One small area of this community. It is devastating news. Unimaginable devastation in hawaii as we begin to see the magnitude of the damage from Deadly Wildfires that ripped through mauis popular tourist area of lahaina. Most destructive fire appears to be the one burning on the western side, wiping out the town of lahaina. At least six people are dead and emergency officials expect that number to go up. Hawaiis number hawaiis governor did declare a state of emergency and is returning to the islands tonight to address the crisis. People are being told not to fly to maui unless they absolutely have to. The faa is keeping an eye on the smoke because it could alter flight patterns, and we are hearing of some people running to the beach in order to escape the flames. I was the last one off the dock when the fires came through the banyan tree and took everything with it. I just ran south and helped everybody i could along the way. We are getting a good look at that devastation. Video taken from a helicopter shows one building burned all the way to the water. Where there are not homes or buildings, the earth has been blackened by the flames. Good evening. Im ama daetz. Dan and im dan ashley. Thank you for joining us. We have conference of Team Coverage. Karina nova spoke with residents in lahaina about their harrowing escapes. Ama and suzanne funny is at the airport talking to travelers heading to maui. Dan but lets begin with sandhya patel, tracking conditions. Sandhya the conditions are not good. Winds are still going strong. Lets show you the satellite and radar. Some of the visible satellite picture is picking up smoke in the area, and it is devastating to see red flag warnings up for all of the island, including maui. They have had wind gusts that there airport of 45 miles per hour. That is just in the last couple of days. Honolulu county up to 81 miles per hour. Wind advisories are still going across the region. In case you are wondering what is happening, they have been dealing with a drought. A bad situation. When you combine that with dry, gusty winds and low humidity, the fires are out of control. Highpressure very strong to the north of the island chain, and to the south, a strong category four hurricane dora. While dora is not directly impacting then, the winds are funneling right between the two, but between the high and the hurricane. That is why the Hawaiian Islands have been taking a hit. But as dora starts to move away from the islands, they will start to notice the wind seizing up and the fire danger going down. Dan the massive wildfires are moving so quickly that people had very little time to evacuate. We continue Team Coverage with karina nova, who spoke with several people who managed to get out just in time. She is in the newsroom. Karina i spoke with two by we locals who escaped that fire, both who have homes in lahaina. They are coming to the realization that their homes are gone. The video we are seeing is hard to take in so much devastation. Take a look. This is video of the smoke over the harbor, right there off of front street. We can also see the fire from this boat looking at the smoke and flames taking over lahaina. This might look familiar to you. This is at front and dickinson. I spoke to the woman who shot this incredible video while evacuating lahaina. Marjorie sinclair tells me the roads were closed and traffic was jammed. It is like lahaina is on fire. Karina she took a risk and drove on a street with flames on both sides. They are like tender boxes. I tried to get out one by going on the street by the First Hawaiian bank. Its like, my god, the First Hawaiian bank is on fire . I dont know. It was rome is know, kind of a deal. I just have not had an experience like that before. Karina sinclair moved to manway from San Francisco a few years ago. She is hopeful her two cats survived, because she could not get them to crates in time when she evacuated. This video of smoke was taken by bryce before he and his family evacuated last night from their house on front street. They drove 40 miles away to stay with other family, where they are trying to get updates. I dont know where to start. I have so many friends that have both their home and their jobs in lahaina, and it has been burned to the ground. It is like, where do you even begin to pick back up after this . Where does our whole Community Pick up after this . Where do we rebuild. How do we start . Like this coming in from lahaina that shows the total devastation of a town visitors know well, but it is home to so many people. Karina told me they are lucky to escape, and they are just a few of the hundreds of families that are displaced with no house for, for some people, even no jobs to come back to. Dan jealous and little more about the impact of the hurricane tell us a little bit more about the impact of hurricane dora. Karina the winds helped fuel the flames. Bryce shared these images with me of downed trees, powerlines, and damaged buildings in the area. Just incredible. This also caused Power Outages for residents there. For some people, it was even more difficult to evacuate because some of the roads were blocked. Dan thanks, karina. Ama tourists on man we are being asked to leave if they can, and travelers tourists on maui are being asked to leave if they can, and travelers are being asked to reschedule their trips. An advisory is issued to avoid unnecessary travel to the island. We are joined live from sfo where suzanne talked to those who arrived from the islands and those trying to change their plans. Reporter so many were looking forward to a vacation in maui, but instead, for those heading out or arriving from maui, they are facing big headaches and possibly a heartache. Fears flames ripped through this popular Tourist Destination in maui. It destroyed homes and businesses in lahaina. So many people struggled to find safety. Looks really bad. People are jumping in the ocean to get out. It looks really terrible. Reporter this man arrived cap sfo around 9 00 this morning with his girlfriend, her daughter, and their friend. This was an airbnb booking. Reporter text alerts from United Airlines about delays and later learned about the raging fire in lahaina. It looks scary so we dont want to get in the way, especially if there are people sheltering at the airport. Reporter Carol Richardson arrived at sfo from a wahoo. They are keeping close tabs on what is happening in maui. We are very concerned. We have Close Friends who live on maui, but we have not heard back from them. It is devastating. I dont know what they will do. It is sad. Reporter at sfo, everyone trying to fly to maui today had to rearrange their plans. This man wanted to take his family on a 10 day vacation, but because of a devastating fire flights are canceled, so i have to change our plan to kona. Reporter this afternoon at sfo, we caught up with travelers who had just arrived from honolulu. This womans older brother and her entire family evacuated from their home in lahaina. Care house is gone. They dont know where they are going to have to stay tonight. Reporter whether it was to visit friends and family or a little r r, travelers hoping to head to maui now realize the magnitude of the fire. It is sad, but there will be another time. We will go again. Suzanne a lot of the talked to told me they had been planning their trip for a long time, maybe six months or so ago, but the family we first heard from in our story told us it took a lot of work. They were able to reschedule their flight, cancel their airbnb reservation, and then book a new hotel. Back to you. Ama they are telling people to avoid unnecessary travel, but how are the hairlines handling the flight changes . Suzanne we heard from Alaska Airlines and hawaiian airlines. We hear from both those carriers that they are offering a flexible travel policy. They are allowing people to have refunds, to reschedule and book their flights without any fees. If youre still planning on heading that way, be sure to double check with your own carrier. Suzanne phan. Back to ama please stay with abc7news for our continued coverage. You can head to abc7news. Com for updates. You can also find more aerial footage of the devastation. Introducing togos new french dip sandwiches featuring fresh Artisan Bread piled high with tender roast beef, smothered with melty provolone cheese and served with hot au jus for dipping. Try the roast beef or pastrami french dips today only at togos david im david goldberg, a bilingual Elementary School teacher and president of the california teachers association. As we start a new school year, theres something new happening in californias public schools. Jessie theyre called Community Schools. David where parents and families, students and educators are making decisions as one. Damien its a real sense of community. Leslie we saw doubledigit gains in math, in english, and reading scores. David its an innovation thats transforming our public schools. Narrator californias Community Schools reimagining public education. Dan oakland mayor sheng thao is strained to spotlight the work done by her administration to tackle violence. Some have praised the efforts, but others are concerned what is being done in oakland is not working. Our reporter is there. Reporter mayor sheng thaos most recent newsletter focuses on her commitment to Public Safety. The highlights include a 200 Million Investment in reducing school violence, programs to address domestic violence, better coordination among Public Safety departments for a more effective response, and expanding the Police Departments capabilities to investigate. For criminal Investigation Division at opd as critical as part of the effort to reduce crime. If you cannot solve crimes, you cannot analyze and solve crimes, you will not be able to take people off the street. Reporter city Councilmember Dan kalb says there is a lot of overlap between what the mayor and the City Council Want to do. The mayor is on a mission to vietnam and was not able to comment, but she wants to add more foot officers and graduate more cadets to the Oakland Police force. She also discussed the citys Cease Fire Initiative focused on gang violence. We need to look at the best practices in other cities in terms of and intervention and what we can do more to have an effect. Reporter but for her critics, many say it is more of the same. Youre not addressing the root causes of property crimes and robberies. People are struggling to survive. Reporter the mayors newsletter did address the socioeconomic issues that can lead to crime, but the founder of Community United for restorative youth justice, says the Oakland PoliceDepartment Remains the largest line island in the general fund line item in the general fund, and that, he says, remains a problem. We are throwing more funds at a Law Enforcement department that is proving to be dysfunctional. Reporter he wants to see more money put toward the department of violence prevention, which saw its budget cut, but not by as much as proposed. He does not excuse the violence on the streets, but he agrees with the mayor that investments in viable employment and Education Opportunities transform Public Safety from the ground up. The safest communities do not have the most police, they have the most resourc. Dan a reminder, our abc7news neighborhood safety tracker is availae to give you a picture of Public Safety where you live. We have data for oakland as well as San Francisco and san jose. You will find it on the front page of abc7news. Com. Ama four people are facing charges for a deadly shooting at an East Palo Alto park in may. Four men were responsible for firing several lets several bullets at a playground for children were present. The gunfire left one man dead and four men injured. Three others were in custo separate charges. They face charges for assault with a Deadly Weapon and discharge of a firearm with gross negligence. Dan jed york and several other executives from the online Educational Company cheg are facing lawsuits for Insider Trading and misinforming shareholders. Chegg is based in santa cl the lawsuits claim executives were aware of an academic cheating scandal that drove up sales during the pandemic. The civil suits also accuse executives of making misleading statements, of gross mismanagement, and of unjust enrichment as sales dropped. The executive is alleged to have made 1. 4 million after selling shares at inflated prices. Ama coming up, it is a decision that impacts millions and supplemental salaries for dan teachers in alameda scoring a victory after an appeals cold rules that the teachers can collect a parcel tax that supplements salaries. Reporter that is the reason a majority of alameda voters passed proposition a in 2020, a parcel tax that generates an extra 10 million a year for about 450 teachers and 650 district staff. We are in a market that is pretty thin and competitive right now. You had better have a salary offering and a benefits offering that is competitive. Our Education System needs as much support as we can get, and the population of alameda voted for it. They earned that, and we need to Place Education much higher in our priorities. Reporter this tax collects 26. 5 cents per square foot on basically anything with a roof, but there is a cap of 7,999 a year. This means bigbox stores like target pay no more than that amount. It was thought to be a slamdunk measure until the district was sued. I am paying 26. 5 cents per square foot, and target is paying about four cents per square foot. Reporter parcel tax should have been applied uniformly and fairly with, but the superintendent said there were risks associated with not sending a cap on big business. Setting a maximum was a way for us to get the revenue we needed and potentially take the temperature down on some organized opposition that might come out and outspend us. Reporter the decision made by the first court of appeal could now encourage other California School districts to find ways like this one of supplementing salaries. And passing a school parcel tax just got easier, because as of 2022, in a parcel Tax Initiative proposed by voters would annie parcel a Tax Initiative proposed by voters would only require a simple majority and not a two thirds vote. Dan we want to focus on our weather. Ama sandhya patel is here. Sandhya our weather is quiet in comparison. Lets take a look at satellite and radar. Things could be getting interesting around the bay area. What me show you why. As you look at the satellite and radar, there is midlevel moisture around the coast of southern california. That is left over from a tropical storm, eugene. That is expected to shift into our area late thursday night into friday. That could bring in a couple showers. Stay tuned. We have blue skies right now. Mid 60s in San Francisco. Oakland, 72. San jose, 70 seven degrees, and Half Moon Bay is at 59, where low clouds are still lingering. Seeing bright skies over mount diablo. Temperatures really nice and mild inland. 75 santa rosa, 74 napa, 85 in livermore. From santa cruz, we are seeing gray skies, but it is not bothering people. Areas of low clouds, fog, and drizzle overnight. Isolated showers chance on friday. We are extending a shy slight chance of thunder around monterey county. The marine layer is pretty deep, firmly entrenched. We see what we usually see around this time of year, some spotty drizzle tomorrow morning, but keep an eye on what happens as we head towards thursday night. Some mid and high level cloudiness starts to move in from the south, left over moisture from a former tropical storm. Friday morning, there are showers beginning to come into parts of monterey county, as you will notice, the southern edge. There is a possibility they may see an isolated shower two early friday. We talked about this on monday. Other than that, quiet weather. Morning temperatures will be in the 50s, 60s. The drizzle is going to be more widespread especially near the coast and around the bay tomorrow afternoon. Temperatures still below average for this time of year. Mid 80s, sunshine and breezy along the coastline. On saturday, we bump up those numbers into the 90s inland as we head into sunday, some mid 90s showing up. But it is not going to be too hot along the coastline. If you are going to outside lands, friday is going to be the coolest day, 62 degrees. Minor warming on saturday. It is going to be nice at Golden Gate Park on sunday, 67 degrees. Morning drizzle tomorrow, isolated chance for a shower or two friday morning. Then we get way of any we get rid of any moisture. We go with a drier forecast and it is certainly getting hotter inland. This pattern continues into early next week. Ama you can get our live newscasts, weather, and more with our new app on apple tv, will tv, fire tv and roku. Dan some students are getting Free School Supplies ahead of their return to the classroom. In san rafael, a backpack and School Supply distribution event was held today. Tony 5,000 worth of backpacks and School Supplies 25,000 worth of backpacks and School Supplies were given to 170 kids. The program also provided children with 100 gift cards for new school clothes. The cost of School Supplies has increased nearly 24 in the past two years. Keys low income families sometimes have to make hard choices, like between gasoline and these kinds of things. We want children to have a fair start in school where they do not have to make those choices. Dan the San Rafael School year starts wednesday, august 23. Ama we still have much more news ahead. Dan lets go to karina nova for more of what we have coming at 5 30. Karina tonight we are going to show you the devastation in lahaina after the fire that tore through much of the tourist city. We are going to hear from two locals who escaped the flames and give you the latest update on damage and injuries. Plus, more information about the trouble to get insurance in california. We are going to break down your rights and what you need to know when renewing a policy. Join us for those stories and more at 5 30 on abc seven bay area streaming tv. Ama you can download the app and join karina in just two minutes. Dan if you are watching us on tv, world news tonight with david muir is next. We appreciate your time. Ama we will see you again at 6 00. A super thin, flexible patch with maximum otc strength lidocaine that contours to the body to relieve pain right where it hurts. And did we mention, it really, really sticks . Salonpas, its good medicine. Breaking news as we come on the air. Breaking news as we come on the air. Maui in flames. The death toll beginning to climb, and the race to escape the island paradise. Ferocious wildfires burning across the island, destroying hundreds of homes, businesses, and historic landmarks. A state of emergency in effect. Burn patients now being flown to the hospital in honolulu. A dozen people rescued after jumping into the ocean to survive the fire. Hundreds taking shelter at the airport. Frighten p