raise the championship banner. the game starts at 7:30 but the doors open at oracle at 5:30. if you're going tonight, get there early to you won't miss the pregame festivities. this is ktvu mornings on 2. >> 7:00. welcome back to mornings on 2. it is a busy tuesday. >> yes. >> i'm gasia mikaelian. >> good morning. i'm dave clark. it is a busy morning. beginning with the breaking news that we have been following throughout the morning. a house fire in the santa cruz fire spreader uing into a wildfire. so far 125 acres have burned. >> are evacuates, road closures and two firefighters have been injured fighting the flames. we will show you a map of the area. the fire began at bear creek road, part of highway 35. sal will join us in a moment to explain the traffic impact there along bear creek road and other routes. first though we will bring in ktvu's christien kafton at the scene to show us the damage.

christien, as dawn has broken, we are getting a much better look at the area that is burning. >> reporter: absolutely. that is exactly what firefighters are looking for at this point in time. the bear fire 0% containment. estimated around 125 acres. now that the sun is starting to come up, the heat is starting to warm up, and that smoke now started to go higher and higher airborne, this fire very, very large. and at this point unchecked. there are at least three crews back there fighting this fire. fire crews tell me that they believe they have enough crews here on scene. they're working to bring more crews in as the day progresses. let's see how the fire progressed overnight. it started around 10:30 last night with a fire at a home. that fire then spread to some of the nearby wildland. firefighters were called to that structure fire. again, 10:30 last night. now estimated at 125 acres. santa cruz county emergency officials sent out a reverse

911 call to residents living within four miles of the area. that a mandatory evacuation order was under effect. conditions over the last week and last night were the perfect recipe for the fire. very low humidity and winds helped propel the fire. but they say this is a terrain- driven fire. in other words, it is moving along, moving upslope, moving along this ridge here. we talked with a firefighter just about five minutes ago, ten minutes ago who gave us their plan of attack now that the sun is starting to come up. >> currently we have about 125 acres of timber as you can see in the background. the plan is we're hitting it as hard as we can with air and ground resources. once the sun comes up, we will do it with the air. >> reporter: you heard about that, air and ground. we told you about the crews on the ground. they have a bulldozer here and hand crews trying to gain containment on this. we can tell you that they are looking to get a helicopter on scene to get an aerial survey

and get a sense what they are facing out here. we know they are looking to get air tankers out here as early as possible. the firefighter i spoke with earlier said that they want to hit this aggressively, try to get it under control quickly so it doesn't continue to spread. meanwhile the evacuation order for some 150 to 200 homes currently under effect. if you take a look down there, you might even be able to see -- i can see it vaguely there, george, you see the firefighters going in there. there are some red plights as firefighters are trying to make their way into the bear fire. they're trying to tackle. this they're trying to tackle it from the air and from the ground. a massive effort underway here in santa cruz. they do not want to lose control of this one. though at this point what we're hearing is they still have 0% containment on the bear fire. what they're hoping for is once they can get enough daylight on this, they can get a helicopter

up, and that will allow them to start strategize and figure out where to do the air drops. they hope to do that between 8:00 and 9:00 this morning. >> christien, the timing on this fire is eerily similar to the fires last week. >> yeah. unpleasant feeling of deja vu. we felt like here we go again. fortunately this time we're hearing that one home -- only one home has been consumed. this started out as a house fire. hopefully, hopefully crews will be able to contain the fire and protect the 150 to 200 homes that we hear are in danger from the fire. >> i'm sorry. christien, before you go, the weather conditions, i'm looking at the smoke behind you. it doesn't seem to be blowing in wind out there. it seems to be pretty steady. >> reporter: yeah. so -- and that's the good news

at this point. >> yeah. >> reporter: dave, that there is not a heavy wind. as you know and as we saw last week, those heavy winds can really propel these fires and throw embers and start spot fires. at this point, it does not appear to be the case. that does not appear to be the case. we are not in a heavy wind situation. the firefighters told me, again, this is a terrain-driven fire. in other words, that steep slope is allowing that fire to grow and move in different directions. meanwhile we have heard of two firefighters who were injured in the course of fighting this fire. one firefighter apparently fell. he injured his risk and has cuts to his face. we heard an inmate firefighter had smoke inhalation. both are expected to recover. again, that shows you how -- how dangerous this fire can be and how aggressively they're trying to get at this. they're bringing in crews to work this fire as quickly as

possible to contain it and prevent it from spreading to more buildings. >> thank you, christien kafton. we will bring you back throughout the morning to talk about the progress being made. let's talk about the weather affecting the fire fight. rosemary orozco in for steve today. >> yes. we will take better steps towards better weather in the coming days, eventually wet weather. that will really help with the fire suppression and the fire fight. the current conditions right now out there towards the santa cruz mountains, we have talked about it a bit. the winds are generally light. the flow continues from the north/northeast. the fire is right about in here, which is pushing that  smoke towards areas near perhaps boulder creek. may have some floating over areas towards felton. then going off towards areas of the pacific. into the afternoon, we will have a switch in the winds and the winds will turn west. when they do, we could actually see the smoke drift in this direction, towards scotts valley and up towards areas

like san jose, sunnyvale. right now we're calling for moderate air quality over portions of the south bay. with the fire burning, that could change over the course of the afternoon. a southwesterly breeze in some areas. but the winds are so light that we're not really picking up on numbers when it comes to wind speeds. the temperatures are cool and the relative humidity is up. that is good news for the fire right now. let's check in over portions of the north bay. it has shifted to a west breeze. that is good news there. relative humidity fairly low for this time of the morning. napa has an east breeze. 48 degrees and relative humidity of 66%. want to take you into the afternoon to show you the wind conditions as they are expected to flip around, focusing in on the north bay. santa rosa, a breeze at 9. so what this is going to do, you can see the flow with the little arrows moving this

direction. it will push the smoke in towards the central valley, away from the bay area. that is the good news. the cool pacific air will bring up the relative humidity. also good news. and it will cool the temperatures down. all good news going into tuesday. temperatures range from mid-40s half moon bay, mid-40s santa rosa. 56 to start your morning in mountain view. 51 in livermore. shave off a few degrees for the afternoon highs. we will have that and the extended forecast where we may have rain later in the week. 7:08. let's check the roadways with sal. >> good morning, rosemary. we have traffic in the santa cruz mountains. that is unaffected by the fire on highway 17. however, you will see slow traffic because of some other things on 17. northbound near the summit, there was a crash. but boulder creek road near deer creek is an area to avoid. bear creek road is shut down between hawk's ridge and 35 because of this fire. hie highway 9 and 17 remain

open. 17 northbound is slow in the normal morning commute. you can see from the road sensors. and you can also see that the road sensors are showing us slow traffic on 85, 280 and 101, getting into the west valley as is typically the case. let's move along and take a look at 280 at 17 here. northbound, you can see traffic is moving along very nicely. 80 westbound about a 40-minute ride according to the road sensors from the carquinez bridge to the macarthur maze. bay bridge, a typical 15-minute delay at the toll plaza. back to the desk. >> back to live team coverage of the fire burning in the santa cruz mountains. it has already destroyed one home and forced people to leave their homes. >> leigh martinez is here with us now. you say there is an evacuation center set up in felton. what is happening? >> reporter: that's right. about 100 people have already evacuated. we were at boulder creek elementary. that was the first shelter that was set up. but people are moving now over to this fire house in felton

because the boulder creek elementary school did not have any cell phone reception. so people have no idea when we were talking to evacuees, they had no idea what was going on with the fire. they wanted to be up to date. so they came over here. checking in with firefighters, there are about 20 evacuees inside right now. around 11:30 p.m., residents started receiving the bear creek canyon road area started receiving the reverse 911 calls from the sheriff's department. it alerted residents within a four-mile radius to evacuate. boulder creek elementary was initially the shelter. we met a woman with her two children and two dogs who say the alarm came through at 4:00 a.m. but they was packed up and ready to go for hours. >> we got the word to evacuate at about 4:06 this morning. we got a text and a call from reverse 911. we were packed because there

were facebook activity about sirens around midnight. so we started packing the car then. and i grabbed our passports, our medical cards, our pictures, our dogs, and clothes and everything and, just got the car ready around midnight. and then kind of talked with the neighbors in the street about what to do and when to evacuate. because it was still a ways away. we didn't get the official evacuation until 4:00 in the morning. >> now, there was a lot of construction on highway 9. all of that construction equipment was lifted out of the area to allow for the evacuations to happen. now, back out here live, you're taking a look at the fire department. this is the new shelter. we have red cross inside. we have about 20 evacuees on the inside right now. again, boulder creek elementary school was the original shelter. they did cancel classes today because people are still showing up to the boulder creek elementary school.

it was still listed. and all of the alerts, facebook messages, they are people to go to boulder creek. you can stay here but there is no cell phone reception and a lot of the evacuees decided to come over to felton which is the main evacuation center now because there is cell phone reception out here. people just want to keep up to date as to what is going on. now as sal said, there are road closures. boulder creek road is closed going up the mountain. they do have boulder creek road open going downhill. that is for evacuations for people who want to leave the area. >> you covered the north bay wildfires extensively last week. you spoke to a lot of people who say they didn't have time to grab anything. it sounds like a different story this morning where you are. >> reporter: well, people -- the one woman we had spoken to said she was seeing all of this activity on facebook where people were talking about sirens. so she kind of -- after seeing what happened in the north bay, she decided to pack up a few things early because she had a terrible feeling about it. but she said she wasn't as

prepared as she should have been. during the north bay fires she went around her house and took mental notes about things that she should have packed. but she really didn't have anything packed until late last night when her neighbors started telling her on facebook that they heard sirens and, you know, orange glow. so she said she really could have been more prepared than she was last night. but she is happy she got out with what she did. >> absolutely. that check is something that we could all stand to do i'm sure. leigh martinez, in the santa cruz mountains. thank you. we're still following the breaking news of the fire in the santa cruz mountains. hundreds of homes evacuated early this morning. we will bring you an update when we come back. the first responders will come out and they'll make it safe for you and your community.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ if youdon't touch it,downed keep everyone back. call 911 immediately. the fire department will respond with law enforcement and pg&e

to figure out what the issue is to keep you safe and there are no hazards to the public. ♪ >> 7:15. we will update you on breaking news we have been bringing you throughout the morning. a raging wildfire in the santa cruz mountains right now. there is a second evacuation

center to tell you about in the community of felton. residents in the boulder creek area were evacuated after a house fire turned into a fast moving wildfire. they went to boulder creek elementary for shelter but have run into problems, including spotty cell phone service. the fire has destroyed one home and threatening 150 homes. at this point we know the fire has burned through at least 125 acres. these are live pictures of the fire as we see it burning in the santa cruz mountains. flames easily seen in this live picture here. two people fighting the fire we know have been injured, including one inmate firefighter who suffered smoke inhalation. we have been bringing you live reports from the scene and we will continue to do that for you throughout the morning. the next one coming up at about 7:30 as daylight has begun. we expect to see air attack happening. >> right. >> water being dropped on the fire from high above. we heard it that from cal fire. we will bring you more throughout the day right here. the time is 7:16.

in the meantime more people who were forced to evacuate in napa and sonoma counties are being allowed back into neighborhoods. >> that is one of many sign that's firefighters are beginning to get a handle on the north bay fires. evacuations were lifted for two more neighborhoods in santa rosa. so far the fires have killed 41 people across four counsel toons. sonoma county was home to more than half of the victims. 102 people are still unaccounted for in so no, ma'am aand napa counties. the most recent death from the fires came yesterday when the driver of a water tanker truck crashed in napa county while assisting fire operations. cal fire announced the atlas fire in napa and sonoma counties is still at 51,000 acres burned. containment increased overnight. it was previously 70%. now they have 77% containment on the atlas fire. the time is 7:17. let's get you to where you need

to go. sal, everybody behaving for you, sal? >> for the most part, dave. we have closures that i want to mention. highway 17 is slow. but it is open in the fire area. so is highway 9. now, 17 is slow. it is kind of a normal commute. we had a couple of minor things going on there. bear creek at deer creek road though is a good area to avoid in the santa cruz mountains because of the fire. give yourself extra time to negotiate if you're trying to get through this area because of several closures that we're going to talk about. more extensively when we go to fire coverage. let's go to the south bay. you can see 85, 280 and 101 are slow trying to get into cupertino and sunnyvale. this is northbound 280. you can see slow traffic at the 880 interchange. also look ago the east shore freeway. better than the last few days but still slow from the carquinez bridge to the macarthur maze. at the bay bridge toll plaza we

have about a 20-minute delay. 7:18. let's bring in rosemary with today's forecast. >> thank you, sal. we are looking at a cooldown looking at the bay area tuesday. the on shore breeze is coming back and the fog expected to make a come back tonight and tomorrow morning. remember what that looks like? giving you a view across the oakland estuary. 50 degrees right now. meanwhile, san francisco, the downtown area is 64. you get into the chilly valley locations and we're in the 40s this morning. santa rosa at 45. our south bay, san jose, 59 for you. we have clouds coming our way. mid and high level clouds in store as a wave moves through today. the on shore breeze will be turning on in the second half the day. beginning to see it in some areas already. that will improve the air quality just some. taking baby steps. the forecast right now is for moderate in the santa clara valley. that could change as we get into the afternoon. keeping in mind the new fire burning in the santa cruz mountain area.

the north bay air quality will be a bit unhealthy to unhealthy. but the on shore breeze will be helpful. it will bring down the temperatures and bring up the humidity and provide us with clean, cool pacific area. 75 for san francisco today. low 80s expected for the inland communities. yesterday it was upper 80s. we will continue the cooldown into wednesday, thursday. thursday, into friday. and even rain coming our way that favors the north bay. that's exactly where we want it. as we get into the bay area weekend, temperatures will rebound under mostly sunny skies. again, nice weather in store for the firefighters and the fire fight going on out there with cooler weather and some rain to suppress the fire. >> finally. thank you, rosemary. the time is 7:20. facebook appears to be falling behind in the battle against fake news. coming up what the bay area company is doing to tackle an ongoing program. also san francisco city leaders are talking about robots later today. why some say they don't belong

on our city sidewalks. how's it going down there? that's good. lica misses you. i'm over it though. (laughter) that's fine. i miss her more than you anyway. ♪ ♪ hey, my window is closing.

yeah that's okay. alright miles. i love you. (phone hangs up) ♪ ♪ yeah i love you too. ♪ ♪

>> 7:23. more live updates on the breaking news story we have been covering. the raging wildfire in the santa cruz mountains. there is a second evacuation center for those forced to leave their homes in the community of felton. people who live in the boulder creek area had to be evacuated after what started as a house fire turned into a quick moving wildfire. people who left their homes

went to boulder creek elementary school to take shelter but there were logistical problems, including spotty cell phone service. as we were reminded last week with the north bay fires, communication is so key because county officials were dealing with so many people listed as unbeinged for, missing, just being able to reach out and tell someone we moved or we're okay. i will keep you posted. >> these are live pictures. one is close. you see the flames glowing in the middle of the smaller box on the left hand side of your screen. on the right-hand side i believe is a picture from sky fox. our first aerial view we can bring you. you see smoke rising from the scene of the fires but you don't see that smoke being whipped around by heavy winds. >> that's right. one house has been destroyed in the fire. 150 homes are in danger right now. this fire has burned 125 acres. two people fighting the fire have been hurt. that includes an inmate

firefighter who suffered smoke inhalation. we're going to bring you a live report from the ground at the scene coming up at the bottom of the hour. if you're wondering where your loved ones in the area have gone, we talked about the elementary school that was open initially as a shelter. the main evacuation shelter is at the fire house in felton. that's where we met up with leigh in a live report a couple of minutes ago. the fire house is now the main evacuation center for people who have been force today leave their homes as a result of this fire. i'm looking at a long list of several road closures, evacuations in effect in los gatos, boulder creek, on mountain lion road and bear creek where it originated. everybody who lives in the impacted area they believe has been able to get out safe. >> that's good. >> that removes a huge factor from the fire fight as fire crews are free, if you will, to just attack the flames. >> it is also important to

point out as you look at the live pictures, very, very rough terrain for the firefighters on the ground moving through there. they're also going to attack it by air as soon as they can. but rough terrain. it won't be an easy fire to battle. >> certainly not. we have been talking with cal fire throughout the morning. we will be joined live by a cal fire representative. we've already heard firefighters tell us that the fire in their eyes has the potential to grow perhaps 600 or even 1,000 acre. that is what they're telling us they expect right now. the fire is spreading towards santa clara. so sort of moving in a northerly direction. when you think about the area that is affected here, it looks like a lot of wildland and there certainly is a lot of trees and brush and rugged terrain. there are homes in this area. >> yes. >> that is important to keep in mind here. again, we reported that dozens and dozens of people have been told to leave their homes. they got that notice in the form of text and also reverse 911 calls.

>> yeah. >> of course in this day of the smart phone, not too many -- some people have a land line but not everyone. so we have heard a lot of county officials talking about sending up for alerts that will send an alert to your phone when you need to be aware of a problem. >> all right. we will stay on top of that. the time is 7:27. still ahead, a question, where does gold come from? for the first time a cosmic collision is giving scientists an answer to that question and many, many more. fire burning in the santa cruz mountains. we will tell you whether crews here think they have enough resources to battle the fire back. we can see traffic that is going to be busy this morning all over the east bay, including highway 24 westbound as you drive towards the tunnel.

>> welcome back to mornings on 2. it is a very, very busy morning. >> yes. >> we're working to get you the latest on a fire burning in the santa cruz mountains. >> i'm dave clark. let's go back to the breaking news. this wildfire, look at the pictures. it is forcing evacuations, closing down roads. so far one home has been destroyed. 150 others are in danger. >> we learned that two people have been injured while fighting the fire. officials say the problem really hasn't been the weather but instead they're fighting

rugged terrain. steep slopes and lots of brush. the fire began near highway 35. we will bring in sal castaneda in a moment to talk about the traffic impact in the santa cruz mountains. first we will go to christien kafton with an update on the bear fire. christien. >> reporter: yeah. first off we're expecting a full media briefing to take place in half an hour. we're hoping at that time that fire crews will be able to get a little more information. let's take a look right now. you can see this has turned into a very, very smoky fire. different than what we saw earlier. the smoke was lower a little earlier. now it is starting to climb. it is starting to spread really throughout the area. we do have another camera, another live camera, i'm not sure if we can switch to that. if we can, we can give you a different view so you can see from a different view how the fire has progressed. it started as a house fire that then spread to wildland. it started at five acres and then spread to 30 acres. now we're hearing an estimate

of about 125 acres. this is called the bear fire. again, it started monday night at around 10:30. fire crews putting out that reverse 911 call to have a mandatory evacuation in the area. we have video of what that fire looked like and you can see just how big the fire got and how spectacular it was overnight. that fire, again, now estimated at around 125 acres. we heard that two firefighters were injured trying to battle this fire. one firefighter injured by falling about 50 feet into a steep ravine. we understand that firefighter has wrist injuries and injuries tosa face. we also understand that another inmate firefighter was treated for smoke inhalation. no word on their conditions. but we are hearing that they are expected to recover from those injuries. now, about those evacuations. some 150 to 200 homes evacuated within a four-mile radius. wanting to make sure that no

more homes are in danger. now, keep in mind, all of this developing while crews are still battling fires in the north bay. certainly a major draw on resources. that was one of the questions that we had for cal fire here, whether they had enough resources here to battle this fire, the bear fire. >> we have two strike teams. we have resources from san luis obispo, el dorado. so we have enough resources. >> reporter: so, again, saying that they do believe that they have enough resources to battle this fire, including air support. now, we have not seen a helicopter or a tanker yet. but this is just about the time that those helicopters and tankers start moving into location. and perhaps at that time we will get a better sense on how this fire is progressing and what we can expect in terms of that aerial attack. we have heard from cal fire that they are trying to be very

aggressive in terms of fighting this fire. and they certainly want to get at this fire as quickly as possible, as early as possible. cal fire, do you have a moment to talk with us. >> sure. >> if we can bring -- there's a cal fire spokesperson here. >> i'm angela burnheisel. >> i saw you getting briefed by the firefighters who were here. you can tell us the latest in terms of what you know about this fire and what we're hearing. i can hear the helicopters in the distance. that certainly is a good sign. >> yeah. that might be the air ambulance. >> for the fright was injured. he is being medevaced out. >> yes. >> his condition, we understand that he is expected to recover from this. >> yeah. my understanding is a possible fracture of a wrist and some face lacerations. >> okay. >> we wish him all the best. in terms of this fire, about 125 acres. is that still the case right

now. >> that is our best estimate until we can get a better look at it from the air. >> keeping the roads clear is absolutely critical at this time. >> absolutely critical. >> if you can explain why. >> yeah. we have additional resources coming moo the fire. we have a lot of equipment to move around. a lot of dozer transports that need places to maneuver. we need the area to get our access for the resources to respond to the fire and fight the fire. >> thank you very much for your time. i know i grabbed you walking through the area. thank you for briefing us. we need to know the information. there you have it. that firefighter -- that helicopter that we hear could be the medevac to help the firefighter. we wish him the best. they are putting their lives on the line to save the homes and the lives in the area. we have confirmed that one home was damaged or destroyed by the fire. some 200 others in danger.

that's one of the reasons why they had that mandatory evacuation. they want to make sure that people are clear from their homes so they don't have to worry about rescuing people and protecting property. >> christien, before you go, quick questions. you have been talking to us from a home there, someone's home, giving us these live pictures. did the people -- did they evacuate that particular home? and what is their status? do you know. >> reporter: yeah. dave, we don't know their status at this point. >> oh, okay. >> reporter: i would assume that due to their proximity to this fire that they would have been among the first to be evacuated. it is really just across this ravine. you don't want to take any chances with a fire like this. we are within the evacuation zone. we haven't seen any activity in the home. we were led down here by cal fire. we have been brought into the location. >> yes. >> reporter: but we have not seen any activity in the home, which would be a good indication that there is either nobody present, which would be

the right move. you certainly don't want to be in an evacuation area. pardon me. starting to get smoky out here. >> we can tell. >> reporter: i wouldn't want to be an evacuation area while that evacuation order is under effect. and i can't underscore just how small and narrow the roads are, how tight and narrow the roads are. you heard from the cal fire firefighter that we talked with about how critical it is to make sure that the roads are open so they can start bringing equipment and personnel into so they can really aggressively go after this fire. again, we're hearing that we're going to get an aerial survey soon. that would be a helicopter flying overhead to give them a had sense how the fire has grown overnight. we're expecting two air tankers early this morning. again, the word from cal fire, they want to hit the fire aggressively and prevent it from growing further. >> christien kafton in the santa cruz mountains. thanks. we welcome on the phone cal

fire captain sanchez. thank you for being with us. >> good morning. >> can you bring us up to date on the bear fire. >> you have a good handle on the current information. we heard from here that the has been stopped on that incident and sitting at 125 acres. >> i know earlier cal fire said it had the potential to grow to as much as 1,000 acres. is that still what you're expecting? >> well. whenever we give an initial report on conditions, we always include an estimated size of the fire that it could potentially grow to. and that is just to get everybody on the ground an idea what they're facing and what could be coming our way so we can order resources appropriately. at this point i believe the incident commander has declared that the has been stopped which means that the fire is not growing anymore. that doesn't mean that the work is done. that simply means that the perimeter has not increased in

size. and at this point they will be, you know, transitioning over to containment and handling the structure. >> very, very good news. does this compare at all to the north bay wildfires that started in the late night hours and did hamper an attack that crews wanted to launch immediately. >> it is always good to have aircraft on early on. they are part of the equation when it comes to successfully putting out a fire. although they're not the only component required to put out a fire obviously. but they do make a difference. but in this case, because the fire did start overnight, you know, they were not able to launch, you know, during the initial attack of the fire. in this case, you know, obviously they weren't required on the incident. like i said it has been stopped. any time you can get the aircraft early on, it helps here. >> dave clark here. how does the weather change the

tactical approach, particularly in the north bay. >> when it comes to tactics, it certainly -- the weather does play an effect on what we're doing. but in this case, because the weather has changed significantly over the last week and now we're facing the higher humidities and the lower temperatures, which are absolutely, you know, what firefighters want when it comes to fires this size, we're able to get the work in and increase containment numbers like we have over the last several days. >> we know many people have been forced to evacuate their homes. i'm guessing there are two concerns. is my home okay and when can i go back home. do you have any answers in. >> well, you know, it is hard to say specifically. are we talking about the bear fire specifically or -- >> yes, for the bear fire. >> well, you know, it is difficult to say initially because, you know, we don't -- what we want to do is ensure that when the public does return home, that they return home to a safe environment. or as safe an environment as we can provide. any time that we make the order

for evacuation, it is never taken lightly. it is done with the public safety in mind and know it will impact them in the near term and up for a week or longer, depending on the size of the incident. but in this case, you know, once the area is determined to be safe and the residents are allowed to return, you know, we want to insure they are not injured by falling trees or anything like that. when that will actually happen, i can't speak to that. just know that it is something that is constantly being evaluated and will be done as soon as it is safe. >> well, we appreciate you being here on mornings on 2. cal fire captain issac sanchez. thank you for joining us. and best of luck throughout this day. thank you. we're still following that breaking news in the santa cruz mountains. we just spoke with cal fire about it. in a moment, we will explain the challenges that crews are facing as they work to bring the fire under control.

>> the time is 7:44. staying on top of breaking news the santa cruz mountains. a fire captain told us that crews have stopped the progress of the so-called bear fire. it started as a house fire around 10:30 last night. but flames spread to nearby brush and trees and the fire took off. it destroyed one home and has burned through 125 acres the at one time it was threatening 150 homes and the people living in the homes were told to get out. two evacuation centers have been set up. there are a number of road closures right around highway 35. two people battling the fire have been injured, including an inmate firefighter who suffered

smoke inhalation. all right. the time is 7:44. we will get you to where you need to go. sal, how does our commute look right now. >> you may be wondering about highway 17 near the bear fire that we just spoke of. highway 17 looks okay driving through. there is traffic as there would normally be. some of it could be slow because of smoke and visibility of the fire. none of the lanes are blocked on highway 17 or on highway 9 in the santa cruz mountains. bear creek road near deer creek road, we have fire closures in the area. as we get closer to the main part of the valley here, you can see 85 is just not in good shape at all. it is backed up basically from highway 101 all the way up to 280. almost the entire length of the freeway. 280 is very slow and so is 101. so a lot of slow traffic in the south bay. east bay, we see slow traffic in lafayette and approaching the bay bridge. on the east shore freeway, almost an hour drive between the carquinez bridge and the

macarthur maze. when you get to the bay bridge, there is a big backup here of 25 minutes before you make it on to the span. san mateo bridge recovering from earlier problems. all of the lanes are open but slower than normal. 7:46. let's bring in rosemary. >> thank you, sal. notable changes going on outdoors already where we have mid and high level clouds for today. eventually it could lead to rain over portions of the north bay especially. we are loving that idea. let's look at the current conditions out there. keeping in mind that we still have seeing a bit of a north breeze, east breeze at times. and the flow over the santa cruz mountains where that new fire is burning. we do have the east flow. that means it is driving the smoke out towards boulder creek. but off towards the pacific. into the afternoon, it will flip around. our winds will become west and southwest. that means that smoke drift may actually move towards the south bay. and maybe towards areas like morgan hill and areas near gilroy. so that to be aware of.

los gatos, you are definitely included in there. picking up on a southwesterly breeze at this moment. but it is light. not picking up on any numbers or speeds. 60% relative humidity. that is a good number. it is a bit most out there. temperatures still cool at this hour. as we get into the afternoon, that wish in the wind coming from the west will also increase our relative humidity and cool us back and bring us cleaner air. all good things for our tuesday. giving you a view the winds over portions of the north bay as we continue to track the fires herement atlas peak for the first time in some time looking at a west breeze. because of it, relative humidity low. the west wind is an improvement for sure. napa reporting relative humidity of 66%. here is a look at the winds. variable, on shore and westerly. 11 miles per hour in san francisco. 5 in oakland. 11 in napa. the important part is the direction.

again, it will be on shore as we get into the afternoon. and it will remain this way. so the smoke will be pushed into the areas of the central valley, away from the bay area. and the cooldown is going to help firefighters as well. temperatures cooling down today. more so on wednesday. by thursday, maybe even a little bit of rain. and it favors the north bay. not a whole lot but it will help to suppress the fire. here is a look in areas like mendocino county, lake county could see a quarter of an inch or more. in portions of the north bay, a tenth of an inch. that is still okay. it will do enough. giving you a look at what to expect for the central and south bay, not so much. maybe a few one hundredths along the coastline. a few low 60s out there. as we get into the afternoon, a beautiful day when it comes to the temperatures. 70 san francisco. mid-70s in oakland. upper 70s for fremont. low 80s for the warmer locations. the cooldown continuing. thursday and friday are the coolest days with a chance of

rain moving in. hooray. >> yes. >> we're warming it back up under mostly sunny skies. >> i like it, rosemary. thank you. >> you got it. we are following the latest on the fires in the north bay. coming up, why cal fire is focusing on the northeastern part of the fire. plus, these are live pictures. we have complete coverage. the wildfire this morning in the santa cruz mountains. again, you're looking from the boulder creek area. we will bring you an update on the fire at the top of the hour. there? that's good. lica misses you. i'm over it though. (laughter) that's fine. i miss her more than you anyway. ♪ ♪ hey, my window is closing. yeah that's okay. alright miles. i love you. (phone hangs up) ♪ ♪ yeah i love you too. ♪ ♪

>> welcome back to mornings on 2. it is 7:51. in mendocino county, 8,000 evacuees were allowed to go back to their home yesterday. >> for so many what they found were just heart breaking. >> i so wish i had more time. so i could have grabbed everything off of the walls. s. i actually didn't cry yesterday when i first came out until i saw our mattress, where our mattress was. and it is just springs now. and i was thinking -- i was like, that could have been us. like we could have been laying right there and never woken up. and we would be gone. >> kara and her husband lost their home after rushing to satisfy themselves and two-year- old triplets. the home is uninsured they tell us. all of its contents have been burned along with cars and a motorcycle.

>> we have a lot of help. and there are some people that don't have any help. and i'm so thankful for all of the help that we do have. >> they are temporarily living with family members. a youcaring.com contribution site has been set up to help them. it has raised over $1,600 so far. people who lost their homes are now starting to think about what happens next, especially with the housing shortage here in the bay area. an estimated 5700 homes burned. finding rental properties and rebuilding won't be easy. retail analysts say the fire will put an added strain on already strapped bay area housing market. there are limited rentals available. contractors already had waiting lists for new housing projects. according to the experts, some people may take their insurance money and just move out of california. >> if i were a senior on a fixed income, let's say i was on social security, i may have no choice. i have to find a place to live.

if i can find a place where i can build a home that is less expensive, i may take that opportunity and go. >> another problem is the high construction costs and there are fears there won't be enough reputable contractors to go around. coming up this morning on the 9, we will be joined by california insurance commissioner dave jones. he will talk about filing an insurance claim and avoiding the scams when you try to rebuild. that happens later this morning on the 9. police in petaluma have arrested a woman suspected of stealing from fire evacuees. they found katie lehnhard after a tip. the thief had cashed a check against her checking account. they found an active arrest warrant. she was on probation and had credit cards and checkbooks in her possession that belonged to fire evacuees. she may have taken it from vehicles left behind by people running from the fire. firefighters in sonoma

county raised an american flag that survived the flames. the flag itself was spared. firefighters say it was an overwhelming sight to see the flag flying high above the scorched land. scientists know how gold was created billions of years ago. they call it a cosmic crash in deep space. thousands of scientists witnessed two stars crashing into each other. they were first predicted by albert einstein in 1915. they say this is evidence that element such as platinum, gold and uranium are produced in the collisions. the time is 7:55. the nba regular season starts today. the warriors will defend their nba title. for the second straight year they begin the season as the favorites to win the championship. kevin durant is pumped up for

his second season with the warriors. >> i'm at that point, playing with such a talented group of guys that they -- they make you focus on other things besides themselves. i think that's underrated part of this team is that, you know, everybody here, klay might make five in a row so he may have to play defense or pick and row. so you focus on different things as you get older and play on better teams and it makes your game more well rounded. >> before the game against the rockets the warriors will get their championship rings and raise the championship banner. the game starts at 7:30. the games open at oracle at 5:30. if you are going tonight, get there early. you don't want to miss the pregame festivities. the time is 7:56. as we have been reporting, two firefighters have been hurt fighting a wildfire in the santa cruz mountains overnight. in a moment we will bring you

the latest on the challenges that crews are facing as they work to bring the fire under control as well as evacuations that are currently underway. good morning. we can see traffic is going to be busy in many areas, including in the east bay. highway 24 is slow through lafayette. tte. outside our doors, a cooling trend begins this after with the on shore breeze making a come back in our air quality. even rain in the extended forecast. more on this coming up.

>> this is ktvu mornings on 2. >> 8:00. we will take you to a news conference on the fire burning

in the bear creek area. let's listen in to cal fire. >> the fire continues to burn. i'm showing that three more firefighters were injured. let's join in on the news conference. >> cal fire resources responded to the fire last night at about 10:30 p.m. report of a structure fire on bear canyon road. when our firefighters arrived, the fire had begun to extend into the vegetation. at this time we're looking at about 125 acre fire. thick forest and brush. we have evacuated a community of deer creek and los cumbras affecting about 200 homes. we have two evacuation centers, one at the elementary school and one at the fire station. we have had some firefighter injuries on the fire that we had to deal with this morning.

and i also have the incident commander here for the fire to talk about the operations and the current fire conditions. rob sherman. >> good morning. >> can we get your name. >> rob sherman. division chief cal fire. currently we have about 250 personnel working on the fire. we have resources from as far away as san luis obispo. we have santa clara, alameda, contra costa county, and a lot of local agencies, santa clara as well as santa cruz county. so the idea right now is we're going to be going direct, which means we will be working right on the fire's edge. as you can tell, it is quite smoky behind me. we have asked for helicopters and aircraft. so the idea is to hit it pretty hard with the aircraft. and then go ahead and hit it with the ground resources at the same time. so the air resources should be

in the air within the hour. and once we get that, we will have a better information on intel, on acreage, and all of that kind of stuff that we can put together a better plan. at night, we have a hard time looking at it and seeing exactly what we've got. so although it is smoky. so it will be good to get the aircraft up there. right now the winds are very light, as you can tell. the fire was smoke driven. a lot of heavy brush and timber in the area. we're making access issues and roads are very hard in this area. a lot of dirt roads. that's what we're using as some of the containment lines. >> the firefighters, what happened? >> we have several injuries. we had one that we know of that was an inmate that had some smoke inhalation issues. he has been transported. he is in stable condition. the second one was off of a firefighter hand crew that fell down a ravine approximately 30 to 50 feet.

and sustained a broken wrist, a possible broken wrist, and some facial lacerations, being transported. we have three additional firefighters that have slipped in the steep terrain that are being evaluated but probably not transported at this time. >> it seems that the fire is still growing. you initially estimated in size of 125 acres. as we have been reporting, we have seen it move in this direction. the fire is still growing. do you have a sense how big the containment is and how big it is now. >> no, i do not. i'm going to hold it at 125 until the air resources get in the air and give us an estimate of what we have. >> containment? >> 0% containment. >> any homes imminently threatened. >> imminently, no. we have the community of los cumbras that we have evacuated. we sunk a lot of resources in there for protection as well. >> what is the challenge of fighting this fire other than it being remote. >> remote, steep terrain.

a lot of what we call roll-out. we get fire and material that's roll down the hill and will ignite fires from down below. we have those issues, steep terrain, just all sorts of things that go with that. >> will the heavy lifting be done by the aircraft because of the terrain. >> what do you mean heavy lifting. >> most of the hammer, so to speak. will most of the fighting be done by air or by ground. >> combination. we have ordered several helicopters and air tankers. the penetration of the water goes down through the trees. it is more direct than the air tankers. we do it in conjunction with that. and you always have to have a good ground attack after -- when air support is there. they put the fire, the retardant on the fire and then the ground crew helps strength then. >> what about the weather conditions. >> weather conditions right now, i haven't looked at the weather for a while.

the winds are light. the rhs dropped 4% since we did it at 3:00 in the morning, which was a 20% so rhs are between 15 to 20% right now. >> is that helping? the low humidity is an issue. about the the calm winds has to be a relief for you guys. >> yeah. the winds are not there. but in the last ten days, we've had north winds and a lot of drying. everything is really, really dry. it is challenging. >> considering the fires in the north bay, do you have the resources that you need here to handle this fire? and can you draw additional resources if you need. >> so far everything that we have ordered we had fills on. >> how many firefighters in. >> around 225, 250 right now. anything else? >> biggest concerns going forward? i mean, you've got -- any weather concerns? winds? i know rain possibly coming on thursday. >> correct. rain coming in on thursday.

i don't know if it will reach down this far. i haven't seen the morning weather report yet. biggest concern, life safety, firefighter and the civilian safety as well. >> you had five firefighters injured already. are you saying anything to these firefighters? is there anything that can be done to prevent it when you're fighting in this terrain. >> it is interesting. the injuries occurred in the daylight, not in dark. we have given them a briefing on what to look for, what to be responsible for, and also what to watch out for. >> you said they happened in the daylight? they didn't happen overnight. >> the ones that fell down the ravine and the couple that slipped -- smoke inhalation happened at night. but the one that tripped happened right at the turn of daylight. any other questions? >> the injuries happened at night from the one gentleman who was transported. >> no major injuries. >> correct. >> it occurred at night.

right at the dusk, when we're starting to turn into daylight. >> i heard the three firefighters might be injured rescuing the one firefighter. is that right. >> i have no information on that. >> the crews that are here fighting this fire, are they local? >> as i said before, we have local and non-local. we have some from san luis obispo. all that i mentioned are currently here. anything else? >> will you have another briefing. >> at 10:00. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> all right. there's the latest from cal fire on this new wildfire burning in the santa cruz mountains called the bear fire. it popped up around 10:30 last night as a structure fire and it extended into the vegetation. on this tuesday morning, here we are specifically talking about.

the 125 acres have burned right there. this is kind of off bear creek road, near boulder creek. that's why they're calling it the bear fire. 150 homes threatened right now. people have been evacuated. if there are any positives, there is not a ton of wind which helped in the overnight hours and the morning hours. they have resources nearby because of what has been taking place up in napa and sonoma counties. they are pulling from the south right now as far down as san luis obispo. >> you can certainly understand why they say steep terrain is a concern. there are homes tucked inside of the santa cruz mountains. they told us earlier this they believe everyone in the threatened homes is out safely at one of two evacuation sites or staying with friends and family. as far as the evacuation sites, there are two. one was an elementary school. people forced from their homes started arriving at boulder creek elementary early this

morning. a number of people arrived there. the second site is a fire station in felton. if we can, i would like to hear from one woman that we met at the boulder creek elementary evacuation site. she was there with her two children and her two dogs. >> we got the word to vac ate around 4:06 this morning. we got a text and a call from reverse 911. and we were already packed because there was a lot of facebook activity about sirens. starting around late, 11:00, almost mid night. ht. >> now, as far as the other evacuation center site that has been set up, it is at a fire house in felton. leigh martinez is there talking with evacuees. we will bring her in for another live report. you see the smoke rising up over the scene there and really just hanging there. not a lot in the way of strong winds to blow it away. still weather means that the

flames are not being blown from tree top to tree top. so that is good news. >> a couple firefighters were injured. an inmate firefighter had smoke inhalation. and a hand crew firefighter who dropped 30 to 50 feet, broken bones there. and three other firefighters who were injured but didn't need to be transported. because of the steep terrain, a dangerous fire out there. i want to bring in rosemary right now on what they are facing as far as the weather in the santa cruz mountains. >> we are seeing improving weather heading into tuesday afternoon. as cal fire also pointed out, we've had several days, more than a week of dry north/northeast winds. we are well into fall where the moisture is very low and vegetation is very dry. we are going to continue to see this until we get the first rain. thankfully some of that first rain coming as early as thursday. it will favor the north bay.

let's look at what is happening now over the santa cruz mountains. the winds continue primarily from an easterly direction. even though the winds are generally light, we hope that the smoke drifts in this direction, towards the pacific. by the afternoon, it begins to switch. a southwesterly breeze expected later today. that could push the smoke in the other direction. we're talking about san jose and los gatos, morgan hill, you could see it drifting in the afternoon. calling for moderate air quality. that could change and we will be tracking it for you. variable wind this morning. by the afternoon, the arrows begin to point west and southwest. that is good. it will bring up our relative humidity and cool pacifica air into the bay area. clean out the air as well. the smoke will be pushed the other direction, towards inland areas like the sacramento valley, perhaps the central valley. spare the air day still in place. moderate air quality. definitely looking a little

better for the afternoon today than yesterday. over portions of the north bay, no surprise there. it will remain unhealthy until we can get the fires out. temperature-wise, 59 to start your morning in san francisco. mid-40s in the north bay of santa rosa. afternoon highs for today, coming down. 70 degrees pacifica and san francisco. mid to upper 70s expected around the bay. low 80s for the inland locations. temperatures will continue to cool. wednesday. thursday and friday, the possibility of rain. i'll detail that and the extended forecast coming up in a little bit. your time is 8:12. good morning, sal. >> good morning to you, rosemary. we look at the bay bridge because there is a new crash eastbound coming from san francisco to oakland. we're going to start westbound because most people going that way. we will see a little bit of a backup here in most of the lanes getting into san francisco. a 20 or 25-minute delay.

there is a problem eastbound before treasure island. a crash reported there. it is hard to see the haze. i see slowing on the lower deck of the bay bridge on the suspension side obviously heading out to treasure island. not a huge delays. westbound traffic looks okay. san mateo bridge recovering from earlier problems on 92 westbound. it is moderately heavy. no major issues since that earlier problem. look at the east bay commute. a lot of problems on 880 south and the dumbarton bridge is filled in as you might imagine. this part of the east bay commute is slow from fremont, 580 through castro valley. when you get to the peninsula, it is slow on 101. at 8:13, back to the desk. >> thank you, sal. new containment numbers to bring you on the fires burning in the north bay for more than a week. where cal fire is focusing its efforts on fires this morning.

>> the time is 8:16. let's bring in live pictures from sky fox above the bear fire. this started just after 10:00 last night as a house fire but quickly spread to vegetation and wildlife around it. we heard from cal fire just moments ago. it is 0% contained. it has burned through at least 125 acres. we know that five firefighters

have been injured but none of them seriously hurt. for the farther human impact, 150 people in the area have been evacuated. >> cal fire has access issues in and around boulder creek right there. that is why they say it is important to get the air attack launched as early as possible. so they can get water and retardant on the fires. thinking back to the lockheed fire that was burning back in 2009, a fire that i covered. that burned for ten days. not a huge fire, 7900 acres. but because of the steep terrain and lack of road access, it was very difficult to knock that fire down. maybe something that we may be seeing here as the bear fire just starts to kick up. again, on this tuesday morning. we are continuing to monitor the situation and bring you updates as we get them. we are receiving new information about the fires in the north bay. cal fire announced a short time ago that containment went up o'er night. the nuns fire in napa and

sonoma county containment went up from 53% to 68%. also no change in the 36,000 acre tubbs fire except that containment rose from 75% to 82%. and the 51,000 acre atlas fire is now 77% contained, up from 70% last night. in the meantime evacuation orders were lifted last night for two more neighborhoods in santa rosa. people living in geyserville and hillsberg have also been told that they can return. so far these fires have killed at least 41 people across four different counties. 102 people are still unaccounted for in sonoma and napa counties. the latest person killed was the driver of a water truck that crashed in napa county yesterday while assisting with fire operations. cal fire says the nuns fire has burned 5300 acres and is now 53% contained.

cal fire has been focusing on thing in east part of the fire in napa county. that's where allie rasmus joins us live with the latest on that part of the story. allie. >> reporter: we're on white hall lane near the community of rutherford. this is off of highway 128. this is one of the staging areas for cal fire tackling this portion of the nuns fire. you can see this is where they have the bulldozers and heavy equipment. equipment they used to make containment lines around the fire in the hill that's we're standing. that's where the fire is still active, where the smoke is. according to one of the cal fire supervisors out here, the fire is burning within their containment lines, within the bulldozer created containment lines. that is good news. this is in the foothills north of st. john's that we're looking at. you could see the orange glow of the fire just before sunrise. this part of western napa county is where cal fire it moved the resources to over the

past 36 to 24 hours. they were within well known wineries. dozens of other vineyards that line the st. helena highway. round after round of helicopter dropping water and fire retardant on the flames. the division chief explained that is really the only way to combat this part of the fire right now because it is burning in very steep, rugged terrain. >> it is very steep. there's a lot of small fingers or canyons that come down, which make it very dangerous to put firefighters directly into that area. and the fuels are very dense in that area as well. so we're not going to put firefighters anywhere where we're going to compromise their safety. and we're going to make sure that we meet the fire on our terms, not on its terms. >> reporter: now, another cal fire division chief told me yesterday it's been about 80

years since these hills had a wildfire. there is plenty of fuel to burn here. cal fire says people who live and work in this area should not alarmed. when we checked with them about 40 minutes ago, they said that the fire in this area where you see the smoke coming from is burning within their created containment lines. so they do expect to increase containment in this portion of the nuns fire here in western napa county throughout the day. the news so far here is good. back to you guys. >> great news. 68% contain on that nuns fire. thank you, allie. those of us who grew up in the bay area and were here during '89 will lever forget it. the earthquake 28 years ago.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

>> 28 years ago today the bay area was shaken by the deadly loma earthquake. it killed 63 people and caused widespread damage. the cypress structure in oakland and part of the bay bridge collapsed. a ruptured gas line caused a fire in the district. it struck at 5:04 p.m. and disresulted game three of the world series between the oakland a's and the giants. damage from the quake was estimated at around $6 billion. the time is 8:24. jury selection continues in the trial of a man charged with

shooting ask killing kate steinle in san francisco two years ago. jose ynez garcia zarate has pleaded not guilty to second degree murder. he said he found the gun and it accidentally went off, killing steinle. we are told that 150 potential jurors reported yesterday to the court. ear letter this month we know that auto potential jurors filled out questionnaires. an inmate pleaded no contest to killing a boy in 1984. he was in court yesterday to face first degree murder charges for the death of 3-year- old clark honda. the little boy was abducted from his home 33 years ago right where the auto mall parkway now stands. investigators say the boy's abduction was a kidnapping for ransom case. he was already behind bars in solano county for his no contest plea in 2002 for assault charges. for the second time in three weeks, a bare area inmate was mistakenly released from

jail. this time in alameda. sheriffs officials have not released the identity of the inmate but he was supposed to be transferred to san mateo county on an auto burglary charge. due to a technical error and miscommunication, he was let go. there is a warrant issued for his arrest but he is not considered a threat to the public. the previous incident happened in september at the santa clara county jail. that inmate was found a week later at a san jose golf course. we know that a total of fire firefighters have been injured fighting a fire in the santa cruz mountain that's started in the late night hours. we will have the latest on the challenges that crews are facing to bring the flames under control. good morning. traffic is moving along well in some areas and not so well in other areas. san mateo bridge is improving on the way to the peninsula. a cooling trend begins this afternoon. as we head into the next few days, better air quality and rain coming our way, at least for portions of thing in bay. i'll have details coming up.

>> 8:29 on a busy tuesday morning, october 17th. i'm gasia mikaelian. >> good morning, everyone. i'm mike mibach. we begin with breaking news in santa cruz county. at air news conference we brought to you live. there is 0% containment for the bear fire. >> it started as a house fire in the boulder creek area of the santa cruz mountains which we're showing you now. christien kafton is following the story throughout the morning hours. he is live now to give us an update. christien. >> reporter: we will start off and show you the latest development. it might have been difficult to see. they now have the cal fire helicopter in the air, doing the aerial surveillance, which is a critical element for them

to figure out just how the fire developed overnight from a house fire and then to a small wildland fire. some 30 acres or so. and then bigger than that now. estimated at 125 acres. we have another camera set up nearby to give you a different vantage point on that so you can see how the fire has developed and why it is so important for cal fire to get the aerial survey of what is going on out here and get an air tanker out here as early as possible. we have video from overnight to show you what the fire looked like again. this started as a call out to a structure fire that spread to wildland area. the fire then grew overnight. very large, to 125 acres. the concern now of course is how it could continue to grow. because this is very steep, difficult terrain. as a matter of fact, in that news conference just about half an hour ago, they talked about the difficulties that the terrain presents. >> remote, steep terrain. a lot of what we call roll-out.

we get fire and material that's roll down the hill and will ignite fires down below. we have those kind of issues. steep terrain and all sorts of things that go with that. >> reporter: that steep terrain creating a complicating factor for the firefighters. we heard there are a total of five firefighters who have been injured. one injured through smoke inhalation. that was an inmate firefighter. and then another firefighter fell down a 3050-foot ravine. we understand that he was medevaced out with injuries to his face and possibly a broken wrist. and then three other fighters who stumbled and fell because the terrain out here is so challenging, so difficult. loose, steep terrain, easy to lose your footing. unclear on what their conditions are at this point. we are hearing though that everyone is expected it recover. but it gives you a sense of just how difficult this fire is. now, the latest development

that we're looking for is that air tanker. we understand that cal fire will again be attacking this aggressively. that means air tankers. one that aerial survey is done, they can then call in the airstrikes and bring in the air tankers and bring in water drops, trying to cut this fire off at the head so it doesn't continue to grow and endanger -- continue to endanger the 150 to 200 home that's are currently evacuated at this point here in the santa cruz hills. again, the evacuation still underway here in the santa cruz mountains. five firefighters hurt. one structure burned. and at this point, they're still doing that aerial survey, trying to get a sense of how they want to tackle the bear fire. back to you. >> just looking at the trees behind you, christien, it looks like there is barely a breeze there. since the sun has come up, have you been able to tell based on the smoke whether this thing is growing in size at a rapid pace or at a slower pace?

>> reporter: yeah, you know, mike, good question. that is the same question that i had for cal fire when i was talking with them earlier. since george and i arrived at the scene, we have noticed that the fire seems to have progressed. how clear how far it has progressed. that is one of the reasons that cal fire needs to do the aerial survey, so they can get a sense of how the fire has developed and how big it is. they are estimating 125 acres. another thing that you noticed before is how still the air is. and that certainly is a benefit to firefighters. because although you heard that this fire could have parts break off and roll down into the ravines and start smaller spot fires, they don't have to worry about wind-driven spot fires. that is good news. as the winds get going through the santa cruz mountains, they can get going fast and propel the fire in any direction and it can cause significant danger to homes in the area. again, that is one of the

reasons why they want to tackle this early when they have the weather working with them. hopefully that can happen in the early morning hours. we are expecting the air drops to happen sometime after 9:00 this morning. we're looking to get another update from cal fire around 10:00 this morning to see what progress they have made. >> it looks like we have a chopper in route right now. sky fox overhead. i'm not sure what direction it is headed but likely headed to where you are, christien, and will make a drop or pick up water nearby and make a drop. >> it is interested to know -- it looks like we lost the helicopter. the number of acres burned, 125, that has stayed the same since 5:00 this morning. we also hear from cal fire that the fire is 0% contained. the aerial survey we saw a couple minutes ago may help them -- there is the water drop here on the fire burning in the santa cruz mountains. once they are able to get overhead and get a look at what is happening, i wouldn't be

surprised to see the number, 125 acres burned grow. earlier in the morning they told us they are prepared to go to 600, perhaps 1,000 acres. we are at 0% containment. >> it is important to get the choppers and planes up. it is nice that we have a few dozen nearby in the north bay where they have been attacking the fires. it is important to get them up due to the access issues that cal fire has in the steep terrain near boulder creek off of highway 9. very windy if you've never been there. brookdale and other communities nearby there. dozens of people have been evacuated. authorities have set up two evacuation centers for the dozens of people forced out of their homes. >> one is at boulder creek elementary. another at a fire house in felton. that's where we find ktvu's leigh martinez. >> reporter: yes. the main evacuation center is the fire house. we have seen a lot of activity, not just people showing up but also with firefighters. we just saw some big equipment

move out of here. we saw a bulldozer leave the area. we are told that about 100 people so far have been evacuated. we were first at boulder creek elementary school but there was no cell phone reception there. so a lot of the evacuees are leaving that location to come over here to the fire house in felton. inside, firefighters tell us that there are about 20 people who have evacuated inside. around 11:30 p.m. monday night residents started receiving the reverse 911 calls from the santa cruz county sheriff's department. the emergency alert instructed residents within a four-mile radius to evacuate immediately. boulder creek elementary school was initially set up as the first shelter. a mother was there with her two children and two dogs. since the alert came through at 4:00 a.m. here at the fire house, one woman says she quickly left with her dog and two cats because she had an evacuation plan already after watching the north bay fire devastation. ti

>> so i had three friends who have lost their homes in the santa rosa and napa areas. and another -- my niece was evacuated out of sonoma state. and one of my friends from high school is fighting the fires up there. we were really concerned. >> reporter: she says the area the fire is burning is very rugged terrain. there are not a lot of homes but a lot of oak trees and christmas tree farms. there was a lot of construction going on highway 9. that construction equipment has been removed to allow for evacuations. now, back out here again live, you're seeing a lot of people going over to their cars. this is the main evacuation center right now at the fire house. this is the place where you can get some cell phone reception. and people say that, you know, the air is a little clearer up here too. you can see some of the smoke but you can't smell it, which i guess is a good thing. the boulder creek elementary school, that has been closed. they were originally going to

keep it open. one woman we spoke to says she was originally told when she showed up that they would close the shelter because school was going to start. but when we showed up, we got the word that they were going to keep it open because alerts had begun out saying go to boulder creek elementary school first. they are trying to get people to come over here so they can get more information. the cell phone reception was completely out at boulder creek elementary school. so a lot of people just want to be aware of what is going on. they want to be able to check in with their friends and let them know that they are okay. this is the place that everyone is showing up. >> it looks like it will be home base for the better part of the day as far as what cal fire is telling us. >> let's go over to rosemary and what the firefighters are facing this morning. >> this morning, the winds are bearable out there. a northeast flow, east flow. into the afternoon, that will switch around and become a westerly wind. that will be an improvement when it comes to the relative

humidity and the cooler pacific air moving in. now, what it could also do is begin to push that smoke towards areas of the south bay. so here is a look at what is going on right now. you can see from the arrows, there is the fire. and you can see that the wind, the flow is still in this direction. but, again, by the second part of the day, we will begin to see a switch in our weather pattern. here is a look at the winds anticipated in the second part of the afternoon. they do become west/southwest at times. and with that fire in mind over the santa cruz mountains, that means the direction of the smoke will move this direction. so areas over san jose, los gatos, perhaps, this is a better pattern that will move into place. it will for the most part give us better air quality. now we have the cool, clean pacific air moving in. with the westerly breeze pushing it towards the east, it will move away from the bay area. unfortunately in towards the

central valley area. but bring us better air quality. moderate for today. a little better than yesterday. coast, central bay and the east bay. santa clara valley within that. that could change in the afternoon with the switch in the winds and over portions of the north bay we expect it to remain unhealthy to even very unhealthy over areas of santa rosa. a tough day yesterday. and it takes a while for the wind to pick up and carry the smoke away. we could see it linger once again. temperatures this morning mid- 40s in santa rosa. stuck in the 40s as well as fairfield. over near the bay, temperatures are rebounding. as we get into the afternoon, we're looking at 70 degrees for san francisco. mid to upper 70s in areas over the bay. and then inland we will go low 80s expected for today. cooler day. the on shore breeze is back. for tomorrow, low clouds and fog are back in the bay area. more on that, plus the rain coming our way by thursday and into friday, which is also good news. coming up in just a bit. let's look at the highways this morning with sal. hi, sal.

>> good morning. right now, traffic is going to be okay if you're driving in some commutes and it will be slow in others. the east shore freeway has improved a little bit. yesterday at this time it was about an hour delay. right now about 45 minutes or so driving from the carquinez bridge to the macarthur maze heading out towards the bay bridge toll plaza. you will see that traffic is going to be slow at the toll plaza. but it is within the realm of normal. 20, 25-minute delay. this is a look trying to get on to the lower deck of the bay bridge. it is slow because of an earlier accident eastbound near treasure island. driving from san francisco to oakland, you need extra time. it is not normally this slow. san mateo bridge westbound recovering pretty much from earlier problems. heavy on the peninsula when you get there. and you can see the east bay just full of minor crashes. dumbarton bridge had a crash. and traffic is very heavy in this entire region. 8:41. let's go back to the desk. >> thank you, sal. netflix keeps feeding your need to binge watch. it will break the bank when it

comes to original programming. we will explain how in a moment.

>> 8:44. staying on top of breaking news and bringing in more live pictures of flames burping in the santa cruz mountains. we are seeing water drops from fire fighting helicopters in the area.

it has been burning in the santa cruz mountains since about 10:00 last night. from this picture high above, we clearly see flames. i don't see any aircraft in the sky just yet. just a lot of thick smoke. this started as a house fire but spread to nearby vegetation. it has burned through at least 125 acres. also five firefighters have been hurt. none of them have serious injuries. as you can tell from this wider picture, steep terrain is a real concern for crews, just getting them in and out has been very, very difficult. that's why the air attack will come into play here. people who live in about 150 homes in the area have been evacuated. many of them going to a shelter at boulder creek elementary and also the fire station in felton. at this point the fire is still at 0% containment. a lot of smoke rising, not being blown around by whipping winds. that is one good aspect in the fire fight. we will stay on top of this throughout the morning and have more on the 9. >> it is interesting, 28 years

later, in the mountains right there, the earthquake, the epicenter was in the santa cruz mountains and here we are a wildfire. facebook apparently wants to hire a very specific type of employee and making a purchase to try to attract younger users. >> pam cook is back in the studio. and wall street hitting a record high. >> every uptick is a record for the dow. we will show you the numbers in a second. facebook is buying to be honest polling app. it asks multiple questions about their friends. since launching on august 3rd, it has more than 5 million users who have sent more than one billion messages. sergeant going to help facebook attract younger users. checking in on the opening bell. when it rang this morning, the dow hit another record high. goldman sachs and united health are reporting solid earnings for the latest quarter. johnson & johnson, boeing, a lot of big name companies helping things out this

morning. let's take a look at the numbers right now. the dow jones getting very close to that 23,000 mark. 22,978. up 19, 20 points. the s&p and nasdaq are down a little bit today. netflix says the future lies in exclusive original content and plans to pour8000000000 dollars into programming next year -- $8 billion into programming next year. it comes as competitors including apple and amazon are making investments in original contain. and fab wants to fire people who have national security clearances. according to bloomberg, that's because the company wants to prevent foreign governments from interfering in future elections by using facebook as a platform. workers who have national security clearances can access u.s. government classification information.

facebook plans to use these people to search for questionable social media campaigns ahead of elections. and microsoft mixing work with play. the company just built treehouses for its employees. take a look at this. they are on the campus in redmond, washington. employees say they would work outdoors if they could. so the company came up with the treehouse idea. they feature all of the modern comforts of an office. wi-fi, even a gas fireplace in one. they were created by pete nelson who builds those treehouses on tv, treehouse masters. they are expected to last 20 years. they made them to expand as the tree grows. >> i don't want my kids to see that last story. that is beyond my wildest dreams. >> and beyond our budgets too. cool idea for a company to do that. >> whatever makes the employee comfortable. >> talk about perk. we thought free dinner every night was the big thing.

i guess that's so 2008. >> oh, yes. >> thanks, pam. >> let's check in with sal and a look at the commute. how are we doing, sal. >> not too poorly. we have slow traffic as usual as you might expect. not too bad at the bay bridge. i want to show you if you're waiting around to get into the city. a lot of people wait until about 9:00 to see if things lighten up. slightly better than an hour ago. maybe the waiting paid off. still slow at least a 25-minute delay before you make it on to the span. we're also looking at traffic once you get there. highway 101 is okay. eastbound driving from san francisco to oakland on 80 is slow approaching treasure island. the scene of an earlier accident. this is 880 right in front of oracle arena. traffic is slowing down on the way to downtown oakland. the east bay traffic is busy in the middle part of the east bay. we showed you 880. 580 is also slow driving from san leandro into oakland. 880 is slow solid from san

lorenzo down to fremont. at 8:49, let's bring in rosemary. >> a cooldown begins today, sal. and temperatures will continue to fall through the business week. the on shore breeze is coming back. that will be good news for the air quality. and some rain in the forecast, which is excellent news to help suppress that fire over portions of the north bay. the fires, i should say. plural. looking at jack london square. haze out there this morning. the winds light and variable. depending which way the wind is blowing, you may be getting a little bit of smoke in your area. again, it will switch by the afternoon. temperatures this morning stuck in the 40s for some of our inland valley locations. santa rosa, 45. low 60s right now san francisco. mid-50s oakland. low 50s livermore. san jose, 57 outside of your door. high to mid level clouds sweeping through the area today. coming from a wave that has a little bit of moisture embedded in it over southern california. for us, it will take a couple

days before a system drops out of the gulf of alaska and brings us a better opportunity at rain. first we will see the shift in the wind. by the afternoon it is on shore. you see portions of the north bay and a westerly breeze in san francisco. a south breeze coming in from san jose. what it could mean is that the smoke from the santa cruz mountains might drift over to portions of the south bay into the afternoon. outside of that, the smoke will continue to move inland and we are again looking at better days when it comes to air quality. baby steps though. today only slightly better with moderate air quality over portions of the central bay. temperatures continue to cool. it looks like thursday, friday going to be the coolest days. let me show you what we expect in the way of rain. the northern california area going to get the brunt of it down to lake county. maybe a quarter inch or so. then we get into the north bay, a few one hundredths to a tenth of an inch. still improve the air quality and help with the fires. temperatures today low 70s to low 80s.

so cooler than yesterday. and again the cooling trend continues all the way into the weekend. as we get past friday, though, the showers go away and temperatures rebound. upper 70s expected inland. we are going to take a break. we will be right back.

>> in mendocino county, 8,000 evacuees were allowed to return to their homes yesterday. for many what they found was heart breaking. >> i so wish i had more time. so i could have grabbed everything off of the walls. i actually didn't cry yesterday when i first came out, until i saw our mattress. where our mattress was. and it is just springs now. and i was thinking, i was like, that could have been us. like we could have been laying right there and never woken up. and we would be gone. >> she and her husband lost their home after rushing to

save themselves and their two- year-old triplets. their uninsured home and all of its contents were burned along with cars and a motorcycle. and the mendocino county sheriff's office released this photo from the fire zone. it shows deputies coming to the rescue of a duck trapped in a cage in a remote area of the county during the fire. the nfl players association will meet with the league today to discuss players protesting the national anthem. a vote it change league policy is not expected but there is growing pressure on team owners. last week commissioner roger goodell told owners to keep the political protests off of the field. yesterday president trump suggested that players who kneel should be suspended. the nba regular season starts today and the warriors are looking to win back to back titles. they start the season as the favorite to win the championship. prior to the game tonight, the

warriors will get their championship ring and will raise the banner. the law that would require gun owners to lock up their weapons when they're not at home. oh, you brought butch. yeah! (butch growls at man) he's looking at me right now, isn't he? yup. (butch barks at man) butch is like an old soul that just hates my guts. (laughs) (vo) you can never have too many faithful companions. introducing the all-new crosstrek. love is out there. find it in a subaru crosstrek. do you want to do a monster check? yes. no monsters.

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yesterday the ambassador for north korea said that they have been the victim of a nuclear threat from the united states, sunday secretary of state rex tillerson said diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis will continue until the first bomb drops. president donald trump's candidate to be the drug czar

dropped out. the president said republican pennsylvania congressman tom marino informed me that he is withdrawing his name. chuck schumer said confirming him as the nation's drug czar said it's like putting the wolf in charge of the hen house. congress is going to debate rules forcing gun owners to lock their guns in a box when they are left in vehicles and to report thefts of guns to police within 48 hours. it's now illegal to carry guns on school grounds in california. governor brown signed a bill that overturned the right of school employees to carry concealed weapons on campus in

certain cases, the governor agreed with those that said guns have no place in schools, they said arming school employees could provide protection for students and teachers. today at 9:00, evacuations underway as a new fire burns in the santa cruz mountains. more evacuation orders ra lifted and the tawnment on the fires grows. we are live with the state insurance commissioner to answer your questions about claims and fraud. we have live pictures from the santa cruz mountains, flames are moving into the forest, here we are at this hour, 125-acres burned, 200 personnel working this fire, we have crew on