We let the animals go. We put phone numbers on their backs. Opened their gates. Dan the Better Business bureau is warning people to be careful if you plan on donating to relief efforts. Do your research. It is recommended you give money rather than goods. Ama we have Team Coverage on the fires and the impact. Suzanne phan will join us from sfo with a look at what travelers are dealing with. Dan Dustin Dorsey will bring you stories from bay area families with local connections to the island, including loved ones at risk. Ama lets begin with sandhya patel, checking on conditions for firefighters. Sandhya right now, the winds have dropped off compared to the last couple of days. They are weaker. Gusts, 31 miles an hour, as you will notice, gusts to 29 nearby islands, still gusty. The good news is they are coming down. As you look at live doppler 7, satellite radar issuing you the cloud cover is increased. They are also seeing showers passing through today. As highpressure pressure to the north weekends and Hurricane Dora continues to move away, it is a category 3. It will continue. The winds will continue to die down as we head towards the next couple of days. That in the region. Should help firefighters in the region. Ama abc 7 News ReporterDustin Dorsey talk some more struggling to contact relatives. Reporter as the smoke settles on maui, the community is taking into account what has been lost, not only the communities history in lahaina, but dozens lost due to the fires. There are dozens still missing. Like this san leandros residents on. His 30yearold son with special needs resides on mauis mother. He has not heard from either from days. Heaney special medications. I am concerned the pharmacy is no longer there. I was able to briefly get a hold of brandons aid. He is homeless right now. He was at their house the bite before but has not heard from them or have been able to get in touch with them. Reporter this fairfield resident is in the similar condition. She knows where they are. They are stranded. You can see the blue flashing lights. That is a checkpoint that is stopping everyone. Reporter after leaving their hotel on tuesday, john and his girls have been stuck sleeping on the Southeast Side of the road. They are trying to return to the result resort to get to their luggage. So they can get off the island. The local ems services are not getting any information. We have no clue of what is going on, what we are supposed to be doing, or where we are supposed to be. Reporter a similar sense of despair is felt by this berkeley resident in a different way. His family has differ deep roots in mainland i n maui. We feel hopeless because we know our family and friends are there. We suffer right alongside them. Reporter he says all is not lost. The historian historic tree was scorched but still stands. He hopes it can be a symbol of perseverance as the Recovery Process begins. That tree stands. We will continue to stand. We stand with our maui brothers and sisters in anyway to help with this devastating fire. Reporter Dustin Dorsey. A a lot of people want to know what they can do to help. You can go to abc7. Com, where youll find a list of fundraisers, charities and verified nonprofits that are helping people from hawaii recover. Dan needless to say, traveling to and from hawaii is a struggle, because of the fires. While summer headed there, many are desperately trying to leave. Suzanne phan is live at sfo with their stories tonight. Reporter so, the people that i talked to at sfo are still stunned by images coming out of maui. We talked to a number of travelers including a man who returned from maui, and a graphic artist who was helping the fire victims. So much devastation in amounting to heartbreak. Those arriving at sfo from maui experienced it firsthand. It is nerveracking. I was seeing people being evacuated to our hotel, to see their house just burned down, im thankful to be here, back to my home. Reporter eireann of south city returned home this morning after spending a weekin maui with his family. We were stuck in the airport for over 30 hours. It was a crazy scene. Due to the fires, we had missed our original flight that left on tuesday. And from there, we had to thousand of our best friends standing there. People all over the place. Reporter today at sfo, the flights to maui were canceled. There were no major delays or cancellations to honolulu. Tim is flying home to honolulu after a twoweek holiday at the bay area. I am shocked about the news. Lahaina is my favorite town in the world, it looks like it does not exist. Reporter abc news caught up with this bay area resident and his wife at sfo. We asked him about his latest efforts to help people in maui. We wanted to supportthem. Reporter the company designed a special tshirt to help raise funds for the fire victims. It is island of maui with the phoenix card, representing renewal and perseverance, and also the flower at the bottom. Reporter you can find more information on instagram and or donate. Today, we red cross volunteers were dispatched from sfo from maui. They left around 8 00 this morning. There will be several more leaving tomorrow and the next several days. Live at sfo, suzanne phan abc7 news. Dan thanks very much. 7 on your sides Michael Finney, spent the day looking for options for travelers, when it comes to canceling plans, or asking for refunds. He will have advice that saves you money and time. Ama air quality concerns linger after a fire at the steel plant. We watched this burn live on abc 7 news at 6 00. The medical recycling plant is at jack london square, but the smoke could be seen for miles. This fire is just the latest of many issues at the plant. Fire crews battle the fire wednesday night at the schnitzer steel facility in oakland, which released large plumes of smoke. Brian breve ridge who lives a halfmile away, so the impact goes far beyond oakland. One of my Staff Members that lives in alameda says he smelled it strongly last night. It was nauseating. Reporter beverages the coexecutive director of the west oakland environmental indicators project, a group focused on air quality. One the pile catches fire, it is not like a campfire. It is a fire of petroleum products, plastics, rubber, and all these other things that are hardly toxic highly toxic. Reporter it treads cars and metals for recycling. The air Quality Management district issued an advisory which lasted through thursday morning. It had a crew on scene along with the epa to monitor and investigate. With any type of fire whether it is a materials fire or wildfire, the advice is pretty much the same. Stay indoors with the windows and doors closed, if you smell smoke. Reporter the plant is located half a mile away from residential neighborhoods, made up of communities of color who dealt with the aftermath of fires over the last decade from the facility. The company reached a 4 million settlement with the state of california in 2021 for releasing particulate matter containing hazardous materialsinto the environment. He understands the nature of the recycling business, but there are industry standards in place to help reduce toxic byproducts of the business. These are industries things the industry has been doing for decades. These are things they should be able to solve. Reporter in an email, schnitzer steel rights, we are focused on operating responsibly. The company has made investments in remission controls and stormwater treatment to mitigate the Environmental Impact of our recycling activities. The cause of the fire is unknown. The organization plans to file a formal complaint in the ongoing effort to for tighter regulations. We are a neighborhood organization. We will do the best we can to push for justice in the situation. Dan coming up, to be a pivotal day for selfdriving car is in california. We have a progress check in San Francisco as we speak. Also ahead. Ama picket signs, because there are just five days until San Jose City workers go on strike. Here from both sides about the negotiations. Every business deserves a great deal. Thats why comcast business is launching the mobile made free event. With our business internet, new and existing customers can get one year of unlimited mobile for free. Its our best internet. Powered by the next generation 10g network and with 99. 9 reliability. Plus one line of free mobile for an entire year. Its the mobile made free eventhappening now. Get started for just 49. 99 a month. Plus, ask how to get one free line of unlimited mobile. Comcast business, powering possibilities. Visit your local volvo retailer, to experience a volvo fully electric vehicle during the summer safely savings event. Ama legal teams for both the man accused of attacking Nancy Pelosis husband and for the government will be allowed into the home to inspect the crime scene. They agreed to let attorneys into their San Francisco home. The two sides are preparing for the trial. He is accused of breaking into the pelosi and attacking paul pelosi with a hammer. Nancy pelosi was in washington at the time. There are restrictions, the lawyers cannot visit any information relay any information to him. Dan driverless San Francisco cars are about to be handed down any minute. The commission is voting on whether to lift the restrictions on cruise. Lyanne melendez has been at todays hearing. She is in the newsroom. Reporter i would say any second now. Let me tell you how it is going. There are five commissioners on the puc, only four are present today. They cant proceed with this vote. The first commissioner has asked for a delay in approving this expansion. Commissioner number two and three will support it. Now, if this is approved, this will mean two things, the selfdriving Car Companies can and will expand in terms of the time that they are out and about, and their location, and they can start generating money. You guys arent stupid. Dont be stupid. Reporter there was no lack of energy at the meeting to determine the fate of Driverless Cars on the streets of San Francisco. It was a to four members of the commission to vote on whether to expand their accessibility. People heard hours and hours of Public Comment from both sides of the aisle. Is not ready for prime time. I trust them much more than distracted drivers were angry drivers. It is the most confidently driven car i have ever been in. I that my dad was the best driver in the world. Reporter its vehicles have driven over 3 million miles with no injury to passengers. Between january 1 and july 18, there been 177 reported incidents, including those complaints from police fire immunity. Their Weak Technology is befuddled by a simple traffic cone. Reporter people have posted online how placing those cones on the vehicles, appears to disable them. When all of these little kids in the tech rose, in the tech girls, pure and say, this is about safety, really. Reporter those with Vision Impairment argue that Autonomous Vehicles offer them a sense of freedom and security. When i get into a vehicle, im able to do so without the fear of being harassed, groped, assaulted, attacked, or potentially worse. Reporter those with physical disabilities who take public transportation, rely on humans to assist them. This cab driver argued that Autonomous Cars offer no assistance. How does a person who uses a wheelchair get into a cruiser . When using a walker, theyre not able to load their walker in the trunk, they cannot use these vehicles. Reporter now, also, we just heard that the fourth commissioner has voted in in favor. This means that the california poc has voted 31 to expand and cruise in San Francisco. Thats important because it basically says, if, or they say these companies that they have argued this, San Francisco is important because in their mind, if it works here, if we are approved, if we are able to expand, we are able to expand it in other places. It will possibly work in other cities. Dan interesting developments. Thank you very much. Now, lyanne has and cars to the test. You can check out the adventure she had on our website. Its well worth your time. Ama were going to switch gears to the weather. Dan sandhya patel is here. Sandhya our weather is going to get interesting over the next 24 hours. Let we show you live doppler 7. Youll notice on live doppler 7 left over moisture from what was a armor Tropical Storm eugene pushing into southern california. They have seen isolated thunderstorms, showers, that low lift north and drags some of the moisture into our area. Southerly winds are definitely playing a role in making it feel humid. 61 degree dew point, 61 in mountain view. If it felt humid, this is why. Lets take a look at the very latest from the climate prediction center. El nino advisory submitted, warmer than average sea surface temperatures continuing. They are saying there is a greater than 95 chance el nino continues through winter, two and three chance it will be a strong event. They caution a strong event does not necessarily mean we have strong impacts locally. We will get another update in september. From our golden gate ridge camera we know the fog is here. Visibility is low. Drive carefully. 66 oakland, 70s from san jose to palo alto. We are showing you overcast skies as we look towards kuwait tower. Livermore, former camera as we look towards vollmer, you can see clouds already starting to move in. That air quality advisory was extended through today due to the smoke from the schnitzer steel fire even though the air quality is expected to remain good. Some local impacts are possible. Keep that in mind as we look at a life picture from our san jose camera it is a brightview looking towards the shark tank. Cloudy skies overnight. Isolated showers or drizzle. The humidity lingers through tomorrow. We go with drier hair and the. Summer heat returning over weekend lets go hourbyhour. You see the moisture coming in from the south. At 4 00 a. M. , the best possibility is going to be in the southern part of our viewing area. You see an isolated shower or two popping up. This continues towards 8 a. M. Tomorrow morning. After that we notice the air mass start to dry out. Your morning temperatures will be in the 50s and 60s. There could be some slick spots out there tomorrow afternoon. Youre looking at a humid day. Numbers inland in the 80s along the coast, and 60s. It is going to be breezy. The accuweather 7day forecast, tomorrow low 60s to mid 80s. If its not warm enough for you, wait until the weekend. Numbers are going up. We are talking about hot weather inland, for several days. Mild at the coast. Monday is our hot estate. With triple digits. Tuesday and wednesday, still going to be hot inland, by thursday we drop those numbers down closer to average. Dan thanks. Ama the show must go on. See how much it will take to keep theater works Silicon Valley lowering cholesterol can be hard. Diets and exercise add to the struggle. Today, its possible to go from struggle to cholesterol success with leqvio. With a statin, leqvio is proven to lower bad cholesterol by over 50 and keep it low with two doses a year. Common side effects were injection site reaction, joint pain, urinary tract infection, diarrhea, chest cold, pain in legs or arms, and shortness of breath. Ask your doctor about twiceyearly leqvio. Lower. Longer. Leqvio. Dan one of San Franciscos biggest music and arts festivals. Preparations are underway for outside lands. The threeday concert, kendrick lamar, odessa and the foo fighters are some of the acts. Hey, if you are attending, say height, i am delighted to say hi, im delighted to be plane with my band saturday afternoon. Ama theater works Silicon Valley is under threat of closing, blaming the pandemic. What it is doing to keep going and how you can help. Reporter the music rehears are on. The costumes are being prepped. The many components that make up a musical theater production are coming together. We launch our season with the regional premier called mrs. Christie, which is based on agatha christie. Reporter the cast and crew are hard at work leading up to the premier. It does not appear that there is a major component missing for the show to go on, one that has theater works concerned. It started in 1970, the organization has a steep history in the bay area and the world of musical theater, making productions produced in theaters across the country. 2019 was one of its greatest years. 2020 was shaping up to be better. We were awarded the regional tony. Everything was pandemic hit. Reporter the audience has disappeared. Our revenues from ticket sales and donations. Reporter the executive director and artistic director says the organization has a fighting chance if they get help from the community. We are asking for 3 million to complete the season, which gets us off the ropes, lets us fight another day. Reporter they are not the only local Theater Organization that faced hardships including bay area childrens theater, which closed its doors after 19 years. This is a National Trend we are seeing. Reporter it launched a Funding Campaign to garner donations, each set to contribute what it had before the pandemic. To rebuild and to rethink, how to come up with a new vision. Reporter the goal is to raise 3 million by november. They remained optimistic that the community will remember or discover the place in the area. If you have ever benefited from our education programs, if you ever enjoyed a show, now is your time to make sure the future generations have that same opportunity. Ama if you would like to make a donation, just go to theaterworks. Org. Dan meets a man that fought for hours to protect his house from the fire in lahaina and how he describes what is left of the neighborhood he called home. Michael travelers of plans, are wondering what happens to my plane ticket . 7 on y get mor