gone. >> he knew this was a dangerous fire season so a few months ago he bulldozed a clearing around the house, he says that is what helped firefighters save the home. >> i have a house. >> reporter: the lodge is one of several evacuation centers. they are waiting for word about their homes. at the senior center the same story. three families are on stand by waiting to find out if their homes were among those destroyed. >> i got everything cut down, hopefully it will be okay. >> reporter: this is what homeowners are worried about. you can see cabinets here. the department of homeland security authorized fema funding to pay for the cost of

fighting the fire. 442 homes are still under evacuation. live, christien kafton, ktvu channel 2 news. >> he is at one of two fires burning right now. we have more coverage now of what is happening not too far from us right here. one viewer sent this picture, she took it from her backyard. you can see smoke and that is from the wye fire. what i would like to do is zoom in, shift it, what you see here is smoke from the walker fire to the east. cal fire is treating these two fires as one. to give you a closer look, here we are in the bay area, and the area that we are talking about isn't too far, up here in clear lake. the san francisco bay and clear

lake, 120 miles north of us. along highway 20. it has just been going. these are the fire lines. 300 firefighters are on the ground. a lot of emergency response vehicles and the fire caused a lot of concern from people last night who were forced from their homes but the danger is not over yet today. let's continue by going out to live and bring in ktvu's ken pritchett. ken? >> reporter: we are on a satellite phone because there is no cell service. this is a staging area right here where cal fire is staging as they battle the wye fire. we have two fires burning here. the biggest concern is with the wye fire, you see the smoke, it burned 3,000 acres, 25%

contained. destroyed three structures. one of them a home. >> reporter: one after another, helicopters picked up buckets of water from a pond and dumped the water on the active active line on the wye fire. >> we have a lot of firefighters doing structure protection. >> reporter: 500 homes are threatened by the fire. here is video from yesterday from news copper 2. the fire started sunday evening, that is when the structures were destroyed. >> a lot of homes were saved by the hard work of firefighters and the work the homeowners have done. >> reporter: this owner will return to find nothing left. of the three structures destroyed, it is unclear if the other two structures were homes as well. spring valley was saved last

night. >> coming over the mountain. >> she returned today to check on her animals. she left her dogs behind with little time to flee in the chaos. >> 10 minutes. 15 minutes. i was packing and my son said we can't carry anything. >> reporter: here you can see another helicopter pick up, they have been doing that all day long. firefighters say they are still trying to determine the cause of both fires. [no audio] it is burning in a remote area and it is not an immediate threat. ken pritchett, ktvu channel 2 news. >> let's talk about the conditions now that firefighters are facing as they battle the wildfires. our chief meteorologist bill martin is here. you have been tacking the

conditions. how does it look for them? >> it is real hot up there. we got live news chopper 2, we are looking at the wye fire right now. you can see the smoke here. what you notice, where is the wind? not that windy. smoke plume going straight up. southwest wind right now. as we pull back you see dry hillsides and rugged tutrain -- terrain. temperatures 105 degrees. humidity 8%. winds light, 4 miles per hour. we are getting 25-30% containment figures from caltrans. i suspect the containment is based on the fact there is not a lot of wind. there is wind that fire. you will see wind at the fire, that is locally endorsed wind from the -- induced wind from

the heat. it can really gust but prevailing winds not hurting firefighters. the temperatures is hurting, it is dry and hot. when i come back we will talk about the forecast for this area and includes more heat and dry weather. i will see you back here and we will talk more about the fire. >> since the two fires started yesterday viewers have been sending us photos. look at this image taken last night. she e-mailed it to us this morning and this picture of the wye fire. there is the picture. she says her husband is a firefighter and helping to battle the flames. she tells us the wye fire destroyed a well known home in clear lake occasion. our coverage of the wildfire is online, you can receive updates and send us pictures through facebook and twitter and www.ktvu.com and we will update

you in 30 minutes so if anything changes we will let you know. police are investigating a homicide. a man was gunned down this afternoon at 1:30 p.m. police say the man was -- [no audio] stabbed a san jose officer. one of a half dozen officers hurt in recent days. a man was yelling at shoppers. officers caught up with the man where the man stabbed an officer. officers tasered him and wrestled him to the ground. >> very concerning to us. this is the 7-8 officer we had injured here in the past week. not a good trend that we are seeing. increase in violence towards

police officers. >> the suspect face as assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer and other charges. >> as gas prices pike details from the chevron refinery fire are hard to come by. ktvu's tom vacar is in richmond where he went looking for answers and he is here with what he learned today. >> reporter: last tuesday chevron promises specifics, since then it only spoke in generalities. >> i think that it would be helpful to them and their image to, you know, bring out what they know or find out. >> i feel comfortable between what is going on. >> reporter: the -- last november all three were

inspected. the 12-inch pipe was corroded and replaced it but the 8-inch pipe was not replaced. [no audio] >> maybe they just missed in their maintenance cycles. >> reporter: sometimes a new replacement pipe may fail because it is not compatible with the old pipe it is welded to. >> if you put different metals together they can interact together in ways that either material wouldn't exhibit if it were by itself. corrosion could be another factor. >> there may have been water outside of the pipe that might have accumulated. >> reporter: chevron admits there were structural damage to the greater crude processing

unit. >> heat itself can induce changes to the materials. >> reporter: some experts say this crude unit may be down for 6 months. consumer editor tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. >> chevron set up a claims center, located at the community center at 598nevin avenue. the hazmat team responded to a fire this afternoon at the shell refinery in martinez. firefighters contained the flames and confined the flames to the refinery. the health department did not issue a shelter in place alert. happening now, a demonstration getting underway in oakland under barts decision

to shut down cell phone service last year. they plan to march to the bart headquarters. a number of them are carrying signs and it appears peaceful. saturday was the one year anniversary of the day bart cut cell phone service. last week they approved a bill preventing government agencies from jamming cell phones during protest. investigators are hoping images from a surveillance camera will help them catch two men that stole a donation jar. the first suspect is seen here at the four corners market. he is right there in the center wearing a black shirt. the second suspect is wearing a gray hoody. the money was meant for a ranch where teenage girls rehabilitate horses. construction of the central

subway project. the work is going on between union and powell streets. they expect the work to take 4 months and some neighbors are not too happy with the project, one even sued to try to stop it. google plans to cut jobs from motorola mobility. it aims to make the unit more profitability. in the short term it will cost home to make it over. they are expected to pay $275 million in severance costs. one of the two men convicted of killing a los angeles police officer in the onion field case died. a spokesperson says 79-year-old gregory powell died of prostate cancer. in 1963 he and jimmy lee smith or perved two los angeles police officers and drove them to a onion field.

gregory powell shot one officer the other escaped. jimmy lee smith died in 2007. the story became a book and a movie. paul ryan got his first taste of campaign heckling today in iowa. he mentioned president obama was not coming to the iowa state fair. >> i think it has become -- you know what? >> he said people in iowa and wisconsin listened politely to what people had to say. >> we will look at how paul ryan changed the race and how 2012 is comparing to the 2008 race when john mccain announced sara palin as his running mate. they posted this video

online it hasn't been verified. a man shouts a war plane was shot down, god is great. they say the plane wasn't shot down but suffered a technical failure. deadly shooting not far from a college campus, what happened before a gunman shot and killed a police officer. >> and the day after, they are picking up after outside lands festival and the revenue it generated for san francisco.

three people dead, including a police officer near texas a&m. the gunman was facing eviction when he opened fire. >> reporter: a few blocks from texas a&m police say a man started shooting at a police officer who was serving an eviction notice. >> we received the call from a

citizen. we responded quickly and upon our response is when they took on fire from the suspect. the shooter was killed along with two men. >> he was close to everyone in law enforcement. it is sad. and tragic that we lost him. >> reporter: another officer and a woman were also shot. two other officers suffered non- life threatening injuries. it sparked a warning for students on camps to avoid the area. authorities say the suspect was in his mid-30s. officers mourning the loss of their colleague are investigating the incident. ktvu channel 2 news. >> texas governor rick perry said despite the violence he

still supports the rights of americans to own guns. >> i think it is wise for the people of texas to defend themselves when there is a law breaker that comes with a weapon. >> rick perry made the remarks in a appearance with rick scott. he said washington can't make the nation safer by taking guns away. authorities identified a woman killed in a car accident over the weekend. she was driving saturday night when the highway parole says she did an illegal u-turn. a car broad sided her killing her. the chp is still investigating. san francisco mayor ed lee authorized a reward in the killing of a 17-year-old boy.

tomorrow will mark the 6th 6th anniversary of the shooting death of aubrey abrakasa. tomorrow his mother is planning to visit the scene of the crime to mark the anniversary. a treatment center for women trying to over come alcohol and drugs is facing eviction. they have run out of money and owes $30,000 in back rent. today is supposed to be their last day in the building. they treat as many as 100 women a day. the director pleaded with the landlord for more time but the owner says he has no choice but to evict. >> reporter: if you are a grad student from california interested in taking up studies, think again. csu schools have been instructed not to admit state residents. they say because of budget cuts they will be unable to afford

state residents because they pay lower fees. the big clean up took place today after san francisco's outside lands festival. crews were out in golden gate park removing the stage, lighting systems and other structures. 65,000 people turned out each day for that three day festival. and outside lands festival generated $60 million for the city and county of san francisco. the agency that manages the power grid declared a flex alert for tomorrow. temperatures expected to sore over 100 degrees they are expecting a high demand for power. they issued a similar alert last friday and people

responded. back to the two big fires in northern california, 120 miles from where we are and bring in our chief meteorologist bill martin. >> we mentioned earlier, getting news chopper 2 up there wasn't easy because of the smoke. we are on the walker fire. these pictures are live. i said earlier, it has been tough getting a chopper up there. as we move -- there we go. you can see flames now. i mentioned earlier the smoke, lot of flames. these are ridge lines burning. the winds have been light. prevailing winds have been light. look at the explosion, see the flames? that is dry, dry brush. dry terrain. hard to see what kind of trees are burning. you see a few access roads. fire roads. not a lot of easy access for

firefighters. this is the walker fire. wye fire to the west. because of the heat, hot, dry, plume of smoke vertical. if it is to the side and we had wind, we would see more rapid spread. 25% containment on both fires. they are treating them as one fire. that is good news. that containment is coming because they have relatively light winds. temperatures 103 degrees. it is hot. humidity is down in the single digits. fuel moisture is probably in the single digit. it measures how much moisture is left in any type of plant. in this area, down to single digits. there is the walker fire. and we have news chopper 2 on the scene. we will bring you updates as

the newscast continues and into 6:00 p.m. flex alert tomorrow, look at all the reds. it is hot throughout the state of california. and we are going to continue with heat for the next couple of days and that will be a problem for firefighters. when i come back we will go to your bay area forecast, it includes more heat. we will keep an eye on the fires. it will take a while to get them out. it is dry. and we have a baseball game to talk about and a five-day forecast that shows cooling. i will be back in 15 minutes. an out of this world reaction, the president place as phone call to nasa, how he is describing the curiosity mission. >> what a local elementary school did that drew the attention of a pen maker and inspired him to pay them a visit. cçrrú

president obama today told the nasa team that landed curiosity on mars their achievement was mind-boggling. >> hello. he made a phone call to the lab. president obama said through their efforts curiosity captured the imagination of millions of people and he got in a few jokes. >> somebody asked me the other day whether you have already found martians, i told them we

have to give you time. but -- [ laughter ] >> more time. we have been covering the rover's progress. its mission includes searching for signs that mars might once have supported life. a ceo flew across the country to meet with students from spring valley elementary school after they organized a petition to get his company to recycle its markers. he met them right here at the ktvu studios. >> this just compliments what we have been trying to do for many years and take it from the project life cycle from making it to using it and when they are done we want it back. >> the goal is recycle 100% and

expand to other supplies. an accident sends a boulder into this house and two cars into the house next door. >> thousands of folks will start receiving bills like this this week and many are not happy about it. ñ

complete bay area news coverage starts right now, this is ktvu channel 2 news at 5:00 p.m. this is what is left of a home after two cars plowed into it early this morning. police say they think the two drivers were racing when they lost control of the cars. this happened in cupertino and ann rubin shows us more of the damage and what is amazing is what didn't happen to the

drivers. >> reporter: that's right. let me show you that workers spent the afternoon picking up the debris and boarding up the holes the accident left behind. police say the drives were lucky that they didn't injure themselves or anyone else. >> reporter: this is where the cars ended up, stacked on top of each other inside this living room. >> amazing. >> reporter: he owns the house but rented it two weeks ago. >> they are on vacation. fortunately. the accident happened this morning while many were sleeping. police believe the two 19-year- old drivers were intoxicated and speeding, racing each other. they say both lost control as the road curved. the cars hit a guard rail, launched a boulder into one house and plowed into the house

next door. >> they had to be traveling pretty past. >> reporter: it should have held any car going the speed limit. police estimate the teens were going over 80. >> they knocked it out. >> i have to say there are kids that race up and down the side streets here. >> reporter: they were talken to the hospital with non-life -- taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. when released they will be booked into jail. >> i am amazed they survived. >> reporter: the homeowner was amazed that either car -- neither car hit this tree. police just released the names of the two drivers, allen chang and george thong of san jose.

live, ann rubin, ktvu channel 2 news. two women escape being hit after a garbage truck crashed into a gym today. firefighters arrived after 8:30 a.m. this morning to find a truck and a car embedded in the studio. officials say tupeered the truck -- it appeared the truck lost its breaks and crashed. >> they normally have the door closed but they had the door open and they saw the truck coming and were able to get out. otherwise they would have been injured or killed. >> the driver was treated for non-life threatening injuries. the situation continues to change where two wildfires are being battled as one. news chopper 2 is over the fire

of the wye fire. burning along side highway 20. you see here we are looking at flames coming from lake county and a lot of smoke. we showed you pictured earlier and the fire continues to rage through and burned 5,000 acres. at this point the two fires are 25% contained. evacuation order are in effect where 480 homes are threatened. fema authorized the use of federal funds to help with the costs. we are keeping watch and we will have more information on the fires coming up on ktvu channel 2 news at 6:00 p.m. some people in the bay area will start paying a new fire protection fee, $150 a year. ktvu's cara liu is live with why only some people have to pay. >> reporter: this is a sample

of the bill people will receive this week, it applies to 850,000 homeowners living in wildfire country across california. >> i am very unhappy about it. >> reporter: he is one of many homeowners upset about the fire prevention bill he is about to receive. >> i think it is a sneaky way to get for the state to get some money. >> reporter: many consider it a tax. others support the fee. he spent his day clearing brush around his property. >> it is for something that we need. it is a fee that is earmarked for fire protection. i am in favor of it. we need it. the fee applies to rural homeowners who lives within the state responsibility area. the bill runs as high as $150 a

year. >> it should raise $89 million. the fee was passed last year. bills were slated to be sent starting today. folks in alameda will see them later this week. >> there is a lawsuit here, one association plans to file within the next few weeks. report finds air travelers and california's economic will suffer to planned budget cuts. they delivered the findings in washington, d.c. they are urging the group to cancel

spending cuts. they estimate a 10% budget cut to the faa would mean a loss of 6,000 jobs in california and would effect passengers. >> ticket prices could sigh rocket. >> -- sky rocket. >> california would lose $791 million in economic impact. the new york port authority is increasing patrol after a security breach. a man got stranded on his jet ski and so he swam to shore and then climbed a fence, crossed two runways. he went undetected by the new $100 million security system that includes cameras and motion detectors. police arrested a man

accused of painting swastikas on vehicles. he was arrested on suspicion of vandalism, and committing a hate crime. police arrested the suspect after receiving a 911 call. so did the butler do it? the latest development sobbing one of the pope's assistance -- involving one of the pope's assistants. >> and apple is about to roll out the new version of the iphone.

. the personal butler to pope benedict xvi was ordered to stand trial today over corruption. genetic mutation that speeds up the agingpaolo gabriele -- paolo gabriele faces charges of grand theft for leaking secret documents. paolo gabriele is a 45-year-old married layman who helped the pope. he was arrested in may after the documents appeared in news story. presales for the iphone could begin next month. the website reports presales for the iphone are expected to begin on september 12. another website sites a source from at&t who said the iphone 5

would go on sale during the fourth week of september. apple hasn't comments on the reports. with reports of the new nook due out next month barnes and noble is cutting prices on the existing models to $179. the nook with 16 gigabits will sell for less than $200. that makes the nook less expensive than other models. the long time editor of cosmopolitan helen gurley brown died. she died after a hospitalization in new york. the cause of death was not disclosed. she was the editor of cosmopolitan till 1997 and her book shocked the public in the 1960s. it instructed women how to enjoy sex. she was 90 years old.

new poll numbers on what people think of mitt romney's new running mate paul ryan and how we haven't seen numbers like these since 1988. >> hot again today, triple digits, temperatures will start to cool, there is the fog, changes are heading our way, cooling in the forecast, i will let you know how much.

a new poll on what americans think about mitt romney picking paul ryan to be his running mate. ktvu's rita williams is here

now with the numbers and what they indicate. >> reporter: frank, analysts say mitt romney needed a bold choice to energize the republican ticket. >> reporter: as he fended off hecklers, wisconsin congressman paul ryan tried to define himself to iowa voters. >> people are hurting because we don't have jobs. >> reporter: poll shows voters are not too excited with what they know so far. 42% said they viewed mitt romney's pick of paul ryan as fair or poor. only 39% called it an excellent or pretty good choice. the last pick to fair worse after his unveiling was dan quail in 1988. >> reporter: do you know who he is? >> no. [ talking at the same time ] >> i don't know what to think

about it yet. >> reporter: most voters knew little about paul ryan. in the poll the 17% who said they are likely to vote for mitt romney because of paul ryan is the same for sara palin after john mccain selected her in 2008. >> those who believe that america is prosperous because of the free market, because of hard work, because of personal responsibility, they are going to find it appealing. >> reporter: he says on the other hand those voters who believe government should take care of its poor, sick and elderly will be appalled. >> that makes for interesting politics. >> reporter: and an interesting campaign with a clear choice

for voters now less than three months away. rita williams, ktvu channel 2 news. >> the debate commission chose the moderators here they are. she will be the first woman to moderate in two decades. hospital officials revealed today jesse jackson, jr. is being treated for bipolar disorder. he took a leave two months ago. his condition is called bipolar 2. the clinic said he is responding well and regaining his strength. the reverend is glad his son is getting treatment. a lawsuit in federal court against attorney general eric holder. the house wants him to hand

over documents related to the failed gun tracking program, fast and furious. in june they held him in contempt for not handing over the documents. democrats say it is a waste of time and money. a new obesity map ranks mississippi as number one for over weight adults. centers for disease control say 35% of adults in mississippi is over weight. 23.8 of californians are over weight. the white house announced an effort to help out farmers hit by the drought. they are expected to buy up to $170 million in pork, lamb,

chicken and catfish for booed banks and -- for food banks and programs. president obama brought his campaign to rural voters in iowa. more than half of all u.s. counties have been declared disaster areas. to the bay area weather, over to our chief meteorologist bill martin. we are watching the fires up north and having heat down here. >> definitely hot down here. back to the walker fire. these pictures we got in are spectacular. this is the walker fire. there is two in the same area. cal fire treating them as one. lots of smoke in the area. the walker fire is smaller than the wye fire. earlier we had pictures up and it was showing explosive flames on the ridge lines with dry brush. this is about heat and low humidity. the wind not factoring in. you will see some of the flames.

what strikes me is the terrain it is steep. fire burns up hill, moves rapidly. if you watch like i have been doing, you will see the fires explode off into other areas. just visually you can see how explosive this area is. we are on this story and we will be back at 6:00 p.m. and we will talk about it and give you an update. temperatures around here on the mild side. cool on the coast, though. that is how it stays. temperatures will cool. the washington team is playing the giants tonight. partly cloudy skies and breezy. 59 degrees. cool at the park because of the fog, just starting to come in to the san francisco area. things are cooling down at the coast. it is hot inland. tomorrow and into wednesday and then starts to cool. at the coast we have the fog and the breeze. this pattern, yesterday, today

and tomorrow and wednesday and thursday it will relax. high pressure will budge east and cooling. this is the forecast highs for tomorrow. clear lake, 105 degrees. not a lot of wind at this time. if we had wind the fire would be blowing more rapidly. 25-30% containment. that is because the winds have been light. not to say there is no wind, fire generates winds. when we show you pictures, ken pritchett is up there, you will see wind in the trees but that is a wind generated from the fire. the five-day forecast with your bay area weekend in view sets up with plenty of sunshine and temperatures cooling into the weekend. it would be nice if we had a big cool down at once but tomorrow will be hot. >> more on the fire coming up

at 6:00 p.m. thank you. the shark that may end up receiving government protection. and graduation day, the program that keeps kids off the street and gives them a taste of the tech world.

. a group of san francisco

teens is being congratulated for completing a summer tech program. the santhey donated $25,000 to the program. the money was used to fund stipends for the interns. >> we know we had a tough summer but it didn't such anybody in this room. >> some of the sponsoring companies included jawbone, six waves. three groups teamed up today to get great white sharks declared as an endangered species. they petitioned the national marine fisheries service. they say studies show great white sharks are low. sharks fall pray to gill nets and they have high levels of

mercuries and pcb in their bodies. the flames destroyed one home, coming up in 2 minutes, we are live in lake county where hundreds are evacuated and waiting for firefighters to win the battle. >> plus the fight over thomas kinkade's estate, estate, the decision the judge said needs to be made now.

complete bay area news coverage starts right now, this is ktvu channel 2 news at 6:00 p.m. >> firefighters are gaining ground. the head wiemar making -- the head way they are making tonight. i am. hello. i am gasia mikalian. >> and i am frank somerville. >> news chopper 2 is over the wye fire burning right now. at this hour the fire is 25% contained. the walker fire is 30% contained. it has been 15 hours since the fires broke out and ktvu's ken pritchett is live on the ground in lake county and begins our team coverage with the progress firefighters are making tonight. ken? >> reporter: what we have here are two major fires. let's show you the first on