tonight on kqed newsroom. the west coast is ablaze. fires in california , washington and oregon forced hundreds of thousands from their homes, we talked wifo ding members of a brand-new wildfire researc center in san jose. who are addressing critical gaps in our leprior kne. and when a vaccine for mac itcomes out, will be safe to take? we talk with two scientists, working on the coronavirus response about the pr edented process to inoculate bi around the globe. welcome to kqed newsroom, i am. david clemens. wildfire smoke, fog, and cawind me together this week to produce eerie end of the world looking landscapes, autumn kicks off california speak fire season but a historic numberof

res have already azed through the state. more than 3 million acres have burned in 2020. surpassing the previous record, set in 2018. nearly 15,000 firefighters are battling 28 major blazes e.ross the st they have also claimed at least 12 lives. but amid the destpoction comes unity, guided by science, san jose state university has just inaugurated a new wildfire research center. the largest one of its kind in the nation. the scientists span a range of disciplines from meteorology, to ecology to a social science. they are pioneering new niols and tees to better study, predict, and adapt to living with wildfires. joining me now by skype is craig clements, the director of plthe wildfire interdisary research center, and a professor of meteorology at san jose state university. also joining us from san jose st is amanda sel with. assistant professor of wildfire management at the center, hello to you both. >> hello.

>> craig, let's start with you, you look at thskies thisweek and thought things like we are on mars, it's the end of times. even blade runner. what did you think as a fire meteorologist, who has a much more nuanced view of what's going on. when you look at those oranges skies, not just in terms of the weather but terms of our new wildfire normal here in california. >> the first thing i thought was th's a lot smoke. i think most people in northern california had not seen this much sme ever. so, that is pretty scary an daunting. to maybe think that this could be the future of our next summer, and the suer after. so, it was pretty apocalyptic. >> that's the word that seems that was used over and over again this past week. this new center is your brainchild, you created u because saw a ally specific and critical need in our knowledge for wildfire

information. what are some of the unknowns that you are hoping answer. >> well, with this team of interdisciplinary scientists, across the field of wildfir we hope to better understand fire behavior, extreme fi behavior, how changing fire weather conditions can lead to severe fir.an what policies and wh social aspects we can adapt to and make modifications to the way we are living in this environment. so, there is a lot of different aspects that we want to tackle th the center. for example, we want to get high resolution modeling for what it weather forecasting. using new observational tos and computing resources. it's pretty s citing in te of the science, that we hope to conduct. >> i want to get some of those tools in a moment but let's ing amanda in here. you're a social scientist and you basically study human interaction in wildfire. what are some of the areas that you are particularly eager to dive into in this new nter.

>> i am paicularly eager to look at how california is adapting to fire in different places. fire stars are going to be g little individual commities and their stories culture and capacities. i think we need to find ways to learn from the stories and help them better adapt to the siations. >> there has been a national cohesive, wildfire management strategythat was put into place in 2014. by the obama administration. under that, there were three props, one to make the lilandscape more ret, another is to improve our response to wildfires, and the third is where you work. it is in the adaptation of our communities, to wildfire. what sort arof adaptation working best? >> so, there are a number of adaptations, you can take some of the best ones you can do for protecting private property and your home, is reduci flynn implantable vegetation.

install sprinklers, decrease the ability of fires to start f insidemmuniies. there are basically a lot of thgs through this ogram called fire wise. basically outlines of things do you can as an individual or community. >> while you are saying there is a lot that we are starting to do there is obviously a long way to go. would you be able to say a peentage term, how much have we done, how far do we still have to go? >> that is a really challengingb questiause as craig was telling us and we are seeing the fires are changing over time. they are becoming more extreme. so the tools riwe have t now, for adapting to fire, are what we learn from previous fire seasons. so as we move forward, community that is adapting right now has to continue adapt.

>> craig, what are the areas that your center in san jose, that you are pioneering, is understanding fire of weather? i what is weather? how can our understanding of itt help prevethe devastation we have seen over the past several years? >> well, fire we her is simp defined as hot, dry, windy weather, which is very common in california. but, what's happening is it's getting warmer, and is getting drr. so that's fecting the fuels. the things that are burning, the trees, the shrubs the grasses. and so, if that continues, the drying and the warming, the fires get more intense. so when they get more intense the buyers car create thown weather. so, we don't have a good hand on how those processes work. how do the fires get so big, how do they create firestorms. so, understanding those, gy requires new technosuch as monitoring, these systems are not monitored very well. we pioneered the use of mobile assets like dars, to better

observe these phenomenons. with that, we can model it with state of the scnce what we call coupled fire atmosphere models. we can ndbetterstand and predict these type of extreme fire behaviors. and expect in the coming decades. >> there could be that fire which would he people evacuating get out sooner than they are now. >> well, we pretty much have that with the red flag warning, which is being revamped by the national weather service. of like a warning, it's not like an evacuation. we don't doevacuations until we have it ignition. ow and we the conditions are going to be requiring an evacuation in the community. so, i think better understanding the conditions in the future, will allow us to better handle societal impacts

that we can expect as well. >> amanda, since 2009 there has been a evstrategy of uation first. we are seeing that in oregon now. we have 500,000 peoplewh are being evacuated because they are in danger of a fire. how well is the evacuation strategy working ou do people willingly leave their homes? >> yeah, there is a lot ofok research g at evacuation, a lot of people want to be informed, they want an official evacuation order. what we saw with the campfire, we saw a lot of fires that are those orders don't sometimes in time for people to leave. and have a safe evacuation. without meeting a fire getting into accident. we need to start thinking about what happens when we can't evacuate. homes, community area our shelters in place. how dowe decreasethe risk around our homes, maybe we need to have fire equipment on site.

there are other approaches that can help us deal with this. but, evacuation is the safest option. get out rly, that the best way to go. >> craig, can the technology that you're using at the center, help prprict and ent wildfires? >> well, some of the moden ng tools help predict it. and make the predictions were accurate. but, preventing, no. prevention s to do with really, society. nine out of 10 fires are caused , whether it's a power grid failure, or a campfire, that is human-caused. so, thoscould be preventable. the forecasting tools, aren't really used for the human aspect, it's the really used to understand the behavior of the phenomenon fire. so, as those get better, we will better understand how fast thfire will be moving, and certain conditions. >> what n we as residents do to adapt to living with fires? >> well, like amanda has

pointed out, beinfire wise. addressing the communities about safety, and managing the landscape around communities. so, that's why we have brought this team together, we have experts like amanda, to help us derive polies that could help communities in the future. >> amanda, cod you talkto us about how you see policy change needing to happen, what do ste and federal ficials really need to change in order for us to have tua better ? >> i think that the way we are going to end up addressing the fire issues in e future is cooperation and collaboration. i like to think of fire like a watershed, fire moves acro the landscapes, they don't really adhere to undaries. i think we need to be enabling partnerships for reducing fire

risk across private and public interfaces. there is a lot of room to move forward. >> craig, what gives you hovi about with this new landscape in the future? gh and fing fires in the future? >> well, i think there's going to be a lot of improvements inr technology fire suppression for example, using drones, to map fires more accurately. potentially enhance fire suppression activities. so, i think technology is only going to help. we have seen a big increase in a situational of awareness. with the wildfire camewe system can see plume dynamics. some fire behavior aspects. with the new modeling tools, and satellite products we will be able to monitor the phenomenon much better than we have in the past. so, think in the future that's really going to play a big role in not only the resear community, but also for

the community in general. or the public, to be able to have a situional awareness. >> amanda, what about for you, these fires are burning more intensely easier, what gives you hope? what gives hope is that communities and people are really resilient, society can adapt, lot ofcommunities are having success stories moving forward. i think that we are well equipped to deal with these issues, there is a lot of existing science and knowledge out there. i think a lot of people are be interested in us g it. do have ways to progress forward. >>yo had also mentioned in a conversation we had earlier, that fire can be a healing force. catoyou dive that? >> yeah, so, e of thbig things we are seeing in california, with our fires right now, is that we have 100 years of fire from really good fire suppression, largely excluded indigenous cultural

burning, so there is room now for putting good re back on the landscape. fire is a healing force that a lot of ecosystems in california need to survive. i think that's something we can do, moving forward. outside of fire seon, having more fire on the ground. >> professor clements, and professor amanda, from san jose state university, thank you both. >> thank you. >> to learn how best prepare for a wildfire and what to include in an evacuation supply kit, visit ready for wi fire.org. there are roughly 170 covid- 19 vaccine candidate being developed around the globe right now. according to the world health organization, there has been talk of a vaccine coming out as early as october. esident trump's operatio warp speed is aiming to create and distribute 300 million doses starting in january, 2021. this week, a prominent trial

with pharmaceutical company ter a person in their vaccine trial became ill. economic rec needed for a full r but, will people be willing to take a vaccine when concerns abound that is being rushed out for political gain before the november presidential election. who gets access to a vaccine, if it's und be saand effective. joining me now by skype from palo alto, is dr. maldonado, a professor of pediatrics, andi infectiousase epidemiologist. 20 by skype from san francisco is dr. ter chen hahn. a professor of medicine and infectious disease specialist. thank you both for joining us. >> you have ccworked in e development for two decades, would you describe to us the work that you and your colleagues are go g to be doing with covid-19 vaccine trials at stanford? >> yes, currently, we are trials, one, the jansen vaccine in mid-september, and the noble

baxa vaccinin mid-october. in perhaps a third vaccine candidate in november. again, that's all assuming that things go smoothly coand inue to go well. but currently we are scheduled to begin enrollingra se hundred patients. >> peter, you have been working in covid-19 response through treating patients and al testing their peace,like convalescent plasma, and remdesivir. i would like to get to the science of someof the vaines, how are e candidates expected to work? >> essentially they work by training the immune system to recognize fothign virus. you can also train them to recognize bacteria. we train this arminian they go in and zoom off,and stop that passes than pathogen before it sets up shop. >> yvonne, how difficult are these trials to do, with your experience of havingdone this

for several decades? >> well, different vaccine trials, every single one is different. it depests on the inteof the population and who you're aiming the mat. i primarily do trials in children. obviously, at this time, the u.s. really the emphasis is going to be on ciadults, esly adults over 65. i imagine it's not going to be hard to identify people who want to be iain the the key is going to be to find enough diversity in the people who are enrolled to ke sure we represent all of the people in the u.s. especially those at risk. >> there was news th week that astrazeneca has paused its phase three trial, after a ca participant sick with neurological symptoms. i'm curious about the protocols of testing on humans, and the process of vaccine developmen could you walk us through that? >> well, most vaccine trials will includewhat's called the data safety monitoring board,

that is a very, independent group of people whmonitor the vaccine process. especially the statistical monitoring to make sure the data is statistically powered to make a definitive conclusion or not. ether a vaccine but the main issue always, with any vaccine product, is safety. you want to guarantee there is safety thinvolved, an is really the top job. to make sure that safety is -- the primary aim of any trial that is being done. >> is it surprising that someone fell ill? >> well, you know, you e enrolling thousands of patients here, so, given the background, of events that may happen to anybody, you can pick a random sample of people, it's gonot g it's not surprising there was an impact. there is always almost some adverse events, and that's the h

other reason you have a placebo group is to really make sure, not just the person who gets the vaccinversus a placebo, had a better response to prevention of the disease. but also, primarily to make sure that the safety is the same both groups. >> ceos of leading drug mpanies took an unusual turn in that they will make sure that they put safety before speeding conducting covid-19 trials. why waat necessary for them to come forward? >> well, it's pretty unprecedented that a ceo of a people that there will be a vaccine unless they are is safety or enough daddy data regarding this. we have companies reassuring the public in that way. but it's a little bit different, there' a long legacy right now of the

it's not that this is ming out of nowhere. there was recently guidance to the health authorities of every state is saying that we should prepare infrastructure to support a vaccine by the end of october. or november 1st, two days before the election. so i think people are just afraid of premature releas be yre it's ready. nne, will you become double taking the vaccine when it comes out? >> i would be comfortable taking a vaccafe that i think isand effective, absolutely. >> what does that mean? >> i'm not going to walk into, i want to know what i'm getting first. and that is ae key, you will heut this later.

we need transparency about datah 's what i want to see. if we get the data and i feel like the data is out there and it. ooks good then i will get >> what abou will you take the vaccine? >> i share yvonne's feelings. if it's transparent and i can see e data. i would be out there getting a vaccine. >> you know, it's tough for people because both of you have a lot of experience and a lot of knowledge and you can read all the data and understand what it means. but for the average personhen the vaccine comes out, they're not going to have those resources, so what do you advise people towhen a vaccine comes out, do you advise people to go ahead and take it? >> yeah, absolutely. i think cdc is really focused on getting

>> well, iti think going to be a pic player, not only are there issues and access, insurance, private care phician, to center thatis distributing these vaccines, but there has been centuries of st mistecause of early experiences with clinical research. i was on the radithe other day, and an african-american man called in and said there's no way he's going toget the vaccine, or give his family the vaccine because tuskegee, i

think that really hit home to th me idea that we have a lot to undo before we reach particular communities of color. >> yvonne, even if a safe and effecte vaccine is soon developed, does that mean the virus going togo away, will itstill remain with us? >> we don't really know the answer to that question, but i think judging fr what we know about the current coronavirus is and there are seven human coronavirus is, for which cause normal cold and have en around with us for a long time. i can tell you that those d viruses return re-invite people over and over again. so, there is some evidence of immunity, but it doesn't last the question will be whether these vaccines will be able to produce not only high level immunity, but durable immunity. even if the munity lasts a few months, perhaps you could get revaccinated every year, or two years. like you do with e u.

the final issue then, is whether or not the vaccines tting sick but not from al om getting infected. so the person might be able to y be heabut they could actually transmit the disease to others. so, we will need to learn a lot about that once the vaccine trials are up and running. d we get re data. >> peter, the bay area has been taking a leading role when it comes to developi a vaccine. much of this is because of our history as an epicenter of actism, and innovation treating hiv and aids. could you talk us through the position that the bay area has d being a leader in this way question mark >> that's a great question, i think, from the early days of sy and hiv, we built up asthis inucture of not only taking care of our most vulnerable patients at all licy. and having an open-door but, by creating the infrastructure to support clinical research around investigational drugs. providing the actito make sure that the people who need it the most will get it.

came as no surprise that with vaccines studies we were well situation situated to study these. >> dr. peter wichen hahn ucsf and dr. yvonne maldonado with stanford university. thank you both so much for joining us. moyou can find of our coverage at kqed.org/newsroom. i am priya clemens, you can find us on facebook and instram, from all ofus at kqed, thanks for watching, good night.

captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreivasan: on this edition wir sunday, september 13: fires continue to devastate parts of california and the pacific northwest. >> sreenivasan: jeff greenfield with the latest in politics. >> sreenivasan: and, upcycling: rning food scraps into nutritious snacks. next, on pbs newshour weekend. >> pbs newshour weekend is de possible by: the anderson family fund.iii. bernard and denise schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family.