month that fire is more dangerous than ever. nearly 192,000 acres gone. more valuable acres lie ahead, too, as south lake tahoe remains in the fire's cross harris. hairs. to give you perspective on how big the fire's footprint is, check out this map. nearly 192,000 acres. that's more than 78,000 acres bigger than san jose. now we're going to continue our team coverage of this breaking news. we begin with jeff ranieri, though. >> let's go ahead and take a look at my weather dashboard and show you this fire weather map i've put together. there's a lot of different stuff on here, but i think it pin points where we are watching and what we are concerned about. you can see a 14,000 acre growth over the past 24 hours. winds sustained, not that gusty,

out of the southwest at nine. now temperatures have been cooler, as of today and tomorrow. we'll see 70s. the most active area really is based on the way the wind's blowing on that eastern flank of the fire. so everything. the way that wind is blowing, pushing everything closer towards south lake tahoe. now the fire did unfortunately burn through part of meyers last night, and now it's inching closer to the lake tahoe airport, just four miles away here from south lake tahoe. now they've got this aggressive line set up here to try to hold this back from south lake tahoe, but, again, it's going to be a race against mother nature with the wind gusts within the fire zone. not only this fire. i wanted to show you this expansive view. gusty winds will impact the dixie fire and antelope fire. coming up, i'll have a look at our increasing wildfire days.

>> it looks overwhelming. firefighters exhausted trying to protect homes and businesses on the edge of south lake tahoe. smoke is choking that basin, forcing crews to deal with this fire with little or no help from one of their most-effective tools, and that is aircraft. we were just talking about this and saw it on the map, melissa, what are the conditions around you, and what's the damage that you're seeing? >> reporter: it is bone dry out here. i mean, i'm constantly having to apply chapstick on my lips. it is so dry, you immediately feel it when you get to south lake tahoe. we're here in the community of meyers, a pretty residential area. just along apache avenue, and i've seen fire crews all day long. as you can see, the flames came dangerously close to this residential neighborhood, and that house right there, it is still standing, thanks to the

hard, physical labor of those firefighters. and one thing that we're kind of used to when you cover wildfires is you you're used to hearing aircraft hovering above you. the reason we have not heard helicopters or cal fire aircraft, the conditions are too dangerous. poor air visibility, erratic, unpredictable wind. for now, the fight is a brutal, physical one for firefighters. >> south lake tahoe is still defended. but this fire has taught us, it's still very active, and it's going to do what it wants to do. >> reporter: how can cal fire reign in the caldor fire. we won't know the answer until the red flag warning ends tomorrow night at 11:00 p.m. >> we are at times trying to get these containment lines in place, and it keeps going over with this wind. >> reporter: we're here at highway 89. south lake tahoe is about a ten

to 15 minute drive that way. and these are the difficult conditions firefighters are dealing with. those flames plus the poor visibility and the wind gusts that are just within seconds they start changing and before you know it, you're seeing trees like this engulfed in flames. cal fire says the strong winds are carrying embers up to half a mile away. what's more, the burned-out trees, some of which could fall at any minute are creating dangerous obstacles for firefighter. ? the fire has injured at least two residents and one firefighter suffered severe burns that required a trip to the hospital. >> we want those air assets, that fire can also come alive. so we are aware of that, but those air assets are so important, paramount to our

success in cutting off the head of this fire. >> and back out here live, fire crews are monitoring this area, looking out for any potential spot fires that can be troublesome, that can start making their way towards these neighborhoods. but, again, firefighters that i've spoken to are basically counting down the hours when the red flag conditions can finally subside and they can finally fight this fire from the air, not just from the ground. that's the latest here in the community of meyers. i'm melissa colorado. nbc bay area news. a newly-installed piece of technology is helping firefighters see through the smoke. we'll show you how it works on our 7:00 p.m. newscast. melissa colorado will join us once again. contra costa county is one of the many counties sending help. they left yesterday to lend a hand. firefighters from across the bay area and in fact across the

country are in lake tahoe right now battling the caldor fire. >> so many of the bay area communities need this. mandatory evacuations are a reminder for all of us, you've got to be ready to go in a snap. >> that means quickly. let's bring in chris chmura to talk about the go-bags. when it came toward my fire, i was like, oh, my gosh, what do i pack? >> we have long-standing advice plus something brand-new. let's start with what a go bag is. in my case, it's a backpack ready to go. food and water in here, non-perishable food. a paper map. cash if here, change of clothes. my wife has one of her own. and we have a separate one for conrad the dog, including food, water, medicine, collar, treats and toys. yours will be different. and that's just fine.

to figure out what to put in your go-bag, cal fire recommends asking yourself this one question. >> if you just have one, two, three minutes to get out of your house, what do you need to grab that is essential to keep your life going? >> now here is the new part. it is more important than ever to bring your insurance paperwork. your homeowner's or renter's policy might pay for your evacuation costs. like hotels and meals. even if the fire never touches your home. they may be paid up to two weeks after mandatory evacuation. please put your policy number and agent's contact information in your go-bag. after you get away from the fire and to safety get on the phone. ask your insurance company how it works. this is a really important new benefit, and we want to make sure everyone who can take

advantage of it does. back over to you guys. >> you know what i add is an ipad with all that information on it, too. >> smart. >> one that we don't use anymore that's kind of outdated, but it does have photos of all those policies and the charger. >> and the charger! >> good information. >> if we went by too quickly, don't worry, we have a step-by-step video you can watch on demand. chris has posted it with other how-to videos. look for that how-to playlist. now to our ongoing investigation into san francisco's millennium tower. even as they attempted to fix the sinking and leaning tower, the problem is getting worse. tonight our investigative reporter, jaxon van derbeken reports experts report it's doing the opposite they predicted it would do when they started this fix. >> reporter: here we are outside

the limit. >> reporter: the engineer studies what causes failures of man-made structures at the center for catastrophic risk management. for years, he's been monitoring what's been happening at the sinking tower, which is now tilting 22 inches. the engineers now working to fix the building recently told city officials how much more settlement could be expected. about an inch per year. but data shows it sinking just an inch in a month. >> it's a big red flag. it's tilting and leaning way more than what they predicted. >> reporter: a design team submitted this plan to the city and showed settlement not on the outside but at the core, marked in magenta, with yellow areas on the outside expected only to settle a little or not at all.

but in fact, that's where the building is sinking the most. >> clearly there's a skew or deviation between what you thought was going to happen and what's actually happening out there. this is a non-routine, non-standard project. it's in a heavily-congested city environment. and so the consequences if you don't get it right are pretty severe. >> reporter: storeson says it's time to look beyond the oversight and review panel, the same panel that approved the now-troubled fix to start with. to bring out experts with no prior involvement. >> the fact that we're seeing time and time again that's outside the bounds of what you expected. i think it's time for a fresh look, fresh set of eyes, and relying on the same team to provide that fresh perspective i think would be challenging. >> reporter: so far the building department's appointed panel has

expressed full confidence in the fix team's capability. the city says it's awaiting more data to decide what to do next. jaxon van derbeken, nbc bay area news. up next here at 6:00, jury selection is under way this this high-profile trial in san jose. what we learn in this first day of the trial against elizabeth holmes. you see her right there. the disgraced founder of theranos. the governor was in east bay to make a big announcement on covid vaccination and where he says the obstacle remains. and really great to see this. temperatures starting to cool off. it's going to get even better for tomorrow. i'll show you what helps drop temperatures even a few more degrees in about seven minutes.

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a big reward to help find a murderer. san francisco police are looking for the person who killed this 16-year-old girl. a 35 year old woman was also shot but survived. police have not said how the two victims knew each other or what led to the shooting. sfpd are offering $50,000 for information leading to arrest and conviction. this is one of the highest-profile court cases to hit the bay area in years.

and it started today. the founder of theranos, elizabeth holmes getting her day in court. she was met by a crush of reporters as she showed up to court this morning. she's accused of defrauding her investors and putting the lives of patients if danger. holmes herself it not speak outside of court or inside of court. but potential jurors were questioned. attorneys asked how much they know about theranos and what happened to this once-prized company. they were asked about their vaccination status and vacation plans and experience they may have had with domestic violence. holmes expected to testify that her former boyfriend and fell low theranos executive ramesh bajuany abused her. governor newsom came to the bay area to announce california has hit a milestone.

80% of eligible californians have had at least one shot. as damian trujillo explains, it's the remaining 20% that are most at risk. >> reporter: this is the epicenter of the grassroots effort to get more people vaccinated. and much of that effort remains on east oakland for good reason. >> especially the mayan population have been disproportionately affected. >> reporter: an overwhelming number of the state has received at least one shot. >> this is a momentous occasion to be able to announce at a statewide level that we have broken now 80% of all eligible californians having received at least one dose. >> reporter: but the governor and the clinica were quick to point out that there are

significant gaps in the vaccination goal. for example, nearly 30% of all latinos in alameda county are unvaccinated. >> people who aren't vaccinated are those who need it the most. we are still lagging behind in the african-american and latino communities. >> reporter: local leaders say it's going to take grassroots efforts to get to the holdouts. like this effort by one collective. they were in east san jose today handing out vaccination information and making appointments for people. the group admits many communities are distrusting of this and all vaccines. >> because they're afraid, because they're not sure about the shot. because it's a shot that has been out quick. >> this is still primarily overwhelmingly a pandemic of the unvaccinated. we have work to do to deal with the misinformation and the intentional disinformation that still remains out there. >> reporter: so the race is on

to reach the holdouts before covid variants mutate enough to overcome the vaccines. that's why the collective says they'll keep making the push every day to everyone. damian trujillo, nbc bay area news. >> let's turn to jeff ranieri. we are talking about the labor day holiday weekend coming up. and all the fires. >> it's going to be so tense like it was last night as the firefighters really try to get a hold and handle and keep this fire as far back from south lake tahoe as possible. i wanted to continue our climate coverage tonight and take a look at our increasing wildfire days. can you see on this chart right here, this ranks those days, the increased number. when you get into the pink, you're around 50 to 100 additional days per year, deep red at 200 plus. and notice california is all in that 100 to 200-day category.

we have definitely seen that, experienced that. and for the sierra, they're averaging 74 more days. this year it has been explosive, especially across the sierra. with the caldor fire it continues to grow on that eastern flank of the fire, pushing those flames closer to the lake tahoe airport. sustained winds not that bad, but within the fire zone wind gusts at times of 20-50. and we're looking at wind gusts as well as we roll through tomorrow. more coverage on the caldor fire and our climate stories. head to nbcbayarea.com. back here in the bay area, it has been a different story today. much more comfortable. we have the fog starting to return at the coastline. but there's also something else working for us. i know you felt it if you went outside the past couple hours, especially in the inland areas.

a lot more enjoyable. this system is importing cooler air and pushing the thickest smoke away from us. this is going to change it up for us. drizzle at the coast and low clouds making it to berkley, oakland. some of that even pushing up from the south here through gilroy. as we hit the afternoon, sunshine returns. going to set us up with a really nice wednesday. so we're going to begin with the foggy breeze. temperatures cooler to start. plenty of low to mid-60s. now through the afternoon, numbers drop another three to six degrees putting us to the mid to upper 70s. over to concord, 78. and 60s right there in san francisco. my seven-day forecast does have warmer weather. once we hit monday and tuesday, low 70s for labor day, for the inland valleys heating up sunday. labor day, 95.

tomorrow jessica and raj, that is the day. do you have tomorrow off? >> i do not. i'm going to use that day. >> let's get lunch before work. >> yes, that sounds fantastic. >> a lot of events and concerts in lake tahoe being canceled or relocated. the popular band that will now play in the bay area because of the caldor fire.

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tonight the city of vallejo will consider moving forward with an indoor mask mandate. all bay area counties except solano county have instituted mask mandates. vallejo is holding a special meeting to discuss that idea. that starts at 8:00. same time, same band, different venue, fish is relocating to mountain view after being forced out of lake

tahoe. obviously that can't happen. so phish moved its concert. a splash of good news. raging waters in san jose will be open for an extra week. it will stay open until after labor day and during that time, adults get in for the price of kids. it just wants to give people a little longer to enjoy the summer fun. it's certainly warm enough to go to raging waters. up next, the deadline for a special election in alameda county ends tonight. the state assembly spot on the line and how you can still vote. we'll explain.

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voters in alameda county still have a couple hours left to drop their ballots off for the special election tonight. >> it is being held to length an assembly member. the post vacated in april when rob banta was appointed as california's attorney general. the two applying are banta's wife and another. the winner will get a chance to run for reelection next year. tonight at 7:00, a dangerous situation that we're seeing that is evolving by the hour. we're going to be joined by a captain with cal fire. he's going to tell us where crews are focussing their efforts tonight and which areas are in immediate danger.

again, this is only about four miles away from the caldor fire. the school superintendent caught in the middle of a national struggle. it's the center of what students should be taught about race and critical race teary. dr. ledbetter talks about the tense atmosphere for students and we'll hear from parents about the impact on this national debate on their children. >> tom llamas joins us next with nightly news. we'll see you again at 7:00. >> bye-bye.