our newsroom and meteorologist kari hall tracking those conditions firefighters are working against. plus -- >> the truth is, this did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated. a emergency flights resuming in afghanistan as thousands try to flee with the taliban moving in. all this while president biden is coming under new fire from critics. our washington insider is live to explain how biden is defending his decisions. >> covid cases surging, the steps california is taking to ensure there is enough space at hospitals for incoming patients. this is "today in the bay." thanks so much for making us a part of your morning. i'm marcus washington. >> i'm laura garcia. let's check in with meteorologist kari hall in just a bit. >> but we want to go to that fast-breaking story before we get to kari because the wildfire is burning to our east. that wildfire ravaging another

neighborhood with evacuation and rescue efforts underway. this is in el dorado county between sacramento and tahoe. this with cal fire resources already stretched thin by the dixie fire and other out-of-control wildfires. >> "today in the bay's" kris sanchez here with the latest covid into our newsroom and new information. so concerning with these fires breaking out across our state. >> we know that at least one person was burned by the fire that started on saturday, but which exploded overnight. our crews spotted an ambulance into the danger zone to reach that person and we also know that several structures have already burned although cal fire is still fighting the fire and not stopping to take stock. there are mandatory evacuation orders in effect in that area. this is the area where the caldor fire is burning. if you're familiar, grizzly flats and happy valley are under evacuation orders. it is a tough fire fight cal fire says because of the rugged

terrain there and because of spot fires. now this is video of the fire fight from just the last hour and a half or so. you can see firefighters trying to defend some of those structures against the caldor fire even as those flames are whipping around them. here's what an nbc sacramento reporter saw in the last hour. >> about every home we drove by had at least one engine parked in the driveway and we saw the crews going around the homes treating the yards, cutting back brush that they could, doing what they could to prepare those homes if and should that fire get into those areas. >> cal fire says it is already stretched thin because of other fires and it is no wonder, looking at the map of fires burning up and down california, so far this year, more than a million acres are burning or burned in more than 6500 incidents. that includes the dixie wildfire which was fed by wind gusts overnight. new evacuation orders near susanville where thousands of homes are under threat and that

fire 31% contained. and as kari has shown us through this morning in her forecast, hot, dry weather will continue this week as will the winds and cal fire says they are bracing for aggressive fire growth. >> really hard to see all these fires. thank you. meantime strong winds are expected in northern california tonight. meaning pg&e may shut off power for some people to avoid that fire risk. three bay area counties, napa, solano, and sonoma are among 18 total that could be affected by the utility's public safety power shutoff. >> pg&e says roughly 40,000 customers may lose power with most of them in butte and shasta counties. bay area numbers are expected to be small. >> want to bring in meteorologist kari hall right now. she's been tracking these dangerous conditions for us. and strong winds expected. >> so the winds are going to start to pick up especially later tonight and where we see the contours, the yellows and reds indicates where we will see the highest wind gusts farther to the north and east bay and

north bay hills. our upper elevations are going to feel those wind gusts that at times could top over 50 miles per hour between late tonight into early tomorrow. a lot of us in the valleys won't feel too much of that but a breeze as we are going to see the red flag warning for our hills in marin county and deblo range and north bay as well. we'll be monitoring this and talk more about temperatures coming up in a few minutes. >> all right. thank you very much. developing now, the taliban now in full control of afghanistan, except it seems a section of the airport in kabul wheres u.s. troops continue to provide security for americans and allies rushing to get out. in satellite images, they show people were converging around the airport tarmac, terminals and runways. president biden is surprised by the speed of the collapse but republicans are pointing the finger at the administration for what they call an epic failure. "today in the bay's" jay gray live on capitol hill with a closer look at this developing

situation. a lot of images hard to see here, jay. >> yeah. it really is difficult, laura and continues to be a very tense, dangerous situation there. it's one that also brings some very difficult memories and questions, frankly, for so many u.s. veterans who served on the frontlines in afghanistan over the last 20 years. >> reporter: this morning, u.s. officials and embassy staff continue to rush out of afghanistan. american troops providing security in the chaos at the kabul airport. tens of thousands of afghans flooding the tarmac desperate to escape with the taliban now in full control of the capital and the country. >> the truth is, this did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated. >> reporter: president biden speaking publicly for the first time since the takeover, vigorously defends his decision

to pull u.s. troops from the region, blaming afghan security forces for the collapse. >> it is wrong to order american troops to step up when afghanistan's own armed forces would not. >> reporter: republicans arguing the administration had no plan in place fort americans still on the ground. >> he has to take responsibility and accountability for his own actions, which have led to this unmitigated disaster i call it of epic proportions. it is a disaster. >> reporter: the political finger pointing doesn't really matter to retired navy s.e.a.l. sniper steve brown. >> i'm struggling, to be honest. >> reporter: haunted by memories of his time on the frontlines as he watches the taliban reclaim control. >> all my brothers that, you know, paid the ultimate sacrifice there, it was -- it was just really hard to see everything undone so fast. >> reporter: after two decades

of sacrifice and overwhelming loss. >> now the president says the u.s. military security team will remain in place for as long as necessary, laura, to complete those evacuations. still no real timeline on how long that may be. >> we know, jay, at least five people have died at the airport, two killed by u.s. troops at the airport. talk about if you know if there's been any conflict between american soldiers and taliban fighters at this point? >> yeah. not at this point according to military officials and others on the ground there. we do know that president biden yesterday issued a stern warning to the taliban telling them that if there was any attack on u.s. troops or any disruption of the evacuation that his response and i want to get it right, quoting here, would be swift and forceful. >> and we know the taliban

itself, i mean they've been swift in the way that they're moving into all these areas and really tormenting families, women and young clipper as well. thank you for the latest. a lot of bay area families are fearing for loved ones overseas. some have been lucky enough to be reunited at home while others are hoping their families can make it out. coming up at 6:30, we'll hear from them as they anxiously await the news. santa clara county sheriff laurie smith is scheduled to hold a news conference later this morning to respond to calls for her resignation. san jose mayor sam liccardo says that smith should step down. in the wake of a series of missteps including multiple use of force incidents at the county jail, taxpayer dollars paid to people involved in lawsuits over civil rights violations and an ongoing criminal investigation into bribery charges which resulted in three criminal indictments against two of smith's top aides in a campaign fundraiser. >> decision to decline to

cooperate with the grand jury investigation of her own staff over bribery charges relating to her own re-election and declined to do so for fear of self-incrimination should disqualify anyone from serving in any law enforcement capacity let alone as the highest ranking law enforcement officer in the county. >> mayor liccardo is the first elected official to call on smith to resign. smith has been santa clara sheriff for more than 20 years. the california department of public health will require hospitals across the state to accept transfer patients from facilities with limited icu capacity during an increase in covid hospitalizations due to the delta variant. covid outbreaks have forced two classrooms in oakland to home quarantine. there are 58 cases among students in oakland unified, ten more among staff members. there are 24 confirm cases at brentwood union and liberty

added 69 cases bringing the totals up to 117. oakley union elementary school district has 44 cases, san ramon valley unified up to 30 cases, 16 were added just yesterday. taking a live look outside in the bay area over the san francisco skyline. see it there from a distance. kari has a look at our forecast for today and what we're in store for. >> we're waking up to a little bit of fog near the coast, a little bit of smoke mixing in. we've had moderate air quality and it does look to improved to. as you're heading out the door and to work in fremont, temperatures in the low 60s, nice and cool and we'll get that sunshine and clear blue sky. lunch time temperature 72 but heading towards the mid-70s today. 85 for a high in livermore and concord reaching into the upper 80s, santa rosa reaching 85, really nice day. a little bit cooler than yesterday with some better air quality. we will see changes in the air

quality going into the next couple days so i'll have more on that. mike, heading out the door how is it looking for the commute? >> folks are rushing to get out of richmond. rushing to get here to the toll plaza where the commute is on. but the bridge well that's on the bridge is where there's a problem. hook at that. there's something going on, something blocking one lane. don't have a lot of detail and don't have reports from chp but the live shot shows you the same thing as the sensors towards san rafael on 580. 37 not bad. the bay bridge actually just saw the metering lights turn on. the backup not really forming just yet. a little slowing for highway 4 through concord and vasco road is the big problem, still very slow as you head down toward the county line. construction, one-way traffic control and then a crash, that's your slow drive towards 580. back to you. >> thanks, mike. still reeling, the hefty cost of spirit airlines recently operational meltdown and the delays the airline is still dealing with. >> and also ahead for you at

6:25, the shocking moment an alligator pulls a handler into the tank. this is during a kidd's birthday party. the dad who dived in to help her. plus a way to get a table at your favorite restaurant. i'll show you how. and, the future showing a big dip on the dow after setting new records. plus -- ♪ i can't feel my face when i'm with you but i ♪ >> making music history. an all new record the weekend just sent this morning. we're going to talk about it coming up. i want you to stick around so we can dance and talk about it.

right now on your tuesday morning stepping out the door we have a nice clear sunrise in san jose. not looking as hazy as we saw yesterday morning and temperatures right now in the low 60s. it's going to be cooler with a breezy wind, but we still have a high demand for air conditioning. we're going to talk more about that in our climate in crisis coming up. bay bridge toll plaza the backup filling in all lanes just over the last five minutes. this happened in earnest. some folks might be avoiding that. richmond bridge towards san rafael is jammed as you head

over to the span. good morning. very happy tuesday to you. i was remarking the other day how often i say the dow and s&p 500 hit new records and we can add today to that. the dow and s&p 500 will open at new records, may not last long. the latest retail sales figures shows sales of new cars fell hard. high prices and shortages are keeping americans off the car lot. jeff bezos' space company blue origin wants to be part of nasa's return to the moon and is suing to do it because nasa hired spacex instead. some engineers at blue origin are embarrassed how aggressive bezos is being with the lawsuit. it criticizes spacex's efforts. rocket scientists are pretty friendly with each, a small community, trying to accomplish the same thing and don't like it when the billionaires fight. bezos wants nasa to accept the blue moon behind him, competitor elon musk tweeted this picture

of the mock-up you saw before it was ready saying doesn't look convincing. blue origin sent information to the press before richard branson went into space pointing out bezos would fly higher. rocket scientists saying going to space is hard enough by itself. they don't enjoy the sniping. a new study shows slightly fewer went to the office in san francisco in the first week of august. in other words, back to the office may have peaked before declining again. probably coronavirus. could be last-minute summer vacation. the restaurant reservation app open table is going to add a feature for restaurants so they know if their customer is vaccinated before they show up. the restaurant will have to verify the vaccination card once but then can mark the customer as vaccinated for future visits. the restaurants aren't going to share the data between themselves, when i say data, it's nothing personal data, it's just you were here before, we mark you were vaccinated because

you showed us the card and now every time we see your reservation we're not going to ask. if you bring somebody else, then sure. >> keeping track of who you're going with. >> not the same gentleman -- a different gentleman you had dinner with therother. right. >> all right. this morning new data on the so-called great resignation referring to the millions of americans who quit their jobs during the pandemic. for those who didn't quit, a poll finds many actually considered it. according to the "washington post" nearly one in three workers under 40 have thought about changing their field of work during the pandemic. many say the pandemic altered how they think and what is important in their lives and careers. spirit airlines says the cancellation of more than 2,800 flights cost about $50 million million in lost revenue and

costs soared as the budget airline paid to put some of the strained passengers on flights with other airlines and covered their hotel stays. spirit says that service meltdown that started in july has led to more cancellations. it now plans to reduce flights for the rest of this quarter which ends in september. 6:19. trending this morning, blinded by the billboard charts. the weekend is making music history. ♪♪ ♪ i'm drowning in the night ♪ >> his song spent 88 weeks on the billboard hot 100 charts the longest billboard hot 100 songs of all time. it surpassed imagine dragon's song radioactive which spent 87 weeks on the chart. quite talented. i enjoyed watching him in the super bowl. >> yeah.

>> i thought it was a good performance considering the situation and everything. >> yeah. you have to get a tiktok dance associated with your song. >> we leave that to marcus. >> we'll work on that. >> let me show you another thing we can do here show you maps and also backups and time. here we go. this is a big delay, off of vasco road. look at the number in the middle. we're still at almost 50 minutes. it's about a 45 minute delay. it doesn't look that bad when it says overall 50 minutes but longer than that if you're leaving brentwood and byron toward 580. a crash in the backup from the one-way traffic control from the road work going on and a crash in the backup and another crash in that backup that is a problem getting down toward 580 out of contra costa county. that's where that one very specific drive, the rest of the tri-valley, though, looks good. there the south bay no major delays. slowing your typical westbound direction. kari, the backup at the richmond and bay bridge, the bay bridge has finally filled in the lanes and we see clouds in the

background. >> we can see the clouds as we head inland with a live look outside in dublin. a little bit of clouds mixing with the smoke at times and we had that smoke drifting in and that's made us very concerned about air quality. starting out with some moderate air quality this morning but very much like yesterday. once those westerly winds pick up it's going to clear out for the afternoon and going to be a good day for getting outside and enjoying more of the fresh air and you better take it in. let me show you tomorrow we're going to see a lot more smoke coming in by tomorrow afternoon. this is at 2:30 and we're seeing a lot of reds which indicate some unhealthy air quality for the next couple days possibly as we are seeing the three of those very large fires burning across northern california pushing into the bay area. we're also going to have some slightly cooler temperatures today. 60s near the coast, 80s for the inland areas. a change in the wind direction happens for tomorrow. especially late tonight into early tomorrow morning with the storm system passing to the north. much more of an offshore wind

flow which tends to be drier and when it moves over some of those mountains it's going to increase our fire danger for tomorrow morning. our temperatures will reach into the upper 80s, a little bit cooler for the weekend and san francisco will continue to see highs in the upper 60s over the next several days. now let's turn to our climate in crisis. if you think you've been using your air conditioning more you're right about that. we've had steady warming here in the bay area and around the world for the past 20 years and this is all due to climate change. so we need more air conditioning. so this graph shows what we call cooling degree days, basically a measure of how much cooling is needed to maintain comfortable indoor temperatures. anything above 65 is a cooling degree day and you can have several of those in a day. you can see the trend from 1970 to 2020 and there is an increased demand of the cooling degree days. more homes are built with air conditioning. 1973, how many homes across the west and northwest, about 40%

had central air conditioning. and you can see the trend as temperatures heated up we need more air conditioning and now about 90% of homes are built with central air conditioning. 're going to continue to nhouse follow this. it's a big demand for clean energy. see the stories on nbcbayarea.com. click on the climate in crisis tab. >> so interesting. thank you. coming up next on "today in the bay," nbc bay area responds. >> a power outage doesn't have to price you. you can get an advanced warning. i'm chris chmura. we'll show you how next.

♪♪ come on, get your motor running ♪♪ you just head out on the highway ♪♪ looking for some tchotchkes ♪♪ and whatever comes our way ♪♪ yeah darlin, go make it happen mí amor, take the world in a love embrace ride all of your love at once and explode into space... ♪ born to be wild ♪ start your california road trip and visitcalifornia.com

welcome back. pg&e says windy, dry conditions could lead to public safety power shutoffs for some north bay residents. >> chris chmura shows us how. >> losing power at home or work doesn't always have to be a surprise. let me show you how to get advanced warning so you can prepare your fridge or unplug sensitive electronics. pg&e plots outages on a map on its website. book mark it. here's how to use it. by default, you see current

outages, but look in the upper left. if you click future psps outages, the map switches to what's ahead. you can also search right down to your address. look for the purple triangles. even better, pg&e says it will send you an alert. >> we're able to text you give you a phone call, a warning that the probability of us shutting off power to your home or business is likely. >> pg&e says it uses contact info it has on file, like phone numbers and e-mail addresses to send out alerts. so make sure your account is up to date and do that online or by calling 866-743-6589. when we called midweek one day it took two and a half minutes for an agent to pick up. okay. thanks, chris. take a look at this, new this morning a man attending a 5-year-old's birthday party is called a hero for hisshuns. that may have well saved the life of an alligator handler. it happened in utah. an 8 foot gator grabbed the

handlers hand as she was trying to feed it and held on. the man jumped on the gator's back and pinned it more than a minute until it let go. super hero dad there. coming up next, breaking news that we're following. a wildfire to our east exploding in size overnight. we're watching some new video coming into our newsroom right now and we'll bring it to you. i'm morgan, and there's more to me than hiv. more love, more adventure, more community. but with my hiv treatment, there's not more medicines in my pill. i talked to my doctor and switched to fewer medicines with dovato. dovato is for some adults who are starting hiv-1 treatment or replacing their current hiv-1 regimen. with just 2 medicines in 1 pill, dovato is as effective as a 3-drug regimen... to help you reach and stay undetectable.

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flames the fast-moving fire exploding in size east of sacramento. evacuations, fire fights, the damage adding up at this hour and a story developing quickly and all new this morning. people are clinging to the plane clearly tells you they're scared an want to get out of there. >> getting out. the u.s. military racing to evacuate tens of thousands of americans and afghans as the taliban moves further into kabul. the news within the last few minutes, what taliban just announced afghan women will be allowed to do. a booster shot on the way. who is first in line and the potential timeline for your next shot. this is "today in the bay." , of course, we're broadcasting to television, but we stream online to smartphones and online at our nbc bay area app and nbcbayarea.com. good tuesday morning. thanks for joining us.

i'm laura garcia. >> i'm marcus washington. want to get to that breaking news for you this morning. this is between sacramento and ta had, a wildfire exploding overnight. now the evacuation and rescue efforts they are under way adding to a recipe for disaster. those incoming gusty winds. >> that's always such a big concern. kris sanchez has been poring through some of the new video coming into our newsroom. and the extent of the fire. >> we got a dispatch from the frontlines, firefighters are having trouble accessing water as they are defending a community where we know 50 homes are already wiped out. the homes in the grizzly flats neighborhood which looked like this morning. u.s. forest it was are trying to defend what structures are left against the caldor fire, working alongside cal fire, which said it was out of control when the fires kicked in last night. now our crew spotted an ambulance headed into that danger zone to reach at least

one person reportedly burned. at least 50 homes are destroyed. we also know several other structures are also under threat. cal fire is still fighting that fire which is at least 2200 acres. there are mandatory evacuation orders in effect. now here's where the caldor fire is burning in el dorado county. if you are familiar, grizzly flats and happy valley are the places that are under evacuation order. it is a tough fire fight because of the rugged terrain there. here's what a reporter saw this morning. >> this is the perimeter of the fire. it's burning upslope fueled by the wind and there's a much greater -- burning at a much greater rate, much faster. >> in the incident report for this caldor fire which started saturday, the u.s. forest service and cal fire said they were stretched thin because of other fires and these are the fires that are burning in our

state. so it is no wonder they are taxed. this year more than 1 million acres have burned or are burning and more than 6500 incidents that includes the dixie wildfire which we have been reporting on extensively. that also was fed by wind gusts overnight. new vaccination orders for the dixie fire in the area of susanville where thousands of homes are under threat. that fire is only 31% contained. the fire is a factor not just for the dixie fire, but also the caldor fire which did take off overnight, though it's been burning since saturday. they said there the winds forecast for the next three days could allow aggressive fire runs of 3 miles or more. laura. >> so tough to see. want to check in with meteorologist kari hall. she's tracking the weather conditions right now. quite dangerous for firefighters. >> not only around those fires, but we know that fires can generate their own weather and create some higher winds in that

vicinity. here in the bay area we're going to see our winds picking up and that's the reason we have new red flag warnings going up. the areas in pink and yellow where we will have the highest winds. our north bay hills and the east bay hills and that's between tonight and early tomorrow morning when those winds will be highest. these areas are now included under a red flag warning, a high fire danger between 11:00 tonight and tomorrow morning where gusts could reach 55 miles per hour. we'll talk about temperatures in our forecast coming up in a few minutes. >> thank you very much. now to that developing situation in afghanistan. within the last hour, the taliban announcing that women in afghanistan will have the right to work and be educated up to university level. also, thousands of schools continue to operate following the taliban takeover. women will be expected to wear the hijab but not the burqa. also u.s. military flights have resumed at kabul's airport as

the u.s. scrambles to extract some 22,000 afghans who helped the american military. u.s. troops are providing security with the taliban in full control of afghanistan. president biden yesterday defended his decision to pull u.s. troops from the region and blames afghan security forces for the collapse. 6,000 soldiers will stay you there to complete evacuations. here in the bay area, there are people with loved ones still overseas in the midst of that conflict. "today in the bay's" cierra johnson is live at sfo. this is where some locals were able to greet their family on the last commercial flight coming in from kabul. >> good morning. yes. this was the location of a lot of those reunions yesterday when the folks were able to be reunited which the relatives they had over in kabul in afghanistan and as we have been showing about 24 hours now, the video out of afghanistan is really difficult to watch. you can really see the

desperation of folks trying to leave that chaotic situation with the taliban taking over portions of that country. now the taliban began retaking power in afghanistan and we're seeing those video afghans trying to escape for the group could carry out revenge attacks on those who worked with americans or the government. we're seeing reunions at the local levels. as i mentioned nbc bay area was here at sfo with one final commercial flight from kabul before the taliban shut down the streets and the airport. take a listen to what a man reunited with his mother had to say. me and my family feel lucky she got out. there's a lot of supporters for the taliban and the propaganda, and they seem like nice guys at first. hopefully bring peace to the country. we're glad my mom made it out. a lot of people that didn't make it out safe and my heart goes out to them. >> reporter: we also spoke with some folks both here at sfo and

in fremont's little kabul who did not want their face shown on the other side of the spectrum waiting to hear from loved ones overseas. many expressed concerns about their safety and the taliban repeating violence like we've seen in the past. another concern coming out of this, the children and women. she expressed concern for women and children and some of the violence they may face but as we mentioned before i went live seems like the taliban is expressing some notions that women will have some extended rights, schooling and be able to work. this is a continuously developing story and we will keep close tabs on what's going on overseas. we're live here at sfo, cierra johnson, for "today in the bay." >> so many emotions and levels like you've said. thank you. what exactly happened? and what comes next? this is a complex situation and we have answers to your questions. you can visit our website

nbcbayarea.com. click on the tab the afghanistan crisis. what we know, it's in our trending bar. now to our pandemic, and a controversial question for many, will you get a third covid-19 booster shot? this morning the feds say they're close to recommending all americans receive a booster. "today in the bay's" bob redell joins us live this morning with a timeline looking like for this, bob. laura, eight months after you received your second shot, sources tell nbc news that federal government is expected to recommend that third booster shot for those that have received either the moderna or the pfizer vaccine. the doses will go out once the fda formally approves the vaccines. right now as you recall, the vaccines are authorized for emergency use only. formal approval for pfizer is expected next month. moderna some time after that. the recommendation is expected as the delta variant surges across the country and also it's

the vaccines might wane in their effectiveness over time. >> people need to understand that even with the two doses, they are protected. even if they get infected and have mild illness, you look across the hospitals today at these huge numbers, this gigantic surge in hospitalizations and icu admissions and sadly in deaths, and it's almost all unvaccinated people. >> reporter: health care workers, nursing home residents and older americans could be among the first to receive the third booster dose. those with weakened immune systems have already begun to receive theirs. the government is still collecting information to figure out when to recommend a booster for the johnson & johnson vaccine. with regards to the pfizer and moderna boosters, the white house says that the united states does have enough supply to offer up those shots. reporting live here in san

ramon, bob redell, "today in the bay." >> for people just to get the first one too. thanks so much. 6:40. to haiti where the search for survivors is intensifying following saturday's earthquake. the number of dead stands at more than 1400. at least 6,000 people are injured. that quake damaged or destroyed some 37,000 homes. the u.s. coast guard is working to help those in need but now tropical storm grace is complicating the efforts. we've got new video you see from overnight. the storm dumped rain on the island causing flooding, making it harder to provide safe shelter for so many displaced families. >> think about what they've been dealing with and what's yet to come. >> at least for now that tropical storms has moved away from haiti, so hopefully they get a break. it's heading to jamaica, toward the yucatan peninsula, and near

hurricane strens possibly into the gulf of mexico. we'll be watching that. our temperatures here at home today, it's going to be cooler for our inland areas and we'll be tracking the air quality as well. unexpected delays for the east bay. >> they're continuing but may be some relief as the commute builds. the richmond bridge towards san rafael seeing improvement for the span. whatever was blocking one lane looks like it may have been cleared. you saw the backup at the toll plaza but the overall speed sensors look better traveling west. the build is on for your westbound drive. also south for 880, slowing through hayward and also we have 101 through san jose. i'll give you better news for vasco road coming up. back to you. >> thank you. 6:42 right now. as the delta variant surges the raiders are making changes. >> what you'll need if you're heading to vegas to seat new stadium. a lot of finger pointing about what went wrong in afghanistan but only one person is in charge. out at the big board, dow

falling hard as retail sales fall, particularly the sale of new cars. plus -- ♪♪ ♪ we are living in a material world and i am a material girl ♪ >> celebrating 40, not madonna's birthday but boy all the hits she's put out. the project the material girl is working on that will span her entire career. you're watching "today in the bay."

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right now at 6:45, packing the backpacks for the kids an getting them ready for drop-off? brentwood. temperatures in the 60s and it's goingteoon, not as hot as the past few days. cooler for the bay area. more on that in the forecast in a few minutes. 580, the richmond bridge had a heavier backup. a disabled vehicle on the span that has cleared and recovery there. you talked about brentwood, leaving brentwood toward vasco road you will have unusual slowing patterns there. the big backup about the normal commute. thank so much. 6:46. president biden says he stands by his decision to pull troops from afghanistan. >> scott mcgrew, something both parties supporteded. >> and americans supported. continued to support. not that long ago, republicans and democrats were fighting over who should get credit for

leaving afghanistan. trump who set it up, biden who did it. the real problem isn't that we're leaving it's how, seemingly unprepared and unaware of how quickly the situation would devolve and how much the danger the afghans who supported us are in. yesterday morning president biden returned from camp david to defend his actions. >> if anything, the developments of the past week reinforce that any u.s. military involvement in afghanistan now was the right decision. the american troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves. >> there is no question, though, that america was not ready for how quickly things would fall apart. it was just a few weeks ago the white house assured us it would look nothing like saigon. now one of the catch phrases is saigon on steroids. >> we were clear eyed about the risk. we planned for every

contingency, but i always promised the american people that i would be straight with you. the truth is, this did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated. >> former president bush urging calm saying the skill and bravery of americans in kabul will save the day. laura and i are confident evacuation efforts will be effective. they're being carried out by the remarkable men and women of the united states armed forces, diplomatic corps and intelligence community. biden said the blame for this should not be on the u.s., it should be on the afghan army which folded without a fight. but certainly u.s. intelligence failures played a role. back when the u.s. intelligence agencies were telling the american people the afghan army could fend off the taliban "the washington post" quoted intelligence insiders who thought afghanistan could fall in 90 days, others as quickly as a month. 90 days, 30 days, here's the thing, this article was

published seven days ago. president biden startled many supporters when after the speech, he returned to camp david and will continue his vacation. as we have said about all presidents, president trump included, no president is ever on vacation. his office travels with him, particularly to camp david, but the optics are terrible. recall liberals pounced when ted cruz took his family to cancun during power outages to texas. senator cruz can't fix power lines. he has no say on texas energy policy. cancun is a nice place. but the optics speak for themselves. be late to work today because this army general h.r. mcmaster, he's going to be on the "today" show talking about what we should do next. recall him as trump's national security adviser and the foremost expert on what america did wrong in vietnam. if anybody understand what's happening it's mcmaster and he's coming up at 7:00.

we'll be tweeting about it as well. find me on social media on facebook and on twitter @scottmcgrew. >> thanks so much. it is 6:49. this morning we're learning a fully vaccinated scaf staff member from governor newsom's office has tested positive for covid-19. the staffer had not interacted with the governor or any staff who regularly come into contact with him. as a state agency mask wearing is required for staff. the las vegas raiders are the second nfl team to require all fans to show proof of vaccination. this move is made after nevada governor announced events with more than 250 attendees can operate at more than 50% capacity with state approval. the raiders are teaming up with the i.d. company clear and the health pass feature of their free app to verify vaccination status. some exciting news from the material girl herself. madonna says she will relaunch her entire catalog over the coming years to celebrate 40 years since her debut single.

♪ i can't quench my desire ♪ ♪ don't you know i'm burning up for your love ♪ >> the project will be under a deal with warner music group. the music studio that launched her career nearly four decades ago. since then she's become the best selling female pop music superstar of all time. >> that's like from way back when she had an american accent. >> that's right. went a little like bronx and then turned english. >> yeah. >> woman of the world. >> very talented. >> she is. and burning up the charts and we are burning up for that forecast today. >> okay. maybe that's something you'll be listening to on your way to work this morning. we're going to start out with some better air quality. yesterday was smoky and we're seeing some moderate air quality right now. some of that smoke coming in. look at what happens as we go into this afternoon. yeah, clears out and it's going to move off towards the east and away from the bay area for a little while. we better take it in and enjoy

it because we see changes in our air quality as well as smoke especially tomorrow afternoon. we see some bright rez which means unhealthy air quality as we go into tomorrow as these fires are still burning and even new ones starting and exploding in the size and also how much smoke is putting up into the atmosphere. and so we're going to monitor that unfortunately. we also have a high fire danger here in the bay area and so if you haven't gotten an alert already make sure you check if you're under this psps where you may have your pour shut off starting tonight and continuing into tomorrow as the winds pick up and we are also getting a stronger ocean breeze with a breezy winds. our temperatures will be cooler for many of our inland spots we're coming out of the 90s into the 80s today. it's going to feel much more comfortable as we go through the forecast. that shift in the wind continues as we are going to see this area of low pressure moving just to the north of us and with an

offshore wind it means very dry conditions and those gusty winds could fab any flames. we have to be careful here. along with the high fire danger those gusty winds temperatures come up a few degrees but then down for the weekend. inland valleys highs in the mid 80s. you're sorting out some of the slowing. >> getting back to pretty much what you would expect the bay bridge toll plaza. we're not quite full on all lanes but the backup is here and about as strong as the richmond bridge, as they had an issue on the bridge. cleared, west 580 improving. highway 4 still typically slow out of concord. this is down vasco road towards 580. it will be slow about the same travel time you expect this time of day but the pattern starts earlier for the slowing because the crash and overnight road work. i think there's going to be overnight road work again tomorrow morning. san jose a little extra slowing around story road but more gradual toward oakland. back to you. >> thanks for the latest. 6:53.

happening now, san francisco and san jose's vaccine mandates appear to have the attention of at least two east bay mayors. antioch's lamar thorp and walnut creek's kevin wilk are preparing to hold a joint news conference today calling for mayors across the bay area to issue similar vaccine mandates for city workers. the event starts at 11:00 a.m. a quick look at the top stories including breaking news overnight. a quick moving wildfire explodes east of the bay area. neighbors under vaccinations -- evacuations this morning. you're watching "today in the bay."

6:57. welcome back before you head out the door we're moving you forward with a look at our top stories on "today in the bay." >> first, breaking right now rg a new wildfire raging and this is ravaging another neighborhood with evacuations and rescue efforts under way in el dorado county between sacramento and tahoe. >> "today in the bay's" kris sanchez joins us with the latest video coming into our newsroom. >> also the caldor fire exploded overnight and there are more winds in the forecast. already that fire destroyed 50 structures and at least one person is injured. the u.s. forest service which is leading the fire fight says they're having trouble accessing water now. evacuation orders are in effect and here's what an nbc

sacramento reporter saw this morning. >> about every home we drove by had at least one engine parked in the driveway and we saw the crews going around those homes treating the yards cutting back brush that they could, doing what they could to prepare the homes if and should that fire get into those areas. >> cal fire says it is stretched thin and no wonder why, so far this year more than a million acres are burning or burned and 6500 incidents that includes the dixie wildfire also fueled by the wind gusts overnight. a new evacuation order is in effect for thousands of homes near susanville. the wind is a factor for the caldor fire. cal fire says the winds could allow aggressive fire runs of three or more miles. >> we'll keep our eye on that. thank you. white house sources are telling nbc news a third dose of the covid vaccine is likely on the way for most americans. sources involved in the discussion say white house

health leaders are expected to recommend a third booster shot. it would apply only to people who got the two shot vaccines from pfizer and moderna and be administered eight months after a person received their second shot. all right. time to get a look at that forecast this morning. meteorologist kari hall is tracking those conditions for us. >> we've been watching out for the red flag warning that goes up tonight and the potential for power outages in the north bay and for tonight and into early tomorrow when we will see the peak of the winds. after that quiets down and we don't have any new fire starts as our temperatures cool down. >> a quick look at the richmond side of the bridge. 580 recovering nicely the earlier issue the stall on the bridge cleared. we're recovering to normal and here's palo alto, how clear it is on the peninsula, the folks heading to the bottom of the screen southbound and that sun in theiray we're back at 7:25 with a live local news update. >> our midday newscast at 11:00 and don't forget today is cierra's birthday and go online

and wish her a very happy birthday. you can find her @cierra johnson. >> we love her. >> one of our great reporters. >> happy birthday. >> have a great day. thanks for joining us. the "today" show coming up next. ♪ good morning. breaking overnight, getting out. emergency flights resume in kabul just hours after scenes of chaos on the tarmac. the u.s. military racing to evacuate tens of thousands of americans and afghans while president biden, under fire, defends his decision to end america's longest war and blames the afghan government and military for the country's rapid collapse. >> it is wrong to order american troops to step up when afghanistan's own armed forces would not.