The winds, the winds have picked up and you may have felt it last evening. It sure was refreshing. The szeo me from the northwest, it is pushing all the smoke to our south. Look at santa cruz, the unhealt the rest of us you can see green and yellow dots as we move from the south bay to north bay and that is good to moderate air quality. Well be near 60 at the coast today, low to mid70s. 8 80 to 88 inland. And spare the air is extended through friday and well talk more broke that comi about that. And there is an update on the c zmu light 234i7k fires an well get to that. But we want for check in with Amy Hollyfield. Reporter yeah, a well ccome relief to the firefighters who have in order had enough resources. The National Guard will be helping them. But ill toss it back to you because i understand that we have a press conference starting. Lets see what the containment is this morning. You can ask question of the representatives up here and as well as oneonone conversations after the conference. Just a quick update for the 6 00 numbers. The czu lightning complex is now 80,1. And i c 8 80,137 acres in size. Were staying at 19 containment and there are still 24,000 plus structures that are threatened by the incident. Unfortunately this morning we can confirm that there are now 538 5 538 structures that have been destroyed, 527 of those destroyed are in Santa Cruz County. And there is a website as chief deputy clark mentioned last night, Santa Cruz County has put up showing people what for an update on the actual operations going on out in the field, chief mark brunton. Good morning. The past couple days, waef made a significant progress on our firefight. And we continue to improve the lines that we have established. And getting another day closer to request extincguishing the f. And the black lines signify that were holding it, we have lines established around it and we feel that that has been secured. And that is critical so we dont have any spread to the northeast. So u and tin a mop up type stat. Moving along the north zone again, we do have active flame on the ridge, lines established as you see on the map and were seeing that fire creep down as part of our strategy on we can fully extinguish that and i fully anticipate that we will be successful in that endeavor. And were continuing with full extinguishment of the fire of the western portion of the fire. With our infrastructure, looking at reenergizing that today if for the sooner. And then again, holding the lines above that community and taking advantage of the weather to start full extinguishextingu. And down to the south, control lines are holding as well as obviously the secondary line. And so we do have really good protection for the community of santa cruz and the uc campus. Moving up the 9 corridor which has been a challenge for us, have good line and extinguished it above a good portion of felton. And todays operation is critical. They have been working on this the past two d really. And what we plan on doing is later this afternoon early evening, preparations in place to do a burn operation which will bring the fire up to the fire that is hung up on to the ridge top. And that will create a nice barrier for the fire afternoon the community of felton. And that is excellent news. And it will take a couple days once we did that to continue to mop up, take out the hot spots and render that safe and get you ti Utility Companies in there. And it will protect felton and the bottom end of ben lomond as we continue to progress up before enlomond lomond. And we have a lot of rources working dilint, again, very. ll hav ace in the coming days trying to get that completed. And so were marching north and preparing as we go ahead and implementing that strategy. And so looking really good. Again, a painstaking process, were working around the homes, getting control lines put in, and then the big thing is opening the roads into the interior of the fire. Fire. Weve been able to establish a group that has gone in starting yesterday, getting deep into some of the rote systems. Some are a little bit more work that be othe than other, but were working with a variety of agencies to get in and once we get in, render it safe, getting the Utility Companies in behind us so that they can start putting back the infrastructure. Highway 236, doing the same kind of operation so we can start opening that and getting interior to the other areas. Then the inspection teams can start doing their jobs so we can get that taken care of as well. From the air program, the air is looking favorable with the weather, so well be flying the aircraft. Past few days, we topped out the amount of hours that we can fly. As of yesterday, they dropped 256,000 gallons of water one day. Were timing out the aircraft, that is i go. A significant. And every day were seeing more and more. Our choppers are dropped over 1. 6 million gallons of water. So were using all the tools available to us thank you. Speaking next is scheef chri good morning. In terms of some positive news again, continuing with the theechl of not a lot of people running around same situation last night as there was yesterday. So again our Third Operational period without an arrest. So people are staying out as we have asked them and getting people into repair the power lines and things like that which are pieces of the plan to repopulate those areas and make sure that it happens quickly. So last night as i mentioned, officers running around making sure that everything is ain, wey with 70 deputies and officers, 30 from our agency, 20 from inside the county. 20 mutual aid from over the hill. Last night we responded to 14 calls for service and six welfare checks. Eight suspicious pooem peopleop. Unfortunately, we did get a welfare check for a 63yearold woman who was last spoken to monday. Hadnt heard from her in a couple days so she called us and we went out to her home and unfortunately found her deceased. We believe it is Natural Causes at this point. There quas was no signs of foul or forced entry. But nonetheless really kind of a sad note as far as that is concerned. And secondly, a welfare check for someone who potentially mad so 24 person evacuated from t area. They had been they had done what we asked them to do, they left the area. And were staying with a friend up until monday. And so they left sometime monday evening, their friend called us during the night last night to say they arent heard from them because there was a conversation that this person wanted to try to sneak back into the evacuated area to their home. And so right now were actively looking for that person to find out where they are. So just to reiterate, a couple things, one is that we want to get you back home. We really do. But there are dangers to sneaking back into the evacuated area. You just dont know you might not know the terrain, the area. You could get lost. And we want to help you, but what it does, it divides our resources in a sense that well send people to find you. In this days that is exactly what well do. And that is okay too. We want to make sure this person is okay. But i discourage people from doingha so it doesnt divide the resources. But if we find this person, ill definitely let you know. And another piece, again, if you havent heard from a friend, i would encourage u our dispatch number. 8314711121. Call us and well do what we did last night. We want to make sure that people are safe and accounted for. Lastly just to touch on the website that you heard chief cox mention, we can completely understand that you would want to know the status of your house. So it is Santa Cruz CountyFire RecoveryDamage Assessment do the map. Aspx. It will give you information as to whether your house has been damaged or okay or hopefully not destroyed. Thank you. Up next is detective blank bk suede. Good morning. No changes for san mateo county, but we want to say thank you to everybody who donated the diapers, baby formula and school supplies. For those of you who are interested in helping out, you can make financial donations. We also want to say how grateful we have for all the support that were seeing from the community, whether it is online messages or a couple restaurants have donated food including alices restaurant up on skyline and 84. And it is just incredibly motivating. Our First Responders and support staff see these messages and we cant you how much it means to us. It is heard and felt. And speaking next on behalf of all of the agencies and unified command is ic billy see. Good morning. Obviously yesterday we had Great Success out on the line. We were able to fly the aircraft. Our folks were able to get in and develop some perimeter control. And there was a lot f production in the air that was very visible from highway 17 corridor. When we get clean air like that and it is visible, the fire is slowly moving down the slope in and behind the structures. And it is very visible from this area. We havehave lot of forces on th ground and today you heard the plan, well be doing later this afternoon some burning operations to control that fire on our terms. Well bring it down into what we consider perimeter control. And with that said, whenesaid, n smoke starts to clear, all the residents get restless about trngoet back in and wanting to know when the evacuation orders and warnings will be lifted. Well be working with our counterparts and Law Enforcement agencies to develop a strategic plan. Weve already started to identify areas that we can potentially start looking at lifting some evacuation orders and moving them to warnings. And so please be patient. It is a process. Well work through. Obviously our biggest concern when we start bringing folks back in and lifting some of the orders is making sure that we build a good Strong Foundation meaning that we have good roadways for them to travel on utilities and make sure that it is safe and make sure that we have water for them so that they have the essential necessities. So that is what well continue to work on, fixing any issues and getting these folks back to a sense of normalcy as soon as responsible. Thank you. And the final speaker this morning from the local cal fire unit chief ian larkin. Good morning. Were starting to make progress, though it is slow and methodical, it is happening. For those that are using the site to determine if your property has sustained any damage or been destroyed, i want to make a preface that the assessment is still ongoing and not completed yet. Because your house is not represented on that map, as the damage inspection continues to move forward, the numbers may increase and well represent those properties that are added to that each day. So be find millimindful that ju is not there today, doesnt mean this wont be there tomorrow. And there are a couple areas that ill give you that can be of assistance to you. And you can go to disaster az ta assistan assistance. Gov website. And there are resources there for folks in need. And then also, you can download the fema app. If you toodont you dont have can call fee in a directly, 800621fema and there is assistance there. For those that may have Small Businesses, that need assistance, you can also go to the Small Business administration and there are Resources Available to you to help you with that. So troops on the ground and instant Management Team that are here along with our cooperating agencies both the sheriff departments for san mateo and Santa Cruz County are working diligently and are working to makes environment as safe as possible for us to repopulate the areas affected. So please bear with use g fast as can d wll d our besttd a get you be soon. Thank you. All right. Happy to answer any questions that you might have. Were getting an update on the c zmzu lightning complex fi. The fire is growing a bit, 8137,000 acres. Containment at 19 . 24,000 plus structures are threatened and more than 500 have been destroyed. But firefighters say that they have made significant progresso improve the lines that they already have, if a advantage of the weather that we see to put out some of the fires where they can. They said that today they will be flying more aircraft to dump more water. They had 256,000 gallons a day of water dumped. And they will also be doing a burn operation so that they can button up some fires in certain areas. And they talked about getting people back home. They are looking at areas trefr warning, but they want to make sure that the roads are safe, making sure that they have utilities and water. And another thing that i want to tell you about, we got an update from the sheriffs they didnt make any arrests overnight. They have about 70 deputies making sure peoples homes are safe, but they are also doing welfare checks and during one welfare check that they did yesterday, they found a woman dead inside her house. She was in her 60s. Her friends reached out to them because they hadnt heard from her since monday and they found her dead inside her home. No foul play is sperked. A suspected. And they are also searching for a woman not heard from since monday. So there arear know att isot sa go back, it is really dangerous. So a lot to think about as they continue to fight this fire. But they said that they are encouraged abo book two separate qualifying stays and earn a free night. The open road is open again. And wherever youre headed, Choice Hotels is there. Bo that choicehotels. Com. Again. We have clean air in all of our neighborhoods right now. But spare the air, so it wont change. Well continue through friday, increasing winds, lower humidity coming as well have above average highs beginning tomorrow. Here is a look at my accuweather 7 day forecast and you will see today is one of our coolest days as the temperatures increase. Look for the likelihood of the smoke to increase once again. And this weekend, the smoke will start to taper just a little bit. And highs above average. And i do want to start with a sigalert in petaluma as we bring you to the mapmaps. There is a crash and injuries reported and an ambulance is on the way. This is southbound 101 at the petaluma boulevard offramp. As we check at the bay bridge toll plaza, metering lights came on at 6 07. And we have a fog advisory issued by the chp for the golden gate bridge. And if you have any questions about the road closures related to the fire, they are available at abc7news. Com. And the cdc now says that they do not recommend that you get tested for covid19 if you dont show any symptoms even if you have been a lot of doctor have been left puzzled by this. Previously the cdc said that viral testing was appropriate with recent exposure even if they were asymptomatic. Right now about 40 of infections where asymptomatic and 50 of transmissions occur before symptoms a rise. New at 6 00, the girl scouts updating their look. They are trading in the brown vest for a new green uniform. And three students from the Fashion Institute of technology came up with the new design saying they wanted to combine the classic uniform with a style that allows more individuality. And options include crew neck tshirts, pocketsed spandex leggings and a soft knit skater dress. They are reasonably priced starting at about ten buck. The vest is still brown, isnt it . What changed . I like the leggings. Jean jacket was cute. Coming up next, we have more Team Coverage of the bay area wildfire emergency. Also past couple days weve been able to make significant progress on the firefight, getting another day closer to extinguishing the fire. And good to hear positive news from cal fire on the czu complex. They say burn operations are working, they are hopeful about the firefight. And the 1. 25 million acres of land have been destroyed, but the more than 14,000 firefighters where starting to get the upper hand. Good morning, it is wednesday, august 26. So encouraging to hear during that update how the weather is helping they will a handle on some of these things. Yeah, and a more typical forecast today. You will see the winds out of the northwest more than they were coming out of the southwest over the last couple of days. Weve increased the humidity, dropped the temperatures and push the unhealthy air to santa cruz. Everybody else, good to moderate. So open the windows and bring in all that clean air because it wont last. We havday. And so the buildup of smoke will continue after a bit of a reprieve today. Low to upper 70s along the bay and warmest temperatures way inland, low 90s up to and there is optimism from the firefighters. They say the weather has helped them in the last few days. We learned that the fire is in our at 80,137 acres and 19 contained. And Julian Glover is live in Scotts Valley after the update. Reporter good morning. Well take it as anoththe anoth win. Again, containment still at 19 and we heard from the firefighters, they were very optimistic about the days ahead when it comes to knocking down the flames. I want to give you an update. They were very detailed, they said that the weather conditions are still favorable for air attacks. They plan to do this agin today with their nine helicopters. On the north end, they said that they have solid burn lines that have removed the evacuation warnings. To the south, lines are holding protecting the us us , earing rds and programs restoring power today or tomorrow. And we did hear great detail about the burn operations they plan on conducting today to try to create some control lines. We will work diligently to control the line during the next 24 to 48 hours. Reporter and so that is one of their best lines of defense in keeping this from spreading into communities populated with a lot of homes. Lets talk about the number of structures destroyed. They confirmed this morning 538 structures have been completely destroyed. Bulk of in Santa Cruz County. Some 527 of them. Only 11 in san mateo county. And they are encouraging people again not to come back into the evacuation area, to check the website that they have put up on the Santa Cruz County government website so you can see if your home is still standing, if it has been damaged or destroyed. And if you didnt see your home listed on the website right now, that does not mean that it is gone, the Damage Survey and assessment teams are tistill working. So they will be updating the app throughout the day. But again, an optimistic tone here in Scotts Valley this morning as i believe the firefight is now entering its ninth day. Julian glover, abc 7 news. That is good to see. Thank you. And now desperately needed help has arrived in the north bay. 250 National Guard troops will be on the front lines o lines. They ev they have 27 containment and am any ho Amy Hollyfield is live for us. Reporter and they have tents and trailers set up for the National Guard here in santa rosa. They are a welcome relief to firefighters who have not had enough resources to fight all the fires going on in california right now. And the fire stretches over three counties. And in lake county, residents have dealt wildfires and they are doing what they can to help the firefighters and protect their property. A little bit of deja vu, but what did you do 1234 the human condition is to power through, so you are cant lay down. And this fire has burned more than 356,000 acres. They have more than 2,000 frs here. The governor declared it a major disaster which triggered the release of more firefighters from around the state. It is calm and cool again this morning and so shaping up to give firefighters the upper are hand on this fire. Amy hole kneellyfieldhollyfield. And the scu lightning complex spans seven counties and burned more than 365,000 acres. It is 20 contained. Firefighters areaking Good Progress against it with major help from aerial water drops. This is what it looked like yesterday as a helicopter loaded up on water. And neighbors had to evacuate several times. That was all on fire, mission peak was all on fire so you were basically surrounded by flames. Yeah, we had it on all sides. Cal fire says there are three to four spots that are still active. And moving closer to homes. And the fire 4has charred more than 2700 acres. And you can follow the fires state wide with our wildfire tracker. You can see where the fires are spread willing, the acres that have burned and containment information all in realtime. The fire tracker is available at abc7news. Com and on the abc news app. Today Governor Newsom will have an update at noon and you can also watch it at abc7news. Com or on our abc 7 news app. And cal. Caller is s california is seeing the coronavirus cases drop. So how are the counties going to reopen . Well find out this week as the state takes into consideration how the virus spreads. There are areas for us to get our hand crews down into. Luckily we have the support air resources and they are coming a wonderful job. Sorry, that was the wrong sound bite there. But in any case, the state will issue g g g g g g child care settings. And Contra Costa Health services will open a Community Testing hub in richmond. The new testing site located in the parking lot of Richmond Civic Center plaza, testing is free and no insurance is required. The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on our local economy is a major focus of the effort to build a better bay area. Starting on friday, some businesses in Alameda County will reopen for outdoor services. And just in time for the end of summer, water parks and outdoor swimming tools will open too. There will be some strict social distancing guidelines and businesses will open outdoors include barber shop, hair and nail salons, waxing services and nonmedical massages. Still ahead, kenosha turned deadly. We have the latest from wisconsin. And looking at the big box, were done about 4 points. First lets check in with mike nicco. Right now everybody outside of santa cruz has healthy air and it is a little cooler. So if you have had the windows shuts, you can open them sdwrau the nice clean air in. Temperatures mid50s to mid60s. And lets talk about the commute, so far havent seen any drizzle out of these clouds, but it is still possible in the east bay hills and along the coast. Just a little more remote than it was yesterday. As far as your conditions, i expect to be pretty smoky later today, not quite as much as it has been, but still the possibility. Lets talk about the lnu lightning complex. 55, 92 . And 67, 66 on the east bay. And winds are also tagser s fa branch. And here is the key moving forward. As it gets hotter inland, it will get cooler but breezier along the coast as the summer spread increases. Look at that, winds consider calm and here well have just about ideal conditions. But the wintsdwinds will pick u that could push smoke town into San Francisco. Czu, 56 and 98 . And winds up to 10 miles per hour. Well take a look at the 7 day forecast coming up. Jobina, how are you doing . Im doing great. You look wonderful in the 1250ud i don stud u stud use. Thank you to making the trek in. And i do have some news for you. There is a backup on 101 southbound at the petaluma boulevard offramp. So i just want to let you know that the chm has not given us an estimated time as to when it will reopen. It looks like they have about two lanes close the right now. Injuries are reported and emergency crews are on the scene. And second sigalert is in san jose. You can see that the other backup that were looking at, this is northbound 101 past the hell rntff hellyer of and the hidden smiles. The foggy glasses. And the muffled laughs. A simple piece of fabric makes a big statement i care. Wear a mask. Lets all do our part to slow the spread. It grew overnight as expected, the hurricane laura a major category 3, 115 115mileperhour winds. And it could ramp up to a 4 and then possibly a 3 as it hits tonight. The worst time that hurricane could hit especially if a 15foot storm surge comes in and you rain about 10 inch on top of that, the storm surge will go miles inland and will devastate miam miles upon miles of east texas s and soulouisiana. Back here at home, temperatures cooler and the air is much clooe cleaner this morning but still the potential this afternoon that the could deteriorate. At the live desk, a third night of protests in wisconsin has turned deadly. Two killed, one person shot as outrage continues over the Police Shooting of jacob blake. Shots were fired outside a gas station in kenosha. A group of men armed with guns was stage there had promising to protect property as arguments broke out and protests wore on. A curfew was largely ignored. Blakes mother condemns the violence. Do neighboring justice and examine your hearts. We need healing. Ing jacob be justice and examine your hearts. We need healing. Blake is paralyzed from the waist down and remains hospitalized. State investigation tors have not released the name of the officer involved but bloaters call for him to be fired. And last night we heard from the first lady who took center stage at the white house addressing the pandemic. The even visible enemy covid19 swept across our beautiful country and impacted all of us. My deepest sim pamg goes out to everyone. And also Chris Christie praised the speech authentic an tell that they were her words. And you can see the full interview. Tonight the focus is on Vice President mike pence, he is going to deliver the keynote address from fort mchenry. Live coverage continues tonight from 7 00 to 8 00. The irs will soon send out catchup stimulus checks to about 350,000 people because o the ru to send them out earlier this year. The agency identified the error and it is set to issue the catchup payments in early to mid accepts. People affected do not have to do anything to get the money. The irs will issue the missing portion of the stimulus checks automatically. And were taking a live look at the New York Stock Exchange as trading gets under way dropping down about 36 points right now. Silicon companies for being out of touch. The chief executive criticize the other companies and says that the engineering elite may know more than most when building software, but they dont know more about how society should be,ed or what justice required. And here we go, national doths ddog day. So flood your feed with your cute pup. They want to raise awareness about adoption. And this year, dog adoptions have spiked since the pandemic. And that is good news. Coming up on gma, you will hear from experts about what you should consider when adopting a dog. My dog is not feeling it this morning. Me out the door. Escape mtie he has been asleep, which is good. Everyone knows that woodstocks favorite is my husband phil. Im definitely the second favorite, but that is fine. U madeeel like you moved up when cupc cupcakes. Fo about sen period, he was number one. And then im back down again. He is like what are you doing to me now . Exact bely. Im with you, im second in line for or i dont. And here is a look at tam. Air quality will be hazardous for many neighborhoods even though it is clean this morning going all the way through friday. Well see increasing winds and lower humidity coming and that will lower deteriorate the fire conditions but a little better along the coast as the seabreeze will kick up. Lets talk about todays temperatures. Low to mid80s througutba likely poorest air quality today. Low to mid60s along the peninsula coast. And 67 in downtown San Francisco. South San Francisco and sal sausalito around 71. And cloverdale north, low to mid90s. You can see low to upper 70s from richmond at 70, oakland 73 and free month fremont, fremont, and open the window, 93. And tonight mid to upper 50s and you can see the smoke temporarily clears out, but High Pressure comes over us tomorrow and friday and the winds will become a little more erratic. And temperatures will climb into the low to mid90s inland and mid to inner 80s around the bay. So warmer conditions are on the way. And in San Francisco, hayes street will be the latest city street it close to cars in an effort to help some of the struggling businesses. The chronicle reports the popular street will shut down to traffic between laguna and franklin streets every weekend starting friday at to allows per dhants sidewasid sidewalks and streets. And they have seen about 20 bars a restaurants close permanently during the pandemic. And in oakland, a restaurant is back in business thanks to a grant from the oakland africanamerican schchamber of commerce. Makignolia street wine and kitcn can open to Outdoor Dining on weekends and she is providing 300 meals a day distributed to the local community. Until we started this project, we had no true idea of how much need there was in our community for basic things like food. So this is really important. She is just one of dozens of grant recipients from the africanamerican chamber of commerce, it raised more than 1 million for its Relief Program in 9 0 days. So excited to see that. Yeah. And i should note that this is black restaurant week. It involves several cities and you can look at i think it is black restaurants week. Com. I should have looked that up before i said it. But you can google it. And you can find out the information and there is a lot of restaurants participating all kinds of different food and i think that well have more on that today at midday live. That is wonderful. So we have restaurant week, we have dog day, woodstock left . And lotion nation. Lotion nation. Pretty good. What else do we really need . I can think of some things, but you know what, lets just focus on this. The pandemic to end. But other than that, yeah. All right. Coming up next, 7 things that you need to know. And abc 7 has launched a new streaming app so wherever you are, you can get our live newscasts, breaking news and more with our new bay area app available on apple tv, android tv, fire tv and roku. Just here are the 7 things to know this morning. Number one, firefighters are saying thaheeaas really helped with the czu complex fire. In the last hour, we learned that the fire is now at 80,137 acres and is still 19 contained. Number two, 250 soldiers from the california National Guard have arrived to help battle the lnu lightning complex fire. More than 356,000 acres have burned and it is now 27 contained. Take a look at this, the air quality is good to mad ratodera. And spare the air is extended through at least friday and it will only get hotter away from the coast after today. Number four, Governor Newsom will give an update on the states response to the wild fires and coronavirus. C7ws. Com. Bcur n two people killed, another person shot as outrage continues over the Police Shooting of jacob blake. Number six, two north bound 17, a big rig has gone over the embankment. And number seven, check it out, the girl scouts have a new look. The Fashion Institute of technology designed new uniforms with more green than brown. Options include crew neck tshirts, leggings and a skater dress. So who is the girl scout here . From brown anies to cadets. And let me tell you something, this is major. All that time, all those years, the boxy vest and sash, it was tragic. This is amazing. Im so glad. Tragic. Good morning, america. Race to escape. Laura on the ver its in the gulf rapidly intensifying at this hour. Texas and louisiana right in the path. Mandatory evacuations underway for more than 500,000 people, winds expected to top 130 miles per hour. Ginger and our team are in the storm zone tracking the very latest. Deadly chaos. Overnight, violence erupting on the streets of kenosha, wisconsin. A man seen running with a firearm and shooting at a crowd, coblake as hisn ding justice for hey shotseven ti