situationally, we are battling these wildfires and making progress. but the sustainable mindset we have is to address the smashmouth realities and to lead the conversation anew in this country to radically change the way we produce and consume energy and continue to lead our nation leading efforts as relates to low carbon green growth. california's leadership is demonstrable. california's leadership has been challenged in the last four years, but those headwinds now are failwinds with the biden administration, we're not sparring partners, we're working partners as relates to issues such as climate change and dealing with the challenges of wildfires. and so, mr. president, i'm just honored that you're here. we are all blessed, 40 million californians strong that you took the time to be here, but as i began let me end by saying this is not your first foray into this issue. we held two summits with west coast governors, proactively held with the president's assistance. not only did he show up to make remarks, he stayed until the end of both conversations

bigad: so why did this wildfire spread so quickly? the answer may have to do with what happened here years before the creek fire ever ignited. dr. chad hanson: the more trees you remove from the forest, the hotter and faster fires tend to burn. bigad: dr. chad hanson is a forest and fire ecologist who's been studying wildfires for more than two decades. dr. hanson: well, the fire started downslope of us. bigad: he took our investigative unit on a tour of the creek fire and gave us a first look at his new research that essentially blames the u.s. forest service for creating hazardous conditions that allowed the creek fire and other fires across california to burn faster and spread farther. bigad: if what you're saying is true, the federal government could actually be putting people's lives in danger. dr. hanson: yeah, they're making things worse. bigad: at issue is what's known as post-fire logging. that's when burned trees are removed after a wildfire in hopes of reducing fuel during future fires. it's a standard practice for the u.s.

california is currently dealing with 15 large active wildfires. so far today 2.25 million acres have burned. remarkably, that is doubled the five-year average, but it's substantially less than we experienced this time last year were over 3 million acres have burned. we are dealing with conditions, consequences of climate change for the likes of which were predicted but a decade or two from today. those challenges are not only vexing but they create opportunities and i know the president will be speaking a lot about those opportunities in the next days and upcoming weeks as he refers to the work he's doing to advance this historic infrastructure package but i want to make a point, mr. president with your indulgence that despite the president of the united states being here i would stipulate the most powerful force on the planet is not even the president of the united states, its mother nature. as others have said chemistry, biology and physics. she bats last into bats a thousand. we are dealing with extremes like we've never dealt with in our state

this year as you pointed out 44 wildfires, 5.4 million acres burned. that's larger than the entire state of new jersey. they can't understand how big the west is. the more acreage is burned in the entire state of new jersey. california 2.2 million acres this year already and god knows how many lives were lost. what people are beginning to realize is to risk your lives to do it. i've had a lot of international meetings with our colleagues around the world. just go around the world. so folks, look, we are in a situation where too many memorials had been held. to provide for pay bonuses and incentives for every firefighter. they should make a heck of a lot more. at least $15 an hour. and i'm committing to work with congress to raise the pay gap for the firefighters. it was a shortage of fire hoses. no fire hoses. they thought a long time ago about the thing called the national defense in the defense production act i was able to and bringing a lot of people back to work to live in a 21,922 feet of fire hose in the front lines putting the company back to wo

people can't afford to live in areas that aren't wildfire prone. on top of each other, living in communities that are constantly threatened by wildfire. there really is no silver bullet here, other than, obviously, the plans that have gone into place, the bill that's been introduced in california to have more mitigation on some of these fires but also fair housing is a huge part of this big piece of this puzzle alongside just community activists working together, but real citizens who aren't affected by these crises have to start writing their senators and congressmen, letting people know this is a real problem, jessica. >> thank you so much for shedding light on this, thank you very much, steve, appreciate it. >> you got it, thanks. >>> to find out more, go to nbc news.com/nightly-news. and find the story under the more videos tab. >>> the other top story. several hundred young people took the streets of san francisco to draw attention to the threat of climate change. we're on this issue here. the event part of a global day of action which saw sim

i'm tracking southerly winds pushing some wildfire smoke in to the region from wildfires burning in theler temperatures with on shore flow kicking in for just a day. then off shore winds redevelop as we look to thursday and for friday. that could mean high fire danger by the end of the workweek. we have that strong ridge of high pressure right over us. that's the reason why we will heat it up through the day today. not justin land but all across the bay area. we will see that sunshine and the temperatures on the rise. upper 70's to low 80's for the coast. around the bay mid to upper 80's and inland mid to upper 90's this afternoon. unhealthy air for sensitive groups. moderate air quality for the rest of the region. as we look to the future cast n bringing more haze into the region and it does look eye bit better with that ocean breeze for our wednesday with the cooler temperatures it. will be a very dry day. we are down to the teens for brentwood and for livermore. with that light off shore wind flow it's why we will heat up as well. sunrise at 6:56 and the sunset at 7:07 p.m. let's che

and here are areas that were logged after previous wildfires. hanson said that overlap shows areas that were logged are three times as likely to burn faster and hotter versus areas left alone. >> big downed logs like this not only do they soak up and retain large soil like giant sponges they interrupt the floor from the ground up, fires have to hit this and climb over it and it can slow the flame. >> that's entirely bogus. there's nothing in scientific literature to support that. >> dr. brandon collins is a forest research scientist who works with the forest service and only spoke as a capacity of professor at uc berkeley and calls the hanson study flawed and maintained leaving burned logs in the forest will not slow future fires. >> it's actually quite the opposite. the creek fire was actually a great example of that. we believe what fueled that growth was the dead trees killed in the drought prior four or five years. >> people will scratch their head thinking how are highly-educated scientists looking at the same fire drawing totally different

pushing for better wildfire prevention. the group held an informal wildfire form in front of the state capital today, this after an official oversight hearing was abruptly canceled by democrats. the hearing was supposed to examine the administration's track record on wildfire prevention. during today's forum, status of lj member james gallagher called on the state to conduct more forest management. >> despite the heat and recent additional funding, we are not getting anywhere close to where we need to be. we recently entered into an agreement with the federal government to treat 1 million acres per year. they haven't held up on their end of the bargain, but neither has the state. >> during a news conference today, governor newsom addressed wildfires saying extreme dry conditions are what's fueling the flames. he thanked the president for federal emergency funding to help those impacted by the unprecedented year. so far this year across california, cal fire says it's responded to nearly 7000 wildfires. more than 1.8 million

and here are areas that were logged after previous wildfires. hanson says that overlap shows areas that were logged are three times as likely to burn faster and hotter versus areas left alone. >> logs like this, not only do they soak up and retain large amounts of moisture, but they interrupt the flow of the fire across the forest floor. fires come from the ground up. fires have to hit this and climb over it, and it actually can slow the flames. >> that is bogus. there is nothing in the scientific literature to support that. >> reporter: dr. collins is a forest research scientist. he works with the forest service, but only spoke to us in his capacity as a professor at uc berkeley. he calls hanson's study flawed and maintains leaving burned logs in the forest will not slow down future fires. >> it's actually quite the opposite. the creek fire actually was a great example of that and we believe that most of what fueled that growth was the dead trees that were killed during the drought that preceded that fire by four or five years. >> reporter: peo

more smog and wildfire smoke. i will show you this 234 just a moment.as we look to tomorrow it'll get cooler. that won't last long. off shore winds kick in again as we look to the end of the workweek. that means temperatures on the rise. you can see could have another high fire danger once again by the end of our workweek. let's get to the micro climates. we will warm up. inland and for the coast. we are looking at highs in the upper 7o's to low 80's this afternoon along the coast. around the bay upper 80's to low 9o's this afternoon around the bay. inland in the mid to upper 90's this afternoon. all of us will see that sunshine as we have that spare alert looking at moderate air quality for the north bay, the coast, around the bay anthe peninsula. unhealthy air for sensitive groups for the east bay and for the santa clara valley this afternoon. future cast smoke and you can see that haze pushing in. we are looking at southerly winds coming in with some wildfire smoke. does get a little bet we are that on shore flow for tomorrow. that will be short live

efforts, while crews are getting a handle on the biggest fires here in our state, another wildfire is causing evacuations. today those evacuations are happening up in mendocino county for the hopkins fire. this one started yesterday afternoon in the town of kelp. fella that's about six miles north of you, kaaya. cal fire says the forward progress has been stopped here. residents say about 20 homes have been either damaged or destroyed by the fire. cal fire says the hopkins fire is 20% contained right now, and it's burned 257 acres of the calendar or fire, which has been burning now for a month, and eldorado, amador and alpine counties is this afternoon 67% contained it is burned almost 343 square miles and destroyed at least 650 homes and the small community of grizzly. lattes. it also destroyed that talents, fire station post office school as well as a church president. biden is scheduled to speak shortly from sacramento about the federal response to the wildfires. but we want we and we will bring you that live whenever that event begins. but first we want to go to our political repo

if we were to turn it over to just wildfire and say let wildfire do what it will, we're going to lose your forests in a matter of decades. >> last o word to you, dr. hanson. >> a couple key things. you know, first of all, the forest services in the commercial logging business -- it definitely is financially incentivized to promote logging. what we're seeing in the dixie fire and the caldor fire is that the fires are spreading rapidly through large areas that were logged, where commercial thinning or post-fire logging happened. this is not stopping the fires. they're burning faster through these areas. we need to focus on protecting homes and communities. that's where our resources need to go. and the climate scientists across the country are saying we need to keep the carbon in our forests just like we need to keep it in the ground. this is a matter of climate science and climate change mitigation. >> what are you looking for? >> what we're hoping for now is to get clarity moving forward. again, you have highly educated scientists on both sides of this, and so sort of pushing this for

wildfire, when we start looking at wildfire it is a major challenge now. many wildfires are started by human activity. there is an estimate of 85% to 90% are started by people, pg&e or someone whose camp fire gets out of control. trying to prevent those in the first place by understanding which systems are malfunctioning that would cause those to start. host: texas, you were affected -- we lost emma in texas and we will go to bob in baldwin ville, massachusetts. caller: i would like to know if this bill is over $20 billion in 2020 -- you know, katrina cost whatever it cost when it happened. is inflation in there? can we actually say that we are being more damaged? it seems like everyone is making more storms than the storms really are. we have forest fires because they are not taking care of the land. the co2 levels in the ice age were higher than today and during the dinosaur time they were 10 times higher. they are lower than any time in history and climate change comes from 1950. i want to know what the prices are and how it changes. host: how do you fa

wildfire smoke pushing in to the bay area. sensitive groups for the east bay, moderate for the rest of the area. it's because of that strong hinger ridge of high pressure. it is acting like a lid trapping the pollution at the surface and with those southerly winds bring that wildfire smoke from the fires burning in the national forest. looking at the highs, we are going to heat up. hot day today. in fact hottest day of the week. 94 with that sunshine in san jose. 97 concord, 90 for, napa valley. mid to upper 80's to the low 90's. low 9o's for the peninsula and along the coast upper 70's to low 8o's. let's check in with gianna. >> especially out of the south bay. there is a couple of crashes. northbound 1o 1. you have lanes blocked. this is due to injury crash involving a motorcycle. at least two center lanes shut down until further notice. also still tracking a few brake lights. looks like things clearing this is northbound 880. at least the left lanes were shut down for a four car crash with injuries. definitely improving jus

don't forget that you can get the latest on the major california wildfires with the abc 7 wildfire tracker. you can download at abc7news.com. keep in mind, you can access with the qr code on your screen. you can use your cell phone camera to scan the code. it will pull up the wildfire tracker and track the air quality for your neighborhood. let's get to abc 7 news with a closer look at the conditions in lake tahoe. >> let me show you the current conditions near the caldor fire, conditions are favorable. 75 degrees at this hour. still dry, 17%. the winds were out of the west and southwest. we are not expecting southwinds. they will shift direction out of the southeast at around four miles per hour. tomorrow afternoon, once again from the west, at this hour, you will notice the life picture from tahoe showing you how smoky it is. the air quality has declined. it is unhealthy and expected to remain very smoky until tomorrow. that is when things will start to improve briefly only to get worse again as we go into friday evening. our skies have turned hazy. i will be back with the smoke and air

think of it as the layer in the atmosphere and there's the wildfire smoke.n we've got the warm air mass, that traps all of that smoke and also the pollution, so when we talk about ozone, emissions from your car, but also the sun heats up the ground, and that change in temperature is what's going to bring all of those pollutants right to the surface level which is what we are breathing. temperatures are going to be in the 80s and 90s, triple digits at times. unfortunately no relief in sight. going to remain dry. quick reminder, look at the drought monitor. every week this gets updated. haven't seen an improvement. towards the later portion of the week we get a system that cools us off and maybe showers to the east. let's get a quick check of how your traffic is doing. south bay drive times still a smooth commute from there 19 minutes, from highway 101 about 7 minutes. and a bart is running on different service schedules. bart on the sunday service schedule in through caltrain on a weekend schedule and the ferry under a holiday service. if you want specifics o

those particular showers as it's falling on active wildfires which will bring down the wildfires smoke coming down from the bay area. we may see some of that showers around the dixie fire. back to you. >> to nice to see, i am not sure if we can say returning to normal but it's heading that way. >> getting closer to fall. >> love it. >> thank you very much for joining us, have a great night and great week. and there you have it- woah. wireless on the most reliable network nationwide. wow. -big deal! ...we get unlimited for just 30 bucks. sweet, i get that too and mine has 5g included. that's cool, but ours save us serious clam-aroonies. relax people, my wireless is crushing it. that's because you all have xfinity mobile with your internet. it's wireless so good, it keeps one upping itself. (upbeat music) - [graham] this week, we're in las vegas with ice cube. (all cheer) the entertainment icon reflects on the challenges of creating his 3-on-3 basketball league. - we didn't expect this to be a cake walk, or everybody would do it. - [graham] a teenage incident, that nearly led him down th

seat wildfire season but to help respond to other emergencies as well. we're also following breaking news right now from palo alto, where a twin engine plane crashed this afternoon after hitting power lines, but it appears that no one was seriously hurt from sky fox. you can see the plane upright after apparently skipping through a marsh. it happened at 1 50 this afternoon just northeast of the palo alto airport. the f a says the pilot was the only person on board. the palo alto fire department tells the mercury news. the man did not suffer serious injuries. he was taken to the hospital to be checked out. the faa says it will investigate along with the ntsb getting back now to the build up to tomorrow's election to recall governor gavin newsom long beach will be the site of governor newsom. spinal rally president biden will join him on the campus of long beach city college to encourage people to get out and vote. a recent poll by uc berkeley's institute of governmental studies. shows 60% of likely voters oppose a recall the republican front runner in the

>>> we vest wildfires. >>> right now, what's fueling so many fast-moving wildfires across california? our investigation catches the attention of congress. >>> also a high profile problem in san francisco. the brazen retail thefts. the new plan to crack down on these shop lifting gangs. >> and we have to have mandatory vaccines in order to make sure that the schools are safe. >> vax before class. three districts looking at mandatory vaccinations and parents are sounding off. >>> a long night in oakland which is still going on. thousands of families waiting for a potential decision on mandatory vaccines. >> the oakland unified school board is looking at whether or not to require every student to be vaccinated if they want to be on campus. the late night details now. >> reporter: the oakland school board's proposal was eagerly awaited and debated. the most unique perspectives come from the student members of the school board. some teens they talked on voiced support. others worry it may be too strict. >> particularly considering that they have the ultimate decision making power in decidi

the impact on the bay area. >>> and protecting those impacted by wildfires. what insurance companies will be proh princess cruises was born right here in california. for over 55 years, we've been helping californians make the most of their precious vacation time. and right about now, we could all use a real vacation. so forget the road trips and rentals and sail with princess right from san francisco to the glaciers of alaska, the beautiful tropics of hawaii, the beaches of mexico or along the california c theil whtiful tropics caliia's ce line., tbook now at princess.com aor call your travel advisor. >>> a live look at thing to market at the big board. the dow is up 50 points. the housing market is expected to stay stable as coronavirus air rental and mortgage moratorium's expire. a new analysis by zillow shows foreclosures are expected to be the smallest contribution to the nationwide housing inventory at just over 5%. the bay area market continues to remain tight. inventory is down by just over 4% from last year in san jose it grew by just under 1.5%. like

we have a special section on our website focusing on wildfires. just go to ktvu .com/ wildfires. pg and e says it installed new technology that could prevent the state's second largest wildfires. it could have the company claims gas trip mitigation boost circuit sensitivity, so the device that cut the power will act more quickly when sensors detect a problem. according to the san francisco chronicle, pj any officials say this technology could have actually prevented the dixie fire from started starting rather, which ignited when a douglas fir fell onto a power line. the trade off, of course, is that there will be more frequent and longer unexpected outages. well. police in foster city are alerting bank customers about a skimming device found on a bank of america. atm bank tech, founded at the bank of america atm at the marlin cove shopping center. the technician says the atms recorded eight teams records indicated that the device was planted on tuesday. if you used this atm this week you should check your bank statement for any suspicious activity and reported to the foster city

we have a similar pattern out west with wildfires. insurance companies are saying, we will stop offering insurance for wildfire prone homes, and the government saying, hold on, insurance needs to be available. we will have that same balancing act, wanting to make it available but not giving people incentive to the exposed to risk. so this is one of the challenges with flood insurance. host: we have not talked about major earthquakes in this country for some time, but what about earthquake insurance? has that go into expensive for people who live in fault line areas? guest: most of the discussion is around raising awareness. san francisco had a raising awareness campaign where they tried to grade and might -- make people aware, are you living in a rental property that has been built to earthquake standards? trying to raise awareness about that. even before insurance, do you know how risky the building you are living in is. maybe it was built last year, or maybe it was built 30 years ago and not built to building codes. same thing with

for wildfire danger conditions. some encouraging news, it looks like the west coast will have an active pattern, meaning showers are in the forecast. we have a higher than normal chance of rainfall especially on october 6-8. we are watching that time period closely. the accuweather just released its model and it does follow a l a nina conditions. they are only forecasting 50% to 74% of our normal rainfall during the winter season. larry: drew, thank you. moving onto the latest in covid news developments. the cdc has issued an urgent health advisory for pregnant women. get your shot, they say, anybody who comes down with the virus and carrying a baby is twice as likely to end up in the icu, and has an increased risk of death. . there have been 130 overall deaths in california from covid -- 30. that is up from 25 yesterday. but good news, the number of people diagnosed with the virus has dropped from yesterday. the nba now saying that any player who elects not to comply with local vaccine mandates, like andrew wiggins

also we're already seeing record-breaking explosive wildfires and this wildfire season not even close to being over. our meteorologist is here with us to break down this new weather pattern fueling these monster fires the. >>> we have new numbers on who's voting and what it might tell us about governor newsom's chances of staying in office. >>> plus, san francisco's new controversial program to pay people not to shoot people. you have questions, we have answers. >>> good evening. this is nbc bay area news tonight. i'm raj mathai. a lot happening on this wednesday evening, including that fire in marin county, near a lot of homes in lieu cass valley, but we start in lake tahoe. one of the fire chiefs saying we got quote, we got lucky, lucky that the winds were pointed away from the south shore. are we going to get lucky tonight? the red flag warning doesn't expire until 11:00 p.m. tonight. crews were able to successfully keep this fire out of south lake tahoe thus far. evacuees in north camino and pollack pines have been downgraded to evacuation warnings. governor newsom visiting the bu

situationally, we are battling these wildfires and making progress.he sustainable mindset we have is to address these smash mouth realities and to lead the conversation and you to radically change the way we produce and consume energy and continue to lead our nation leading efforts as it relates to low carbon and green growth. california's leadership is demonstrable. as been challenged in the last few years. those headwinds are tailwinds with the biden administration. we are not sparring partners, we are working partners as it relates to issues of climate change and the challenges of wildfires. as president, i am honored that you are here. we are all blessed, 40 million californians and strong. let me end by saying that this is not your first foray into this issue. we held two summits with west coast governors. proactively helped with the president's assistance. not only did he show up to make remarks but stayed to the end of both conversation. i've been around this business long enough to note the difference between being interested and committing to

there have been so many developments in the caldor wildfire. crews are getting ready to reopen highway 50. the need to remove trees and fix parables. officials are looking to get back into the grizzly flats community but they warned that maybe will not be able to stay because of serious fire damage to water pipes. the acreage is holding steady at 338 square miles burned. the fire is 40% contained. to the dixie fire. two fires burning on both sides of dixie valley merged and moved into the north end of the valley, destroying some structures. the fire is 371 square miles mained in effect. the dixie fire is responsible for the death of a first responder over the weekend. the individual was suffering from a previous illness. dan: smoke from the wildfires has led officials to extend the air alert through tomorrow. spencer christian is here to let you know what areas receive the worst air quality. spencer: it appears it will be the south bay and santa clara valley. let me show you the air quality conditions. we had the spare the air day today. we had

new york and new jersey and other areas in many parts and suffering from another record-setting wildfire season the extreme weather patterns the sustain drought and then to go big on climate a unique opportunity at this time with those elements and those on prudent policies with the state of california with the committee on energy where add a time for example those that come to california the california conservation with the energy efficiency projects so one of the big priorities is the climate conservation corps through the infrastructure packages plural we can tackle climate and we can read train younger workers and those that have been shut out of these investments and part of california's experiences with renewable energy more solar and wind et cetera so that clean energy tax credit and then the manufacturing and brought into other areas of manufacturing but we don't just have those with a job creation opportunity here. >> you mentioned some of the extreme weather that has had a very dramatic and tragic toll on your state but do you get a sense that some of these events like the wild

in our wildfire coverage this evening. more evacuation orders have been reduced to warnings as the caldor fire gets closer to containment in eldorado county near lake tahoe. >> myers residents who live north of the roundabout at highway 5089 can return home as of now. but authorities are warning people to be careful as they head back. the fire is 53% contained with more than 218,000 acres burned so far more than 700 homes have been destroyed. >> 3 of the state's largest wildfires are still burning tonight in northern california. president biden will be in the sacramento area on monday to survey the wildfire damage firsthand. the white house national climate adviser gina mccarthy says the president is intent on investing in actions to address climate change that includes farce management considered a big factor in the wildfire problems. then president trump used to argue that california did not do a good job in managing its fars. but much of the problem is on federal property and the same is true for the national forest lan

there have been so many developments in the caldor wildfire.rews are getting ready to reopen highway 50. the need to remove trees and fix parables. officials are looking to get back into the grizzly flats community but they warned that maybe will not be able to stay because of serious fire damage to water pipes. the acreage is holding steady at 338 square miles burned. the fire is 40% contained. to the dixie fire. two fires burning on both sides of dixie valley merged and moved into the north end of the valley, destroying some structures. the fire is 371 square miles with 58% containment. evacuation orders and rem warnis remained in effect. the dixie fire is responsible for the death of a first responder over the weekend. the individual was suffering from a previous illness. dan: smoke from the wildfires has led officials to extend the air alert through tomorrow. spencer christian is here to let you know what areas receive the worst air quality. spencer: it appears it will be the south bay and santa clara valley. let me show you the air quality

tens of thousands of wildfire evacuees returning home to south lake tahoe. the caldor fire has burned 216,000 acres in el dorado and amiador counties. that is 343 square miles and 44% contained. meanwhile to the north the matter if dixie fire in the million acre mark and covers more than 910,000 acres across five counties and is 57% contained. >> the recall election only eight days away. several candidates spent this labor day campaigning in southern california. governor newsom urging people to vote no and several republicans made their pitches. >> more businesses have left california this year more than last year. they are leaving and they are citing the cost of living and high taxes and excessive regulations. >> we defeated donald trump but not really. >> i talked to james taylor and he weighed in on polls showing a bigger lead for governor newsom thanks to high profile health. >> i think elizabeth warren has an effect and kamala harris coming and joe biden and even kevin mccarthy can't move voters. everything for the jobs reports and economic reports. eve

. >>> california wildfires have ignited a growing crisis. is the state law to protect homeowners really work something what we uncover. >> we have a year not under a false pretense it will go on for longer than a year. >>> good evening. >>> finally, a little rain. >> we begin with the scattered showers across the bay area this evening. >> looking live over the golden gate tonight. into oakland, the rain tapered off but not before much of the bay area picked up measurable amounts. our chief meteorologist joins us, paul, what do we expect in the morning and. >> the roads will dry up by the morning, the rain tapered off. patches of drizzle possible in the range. that will be about it. the rain kind of fizzled out as expected as it moved across the bay area. it lasted long enough and squeezed the atmosphere enough to get concentrated drizzle in addition to the rain showers. even better this is a good soaking rain for northern california and oregon and washington as well. let's return to the bay area and how much we picked up. the win of the jack

you're watching kron. 4 news heading >> a sobering observation about the state of wildfire season has a number of fires rage through northern california. welcome home residents who are hearing from a long time south lake tahoe resident after evacuation orders were lifted for the caliber fire in some areas. we have team coverage. plus, just a week to go for voters to have a final say on whether or not governor newsome will finish his term. we have the final push candidates are making ahead of election day. >> good evening. thanks for joining us for kron 4 news at 8. i'm ken wayne and i'm pam moore. the huge wildfire near the lake tahoe resort region is halfway contained tonight with the head of california's firefighting agencies say that crews largely have been able to keep the flames away from populated areas. here's a look at where the counter fire has been burning toward the city of south lake tahoe and nearby myers. >> cal fire's latest update shows crews have the fire 50% contained. it spans 217,000 acres across el dorado and amador counties. almost a 1000 structures have been des

ryan: wildfires continue to devastate northern california. hundreds of structures have already burned, leaving many without a home. >> after losing everything i worked for and everything from all these years, it is gone. everybody says it is so irreplaceable. no. a lot of it is not. ryan: to local organizations and to donate thousands to support those affected by the wildfires. a director of community investment for the women's foundation in california says they gave over $200,000 last year to local agencies battling fires. she says they plan to do the same this year. >> we are hoping to make similar investments this year if not more so both providing direct relief but also providing support organizations that are doing this long-term structural solutions. ryan: most of their money goes to local shelters and programs to help those who lost their homes in the fire. >> our primary goal is to get the money out the door to communities that are closest. those that have direct access to communities that are impacted. ryan: they're not the only nonp

ucsf researchers discover the impact of wildfire smoke on our skin. california! during a flex alert, let's keep our power up and running. set ac cooler and use big appliances before 4pm. then from 4-9pm reduce use and take it easy on our energy. sign up today. >>> welcome back to nbc bay area news tonight. we're following breaking news. we're getting word in now of a sizable earthquake in mexico. initial magnitude 7.0 near acapulco. let's bring in rob mayeda. this is a big one, rob. >> we're looking at the location, how far away it is. it looks like 26 miles to the northeast of acapulco. the magnitude a 7.4 as more data has come in. it was revised downward to 7.0. the depth of this quake, anywhere from 8 miles to some reports as deep down as 30 miles. some people experiencing shaking motion all the way to the opposite side of southern mexico along the gulf coast. that's a long distance, as you see there on the west coast of mexico. the latest is a 7.0 earthquake we'll continue to monitor this and look for any larger aftershocks in a quake of this size in the next

taxes, cost of living, water, wildfires, homelessness. these aren't political issues; they're readily fixable management issues. career politicians? celebrities? i've solved problems all my life. let's fix this great state! ♪ come on, get your motor running ♪ you just head out on the highway ♪ looking for some tchotchkes ♪ and whatever comes our way ♪ yeah darlin, go make it happen mí amor, take the world in a love embrace ride all of your love at once and explode into space... ♪ born to be wild ♪ start your california road trip and visitcalifornia.com when it comes to flooring, i'm hard to please. so, i go to floor & decor where they don't just know the difference between products, they live for it. from american hardwood to spanish porcelain to italian marble, i'm looking for inspiration from every part of the world. so, when it comes to discovering every imaginable tile, wood, laminate or stone without compromising my design, one aisle doesn't cut it. i need an entire store. now, i've got one. explore floor & decor in person or online

were looking at pictures| again at the wildfires.seems to be the frustration that it seems to be the frustration thatitis seems to be the frustration that it is taking so long to find a way to stop this happening. find a way to stop this happening-— find a way to stop this happening. find a way to stop this ha eninu. . , , happening. that is very true. the last five _ happening. that is very true. the last five years _ happening. that is very true. the last five years at - the last five years at california state government have really ta ken california state government have really taken directions, resources, $400 million a year are available to do welcome restoration so we're releasing a reason kind of focus on the state government to really work on this. but unfortunately this should have been having 40 or 50 ago. in either problem then, wejust never took 50 ago. in either problem then, we just never took decisive action and now we are paying for it. ,, ~ action and now we are paying for it. i. ~ , for it. do you think it is auoin

healdsburg has been hit with major wildfires in recent years. the most recent, the fire spark by line last summer. fire investigators say they have no idea what started these fires. they say it is too early in the investigation. an investigation that can take weeks or even months. in healdsburg, cheryl hurd, nbc bay area news. >> thank you. >>> we are halfway there. at this hour the caldor fire is now 50% contained. this comes arrest the flames wiped out entire neighborhoods in el dorado county near lake tahoe. the flames were so widespread, some families had to evacuate twice. >> the kids and two dogs and three cats out of bed and loaded them up. authentic we went to my parents' house and then we were sfraekd there the next day. >> the fire destroyed nearly 800 homes. now labor day weekend is behind us. lake tahoe starts to transition into ski season. three major resorts say they are optimistic that fighting, after fighting off the flames. sierra at tahoe faced the most danger. employees say they were watching the tv coverage holding their brea

with that we're looking at the weather conditions needed for wildfires. reason why we have the red flag warning, you need dry vegetation, low humidity and gusting winds. what could trigger a wildfire is a lightning strike, and with the vegetation at record-dry levels, that's something we will watch closely because one lightning strike could start a fire that could spread relatively quickly. you want to have a plan in place because there may be evacuations in order as well as getting your emergency supplies put together ahead of time, and we want to watch out for the potential of thunderstorms, and if we get past this with no incident, we are in for a nice weekend. we are hoping that happens with our inland areas heading towards the upper 80s. we'll watch that. >>> mike, what are you keeping an eye on? >> this, folks, 880, if you choose right now between the nimitz and 580 going up through oakland, choose 580. the backup here, there may be another crash. the big one we are worried about is the motorcycle crash, only a broken arm reported but two lanes bloc

but we do expect to see, to continue to see an increase in wildfires and an increase in the size of wildfires in the coming years. that has been the trend for the past few years, and it continues to be the trend at this point. every acre in california's going to burn at one point or another, it's just a matter of when. that's why we encourage people to defend their defensible space. >> thanks for your time, we'll check back with you later on. we appreciate your insight this evening. chief henry herrera and melissa colorado, we appreciate both their contributions tonight. >>> newly-installed technology is helping firefighters track spot fires through all the haze and darkness. take a look. here's an example. this is from the wildfire monitoring camera at heavenly valley ski resort. normally crews would try to fly over the fire and keep track of it, but the caldor is providing too much smoke for that. recently, technicians installed this infrared camera that allows to you see through the smoke and identify any new fires that jump ahead of the lines. and watch how the fire moves when the wind di

wildfires did spark in other parts of california. the el dorado hills fire department shared this image. this is of a wildfire that was sparked by lightning about 40 miles east of sacramento, some fire crews report from the caldor fire to help put out these flames. the fire spread was stopped at less than 7 acres. that's good news. but again, no wildfires ignited by dry lightning here in the bay area. and we have seen firsthand the kind of destruction that can that can cause so all just warms. colonel here with more. yeah, we're really lucky last night. i mean, all those strikes, but we did get a little bit of rain and certainly that was a factor and some of the fires not starting so it was it sting. 24 hours ago we were watching the storms roll in. >> and before you know it, we started talking about the chance of that lightning coming by so now what a difference it is quiet out there now, but it wasn't that case just 24 hours ago we were tracking all that monsoonal moisture rolling right in the bay area. so let's take you back just

we have that and the smoke from the wildfires in sierra.rting to move in by late morning. outdoor times for kids, also just getting out after school. it's going to be smoky out there, so we don't want to spend a lot of time. we will see improvements tomorrow. a westerly wind will help to push out the smoke, but once again coming out of the south of the sierra with the fires burning in sequoia national park. temperature wise, reaching 91 in san jose. 97 in antioch and livermore. 85 in oakland. mid-70s near the coast. san francisco up to 88 degrees. our north bay temperatures reaching 93 in sonoma. these hot temperatures will not stick around. as we go through the forecast we are seeing a slight cooldown tomorrow for the first day of fall. then we go back up, a few more degrees for thursday and friday. looking forward to the weekend when it will be cooler for our valleys reaching into the low 80s. in san francisco, very warm today but once that fog rolls in, temperatures drop and we will stay in the 60s for tomorrow. now as we turn to our cli

we have wildfire smoke we are looking at there, and the sunny skies combined with the smog, it's whatwe call a photochemical reaction, they create the ground level ozone, and east bay, santa clara, tri-valley up towards concord, you will notice the air here. you might see a little more wildfire smoke tomorrow morning, not necessarily unhealthy levels but enough to give us the hazy skies. we have high clouds. you will see more of that tomorrow coming up out of the south. highs similar to what we had today. briefly near 70s in san francisco, and over to oakland and the tri-valley and east bay seeing the numbers in the upper 90s again. more about the low clouds on the coast. that's keeping the cooling conditions. we're more interested in the mid and high level clouds offshore. some of this may move over the bay area by wednesday and thursday while it brings better chances for showers out towards the sierra, and could lead to isolated thunder, which we will have to watch that, and cooling as we head to the middle part of the week, and we are keeping a closer eye on that tropical moisture,

for updates anytime just visit ktvu .com slash wildfires. well now to the very latest on the ida aftermath, and today, president biden visited the gulf coast were at least. nine people were killed by that category four hurricane and he vowed to help the region rebuilt stronger than before. there's nothing political about this. it's just simply about saving lives and getting people back up and running. and we're in this together. and so we're not gonna have any community behind rural city coastal inland, and, uh, i promise we're gonna have your back. still, this gets done. meantime in the northeast, cleanup continues from the deadly historic flooding. their rocks is brian dennis has. the details. cleanup efforts ramp up across the northeast after ida slammed the region with heavy rainfall and devastating flash flooding. in new york city. 3 to 5 inches of rain fell in several hours, leaving motorists stranded and turning major highways into rivers. the heavy rainfall also bringing mass transit to a complete halt. and it may take days until ser