Hand the fear and danger that people there on the ground were experiencing. They were near lahaina when they got the Evacuation Order tuesday night and tonight theyre back on the mainland trying to process what they saw. Damian trujillo is in san jose with the story youll only see on nbc bay area. Reporter this family says their hawaiian vacation was a dream up until the day before they were scheduled to leave. Then the unthinkable happened. It was a visit to paradise. They were all smiles as they soaked up the sun and fun at the beach resort near lahaina. It was beautiful, shopping, played in t pool. Wittles. All that good stuff. Everything was great. Reporter on tuesday the winds started to pick up as evidenced by their cell phone footage. By 10 42 p. M. They got this Evacuation Order on their phones. It got real when i walked out and you can see the sky was orange over the trees. You can see it flickering. Reporter the family grabbed their things and took off in the rental car to Maui High School a designated evacuation site where they spent one very scary night sleeping in their car. The girls were nervous my two daughters and scared and i didnt sleep much. I dont know if id say i was keeping watch but i wasnt comfortable sleeping there. Reporter at daybreak the family broke for the airport hoping they still had a flight back to san jose. With power out to much of the island and limited internet there was no way of telling how bad things were. Then friends started texting them pictures. Pretty amazing place. To think it is going to be completely different the next time we go, that is super devastating. Reporter the family ultimately touched back down in san jose late to what these people are going to go through now. Reporter now they are among millions watching from a distance and hoping this isnt paradise lost. They are all very nice. You go into the stores and they greet you. And it is going to be tough for them to rebuild. Im sure they will. Reporter damian trujillo, nbc bay area news. A lot of people in the bay area know the feeling well. Among those who lost almost everything in maui is a bay area native who runs a very popular bar along front street in lahaina. Matthew robb is one of many people now doing what he can to help others. Nbc bay areas scott budman spoke to him today and joins us in the newsroom. He really has a chilling story ofway happened. He really does. The good news is matthew robb is safe and the people he works with are also safe. Tonight they are all wondering what comes next after so much that theyve worked to build was destroyed in a matter of hours. This is vid mat rob sho as h busi, the popular bar, the dirty nkey, and t rety of lahas fro street, went up in flames. I mean the pictures you can see, it looks like weve been to war. I mean, its like a bomb has dropped. Reporter matthew, a bay area native, could only watch as entire blocks were lost in the fast moving fire. Right now it is all gone. There is not a single business on front street that has survived. Reporter but even as he hears from concerned friends and family back here and beyond. Asking what they can do and whats going on and were so sorry. We got engaged at the dirty monkey, had our wedding reception. We just love lahaina. Reporter he is now focusing on those he works with and their loved ones. One of the toughest calls to his coowner allen who is traveling on the mainland i started crying a little bit because all our heart and work and our life went into this thing. Right now the bar is the last thing on our mind. The first thing is being able to secure and make sure your team and friends and family are safe. Reporter safe after what matthew himself describes as a disaster. The entire town is gone. We are talking buildings that have been there 107 plus years. Matthew says he is also noticing a lot of people trying to get off the island. We saw a tweet from United Airlines saying it has canceled flights to maui. Instead sending empty planes to pick up people who want to leave. Jessica . That is a good idea. Thank you, scott. Well continue our Team Coverage of the wildfires throughout the newscast. At 5 30 ian cole joins us with the stories of people escaping the flames. As others are trying to get back to the islands to lend a helping hand. Well have that at 5 30. Back in the bay area a troubling fire at the port of oakland has been snuffed out but the Health Concerns are surrounding it and are still smoldering. It has been 24 hours since the huge fire erupted at schnitzer steel plant sending acrid smoke around the bay. Nbc bay areas robert handa joins us from near the site to tell us why people are still worried. Reporter it is finally a much quieter scene here where the pile of metal debris is still smoldering at times. While the flames and smoke are not visible people we talked to say they are more concerned about what they cant see. Firefighters on land and water were working around the clock to douse the huge fire at the Schnitzer Steel Company in the port of oakland. Towering flames erupted wednesday amid high piles of scrap metal and other recyclable material around 5 30 p. M. The plant is located near 18 childcare centers, ten parks, and four schools. Even with clear skies ructors at the m presc kept evee beh close ors and ndows. It was very acrid. You know, like burning rubber and metal. It was clearly not a healthy smell. Reporter so you kept the kids inside. Yes. All day. Reporter other people had similar concerns about what might still be in the air. I was thinking about what we talked about with the particulates in the air from the smoke especially a fire from metal and i was wondering is that going to linger even if we dont smell it . I figure if we dont smell it maybe it is okay. Reporter the bay area air Quality Management district issued an air quality advisory but not a more severe alert, saying levels are relatively normal but adds metal fires are a different kind of smoke. Smoke can impact anyone not just those with respiratory conditions. Young people, children, elderly are more severely impacted. Reporter another concern the steel companys track record. Schnitzer steel scrap piles caught fire before in 2018 as well as 2010 and 2009 and found high levels of lead, copper, and zinc. It is hard to say yet whether the companys past history will shed any light on the cause this time. That will become more clear once investigators finish their jobs. In oakland, robert handa, nbc bay area news. Chief meteorologist jeff ranieri joins us now. What does the air quality looks like . Weve seen big improvements the past couple hours because the foggy breeze is continuing to get going at the coast line. This is the fire location, again, happening at the port of oakland at 1100 embarcadero. Really in the immediate vicinity up toward 10th street around west oakland over to 3rd street ando to 16th street you still may smell a little bit of that tonight with wind gusts up to 10 to 20 miles per hour. Well also see more wind gusts tomorrow 10 to 20. The fire is out. Overall for the air quality just advise some caution near the oakland port. Were looking good across oakland hills, fremont, moraga, the foggy breeze has swept it out of the bay area. Im back with a look at thunderstorm chances in about ten minutes. Thank you, jeff. Nancy pelosi is opening up her San Francisco home to the attorneys of her husbands accused attacker. It is part of preparations for the federal trial against david depape accused of violently attacking the former speaker of houses husband paul with a hammer back in october. The pelosis agreed to allow lawyers for the government and depapes attorneys to inspect the Pacific Heights home whereat tack happened. The pelosis agreed voluntarily after initially rejecting a request. Depapes access to any information from the Home Inspection will be restricted. That trial is set to begin in october. After months of heated debate the Public Utility Commission is set to vote on the possible expansion of driverless Taxi Services in San Francisco. The Company Cruise wants to expand hours customers can hail their driverless cars. And waymo wants to begin the robo taxi pilot service. Before the vote the members of the commission listened to hours of Public Comment today. In the lead up to todays meeting hundreds of people converged on the steps of the State Office Building where the eting is being held. Acing to the cpuc more than 200 pe signed up to comment. Among the speakers several members of the disabled community who seemed divided on whether it is a good idea. My concern is we dont have an agreement on what accessibility looks like for our community. We dont have vehicles on the road or even pilot programs that soifb our communitys needs i am here to support Autonomous Vehicle deployment in San Francisco because this represents an amazing opportunity to increase transportation for blind people. Public comment at todays meeting started at 11 30 this morning and went for more than four hours. Members say they intend to listen to all comments before they make a final decision. In the south bay a strike is in the works. San jose city workers could walk off the job in five days. City workers gathered outside San Jose City hall during the lunch break to make picket signs and show they are serious, asking for fair pay and m oyees tombat under staffing. The two sides have been negotiating for months with no breakthrough and last month the contract expired. If the union cant reach a deal by tuesday the workers will hit the picket lines for three days. The strike will include all union city workers like emergency dispatchers, librarians, airport staff, and screeners. Still ahead more bay area kids back in the classroom. How the first day went in san jose and why some parents are a little anxious. Introducucing togoss new frech dip p sandwicheses. Feataturing fresesh artisan n d piled hihigh with tendnder roast b beef, smothered d with meltyty provolonone cheese, just enougugh chipotlele mayo and d served witith hot au j for dippining. Try ththe roast bebeef or pasti french d dips today. Y. Onlyly at togogos. Tens of thousands of students went back to school at san jose unified today. Lots of kids in backpacks. A lot of families feeling a bit anxious after several gun related incidents at the end of last year. Still, a lot of families we spoke with are just excited. It is a new year and new beginning. The nerves of growing up. At the same time excited for the future and high school you get to discover a lot about yourself and who you really are and your interests. Wow. Well said. The districts first Board Meeting of the year is scheduled tonight. Parents are pushing for greater safety. Lots of people are expected to be there. Next week an Advisory Committee will discuss the use of Police Resource officers again. In tonights bay area proud we spend time with a very famous chef but not talking about making food. We are talking about making a difference in the lives of others. Garvin joins us with the story. Tonights bay area proud. Jessica, he is a legend in the bay area dining scene and ran San Franciscos michelin star restaurant for more than 30 years and is head of a restaurant group. Now in his 60s he says he likes the change of not having to be in the kitchen every day. It is not the only ce he has embraced o his career. It is a lessoe is happy to share. 5 years ago when he began his journey to take him to the heights of french cuisine, there was good food for sure. Just not always good times. The treatment of those looking to make a name for themselves, often involved a lot of name calling and worse. Abusive is another word for it. It was. It was absolutely. Reporter but it was also a system that made him the great chef he is. Why wouldnt he do the same when he was in charge . So i feel like i was like, okay. This is the way it goes. Reporter well, that is the way things started at a San Francisco institution roland ran with his wife jamie from 1988 to 2020. His great success, though, came with a price. Paid for by his staff. I wasinity not easy in the kitchen. I was pretty violent with screaming and yelling. I was abused and i became the abuser. Reporter it was his wife who one day challenged him to change and treat people the way he wished he had been treated. In other words, be as good a person as he is a chef. I needed to change my way of managing people, really getting people to listen to me but showing them the way instead of being a tyrant and realizing that is not the way to manage people. Reporter the result he soon saw was remarkable. Staff who werent scared were more confident. More creative. And made for better chefs. He had taken a chance and it paid off. Which may explain why when the nonprofit sprouts chef training asked him to take a chance on someone else, he was open to it. And it paid off again. Katelyn derosa was 15 years old when she came to intern for roland, a truant, substance abuser, and run away. Just very lost and confused. Reporter but in rolands kitchen she thrived. The family atmosphere he now presided over was something she had long desired i dont think there is anything else i would rather do in life but work in the kitchen. Reporter she is now embarking on her own journey as a chef, grateful for the opportunity roland and sprouts gave her and promising to make the most of it. Impossible is not french. So everything is possible. You can realize then there is a better way, always a better way. The success that sprouts had with roland and katelyn is growing. They serve 25 young people, placing them with mentor chefs. I think it is doubling next year and they plan on doing 50. I think more than 80 or 75 end up with jobs in the food industry. Which is exactly what theyre looking for. Fantastic. When you told me earlier this week youd do this story on roland i told you he and jamie have been friends of mine for the last 25 years. It has been crazy. They are wonderful people. If they gave out michelin stars, for kindness and being a good friend and good family, then he has more michelin stars than anyone. It was such a joy getting to meet him and to know him and hopefully one day eating the food. I have to confess he has cooked in my kitchen and it was spectacular. Oh, man. It looked spectacular. Giving so many people that purpose and to help you get through so much. That is awesome to see that. Our weather here across the bay area certainly has been enjoyable. If you looked off toward the south today you may have noticed the cloud cover. Let me show you where it is coming from. It is some thunderstorms to the south. Weve been telling you a couple daysee some of this beg to develop and rig n it cal california. Let me get you a closer l at the scan. We are dry in the bay area but certainly could get interesting later on tonight. Let me show you what were looking at here. 9 00 this evening it just bubbles up here just to the south of gilroy and in the overnight hours may actually see a line of rain over gilroy. Be on the watch for that. Through tomorrow morning we started with a cloud cover and spotty drizzle. Then as we head through the day what well see happen is some sunshine, also more high clouds but by tomorrow afternoon and evening kind of in the same situation with some thunderstorms to the south and also to the east of us. Our chances remain pretty minimal but it is going to be a pattern. We are stuck in it all the way to next tuesday. The system sits in about the same spot. There are the thunderstorms to the south and also the east of us. The highest risk would be over the sierra where totals could be from a half to 3 4 of an inch here as we head into next mondays forecast. You can count on us for the radar scanning any showers that get close and well be tracking that for you. Otherwise as we head through tomorrows forecast tgif a little bit early here with numbers starting off in the 50s across the bay area. Thatll have us down to 57 through the peninsula. For the north bay 55. Daytime highs in my forecast for tomorrow staying just about the same. Were not going to see any huge adjustments so across the south bay leaves us at 85 in san jose. 86 in morgan hill. Absolutely beautiful weather through the east bay. 86 as well in concord. 85 in danville. 76 for hayward. Peninsula. 76 san mateo. Palo alto 82. San francisco 66 in downtown with afternoon sunshine. For the north bay 84 here in novato. Up to clear lake, 91. The other thing weve been tracking of course is the wildfire activity in maui. Coming up tonight at 5 30 ill have a look at weather conditions and what they expect as we head through the next couple days. Meanwhile back here in the bay area in San Francisco we got 60s right through the weekend. A little bit warmer as we roll through the early part of next week and through the inland valleys. We talked about the thunderstorm chs. Right now a 30 ce into monday. I noticed thet will get up to 94 on sunday and likely stay with 90s into the next week. Not a heat wave but some summer heat on the way. Kids back to school but summer isnt done. Outside lands one dayway. What a y david as we start a new school year, theres something new happening in californias public schools. Theyre called Community Schools. Leslie it really is shared leadership with families, students, educators, and communities. Jessie i feel like were really valued as partners. David its a more innovative, holistic approach. Grant in addition to academic services, we look at serving the whole family. Narrator wellness centers, food pantries, and parental education. Jessie theyre already making a difference. David californias Community Schools reimagining public education. Hi, im totodd. Im a a veteran ofof 23 year. I servrved three o overseas to. I lolove to giveve back toto the commumunity. I i offer whatat i can whwhen i can. I started d noticing my memorory was slipipping. I saw w a prevagenen commercl and d i did someme research h. I i started tataking prevavn ababout three e years ago. I fefeel clearerer in my thoho, my memorory has imprproved and gegenerally jujust morere on point. T. Prprevagen. Atat stores evevee without t a prescripiption. A major contribution to tell you about creating a new space in the south bay to celebrate African American culture. The creation of the Silicon ValleyAfrican AmericanCultural Center has been in the works for 15 years and today got a major step forward. State senator david cortezy announced 3 million of state funding will go to the project. Creators want the building to be a hub to celebrate contributions of black americans. The proposed site is in the alameda in san jose. We are fighting for our survival here in Silicon Valley. You all know what we are up against. The fallacy of shared prosperity, housing crisis, representation in the criminal justice system, foster care system, infant and mortality and the in house population. Reporter the center will include a health clinic, theater, gym, retail spaces and have Affordable Housing for families and seniors. Hope you are ready forlana and have your cool outfit together. Final preps are under way for outside lands with close to a hundred performers set to hit the stage including kendrick lamar, foo fighters, odeza and lana delray as i told you. While it is about the music there is also a chance to taste the bay. The festival features a hundred restaurants and nearly all of them are right from the bay area. Some of the highlights, contemporary colombian cuisine. We have upcycled ingredients to make their pieces here and horn barbecue widely recognized as one of the best in all of california. We are so happy to be supporting them and keeping that in the local economy. So fun. Okay. They are celebrating the 15th anniversary of outside lands this year and say that time generated more than a billion dollars in Economic Impact for the city. This year alone expected to generate 70 million in revenue. Looks like a lot of fun. Got to go one day. Well be right back with a chance to make a new fririend b adadopting a pet. Bingo is his name. I guess i should say bingo is his name o. So cute. He is just one of several pets available for adoption at the berkeley humane society. Lets see bingo. Where is he . Theres bingo. Nbc bay area and telemundo are working to clear the shelters this month and we are asking for help. Look at the cute face. You can help by adopting a pet like bingo or donating to a bay area shelter. We are hosting several pet adoption pop ups. There are two nex weekend. Find all the detailsn our website a n bay area. Com clear the shelters. Bingo is his namo there you go. I was waiting for the song. Go all in. I didnt sing it. I just said it. You can watch our newscast 24 7 on roku and other streaming platforms. Audrey and raj join us now with what is coming on at 5 30. W