firefighters in the santa cruz mountains happening any moment now. we're going to bring that to you live plus the latest on the bay area fighters. the third hour of "today in the bay" continues right now. and good wednesday morning to you am i'm marcus washington. i'm laura garcia. we'll get to the morning commute with mike in just a moment. first we want to talk about the air quality out there, another spare the air alert day today. what are the temperatures going to be like, kari? well, the temperatures are still going to be quite warm as we look at our fire conditions, our weather conditions around all of those fires. and we started out with higher humidity this morning, cooler temperatures all around the bay area which, as we get that update, we're hoping they're getting some more containment and we're not seeing this spread as rapidly. we are still looking at warm weather near the lnu lightning complex as our highs today reach back into the low 90s. our interior valleys and upper elevations will still have some hot weather today. so we're monitoring that.

mike, how is it looking right now for what's happening around the bay? kari, overall things are improving. the tri-valley had a couple issues coming into the area. starting in the south bay north 101. capital expressway there's a crash involving a couple vehicles one in the middle of 101, some slowing for the sensors right there holding folks up from 680 up to oakland road where we typically see the slowing starting to clear about now. we'll track that and also clearing south of 80 through sunol out of pleasanton, that crash cleared a while ago. back to you. >> thank you, mike. we're going to continue to monitor all of the fires across the bay area. the latest this hour for you. the lnu fires in the north bay have burned more than 356,000 acres. and right now it's 27% contained. five people have died and nearly 1,000 south bay the scu fires are still the biggest in terms of acreage. it has burned nearly 366,000

acres and is 20% contained. three first responders have been hurt and 18 structures destroyed. >> in santa cruz and san mateo counties the czu complex fires burned nearly 80,000 acres, 19% contained, 443 structures destroyed. as we mentioned any moment now we're expecting another update from cal fire -- it looks like they're setting up right now and approaching the podium. so let's go ahead and listen in. well, good morning. this is the 6:00 a.m. press conference for the czu complex. my name is jonathan cox, santa cruz unit and line officer on the incident. as always if you could mute your telephones and any devices you have and take any conversations away from the press conference area and we ask you keep your

mask on at all times. we will have a moment at the end to ask questions of all the representatives up here as well as time for one-on-one conversations after the conference is over. just a quick update this morning for the 6:00 numbers, the czu lightning complex is now 80,137 acres in size. we are staying at 19% containment, and there are still 24,000-plus structures that are threatened by the incident. unfortunately this morning we can confirm there are now 538 structures that have been destroyed in this fire, 11 of which in san mateo, 527 of those structures destroyed are in santa cruz county. there is a website as chief deputy clark mentioned last night for santa cruz county has put where and what those addresses are online. as of this morning we have 1,697 personnel assigned to the

incident and for an overview and update on what the actual operations going on out in the field cal fire incident management team three section chief. >> good morning. the past couple of days we've been able to make significant progress on our firefight. we've been able to establish more lines and improve those lines we have established and getting another day closer to extinguishing this fire. as you can see on the maps we have some black lines. that signifies that we have the fire extinguished, we're holding it, have lines established around it, and we feel very confident that has been secured. and, again, that's up there in an area that is critical so we didn't have any spread to the northeast and threatening santa clara county. we buttoned that up. that's in a patrol type status.

in the north zone again we do have some active flame on the ridge. we do have lines established, as you can see on the map, and we are slowly letting it creep down as part of our strategy so we can get in and fully extinguish the fire. i anticipate in the next couple of days we should be successful in that endeavor and put more black on the map. moving down we are continuing with some full extinguishment of the fire throughout the western portion of the fire. in davenport with our infrastructure looking at re-energizing that power today if not sooner. and then, again, our lines above that community and taking advantage of the weather to start full extinguishment of any sort of fire sitting above that community. down to the south, again, our control lines are holding to the south as well as the secondary line and we do have really good protection for the community of

santa cruz and the uc campus. moving up the corridor, we've been able to get more control lines up above on the fire. we're continuing to work and improve that. we have a good line and extinguished the fire above felton. today's operation has been critical. they've been prepping and working on this the past two days really and what we have a plan on doing is later this afternoon, lines constructeded. we have the preparations in place to do a burn operation which will bring the fire up to the part that's hung up on the ridge top that will eliminate that issue and what that will do is create a very nice barrier so the fire around the community of

felton. that will then button up that part of the fire above felton so that is excellent news. it will take a couple days to continue to mop up, pick up the hot spots and render that safe and get our utility companies in there to do their job. as we finish that we'll be moving up to ben lomond and that line will come to the south end of ben lomond that will protect the bottom end of ben lomond as we continue to progress. up above ben lomond we are continuing to work diligently up there. a lot of resources fromaliligen line, again, very difficult terrain and working among a number of structures and we're going to have a lot of success in the coming days looking at trying to get that completed just like in the other communities. we're marching north and preparing as we go ahead of time

and implementing that strategy. painstaking process, a lot of homes in there, working around all those homes getting control lines put in, extinguishing the fire structures and the big thing is opening the roads into the interior of the fire with all the trees that have come down, the power lines and so forth, we've been able to establish a group that's gone in starting yesterday, getting deep into some of these road systems. some are more work than others. that group working and doing that with county roads and a variety of other agencies to get in and once we get in we render it safe getting the utility companies in behind us so they can start repairing and putting back that infrastructure. we're doing the same thing on highway 236 working with caltrans and doing the same kind of operation so we can start opening that and getting interior to the other areas. our section teams can get in and doing their jobs so we can get that taken care of as well.

so it's a multifaceted effort as part of this extinguishment process. from our air program the air is looking very favorable with the weather. we're going to be flying our aircraft. the past few days we've topped out the amount of hours we canfully our airaircraft, dropp more and more water the yesterday from six copters 256,000 gallons in one day. that's pretty significant. we're timing out our aircraft. that's significant. every day we're seeing more and more. that's in support of our ground troops taking care of hot spots and so forth. our copters have dropped over 1.6 million gallons of water since the beginning of this event. we're using all the tools we have available to us to work on extinguishing the fire and getting everybody's lives back to normal. thank you. >> speaking next from the santa cruz county sheriff's office is chief deputy chris clark.

>> well, good morning. in terms of some positive news, again, continuing with the theme of not a lot of people running around, the same situation last night, thankfully, as the night before and yesterday. again, going into now our third operational period without an arrest and even last night we had no citations. we're seeing a lot of people that are really doing what we're asking them to do and staying out of those areas. you just heard the chief mention getting those resources in to repair the roads, to repair power lines and things like that which are obviously pieces of the plan to repopulate areas. last night at the last press conference 66 officers making sure everything is safe. again, we're going to continue that today with 70 deputies and officers.

our allied partners inside and 20 mutual aid from over the hill. last night we responded to 14 calls for service, six welfare checks, and eight suspicious people. unfortunately, last night, though, we did get a welfare check for a 63-year-old woman who was last spoken to on monday. friends talked to hermon d mond evening. we went out to her home and, unfortunately, found her deceased. we believe natural causes at this point caused her death. no signs of foul play. no suspicion anyone did anything to her or caused her death. a welfare check for someone who had -- this person evacuated

from the area in boulder creek. they had done what we asked them to do. they left the area. was staying with a friend up until monday. they left some time monday evening. their friend called us during the night last night to say they hadn't heard from them, because there was a conversation this person wanted to be back, try to sneak back into the evacuated area to their home. right now we're actively looking for that person to find out where they are and make sure they're okay. just to reiterate a couple things. one, we want to get you back home. we really do. there are dangers to sneaking back in to the evacuated area. you just don't know -- you may not know the terrain. you may not know the area. you could get lost and we want to help you, but what it does is it divides our resources in the sense that we're going to send

people to find you. in this case that's exactly what we're going to do, and that's okay, too, we want to make sure this person is okay. i just want to discourage people from doing that so it doesn't divide our resources. if we find this person i will definitely let you know. that's what we're doing right now. on another piece of that if, again, if you haven't heard from a friend -- and that's how these two calls came in -- i would encourage you if you haven't heard from someone and you think they remained in the evacuated area or potentially were returning, please give us a call at our dispatch number 831-471-1121. give us a call and we'll do exactly what we did last night. we do security checks on homes to make sure nobody is breaking in. but at the same time we want to make sure people are safe and accounted for. if you haven't heard from a friend, definitely give us a call. and then lastly, just to touch

on the website you heard chief cox mention and i mentioned it last night, we can completely understand you would want to know the status of your house if you think it's in a fire damaged area. i wanted to reiterate that website, santacruzcounty/fire recovery/damage assessment map.asps. it will give you information, put your address in there and it will tell you whether or not your house has been damaged, if it's okay, or hopefully not destroyed. thank you. >> up next from the san mateo county sheriff's office is detective sweeney. >> good morning. no changes from san mateo county but thank you to everyone who has donated diapers, formula and school supplies. for those of you interested in helping out in other ways you

can make financial donations as well as the red cross. we want to say how grateful we are for all the support wearing seeing from the community whether it's online messages or a couple restaurants have donated food including alice's restaurant up on skyline and 84. and it's just incredibly motivating. our first responders and support staff see these messages and comments, signs out in the community, and we can't tell you how much it means to us right now, so thank you very much for all of that support and gratitude. it's heard and felt. >> speaking next on behalf of all of the agencies and unified command is cal fire incident management team three ic billy. >> good morning. obviously yesterday we had great success out on the line. we had clean air, able to fly

our aircraft. our folks were able to get in there and develop some perimeter control around this. there was a lot of smoke production in the air that was very visible from the highway 17 corridor. when we get clean air like that and the fire is slowly moving down the slope, in and around behind the structures of felton and ben lomond, it's very visible from this area. obviously we have a lot of firefighting forces on the ground and today you heard the operational plan. we're going to be doing some burning operations to control that fire on our terms. we're going to be working diligently to secure the line over the next 24 to 48 hours and bring that down very safely and slowly into what we're going to consider perimeter control protecting these communities and

blocking that off. with that said when the smoke starts to clear all the residents get very restless about trying to get back in and wanting to know when the evacuation orders and warnings will be lifted. we're going to be working with our counterparts and law enforcement agencies to develop a strategic plan to start bringing folks in. we've already started to identify areas that we can potentially start looking at, lifting some evacuation orders and evacuation warnings. so please be patient. it's a process. we're going to work through it. obviously our biggest concern when we start bringing folks back in and lifting some of the orders is making sure we build a good, strong foundation for all those residents meaning that we have good roadways for them to travel on. we have secured all the utilities and make sure it's safe and make sure we have water for them so they have the essential necessities to live with. that's the pieces we're going to

continue to work on, identifying those, fixing any issues and getting these folks back to normalcy as soon as possible. thank you. >> and our final speaker this morning from the local cal fire unit it ian larkin. >> good morning. as you see we're starting to make some progress though it's slow and methodical it is happening. for those that are using the website for santa cruz county to determine if your property has sustained any damage or has been destroyed, i just want to make a preface to take note our damage inspection is still ongoing and it has not fully been completed yet. because your house may not be represented on that map as having damage or being destroyed, as the damage inspection continues to move forward, those numbers may

increase, and we'll represent those properties that are added to that each day. be mindful because it's not there today doesn't mean it won't be there tomorrow. for those who need assistance there's a couple areas that i may give you right now that can be of assistance to you and that's -- you can go to the disaster assistance.gov website. and there are some resources there for folks that are in need and, also, you can download the fema app from the android and apple platforms. once again that's the fema app. if you don't have the ability to download that application you can call fema directly and that's 1-800-621-fema. 1-800-621-fema. and there's some assistance there. for those who may have small businesses that need assistance you can also go to the small

business administration, that's the small business administration and the resources are available to you to help you with that effort. once again the troops on the ground and the incident management team here along with our cooperating agencies, the sheriff department and santa cruz county are working diligently and as quickly as possible to make the environment as safe as possible to repopulatereas that are so please bear with us as we move through this. we're moving as fast as we can and we're going to do our best to get this wrapped up and get you back home soon. thank you. >> and there you have it. that's the update from the czu complex fire where we're learning that it is now more than 80,000 acres burning with 19% containment, still about 24,000 structures threatened by that fire. but they have been telling us that the weather conditions have been working and their benefit they've been able to fly over aircraft to help fly from above. also, they're planning to do

some wn they can create a line to stop that fire from spreading but still very active fire and they're continuing to do all they can to put that fire out and allow people to return to their homes. of course we'll keep monitoring that press conference and bring you any more updates that we have here on "today in the bay" as well as on nbcbayarea.com. laura?

well, good morning and a very happy wednesday to you as we take a look at some of the other news making news this morning. big trouble over at american airlines which says it may have to shed as many as 40,000 jobs as fewer of us think it is safe to fly. 19,000 of those would come through layoffs, the rest through early retirement and buyout packages. the company says it needs more help from the federal government. it's taken more than $5 billion in grants under the coronavirus relev bill now that c.a.r.e.s. act was passed back in march. scientists at the time warned us, but many of us hoped, that by this time we would be okay and clearly we are not. certainly not when it comes to air travel. so the nasdaq, the s&p 500 both broke records again yesterday, once again closing at all-time

highs. the dow fell slightly as shares in apple fell. sales are strong but that's part of the problem, it's selling things faster than they can get them in. the big shortage laptops and computers. people snapping up laptops for work and school. those chrome books harder to get. freezers, people limiting the number of times they go to the grocery store and xboxes. we spend that much more time indoors. laura, you posted that picture of your triplets all gathered around the kitchen table with three laptops so everything for you times throw. >> oh, yeah, big time. the wi-fi around here at 8:00 gets a little sketchy. >> i bet it does. >> it's a very busy household like so many in the bay area.

>> pe time is in the house because the air quality is not what kids want to get out and enjoy, the parents don't want them out there, kari. right. we were thinking about what it's like elsewhere, too. i wanted to give you an update on hurricane laura, also times three in the category right now as we've seen this continuing to move in, expected to make landfall across louisiana over the next couple of days. we'll continue to monitor that as they deal with that along with the pandemic as well. here at home we're dealing with the pandemic and trying to get the kids outside as well as those wildfires. the coastal fog helping to clear it out. we've seen the clouds settle in some of our inland valleys helping to improve our air quality at least for the early hours before the first time for the cupertino hills i can actually see sunrise this morning. that is nice to see. at times it will be unhealthy to be outside during those breaks while we're home schooling in the east bay and the santa clara

valley some improvements for the bay and the coast over the next several days. mike, how is it looking right now for the commute? kari, we have a couple traffic alerts. the first the crash in the south bay, northbound 101 on your map. you see things jamming up from north of the 85 split all the way up to the capitol expressway. i believe there are two crashes, one at capitol and the rest of the bay looks all right on the bay. pet laluma another alert. back to you. all right. up next back to our fire coverage. all of the latest information you need to know. we have our team of reporters on standby. plus, the help that's out there right now for fire victims. that's all next for you. you're watching "today in the bay." hi. we're glad you came in.

what's on your mind? can you help keep these guys protected online? easy. connect to the xfi gateway. what about wireless data options for the family? you can customize and save. what about internet speeds that can keep up with my gaming? let's hook you up with the fastest internet from xfinity. and now with our stores reopening, 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.

deadly escalation of violence in wisconsin after the police shooting of a black man overnight. two people killed in the protests. what we're finding out as this story develops. >> 20 years of my time that i spent building my house what it was and now it's all gone. >> as many people cope with complete loss we are compiling a list of financial help people can access immediately. "today in the bay" continues right now. and a good morning to you on this wednesday. i'm marcus washington.

>> and i'm laura garcia. we've learned the weather has helped firefighters in their battle with the fires burning across the bay area hoping the cooler temperatures prevail so they can get the water drops as well and fly. yeah, we are going to have a couple days of highs in our hottest spots in the inland areas reaching into the low 90s. it does get slightly hotter towards friday and hopefully we're getting some more containment up into that point as we look at san francisco, much cooler here as the fog rollsand that's bringing in the 'll talk about the air quality heading into the weekend coming up in a few minutes. mike has a look at the morning commute. >> despite a lighter volume, your main commute, we have two traffic alerts. the first in the south bay. northbound 101 continues because of the crash, two crashes, north 101 at capitol and you are jammed up from 85 heading north.

the rest of this map just fine. but 101 two separate crashes there as well. southbound 101 jams up at petaluma boulevard. back to you. >> thanks, mike. we begin with breaking news coming out of wisconsin where protests in kenosha turned deadly overnight following the police shooting of a black man on sunday. two people died in last night's shooting and a third was injured. the shooting happened near a gas station. and on social media there's extremely gr lly graphic video seems to show that shooting. it also appears to have happened during an altercation between protesters and a man with a gun. we're not showing that you video and so far police aren't confirming any of that. sunday's shooting by police sparking protests elsewhere including this one you see here in san diego. and the man shot by officers, jacob blake, is now paralyzed from the waist down. according to his father even

before last night's chaotic protests, blake's mother was calling for calm. >> and i understand being fed up and all of that. i get not helping. >> doctors are still unsure if blake's paralysis will be permanent. you can watch that entire interview with his mother later this morning on the "today" show. it is 6:33. turning back to our breaking news right here in the bay area, for now cooler temperatures are helping firefighters begin to stop three huge clusters of wildfires. the flames have killed at least seven people, burned nearly 1,300 homes and other buildings and prompted evacuation orders that still affect an estimated 170,000 people. right now cal fire is in talks with the national guard in california conservation corps about providing reinforcement for crews fighting the flames around the clock. our live team coverage continues

as bob redell has information very helpful and how fire victims can actually get access to immediate help. let's start out with "today in the bay's" cierra johnson, north bay evacuees are starting to return home, we understand, but, of course, they have a long road ahead, crow air a. cierra. >> reporter: they do. it's been about a week since those warnings and orders were first issued, but today it seems like cal fire has a better grasp of the fire. let's break down where things stand right now. the north bay fire has burned more than 356,000 acres and right now 27% contained. this fire has burned now for more than eight days, destroying nearly 1,000 structures and leaving five people dead. so you're evacuated from your home but also are responsible for livestock. in that case what do? well, the cal palace arena is opening their doors and serving as an animal evacuation area for

those impacted. the arena is now a temporary home for all types of animals from chickens to horses to llamas. organizers there say that so far there have been more than 200 animals that have come in. as for that lnu, lightning complex fire, burning for days now, officials there say the size and complexity of the fire is unlike anything they've seen before but, of course, we want to really give kudos to our firefighters who are working to knock down that blaze. we're live, cierra johnson for "today in the bay." >> all right, cierra, thank you. help is out there for fire victims from the state to fema. "today in the bay's" bob redell is compiling that list for us live from livermore with more. bob? >> reporter: and, first, i want to update you on the scu fire burning behind us in that fire is now 10% contained. that's a 5% improvement from

yesterday, and it's almost 366,000 acres burned, again, making that the second largest wildfire in state history. firefighters using bulldozers and relying on air drops from the helibase behind me to create the fire lines and protect cities like fremont, pleasanton, gilroy and morgan hill. >> the big concern here they want to stop it before it ruins the whole state park. this green area is the state park. and definitely want to keep it out of the populated areas here. >> reporter: now, as you mentioned, marcus, fema has made grants available for those impacted by the fires in the following counties, lake, monterey, napa, san mateo, santa cruz, solano, sonoma and yolo. notice santa clara, coco and alameda are not listed there. the irs has also extended tax filing deadline to december 15th of 2020 for those impacted by the wildfires and covered

california has created a special enrollment period for victims for health coverage for victims of the wildfires. reporting live in livermore, bob redell, "today in the bay." >> thanks so much. so much to cover. up next we'll have the very latest from the czu fire zone. >> we're going to check with kris sanchez live out there coming up next.

right now at 6:39 unhealthy air quality continues for the east bay and south bay, but we are going to see some improvements along the coastline. we'll talk about the fog rolling in and what's ahead for the rest of the week coming up in a few minutes. and the traffic alert continues for the south bay, north 101 jammed up because of a couple of crashes and concrete debris at capitol expressway. the bay bridge no crashes but we have metering lights on and the backup, of course, as you go from the east bay into the city. thank you very much, mike. 6:40. new overnight three people died after a single car crash in walnut creek. chp says it happened late last night on the north main off ramp exiting interstate 680. the car struck a tree and then it caught on fire. all three people in the car died. identities have not been confirmed. we do not know what led up to that crash.

back to the czu fire, cal fire just wrapping up the news conference. "today in the bay's" kris sanchez is unpacking all of that and, kris, what's the latest from there? >> reporter: we can now tell you there is one more fatality in the czu lightning complex area. it is a 63-year-old woman who was found in her home after friends said they hadn't heard from her. may not be fire related. may be natural causes. at this point that investigation is ongoing and there are still six people who are reported missing including a boulder creek man who evacuated safely and then told friends he was going back into the burn area to check on his home. that is something that is highly discouraged. sheriff's deputies from the santa cruz department are locking for him. the fire grew overnight despite the favorable weather conditions. it is at 80,000 acres. it is 19% contained. 538 homes, businesses, and other structures are now confirmed

destroyed. but the visibility was so good firefighters were able to put more helicopters up in the air to do more drops, and we know that up to this point during the fire 1.6 million gallons have been dropped in the czu lightning complex area. we know that firefighters are also going to be doing some burning. we talk about burns -- controlled burns. this is a little bit different. they're burning fuel in the area. you might see increased smoke later today. again, they're emphasizing that folks who are worried about their properties and homes should use the county website to check on those properties and see if they are okay. there are 12 assessment teams going out and about looking at properties to see where the damage is. they want to make sure people stay out of the area because it is still very dangerous. here's the santa cruz sheriff. >> we want to get you back home.

we really do. there are dangers to sneaking back into the evacuated area that, i mean, you just don't know -- you may not know the terrain. you might not know the area. you could get lost. we want to h y we're going to send people to find you. >> reporter: and let me tell you some of these roadways really are pretty hairy. we saw the felton empire, we made that ride, and there are trees that are still on fire. there are trees that are coming down, there are power lines that are not down but look like they're going to come down at any moment. firefighters need to get into those interior areas and make sure they're safe before they can send in utility crews. it may seem like there's no you're in to go back in from it, there sure is a lot of danger out there. they want to make sure you are safe. you can find all of these updates on my twitter feed.

i know you want that information as soon as you can get it. kris sanchez, "today in the bay." our website is a great resource as well. thank you, kris. a lot of information there. day two of the rnc is in the books. >> scott mcgrew has all the highlights. indeed we do. we'll talk about what's ahead for today as well as take you out to the big board in new york city as well. the dow down mildly, the s&p 500. 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. even that that pet-camera thingy. [ whines ] can your internet do that? xfinity xfi can because it's... ...simple, easy, awesome. [ barking ]

president will speak tonight. >> that's right, he'll do so from the baltimore area, mchenry. it is federal land. you're not really supposed to campaign on federal land and that would certainly include the white house but here is melania trump campaigning last night from the white house. >> we all know donald trump makes no secret about how he feels about things. total honesty is what our citizens deserve from our president, whether you like it or not, you always know what he's thinking. >> the first lady also her condolences and sympathies to victims and families affected by coronavirus. last night's convention showed a

previously taped naturalization ceremony led by acting department of homeland security secretary chad wolf who the government accountable office saysan't legally lead that department because he wasn't appointed in a legal manner. president trump said in a tweet he will nominate him to lead the department in an official capacity. mike pompeo, it is highly irregular for the secretary of state to be involved in politics at all, and tradition says you don't campaign while overseas. the phrase is politics stop at the water's edge, but here is the secretary of state campaigning from jerusalem. >> i'm speaking to you from beautiful jerusalem looking out over the old city. i have a big job. as susan's husband and nick's dad. susan and nick are more safe and their freedoms more secure because president trump has put his america first vision into action.

>> in other news the head of the food and drug administration has apologized for what he says were misleading comments on his part during the sunday afternoon announcement about convalescent plasma. he says, quote, i have been criticized for remarks i made sunday night about the benefits of convalescent plasma. the criticism is entirely justified. we'll be watching what happens today, of course, you mentioned vice president pence will be speaking as well as kellyanne conway at the convention. we'll be talking about it on twitter. you can follow me ther there @scottmcgrew. scott, thank you. continuing our coronavirus coverage for you california is now over 673,000 confirmed cases. that's nearly 4,500 new cases since sunday. and 105 additional deaths. but the numbers increasing, the overall infection rate fell over the past week. the governor says hospitalizations are down 20%. he says that he may soon

it is 6:49 right now. everyone has been concerned about the air quality out there as these fires rage on in the bay area. kari also has a look at our forecast. the summer hanging on. yeah, we are going to still have those warm valley temperatures, but the fog rolling into the coastal areas. what we are seeing now over san francisco also helping to push in some fresher ocean air as well as some higher humidity helping out those fire crews. take a look at the sun rise this morning from the south bay still coming through that layer of smoke. we are going to see that continue today as we talk about some improvement as well as not seeing as much of that smoke. and so the spare the air alert has been extended through friday. that's where the east bay as well as parts of the south bay we will still have some unhealthy air quality turning more moderate for much of the

bay area as we go into thethbay again have that ocean breeze picking upgog into saturday and if you're wondering if does look like we should see some improvements here. as we look at our high temperatures for today we're in the mid-60s along the coastline but are still seeing some of the mid-90s further to the north. for the inland east bay the temperatures are cooler as we reach into the upper 80s for today. and we're in the steady weather pattern which is what fire crews need at this point. not too many changes and also higher humidity and moderating temperatures. through the seven-day forecast we just get slightly hotter by friday into the weekend. mike, how is it looking right now for the commute? kari, two key spots are problems. other than that the commute looks good. we'll show you first the traffic alert in the south bay. northbound 101 approaching capitol ebbs pressway. two crashes, concrete, debris

and damage. ra in the backup before you get there. a pretty compressed area. you can avoid that by heading up 85 and 87, which i don't always suggest. the rest of the bay shows a smooth drive on this map. the backup at the bay bridge toll plaza is there. approaching petaluma boulevard is the other alert. back to you. thanks, mike. happening now for you some incredible new video just coming in from southern italy. this is where swimmers and sunbathers weren't expecting something like this to happen. a tornado hitting the beach. that video you saw there people running for safety. the tornado actually started as a waterspout then hit land picking up sand and debris to make for that big swirling vortex. luckily no reports of any injuries. next, a quick look at the top stories including another round of live updates on the progress being made fighting destructive bay area wildfires. it's 6:52. you're watching "today in the bay."

it's 6:55. welcome back to you. here is a quick look at our top stories. >> to live team coverage starting out with cierra johnson. >> reporter: providing you an update with the progress in the lnu lightning complex fire. the fire has been burning for eight days.

right now 356,000 acres have burned and is at 27% containment. nearly 1,000 structures have been destroyed and five people left dead from this fire. some of those evacuation warnings and orders are being lifted. folks are making their way back home. some folks will be returning to something they may not recognize. >> reporter: i'm bob redell as the sun rises on another day of fighting the scu firefighters. they have been able to lay down more fire breaks. containment now at 20%. that's a 5% increase from yesterday. it has burned just close to 366,000 acres making it the second largest in the state history.

they have the bulldozers and i want to correct myself. containment is at 10% not 20%. i'm being hopeful. the government, fema, offering grants for people living in some of the counties affected by the wildfires and the irs has also extended the filing deadline to december 15th of this year. marcus, laura? >> all that aid could help people and we remain optimistic with you as well, bob. a look at where all of these fires are burning across the bay area. most of them involve the three separate series that have0000 a. >> now be sure to download our free nbc bay area app this is a great way to get the very latest on those fires, evacuations and all of the latest information surrounding those fires and what's happening here in the bay area. it is free and you also get your

weather conditions as well. so a great tool to have. take a look at this new time lapse video showing the sunrise over the mountains. in the distance you can see the fire glowing from the walbridge fire. at one point you seep the glow from stars and moon making for an eerie scene out there. whether an evacuee or you have loved ones or families dealing with some of these fires everyone in the bay area affected in some way or another even just with the smoke that we're breathing in. but it's nice to have a little cooler temperatures for the start of our day. yeah, we are seeing the higher humidity coming in as well that's helping to keep those fires from spreading so quickly. so today we're still going to see some of our inland areas reach up to aboutn as we go int of the week by next week. the subtle changes is really what those fire crews need.

no wild swings in temperatures or our weather pattern so it's looking pretty good with some much cooler air near the coast and in san francisco where the fog will be building each morning. mike, what's happening out there with those traffic alerts? kari, in the north bay the petaluma traffic alert cleared at petaluma boulevard. looking south of there and here we see the fire zones, local closures and evacuations. two traffic alerts for the south bay, north 101 and capitol expressway. a crash in the backup two lanes jamming you up. highway 17 northbound a big rig crash blocks one lane but there are only two. that's the slowing coming into the area. >> all right, thank you very much, mike, and thank you for joining us as well. the "today" show is up next.

good morning breaking news. hurricane laura dramatically good morning breaking news. hurricane laura dramatically intensifies overnight expected to become a powerful category 4 storm set to make landfall later today. more than a half million people along the gulf coast now under evacuation orders. officials telling residents to get out now or else. >> don't dial 911. no one's going to answer okaythvery latest storm trasithisor