♪ good morning. it is saturday, august 22nd. we are taking a live look outside. wow, as the sun rises, hazy, smoky skies as we remain under a microclimate weather alert, under a spare-the-air alert, and all of this could get worse as we head into the weekend. thank you so much for joining us. it is 7:00. i'm kira klapper. vianey arana joins us. so much to cover. >> as you say, a spare-the-air alert is in place for obvious reasons. you can see the view over san francisco. typically it is a shot covered

in fog or clear sky. right now in san francisco it is about 58 degrees. current temperatures throughout in the 60s and 50s, but heading to the afternoon it will be another day in the 90s. i want to show you satellite radar to give you sort of an idea of why we have a fire weather watch that will take effect on sunday. you can see a low pressure system just to our south that is churning. then the interaction with a high pressure system to the east is going to drive some moisture to the bay area. the interaction of those two and the instability in the atmosphere is going to bring another chance of seeing dry lightning in the bay area with the potential for that heading into tomorrow, which is why the national weather service has issued a fire weather watch that will be in place sunday through tuesday because of a chance for fast-moving storms. we are going to take a very close look at that because this is going to, of course, impact the already-burning fires that are out there, what that's going to look like, how the winds will

be kicking up, how the temperatures are going to hold up and what it means for the forecast. i will have the complete details on that in a few minutes. kira, back to you. >> we will see you in about 15. thanks so much. the fires burning and ravaging the bay area show no signs of slowing down. as vianey said, tomorrow we will have a fire weather watch going into effect. just within the last hour we got an update on the lightning complex fire burning in santa cruz and southern san mateo county goes. roz is joining us with the latest. it sounds like there were slightly favorableday and crewso get a little bit of containment. >> reporter: yes, good morning. we are at the base camp where they just wrapped up that briefing. there are bigger numbers that we need to tell you about this morning. first, that fire is up, we are told, now to 63,000 acres.

there's been a little bit of progress in terms of containment of the fire. it has gone from 2% up to 5% now, but it is still a very devastating, very dangerous fire still. let's show you some of the latest pictures we have. of course, it is a massive complex of fires stretching from the shoreline of san mateo county to the mountains of santa cruz county. overnight crews continued working to beat back thelames in the boulder creek area. the flames are lighting up trees next to homes along big basin highway and sending fire into branches and the branches raining down on nearby roofs. the embers are what get caught up in the wind and push the fire along. complicating the situation is a lack of fire hydrants in these mountainous areas so crews have to drive a couple of miles away to fill up their trucks and return to the fight. add to that the terrain is very steep. >> it is the topography, the steepness of the mountains and the heavy fuel.

it is very difficult to do traditional tactics where we can put in large control lines, dozier lines. >> reporter: now, nearly 100 homes and buildings have been destroyed. 77,000, we're told, that's the latest number under a mandatory evacuation in this area. that includes the campus of uc santa cruz. now, back out here live, one of the things that really struck this morning is they don't want people to drive into the area, into the fire area, especially if you are a tourist. they need the roads open for folks who may still need to evacuate, also to bring fire equipment and personnel. they are getting personnel in from out of state to help with the fire. so, again, stay off the roads in the fire area, they're asking you as they continue to fight. live in scots valley, i'm kroz plater, "nbc bay area news." >> roz plater with the very latest. thank you so much. terrible and disgusting, that's what the chief deputy of the santa cruz county sheriff's

office is calling these arrests. these five people caught looting, breaking into evacuated homes along fall creek drive. they had two carloads of stolen items. one of the getaway cars didn't stop for deputies and crashed into a ditch. all five are being charged with looting. with so many fires burning some people are taking it into their own hands to save their own homes. we found long-team boulder creek resident brian garahan working tirelessly to save his home and his neighbor's home. he tells us he spent 24 hours building a 400-yard fire break around at least two homes on west park avenue. when we asked garahan why he stayed behind his answer was simple. >> because i want to save the neighborhood. you know, there's short work and just a little path like this can save one home, two homes, that's enough for me. >> we do want to state that first responders are urging people to heed evacuation orders

and not stay behind. nch . let's give you a glimpse of how many are affected by the fire. as was mentioned, about an hour ago we received word that the czu fire had grown to 63,000 acres but contain meant went up to 5%, 97 structures have been destroyed but 24,000 remain threatened. as of this morning personnel has grown, which is a good thing. they need all of the help they can get. 1,157 people are battling the fire, 77,000 are under mandatory evacuation orders. now we head east to where the scu lightning complex fire is burning in five counties including santa clara, contra costa and alameda counties. the latest numbers are from overnight. we are waiting for an update this morning. 275,000 acres have been scorched. it is 10% contained. so far just five structures have

burned, but more than 20,000 are threatened. in the north bay the lnu lightning complex fire has claimed the lives of four people. more than 300,000 acres have burned. 480 homes are destroyed and another 30,000 remain threatened. containment is up to 15%. at least 43,000 people are evacuated across five counties including napa, sonoma and solano. with lnu five, which by the way is the second largest fire in california state history, the wall ridge fire is one of many that comprises the lnu complex fire. overnight fire crews gave the wall bridge fire the majority of their attention because it has the potential to spread into communities like guerneville. it is burning in the regged

areas of guerneville. there are evacuation orders and warning in the area, but we still met people staying behind watching their property. this woman tells us she is prepared to leave. >> my plan is, this is my car and my husband has the cruiser. we are heading to the river. we have a boat right there, a house boat. so we got it stacked. >> flames on the east side of the fire are moving towards hills burg. cal fire says they expect significant fire growth throughout this weekend. now to the city of san jose where they are teaming up with local hotels to offer discounted rates to evacuees and fire victims. they start at $99 a night and will be offered by 13 local hotels. we have a full list of hotels on our website, nbcbayarea.com. you can find the latest on evacuations there. we are posting them as they come in, as they change. it is a very fluid situation. stick with

nbcbayarea.com/evacuation. just shy of 7:09, we have much more ahead in the bay. fires continuing to grow around the bay area. we will tell you what it means for some people in the south bay. plus, as the flames rage on resources are stretched thin. the reason why there just aren't enough firefighters to contain the flames. fires are raging, all sparked by lightning. >> the road was fully engulfed in flame. >> there's so much haze, smoke and ash. >> they had to close this freeway down. >> this is what firefighters are dealing with. >> download our free nbc bay area app. >> that way you can get all of the alerts we send out. >> if you might have to evacuate, our fire resource page can help you prepare. >> a lot of compassion has to go out to everyone in the midst of these fires. >> for continuining coveragage thee bay area wildfdfires conne withth nbc bay a area. businenesses are startiting to boununce back.

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welcome back. we are looking at -- wow -- the sun rising over palo alto on yet another hazy morning as the bay area continues to be under a microclimate weather alert. we are under a fire weather watch beginning tomorrow, but today a spare-the-air alert as smoke and haze continues to blanket the bay area with many fires burning. we are going to take a closer look at the scu complex fire burning in five counties including santa clara, alameda and contra costa counties. as it continues to move through

parts of the south bay, some communities are breathing more easily, some are starting to get more nervous. everything is changing by the day, but we do know that resources are an issue. "today in the bay" cheryl hurd with that coverage. >> we highly recommend you evacuate now because there is only one way in an one way out. >> reporter: police officers making sure people who live in morgan hills jackson oaks neighborhood are taking the warning seriously. >> if everybody waits to the last minute it could get very backed up. >> i'm trying my best to get what i can out, important stuff. >> reporter: grace who is just coming home from work says she is getting documents ready for packic. >> pictures, social security cards, birth certificates, legal documents, stuff like that. >> reporter: the lightning complex fire is making its way over the san jose hills on thursday. >> yesterday the fire made a little bit of a push to the south, more of a push to the east. >> reporter: as it moves deliberately through the san

jose foot hills a different set of fires are being fought along the coyote creek, taking precious resources away from the dangerous and deadly complex fire. >> fires that should be having well over 1,000 firefighters on them are trying to get along with 500 firefighters until resources get here from other areas of the state and from out of the stachte. we know we have help coming but we don't know when it is going to get here exactly. >> reporter: cheryl hurd, "nbc bay area news." we have much more ahead on "today in the bay." coming up, if you are planning to go to the coast, don't. the message to visitors hoping to head to santa cruz county and san mateo county's beaches as the fires rage on. and i'm tracking the air quality. the fire weather watch taking effect tomorrow with the timing and potential for dry lightning storms in the bay area will look like, a closer look at that coming up in a few minutes. stay with us. (birdsds chirping)g)

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welcome back. a live look over san francisco on this saturday morning. clouds, haze, smoke, everything being thrown at the bay area right now because of the fires burning for the seventh day now. pink skies, as we look ahead to vianey's forecast in about a minute, with poor air quality, a spare-the-air alert, lots to cover. we'll get to her in a moment. first, as thousands of firefighters are working tirelessly on the front lines of the fires, the governor assures there is some good news. reinforcements are on the way. just yesterday the governor detailed the more than 500 fires from thousands of lightning strikes last sunday now cover an area about the size of rhode island. but the state will be offering support. >> we now are engaged formally with mutual aid from ten different states.

we've been on the phone with governors all throughout the united states, not just the western states, trying to reach out as far as the east coast to see if we can get resources here into the state of california. >> currently about 96% of cal fire engines are in use. the governor also said the state is working on an agreement with the u.s. forest service for additional forest management. we've talked all week about the lack of resources for firefighters. to give you some perspective, we spoke with a cal fire official about the czu fire burning in santa cruz and san mateo counties. he told us there are 1,000 fire personnel working on the fire overnight. we found overnight it grew to 1,157 personnel. it would be an adequate number for a fire measuring 5,000 acres, but the czu fire is ten times that size, 50,000 acres. we are told that would normally require up to 9,000 firefighters to combat. no weekend trip to the beach if that's what you are looking

for. san mateo county has shut down its beaches and is asking visitors to stay away. beaches also are closed because of coronavirus over the last july 4thth weekend as well, but this weekend county leaders want to avoid traffic problems especially on evacuation routes. about 5,000 people who live in the area have been moved out. parts of highway 1 are closed. the last thing the county needs is for ambulances or fire trucks to be impeded by beach traffic. a look now at microclimate forecast. we remain under a microclimate weather alert with so much going on. vianey, i will give it over to you. >> you know what, speaking about the beach, it wouldn't be a good day to go to the beach. the air quality is bad outdoors, so you want to remain indoors if possible. right now in san jose, i mean at this point it is very hard to

miss the smoke in the air. you can feel it, you can smell it. 65 degrees right now in san jose. the spare-the-air alert is in place today, will remain in effect through tomorrow. the north bay, bay and coast, east bay look at the numbers, 105. this is all based on a range, a number unhealthy for sensitive groups is usually below 150. look at the south bay and santa clara valley, all above the 150 mark which means it is unhealthy for everybody. at that point we are in the red zone. keep it in mind. if you are outside for any reason, try to limit the time. as far as microclimate highs for this afternoon, we are not tracking any extreme heat watches or warning. we will remain in the 80s or 90s. the satellite radar is going to give us the picture and idea of what we're monitoring just to our south. this is what is going to bring the biggest concern heading into tomorrow. so if you notice just to the south off in the gulf of mexico, you can see sort of the remnants there of what used to be a hurricane. now we're going to see the

remnants of that, that tropical moisture push into the bay area, moving from south to north. because of that we will see instability in our atmosphere, and that has triggered from the national weather service a fire weather watch, which means we are going to look out for the chance of thunderstorms, fast-moving thunderstorms and maybe even dry lightning as well. right now the model runs are looking like we won't get a lot of rain from the system, but there is a possibility we could get some rain around the coastline. let's get to the explanation of what we're monitoring. genevieve, again, just off the gulf of mexico. no longer a hurricane, that has since fizzled, but the remnants of the low pressure system are now going to flow northward in our direction passing really coast around the coastline near the l.a. area down in southern california as well. that surge in tropical moisture is what helps fuel the chance of seeing the instability that can develop these thunderstorms, much like what we saw last weekend when it came to the dry lightning. now, we have a ridge of high

pressure to our east. pair those two together, that will bring the instability. if we do end up seeing some rain that does end up hitting the ground and doesn't precipitate before hitting the ground, it will bring a concern, although we need the rain with all of the fires burning, it could bring a concern for minor debris flow in some areas, especially down in southern california. so a lot to unpack there. as far as the timing for the storms, tonight we will be okay, primarily seeing the high clouds rolling in later this evening. again, the smoky conditions, and then the real threat will move in, it looks like right now according to model runs, sunday around the time the fire weather watch takes effect, which is around 11:00 a.m. we will keep that in place through monday with a chance for, you know, thunderstorms and lightning, even heading possibly into tuesday when we see a second surge as well in the threat for that. overall, inland temperatures in the 90s today. again, we will keep a very close eye on this. i will have another update on how that's looking coming up in

my second view there. back to you. >> that's a very scary thought to think we could be reliving what we saw last sunday, vianey. i know you will stick with us and give us the latest. we will see you again in a few minutes. it is 7:22 right now. still ahead on "today in the bay" a four-decade nightmare comes to an end. the golden state killer was sentenced and took off his mask to address h his v victims.

welcome back. many nonessential businesses in san francisco are on the brink of closing after learning the city will remain on the state's covid watch list for the foreseeable future. hair salons, publ owners alike are begging the state for answers and guidance. some workers tell us a simple timeline of when they could possibly move businesses inside in some capacity would be helpful. weather also is having an impact on places like this, mccarthy's

public. they're fortunate to have outdoor seating but have had to close this week because of the smoke in the air. >> it is just that unknown. it would make things a lot easier for us i think if we had some idea of when we are able to go back inside. just limited, safe, distanced, inside. >> so owners like that woman, eileen mccarthy, wonder if and when she will ever be able to open her doors inside and have business back to regular numbers. the covid outbreak that swept san quentin prison is stabilizing. there are now 37 active cases with just three of them developing this month. at one point the prison was struggling to manage more than 2,000 cases and was the biggest covid hot spot in the nation. the huge outbreak began june 1st when a bus load of inmates from southern california was transferred to san quentin, bringing virus with them. since then 25 inmates have died as well as one corrections officer who lived in san jose.

he terrorized women in the bay area and across california for years, and now the man known as the golden state killer will spend the rest of his life in prison. a judge sentenced joseph deangelo to the harshest penalty possible, 11 consecutive life sentences with no chance of parole. deangelo admitted to killing at least 13 people and raping at least 50 women in the 1970s and '80s. just yesterday deangelo removed his mask briefly and addressed his victims saying he was, quote, truly sorry for those he hurt. jennifer carroll was one of those who witnessed his sentencing. >> he got what he deserved except he needs to be in general population because he needs to see himself in the image of people around him. >> deangelo evaded authorities for four decades. he finally was arrested in 2018 thanks to a new form of dna tracking. facing public backlash to

recent changes, post master general louis dejoy testified before a senate finance committee yesterday. democrats demanded to know whether he is delaying mail delivery for political reasons ahead of the election. a trump donor with no experience, he was forced to suspend cost-cutting after the post office was caught removing boxes and sorting machines. >> deliver 33 million pieces of mail a day. so 150 million ballots over the course of a week is a very small amount. >> dejoy insists many changes were routine and approved before he took office. we should mention that the u.s. house is meeting today to try to move ahead voting on money for the u.s. postal service. we will keep you updated on that vote today. we have much more ahead for

you on "today in the bay." comiming up, the fire fight rag on. some neighbors waiting to leave, others leaving in a hurry and coming home to nothing. also fire weather warning have been issued because more lightning could be headed our way tomomorrow. ♪ try y my $4 minini munchiess with mararinara or r ranch. baback at jackck in the bob.

♪ try y my $4 minini munchiess with mararinara or r ranch. baback at jackck in the bob. ♪ good morning. it is saturday, august 22nd. a live look over haze walnut creek. we have poor air quality across the bay area, of course, one week of fires burning across the bay area. thank you for starting your morning with us. i'm kira klapper. we want to bring you a bit of lefty this morning but unfortunately the weather is not the place to find it. we will turn to a joyful face though, vianey arana with the microclimate forecast. >> we have that poor air

quality, active wildfires burning, and not to mention we are dealing with the possibility of seeing dry lightning yet again on an already -- i mean it is a very impacted northern california. the spare-the-air alert is in place today. notice from the north bay down to the east bay it is unhealthy for sensitive groups. in the south bay, the santa clara valley, we are in the red zone at this point, unhealthy for everybody. we will keep a close eye on that. the big concern heading into the afternoon won't be the threats of thunderstorms. we will remain quiet. we will see the smoke, the high clouds rolling in, no heat warning. the temperatures will be in the 80s for the south bay. san francisco at about 73. you do want to limit your outdoor activity, of course, because of the air quality. i want to show you satellite radar. it doesn't look like much, but if you pay attention to the gulf of mexico we have remnantsas a . we will see that push from south

to north. the interaction of the instability with the ridge of high pressure to our east is going to trigger enough fuel to potential fire up what we have called dry lightning, what we call dry lightning. it is very similar to what we saw last weekend so i will go into more detail in the full forecast. thank you. >> a scary thought. thank you, vianey. as vianey said we will be under a fire watch because of the possibility of a second sunday in a row with lightning strikes. in the case of the czu fire, firefighters were able to make slight progress in their fight overnight. we got an undate abopdate and r joins us with the update. >> reporter: cal fire was able to get satellite images to give them a better picture of what is going on with the massive fires. that means there are two changes in the important numbers. first, that is the number of

acreage. we are told it is now up to 63,000 acres. a little bit of a small victory, good news in terms of containment though, that stands at 5%, up from 2% yesterday. still a very devastating fire. let's show you some of the recent video we have of the massive complex fire actually that stretch to the mountains of santa cruz county. overnight crews continued to beat back flames in the boulder creek area. the trees are lighting up and sending embers into the wind, pushing the fire along. complicating all of this is a lack of fire hydrants in these mountainous areas. crews have to drive a couple of miles away, fill up their trucks and return to the fight. the fire came within a mile of the uc campus, forcing everyone to be moved out.

>> we are in a holding pattern, waiting to see what happens next in the situation. we are starting to layout our plans if there is more evacuation on the west side. >> reporter: now, sadly, nearly 100 homes and buildings have been destroyed. 77,000, we are told, are under mandatory evacuation orders. that is the latest as of this morning. again, we are here at the incident base camp which is where they're organizing everything. they're asking us to remind you to stay out of the fire area. they need the roads open for those who may still need to evacuate. also, they're beginning to get in some fire personnel from out of state. so, again, stay off the roads, stay out of the fire area. that's what they're asking us to do and pass along to you. for now live in scots valley, i'm roz plater, "nbc bay area news." >> thank you for that information, roz. terrible and disgusting. that's what the chief deputy of the santa cruz county sheriff's office is calling these arrests. these five people on your screen were caught looting, breaking

into evacuated homes along fall creek drive in felton. they had two carloads of stolen items. one of the getaway cars didn't stop for deputies and ended up crashing into a ditch. all five are being charged with looting. with so many fires now burning people are taking it into their own hands to save their own homes. yesterday we found one long-time boulder creek resident, brian garrahan, working tirelessly to save his and his neighbors home. he told us he spent the last 21 hours building a break around two homes on his street. when asked why he stayed behind, his answer was simple. >> because i want to save the neighborhood. you know, there's short work and just little -- a little path like this can save one home, two homes, that is enough for me. >> we should though note that first responders are urging people to heed evacuation orders and not stay behind.

all right. we want to give you a picture of how many people are being impacted by these fires. we have some newly-updated numbers from cal fire this morning. the czu fire in santa cruz and san mateo counties has reached 63,000 acres. containment is up to 5% from 2% overnight. 97 structures have been destroyed. more than 24,000 still remain threatened. they got a little bit of help. they are now up to 1,157 personnel on the fire line. 77,000 are under mandatory evacuation orders. the scu complex fire, burning in five counties including santa clara, contra costa and alameda counties, is at 275,000 acres. containment stands at 10%. so far only five structures have burned, but more than 20,000 are threatened, and people are under evacuation orders there. to the north bay we go where the collection of fires being called the lnu complex has

turned deadly. four people have died, and this, by the way, is the second largest fire in california state history. more than 314,000 acres have burned. we just got that update minutes ago. 560 homes have been destroyed. another 30,000 are threatened. containment is up to 15%. a little glimmer of good news there. at least 43,000 people remain evacuated. sticking in the north bay now, that lnu fire which is second largest fire in california state history, is comprised of many fires including this one, the wall bridge fire. overnight fire crews gave the wall bridge fire the majority of their attention because it has the attention to spread into healdsburg and guerneville. it is burning in the rugged hills north of guerneville so there are evacuation orders in that area. we did meet people sticking

behind, watching their homes, ready to leave at a moment's notice. >> my plan is -- so this is my car and my husband has the fj cruiser. we are heading to the river. we have a boat, a house boat. we have it stacked. >> flames on the east side of the fire are moving towards healdsburg. cal fire says they expect significant growth throughout the weekend. still to come on "today in the bay" we will lighten things up with the a's and the giantnt playaying goodd baseballl for a change. sports is s next.

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♪ i know w you're waiaiting on the o other side e ♪ ♪ i'm like e you on-demand glglucose moninitor. becacause they'r're always o. another lilife-changining technologygy from abbobott. so youou don't waiait for li. you live i it. we have a bit of good news to share with you this morning. you may remember teddy, the big teddy bear hit in the head with the foul ball during thursday night's a's game. he is doing just fine. we want to show you video. there he is sitting in the stands at last night's angel's game in oakland, head bandaged up. otherwise, a-okay.

as for the game, piscotty led the team with three rbis on the night as the a's beat the angels, 5-3. the a's continuing the winning street. across the bay the giants haven't been doing so well, looking to extend the current win streak to four games. longoria got them on the board first with a two-run homer. d backs would tie it up with florez putting the giants up with this shot of his home. the giants win, 6-2. coming up this morning on "today in the bay", we got new early morning numbers updating the czu complex fire. we will go back to roz plater with a live report from scots valley. i'm monitoring the air quality and our next big threat, which is the potential for more dry lightning in the bay area.

with already active wildfires burning, what does it mean for us? what are we expecting? i will have the full forerecastn yourur seven-dayay forecastt co up in a a few m minutes. stay with h us.

good saturday morning. we have a lot to unfold, but i'm going to guide you through it to help you better understand why we're under a microclimate weather alert and what you can expect and how to prepare for the weekend. let's take a look. obviously we are seeing the poor air quality throughout. unfortunately, we have a lot of wildfires burning nearby and an impact that will make its way into sunday. let's look right now at san francisco. 57 degrees. you can see the orange glow that has been very apparent the past several days. right now over san jose, about 66 degrees. we are not under any heat watches or warning. today's temperatures overall will be in the 80s and 90s, pretty dry. but the spare-the-air alert is in place. so from the north bay down to the east bay, we are talking about unhealthy air quality especially for sensitive groups.

down to the south bay and santa clara valley seeing the worst air quality there. in the red, unhealthy for everybody. keep it in mind if you are headed outdoors. as far as the temperature highs for today, we will see the smoke drifting. 87, san jose. concord, 93. clear lake, 95. ukiah, 96. we saw the wind sort of begin to taper off, but there is a change coming. we are not tracking any rain for today necessarily. we will see primarily high clouds start to roll into the bay area. if you look down at satellite radar near the gulf of mexico, you can see sort of that spinning low pressure system. that's what was hurricane genevieve. now we will see that, remnants of that low pressure system start to push from south to north. that's what is going to bring the impact and instability to the bay area that has triggered this fire weather watch. the possibility of seeing thunderstorms and dry lightning will very much kick in, especially with the main impact being sunday right around 11:00,

12:00. so right around when the fire weather watch kicks in, we will see fast-moving storms. now, right now it doesn't look like we will get much rain from this, but with the amount of fires that are already actively burning, as these storms, rapid storm systems begin to develop, we will probably see the gusty conditions yet again, dry lightning. depending on its interaction around the cost, we have a ridge of high pressure and low pressure interacting. let's look at what is bringing this. again, we are seeing the remnants of that. i don't want you to get nervous, it is no longer a hurricane. it has since fizzled out. but the impacts of this will make their way up to the bay area. if you notice where it says tropical moisture, that surge there, that interaction of the low pressure system with the high pressure system just to our east is what is going to fire up the possibility of seeing some dry lightning. so a couple of things that i want you to keep in mind. we saw the impact of the thousands of lightning strikes that we saw last weekend. i want you to keep these things in mind.

be ready to leave at a moment's notice. have that bag ready to go. bring your emergency kit. think about the important papers. of course, think about the possibility of not having power. we are seeing a couple of power outages spark as well because of that. over the next seven days this is what we're tracking. again, tonight we will just see primarily the high clouds roll in. we should be okay with that smoke. but by tomorrow we will be really looking at that possibility of the storms developing shall a developing. and if we see that develop off the coast, closer to the coast, that's good, we need the rain, but it may also trigger the possibility of seeing some debris flows, especially down through southern california and in the already-impacted areas where we've seen the fires burning that have been put out. now that debris flow will possibly also be another factor we are monitoring. this will remain through tuesday. i will have another look at this and we'll walk through it coming up again towards the end of the

newscast. i'll send it back to you, kira. >> thanks so much, vianey. we continue to follow cal fire's progress in fighting the fires in santa cruz and santa clara counties. our roz plater is standing by to bring us an in-depth look.

firefighters are not getting a break in these nearly week-long fires they've been battling. in santa cruz county crews made a bit of progress overnight, increasing the containment in the czu fire thanks to what they

called favorable conditions. we turn to "today in the bay's" roz plater to bring us the latest from overnight. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. new satellite images cal fire has, and they have new numbers. key among those, the acreage now 63,000 acres in the fire, a small victory in terms of the containment, up to 5% from 2%. they have 1,100 personnel working on the fire at the moment, we're told. let's show you what they're up against in the massive complex of fires that stretches from the shoreline of san mateo county to the mountains of santa cruz county. crews continued working overnight to beat back the flames in the boulder creek area. the flames are lighting up trees next to homes along big basin highway, sending fire into branches, and then the embers are getting caught in the wind and pushing the fire along. complicating the situation is a lack of fire hydrants in these mountainous areas here. so crews have to drive a couple

of miles away to fill up their trucks and then return to the fight. add to that, the steep terrain. >> due to the topography, the steepness of the mountains and the heavy fuels, it is very difficult to do traditional tactics where we can put in large control lines, dozer lines, hand lines. >> there is nearly, we are told, 100 homes and buildings that have been destroyed and a number of mandatory evacuations, 77,000 of those. now, as those evacuations could possibly continue as well as they are now getting a few firefighters, they say, trickling in from out of state, they are asking us to ask you to stay off the roads and the highways in the fire area. they need those open to bring in fire equipment and personnel and also to accommodate anybody trying to evacuate. live in scots valley. i'm roz plater, "nbc bay area news." >> as they said, if you are looking to come to the coast this weekend, don't. thank you, roz, for that update.

>> reporter: yes. the demand for meals, as you might imagine, is increasing and the salvation army is stepping up in a big way. we have pictures from the salvation army's napa valley culinary training. they prepared more than 1,300 meals for firefighters and families who were evacuated. after covid hit, they started preparing 500 meals a day and the demand is on the rise as fire spreads and impacts tens of thousands of locals. the culinary training academy is a four-month program designed to help those who have overcome addiction and homeless game skills. what about the smoke? we will shahare some expertt ade from a vetet next.

welcome back.

even if your home isn't threatened by the wildfires all around us right now, the air you are breathing is. air quality remains at unhealthy levels across the bay area, and not just for people but for their pets as well. chris chmura has advice from a bay area veterinarian. >> reporter: kira, good morning. the smoky air is bad for lungs in both people and animals. that goes for all of our pets, but especially certain dog breeds. we talked with dr. crystal heath, a veterinarian at berkley humane. she says dogs with short snouts like pugs and english bulldogs are especially vulnerable to breathing problems and heat stroke. she says it is important to keep pets indoors with windows closed as much as possible even if you don't have air conditioning. >> getting a fan on them, keeping them moist with a fan blowing is a great way to keep them cool. keeping the windows closed, even with the windows closed and everything, the soot, the air

quality is so bad. it comes into your house. probably it is a good idea to avoid too much of long walks out there right now. >> reporter: also, keep a close eye on your pet's overall health. the epa says to call your veterinarian if you notice yours having trouble breathing, coughing, gagging or difficulty walking. california vets, by the way, were recently approved to do telemedicine so covid-19 concerns should not stand in the way of seeing the vet. side note, it is also a good idea to make sure your emergency go bag includes a few days worth of pet food and a couple of favored toys. back to you, kira. >> great information, chris. we always want to remember our furry animals. speaking of, it is time for our clear the shelter segment featuring our friends from pets in need. this is a funny one. meet kira klapper. there she is in black. and rick! these pets in need named these cats after my producer rick and

myself. they are 17 weeks old. they came in as strays. pets in need rescued them from a shelter in the central valley. we are told they are both shy but sweet. rick, of the two of us, is the more playful one. he loves playing with toys. pets in need would love for rick and kira to be adopted together, if you are able to welcome them into your home go to petsi petsinneed.org. some are offering virtual meet and greets. you can find a list of participating shelters on nbcbayarea.com. click on the clear the shelters tab on top of the home page. before we go, vianey, you said you are going to provide an update of the weather on your facebook page, right? >> that's right, kira. i want to send a special

invitation to our viewers to join me on instagram live and facebook live at 8:30. i will bee reviewiwing the conditionsns and whahat wee are exexpecting h heading into t th weatheher watch totomorrow. .

narrator: when you see this symbol you know you're watching television that is educational and informational. the more you know on nbc. dylan: welcome to "earth odyssey". i'm dylan dreyer. get ready to travel around the world. today on "earth odyssey", we head back to some of our favorite, most fascinating, and coldest regions on earth. first, we slide into some fun with penguins in patagonia and see how their daily life is more than just survival. plus, we head for the himalayas, where blue sheep and snow leopards rule the grassy and foggy regions, but which animal really reigns supreme? we'll then head to the locals of the himalayas and explore the sensitive and powerful relationship