: he took over in march as emergecy manager for sonoma county. we spoke with him at the command post last october, where county officials decided against sending a wireless emergency alert to residents as the tubbs fire raced through santa rosa. four days after the fire started, it was here, we first asked the previous emergency manager the question so many residents had asked us. why didn't the county send out a mass cell phone alert? >> we never got a call or alert. >> our daughter woke us up go i apologize for anyone that didn't get a notice and we did the best we could with our information. >> reporter: he told us the alert would have caused widespread hysteriaja s. >> if i send aage out to 500,000 people simultaneously, what's going to happen with that, those massive people trying to leave at the same time? >>. >> reporter: if there was a need for an evacuation now, would the county send out a wireless emergency alert? >> yes. >> reporter: that concluded staffers had a limited awareness and understanding of the wireless emergency alert syste

for marin, napa and sonoma. 80 in mill valley.s not too bad, but we see the fire danger increasing is at 90 degrees and above. right here in ukiah and 93 degrees. my extended forecast has numbers in san francisco dropping as we hit sunday down to the mid 60s and then we will be cooler as we hit next thursday down to 63. for the inland valleys, we are dropping by sunday to 88 and keep your eyes on next wednesday and thursday. the system moving near will bring temratures down to the 70s. i want to take you to something different. if you have plans to hawaii, you have to watch hurricane olivia. i want to say hurricane norman is not impacting the hawaiian islands, but olivia by next monday and tuesday could be on a path to hit the islands and winds of 75 miles per hour possibly a category one. you have to watch those traveling plans and watch them closely. we will be following it throughout the next couple of days. looks active out there. >> up next, the strange and unsanitary request. the unusual thing a passenger was told to do when

calls going out to tens of thousands of people in sonoma county, tonight. the first test in the major overhaul to the emergency alert system . >>> a state investigation criticized sonoma county's decision not to use mast cell phone alerts during last october's wildfires. joe vazquez is on the changes that could save lives in future disasters. >> reporter: we are inside the sum -- sonoma county emergency alert system center. tom stewart says an emergency alert 10 months ago when a massive fire was ravaging his neighborhood would've been very helpful. >> you have to remember, the fire was moving fast. any time at all would've got us moving sooner. >> reporter: he now lives in an rv just a few yards from where his house burned to the ground. >> i would not have waited as long as i did and ended up with just the shirt and clothes that i had on at the time. >> reporter: sonoma can -- sonoma county officials decided to use a limited amount of the emergency alert system. since then, the county has updated the system which uses a combination of calls, texts and cel

in sonoma county nearly 5,300 homes burned and 24 people died.e questioned why the county didn't use its wireless alert to send out an evacuation notice. >> if there was a need for an evacuation now, would the county send out a wireless emergency alert? >> yes. >> reporter: interim emergency manager chris godly told us last month the policies have changed but as today's test head the alerts still failed to reach certain regions while spilling over into unintended parts of the county, leaving emergency managers with a better picture of what still needs work. and now that the county has had a chance to identify where the problem spots were they say they will use the data from today's tests to put pressure on the fcc and wireless carriers to help improve these alerts to make them more accurate and reliable in an emergency. in sonoma county i'm vicky nguyen, nbc bay area news. >> vicky, thank you. >>> well, it's taken a turn for the worse. hurricane florence is now expected to stall and jog south. meaning the carolina coastline could see 24 hours of

the first of the two tests will happen tonight in sonoma county. emergency managers will trigger the so-called alert -- anne makovec alert system. it comes months after reports from fire officials criticizing the county for not activating the emergency activation alerts during the fires. >> not one person received an alert. what are we doing here? it is inexcusable that what we felt was appropriate for the situation was absolutely not appropriate and horribly insufficient. >> reporter: 25 people died in sonoma county during the firestorm. in a report after the fires, the outlined improvements that needed to go to the emergency alert systems. they want to see if the changes work. tonight they are testing the soco list. and wednesday, they will trigger the wireless alerts. that is a system that pushes notifications to cell phones within a certain graphic area. >>> live in the newsroom, katie nielsen, kpix 5. >>> police opened fired in gilroy as a football tournament was going by. the suspect is a former police officer who threatened to harm people. t

the first test of this kind anywhere in the western united states, sonoma county, burn once shame on you. burn twice, shame on me. around here they take that seriously. >> learn from our mistake and don't wait for this to smack you in the face. >> reporter: that survey asked questions like where were you when you received the alert, what were you doing? how did you receive that alert? it's interesting to note here that more than 1300 people speaking english responded to that survey. only 54 respondents spoke spanish. the county will be looking hard at that. live in santa rosa, wayne freedman, abc7 news. >> all right, wayne, thank you. last week a zillow study found that san jose is the least affordable area in the country. on average, homeowners spent 54% of their income. on paying off mortgages in san jose. in san francisco and oakland, it's 45%. nationally it is only 17%. with that as context, today a campaign kicked off to help teachers afford homes in the south bay. abc7 news reporter chris nguyen is live with how it works. chris? >> reporter: kristen, it's all part of a commitme

they killed more than 25 residents in sonoma county. at the time, emergency managers said they do not want to trigger the county warning system because it would have caused mass k off -- chaos. is a decision that many says was around one. >> i think a lot of lives could have been saved if it was -- if they were given the information. >> it is inble at at prop fotha appropriate and horribly insufficient. >> alerts can be triggered on the city by city basis instead of across the entire county. tonight, they will be testing the soco alert. users will sign up using a phone number and their address. they will get a phone call tonight either through their cell phone or online. a wednesday, they will test the wireless emergency alert. that pushes alert to all self phones within a certain geographic area. >>> it is 3 minutes before 7:00 . >>> evacuation orders remain in effect in northern napa county as the snow fire burns out of control. the flames of scorched about 24 if -- 2400 acres. the fires 20% contained and about 180 homes and other bui

winds and dry conditions in sonoma county had residents there on edge. abc 7 news reporter wayne freedman live in unincorporated santa rosa with more on the story. wayne? >> reporter: good afternoon, larry. it's still warm and dry here. behind me, the red flag is still on the pole. red flag warnings originate from the national weather service. here in sonoma county, they lost 6,000 homes last year, people take them seriously. up it goes. a red flag warning. not on radio, television or internet, but on a pole. symbolic? perhaps. but we know the meaning. >> winds in the upper terrain, we've got low humidities, temperatures on the increase. >> a sonoma county red flag warning actually looks like this. bright sun, dry brush, a building breeze and blackened stumps that serve as bleak reminders. hence the fire service today on active patrols. locals with more than their share of fire experiences. feeling a bit edgy. >> how long would it to get out of here in a hurry? >> probably 15 minutes. >> sharon avoided disaster last year just barely. she lives one mile d

we will also be calling all the land lines in sonoma county.ltaneously to determine just how well we can communicate with people who are registered or have phones in their home. >> so again, no one should be alarmed if they get this, but you are going to get an alert. if you live in sonoma county. and if you have opted into this program. you will either get an email or cell phone alert or both? >> that is correct. many people have signed up for our -- system. by email, text message as well as voice on the telephone. they will get those messages in the formats they have requested. in addition, we will also be calling people who have land lines. phones that are hooked up via at&t or the cable companies. they will also get that same message. >> about how many people, how many residents have actually signed up for this program? >> we are about almost 25% sonoma county households or businesses have registered for so go alert. we are looking at reaching out to almost 150,000 people in total. >> we still need everyone, i guessing that you would hope t

locals catch up, wine sonoma is a small town and the loss of more than 200 homes in the sonoma hillsnd to neighboring areas are deeply felt. >> it shows we can move from one event to the next and even though things happen along the way we are still going to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and get moving forward.>> reporter: a few miles from the plaza grapes are coming off the vines. a cold spell this summer stalled some ripening but the crush is catching up now.>> the first night the fire threatens our winery.>> reporter: scorched hills a few miles away are daily reminders of what happened last harvest. the valley was in chaos but like their founders, vendors pushed through.>> it is a big celebration this year. one year later people are starting to come off the effects and starting to feel normal again.>> reporter: many people remember the fire as a time people came together. >> our restaurants were picking -- feeding people at 2 am in the morning and preparing food for evacuees the next day. i am proud of sonoma. >> reporter: vintage festival is free except for grape stomping an

-- this museum will have a new exhibit tied to the recovery efforts in sonoma.it pays tribute to the resiliency and strength of the people in sonoma county as they prepare to mark one year since the deadly wildfires. part of a special exhibit is created to honor fire victims and it opens this weekend. >>> firefighters in marin, sonoma, and napa counties are getting new high-definition cameras to monitor wildfires. they hope the cameras, which are being paid for by pg&e, will allow firefighters to get to fires faster and give them valuable information in real time about where the fire may be headed for the cameras can also help firefighters get to a fire before it grows >>> once it had that 10 acre threshold, t are behind. the fire is outpacing her ability to get resources to the fire. >> the system allows homeowners to log in and see how close a particular fire may be to their property. the new cameras are expected to be installed by the end of this year. >>> uber has agreed to pay $140 million claims -- in claims. hackers got a hold of personal data, including

look around, this is the mark west estates neighborhood in sonoma county. you can see these are daily reminders of last year's devastating fire. this is why the residents here wants are want to know if the emergency alerts actually work. at exactly 10:00 a.m. today emergency leaders in sonoma county aat of five wireless emergency alerts. sending a loud tone and text t . county staff tracked the alerts to see where they landed. >> i just got an alert on my phone it buzzed made a loud noise. said extreme alert. test message. i think it's great to work on it. this was something desperately needed during the wildfires. >> reporter: in roseland be the text appeared to hit in english and spanish. >> i think the county listened to the community and taken note and learned some lessons from the devastating fires. >> reporter: users with newer phones and government text notifications turned on should have gotten the alert similar to an amber alert. but that didn't happen every time. we put out six phones on three different carriers one didn't receive the text and by

. >> sonoma county is working on a more effective emergency alert system. abc7 news reporter kate larson went inside sonoma's emergency operation center where crews tested that system for the first time. >> reporter: sonoma county emergency management that started 300,000 calls that started like this -- >> there will be a test of the emergency alert systems on september 12th. >> we're testing our warning system. >> reporter: christopher godly is the sonoma county emergency service. monday's soco alert called all land lines and subscribers to the free service. >> not just in case of wildfires but any natural hazard or threat to the public. it might be a hazardous material spill on highway 101 or a flood or a tsunami threat along the pacific coast. >> we want to talk to those who are directly impacted. >> reporter: zachary hamel says it's not meant to call hundreds of thousands at once but to target specific areas in danger, like, for example, if there was a hazmat spill on highways 101 and 1, hamel could send an alert to the 400,000 homes in the area. >> got

the connection it has to the wildfire efforts in sonoma. . >>> sonoma museum of art have a new exhibitt pay tribute to the strength of people of the county as they prepare to mark one year since the wildfires and it opens this week. >>> firefighters in sonoma and napa counties are getting new high definition cameras to monitor wildfires. the cameras that are being for by pg&e will allow the firefighters to get fires faster and give them information in realtime about where it may be headed. and the hope is to get to them once it before it gets to ten acres or month. >> once it gets to ten acres, we're behind. >> you can log in to see how close it is to your property. the cameras are expected to be installed by the end of this year. >>> election day is less than six weeks away. and mayor shaft is running against a long list of challengers in november. the top three faced off with the mayor last night for a debate. and we look how the debate reflects a city in trance lit. >> oakland ranked as the most violent city america and not a single construction crane. >> reporter: libby shaft descr

sonoma expecting a high of 80 degrees today. as we look at sonoma for the weekend it kill gwill get much and warm on sunday. a lot of sunshine throughout the weekend. we are starting to make weekend plans. it will be hot for a couple of days and gets a little bit better. we have the one last blast of summer maybe as we get ready to cool off by the middle of next week. we are looking at upper 70s for wednesday. in san francisco still cloudy, foggy and look at saturday. still mostly sunny skies and we will continue to nice weather over the next several days. once again as we head towards the middle of next week we are looking at temperatures that start to cool off as the fog returns, not going to see the fog staying away for very long. we are looking good, staying dry and then going to see the temperatures go up and then come back down for early next week. i will have another look at the forecast at the end of the show coming up a little bit later. >> that means you have to stick around. >>> just when you thought the bay area's ho

tonight, sonoma county is making sure that doesn't happen again. we were in the emergency operations center. where a revamped alert system was tested for the first time. kate? >> reporter: well, dan, you know, it's very hard to say how a more effective emergency alert system would have affected the outcomes for those in the fires. like the families who lived here in coffee park, that burned suddenly with very little warning to the ground. but, there are major efforts under way right now to improve emergency alert systems, so that when the next disaster strikes, people have more warning. sonoma county emergency management made 300,000 phone calls monday night that started like this. >> there will be a test of the wireless manage system, and alert systems on september 12th. >> we are testing the warning system so we can get word out early if there's a threat to people. >> reporter: this is hads the emergency services -- this is the emergency services manager. they have been pressed to upgrade the alert systems. >> it's not a case of wildfires, any na

that's in sonoma, the festival takes place every year at sonoma plaza in the last begin of september.vent will take on a slightly different tone as people remember last october's wildfires. at 10 am, the firefighters and first responders who helped during the fires will be honored during the festival lesson of the grapes. >> it shows that we can move from one event to the next and even though things happen along the way, we are still going to pull up your bootstraps and get moving forward.>> the festival is free, except for the great stopping and some of the wine tasting. all the proceeds go to local nonprofits in the north bay. >>> as i mentioned it's national coffee day and the town is the place to be in oakland for the best coffee experience. there are now over 2300 coffee shops and 17 roasters in oakland alone. in a recent poll ranked in the third most populous city in the united states for coffee fanatics right after portland and seattle. visit oakland has opened his coffee rush campaign to get people to check out all the cool coffee shops. we are on the roof right now. they will

. >>> the first test of a major overall to the emergency alert system in sonoma county. estate investigation criticize the county's decision not to use mass cell phone alerts during last october's wildfires. more on the changes that could saveives in future disasters. >> reporter: officials are calling more than 300,000 folds that they are testing the alert system. tom storm says that an emergency alert 11 months ago, when a massive wildfire was ravaging his neighborhood, would have been very helpful. >> you remember, the fire was moving fast. any time at all would have gotten us moving sooner. >> reporter: he now lives in an rv just a few yards from where his house burned to the ground. >> i would not have waited as long as i did and ended up with just the shirt and close that i had on at the time. >> reporter: last october night, as thousands of apartments burned, overwhelmed sonoma county officials decided to use a limited version of the alert system. they were worried that people -- too many people would have gotten the notification, even those that did not need to e

maybe sonoma county, northern napa county. the main impact is a big cool down. 50s on the temperatures for almost everybody even 54 and 55 from walnut, black creek, san ramon. pittsburgh and brentwood also at 57. a roaring delta wind. the gray will not be slow to burn off today. it may not at all. the key will be category four t light rain monday night or tuesday 60s and 70s on the temperatures now. here is sal. friday light? >> so far. i hope it stays this way. sometimes and the way the bay area traffic patterns are on fridays we have a little bit less volume right now we are seeing that. it is early so we don't really know if it will hold, but right now looks good heading through fairfield into vallejo and on 37 over to sonoma and marin county. marin county is one of those counties where on friday we are not going to have a lot of slow traffic unless something happens. if we can predict it i would probably be doing something else, but it's very unpredictable. this is a look at 80 westbound. looks very good. when you get to t

weather continues to sit overhead. 3:00 in the afternoon, it would be extreme northern portions of sonoma and napa county. any rainfall we do see would be less than a tenth of an inch. the chances there for sprinkles in the north bay. accuweather seven-day forecast. a sprinkle saturday. the best bet is tuesday with chance of showers. >>> overall, we are doing great, drew. the bay bridge toll plaza, no metering lights yet.

he's held in the sonoma county jail on $200,000 bond.he owner of that pink bicycle was located. they were able to return it to the young girl. deputies also got her a basket and a lock for her bike. barrellling toward hawaii. the od news is, it >>> we are tracking several storms, first tropical storm olivia barreling towards hawaii. the good news is the storm is weakening as it moves towards the islands. meanwhile category 4 hurricane florence is churning towards the east coast. more than 5.4 million people live in areas under hurricane warnings or watches. as mola lenghi reports, those facing the most serious threat are in the carolinas. >> reporter: north carolina residents heard it straight from the governor. they've never seen a storm like florence. >> it is an extremely dangerous, life threatening, historic hurricane. >> reporter: the national hurricane center says the size is staggering. it's already a category 4 hurricane but could intensify as it passes over warmer waters. mandatory evacuations began at noon. >> even if you've ri

into the north bay, 80s and 90s widespread. 88, sonoma. 86 in san rafael. 90, novato. into the east bay, 70s to 80s. 83, fremont. warm in oakland, 76 with sunshine. 78 in hayward. inland, it is hot. in the 90s. spare the air with poorest air quality inland. you will notice haze in our atmosphere. autumn heat today. little relief tomorrow. a huge drop in temperatures by friday and over the weekends. it's comfortable. then early next week, monday and tuesday, we have a chance of showers as that stormy pattern looks to return as fall arrives next week, guys. >>> drew, thank you. a big announcement from sales force c can eo on the opening day of the dreamforce conference. he announced sales force is donating $15.5 million to help support students and faculty in both the san francisco and oakland unified school districts in the upcoming year?

people gathered for the annual sonoma wine auction in windsor. the goal is to raise money for affole housing. the auction raised $5.7 million this year. that is 500,000 more than last year. as the rebuilding continues in sonoma county there, are so many stories to be told. our own jessica aguirre is hosting a special show "wine country wildfires" airing sunday october 7 at 9:00 p.m. rob mayeda joins us now. you are talking about more concerns. >> fire weather watch. coming out of the three driest months of the year. that is unfortunately county andd. right now what we are saying a change is not as many low clouds over san francisco. the fog is going to s going away and with it the air-condition. san francisco temperatures earlier, only anyboin the low 6. 62 in san jose after a high of 80. hazy skies returning to the bay area. moderate air levels for most of the bay area. this high pressure strengthens, there is a chance we may see a couple of spare the air days. patchy low clouds here on the coast. low winds will likely keep clear skies on the co

in sonoma county, firefighters were on active patrols.res, they're ready to evacuate. here's a look at where the red flag warning is. it's been windy with low humidity which makes it easier for fires to start and spread. the warning expires in about 30 minutes. >>> about 60 women who know christine blasey ford are rallying to support her. near her home, they chanted senate vote no. referencing brett kavanaugh's supreme court nomination. >>> more problems at dmv offices. a technical glitch led to massive delays. dealing with criticism over wait times. chris nguyen is live in fremont with that story. chris? >> reporter: the fremont dmv office is trying to get back to normal this afternoon. it took nearly four hours for the system to return caung rura of av offices toeah ma they didn't necessarily anticipate.ses are . people will wait hours and hours to get what they need. >> oakland resident louisa lynn came to get a handicapped placard but was told the system was town. >> still doing the things we were doing ten years ago and still working

warnings, fire crews are beefed up and put on standby. james williams is the fire marshal for the sonomacounty fire and emergency services department sotthere's a strike team and task force from various departments across the county. that way we can get a heavy response during the fire's early stages.since last year, fire officials have also worked on improving their fire detection capabilities. last month, the county approved nearly half a million dollars to build a camera network that will watch for problems.sotto have early detection and warning of fire that are starting. that way we can get word out to the public about that. to have early notification to get resources on the scene and hopefully supress the fire very quickly. the county has also worked to improve it's public outreach to ask for the public's help in preventing wildfires.sot in sonoma county, charles clifford kron 4 news. news.clifford kron 4 county, charles clifford kron 4 news. (catherine) (catherine) (catherine) in national news tonight -- embattled supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh is responding to alle

i am not afraid to do that. >> reporter: in sonoma county, jodi hernandez, nbc bay area news. >>> the ground was shaking in the south bay, and you might have felt it. a 2.5 magnitude earthquake struck in san jose near alum rock. it hit just after 6:00 this evening. no word yet on any damage or injuries. >>> and a scary commute to tell you about over the richmond bridge. take a look. this school bus caught fire with 11 students on board. this is new video of some of the students being escorted away by firefighters. the bus caught fire just after 2:00 this afternoon on westbound 580. this is on the san quentin side of the bridge. thankfully, no one was hurt. investigators blocked off the westbound lanes of the bridge which created a huge traffic jam. you can see the backup here. the lanes reopened at 4:00 p.m. >>> moving forward with the $4 billion makeover of a legendary south bay property. tonight the city of cupertino officially approved the transformation of the old mall. the city council gave the first okay late wednesday night after two long days of heavily attended public meeting

. >> at 6:25, the new alert system, way sonoma county is preparing in case another fire breaks out. you're watching today in the bay. many people living with diabetes monitor their blood glucose every day. which means they have to stop. and stick their fingers. repeatedly. today, life-changing technology from abbott makes it possible to track glucose levels. without drawing a drop of blood, again and again. the most personal technology, is technology with the power to change your life. life. to the fullest. it was time to update the bathroom but we wanted to work with a company we could trust. rebath gave us the bathroom we always wanted. call 925-233-6471 and save $1000 off your complete bathroom remodel >>> it's 6:13. maybe hard to get up, but we're almost to the weekend. let's get through the morning commute in morgan hill. temperatures start out cool with mid 50s and a few clouds. then later on today, it's going to be really nice. upper 70s by early afternoon. we'll get a look at all of our microclimates and a hotter weekend ahead. that's coming up in less than five minutes. >>>

the grand prix of sonoma saturday and sunday at sonoma raceway. sunshine there at 74 degrees. pleasant weather everywhere throughout the they area. we are not hot despite dissension. we will keep the ocean breeze. all of that wrapped up in this area of low pressure is to the north. it keeps the flow from the oceangoing. we get the afternoon sunshine but we do not get the heat. it is a very nice trade-off especially compared to what is going on in other parts of the country. clear and somewhat breezy overnight tonight. we will see some 40s. fremont at 55 in san jose 54. we stay cool into the weekend including your friday. the final day of the work week and school week features highs in the 70s. nice and comfortable. napa 74. mountain view 71. san francisco 75. we warm up a little bit next week but we will stay on the cool side of average for the each of the seven days. 70s near the bay and slightly warmer for the beginning and middle of next week. that is were forecast. >> paul, thank you. for -- still ahead, going to jail for illegally dumping human waste through a secret hole

sonoma county's permit office says it shut down more than 600 un-permited grow sites since january. of what enforcement agents are finding. here you can see one of the pot farms that had been caught operating without a permit. sonoma county officials says there had been estimates of 6- thousand grow sites in the county when they first started working towards issuing permits two years ago.....so the 600 plus that have been shut down since january represents only about 10 percent of what could be out there. we have a lot more to go tennis wick is the director of the county's permit office. he says most the operations they've shut down we not even attempting to get right with the law. others tried and failed. their agency is complaint driven....directed in by neighbors who can smell the crops. wick says some of these operations aren't just skirting red tape...they are tampering with the environment. i was at a site yesterday in a watershed that hosts the coho salmon and water was being siphoned directly out of the stream in order to support the groutbut a grower on the sonoma county ca

saturday, a chance of a sprinkle mainly northern sonoma and napa county.o have fulsom street fair. prepare for it to be cooler. a lot of cloud cover in the morning. in the afternoon, peeks of sunshine. topping ought the 64 degrees. >>> drew, thank you. a former apple engineer filed a lawsuit against the cupertino tech giant for being wrongfully dismissed. he wants to be acknowledged for the find my iphone function. the mercury news reports darren eastman claimed apple turned against customers after steve jobs passed away in 2011. he said employees were expected to notify jobs of any unresolved problems with company products. eastman claims under tim cook attempts to do the right thing are met with swift retaliation. apple declined to comment on the claims made in the lawsuit. >>> passengers flying out of l.a.x. may want to think twice about carrying marijuana onto the plane. >> this gets a little confusing. a written policy posted in january say small amounts can be carried through l.a.x. police warn pot possession remains a federal crime and tsa may catch

as conditions remain very dry in sonoma county in particular. officials are warning the public to stay vigilant .... and aware of wildfire danger. kron 4's charles clifford has details. well, the latest red flag warning from the national weather service actually expired at 5 on tuesday afternoon but september and october remain the most dangerous month of the year for wildfires. that grass is bone dry, the trees are dry and the ground is dry. wildfires are still a very real danger.red flag warnings are nothing new in sonoma county, but after last year's devastating wildfires, fire officials made some changes. now during red flag warnis, fire crews are beefed up and put on standby. james williams is the fire marshal for the sonoma county fire and emergency services department sotthere's a strike team and task force from various departments across the county. that way we can get a heavy response during the fire's early stages.since last year, fire officials have also worked on improving their fire detection capabilities. last month, the c

. >>> they will unveil a new exhibit this morning tied to ongoing wildfire recovery efforts in sonoma and napa county. the sculpture designed -- the sculpture is designed to pay tribute to those in sonoma county as they prepare to mark one year since the deadly wildfires. it is part of special exhibit and they have created it to other firefighters. >>> firefighters in marin, sonoma and napa are getting new high-definition cameras to monitor wildfires. the hope is that the cameras which are being paid for by pg&e will allow firefighters to get to fires faster and give them valuable information in real time about where the fire may be headed. the camera can also help firefighters get to a fire before it grows. >>> was at his that 10 acre threshold, that growth can become so exponential that we are behind -- the fires out pacing -- the fire is out pacing our abilities. >>> they will people to log in and see how close a particular fire might be to the property. the new cameras are expected to be installed by the end of this year. >>> the annual dream force conference is continuing in san

>> reporter: it's the early morning hours o october 9th, 2017. >> sonoma county is on fire.>eporter: the city of santa rosa is in the grips of a battle against mother nature. >> it's about five blocks away. >> are you [ bleep ] serious? >> yeah. >> honest? >> yeah, we've been up at fountain grove, it jumped the freeway. >> reporter: a team of first responders including these officers from the santa rosa police department are carryg out mandatory evacuations in the midst of a raging wildfire incinerating everything in its path. >> you'd drive up to a house that's just completely on fire. what goes through your mind? you hopehat they got out. >> reporr: when they find those who haven't, it bes their job to get them out any way possible. >> it's life and death right now, okay? >> i got elderlies inside. >> this one? >> reporter: officers gonzales, campos, and adams of confronting with terrifyin situation when they come upon a senior care home where several elderly women, some in wheelchairs, are stranded. the fire is right ther >> we ran into the house. i took one lady in the w

sonoma county officials says there had been estimates of 6- thousand grow sites in the county when theyrking towards issuing permits two years ago.....so the 600 plus that have been shut down since january represents only about 10 percent of what could be out there. we have a lot more to go tennis wick is the director of the county's permit office. he says most the operations they've shut down we not even attempting to get right with the law. others tried and failed. their agency is complaint driven....directed in by neighbors who can smell the crops. wick says some of these operations aren't just skirting red tape...they are tampering with the environment. i was at a site yesterday in a watershed that hosts the coho salmon and water was being siphoned directly out of the stream in order to support the groutbut a grower on the sonoma county cannabis advisory council says this is a sad situation....saying that the county has made it impossible for some established mom and pop growers to get on the path to legitimacy....because it was decided their land isn't located in the proper zoned a

. >>> just minutes ago 280,000 people took part in a test of sonoma county's new alert system. they should have received a phone call. kpix5's emily turner on how the new emergency alert grew out of last year's deadly wildfires. >> reporter: if you have a landline, you should have gotten that phone call. you signed up with your cell phone number, you should have. there is still time to sign up. this is something that's been worked on since almost a year ago. now they're testing it tonight. >> it's absolutely necessary. maybe we could have got a few things out of our house if we had one and maybe therpe veouldv been d.r: chael williams lost his home and several neighbors to tubbs fire almost a year ago and an emergency alert he says could have made a difference. >> there wasn't one. i mean a phone call or anything and for that matter, the cops didn't even come into the neighborhood and say over their p.a. to evacuate. >> reporter: it is one of fire survivors' biggest complaints, the lack of communication in the face of a firestorm. so sonoma county has since updated its emergenc

>>let's check in on a sonoma county firestorm survivor.l living in a rental duplex, but not for long, and without complaints. >> it's all candy bars and ice cream, man. >> joe is the most optimistic and grateful person we've met. he is 77 years old, a widower. >> this here is a picture of my wife and me. >> carol passed at age 70 after 52 years together. her memory and how she dealt with cancer is one reason that tom has never felt sorry for himself. >> you know, you think about some of the stuff in your life like this, this is a first world problem, man. my house burned down. i'm getting it fixed. oh, yeah, baby. >> let's rephrase that. has gotten fixed. from ashes to move-in ready, in 11 months, the first. >> i just love it. i absolutely love it. >> when the tubbs fire burned through fountaingrove, it didn't spare. for months we marvelled at the pace of reconstruction here. it's the work of one contractor, sonoma county builders. they built this neighborhood initially. they've gone back to the original plans in doing so again there may b

emergency leaders say they )ve made major changes to address the backlash after last oc >>> in sonomaounty, emergency leaders said they made major changes to address the backlash after the deadly fires last november. some criticize the decision not to send out a wireless emergency alert to warn more people to evacuate. >> senior investigative reporter vicki nguyen follows up with the new people in charge to ask about regrets, lessons learned and the future. >> reporter: emergency planners for sonoma county said they spent a year making improvements to the procedures and warn some problems still remain that could prevent them from reaching you during the next disaster. how do you weigh the decision of warning too many people and not warning enough people? >> well, given our experiences here in sonoma county, our community has very clearly indicated at this point they're okay with being over warned. >> reporter: chris godly took over for sonoma county and spoke with him at the command post last october where county officials decided against sending a wireless emergency alert to resident

as conditions remain very dry in sonoma county in particular. officials are warning the public to stay vigilant .... and aware of wildfire danger. kron 4's charles clifford has details. well, the latest red flag warning from the national weather service actually expired at 5 on tuesday afternoon but september and october remain the most dangerous month of the year for wildfires. that grass is bone dry, the trees are dry and the ground is dry. wildfires are still a very real danger.red flag warnings are nothing new in sonoma county, but after last year's devastating wildfires, fire officials made some changes. now during red flag warnings, fire crews are beefed up and put on standby. james williams is the fire marshal for the sonoma county fire and emergency services department sotthere's a strike team and task force from various departments across the county. that way we can get a heavy response during the fire's early stages.since last year, fire officials have also worked on improving their fire detection capabilities. last month, the

. >>> phone calls will start going out as part of testing all week of sonoma county's updated emergency alert systems. they were updated after criticism over the lack of response during last october's deadly wildfires that killed 25 residents in sonoma county. at the time emergency managers said they didn't want to trigger the county warning systems because it would have caused mass chaos. it was a decision many said was the wrong one. >> i think that a lot of lives could have been saved if they were given the information. >> it is inexcusable that what we felt was appropriate for the situation was absolutely not appropriate and horribly insufficient. >> the updated alert systems are geographically specific so alerts can be triggered on a city by city basis instead of across the entire county. >>> let's get a check on weather now. >> thanks. we are looking at the air quality in the moderate category in the north bay. that's because of the snell fire. the smoke is really coming in causing moderate air quality for the north bay closer to the snell fire. good conditions for the rest of us

sonoma state university down to 41. woodside down to 41. and 50s and a couple of low 60s. rio vista and there andy tracy is close. the castro valley and 50 -- san jose 52. the city made it to 52. 3 degrees below average. 3 degrees off of the record low. go ahead and drop that off. west southwest brees myself brees and onshore is there. the officer will kick in later. it has a for some to the north. and is not going to be a whirring offshore event but we will get a northerly breeze chewing up fog on the coast. manely south of san francisco, still holding on from 70s yesterday to the 80s today. it will bounce up below average to near average. two or 3 degrees. the fog is there. mainly san mateo and santa cruz down to monterey. the city is getting son. 60 is the forecast high. the average is 70. is hard-pressed to get a 70. the last few days 62, and 66 and 64. manely tomorrow. the fog gives way to sometime. the west coast will see high- pressure building and, which has been missing, but coming back for a few days. 67 by the day -- because rick

sonoma continues to experiment at rewriting the book. two women, same place same time, same event, tanishia henson got it. >> i did. >> reporter: what did you do? >> i took the survey. >> reporter: marcy rossen did not. >>> is your phone on silent? >> it is, but it usually vibrates. >> reporter: turns out plenty og thty heard considerable criticism from residents who said they never knew about the danger too late. that will never happen again according to supervisor james gore. >> if you're going to focus on crisis communications, the first rule of crisis communications, communicate. you can't overalert people if you do it the right way. >> reporter: it focused on broadcast alert and wireless messages to mobile phones in both spanish and english. linda davidson did not receive an alert directly, but -- >> you know, at work a bunch of phones were going off and they were alerts. but i'm not sure what it was. >> reporter: most of the people we spoke with today said the messages did get through even if indirectly. >>> did it work for you? >>

let's check in on a sonoma county fire storm survivor.but not for long. >> it's all candy bars and ice cream, man. >> reporter: he's the most optimistic and grateful person we've met. he's 77 years old, a widower. >> this here is a picture of my wife and me. >> reporter: she passed at age 70 after 52 years together. she's tom's and ins precipitation. >> what would she say about the situation you were in with this fire? >> acceptance. she was very philosophical, even with the cancer. >> reporter: when the tubbs fire burned through fountaingrove -- for months we have marvelled at the rapid pace of reconstruction here. >> oh, yeah, baby. >> reporter: this house is almost identical to the won tom shared with carol, the first ready to move in. >> i just love it. i absolutely love it. >> reporter: 11 months later sonoma county builders will finish three holmes within the next two weeks and three more next. p u this subdivision originally and kept the plans, which may be a lesson for victims of future fires. >> get in and get the decisions made

anna werner, sonoma, california. >> ninan: when we return, an update on a little girl who warmed therts of millions as she waited for a new one of her own, and how raper drake became part of her journey. >> oh, my god! >> ninan: we end tonight with an update on an illinois girl whose two birthday wishes were granted. sophia sancehz met the rapper drake, and this week she received a life-saving heart transplant. here don dahler. >> reporter: girls shouldn't face heart failure. they shouldn't wait on a transplant list. 11-year-old girls should be dancing. ♪ ♪ so when the rapper drake saw sophia sancehz joyfully throwing herself into his song despite being critically ill and desperately in need of heart, he went to meet her. >> oh, my god! >> reporter: that gift was closely followed by another. >> you're getting a heart. congratulations. >> i'm getting a heart, mom! >> reporter: the moment went viral, warming the hearts of millions. but for the teachers and the students at kingsley elementary school who know fifth grader, the courage and infectious optimism she showed was no surprise. >

sonoma county is test go how the better warn people in the event of another firestorm. tonight the city put one of its alert systems to the test. >> reporter: people in santa rosa called the operations center after getting a test call. calling irst time all land lines and the cell phones people registered for alerts, about 290,000 calls. so this is a test that will see, what is the maximum capability to the system in we have to design them to fit. >> reporter: it is part of the program for emergency notifications. during the wildfires, authorities said they sent the alerts but fires damaged the infrastructure making it impossible in many cases. not many have signed up for the alert. this gives manners a look at how the system performs. >> it took 21 minutes to get the alert. >> so i think it is really important that they get word out. so if it works, kudos. and i think testing it right now is the way to do it. >> planners say it took nearly three hours to complete the call. 51% of the calls connected to a person or voicemail. 41% were called more than once and never con

this is in response to criticism of how sonoma county handled evacuation orders during the fire laster. >>> right now, a mass evacuation as hurricane florence threatens to bring flooding to the east coast. more than 5 million people are under hurricane watches and warnings. here is a live look at carolina beach. winds and waves are picking up. the governor of south carolina has ordered people living along the coastline to clear out and traffic was bumper-to-bumper as they took to the highway. >> even if you have written out storms before, this one is different. don't let your life i'm writing out a monster. >> at the white house, fema officials briefed the president on the hurricane and he has declared enteral state of emergency for the region. in some areas supplies are already running low. note food store shelves and many gas stations have run out of gas. our mary lee is tracking the storm right now. >>>we have been talking about how powerful the storm is and the dangerous impact. the weather service in wilmington, north carolina, is calling florence the storm of a lifetime for the

pittsburgh is 75, sonoma 72 and 74 degrees. everybody well below average.the 60s near the bay and despite lots of afternoon sunshine getting back to the low 70s near the bay and the low 80s inland. that's your forecast. >>> getting a job is often all about who you know and that can be tough. of this week's jefferson award winner is giving hope to jobseekers. this is customizable streaming tv for your family. ...whatever size. it's saving money with flexible channel packs. live tv and the latest shows to stream. and all your streaming apps in one place - even netflix. this is how xfinity makes life. simple. easy. awesome. get started with xfinity internet and tv for just $34.99 a month for 12 months and customize by adding flexible channel packs. click, call or visit a store today. this week's jefferson award winner has helped countless people find jobs in silicon valley thr >>> looking for a job can be pretty frustrating. >> this week's jefferson award winner has found countless people find jobs through a free networking service.>> after being laid off year

colin resch has the story from sonoma. >> no, i don't think they not any one's caricature quite right. >> reporter: from stenciled facial depictions to cracking crabs, it was a full but bittersweet wednesday for the three main competitors at snonoa raceway. >> i've been on many school trips, but sonoma's been such a great season finale for us for so many years. we'll try to put on a great show one last time. >> reporter: after a 14 year run in wine country, indy car will head south to blitz but the raceway itself. since indy car returned in fift championship on sunday. >> i think it's a very important part of the world of racing. we know the sponsors love t the wives and girlfriends love it for taking in a little wine. that always helps. >> reporter: sonoma raceway general manager steve page says the series could return in the future, but for now it's not financially viable. >> we are a business. we are not able to come to terms with any way that it was sustainable for us economically. so we'll celebrate this weekend and have great indy car memories going forward. >> reporter: i'm tol

this may well be the worst fire situation in sonoma county history. >> when we knew that there was noign of it slowing down was when we were on the air with paul lowenthal. we heard him say, "oh my god, it jumped the freeway." and we knew that many more lives were in danger at that point. >> this is a [ bleep ] war zone, dude. >> reporter: when we come back, a neighborhood surrounded. >> five elderly subjects trapped inside of kioki court. >> reporter: officers race into the flames before it's too late. >> fire! we need to go! >> reporter: stay with us. waze integration- seamlessly connecting the world inside... with the world outside... making life a little... easier. introducing the well-connected lincoln mkc. in the beginning. fresh but that plug...quickly faded. luckily, there's new febreze plug. it cleans away odors and freshens for 1200 hours. [sniffs] ahhhh! breathe happy with new febreze plug. but their nutritional needs remain instinctual. that's why there's purina one true instinct. real meat #1. a different breed of natural nutrition. purina one true instinct. now, try new

best chance is up towards sonoma county. mainly a north bay event. but we could have drizzle elsewhere. here's forecast model showing you this. cloud tomorrow morning. stubborn once again. and partly cloudy skies well inland. and the clouds thicken up once again. this is saturday morning. and notice the bulk of the rainfall this weekend is up to the north. but we can't rule out chance of a sprinkle up in the north bay. especially for -- especially for sonoma and northward. clouds to deal with for sunday. so a lot of cloud cover. and much cooler temperatures. cool down will begin for tomorrow. no more 90s. just a few low 80s on the maps. and we think 60s and 70s. here's five-day forecast. tracking the chance of a few sprinkle for saturday. lots of clouds on sunday and monday. and maybe keep the umbrella nearby. feels strange to -- strange to talk about that but maybe by tuesday a. chance of showers. >> it seems unusual to chatting about that. thank you, mark. >>> we want to head back down to los right now. >> yes. and pablo with kttv in los angeles jo