now at noon, homes and businesses leveled by a fast- moving wildfire. it's only one of a dozen major fires burning across the state. we'll show you the damage and the conditions firefighters are expected to face today. two high school athletes from an east bay college prep school arrested for criminal charges involving a freshman football player in the school's locker room. plus, sharing the road. a new law that just went into effect today to help protect bicyclists. >> they kind of forget how close they can be to cyclists. it can be really disconcerting. >> what you need to know as a

biker and driver in california. california on fire as wildfires rage across the drought-stricken golden state forcing the evacuations of thousands of residents and destroying more than 100 homes. right now, more than 6,000 firefighters are working to put out a dozen major wildfires that are burning out of control. so far, the most destructive is the bowls fire bumping north of us. sal castanedo has been monitoring this fire and the damage it's caused and joins us live from the newsroom. >> tori, good afternoon. calfire says today a damage assessment team in siskiyou county is determining how many buildings burned after the fast- moving fire took off and gave people very little time to get out. 1500 people have been evacuated

in siskiyou county. more could be asked to leave soon. the fire known as the bowls fire began monday afternoon near the city of weed and quickly spread consuming thousands of acres and burning more than 100 buildings including homes, businesses and at least one church. residents say there they had little notice and were told to go quickly. >> i stopped, met a friend and said if you need a place to stay, i'm fine, thinking i wasn't gonna have to evacuate. an hour after i got home, i got the phone call, get out of there. >> reporter: the evacuated removed about 30 miles away. calfire says 375 acres have burned and the fire is 20% contained. it says 400 homes are threatened. there's also a report the local high school has burned down. some say they came face to face with the fire. >> i started to smell smoke.

happened to look to the right and that tree was in flames. it was so close to me. i was shaking in my boots because i could see the fire jump in. >> reporter: in el dorado county a fire is only 5% contained and has affected pollack pines. fire evacuees saying waiting to find out what bumped is the tough part. >> i'm just hoping there is gonna be a home to go back to. >> reporter: as the fire passes through, some have been allowed to return. a red flag warning exists in many of the counties affected by the fire. calfire urges extra caution outdoors to prevent extra fires. ken wayne will be reporting from the bowls fire today on our later newscasts. live in the newsroom, sal castanedo, ktvu channel 2 news. >> all right. thank you. now let's go to rosemary orozco who is monitoring the weather conditions firefighters

are facing. >> as we know entering the peak of fire season, everything is just tinder dry out there. in some cases, it's hot. in many cases the winds are definitely a factor. right now we're looking at temperatures in the low to mid- 80s in and around northern california. this map showing you just the several fires burning over parts of northern california. the winds thankfully not expected to be as bad as monday. they were gusting at 40 miles an hour. the winds fan the flames and start new fire. this system is expected to bring rain to california including the bay area. this is excellent news. i will tell you more coming up. >> thank you. our coverage of these wildfires continues at ktvu.com. you will find the latest information as we get it online as well as twitter and

facebook. governor jerry brown signed a bill that seeks to regulate ground water for the first time in california. california's been the only western state with a pump as you please approach. but under the new bill. local agencies will begin to manage their wells and the state can inter-- can intervene if necessary. overpumping has led to sinking land and billions of dollars in damage to aquifers and canals. firefighters are keeping their eyes on a business near 101 in san jose that went up in flames. as janine de la vega tells us, fire officials thought it was initially suspicious but now they are not so sure. >> reporter: smoke continued to rise from the stacks of burnt rubble from this commercial business upon mayberry road. several hours later, this is

what it looked like. this san jose fire department photographer took this video, flames 30, 40 feet high engulfed this wood pallet business. >> i saw flames and they wanted us to get out of the building. evacuate real quickly. get all of our personal belongings. >> reporter: in the upper right- hand corner of the security camera footage from a neighboring business. it shows the flames starting in a building at the pallet yard. employees tried to hose down the flames. firefighters used an aerial ladder to attack from the outside. it grew to two alarms. firefighters were able to contain it but flames did reach the auto body shop next door. 15 cars belonging to customers were damaged. >> in is a big loss especially for me. if it doesn't have enough insurance to cover it. >> reporter: they thought the fire was suspicious because it happened in the middle of the

night. an arson investigator was sent in to talk to witnesses. now they say the cause may be accidental. >> it looks like it started inen area where there's manufacture -- started in an area where there's manufacturing. there's ignition sources in the area. it wasn't in the middle of the woodpile where we initially thought it might be. >> reporter: firefighters say the business is a total loss. the owner who didn't want to be on camera is trying to stay optimistic. he wants to rebuild and open up as soon as possible. janine de la vega, ktvu channel 2 news. luxury cars went up in flames in the east bay. a truck carrying eight mercedes- benz caught fire while parked at an auction yard in hayward. flames spread to two other parked trucks. the fire started in the engine compartment. the truck's driver was sleeping in the cab when the fire started but managed to escape safely. a woman and a toddler were

seriously injured in a hit-and- run crash last night on an east bay freeway. it happened just after 10:00 p.m. on eastbound highway 24 in orinda near the -- saint stevens exit. chp officers say when they arrived, they saw a disabled minivan and two people. they say it appears the two were trying to cross the freeway from the center median to the right shoulder when they were hit by a mercedes. both victims suffered major injuries. the chp is looking for the driver. they say the there's damage to the rear side of the window and the headlight. a new law is in effect that requires drivers maintain a three-foot distance when passing cyclists. katie utehs is live in san francisco to explain the law and address concerns about enforcement. good afternoon. >> reporter: good afternoon, tori. three feet of distance may not always be possible on busy san

francisco streets but the new law does create a definition of safe distance and it's another tool for law enforcement. a swarm of cyclists travels san francisco's market street every morning. >> it's real dangerous. scary. quite often i ride down to other jobs, it's scary. it beats driving and parking. >> reporter: this is aimed at making the trip safer but it may be hard to enforce. >> i support anything that makes the city more bike friendly. >> reporter: the state law defines state passing distance as a minimum of three feet. if a passing distance cannot be maintained, drivers need to wait to see when it is. >> it really create as wind draw. it can make cyclists get a

little edgy and a little scared. >> reporter: gauging a three- foot distance will be challenging. >> i think it's impossible to enforce. i think the police should spend their time doing things that are more valuable than enforcing that rule. >> we can look for people that violate this law. they could be cited and face the fines that come with that. we don't want to get to that point. we want people to be more proactive in their behavior. >> reporter: if a cyclist is riding past a slow moving or stopped vehicle, the driver would not be cited if the cyclist gets closer than that three foot buffer zone. the bike lane is a gray area of the new law, the california bicycle coalition says it may take a court case to clarify how the new three-foot distance impacts bicycle lanes. katie utehs, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you, katie. now to our continuing

coverage against isis. today, kurdish fighters launched an offensive against the group near mosul. the airstrikes are part of the expanded mission announced last week by president obama. today on capitol hill, secretary of defense, chuck hagel and general martin dempsey testified at a senate hearing about the mission. >> this will not be an easy or brief effort. it's complicated. we're at war with isil as we are with al qaeda. but destroying isil will require more than military effort as i lone. >> he told the panel he's open to changing his position about adding ground troops to the to the chur if necessary and if -- to the future if necessary and if approved by president obama. two high school football players under arrest. what's caught on video having

them face criminal charges. the united states has not september a crew to space -- sent a crew to space since the last launch and any are set to make a big announcement. internal medicine with something terrible to admit. i treated thousands of patients, risked their lives, while high on prescription drugs. i was an addict. i'm recovered now, but an estimated 500,000 medical professionals are still out there, abusing drugs or alcohol. police, airline pilots, bus drivers... they're randomly tested for drugs and alcohol... but not us doctors. you can change that: vote yes on proposition 46. your lives are in our hands.

we have learned within the last hour that a grand jury will convene to decide whether

nascar's star tony stewart will face charges in another driver's death. the three-time nascar champion hit and killed 20-year-old kevin ward junior at a race last month in upstate new york. ward climbed out of his car and walked onto the dirt track to confront stewart after he spun out while the two raced side by side. the district attorney has not yet said when that grand jury will bea ginn to hear evidence in the kate. livermore police are investigating a hazing incident that led to the arrest of two football players. two 17-year-old players at livermore valley college prep held down a freshman teammate in the locker room and shaved part of his head. the teens were arrested on friday on charges of misdemeanor hazing, false imprisonment and battery. they've been cited and released. police say the entire incident was captured on video. school officials have declined to comment on the case but students at another nearby

school say they've heard about what happened. >> i don't think it was fair. >> a kid was smaller than two of them. >> investigators say there was a third football player seen on the video. at this point, he has not been charged. the 0-year-old woman is talking about surviving a home- invasion robbery and how she and her husband will are lucky to survive. >> you tell us what you want. we give it to you. don't hurt us. >> a man and woman in their 40s went to the couple's home asking if they could take a clipping from a rare plant. the next day the same plant came back asking for more clippings. once they got inside the house, the violence began. >> he punched me here. he punched me there and she tried to cut me there, my

jugular vein. she wanted to kill me. >> after the elderly couple was tied up, the woman escaped, ran outside and climbed a fence to call for help. by the time police arrived, they were gone. they are described as tall, thin and an unusual accent and escaped in a blue two-door car. pg&e fired three executives due to an inappropriate, cozy relationship. the three are -- >> investigators say they used inappropriate back door communications to go judge shopping at the puc in a critical rate-setting case. the same case was tied to the disastrous pipeline explosion in san bruno four years ago. when you have this kind of

collusion, you don't get safety, you don't get accountability and you get skyrocketing bills that nobody can afford. >> this management shake up follows a lawsuit followed by san bruno city leaders to obtain e-mails and other private communications between pg&e and the public utilities commission. today some union workers for the golden gate transit district are staging a one-day strike. members of the machinist union are pickets outside of the district headquarters near the golden gate bridge toll plaza until 3:30 this afternoon. the unions represent 450 workers. they say commuters using the bridge, ferry or bus system are not being affected today but they hope to draw attention to stalled contract talks. >> if there's another strike from any coalition in the future, we cannot make the guarantee that commuters will not be affected. >> the unions say a larger strike could be called if negotiations do not resume soon and the district says it would

like to get back to the bargaining table but there's no sign either side making the first move toward new talks. nasa is set to make a major announcement this afternoon regarding the return of human spaceflight launches. since july 2011, the u.s. has been relying on russia to transport astronauts to the international space station. but today, nasa is expected to award a contract to a private aerospace company to do the job. a news conference is set to take place at the kennedy space center in just about be a hour -- in just about an hour from now. a beautiful late summer day shaping up around the bay area. get a load of this view. we've got mostly sunny skies, from the coast across the bay and inland and the air quality, great. you can even see mt. diablo there in the distance. isn't that a beautiful one. it's definitely one to enjoy because as early as tomorrow change is coming our way. i will explain that in a

minute. the winds are still onshore but fairly light even fairfield reporting calm conditions. for today, temperatures for inland communities dropping off a little bit and that will really be about it. around the bay along the coast the numbers are like we had yesterday. i want to turn your attention to changeses coming our way. these will be wet changes. a system is expected to bring us a little bit of rain. you can see it being picked up here. this will come late wednesday into thursday. and i'm gonna show you exactly what i mean here as we get going wednesday morning. i will come back to today in just a moment. as we get that wednesday morning we're partly cloudy, not being picked up here. notice the rain is moving ashore northern california. i want to take you all the way into wednesday evening. it doesn't look like we'll see a whole lot. by wednesday night along the north bay, along the coastline, we could see a few scattered showers. as we get into the overnight hours and by thursday morning a better possibility of more

widespread activity. it doesn't look like a lot. a few 1/100ths. perhaps .10 -- perhaps .10 for some. but thursday morning it could be a slick commute. we definitely need any type of rain we can get. we'll definitely be welcoming that. temperatures right now for today under mostly cloudy skies. 78 concord. 78 walnut creek. around the bay, 70 for oakland. 79 livermore. 74 san jose. for the afternoon, temperatures in the upper 70s to low 80s for the north bay. 74 expected in san leandro. 84 for danville. upper 80s for our warmer locations. so again, just a fabulous day for most. 78 san jose, 76 in sunnyvale. mostly sunny skies. upper 60s for pacifica and half moon bay today. 76 expected for san mateo. and 77 in mountain view. the extended forecast here temperatures continue to trail off just a bit as we get into wednesday, thursday, more importantly when we see a little bit of rain.

as we get into the bay area weekend, temperatures rebound and we're sunny and warm once again. >> thank you. >> you are welcome. well, good news for those who like to shop online and want their purchases as quickly as possible. two major department stores getting ready to roll out a new service to cut down on the wait time.

stokes are climbing on wall street. a measure of prices that

producers receive for goods was unchanged. the latest sign that inflation is in check. the dow is up 117. the nasdaq up 38 and the up 16. start this fall, macy's and bloomingdale's plan to test same day delivery for purchases. the bloomingdale's in san francisco and palo alto and the san francisco and san jose macy's will be part of the pilot program. this is only for customers within 15 miles of the stores who are eligible for the same- day delivery. the service will be powered by deliv. and u.p.s. is planning to hire up to 95,000 seasonal employees. wam -- wages start at $10 and

there's a chance many of the temporary jobs could become full-time positions. federal researchers are exploring several underwater  sites west of san francisco. over the past week a team from noahh used a remote controlled underwater vehicle to examine the ships. >> every one of these sinkings has its own dramatic story and in many cases, while the participants have long since passed away, questions still remain. there are mysteries left to be solved. on friday, the team discovered a cargo steamship that sank back in 1910 after it collided with another ship. we are following the developing situation in

northern california. a destructish wildfire that's torn through more than 100 buildings and forced 1500 people to evacuate. we have a live crew there speaking with the people impacted by this fire and we'll update you on the effort to fight it tonight on ktvu channel 2 news at 5:00. thank you for making ktvu your choice for news. we're always here for you at ktvu.com and you can follow us on twitter and facebook.

- [joe] robots on the job. part of the present. - we can't do it without them. - [joe] and part of our future. - [david] so are we in the middle or at the beginning of a robot revolution? i think you could term it that way. - [joe] by 2050, you have robot coworkers in all shapes and sizes, doing all sorts of jobs. working robots. how they are changing a world now, and what it means for your future. next on earth 2050. how's it going everybody? my name is joe pennant and i'm your host for exploration earth 2050. in this episode we're going to take a look at robots. all kinds from space robots to factory robots. this is an unbelievably exciting time in human history because we're in the middle of a robotic revolution.