now at noon -- firefighters in contra costa county are getting a handle on the morgan fire today but not before a major scare last night. ktvu talks with homeowners near the fire line about their close call. president obama, on capitol hill right now. how several new developments could impact his prime time speech about the situation in syria. plus -- after much anticipation, apple unveils its newest line of products. we'll tell you about the golden announcement from the tech giant.

good afternoon. i'm -- i'm tori campbell. with the help of cooler weather fire crews are getting a handle on the fire burning in mt. diablo. right now it's 45% contained. so far, the fire has burned 3,243 acres. still, 75 homes are threatened but that number is down compared to 100 homes threatened yesterday. we have ktvu team coverage. rosemary is in the weather center monitoring conditions and how they could help the firefighters today. we will begin with alex savidge who just spoke to a homeowner who lives near the fire line. >> reporter: a lot of people in this area thought they were in the clear but then last night, the winds picked up and this fire really flared up in a big way. it rail racing down the hillside behind us, right up to

morgan trt road. and this is -- morgan territory road. people who live here told me they actually turned on their sprinklers, grabbed a hose and started to pray down their trees in their front yard hoping it wouldn't catch fire. in the end, it didn't. they are grateful to the firefighters. >> they are heroes. i have goose bumps. i don't know what else we can do to thank them. last night was the perfect storm. it really was. the conditions were exactly what the fire needed and it took advantage of it. >> reporter: this comum was home last night around 6:00, just about to eat tinner, when they noticed the fire heading right toward them. they tell me 50 engines marked along morgan territory road and began to spray down the trees

and the brush and the crews didn't allow them to cross. the couple said they were hoping they would be able to escape if the fire jumped the road. >> she packed up the road with all of our valuables and we were ready to get out of dodge. you just don't know. you just don't know. if that would have caught fire behind us, then we were surrounded and the trouble was, there was so much traffic that -- i don't know how we could have gotten out here. >> reporter: meantime, this was the scene this morning as several helicopters dropped water on the eastern side of mt. diablo. crews say they've gained the upper hand on the morgan fire, which calfire says has burned about 200 acres. that's less than firefighters originally thought. but the good news, the fire is no longer spreading and the areas still burning are up in the steep, rugged canyons of mt. diablo. not close to any homes at this time. even though a lot of people

stayed behind, there is still a mandatory evacuation order in effect for this order for about 75 homes in this area, although calfire does say because of the good progress crews are making it's possible that evacuation order could be lifted at some point later on today. but obviously still a lot of work left to be on-- left to be done. they feel like they are making solid progress. live near clayton, alex savidge, ktvu channel 2 news. let's go to rosemary. she's monitoring conditions from the weather center. they are getting better. >> yes, you are right, tori. as we know weather has a direct impact on the fire. we have improving conditions. we will start with the first element. the temperature, not as hot out there for today. at the top of the hour, you mentioned we have a cooler pattern settling in. it will be in the upper 80s. but yesterday in the 90s. that helpses out the

firefighte en it's hotter, the fire burns faster and more intense. we've got a bonus going on there for the firefighters, a little bit more comfortable today. the winds coming from the west primarily. right now, 10 to 15 miles per hour, they will increase once again for today. we don't like to see the wind. but it's coming from the west. if there's any good news to share about the wind, it will keep the relative humidity up and when the air is more moist, it helps slow down the fire. the smoke advisory continues for today for contra costa, alameda and santa clara counties. the winds right now, i'm noticing at mt. diablo, shifting just a bit from the northeast which means if you are in the dublin area, perhaps livermore, you may smell smoke coming your way. for the afternoon, it will be primarily from the west that means if you are around brentwood, antioch, closer to tracy, you may smell the smoke in the afternoon. the smoke advisory will go on for the afternoon today. hope official we'll be able to

get ride of that by tomorrow -- rid of that by tomorrow. the cooler impacts have having an effect on us. more on that later. >> thank you. station 11 was forced to cut back operating hours this summer due to budget cuts after voters refused to pass a parcel tax. the firefighter union president says that closure had a direct impact on the morgan fire. >> yeah, definitely impacted the response. i mean, station 11 would have been part of that initial response. i don't want to say what would have happened. they could have been on another call in other situations, but with the station being closed, nobody will know. >> station 11 has been used as a staging area for firefighters battling the morgan fire. now the east contra costa fire protection district plans to put another parcel tax back on the ballot of the next

election. the tax would pay the district's 48 firefighters and fund five fire stations. the district could run out of money next year when the federal grant expires. and we have much more on the mt. diablo fire on our website, ktvu.com. that's where you can see the entire interview with the homeowners on the fire line and also view a slide show of the fire. go to ktvu.com. we are also following developing news out of shasta county where another wildfire continues to burn out of control in happy valley. so far, the clover fire has burned 7400 acres. that's more than 11 square miles. evacuations have been ordered. about 110 structures, many of them homes, have been destroyed or damaged. of the wind-whipped fire is threatening another 350 buildings. we just checked with calfire. it says the clover fire is 40% contained. the cost of battling the rim fire in yosemite national

park keeps growing. the price tag has now hit $110 million. more than 253,000 acres have burned. it remains 80% contained. firefighters continue to struggle with heat and dry conditions. nearly a dozen homes and 100 buildings have been destroyed. just like any fire, the area in the path of the rim fire has been severely damaged. this is some never-seen-before video of the tuolumne river after the fire. in comparison, here's what the area looked like before the massive wildfire began on august 17th. officials say it's burned 96% of the watershed. the tu wall -- the tu wallly river trust has launched a campaign. >> we're looking for leaders to help lev rege the federal funding that we'll -- regearage the federal -- leverage the federal funding we'll need. >> they don't know how much the

restoration will cost but they estimate more than $5 million. in berkeley, fire officials are looking into what caused an apartment fire that killed one man inside. tara moriarty joins us live from the scene where european learned the victim was a professor. >> reporter: that's right. right now investigators are sifting through evidence to try to figure out how this fire started. you can see them up. they think that they can rule out electrical at this point. neighbors say that the man who lived here was known to burn candles, incense and he smoked. neighbor -- a neighbor's cell phone video shows the smoke. police knocked on this woman's door this morning. >> i was like holy crap. i thought it was the neighbor's. i rushed out.

oh, my god. >> it was pretty spectacular. it already bended it outside. >> reporter: seven people made it outside from the building on oregon street. one man was trapped on the third floor where the fire broke out. >> on the third floor level, the door was locked and dead bolted. they had to force entry. >> reporter: crews found andrew goodwin shown here. he was rushed to the hospital but later died. he was a ten-year professor of media studies and pop culture originally from england. >> i will remember his goofy sense of humor and accent. he made the best pancakes ever. i won't ever forget the pancakes. we would watch soccer in the morning. >> reporter: his apartment is a loss but a few days ago a book about his favorite british soccer team fell from the window. neighbors saved it and this man is going to give it to

goodwin's son. >> he was a good guy. a fixture in the neighborhood. i'm sure a lot of people will be sad to see him go. >> reporter: friends say engaged, was once a radio deejay and was writing a book on led zeppelin. usf just said dr. goodwin was a respected scholar, esteemed colleague and a dynamic teacher. investigators are gonna be out here probably another hour or so trying to figure out again exactly what caused this fire. live from berkeley, i'm tara moriarty, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you, tara. now to our continuing coverage of the crisis in syria. president obama is on capitol hill at this hour to discuss both diplomatic and military actions with senators. they are expected to issue a resolution to remove the chemical weapons in syria. syria has accepted the proposal by russia to transforecontrol of the chemical weapons. despite this possible diplomatic solution. the chairman of the joint

chiefs of staff says the u.s. forces are still ready to carry out an attack. >> the planned strikes will disrupt those parts of assad's forces related to the 21st of august, degrade the mines of delivery and degrade the assets that he uses to threaten neighbors and to defend his regime. >> president obama is still expected to address the nation tonight about a possible u.s. strike against syria. that address is -- the address is set to begin at 6:00 p.m. pacific time and again, you can watch the president's prime time address right here on ktvu tonight at 6:00. both sides in the b.a.r.t. talks scheduled to meet for a second day today with just four weeks left to avert a possible strike. the surprising announcement we received hours ago. >> reporter: two new iphones are unveiled at apple headquarters today. we'll tell you why the company is calling one of them the most

advanced-forward thinking phone the world has ever seen. [ phone ringing ] [ daughter ] hi mom. hey honey, the trip's great, very relaxing.

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talks between b.a.r.t. and its unions were scheduled to resume today but have been

canceled. according to b.a.r.t., the union atu says it is unable to make the scheduled meeting which comes just four weeks ahead of the deadline. the yesterday, the two sides met for the first time since a judge ordered a 60-day cooling off period 30 days ago. but b.a.r.t. and the unions did not even discuss the big issues which include pay, pensions and healthcare costs. a b.a.r.t. spokeswoman explains why these main points were not brought up. >> they felt -- the parties weren't quite ready to sit down and negotiate. >> according to b.a.r.t., atu says it's also unavailable to meet on the last day of negotiations. however, the other union seiu plans to meet with b.a.r.t. this thursday and is available on the last day of negotiations. both unions say they will call a strike if no deal is reached by october 10th when the cooling off period expires. after much anticipation from apple fin natics, we've learned about thest iphones from apple. janine de la vega joins us live

from outside of the company headquarters in cupertino with the latest announcement from the tech giant. good afternoon, janine. >> reporter: good afternoon. 0 no surprises as far as the iphones are expected. one is cheaper, one is higher end. what's different? well, the colors, the advanced technology and the features. these are things people care about, speed, camera and battery life. ♪ >> iphone 5-c is beautifully plastic. >> reporter: apple unveiled the iphone 5-c which is encased in plastic and available in five colors, a lime green, a light blue, a reddish peach and a yellow and white. it has a larger battery than the 5 and ate megapixel camera and has a zoom. it retails for $99. this is apple's attempt to reach out to an audience

interested in a lower price point. ♪ the much-anticipated iphone 5-s was unveiled along with the gold, silver and gray colorses. apple calls the 5-s, the most forward-thinking phone ever made. it's twice as phone as the 5 and is the world's first mobile phone with a 64 bit processor inside it. the camera is improved and bigger pixels making for a bigger picture. the rumors about the phone having a fingerprint scanner are tree. >> it has a touch i.d., your finger and more specifically, your. if which is unique to each of us. >> reporter: instead of using a four-digit pass code to unlock the phone, the device has a scanner that reads the user's print. it's built into the home button so no more processing.

another feature, the fitness feature. the phone retails for $199. both of theseiphones will be available at stores on september 20th. you can bet there will be lines. janine de la vega, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you. a $500 reward is being offered to help find a woman accused of abusing dogs. in this video, you can see the woman violently yanking and then kicking three docks -- dogs. she was walking in south san jose. the video was taken by a private investigator who happened to be in the area and has been handed over to police. >> what stopped you from saying something to her? >> it happened over the course of three, four minutes. i was trying to get -- being a private investigator, i was trying to get some evidence. >> reporter: police plan to go back to the neighborhood today to look for the woman from the video. san jose animal services has

also launched an investigation. san jose's alum rock park is closed again today due to fire danger. the park was closed over the weekend after fears that extreme heat could spark a dangerous fire. today's decision to shut down the park also has to do with the strain, the mt. diablo fire is putting on resources. the city says conditions will be assessed daily and closures could extend throughout the weekend. a notable drop in temperatures is being felt around the bay area at this hour. it is a pattern we'll see as we get into the afternoon as well. mostly sunny skies over san jose. a nice day for you. we have partly sunny skies along the coastline. we have partly sunny skies in areas right around santa rosa. seeing just a little bit of sunshine near half moon bay as well as pacifica. but you can see most of the coast socked in pretty good. we do again have a mix of sun and clouds reported over santa rosa at this time. temperatures are anywhere from

5 to 10 degrees cooler than where we were 24 hours ago. santa rosa, 13 degrees cooler at this hour than 24 hours ago. taking a look at the winds, we have a westerly breeze. you can see fairfield, 22 miles an hour. also a good indication of what we'll feel for the afternoon. i do expect the winds to pick up a little bit. we need the winds that strong coming from the pacific in order to cool down your neighborhoods. in concord, a breeze at 9 miles an hour. keeping in mind the fire burning near mt. diablo, you will be downwind. if you are, that means you are likely to smell the smoke. brentwood, antioch. it will turn westerly. if you are east of the fire, you could smell it as well. back to the temperatures, 68 in walnut creek. 76 in concord. 70 degrees in san francisco. low 70s in novato. check out santa rosa, 67 degrees right now again with a little bit of gray still overhead. you will be mostly sunny as we

get into the second half of your afternoon. 80 degrees for santa rosa. 82 for sonoma. upper 70s san rafael. as we get to the east bay, low 70s for oakland, san leandro, upper 70s castro valley. mid-80s to near 90 danville, pleasanton, livermore, mid-90s for brentwood. that will be one of the warmest locations. 8 -- 82 for san jose. along the peninsula for the afternoon, 81 redwood city, 74 san mateo. mid-60s san francisco. a cool day along the coastline with low 60s expected for you. your extended forecast, the temperatures will trail off as we get into wednesday, thursday. but notice by friday. temperatures rebound back in the low 90s. upper 70s around the bay. upper 60s along the coast. friday going to be warmer. but as we get into your bay area weekend, the cooldown begins. low 70s around the bay and 60s for the coast.

>> thank you, rosemary. >> you are welcome. a big shakeup for the stock market. a move haven't seen for a decade. and a yogurt recall.

reports that the syrian government would relynnish its weapons helped push markets higher today. it also pushed oil down to the two-week low, down $2 right now. taking a live lookal the big board, the dow is up 112.

the nasdaq is up 20. s&p up 11. this comes as the dow jones industrial average announced a six-company shakeup. it's dropping bank of america, hewlett-packard and alcoa and will replace them with goldman sachs, visa and nike. the changes take effect september 23rd. this the sift three for three change -- first three for three change since april 8th, 2004. at least 89 people have reported getting sick after eating the recently recalled chobani breek yogurt. no link has been confirmed between the illnesses and. coming up on the 5:00 news, we continue to follow the

firefight on mt. diablo. we go back to the fire lines to see how firefighters are doing plus the dangers still posed for dozens of homeowners near the fire lines. all of that and more tonight at 5:00. thank you for making ktvu your choice for news. we'll see you the next time news breaks. we're always here for you at ktvu.com and mobile ktvu.com. mom?

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zabeth. and today, my friends jennifer veal, and rob pinkston and i are exploring the islands of the exumas. we're investigating the unusual. (screaming) oh, my god! oh, my god. (laughs) traveling to extremes. and hanging out with the wildlife. so come on, it all happens right now. let me know when the bus gets here. i've got a feeling the bus isn't coming. (horn honks) found the bus, jen. (snoring)