number of residents have been evacuated. seven alarm fire. just about an hour ago, you could see from news chopper 2 flame were roaring through some of those structures there. gail spears told us about 50 residents have ben sack waited. fairfield high school which is about a mile away has been set up as an evacuation center for those forced from their homes. north texas street has also been shut down. the fire needless to say, caed a significant traffic backup along interstate 80. thick, dark shark could be seen for miles as firefighters battle to get the fire under control. fairfield fire crews along with firefighters from solano, contra costa and cal fire are all on the scene. so far there is no word of anyone hurt as a result of the

fire. >> our chief meteorologist bill martin has been monitoring weather conditions there. bill, has the wind changed. >> reporter: interestingly enough, we mentioned the winds were about 15 miles an hour. the winds would pick up. in fact, yeah, you're watching tape. this is what it looked like earlier. the winds in the fire area have increased to almost 20 miles an hour. this is what you would expect for this time of night. when the fire started it was 90 degrees out there. there is a live picture. you can see obviously they have the flames down. trees aren't blowing that much, but the temperatures have dropped. it was 90. now they are 83. humidity has come up just a bit. 25%. at the start of this fire we had 90-degree heat. 23% humidity and gusts of 20 miles an hour. >> thank you, bit. a seven alarm fire in fairfield broke out this afternoon. at least five homes were burn. we believe at least two of them unfortunately were destroyed by that fire. time is running out. that is, if you want to get a plan together for getting

around without the bay bridge >> take a look at our count down clock. two hours left before the bay bridge shuts down for days. there are options out there for you if you usually use bridge t out their lance today. everyone was there. ac transit, bart, san francisco ferries. there will be more ferries throughout the day each of the five days the bridge is closed. those who run the system say they learned some good lessons from the recent bart strike. >> we were able to learn a great deal from that event. we were able to test our emergency schedules can. the schedules were operating on this thursday and friday, and then through the saturday, sunday and labor day taked a vantageover what we learned during that time. >> as for b there will be longer trains each day, and the transit agency will be operating overnight service from 14 stations. five in san francisco and the peninsula and nine in the east pay. for more information times and

places for those extended bart hours and ferry schedules go to ktvu doing look under hot topics. ktvu's tom vacar with more about the bay bridge. tom. >> reporter: craig, have a look. soon to go from high art of to a real highway. we asked bay area council. that is a consortium of the region's best employers, what those companies are telling their employees about how to avoid the closure. council says employers simply declined to answer. here is what some other larger employers had to say as well as as well as their crease. >> bank trading employee says employers are reasonable flexible about work hours. >> they would allow that, yes. they would. in order for us to be there, to be able and be there at work. >> no such luck for hotel food server. >> business still runs no matter what. the if the bus or bart is late, you still have to work. so i'm going to have to just

come to work really, really, really early. >> telecom service technician will have to brave the roadways. >> i am guessing we will have to double the amount of time you would normally use and maybe add an extra half hour. really plan for long trips sitting in traffic. >> some 2,000 workers of pge's 3700 san francisco based employees are candidates to avoid closure commutes. >> we support flexible shifts. we also support, if it's appropriate, tele commuting options. >> but postal workers who haul and process mail must be at work. >> because we are a physically demanding operation, it takes people to move the mail. our employees are our best asset. >> previous closures and regular emergency drills, especially for earthquakes, keeps the postal service and pge alert for bort l necks. >> we sit down and say okay, the bay bridge is out, the golden gate bridge is o. how are we going to move mail

around we look at all contin genesis and plan those things out -- contingencies and plan things out. >> reporter: business commutes really begin. that's what it is. consumer editor tom vacar ktvu channel 2 news. >> we want to know how you plan to get around the bay bridge closure. is your office going to make any arrangements to help ease the commute? let us know by sharing a comment on our facebook page. a construction worker was killed at berkeley middle school this afternoon. news chopper 2 was overhead at mar tip luther king middle school on rose street. we're told crews were installing turf ands a fall just before 1:00 this afternoon when a 62-year-old worker was struck and killed by a truck. school officials say there were students on campus at the time who may have witnessed the accident. cal osha is investigating. a former east bay elementary schoolteacher now faces more sex abuse charges. contra county prosecutors today

charged 35-year-old joseph martin with 16 more counts of molestation. they say the new charges did not involve any additional victims. martin had taught fifty game he had been at wood side in concord since 19916789 he 19916789 he faces in prison if convicted. now to our continuing coverage of the devastating rim fire in and around yosemite. that fire has drone to almost 180,000-acres. that is up from yesterday at this time. so is the containment. it is now 20% contained. the 10 day old fire is quickly moving up the list for largest fires ever. it is now 27th largest in california history. the massive wildfire has now reached the area which provides water to a large part of the bay area including san francisco. the san francisco public utilities commission told us today the fire snot expected to affect water quality, but it is monitoring the fire line and

the water source. for residents, today they feel miles an hour optimistic. our robert honda is in yosemite this evening with the strategies firefighters are using to protect communities. robert. >> reporter: we are in the midst of the national forest where we can see how the rim fire spread out in so many different ways. right now there are two main areas that firefighters consider the most active. one of the first is the area that we showed you during our 5:00 o'clock newscast where some people have banning a fire fight go on right above their heads. ed brown who lives on sun rise drive says he is watching where the helicopters are making their drops as a way to evaluate whether his family should evacuate. the national forest service says it has set up a pretty solid different line to keep the fire out of other communities. >> i think we are more optimistic than ever before because we have seen how they are cutting lines and how much retar dent they drop.

i they they have a pretty good grip on it as much as they can. >> the national forest service says it is employing another similar strategy. yosemite near the reservoir. >> we do have structure protection in place to try and minimize the impact the fire is having. >> how suspicious personful are you? >> right now our operations folks are saying they are very optimistic about how things are going. >> reporter: still, we found out firefighters are taking a more aggressive stance inside the park. kie live, robert hon dark ktvu channel 2 news. fire crews continue to work to save two grove of giant sequoyas threatened by the rim fire. crews are clearing brush and setting sprinklers to try to protect those trees. sequoyas do have a chemical in their bark that can resist

fire. the problem is, crews say the fire is burning so fast and sew hot that trees might not be able to survive. we have seen lots of pictures of all the smoke coming the rim fire. this picture taken from the international space station. one of the astronauts september it out yesterday. he said our orbit took us directly over the rim fire about an hour. devastating. still trying to determine cause of an apartment fire this afternoon that started just after 1:00 on interstate 580. the three story apartment fire reached two alarms before it was put out. the batallion chief says the fire damage units is displaying three people. one person was treated for smoke inhalation. oakland police joined forces with the coast guard and other agencies to fight crime on the water. officers handed out 30 day notices to people living illegally on boat. if those boats don't move on, police say the state could eventually seize them from the

owners. authorities say the illegal boat pose social and environmental problems. >> couple of these attract a couple more. next thing you know you're dealing with up to 20 vessels. how are they treating their sewage? how are they procession their waste off these vessels? >> in some cases police also say they have found bloat boats that have been turned into floating drug laps. the agency who helps those who are out of work. they will have to reduce staffing because of federal budget cuts. the number of jobs, though, that will be lost is not clear. the sacramento beat reports the department faces a $150 million short fall. staffers are asking clients to use the internet now as much as possible steve money. she spent years protesting government leaders. now she is making a run to be one of them. peace activist announced her run for governor on the steps

of the state capital. she has previously run for congress and as the vice presidential nominee for the peace and freedom partism she says she wants to change the state's priority, which she says are aimed at helping big corporations. >> it puts prisons over education. it puts balancing the budget off the back of senior citizens, students and the physically and mentally ill. >> she is known for her lengthy protest outside the texas ranch of former president george w. bush after her son casey was killed in iraq in 2004. coming up. >> a high school senior dice here the night before his first day of class. how husband death may be changing his classmates' views on safety behind the wheel. then, security dogs are common at airports, but you don't usually see one like this. the threat this dog has. we are tracking the

movement of the fire.

today relatives met with city representatives demanding answers and action. the family says they represent eight unsolved murders between them. during their meeting, relatives claim they rarely hear any progress in their cases. >> police department detectives are not reporting back to the families, and we ratsmith left to feel abandon. >> the families had a list of demands for tighter gun control to better cooperation from police. the mayor could not attend. she is in washington, d.c. asking for more money to fight crime. the new school year is starting with tragedy for an east bay high school. a teenager just a couple hours away from beginning his senior year died in a violent car crash. and that crash is once again

bring attention to the dirks of teenage driving. ktvu's john sosaki here from the crash site in danville where he met knotter of the boy who was killed -- mother of the boy. john. >> reporter: this memorial continues to grow tonight as people stop by to pay their respects are. i talked briefly with his mother who was here but she was too upset to appear on camera. >> danville police tell me speed was a major factor in this crash that killed a senior. >> he was a lovely, charismatic young man, full of life. >> robert was a passenger in the car when it crashed. the 17-year-old driver suffered broken ribs and the other passenger a 16-year-old suffered a broken leg. >> the skid marks start here and go about 50 yards down the road. the car was still going fast enough to hop this curve and smash into this tree and go through this fence.

the driver's history is still unclear, but being 17 he was no more than months off his probationary license. >> crashes is still the number one reason. >> chp officer says any number of things may have contributed to the accident. >> you're open to this whole new world of driving. there are other people on the road. case tractions play into that. family home -- distraction, fatigue, lack of experience. >> i am totally a victim of it. everyone thinks they are invisible. >> students are taking the tragedy to heart. >> getting in a car is going to be a little shaky for me. definitely going to have to be a really safe driver after this. >> reporter: here is the memorial. robert loved to fish. in fact, was returning home last night from a fishing trip. he was also on the golf team and a friend left a golf club. and he played bit. coach left a little league hat

and that team photo that says remember, you got the hit that won the dll championship. robert's nickname pork chop. i am john sosa ki. ktvu channel 2 news. today the governor is asking state lawmakers to spend hundred million dollars on private prisons rather than release thousands before the end of the year. governor brown wants to rent cells both in california and other states to hold roughly 9600 inmates. the federal government hazarded the state to release those prisoners to ease overcrowding. the governor called that deadline arbitrary and said the state is still deal with the affects of sending many lower level offenders to local yales. >> so the add on top of that is not wise. it is not prudent it is not consistent with public safety. >> the governor said the state will then have time to work on longer term changes to the prison system. new at 6:00, we're all used to seeing drug sniffing dogs at

san francisco international airport, but this dog is specially trained to sniff out citrus. the state is trying to keep cut a dangerous pest that originated in asia which spreaded a disease that kills citrus trees. the dog will be deployed to find fruit that travelers might have in their luggage. >> we have a very large fresh market citrus industry here. our industry just can't abide this disease killing its citrus and killing its trees. >> travelers are being urged not to bring in any citrus from overseas. so far, only one diseased tree has been found in california. that was last year. temperatures today, low 90ed. 89 in livermore. a nice mild day. 86 in morgan hill. in santa rosa, 876789 fog along coast. in that fog, it will be lingering. it will stick around tomorrow

as w. -- well. a little bit overclearing here at the golden gate bridge. it all fills in tonight. fills back in. tomorrow morning starts off a lot like what we had today. fog around the bay, certainly in some inland bay valleys. burns off pretty quickly. 83 in fairfield. 68 in hayward. very typical evening. really nice out there. sustained winds at 17. we're worried about that area because of the fire. sustained winds, they will easily get you gust of 25. that is a big deal when you get sustained winds over 15 miles an hour. 53 in nappa. going to be a lot leek today, tomorrow is.

the computer models, i don't know if they upkated that. i think that hole will develop in the afternoon. looks like the coast wants to see some clear tomorrow afternoon. 90s are red further east. still, you will see a couple. upper 80ed, low 90s. climate, 70s in the berkeley area. mid to upper 70s. out in the valleys you will. go livermore, mid 80s. right to the edges you will get low 90s showing up. forecast as we go into tomorrow for back to school. who's going back to school? mount diablo, that is a big one. 76degrees for lunch time. 3:00when most of them get out, 86 d. not a sweltering day. the highs tomorrowings else where 87 in st. what helena. antioch, brentwood, hot spots. walnut creek, a little cooler. 80 in san jose. 89 in morgan hill.

nice looking day. 5 day forecast with your bay area weekend in view. numbers kind of no big changes. pretty subtle stuff. good news for air quality. good news for firefighters. not a bad fire fighting situation. just got off the phone with folks from lake what to. that rim fire is really causing problems. >> been so much the last few days, it is probably going to stick around. >> yeah. the winds keep blowing it up there. i know the people in the foothills are height it. >> i know someone in reno said the smoke was unhealthy. >> reporter: yeah. homes in your opinion a grass fire in -- burn in a grass fire in fairfield. also, the bay bridge chose your will hurt many. not all. find out who actually stands to benefit. join us at 7:00 on tv 36. the a's are trying to take their second straight game from the tigers. in santa clara, a rook i can will start in the season

opener. mark ibana is up next with the details.

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mark is here now with sports. a's look good so far. >> going to detroit, you never know cause those guys are good. >> yeah. >> tigers know what's happening, but the last couple

nights, you figure the a's were due to start hitting the ball, and they have facing one of the best in the business. on a rainy night you do what you can to protect your head. those kiddest doing the cub scout thing. be prepare. but justin verlander, yesterday l -- jed lwry. two runs scored. brandon moss in the fifth with a man on. that is a shot to left center as -- his 22nd home run. look at that kid. wow. yeah, that was a good shot. seth smith also homered. a.j. jenkins barely hit the field in the nfl. this time around they have named eric reed a starter. he, of course, their number one pick out of lsu. he will be the man at free safety take tennessee spot vacated by goldsteen who left in the free agent market.

reed has distinguish himself from the get go and the 94ers think they have a find in this guy on their already loaded defense. >> i feel like a professional football player. the first day i got here it was a lot faster than college. the defense was a little bit tougher, but it just takes repetition and practice. i sea it all the time, just getting better everyday. i try to set a goal. get better at something. see something that i messed up on yesterday. i think that makes me better as a play r. >> safe to say, he will be a good one. by the way, giants are leading 3-0. maybe we will have a double dose of good news. >> boy, the 9ers are just loads, especially on defense. >> they have loot of talent, no question. >> hope it pays off. mark, thank you. we are still on the scene of that fire in fairfield. ken wayne is there talking with firefighters and residents. as we showed you at the top of the newscast, the seven alarm fire burn several buildings, at

least five, including a couple homes. coming up at 7:00 and 10:00 we will bring you live coverage. again, this 7 alarm fire burning right along interstate 80 in fairfield. about 50 residents evacuated. live coverage coming up on bay area news at 7:00 and then tonight on the 10:00 o'clock news. >> we're always here for you on a ktvu -- ktvu.com. have a good one, everyone.

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