abc 7's chris reyes on what gives her hope and courage to move forward. >> reporter: listen to the way megan talks about her home. >> beautiful original glass in the window, just so charming. there will never be another one like it. >> reporter: now you'll understand why this moment was so delicate. she gave us permission to drive by her house in boulder creek. this is the first time she's seeing a video of what's left behind. >> that's it. we loved it so much. it was my first home purchase together. >> we love everybody on that street. we love where our house is. >> it was such a special house and it can never be replaced. >> reporter: i asked her how she knew right away it was her house just from glancing at the rubble. >> because everything is so familiar, it's just covered in ashes. >> reporter: megan, her husband and two kids are staying with her dad ed, adding to their stress, staying covid-19 safe. >> my parents are in their mid 70s. it was not my first choice to come here. >> reporter: they made the choice because it could be months before she can go back home. her neighbors lo

live in san jose chris reyes for abc 7 news. >>> all right. thank you. cal fire officials gave an update this afternoon on the complex affecting parts of the eastern south bay. more than 365,000 acres have burned and it's more than 25% contained. the incident commander says the weather has given the crews a small reprieve but they still have a long way to go. >> thanks to the communities that are affected out here from the urban communities and the suburban communities on the western side to the rural communities on the eastern side like chief has said your concerns are our concerns. the mission for team six has been and will continue to be to return you guys back to some normalcy when this is done. we have a long road ahead of us but we won't stop until the fight is done. >> officials asked for a residence under evacuation orders to remain patient. no orders or warnings will stay in place longer than needed. >>> still ahead a young woman goes back to her family home near bakeville that was destroyed in the fire. her reaction as she sees the damage for t

in san jose, chris reyes, abc7 news. >>> in the east bay, hair salons try civil disobedience. owners call it a last resort to open their businesses. abc7 news reporter leslie brinkley has more on their plans. >> reporter: christine palmer is making banners for a rally she's holding outside her pleasanton salon tomorrow. >> do we want to open in protest en masse? >> reporter: it's a desperate last resort. she wishes officials would come by and sit in her chair. >> if we had city officials, county officials, governor gavin newsome, come get your haircut and see how we're implementing the guidelines you gave us. >> reporter: alameda county salons have never been allowed to reopen even for outdoor services. this stylist decided to become a rebel with a cause. >> i decided to come back and work because i needed to make some income to pay my rent and put food on my table. we haven't had any official threats. >> reporter: but this downtown salon has after they defiantly reopened on june 17th along with two others. >> over the course of nearly four weeks, we gave service to roughly 1,

let's go straight to abc7 news reporter chris reyes live in scots valley with a look at the situation there. chris? [ silent ] >> reporter: this is huge. this is almost unprecedented. we've had very little significant fire history in this area and yet we have these amazing huge redwoods everywhere. >> reporter: at cal fire base kaffir, crews from all over the bay area and beyond. we spotted fire trucks from los angeles county. wereer because didn't have the resources to get out there and put eyes on them because we were busy battling other fires. >> reporter: now the fires are closing in on dozens of ities. cal fire estimating more than 8,000 structures are being threatened. we drove through ben loaman completely deserted and thick with smoke. on highway 9 drivers lined up desperate to get back to their homes but were turned away at road blocks. the owners of this grocery store in boulder creek hg trying to gather food for firefighters. other residents were just in a frenzy to get out. >> basically, everybody is trying to save their homes and things like that. that's what i'm doing. >

abc 7 news reporter, chris reyes, found a man who wrote a love letter to everything his family lost.porter: that's wallace j. nichols walking through the wreckage that was the home he built with his family, from the ground up. but if you can believe it, there was one other thing harder than seeing the ruins, in person. and that is, putting these words to paper. >> my dearest wallace grace. >> it's a letter to his daughter, who had just left for college, telling her the home she grew up in was gone. >> it felt like a 20-year walk that i was ting t r t hou that stood here was nestled in the redwoods just north of davenport. it burned at the height of the czu complex fire last week. but to listen to jay nichols words is to imagine the home rising from the ashes. i'll let him take it, from here. >> we built your home around you, when you were still inside your mother. i thought a lot about every piece of wood and stone. people who visited always asked about the overbuilt stoutness and soulfulness of our home. i always said that i built the house around my baby girl to protect her and her

chris reyes, abc7 news. >> chris, thank you. >>> an hour ago cal fire initials gave an update on the scu complex. it's affecting six coupe yits across the east and south bay. more than 365,000 acres burned. that complex is 25% contained. firefighters say they know crews and neighbors are exhausted at this point but this is a critical week. so people need to hang tough and help each other out. >> it's a moment on this fire we need to take a big, deep breath genceoror d to maintain our the safet of thepeleee hse orders and warning thate still . with that, i know our troops are getting tired. i know the communities who inconvenience. just know we are not going to keep those orders and warnings out there any longer than we have to. >> officials say even when these fires are more contained, fire season isn't over yet. in fact, we've got a couple more months of this potentially. all the more reason to try keen morale up. >>> the fire got some aerial support today. sky 7 captured the 747 global supertanker dropping retardant on flames. this plane is the largest aerial fi firefighting air ta

chris reyes, abc 7 news. >> so awful, thank you. >> the fires have triggered evacuation orders, leaving them wondering what will be left when they return. stephanie sierra joins us live from an evacuationenr in santa cruz with more. stepharere 79 evacuees living in this auditorium shelter, which has tents inside, they are spaced six feet apart, and volunteers are taking temperature checks before people can enter. >> we probably shun the have been there, this is our home, our livelihood, we earn vested a lot of money, this is all we have. >> this is bad news bears, an average they say now of 60,000 people have been evacuated from sang mateo, santa cruz county and that's a lot of people. >> this shelter is one of several in santa cruz county assisting families with shelter and accommodations, if there's one positive message i can reate rate through all of this, these families are not scared, they're not giving up hope. as you can see behind me, plin. despite not being able to get into this shelter, they are not going to give up. live in santa cruz tonight, stephanie sierra, abc 7 news. >>

so much is destroyed in this fire sadly, and today abc7 news reporter chris reyes talked with a resident who wrote a love letter to all that his family lost. >> reporter: that's wallace j. nichols walking through the wreckage that was the home he built with his family from the ground up. but if you can believe it, there was one other thing harder than seeing the ruins in person, and that is putting these words to paper. >> my dearest wallace grace. >> it's a letter to his daughter, who had just left for college, telling her that the home she grew up in was gone. >> it felt like a 20-year walk that i was trying to portray. >> reporter: the house that stood here was nestled in the redwoods just north of davenport. it burned at the height of the czu lightning complex fire last week. but to listen to nichols' words is to imagine the home rising from the ashes. i'll let him take it from here. >> we built your home around you when you were still inside your mother. i thought a lot about every piece of wood and stone. people who visited always asked about the overbuilt stoutness and soulfulness

abc7 news reporter chris reyes was at a demonstration where teachers expressed their concerns. >> ito back right now and danger to the students and the school. >> reporter: a caravan protest through oakland. not exactly how teachers want to spend their time one week before an already stressful start to

and as abc 7 news reporter chris reyes found, many homes are gone. >> we did decide to come back thet day on wednesday.ero gs >> reporter: but for the family the timeline between this, a home standing, and this, ash and rubble, tragically too quick. >> we had one of the cal fire people come up in trucks via broadcasting from their truck saying get out, time is now, get out. >> by wednesday morning we got word that our whole neighborhood was on fire. >> reporter: that's andy

abc7 news reporter chris reyes was at a demonstration where teachers expressed their concerns. >> it is not safe to go back right now and danger to the students and the school. >> reporter: a caravan protest through oakland. not exactly how teachers want to spend their time one week before an already stressful start to the school year but educators here say they feel like they had no choice. >> we are one week from school and no plan to reopen our schools. >> reporter: part of a national day of action happening in 30 cities across the country. educators fighting for a safe and equitable start to the school year. no in-person learning until is proven safe and cleaning and ppe and access to online learning. >> the biggest fear is that this district doesn't care shone this for many years they don't care about the students or the workers enoughhe udts safe. the naacp issued a stern letter speaking out against the plan. >> this is not the way to do it. my concern is if you have children and these folks are out there demonstrating, you may traumatize those children. >> both myself and the

hundreds of homes have been destroyed and today, abc7 news reporter chris reyes met a man who wrote a letter to his daughter after they lost their home of 19 years after she left for college. >> we built your home around you when you were still inside your mother. i've thought a lot about every piece of wood and stone. people who visited always asked about the soulfulness of our home. i always said that i built the house around myher and her sist. your house in the redwoods by the creek and ocean lasted nearly 19 years. i hoped that it would be yours someday and i was working hard to keep it. it burned to the grounds in a wildfire caused by lightning in the most beautiful storm i've ever seen. i believe it served its original purpose, fully and completely. he ended the letter by writing, please carry the sweet memories with you wherever you go. so poignant. >> so touching. the lnu lightning complex fire has burned more than 371,000 acres. an evacuation warning was lifted in napa county along silverado trail and a stretch along monticello road. evacuations were lifted in parts of santa

abc7 news reporter chris reyes has the story. >> today we're having a day of action. at least 60 events across the country. members joining together to speak out in support of the postal service. >> reporter: this national day of action, a response to reason cuts announced by the newly announced postmaster louis dejoy. >> in my entire career, first class parcels have never been delayed. this is totally unusual. it is against our contract. >> i'm hearing from our members mail is being left unworked. sitting on the work room floors. >> reporter: just moments before the conference, they said this statement. a void any appearance, i am suspending all changes. there will be no change in retail hours. no removal of blue boxes. no mail processing facilities closed and approved overtime continues. >> i don't frankly trust the postmaster general, what em, if he's sincere about it, it means the bully has backed off. >> reporter: president trump has been critical of the financial woes of the postal service and has repeatedly kauft out on its delivery of the ballot votes. >> to e

dramatally ovnit.gwn let's check in with chris reyes. >> reporter: good afternoon. they're setting least five majo fires are burning in san mateo and santa cruz county. we know three firefighters have been injured. we don't have an update. 22,000 residents have been evacuated since last night. we spoke to a few of them. this is the scene all over santa cruz county. at least ten active fires growing by the hour. some spreading into san mateo county. the fire has burned through 10,000 acres across the two counties sparked by the weekend's line storms. >> we saw the winds kick up. that was a game changer. that's when all of a sudden we had to start evacuating lots of people in a quick amount of time. >> reporter: that's what this group of neighbors had to do late tuesday night. this, the night sky. >> i am pretty much homeless. i slept in the car because i couldn't find a hotel room. >> how long are you prerm to be away? >> as long as necessary. we have everything we need. luckily we have an rv. >> i'm concern about the house. we grabbed everything we could. >> we foun

chris reyes spent the day on the front lines with firefighters. >> reporter: good evening.his is probably the best weather the area has had since the fire ignited. it's smoky and dangerous. when you're fighting a fire in the santa cruz mountains, this is what it looks like. one firefighter scaling a steep terrain. all to fight one hot spot. some of the hardest hit areas of the czu lightning complex fire. this scene too common along this route and in both counties. more than 500 structures destroyed. the most common question, when will they be allowed to go back home? let me show you the roads to get to this point and i'll give you an idea why that's not happening just yet. dark, smoky, full of ash and debris and hot spots that continue to smolder and burn. >> we have to make sure everybody has their utilities in place and the roads are safe to travel. >> less smoke, more fog. >> the extra moisture in the air doesn't allow the fields to burn as intense as it was when it was hot and dry. >> reporter: that means fire crews can do this kind of work, firing operations where crew

here's chris reyes where you can get relief. >> reporter: running a cooling central in the time of pandemic means more resoce everyones masks must be worn at all times. disaster workers are on staff and inside, plenty of social distancing. >> we need to make sure there is enough hand sanitizer, bottled water. so there is a lot of consideration that goes into our cooling center. >> reporter: in the past, cooling centers in san jose have not been used anywhere near capacity. with the pandemic, it is a different situation with so many other options closed. this fountain in down san jose shut down. any other summer, it would have been a place families could gather to cool down. same with mlk library. closed. it was a place for top get support from bill wilson central and that's why they've prepared their drop-in space to help with the heat. >> we have tables with umbrellas. we do offer water. we have support groups and we offer popsicles or ice cream during that time, a little cooling period. >> reporter: the central open to youth 18 to 24 offers wi-fi. the same with san jose's three cooling ce

here's abc 7 news reporter chris reyes. >> the customers are calling us, are you going to be open saturday? it says you have to close at midnight. and we're like, we don't know. we haven't been told yet. >> reporter: that was at 5:00 p.m. at kathy love's salon in san carlos. we met her as she finished with a client, not knowing that would be her last for now. >> she called me and said we may not be here, we may, we don't know yet. >> reporter: an hour later san mateo public health issued this statement. "earlier today we still were told by the state that businesses could stay open. we just learned they must close tomorrow. the order effective 12:01 a.m. sunday." so we went back to tell kathy the news. >> if we had known thursday, we could have gotten our clients from next week in. so they could have got their hair cut or their perm or their color. and that's the frustrating part. >> we also had to break the news daly city barber derek peckson. >> i'm pretty shocked. i didn't know it was happening right now. i thought i had some time to talk to my guys as well. >> reporter: also shutting do

. >> reporter: chris reyes for abc7 news. >> these are incredibly difficult challenges these guys areing. that's why amateur brigades have formed to fight some of the fires. we're talking about teams of residents who refuse to let their neighborhoods burn down. annab annabel costilla with the details. >> reporter: they call themselves close 1, residents who refuse to sit aside while watching the fires burn. >> we have a resource and we have a small group of manpower that can get a lot of work done. >> reporter: he says i see crew is just one of many who have organized similar efforts throughout the mountains. a network of neighbors packing water pumps, chain saws, water buffalo tanks and fire hoses working around the clock to save homes. >> there are no fire trucks, nobody is helping us, and we refuse to let people's houses burn to the ground. we're going to use our local knowledge who we are, our strength and the resources we do have to get down there and put the darn thing out. >> reporter: but calfire officials says doing so presents a real danger. in response to resident bigades,

and as abc 7 news reporter chris reyes found, many homes are gone. >> we did decide to come back the next day on wednesday.ero gs >> reporter: but for the family the timeline between this, a home standing, and this, ash and rubble, tragically too quick. >> we had one of the cal fire people come up in trucks via broadcasting from their truck saying get out, time is now, get out. >> by wednesday morning we got word that our whole neighborhood was on fire. >> reporter: that's andy immel standing in the photo surrounded by what's left of the home he built over 42 years. >> h nifd's gandline.nd tdher, j s big cry. before that it was we don't know, maybe. we kept hope. >> reporter: but on that morning that the immels were still hoping, this is what was happening in their neighborhood and all over boulder creek. by morning it was all rubble. the bits and pieces that make a home completely charred. this street, fallen leaf drive, completely devastated. still there were streets that prove just how unfair a fire can be. her burned to eground. >> that just goes to show that we don't have the re

chris haus got the call from a dispatcher. two marin county firefighters were trapped in the woodward fire south of point reyes with fire less than a football field away. >> i could hear the emotion in her voice. >> reporter: within minutes deputy haus and pilot paul bradley were inside the department's helicopter, henry one, and facing gusting fire winds. >> the winds really intensifies as we were kind of descending into that area. >> reporter: then more problems. the location was incorrect and they spotted the wall of fire. >> it looked scary close. i think we estimated that it was about 75 yards away. >> reporter: the helicopter's spotlight was also out. meaning dropping in in near darkness. >> i could see the head lamps and the flashlights from the firefighters. the pilot just told me that i'm going to give it my best shot. i was 100% in on we're going to give it a shot and we're going to do our best. and thank god it worked out. >> all right. guys, i'm going to get you out of here, okay? >> once we made it to them and landed it was, like, no question. i knew we were going to get them out of there. >> reporter: out from behin