Was stolen. He was an aging wild animal who needed special care, including special medicines like for arthritis. While hes back here, hes still agitated, dehydrated, and hungry. Were working with our vet teams and wellness teams to get him back to health. Hes socially distancing from his primate family but we hope to get him returning with his family soon. Reporter now, the zoo was offering a 2,100 reward, if you remember, for any information leading to makis location. They told us today, the zoo officials, that they are donating that money here to the school and to the church. Reporting live in daly city, anoushah rasta, nbc bay area news. I bet they could use it. Thank you, anoushah. Now to our other top story. Hot, dry weather, fire danger, and power outages. The bay area dealing with all of it. Fires sparked in both vacaville and South San Francisco. Youre looking at timelapse video of both. The one in South San Francisco charred the citys well known sign. The one in vacaville stopped traffic along i80 for a while this afternoon. All this as thousands of people are still in the dark. Pg e turning off the power to avoid the wildfire from sparking during the high winds and the dry heat. Lets take a look at pg es power outage map. Those purple triangles are the areas where power is still out because of those planned outages. Weve also learned that the red flag warning has been extended now until tomorrow morning in some places. As you can see, we have a team of reporters. Lets begin with our chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. Okay. Were going to hold on to jeff in a second. Were going to start our coverage in South San Francisco. Sky ranger captured this video just a few hours ago as firefighters worked to protect that sign and the nearby homes. Nbc bay areas scott budman has been on the scene all afternoon. Scott, you saw that burn down. Reporter yeah, jessica. It is something weve all seen as we drive up 101. But today that famous sign and several nearby houses were threatened by a tenacre fire. As fire moved quickly up whats known as sign hill, nearby residents also moved quickly. When i was coming down, i saw a lynn sign of smoke. Reporter manny among those who could only watch as the flames spread both near the historic south city sign, here since the 1920s, and near houses. It was quick, less than ten minutes. It was the whole mountain on fire. It was really fast. Reporter fire burned through about ten acres before crews got it under control, singeing homes in one neighborhood. The fire did bump up against a couple of homes, but the crews were able to make a quick stop and knock it down before the fire got interior. So there was just some external damage to those homes. Reporter getting aid from the air to help control a fire that could have been much worse. We are lucky that we did have access to the aircraft and be able to have that initial attack make a big stop for us. Reporter now, there was an Evacuation Center set up for those who left their homes, but since crews tell us everybody is back in. Live in South San Francisco, scott budman, nbc bay area news. Scott, thank you. This is going to be a hot and nerveracking weekend for a lot of people. Our fire danger is not over. This is a live look now at some of our traffic cams in the north bay and in the east bay. You see walnut creek and san rafael, the red flag warning extended until tomorrow for parts of the bay area. Lets bring in jeff ranieri. Jeff, what are you seeing these next 24 hours . Well, really for most of the bay area, those winds are really, really calm. Its just for a few isolated spots in the north and the east bay where committee could still get winds kicking up. But generally everybody on the downward sign of this vevent. Weve already seen the peak of this fire danger and its for some isolated gusts. Again, you can see at mount saint ht. Helena, wind gusts of Miles Per Hour. Mt. Diablo, 20 Miles Per Hour. The north and the east bay Higher Elevations under that extended red flag fire warning into 8 00 a. M. Tomorrow morning. There you go, sustained winds right now very, very calm to about 8 Miles Per Hour. So that is some good news. So at lower elevations through tonight in places like walnut creek, only 5 to 10mileperhour winds. Up in the Higher Elevations, we could see higher gusts. The other problem has been the heat. Up to 99 in concord. 96 in san jose. 84 in San Francisco. Ill go over the temperatures and also that hour by hour wind forecast. Im back in about 15 minutes with that. We mentioned the pg e shutoffs. Power is slowly coming back to many communities along the peninsula now. Some people getting their power back after spending at least 24 hours in the dark. You can see some of the highlighted areas there. In the north bay now, a different story. Thousands of people spent another sweltering day without electricity. Theyll have to wait until later tonight to get it back. Lets bring in nbc bay areas Christie Smith in napa county for us near calistoga with the very latest. Christie. Reporter well, raj, this restaurant behind me has been closed for just a little bit over two days, they say. And up until about an hour ago, they were relying on generators just to keep their equipment running. But the power came back on, and tonight they say this is just another speed bump in whats already been a pretty rocky 2020. Theyre telling us that the power will come back on tonight. Reporter at local q 707, a sign explains their situation no power. Its pretty quiet except for the hum of generators outside. Our kitchen cant function. I havent purchased a large enough generator to run the whole restaurant yet. So the generators that i have just keep things cold so we dont lose any product. Reporter theyre planning to reopen tomorrow. This has been the latest in a series of challenges for the little business, including the pandemic and being forced to evacuate because of the glass fire. All of it affecting the bottom line. The pandemic and then the fires and the power shutoffs just add on top of that. But i think its down at least 50 . I wanted to use it for my phone and the important stuff. Reporter nearby, pg es Resource Center in calistoga, christian stopped by. He needed to charge his phone. He also evacuated recently, and today there was no power at home. We are still doing distance learning. Its really hard on us. Reporter late this afternoon, pg e said about 40 of the 5,300 customers in napa county had power back on. 60 in sonoma county. Over at silverado ace hardware, they say theyre trying to make sure theyre stocked up on what people need. We try to always have generators in stock just because you never know. Reporter and were back here live again. This is the sign that they had up today, but the power is back on. They will reopen tomorrow. Pg e saying again of course they need to visually inspect the power lines for wind damage before they can reenergize them. Some of their customers were restored last night, and the goal was to have everyone else restored by 10 00 tonight. Reporting live in calistoga, Christie Smith, nbc bay area news. Thank you, christie. Our nbc bay area app is a great resource. It will keep you informed in real time. Our team will send alerts through the app when conditions change over the next weekend here. You can download it for free at the app store. A vital California Political issue played out on twitter today. Governor newsom vowed to appeal the trump administrations refusal to make a disaster declaration for californias august fires. Then a couple of hours later, he tweeted, just got off the phone with donald trump who has approved our major disaster declaration request. The governor went on to add, grateful for his quick response. The request was for help for the bobcat fire in Los Angeles County and five other fires in south and central california. Extremely rare for a president to deny a disaster request. Not just a sign on the hill that we show you. There was also a warehouse fire in South San Francisco. This broke out about two hours ago on starlight court. Thats right near the south city fire department. Our sky ranger, you can see, was overhead. Some businesses were evacuated. Lets take you to the ground level now. Heres a view of the fire posted on twitter. This video, you can see the flames and that thick black smoke right there. The fire is contained. Just ahead, a push to rename dozens of schools in San Francisco named after former president s and even senator feinstein. Whats behind the move and what the mayor has to say. An oakland rapper g easy back in town as part of a campaign to save live music venues that have been hit so hard by the pandemic. And ill have more on the heat for this weekend. Ill be back in about ten minutes. When we welcome our west coast viewers, as temperatures drop and more restaurants enclose their outdoor seating, are we more at risk of contracting coronavirus . Well take a look. Also the International Race for a Covid Vaccine turns nasty. Well have more tonight on nbc nightly news. They endorse yes on 25 to end money bail. Governor gavin newsom. Congresswoman karen bass. The western center on law and poverty. The Dolores Huerta foundation. Californians for safety and justice. And the California Democratic party. Yes on 25. Accused of rape. Accused of stealing 5. The stanford rapist could afford bail. Got out the same day. The Senior Citizen could not. Forced to wait in jail nearly a year. Vote yes on prop 25 to end money bail. We could see a lot of name changes in San Francisco. Were talking about schools, dozens of schools Like Washington high and Dianne Feinstein elementary are among the targeted campuses. This morning the mayor weighed into the debate with sharp criticism. Heres nbc bay areas jackie ward. It isnt taking up a lot of our time or, you know, our band width. Reporter as a mixed race black woman on the sf board of education, Alison Collins is all for changing the names of schools that have ties to racial oppression. And now even in the middle of a pandemic, she says the board can handle both reopening safely and potential name changes for 44 schools. Now more than ever, like i said, i appreciate being in San Francisco where we can have these conversations because we know they need to be happening nationally. But at least we can in our city. Reporter schools like Abraham Lincoln high school, George Washington high school, and Jefferson Elementary School are on the list to potentially be renamed. Those looking for a change believe the current names represent a history of slavery, genocide or oppression. In a Statement Released this morning, San Francisco mayor london breed made it clear how she feels, saying the School District should focus on Public Schools reopening, not renaming. Under Public Health orders several schools have been allowed to reopen, but several schools have yet to make a firm plan to do so. She writes, quote, to hear that the district is focusing energy and resources on renaming schools, schools they havent even opened, is offensive. Its offensive to parents who are juggling their childrens day lg at Home Learning schedules with doing their jobs and maintaining their sanity. San Francisco School board commissioner mark sanchez is the one who initially proposed this resolution. He told the chronicle he doesnt believe there will ever be a time when people are ready for this change. He was not able for comment today. The school board is expected to vote on these potential name changes in late january or early february. In San Francisco, jackie ward, nbc bay area news. Thank you, jackie. Californians have shattered the previous record for mailin voting thanks in part to the coronavirus. Back in 2016, 150,000 ballots had been sent in by this time through the mail or drop boxes. 2020, though, hasnt been typical in any way. So far 2. 1 million votes have been cast. By far the bay area county thats voted the most is contra costa. Some 130,000 people there have voted, which translates to roughly about a seventh of people registered. Ballots returned by mail must be postmarked by november 3rd. Ballots returned to a secure drop box must be in place by 8 00 in the evening on election day. A scolding for the California Republican party today over those illegal drop boxes placed outside some central and Southern California churches. In an online News Conference today, attorney general Xavier Becerra and secretary of state alex padilla said the boxes have been removed but the gop has still not fully responded. Theres also additional requests for information that has not been met, and so we continue to exercise Legal Options to obtain the balance of the demands from the cease and desist letter. State gop has said it will continue to accept ballots given to the party, but attorney general becerra says Party Representatives must properly sign the ballots as someone assisting a voter. You can track your mailed ballot online. Just google wheres my ballot, and you can be notified by email, text or voice. If you have a question about something on the ballot, perhaps we can help you. Watch the encore presentation of our special show, decision 2020, california votes. Well have it tomorrow night at 6 for everybody to see and for you to know what you need to note. How the vote, what all those propositions mean. Again, that he tomorrow at 6 30 in the evening. Among the many things that we miss during this pandemic, live events like concerts and sports. Tonight some music for our ears. Just a few minutes ago, some bigname musicians kicked off a threeday Music Festival online. Its called save our stages. Its to raise money to help independent music venues. Many face permanent closure. Among the performers, the bay areas own geazy. Hell take the stage at the independent in San Francisco later tonight. The independent has been closed and without revenue since march. Being closed for seven months and not being able to do what we do, and that is put on shows, has been really, i think, mentally debilitating and emotionally to all the people that work at this venue and venues across the country. All right. Rap, rock, ray day, the whole gamut here. Foo fighters, dave matthews, miley cyrus, and Reba Mcentire are among the many artists who will perform from 25 venues across the country. You can check it out on the youtube channel, the National Independent venue association. So many of those bands right up your alley. I can see you salivating right now. Were excited. Lets bring in jeff ranieri. Happy friday to you, jeff. You guys too. A little bit of music, it goes a long way nowadays. Put on some music and things seem almost normal again a little bit. Lets get you outside. We have excellent air quality across the bay area. You can see up here through calistoga nothing but blue sky. Weve seen most of our wind really calming down. Im only seeing wind gusts at some of the highest peaks of 20 to 25 Miles Per Hour. But theres a slim chance in the north bay mountains we could see a few isolated gusts tonight of 20 to 40 for lthd north and also east bay hills. For the lower elevations, 5 to 15mileperhour winds. Let me show you that calmer wind, only 3 to 8 Miles Per Hour for most of the bay area. Continuing to be on the downward side of this wind event. As we move through tomorrow morning, youll notice at 7 00 a. M. , its very calm. Only 2 to 4 Miles Per Hour here for most of us. You can see this little pop of color on my wind contour, that orange there. Those are some of those gusts that could be around 30 Miles Per Hour as you get close to mount st. Helena. As we move through tomorrow, thats very isolated. Well continue to see that wind relax. Overall as you get up on your saturday morning trying to get your day started, maybe do a little relaxing, get up early, have some time for yourself, some exercise, nice comfortable weather here. Low 60ss for the south bay, peninsula, and the trivalley. Lets get you going across San Francisco, the east bay and the north bay will be in the upper 50s to low 60s and mostly clear skies as well. Temperatures tomorrow begin to drop off a couple of degrees. Its not going to be big decrease that you want to see, but this is, well, a little bitter here. 91 in san jose. 90 in cupertino. No 100s for the east bay. 92 in martinez. 95 in danville. As we move closer to the coastline, for the peninsula, back to 88 in redwood city. Daly city 76. San francisco starting to drop albeit its not our typical cool 60s, but back to 73 in the marina and 76 in the outer sunset. The key thing here in San Francisco well begin to see tomorrow night is a wester wind at 11 Miles Per Hour. Thats more