that? >> sure. so i saw anthony scaramucci a few moments ago, who was one of the press secretaries for a very short time for former president trump. and he's been talking with reporters. and one thing that he is kind of warning about, he is in favor of harris here tonight. he is warning of retribution that trump has been talking about over the weekend with retribution for some of his people who he views are not on his side. and scaramucci was saying that he fears that he will be somebody who trump goes after. if trump does win a second term. >> all right, perry russom reporting live for us from philadelphia at the debate scene. thank you so much. and again, you can watch the presidential debate hosted by abc news, moderated by linsey davis and david muir right here on abc seven. our coverage begins at 5:00. you can see that

countdown clock in the corner there. we'll have a full recap of the debate and local reaction on abc seven news at 11. shifting gears now to a story we've been following on the shooting of forty-niners rookie ricky pearsall. today. the 17 year old suspect was in juvenile court for a pretrial conference. this is surveillance video of him the day of the shooting. the hearing only lasted about five minutes, during which the teen waived his right to a speedy trial. he will remain in custody for now. the next pretrial conference is set to take place in two weeks on the 26th. just yesterday, we learned that the teen suspect brought a gun to school. the week prior to pearsall shooting. now this comes a day after pearsall was reunited with the two women who came to his aid in the moments after the shooting. during last night's home opener at levi's stadium, which also happened to be pearsall's 24th birthday. he honored them in a pregame ceremony. he gave signed jerseys to sergeant joel harrell, the officer who heard the shots, and ran to help near union square,

and doctor lucy kornblith, a surgeon at san francisco general hospital. >> i'm just thankful the outcome. i'm thankful he listened. that was a big part of it. him being an athlete, him being used to coaching, it all came together and good people like that in my life are to top off the evening. >> the niners won the game. by the way. pearsall said. i love people like that in my life. if you're wondering, he will remain out for at least three more weeks, though he told the monday night football crew he felt amazing, like he could be back on the field right now. still ahead, firefighters in southern california are battling the triple digit heat as they face several massive wildfires. we'll have the latest on the evacuations in effect and a new tool to reduce wildfire risk. we'll show you a demonstration of the burn bot

grown to more than 9000 acres. that fire sparked yesterday. public works crews started it by accident, actually trying to prevent access to dangerously dry brush. 1400 homes were evacuated in san bernardino county. thousands are still under evacuation because of the line fire and more are preparing to leave. big bear valley is under evacuation warning due to the fire. it spread to more than 23,000 acres in scorching temperatures. 36,000 structures are threatened, but no homes have burned. these intense and damaging wildfires are the reasons pg and e is using a new tool aimed at cutting down wildfire risks in some areas. in july, we showed you the first version of the burn bot, a tank like machine that can burn a

path through wild grass. today, the utility held a live demonstration of the newest version. abc seven news reporter gloria rodriguez was there and explains how this helps us be climate ready and coming up ways to adapt and protect our planet. >> this is the r two in action. you can see a burning path through grass in martinez. in this demo, it's burn bots. second generation controlled burn machine. >> it's a machine to apply technology to the art of prescribed burning and prescribed burning is one of the best ways to create defensible spaces and control where when, and where fires can start and where they can go and where they cannot go. it's one of the best ways to stop wildfires from getting out of control. >> p-g-and-e's and cal fire are testing it to see if they will use it. p-g-and-e's is looking to see if they might be able to use it as an alternative to mowers, or herbicides to treat weeds. invasive species and

shrubs around their facilities. >> it's about the size of a zamboni, and in the same way the zamboni will smooth the ice on a hockey rink. the burn bot is able to essentially create a line of controlled burn, very controlled environment of a burn. so after you'll see the after effects and it leaves a charred black line along the ground and again it's returning good fire to areas where prescribed burns have been used throughout california's history. and so it's a way that we can start to bring that back into the ecosystems and reduce the wildfire risk. >> cal fire still doesn't know if they will use it, but says it could potentially help wildfires if this treats an area or increases the use of prescribed fire for landowners. >> so it could definitely prevent large fires if the projects are in place and completed. whether or not cal fire uses it, that's that is what today is about. >> the co-founder of burn bot tells me it costs less than half $1 million. he says. this is a

production model. they are building a second one and plan to build between 3 and 10 more next year. in martinez, gloria rodriguez, abc seven news. >> now to the weather. as we take a live look outside at conditions. right now, it's a little cooler than yesterday. very fall like. for all the details, let's get to abc seven news. weather anchor spencer christian. >> time now for a look at today's weather. you can see on the satellite radar composite image clouds pushing up against the coastline and beyond the coastline throughout the day. so it's been a bit overcast and sort of a fall like today. you can see that the 24 hour temperature change shows it's quite a bit cooler and virtually all bay area locations than at this time yesterday. now, during the midday hours, it was still pretty cool. we had 60 degrees here in san francisco and lots of low to mid 60s generally across the area. even at midday, so it was a slow to warm up today and even up in the north bay during the midday hours we had temperatures only in the mid to upper 50s, while the inland

areas of the east bay were warming just a little bit into the 60s. so here's a look at our forecast headlines. the next few days will bring us breezy to gusty conditions, and of course, a cooler range of temperatures. misty mornings will be in the forecast for the next several days as we move into this fall. like pattern, with temperatures generally below average even though fall won't start for another 12 days. so this afternoon, even with lingering clouds, we'll see the inland east bay warm up to nearly 80 degrees north bay and south bay. highs will be mainly in the mid to upper seconds right around the bay shoreline. we'll see highs in the upper 60s to low 70s and mainly mid 60s on the coast. and here is the accuweather seven day forecast. and i'll back out of the way so you can see it better tomorrow. we'll have windy conditions in the afternoon, but temperatures will rise a couple of degrees each day going into the end of the week up to friday. still, with temperatures below average for this time of the year. then on saturday we begin another cooling trend and it's going to feel quite autumn like going

into early next week. >> next at three, we're discussing the impact of san francisco's drug crisis. we'll hear about the everyday horror of encountering overdose victims when our partners at the s.f. standard

and its overdose death numbers are through the roof. our media partner, the san francisco standard, reviewed data from the medical examiner's office. it shows 730 people fatally overdosed in public places over the last four years. what that means is many residents and business owners are being exposed to the everyday horror of stumbling across an overdose victim. that's the focus of an in-depth report just published in the standard. joining us live

now in the studio to talk about this report is san francisco standard reporter david korstad. david, i'm sorry. we have some camera issues right now, but i trust that your microphone is on. so we'll pretend we're radio for a second and begin this conversation. why did you decide to look at this issue from the lens of people who accidentally found bodies? >> yeah, we decided to take that focus because we have written a lot about the victims of the overdose crisis. and we find that often that resonates with a small subsection of people in the city. and we kind of got together in the newsroom and thought about what are the ways that this is affecting everybody. how can we get everybody to relate to this crisis? and we were going over this data. we realized, you know, there's probably hundreds if not over a thousand san francisco residents who have actually discovered a dead body, essentially on their doorsteps. and so we decided to take that framing to try to cast a wider

net and involve more people in the discussion. >> right. because they are everyday people doing everyday things. right. and you shared a clip with us that illustrates that so poignantly. it's from a mexican restaurant in the mission. so let's go ahead and roll that. so that, david, you can walk us through what happened here, what we're seeing there. i think this is from last year. >> right, so should i, so. >> oh, yeah. please. >> so if you can see what we're seeing here is there was a long term or a long time customer named rafael cruz. he came in to eat at this mexican restaurant every single day. the owner, all the servers loved him. and one day, they just noticed him start to tip over in his chair. and one of the things that this situation really brought to light for me was, you know, the city has, when we asked them about this, they said, you know, bystanders should be carrying the overdose reversal medication

narcan, and this is kind of an essential part of life threatening emergencies is that bystanders are ready to hop in. and i think this situation kind of revealed how maybe that might not always be the best scenario, because this the owner of this mexican restaurant described to me, pounding on the man's chest, watching his face turn purple and green. and he's he's on the phone with 911 and 9-1-1 tell him to do this and that, and he's freaking out. and the man ended up dying after five days in the hospital. and the owner, you know, still thinks about what he could have done to help that person. and we found so many situations like this where people were trying to help and they just couldn't. >> right. so obviously horrible, horrible for the victims families, but also for the people who had to witness that the lasting impact on the restaurant owner, you talked about psychologically. let me just ask you what kind of changes are needed in addressing mental health that an addiction that kind of came out in your reporting? >> yeah. so we found about a

quarter of these victims had suffered from mental illness and actually many of the people i found in these reports, had constant contact or had very recent contact with the city's medical care. so there was a boy, uh- or 22 year old who had been, at sf general just three days, two days prior to being found in golden gate park. and his mom kind of raised the question about why are these hospitals just discharging people who are suicidal and at risk of overdose, when they were there two days earlier? right. >> david, this is really eye opening, and i encourage folks to check it out. and you can find his story on the san francisco standard, which is at s.f. standard.com, and abc seven will continue to bring you more segments featuring the standard city focused journalism twice a week. right here on abc seven news at three, next at three. it's a whole new era for wheel of fortune. we'll hear from ryan

seacrest and vanna let's go! hustle! is getting started. well, we did that 30 years ago, when california first took on the tobacco industry. this is not just about access. it's about the message it sends... now smoking is down 60 percent. lung cancer 42 percent. a couple of our cities have already ended tobacco sales. a california without big tobacco isn't just possible,

it's already happening.

the ribbon cutting is set for thursday morning to celebrate the completion of its recent renovation. the 853 foot skyscraper was built in the 1970s and has a very distinct shape. the building has been an icon for the city. for more than 50 years. the celebration will include a concert and a public light show on thursday night. okay. in case you missed it, wheel of fortune has a new host. ryan seacrest made his debut last night, but one thing remained the same vanna white. earlier today, abc seven news anchor kumasi aaron spoke to them about the change.

>> this has been seamless and i hope america feels the same way because the only difference is he's a different person. but it's the same game, you know? >> this is the show that you love. this is the game is not changing. we're going to play the game the same way we've been playing it for so many years. this premiere week, there are some surprises. >> ooh. so what are those surprises? you have to tune in and watch right here on abc seven. so here's a look at tonight's primetime lineup for you. our coverage of the presidential debate, hosted by abc news, begins at five. then you can catch a new episode of jeopardy! at eight, followed by ryan and vanna on wheel of fortune at 830. and don't forget to join us for a full wrap up of the debate and local reaction on tonight, breaking news as we come on the air from philadelphia. vice president kamala harris and former president donald trump meeting face-to-face for the first time ever,