leg and ankle and fell on his back. he required surgery because of the injury. he claims the latch on the dumpster was defective and broken for months an seeking $15,000 in damages. right now at 6:00, flames raging in northern california. wildfires causing smoky skies, bringing unhealthy air into the bay area. we've got team coverage on when it's all expected to continue to move in. plus, a third shot almost a certainty for millions of americans this morning. what we now know about the white house's expected announcement today as infections continue to climb across the nation and the bay area. and water woes may soon hit everyone in the state. governor newsom's potential new cutbacks if the coming rainy season doesn't materialize. the third hour of "today in the bay" continues right now. good wednesday morning to you. back to school for kids as well.

have a good year. desperate situation for frontline fire crews. the caldor fire near tahoe exploded. the dixie fire not a third contained. firefighters have been fighting that one for weeks. all that smoke is expected to make conditions in the bay area terrible over the next 24 hours. >> our team coverage continues right now. we're going to check in with kris sanchez looking at the fire fight that crews are up against, but first let's check in with meteorologist kari hall tracking all this wildfire smoke coming into the bay area. >> yesterday was nice to get a clear blue afternoon, but that's about to change as we're starting to see the smoke coming in. north bay, near surface smoke model showing the reds and purples indicating unhealthy air quality with the smoke close to the ground. we have a breezy wind but the wind direction is shifting and bringing in a northerly wind which will enhance a lot of the smoke that's going to be moving in from the fires to our north. so as we get a look at the smoke model once again, it's going to

be smoky for today into tomorrow as we see these large fires billowing up huge amounts of smoke and then starting to send it into the bay area. we also have a risk of new fire starts with the breezy winds that have kicked up for elevations above 1,000 feet. it's a windy morning and the areas in red will be included in the high fire danger until 3:00 this afternoon. we're still looking at winds to gust anywhere from 30 to 55 miles per hour but these fires that are mainly uncontained will possibly spread as we go into today. and for more on our wildfire danger as well as the caldor fire let's head over to kris sanchez with the impact on the bay area. >> hi there. we're starting to see a little bit of that haze as that sun is starting to come up this morning, but we know that there will be more in the air because the fires up north are just exploding in size. the caldor fire went to almost

30,000 acres overnight, largely fueled by the winds that we're seeing here in the bay area. now we know that the fire went from 6500 acres to more than 30,000 in less than 24 hours. and we now know two residents were severely burned. one had to be taken to the hospital by helicopter. the entire el dorado national forest has closed. evacuation centers are full of residents fleeing for safety. orders are in effect and there are 242 fire personnel on this fire which is not contained on any front. meanwhile the biggest fire burning in california right now, the dixie fire, continues to grow making for some of the eerie orange skies that we remember from last year. these images are from the san jose weather research lab and with 1200 structures destroyed, we're not just talking wood smoke, this smoke is toxic. >> the first thing is windows

and doors shut, the inside, if there's smoke in the neighborhood, we really recommend buying an air purifier and kind of setting up a clean air room. >> reporter: the smoke is the worst for people who have any sort of respiratory or lung issues or heart conditions. the smoke is pretty bad, too, for kids and for our elderly. in san jose, kris sanchez, "today in the bay." >> thank you, kris. it's 6:04. a big announcement expected from the white house today that will impact you even if you're fully vaccinated. a third shot is closer to reality. san francisco launching an effort in the pandemic as the delta variant grows. the city opening a test site south of market. "today in the bay's" san jose -- south bay johnson live and

through facility to get tested. it's giving folks a sense of mind. so here's what we know about this location. again we're at 7th here in sonoma. it's a high volume appointment only location that will offer 500 tests each day, seven days a week beginning today. the location is drive-through or walkup and the results after you are tested are available 24 to 48 hours after you receive the test. the san francisco mayor's office tells nbc bay area the number of covid cases has risen to 230 a day and the goal is to meet the demand of folks wanting to get tested as well as help those who need a test to return to work or school. and this site opens as the white house covid-19 team will make a case for booster shots eight months after folks receive either the pfizer or moderna vaccine. with the fda approval those shots could be available as soon as september. and i did do some digging before the shot and there were a couple

of openings for covid testing here at the seventh and brandon location and there aren't any today or tomorrow. there were a couple on august 20th. the website indicated they will be making more slots available after august 20th at a later date. again if you need to get a covid test for school or to return to work this will be your spot. all is quiet but in matter of hours it will be a completely different ball game. we're live in sonoma, cierra johnson for "today in the bay." 6:06. more research this morning reinforcing that pregnant women should get vaccinated. the cdc advised expect the mothers to get the covid vaccine. a new university of washington study finds women who were pregnant or breastfeeding and received the shot experienced side effects similar to their nonpregnant counterparts in terms of severity. the cdc says 23% of expectant women in the u.s. were vaccinated by the end of july. we have new details in the upcoming criminal fraud trial for disgraced founder elizabeth

holmes. a judge has ruled customer complaints and blood testing results will be allowed to used as evidence. the defense is seeking to prevent it due to missing data containing three years of blood testing accuracy and failure rate. the trial is set to begin august 31st. one east bay city creating affording housing for people in the bay area. pleasant hill leaders approving a new project on lucille lane that will replace a vacant office building with three dozen multistory still family units. no timeline on when the project will be finished. california's drought may lead to new measures from governor newsom. he may have to order mandatory water restrictions in six weeks time. he talked about it while touring big basin yesterday, an area you'll recall was ravaged by wildfire last year. the governor is asking for a voluntary reduction to continue to look bleak when the

rainy season returns and we're hoping it returns at least in early october. >> we've got a microclimate weather alert this morning not because of heat, certainly not because of rain but because of smoke. >> we have a lot going on and we were talking about the reservoir levels and how low that water is. it's that reminder we need to conserve as we look at our south bay reservoir levels at 20% of the historical average at capacity right now. so the water levels are extremely low and unfortunately will continue to fall. as we take a look across the state our reservoir levels for our largest reservoirs at about 30 to 40% of capacity. and statewide the average is less than 50%. so once again, really a dire situation here with our exceptional drought that does continue and we have these fires burning and they need some water to put that out. we're going to be monitoring our wildfire risk as well coming up in a few mg up.

>> this is not a surprise but the numbers jolting there for the water in the reservoirs. over here the backup starting to form at the bay bridge in the last few minutes. we have slowing in the middle lanes. that's the typical pattern. pick any lanes except hov unless you have three or more you can use those. over here more slowing across the span and building for highway 37. slowing on highway 4 we expect that through concord around 242, but it's getting closer to san marco because the last 15 minutes has seen a disabled vehicle it was in the middle lane of westbound highway for your commute out of pittsburgh and bay point. that's a tough time over there. it has been cleared to the shoulder. we see some recovery that will push more of the slowing back towards concord as we expect. the rest of the bay shows a smooth drive. the south bay first slow down has cleared. the second will kick in about 6:40. >> you know when it happens. thanks so much. coming up next on "today in the bay," information compromised. a major cell phone provider revealing details of the cyber attack that impacted millions of

customers. the personal information that might have been at risk. plus -- >> mom, dad, let's talk about football. >> there's a tackle football warning. the nfl legend lending his name to a powerful psa. from hollywood to washington, baby news from two high-profile couples. the announcements going viral this morning.

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right now we are under a microclimate weather alert as kids head back to school today. first day of school for kids in san jose and a lot of students heading back across the bay area. drop-off time, upper 60s, few clouds but really smoky at pick-up time, in the mid 80s with the hazy sunshine. we'll talk more about what's ahead with our air quality and fire danger coming up. >> fremont coming back online there. oakland moving smoothly, northbound around 23rd, the slowing we saw because of the fire off of the freeway. that distraction is gone and no injuries and structures involved from what i can tell. we'll show you the backup building. >> 6:13. to a check of business in tech as we look at the futures this morning. looking for some losses on the market at the open after a pretty rough day yesterday. t-mobile says the personal data wireless customers was compromised in a cyber attack.

the company became aware of the hack last week when an online forum claimed the data had been leaked. data from 850,000 prepaid customers was stolen along with records from about 40 million former or perspective customers. this includes names, dates of birth, social security numbers, driver's license details, t-mobile says there's no indication financial data was compromised. nissan unveiling the latest generation of its z sports car, a blast from the past. this will be a gas powered engine and a manual transmission. there is an automatic version as well. the 2023 z will two on sale in the u.s. next spring. trending this morning hall of fame quarterback brett favre says he has new warning for parents urging children not to play tackle football until age 14. >> by the time i'm a senior in high school i will have played 13 years of tackle football and

could have cte and it will continue to destroy my brain even after i stop playing. >> it depicts favre as a young child, teenager and now explaining the risks of cte for a chile who plays tackle football a condition where the brain deteriorates. favre partnered with the concussion legacy foundation to create this public service announcement and says he's in partnership with a company working towards a treatment. favre played 20 seasons in the nfl. 6:15. in less than a month four regular americans will lift off into space as part of elon musk's space rocket. one has a remarkable story. 29-year-old hailey ar seno was 10 years old when she was diagnosed with bone cancer. after chemotherapy and surgery to install bones hailey had a dream to one day be a nurse. 19 years later she got the wish. she adds yet another milestone to her life occupying a seat in

this space mission. coming up on the "today" show, she will talk about the mission and how it will help the hospital that once saved her life. trending this morning, colin jost and scarlet johansson are talking about becoming parents. the "snl" star confirming that johansson is pregnant with the couple's first child. the pair tied the knot in october. meanwhile u.s. transportation secretary pete buttigieg posted on twitter he and his husband are new parents. they're staying tight lipped on the details. they say the process is not over, but they plan to share more soon. he is the second openly gay member of a presidential candidate. also trending perhaps your next favorite girl scout cookie coming to pop up booths everywhere. >> everybody has a favorite. the girl scouts unveiling a new favor for the upcoming season. if brownies are your thing this may do the trick.

they're called adventure fulls. the brownie cookie with a caramel center and hint of sea salt. keep an eye out when girl scouts start doing their thing again in booths or online. hopefully things will open up as they weren't quite normal the last couple years. usually they start selling out. i think in the spring. >> it's around lent. >> yeah. >> as a catholic i always give up cookies. >> it wasn't so bad when they were delivered to your house because they couldn't be sold at the stores. >> right. >> it was kind of bad for parts of -- >> no kidding. >> the waistline. >> you put the thin mints in the trooez. they don't make it thin. >> no, they don't. >> lots of smoke. a weather alert. >> yeah. absolutely. and then we have that along with the high fire danger with the winds picking up in some of our bay area hills. most of us aren't feeling the winds picking up but it is starting to decrease the air

quality in the north bay where you see the yellow dots these are like current sensors that indicate where we have good air quality and unhealthy air quality. for the most part we are seeing some of the best air quality we are going to see today, that's because as the winds pick up today as we go into the afternoon, the smoke is just going to settle in. and by 3:00 this afternoon, in parts of the north bay, east bay, even down to the south bay, we're going to see possibly some of the most unhealthy air quality we've had so far this year as those fires continue to burn many of them just out of control. and now with the northerly wind it's going to push that smoke into the bay area today and the next couple days. and those winds gusting are also going to pose a high fire danger for us for this afternoon into the evening hours we start to see the winds calming down. take a look at the wind speed forecast and that northerly wind is going to definitely once again bring in the smoke but also any sparks could spread very quickly with our extremely

dry vegetation that we have in our hills. so the red flag warning for these areas shaded in red up until 3:00 this afternoon, most of us once again in some of the more populated areas not under that red flag warning. it's for the hills. if we get new fire start it could spread into some of our more populated areas. these fires burning already under that red flag warning a shift in the wind direction could cause those fires to spread in a different direction. so we're watching all of that. as far as temperatures today, it's going to be warm for the inland east bay reaching into the low to mid 80s but with the hazy sky it may limit how much warming we see for today in the next couple days as a storm system moves off to the east we're going to see our winds calming down and still with a couple systems to the north we're going to keep our moderated temperatures over the next few days not seeing a huge warmup here in the next seven-day forecast with our inland areas reaching into the mid to upper 80s. heading over to you, mike. the commute starting to build in the east bay. >> which is predictable.

it rises in the east and moves to the west. that's our drive. we're looking at the south bay, san jose looking good. it's only 6:20, so about another 20 minutes of build for the south bay. the peninsula doesn't see problems and we have none this morning right now. we're looking at a smoother flow of traffic and different than yesterday. vasco road you're at speed down out of byron, brentwood, discovery bay, easy drive yesterday. the road crew that traffic control really tied things up. westbound your push, highway 37, here's highway 4. sorting out to normal after the earlier disabled vehicle at san marco. the bay bridge an easy drive once you get through the backup which formed in the last 15 minutes at the toll plaza. back to you. >> thanks, mike. next on "today in the bay," nbc bay area responds. >> a mom wants to spoil her kids for the day but a company spoils her plans. i'm consumer investigator chris chmura. nbc bay area responds. next. >> and you know we're on social

media. check out kris sanchez on the left starting her weekend out like many of us do. catching up on chores. by the right how it all ended. you can follow kris on facebook, twitter and instagram. 6:20 right now. you're watching "today in the bay." every single day, we're all getting a little bit better. we're better cooks... better neighbors... hi. i've got this until you get back. better parents... and better friends.

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nbc bay area responds to a mom who spend hundreds of dollars to treat her kids to

fun. she asked consumer investigator chris chmura to help. >> good morning. this is a story about billy bee's, basically a big indoor playground. its website says you'll hear the fun before you walk in. but allison garner and her kids only heard crickets because the san jose location closed. that was a problem because mom had prepaid $316 for billy bee's passes that were basically useless. next closest location is near l.a. allison expected a full refund. she told us she wrote and called, but crickets again. so she asked us to take a look. we gave billy bee's corporate office a buzz and said it didn't have any record allison reached out. a worker bee took action and sent us a statement saying as soon as we became aware of miss garner's situation we contacted the customer and issued her a full refund. yeah, allison got $316 back. has a refund or hassle spoiled

your fun? perhaps we can help. go to nbcbayarea.com and click the responds menu or give us a call 888-996-tips. life.nks so much. it shut down in march after owners declared bankruptcy in the future of the property became deadlocked in a lawsuit between the owner and operator. market watch reports terms have been reached. they sign with a new deal with hilton hotels. the bankruptcy judge estimates the former operator may be owed $22 million in damages. san francisco's famous cliff house restaurant one of the many that were forced out of business by the pandemic it's making a comeback next month. art gallery and pop-up museum will move in. applicants can submit proposals to open a new restaurant but it will have to have a different

name. the last operators trademarked cliff house and took the sign with them. when they shut it down. new this morning new work opportunities for parents whose children are back in the classroom. the staffing firm people ready saere posted in the u.s. in june and july. retail seeking is the most jobs. also in demand warehouse workers, personal shoppers, inventory associates, we call them stockers, servers and restaurant hosts. trending this morning an unexpected twist while grocery shopping for one woman. look at that. she's browsing the spice aisle and look what popped out. a ten foot snake. they said it was nonvenomous python poking through the space in the shelves. nearly touching the woman's face. almost doesn't look real. well, the python reportedly met its match because get this, coincidentally, the woman a trained snake catcher. she went grabbed a snake

catching bag, caught the snake and then released it into the nearby woods. next, top stories we're following including power off, thousands of bay area pg&e customers waking up in the dark this morning and it could be the sign of more to come. plus permanently grounded, the big questions lingering as south bay leaders make a move surrounding the future of a controversial south bay airport.

right now at 6:30, california wildfires sending massive amounts of smoke into the air. we're tracking unhealthy air quality that you'll be dealing with. >> and in the dark, thousands of bay area people waking up without power. the strong winds leaving pg&e to cut power for people across northern california. we'll tell you when it could be turned back on. >> tens of thousands of students across the bay area heading back into the classroom for the first time as the delta variant surges and concerns mount. what health experts say every parent needs to be on the lookout for. "today in the bay" continues right now. >> i say continues because we are on the air at 4:30 to 7:00 every morning for you. good morning. i'm laura garcia. >> i'm scott mcgrew. we begin with a live look around the bay area. the sun is coming up and things look pretty hazy. smoke from wildfires burning elsewhere expected to continue to drift into the bay area.

>> that's right. a lot of concerns with all these fires that are burning and we're seeing that smoke come in today. >> it's going to be pretty unhealthy to be outside for long periods of time. you have to be mindful of that if you're sensitive to the smoke and much of the east bay into the south bay, we're starting out pretty good but in the north bay, the air quality is already unhealthy. this will continue as the smoke spreads in later today. so we are going to be monitoring our air quality that will continue to be unhealthy throughout the day tomorrow. these fires burning across the state burning out of control at this point and may be shifting direction due to the change in wind and the increase in wind speed so that's what we're watching for today. we also have a high fire danger for some of our bay area hills until about 3:00 this afternoon when the winds gradually start to calm down and the valleys we're not feeling it as much but still breezy as you go up above 1,000 feet. we're watching all of this. the fire danger, the air quality and our temperatures. i'll have an update coming up in

a few minutes. >> thanks so much. scenes like this, wildfires burning out of control, playing out elsewhere in northern california prompting pg&e to call for power shutoffs across more than a dozen counties including the bay area. >> more of those shutoffs are on the horizon today. "today in the bay's" kris sanchez is live this morning with a look at where homes and businesses may go dark. good morning. >> hi there, laura and scott. if you are not all charged up here in the bay area you're going to want to plug in your phone, laptop, anything you need to get through the day because we expect some folks here in the bay area will be impacted by those psps, pg&e public safety power shutoffs. here's a live look at pg&e's map showing the areas that could be affected. the pink triangles are areas where the lights are already out. 51,000 customers will be impacted across our region specifically here in the bay area. folks in alameda, contra costa,

napa, solano and sonoma counties could be in the dark. in addition to charging your electronics you might want to make sure your car is charged up because without power gas stations may be forced to close and if or when pg&e shuts off power you should expect that lights will be out for at least 24 hours as the utility has to inspect lines for damage before they can flip the switch again. pg&e is warning customers who can be impacted and i will put a link to our consumer unit explainer on how to get the alerts and put that on facebook and on twitter in case you need it. in san jose, kris sanchez, "today in the bay." >> thanks. you can also check out pg&e's planned power outages. click on the link map pg&e power shutoff find it at the top of our home page. we mentioned this, more bay area students heading back to school and for many this year starting unlike any other school year with the delta covid variant now spreading.

"today in the bay's" cierra johnson joins us live to break down not only what parents need to know but what health care providers know about the virus and kids. cierra? >> yes, good morning. summer is officially over for tens of thousands of students, that's because today is the first day of school in several districts across the bay area but this first day of school starting as we know that delta variant is running rampant here in the bay area. now today is the first day of classes for san jose unified school district, fremont, san leandro unified, fairfield and redwood city unified. with so many students going back to school a question on a lot of parents' mind how do i know if the back-to-school sniffle is a cold or something more serious. we've learned it's nearly impossible to know off the bat whether a cold is covid or a cold -- a cough is covid or a cold but children often exhibit

symptoms adults do not. >> children will have more of a g.i. complaint than an adult would. and we're seeing more of that with the delta variant. >> reporter: and that doctor says symptoms in children can include the more traditional covid signs like upper respiratory symptoms, dry cough, runny nose and fever. he says the best thing to do when a children is showing any of these signs is to see a doctor and that same doctor also says a lot of those kids aren't eligible to receive the vaccine and keep them safe and wear a mask. we're live in san francisco cierra johnson for "today in the bay." thank you. 6:35. sonoma county workers will have to get the vaccine. supervisors voted to make all county employees submit proof of vaccination or undergo regular covid testing that will start september 7th. if the employee has an exemption they will have to get tested regularly during work hours.

happening today as well, santa clara county unveiling a mobile vaccine program. there's a van that will deliver doses of the covid vaccine to people who had a hard time getting to a vaccination center. the custom built van will be dispatched first to high priority areas including communities with low vaccination rates, work sites impacted by outbreaks and schools. new this morning reid hill view airport could close down in a late night vote santa clara county supervisors approved a shutdown. residents and other opponents have been calling for the closure for years. a recent report elevated the debate tying the airport's use of leaded fuel to potentially higher blood levels in children who live in the east side neighborhood though the levels are still well below government guidelines. supervisors say a closure won't happen before the start of the new year at the earliest. much of that air traffic may move to an airport south of the morgan hill area. golden gate transit leaders say police have been notified about recent threats made to a group of bus drivers.

the marin i.j. reports workers discovered flyers threatening certain drivers tied to a union dispute. agency leaders say the threat is carrying more urgency in the light of the recent tragedy. video footage is being reviewed to try to determine who is behind it. district attorneys in some california counties are joining a lawsuit seeking to halt the early release of prison inmates. during the pandemic the state launched an emergency credit system for inmates who were earning good time furthering shortening their sentences. they plan to hold a news conference today in sacramento. 6:37. new details, the former mayor of windsor dominic foppoli faces a new investigation. the press democrat reports the state's watchdog agency looking into possible conflicts of interest he had while voting on a massive windsor civic center. the fair political practices commission says it received a complaint filed last month saying the mayor, the former

mayor, involved in city council meetings discussing the proposed plan, the conflict is he's an owner of a business that would most likely be impacted by the development and didn't recuse himself. the former mayor claims he was cleared of any conflict in the civic center project. taking a live look outside, this morning we can see how hazy it is. san jose on your left, san francisco on the right. we're tracking these smoky skies coming into the bay area because of all of these concerning wildfires that are burning. >> it's maybe the worst of the entire year so far. >> especially this afternoon. not so much this morning. we're going to see it progressively getting worse. we have kids heading back to school today. we have that as a concern as they head out for recess. even wanting to go outside after school. at drop off time we're in the upper 60s, few clouds and we'll be smoky, hazy, temperatures in the low to mid 80s. as we go into this afternoon at pick-up time. we also have a high fire danger for some of our bay area hills.

under this red flag warning, up until 3:00 this afternoon, this is when we get the high wind gusts along with very low humidity and a fire could spread quickly as we widen out the view and show you what else is happening with the red flag warning across northern california, also highlighting the fires that are burning at this point and may spread especially with the winds kicking up today. i'll have an update in a few minutes. mike, you found some unexpected slowing. >> yeah. it's not at the bay bridge. there is slowing at the bay bridge, but we expect that. in fact, we expect a little more than this on a wednesday. just your middle lanes really gumming up. the outer lanes looking lighter over the last bit. the approach we see more slowing coming out of richmond and also toward that richmond bridge toward the north bay. westbound your commute is filling in these lanes more traffic coming in, for example, out of contra costa county, highway 4, concord, walnut creek. this is the unexpected slowing. highway 84, over here on the coast and through la honda, there's maybe one perhaps two

crashes on the chp grid. i can't tell if they're the same incident that will affect folks taking that roadway. remember very windy if you don't know this roadway you don't have to take it this morning but there is a crash there. meanwhile over here, fremont we have a crash that may be affecting the off ramp. the off ramp is open but the crash activity has been on the shoulder near that exit for pretty much all morning. back to you. >> thanks, mike. coming up next, thousand of afghan citizens trying to get out. >> we'll do as much as we can for as long as we can. >> how u.s. troops are helping on the ground and the promise from the taliban now adding to the drama. plus, lifeline extended. the major movie from the white house that means thousands of homeless in san francisco will have somewhere else to sleep. we'll tell you about it and the moves they're making. you're watching "today in the bay."

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right now we are under a microclimate weather alert due to high fire danger as well as unhealthy air quality. already looking very smoky as we take a live look outside in walnut creek. temperatures in the upper 50s and a slow warmup but we're not going to see a lot of sunshine today. we'll talk about what's ahead and our forecast coming up in a few minutes. >> we're looking for a little haze in san jose also more slowing on schedule. 101 north bay bogging down from oakland road starting back here at the 680/280 overcross.

the bigger build coming up. >> we'll check back with you. new video this morning of the devastation that tropical storm grace is leaving on haiti. the country hit with severe weather after a powerful earthquake. grace battered southwestern haiti with rain causing flooding and temporarily halting the search and rescue efforts after the 7.2 earthquake over the weekend. haiti's civil protection agency says more than 2,000 people have died, nearly 10,000 are hurt. happening today, r&b singer r. kelly's trial starts. he was charged with rk tearing, six owl exploitation of a child, kidnapping and forced labor and prosecutors accuse the singer of starting a criminal enterprise that helped him recruit young women and girls. kelly denies any wrongdoing. the situation seemingly developing by the minute in

afghanistan. a frantic rush continues to transport thousands of afghan citizens who worked and fought alongside u.s. forces over the last two decades. overnight we learned as many as 15,000 u.s. troops are going to be on the ground to help keep thith the very >> yeah. that effort scott you talked about seems to shift back and forth continually on the ground there in afghanistan with administration officials now admitting part of the issue there is that they're dealing with promises from the taliban to continue this evacuation. the military side of the airport base is in essence a u.s. base. the troops are on the ground there and the lockdown has evacuations continuing basically around the clock according to the white house more than 3200

american citizens have been evacuated. along with nearly 2,000 afghan special immigrants who are being relocated to the united states. according to the department of defense, as many as 22,000 refugees could be relocated in the next few weeks. the new government promising not to interfere with the process and vowing not to retaliate against citizens who helped the united states over the years. those who know the region and taliban well, have their doubts. >> we've announced that [ inaudible ] and honor and life all those are safe. >> it's a desperate situation. we shouldn't believe one word that the taliban says. we have very little or no leverage. >> the administration continues

to negotiate with taliban leaders. the evacuation expected to last through the end of the month. as that process continues to ramp up we're being told by u.s. officials that now they expect soon to be able to transport 9,000 people or more every 24 hours and scott, that's a volume they're going to need. there are a lot of people trying to get out of that region. >> there are. outside of that safe haven you say the military side of the airport is safe. what is it like outside? have things changed since the takeover? >> pretty dramatically according to those on the ground who say that there are now taliban fighters at check points not only across the city and around the airport but across the entire country right now and that's slowing some of those afghans who are trying to get to the airport to evacuate down a bit. they say they also notice a big difference in the number of women, the number of children out and in the streets of kabul right now. obviously the way the taliban

has treated women in the past is a major concern as they retake power and a lot of women either trying to get out or are staying behind closed doors at this point. >> all right. jay, thank you for the latest there. >> for their own safety. the nation of new zealand taking drastic measures because of one case of covid. streets are empty this morning following the launch of a very strict lockdown for at least three days due to that one new case. new zealand has not recorded a case since february and seeing 26 covid related deaths. the town where the infection was reported will be on lockdown for one week. a warning for people already struggling to make it in the bay. watch out for rental scams. a new study by apartment guide finds three of the top ten u.s. cities for rental scams are in california. san francisco third behind l.a. and boise. san diego fourth. scams include con artists showing units that they don't

own and collecting bogus deposit money or excessive fees for background checks. an emergency lifeline extended for san francisco's homeless hotel program. the white house has agreed to stretch covid related reimbursements to cities and states throughout the end of the year. the chronicle says that means an extension of san francisco's emergency hotel program that helps about 4,000 homeless people. concerns about the delta variant triggering those new funds which would have dried up at the end of september. 6:49. lots of kids heading back to school today. masking up, boy even more reason because of all of this microclimate weather alert that we're in right now. >> the smoke today. >> the smoke we're talking about entering the bay area. it's going to be bad. some of us waking up to moderate air quality, still looking pretty good in some spots, especially the south bay down to the south county, but then look at the north bay as we look at our near surface smoke and where it's red and even purple, that indicates very unhealthy air quality in parts of the north

bay and northern sonoma county northward as more of the wildfire smoke comes in. going into the rest of today, the smoke just gets worse for the south bay into the tri-valley as well as the nhi b. now we're getting a northerly wind and the fires are to the north as we look at the caldor fire, the dixie fire and the monument fire that a lot of them are burning without at the same time. then we look at our wind direction, coming in from the north and even into late this morning into the afternoon still pretty gusty in the north bay, wind speeds at about 25 to 35 miles per hour. and then going into the rest of the afternoon the winds will start to calm down. probably not feeling too many of those high wind gusts in some of the valleys, but for the most part it is going to be windy for the upper elevations. when we compare how many acres have burned compared to last year we're over 1.1 million

acres have burned. and then you compare that to 2020 at this time last year, we were at 854,000. that's really unfortunate to see that happening. we're still under that wildfire risk today as our temperatures head towards the mid to upper 80s across the bay area for those inland areas, 60s near the coast. mike, you have a note for south bay commuters. >> we do. san jose unified comes on line today, we will see more changes in the surface street traffic but right here 101 does show the volume build and 87 we've seen that over the last few weeks, the last month, more slowing. there is a build and that's early for 87 through downtown watching the subtle changes. no major changes here but south 680 at mission there's a crash to the shoulder and the typical westbound build, highway 34, 37, richmond and bay bridge with the backup that formed a little before 6:00 but held pretty steady right there. back to you. >> thanks so much. it is 6:51. happening now, students in ten

fresno classrooms now in quarantine just days into the new year after being in contact with others who tested positive for covid. the fresno bee reporting the district is planning to have a modified quarantine where some students with a negative test can return to the classroom. the students in question can come back to school with proof of a negative covid test five days after exposure. this comes as at least two classrooms in oakland are at home under quarantine. >> next, a quick look at the top stories including a major announcement about covid booster shots we expect today and how long you'll have to wait for yours. plus, smoky conditions moving into the bay area. we are tracking that unhealthy air as the wildfires continue to wreak havoc. back in two minutes. you're watching "today in the bay."

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how do things look ong better network every single day. 6:55 on your wednesday morning. welcome back. before you head out the door, if that's where you're headed the top stories we're covering on "today in the bay." new high volume covid site is opening in san francisco. >> the latest effort to curb the spread of the delta variant. "today in the bay's" cierra johnson live in the sonoma district. sierra? >> yes, that's right. we're here at the intersection of seventh and brand and there's more excitement bringing in port-a-potties, more employees coming into this testing site.

here's what we know. it will be appointment only, about 500 tests given each day, seven days a week beginning today. now this location will be drive-through or walkup and those results once you get tested will be available 24 to 48 hours after the test. now the san francisco mayor's office tells nbc bay area the number of covid cases has risen in the city in the goal of this location is to help meet that demand and help folks needing to get tested for work or school begin to get those tests and this site opens as the covid-19 white house team will make a case for a booster shot eight months after folks receive the pfizer or moderna vaccine with fda approval the shots could be available as soon as september. back out here live some motion going on, the first tests are going to be given in a little bit. there aren't any more spots available today or tomorrow. at last check there were a couple available on friday. the website did indicate they

would be making more slots available after august 20th. we're live in sonoma, intersection of 7th and brandon, cierra johnson for "today in the bay." new ruling ahead of the upcoming criminal fraud trial tore disgraced founder elizabeth holmes. the judge will allow customer complaints and blood testing results to be used as evidence by prosecutors. the defense is seeking to prevent it due to missing data containing three years worth of blood testing accuracy and failure rates. the trial is set to begin august 3 1st. the drought may lead to new measures from governor newsom. the governor may have to order mandatory water restrictions in six weeks time. he talked about it while touring big basin in the santa cruz mountains yesterday an area ravaged by wildfire last year. the governor is already asking for voluntary reductions of 15%. he says that may change especially if things continue to look bleak when the rainy season returns in early october. a microclimate weather alert

in effect because of the bad air coming into the bay area caused by, of course, all the fires across northern california. >> kris sanchez joins us live this morning with the latest on these fires. >> well, i can tell you those fires continue to grow up to the north and that means a lot of smoke in the air and with the winds being what they are we could see some of the pollution coming into the bay area. the caldor fire went interest -- from 6500 acres to 30,000 acres. two residents were injured. the entire national forest is closed and evacuation cents are full. to the dixie fire which continues to grow and creating eerie orange skies over the area. san jose state's weather research lab captured those images and with 1200 structures destroyed it's not just wood smoke like at a campfire it is toxic because of all of the materials that are burning. the smoke is the worst for people who have respiratory or

heart conditions. also for children and the elderly. in san jose, kris sanchez, "today in the bay." >> and pg&e expects more power shutoffs today to prevent fires. thousands waking up like this in the dark in napa county. more than 50,000 customers are impacted including people in alameda, contra costa, napa and solano counties. >> we've issued a microclimate weather alert, in fact. >> that's for today for the high fire danger and the smoke that we're already starting to see move in. our temperatures will reach into the mid 80s in the inland areas today. more of the same as we go into the next several days. unfortunately it does look like the smoke lingers for at least the next couple days. for san francisco, it's going to be foggy to start and as it clears we won't see much sunshine because of that smoke. >> all right. take you to the south bay where showing you highway 87 shows early slowing it sorted itself out but 101, 87 here as well as 85 coming off a split and even

17 will be showing more slowing over the next hour. we tend to see that the south bay. >> we're always back with a local news update in half hour. 7:25. every half hour after that. >> look at the haze out there and be careful. have a great wednesday. watch out for kids. school is starting. >> we are getting them lined up and getting them on planes, but this is an hour by hour issue. >> the taliban promising not to interfere but the u.s. military not taking chances securing the airport as they race to complete the emergency air lift and overnight, president biden returns to the white house to face the growing political fallout. complete coverage from washington and kabul straight ahead.