♪ right now at 8:00, flames forcing more people out of their homes as fire crews offer a grim prediction about what's in store. >> this is an absolute marathon that we are embarking on. >> as the flames rage on, smoke fills the bay area skies with e for more lightning remains the biggest concern. the news at 8:00 starts right now. good evening, everyone. thanks for joining us. >> even if we don't live in the burn area, these fires are affecting us all. coming up in just a few minutes we'll take a look at air quality across the bay area and how

quickly it can go from bad to worse. >> thanks so much. new video tonight from the north bay showing flames burning out of control. firefighters continue to work around the clock. >> yeah. and it's not just the north bay. fires are burning in parts of santa clara county and the east bay along with santa cruz, san mateo counties. that's the czu fire. and tonight we've learned a body has been found in the fire wreckage. >> we have team coverage tonight of all these fires. let's begin with fire fighterma in scotts valley. >> reporter: and it was some very close call for one homeowner in boulder creek tonight. it was very scary just off the road here off highway 9 we watched as flames headed right to the home. this is what it looked like in boulder creek just a couple of hours ago. the flames were burning a fence, and we did not see any fire crews around. but ten minutes later cal fire crews showed up and attacked the

flames with shovels and water preventing the flames from burning the house. but it's not just firefighters working to save homes. michael and his friend said they used shovels and rakes to save at least two homes in boulder creek. >> we've been seeing homes on the brink of being burnt down. these flames are moving really slowly and the structures and buildings are really close. so we try to create a fire line right by the fire. >> reporter: so far the fire has destroyed 163 homes and other buildings. and tonight it's threatening 24,000 others. sadly, as you mentioned, santa cruz county sheriff's deputies say they discovered the body of a 70-year-old man in last chance road in davenport. his name has not been released. firefighters say they did make progress today in part because the weather cooperated and they were able to establish a

secondary line on the south end near uc santa cruz. also 60 engines from out of state showed up today and 26 more are on the way. and national guard teams are expected to arrive here on wednesday. and some more good news. it even rained here in scotts valley for a short time. so that of course is going to help the firefighters' efforts. but the big concern tonight is the threat of lightning strikes starting even more fires. reporting live in scotts valley, marianne favro, nbc bay area news. >> before you go, had a quick question what you saw up in boulder creek. did this fire look like it was part of a fire line as the fire was progsuccessiressing or kind spot fire? >> reporter: well, it looked to us as though the fire was coming down through the dense trees and it had made its way all the way down to the ground to where highway 9 is.

and then it was going back up toward the home. so it looked like there wasn't any fire line near that area. it just looked like it had been a hot fire that had made its way in between all of those trees. but like we said, there were no fire crews in sight for miles. and then finally they showed up and they were able to save that home. >> hearing those firefighters i know that keeping the fire on one side of highway 9 is very important to them. if you were outside, you saw it and you smelled it and from this shot you can see it, smoke shrouding the bay area today. air quality becoming a major concern. this is a live look from our emeryville camera, and somewhere out there we still believe there is san francisco. but the biggest threat is the potential for more lightning. let's bring in chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. >> reporter: it's going to be one of those things where it would be hit and miss situations. some of us could get lightning strikes while others don't see anything at all. as we start off right now, i did

want to get out the fire warning in effect until 5 item tomorrow for that chance of some isolated lightning. now, the second thing i want to transition to is the radar. this has become a lot more active. we have seen some light to moderate rainfall moving through the bay area. i have not seen any lightning strikes over the past two hours. so there is a little bit of good news. we're getting some light showers to at least clear out the air quality for a little bit here. the wind is picking up though as this rain is moving in. we've seen gusts of 20 to 40 miles per hour. some of these showers definitely could develop some rainfall in napa through 8:47 tonight. the thing we are worried about though is lightning. there is a little bit more of some severe aspects off to the south with lightning strikes. we're going to keep a close eye on that. and coming up in ten minutes i'll have a look at the fire lines and the weather we can expect and a closer look at those fire perimeters and where some of those hot spots are

located right now. i'll wrap all this up for you coming up in about ten minutes. >> even if you don't live close to the fires, it's hard to ignore the impact they have on our air quality. anoushah? >> terry, that's right. everyone's being affected by these smokey skies. and we want to show you just how quickly the air quality changed throughout the day just today. here's the first image for you. take a look at this map. this is from the bay area air quality management district. and this one's from this morning at 11:00. you can see most of the bay area covered in yellow. yellow being moderately unhealthy air. and then we have got some red, the unhealthy air in places like vacaville near the lnu complex fire. four hours later, wow, big change from this morning. most of the bay area covered in red and even some purple, which is very unhealthy conditions, moving toward antioch. and then as we made our way into the evening, some improvement during the 5:00 hour for people on the peninsula and in san

francisco. but for folks in antioch and unfortunately in livermore, unhealthy and even hazardous air. let's get to some video from pleasanton which was shot earlier this evening. you can see just how hazy the skies were. some of the worst air quality in the bay area tonight. the smokey air is a big concern for fire evacuees, some of whom, believe it or not, are camping outside. the firefighters say they are working to get them all indoors. >> and we had talked about schools and things like that because they're vacant right now because of the covid issues. there are some other facilities that might be utilized that might be helpful to utilize in that aspect. >> coming up at 8:30, we'll break down how the smokey skies are both helping and hampering the fire fight up in the north bay. we'll see you then. >> thanks, anoushah. the walbridge part is

forcing schools to close tomorrow. that means not even distance learning because of the mass evacuations. the following schools will be closed. also el molino high school will also be shut down. new evacuations tonight have been issued for people east of morgan hill on the east side of 101 as the scu lightning complex continues to grow. nbc bay area's sergio cquitana s monitoring this. >> reporter: the good news on this fire is that the forecasted high winds from those red flag warnings never really materialized today. but the bad news means that the smoke has parked over this fire and much of the bay area. and that's causing some other problems. the latest communities to feel the effects of this expanding fire are people who live just east of morgan hill. they got the order to evacuate

late this afternoon. >> we were somewhat apprehensive about what to do. but we had been planning for the last few days, got our vehicles parked elsewhere. >> reporter: the lingering smoke has made it difficult to fight this fire from the air. air tankers had to be grounded because of poor visibility. on the ground, crews from across the state and from neighboring states continued to arrive to help. >> currently we have just about 90 engines from several different states. i think eight different states, washington, oregon, texas, new mexico, idaho, montana, utah. >> reporter: more are on this way. national guard troops will also be added. and fire commanders are already gearing up for a long hard fight because of the sheer size of this fire already one of the biggest in california history, and the other fires burning in the region. now in, just the last 45 minutes or so, we have started to feel a little bit of a breeze coming through here and some sprinkles

as well. but very good news so far, no lightning strikes. reporting live i'm sergio quintana, nbc bay area news. >> it is good news. well, this map shows how close the evacuation warning zone from the scu complex fire is in livermore and pleasanton. parts in red under mandatory evacuation. the area in yellow is an evacuation warning area. you can see how close it's getting to the tri-valley area. people there being told be prepared to leave. california is getting reinforcements in the form of national guard troops. this picture was tweeted today of cal fire issuing protective gear to 270 guard soldiers. the troops are undergoing hand crew training on the central coast. they will soon be supporting state and local firefighters. we're sending alerts with the latest information on the fires. you can download our free nbc bay area app to get them sent straight to your phone. still ahead, flames forcing

thousands out of their homes tonight. we'll bring you a live update on the lnu fire burning in the north bay. plus, just a heartbreaking story. a firefighter risking his life on the fire lines becomes the victim of a crime. why he didn't even know it until hours later. i am chief meteorologist jeff ranieri tracking showers right now and the forecast on the fire lines. we'll give you everything you need to know on that coming up in about 8 eights. and nbc bay area responds can help. we've put together a new resource page on our website. just go to nbcbayarea.com and click the wildfire resources tab. and bookmark the page. there you'll find a lot of good advice like what to put in your go bag, important insurance information, and much more. being fire ready means having a experience the ultimate sports hub.

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the lnu fire burning in the north bay is stretching into new territory. this is a look at exactly where the group of fires are burning tonight. napa, sonoma, and solano counties are bracing for the worst during this dangerous weather. the town of healdsburg is hoping the flames stay west of 101. all 27,000 are under evacuation warnings or orders tonight.

tom? >> reporter: and most of those orders were on the west side of 101 that way. many of them have been downgraded to warnings today. although there still are a lot of evacuation orders, still a lot of active fire. we are in that destructive zone in that path of the fire earlier today on that side of 101. and people who live in healdsburg on this side of the highway are hoping that winds do not shift and push that fire's path this way right down towards downtown healdsburg. the fires burning inched closer overnight. a constant air attack durin day. and stories of homes going up in flames, many just a few miles away as the walbridge fire continues to force evacuations. >> i live in this town because i used to teach here. >> reporter: this retired teacher and her friends, two area winery workers, hoping those flames don't get any

closer. but they know the winds have been strong and unpredictable. and they know what another fire on the southeast end of the lnu complex did just days ago blowing the blaze right across interstate 80. >> it could blow over like it did in vacaville. that's happened before in 2007. >> reporter: emily's former hometown santa rosa devastated in the deadly north bay fires less than three years ago. >> the lightning is the hard part because all of this started from lightning strikes that happened last sunday. >> reporter: with thunder and lightning in the forecast, anything could happen with the winds both in terms of force and direction. >> so we're just waiting to see what happens. are. >> reporter: and many hoping that if there are rain with those storms, it would definitely help with the fire, but it is a catch 22 here in wine country. because if we do get rain in this heat, could cause the grapes that are on the vine and ready for harvesting right now

to get mold and ruin the crop. we're live in healdsburg, thom jensen, nbc bay area news. >> what a situation, thom, thank you very much. we are talking now about the woodward fire continuing to burn out of control. today the incident command postand base camp have been moved to san geronimo out of the evacuation warning area. this kind of move is common as fires spread. the woodward fire is 5% contained. exhaustion a major concern for fire crews. a lot of crews spending 48 hours on the fire line. usually they spend 24 hours. take a look at this map. you can see where these fires are burning in the north bay, the lnu lightning complex fire. they picked up 735 more firefighters today. but cal fire says there should

be 3,000 firefighters on that fire alone. take a look at the scu complex fire. more than 1,200 firefighters on it, and they picked up 118 fires. that came in very handy along the coast 1,300 firefighters going up against the czu complex fire. 323 more firefighters compared to where it was on friday. still significantly lower than the number of crews cal fire says should be on this fire. leaders in santa cruz county say they are angry and heartbroken over what happened to a firefighter. so far eight people have been arrested for looting in santa cruz county. the santa cruz county sheriff did not mince words about his feelings about looters. >> it takes a special person to wake up in the morning and say i'm going to go victimize and traumatize people who have already been through everything that this community's been through. and generally i would say the district attorney and myself have a lot of empathy for most

people, but i have no empathy, i have no patience for somebody who's going to come into our community and steal from people. >> the county's district attorney says looters will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. the comments coming after a firefighter made a troubling discovery. here's nbc bay area's roz plater with the story. >> reporter: along highway 9 in the fire evacuation area, we spotted law enforcement officers pulling over and questioning drivers. some of those officers were in unmarked vehicles. >> burglary suppression was kind of the name of our game. >> reporter: santa cruz county deputies say they now have got dozens of officers patrolling the area. today 60 from santa cruz county, another 34 from mutual aid. >> we have folks who are trying to prey on people that have evacuated. and so we want to focus on that. >> reporter: and we've learned it's not just evacuees they are preying on but they may also be

targeting firefighters who are . >> it's unfortunate and sickening that one of our ground commanders in that area, while out taking care of business and directing fire fighting crews somebody entered his vehicle, his department vehicle and stole his wallet and drained his bank account. >> reporter: investigators tell us that incident happened overnight at the bonnie dune fire station and they are looking for a suspect. the news prompted outrage from residents on social media. one resident writing this is just disgusting. these people are fighting for our community. another saying this is just horrible to hear. i'm at a loss for words. >> and it's absolutely disgusting behavior. frankly, i can't believe that somebody would actually have the nerve to break into a firefighter's vehicle or enter their vehicle to steal something from them when they're there to protect the community. honestly it blows me away. >> reporter: i'm roz plater, nbc bay area news. >> this fire is forcing the state parks to shut down all

state beaches and campgrounds and san mateo. starting tomorrow these camp grounds are closed through at least next monday. anyone with a reservation to these compgrounds will be refunded more than a dozen state parks and beaches will also be closed until further notice. we've posted the full list on our website nbcbayarea.com. every reporter we have checked in with tonight talking about favorable conditions, the slightest bit of rain, that's nice. winds not kicking up. but, jeff, you've got the answer as to if the winds are picking up. what about that dry lightning? >> yeah. we still do have that chance of some isolated thunderstorms. and whenever we see any showers tonight, that wind, the breeze kicking up anywhere from 10 to about 25 miles per hour could even be higher if we get some thunderstorms. so really it's all based on where we are seeing activity on the radar. but, again, a few showers

tonight has been beneficial. let's take you outside right now to san francisco where we did have some raindrops on the camera lens right now from a fast-moving shower. currently we are at 65 degrees and dropping down to some 50s later on tonight. it has been absolutely gross outside, just toxic with all of this smoke. you can see it right here on the top part of the screen. all of that is the smoke and the haze coming from the fires getting trapped back here in the east bay. and not only that, but look at the temperature. we're still at 81 degrees. so very uncomfortable if you don't have air-conditioning, and the smoke outside is just really kind of trapping you in your house on some levels here. we'll drop down to some 60s near midnight. this is pushing on of from the south to the north. i haven't seen any lightning in the bay area. but notice down here around the central coast line, we did have some lightning strikes as this

loops around right there. so there is enough instability. that's what that's telling me that we still could have some of these thunderstorms fire off as we move into the overnight hours. let's get you a closer look. it looks a little bit worse than it is right now, at least on that rainfall scale. we're getting some light in a few spotty moderate showers. but the lower atmosphere is relatively dry. a lot of this is evaporating before it hits the surface. but nonetheless i think over san rafael, this moving off to the north, we could see a few of those showers into santa rosa by 9:14 tonight. isolated thunderstorm chance as you move into the overnight hours. we have three main zones here of the fires. one in the north bay, one in the south bay, and one over the santa cruz mountains. we are looking at 94 degrees tomorrow. wind gusts of about 20 miles per hour. also notice on these maps as i zoom around i'm highlighting where the active zones here

right here in the north bay it's been on these northern flanks of the fire. let's take you to the south bay and you'll also notice a warm day tomorrow. 91 degrees with activity in the north, the west, and the southern side. this fire has been raging 339,000 acres burned. over to the santa cruz mountains, a lot of activity on the north and also on the eastern side. the problem is the pattern. high pressure to the east, low pressure to the west. it's acting like a conveyer belt pulling out this humidity and our lightning chances. that stays with us through tomorrow. so, my seven-day forecast in san francisco keeps dry lightning chances through thursday. the chances drop, but we're going to need to watch that real closely. for the inland valleys it's a warm week. temperatures in the 90s as we head through the next seven days. we'll have more looks at this. i'll take a look at the air quality and also our rain forecast. a closer look at that coming up this hour, you guys. >> jeff, thanks. still ahead, waiting for

word. a family forced from their home in boulder creek joins us to talk about how they are surviving life under evacuation. we'll have a live interview, next.

there isn't a person watching us tonight who hasn't been touched in some way or another by the coronavirus pandemic. the struggling economy, the bad air quality and now the wildfires. then there are those who have been hit by every single one of those things. like so many businesses, they had to find a way to work around the stay-at-home orders so they got things up and running outside, only to be closed down by the smoke, and, oh, yes, they live in the santa cruz mountains and had to evacuate the czu fire. they are staying in placerville hopefully for a short time. thank you so much for joining us tonight. first and most important question, i understand you guys live in ben lomen.

what do you know about the situation of your house? >> not a whole lot. we just keep looking at our phones trying not to look too much. but just looking at those fire lines. it looks okay right now. our firefighters are doing a heck of a job protecting us. >> when did you receive your evacuation order, and were you able to get out smoothly, quickly, or were there some problems with that? >> we left as soon as the evacuation orders hit the boulder creek golf course, which is right before -- the night before they hit ben lomond. so we early. we have three little kids so we just wanted to keep them as far away as possible. >> i kind of laid out a little bit for the folks at home the situation you've been in with the pandemic. your nonprofit, which i'm sure is always a challenge to keep up and running, the pandemic was a challenge, you go outside, the smoke doesn't let you do outside. you must be feeling just so

overburdened at the moment. >> yeah. you know, i'm writing an article for "content" magazine. and i keep going back and forth, it's really easy to think about the difficulty in the negative parts. but i keep going back to the idea that the community that we're involved with both at home and ben lomond and through our business is amazing. it's a lot of why we live where we do and where we work where we work. it's with all of these people reaching out probably at least two every other hour asking if we need help. >> and i only have you for a couple more seconds but i don't want to let this opportunity pass for you guys to tell me about the school of visual philosophy. as briefly as you can, what is it? >> we are an art studio and school. we have an artist incubator. we provide professional development for individual artists and fine art classes in a variety of media.

>> well, all of us here really wish you guys all the best. we hope you get back home to a safe home, and we hope you get the nonprofit back up and running as soon as possible. our thoughts are with you guys tonight. >> thank you so much. >> if they can look on the bright side right now, i think we all can. still ahead at 8:30, the smokey skies helping the north bay but also hampering it. we'll explain next.

right now at 8:30, the fires burning across the bay area wreaking havoc tonight. more people out of their homes, and the air quality downright dangerous. about an hour ago, cal fire released updated numbers on the three large complex fires. the czu fire on the coast and in the santa cruz mountains turned deadly today. the body of a man was recovered near davenport. it is now 74,000 acres and

increased 7,000 acres over the past few hours. the scu complex has scorched 344,000 acres. so it didn't grow much. fire is burning in santa clara, alameda, and contra costa counties. containment remains at 10%. that hasn't changed from last night. and the deadly lnu complex in the north bay stands at more than 347,000 acres tonight. up 6,000 from this morning. containment on that fire continues to inch up as well. last night it was 15%. now it is 21% contained. firefighters are facing a monumental task as they battle the lnu complex fire upon temperatures, dangerous weather conditions and the poor air quality standing in their way. anoushah joins us from home to explain how smokey skies are affecting the firefight in the north bay. >> reporter: garvin, the smokey skies are both helping and hampering that fire fight up in the north bay.

according to cal fire, on the one hand, the smoke outside is a good thing because it makes the flames less intense. here's why. that smoke presses down on the fire diminishing the flames and making them die down for firefighters. what you're watching right now is the heavy smoke and the flames from the walbridge fire up in sonoma county. the smoke though is a double-edged sword when it comes to a fire fight from the sky. >> the smoke conditions have air crew grounded. the fires were requesting air tanker support earlier today, and they could not get aircraft either even from sacramento due to the smoke conditions. >> so one bit of good news here. cal fire chief nichols says they are still able to fly helicopters. so it's not too smokey for those choppers to get up and drop water on these flames.

>> anoushah, thanks very much. the sjsu campus will remain closed tomorrow and tuesday because of the bad air. this means all in-person classes are canceled. online classes will go on as scheduled. let's take you out now live to oakland. smokey and hazy skies. tonight we're watching the weather very closely because there's a potential for another round of lightning. let's bring in chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. jeff, what can we expect? are you seeing any of that lightning and high wind just yet? >> i'm seeing some lightning strikes down towards the central coast. for us we have had a few spotty showers but no lightning strikes. so there's a little bit of good news right now, although the threat of isolated lightning will continue into tomorrow. and that's when i want to underscore right now is that our red flag fire warning is in effect until 5:00 p.m. monday. we're getting a lot of text alerts. you're hearing a lot of information from your neighbors,

your friends. i just wanted to set you straight on exactly what we're dealing with. and that chance is for the entire bay area from the north bay to the south bay where these isolated lightning strikes could spark more fires. the best tool to see thunderstorms, you'll notice here we do have some green, some areas of rainfall. that's moved through some quick-moving showers. now this looks a little bit worse than it is because the lower atmosphere is relatively dry. so a lot of the rain is evaporating. but we are getting some showers, spotty showers around san rafael right up to fairfield. this is moving off towards the north which could put some rainfall into santa rosa over the next 30 to 45 minutes. what about the fire lines? i went over this earlier but here's more of an expansive view. there's a lot on this map. but if you're in the north bay, look at number one if you're in the south bay look at the forecast for the scu lightning complex. and if you're in the santa cruz mountains, look at that zone there off towards the left.

you can see the forecast in all three of these zones as temperatures in the 80s to 90s tomorrow i really think the worst conditions could be up in the north bay where we have 95 degrees, 19% humidity and wind gusts up to 20 miles per hour. these fires continue to rage on with that threat of lightning into tomorrow. we heard from anoushah about the air quality. here's a closer look at the numbers. tomorrow it does not change unhealthy across the bay area. i'll take a look at the forecast models for rain overnight. another look at the seven-day forecast. i'll have that in about 20 minutes, you guys. we have new video to show you tonight of the destruction left behind in california's oldest state park, big basin. the czu lightning complex fire leveled the visitor center and took down large redwood trees. you can see some campsites were destroyed how little time people

had to leave behind before flames roared through the area. this video is just from the first four miles of the park. so there's likely more areas that are just as damaged. a bit earlier we talked about the evacuation zone for the scu fire in alameda county. we want to show you a closer look at where this is in the south bay, happening south of san jose and east of highway 101. so san jose would be up there. this is highway 101, the yellow zone is that new evacuation zone. let's zoom in even further in east morgan hill over here, that has been added to morgan hill proper is not in the evacuation zone, but you cross 101 and you've got it there. also north of san martin, evacuated areas include the holiday lake estates and the thomas grade area. and it goes all the way up here to metcalf road. tonight santa clara county has opened another evacuation center for people forced out of their

homes. it's at the quinlan community center. on our website nbcbayarea.com. the national guard was able to build a temporary bridge this weekend in the cash creek area. the bridge will let evacuees out and bring firefighters in more quickly. about two dozen soldiers from the 132nd engineering company helped construct this floating structure called an improved ribbon bridge. this is near the community of rumcy in yolo county. the existing bridge in the area is structurally deficient forcing first responders to use other routes. with so much uncertainty right now for so many people, we all seemingly need some time to catch our breath. and maybe this picture right here will help. cal fire tweeted out this photo of mika. micah is a trained service dog they say is ready to help bring a little calmness to everyone.

we're sending alerts with the latest information on the fires. download our free nbc bay area app to get them sent straight to your phone. at the white house today, president trump announced the authorization of a treatment for covid-19. the move comes as the national death toll approaches 180,000. nbc's kelly o'donnell has more. >> reporter: on the eve of his convention. >> i am pleased to make a truly historic announcement. >> reporter: the president announced a new step for a coronavirus treatment. a temporary emergency use authorization for consalient plasma, taken from recovered patients' blood for others hospitalized with covid. >> this is a powerful therapy that transfuses very, very strong antibodies. >> reporter: joined by the head of the fda, this decision comes after internal scientific debate over whether the fda had enough data, and after the president

accused fda staff on twitter of delaying action until after the election. >> there might've been a holdup, but we broke the log jam over the last week. it's my very strong opinion and that's for political reasons. this has nothing to do with politics. this has to do with life or death. >> reporter: by adding a rare sunday night news conference, the president can try to distract from the negative portrait reviewed by secret audio recordings of his older sister, retired federal judge maryann trump barry. first reported by "the washington post," nbc news has obtained some of the 15 hours of recordings made in 2018 'and 19 by trump niece and tell-all author mary trump.

white house chief of staff mark medovers reacted to the trump family drama. >> this is politics as usual by a niece that was written out of a will that would apparently just has an ax to grind because she wants joe biden to be president. >> reporter: the republican national convention begins tomorrow with the president expected to participate across all four nights. taking a look at covid-19 numbers here in california. the state reporting more than 6,700 new cases. the positivity rate now at 6.4%. statewide we are now at more than 663,000 cases. and in the bay area covid-19 cases are on the rise. santa clara county reporting more than 300 new cases. and now has more than 16,000. contra costa county adding more than a hundred new cases of more than 12,000 there. and in all the bay area now has more than 77,000 cases, more than a thousand people have died

because of the virus. still ahead, flames are impacting some of the most helpless. that includes animals. how one animal shelter is stepping up to help people and pets forced out of their homes. awesome internet. it's more than just fast. it keeps all your devices running smoothly. with built-in security that protects your kids... ...no matter what they're up to. it protects your info... ...and gives you 24/7 peace of mind... ...that if it's connected, it's protected.

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wear a mask every time you leave your home. choose to join the fight against covid-19. do your part. slow the spread. so many animals in need of a safe place to go during these evacuations. the santa cruz county animal shelter stepped up to provide homes. they found foster homes for all the animals there to make room for evacuated pets and livestock. one animal control officer even went up into the burn zone. >> he really wanted to make sure that any animals that people couldn't find when they were evacuating had water and food put out, had they been able to run away from the fires. and he did find some chickens and some rabbits. and he did leave out food and water as well as brought some of the rabbits brought to the

shelter. >> people concerned about their own pets left behind can contact officer stocy. he plans to go to the burn zone again. and they are asking for kennels and crates for pets. we continue to learn of touching stories. jameson animal rescue ranch in napa valley posted these pictures after learning about a family desperate for someone to care for their four animals. the family had evacuated from clear lake and they were driving around santa rosa looking for help. staff members at the nonprofit stepped up to foster them all. that includes a 4-year-old dog named zed, a 1-month-old rescue puppy zelda and two kittens milo and simba. nbc bay area and telemundo are teaming up to clear the shelters. it will be virtual because of the pandemic.

but you can still adopt. you can find a list of participating shelters by going to nbcbayarea.com. from the fires here in california to tropical storms, hurricanes in the gulf, a path of destruction and devastation, those storms have already left behind. that's coming up. i'm chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. i'll have an updated look at the fire numbers, the containments and the forecast and what's ahead with our lightning chances in about six minutes. hi. we're glad you came in.

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we're putting healthy practices in place. come visit a store today. stop in or book an appointment online at a time that works for you. now that's simple, easy, awesome. ask. shop. discover at your local xfinity store today. here in the bay area, we're dealing with major fires over in the gulf coast. they're preparing to get hit by not one but possibly two hurricanes, two at the same time, hurricane marco taking aim at the gulf coast, just behind it tropical storm laura which could build into a hurricane. the two storms already killed nine people in the dominican republic, knocked out power to hundreds of thousands. now they're bearing down on large parts of louisiana and

texas. >> there has never been anything we've seen like this before. >> if you're in duress and need help, we're going to get to you as soon as possible. but it may be longer than it ordinarily is. >> yeah, because covid-19 has got the shelters occupied. marco is set to make landfall tomorrow. laura is expected a couple days after that. here in the bay area all eyes are on the skies, which could bring another round of lightning tonight. the second and third largest wildfires in california state history are burning in the bay area right now. all three complex fires were caused by what cal fire is calling a lightning siege. the hope is the next storm brings rain and nothing more. a lot of communities on edge tonight. let's bring in jeff ranieri. and, jeff, i was out in the parking lot here in san jose about 7:00. rain started coming down. it wasn't much, but it lifted my spirits for some reason. i'd love to get some more of that. >> yeah. it is so nice to get some of that rainfall without the lightning. unfortunately, we are seeing some lightning showing up on the

radar, at least close to the bay area. so, we're going to get you all ready to go for that. i did want to start off with a refresher, never a bad time for a refresher. a lot of text alerts coming your way. talking to family, friends, just trying to figure out what your plan might be. but remember these simple things we've been reminding you of. be ready to leave. have that emergency kit ready. we usually have them ready with earthquakes of course. we've got some sort of go bag with your important papers. food, medication, and this one, check to make sure you can get in your garage if the power is shut off. i had to double check that this past week to make sure i could access my garage. i had a future issues. but you need to make sure without power can you get in so you can get in your car and you can leave? those are some tips i really want you to be thinking about. what about the radar? we've been monitoring this so closely. we had some lightning strikes down there near the central coast line over the past three hours. but what i want to draw your attention to is a closer view.

yes, we have some showers on of here to the north. but take a look to the south. let me go ahead and move this radar view up. what you're going to notice here is that we are seeing a lightning strike right on down towards the interstate 5 corridor. that is starting to move closer. there we go. >> i'm doing all this from home so bear with me now. i'm going to go ahead and put this on a loop. and you can see over the past hour as this loops around, this is building up from the interstate 5 corridor. we now have at least one lightning strike from this. and that's all it takes to start a fire. we witnessed that last weekend. and with this moving off to the north, if it holds together, we could see some of that rain, maybe even some of that lightning make it over to livermore by 9:50 tonight. so i really want you to be on alert. some showers near san rafael over the next 30 to 45 minutes. no lightning with those shfires.

we have three large complexes. i have been highlighting these. we're going to go in. what i want you to focus in on is the forecast for tomorrow. it's going to be in the same spot for all of these fires. and you can see in the north bay it's going to be 94, gusts up to 20. then i've highlighted the most active spots with these flames. the northern flanks of the fires in the perimeter there have had the most activity today. down here to the south bay, you can see 91 tomorrow, gusts of 20. and it's been extremely active on the north, the west, and the southern side. this fire is raging 343,000 acres. over to the santa cruz mountains, activity on the north, the eastern side as well. 83 tomorrow. so, what happens after this? 1:00 in the morning we have that instability. some hit and miss showers. maybe some thunderstorms. as we hit 3:30, a little bit of that spotty activity in the morning. and by 7:00 it may seem like a lull. but we will keep that chance of

some isolated lightning. you can see in san francisco i am keeping some dry lightning through at least thursday with temperatures in the 60s. for the inland valleys, it's going to be warm with 90s over the next seven days. and garvin and terry, as i talked about earlier, the problem i see right now is we're seeing this southerly flow. that's what's bringing in the humidity and these lightning chances. we may have a similar pattern on and off lingering for maybe the next ten days. so this is not a one or two-time thing. we might see this pattern repeat itself on and off over the next ten days. so this is going to be a tough, tough go for us here across the bay area. >> the only saving grace i can think of right now is we right now have thousands and thousands of firefighters on the ground right now in the bay area ready to respond. >> exactly. >> we didn't have that last time. >> yep. great point. >> thanks, jeff. the red hot giants and first

place a's keep on winning. >> highlights on how a giant had a blast on his birthday.

for the san francisco giants, it's a season on a rollercoaster. giants coming in today's game on a five-game winning streak tied at 1 in the 6th inning. mike hits one out. that's an interesting story especially since it's his 30th birthday. they go on to win six straight. they're off tomorrow. dodgers come into town on tuesday. across the bay, the a's worked overtime against the angels. it was another day smoke-filled skies over the coliseum. this one does go into extra innings in the 10th it's not the most exciting but a very effective sacrifice fly to knock in the winning run. first place a's win 5-4. they head to texas to take on the rangers tomorrow. one year from tomorrow, august 24th, 2021, the opening

ceremony for the paralympics is going to be held. >> reporter: when you make it your mission to be the best in the world, you have a sense of what you're getting into. long hours in the gym, countless laps of the pool, the risk of injury, the promise of pain. this is what you accept for a chance to stand on the podium. >> the u.s. makes history in rio. >> reporter: but sometimes unforeseen challenges arise, including this year with a historic postponement. what happens when the finish line gets moved? these athletes keep going. >> as they come to the line, the sweep is complete. >> reporter: in one year the world will come together to celebrate the joy of sport. >> it will be team bravery

coming to the line and getting the goal. >> reporter: the intensity of competition. >> jessica long gets the gold finally in rio. >> reporter: and the meaning of perseverance at the paralympic games in tokyo. >> and that'll be a sign that all is back to normal. >> hopefully. thanks for joining us. we will be back here again at 11:00 tonight. obviously between now and then, keep an eye on everything. follow our facebook page, twitter, and nbcbayarea.com for all the very latest on the fires and the weather. good night.

for continuing coverage, connect with nbc bay area. male: we have a really diverse coast. you can go all up and down highway 1 and find a different type of wave for whatever level you are in surfing. male: santa cruz is surf city, and it all began here. sachi cunningham: everything is kind of on steroids. it's just that much bigger. ocean beach is all about paddling and beatdowns. bianca valenti: if you can feel fit at ocean beach,