Commissioners are giving their comments as to whether they should allow the services to expand. There were a whole lot of opinions both supporting and opposing this seemingly controversial situation. In the lead up to todays meeting at the California PublicUtilities Commission hundreds of people converged on the steps of the State Office Building prepared to sound off on the future of selfdriving cars. At issue whether to allow crews to expand the hours of the current Robo Taxi Services in San Francisco and whether to allow waymo to begin its robo taxi pilot service. Two particularly vocal groups today, local unions, and the disabled, seemed split on the issue. Several people who use motorized chairs to get around said t difficult to g into bec thereo driver to help. One woman says t can also be dangerous. Ive already had a worrying interaction with one. I was entering a crosswalk with the green light. I ed carefully in all directions and abrup a empty cruise turned in front o me and went on its way. Reporter advocates for the blind say they appreciate the robo taxies cant discriminate. Driverless vehicles would be an amazing advantage for us getting around as a family with two car seats, diaper bags, a stroller, and a lot of other things that uber and lyft drivers frankly are not comfortable with us having. Reporter members of two unions rallied outside before the meeting. One Group Representing janitorial workers say cruise promises to work with them if they expand in the city. The electrical workers are also hoping the expanded program will bring more jobs. We opened discussions with cruise about a year and a half ago and zd them to partner with ibw. Reporter not all unions are cheering the program. During mondays meeting the unions representing bus drivers oppose rapid expansion d they because it directly threatens their jobs. San francisco Public Safety officials also previously held a special meeting with the cpuc to detail their concerns about the safety of avs. The Fire Department has documented more than 50 incidents where the Driverless Cars have frozen and impeded their fire trucks and now t cpuc haslready delay the vote ohis issue twoes this year and you can see the commissioners are still giving their comments as to what theyre going to do with this exactly. In fact the commissioner who chaired a meeting on monday with Public Service officials from San Francisco recommended that it be delayed again until november but of course we still have to listen in and see what theyll decide tonight. Live in San Francisco, sergio quintana, nbc bay area news. Thank you. Our sr investir took a rin a drlessar cently. What happened on the streets of San Francisco that had him and a driving instructor calling for human intervention . Check it out on our website nbc bay. C ick driess cars in the trendingr. Another headline this evening the smoggy and smokey skies after the fire at an oakland Metal Recycling plant. The fire is out thankfully but the Health Concerns continue. The fire broke out near the square yesterday during the day. It burned intensely. Throughout the night. And into this morning. Flames from piles of the scrap metal there at the schnitzer steel plant sent huge plumes of smoke across the bay area not just oakland or Alameda County but into the tri valley down to san jose. This morning fire crews and fire boats were finally able to contain the flames to a single pile of debris. People who live and work in the neighborhoods around the port of oakland were advised to close windows and remain indoors until the smoke cleared but a nearby preschool decided to keep its kids inside today. The air smelled really bad this morning and so we decided to keep the kids inside and do fun things inside. They miss playing outdoors. It is recommended people still take precautions especially if they have respiratory issues. There were no reported injuries. The Fire Department is still trying to determine a cause. Lets bring in our chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. It was rough last night for so many parts of the bay area. What is our air quality right now . In the past couple hours weve seen a dramatic change with the foggy breezes helping to clear out residual smoke that may have been lingering around. The fire location again port of oakland right here on my map. Let me get you a closer view. You still may be smelling just a little bit of it if youre in west oakland around 10th street back to 16th street or down to 3rd street so advise some caution there. Winds tonight 10 to 20 Miles Per Hour but the fire is out. I wanted to show you the live camera now as well. That fire was located right here so there is no more smoke coming out there. There is some typical smoke stacks right here that is letting out some sort of emission but coming from a smoke stack. So as we head through tonight, advise some caution near the oakland port. Otherwise good air quality through the bay area. Im tracking thunderstorm chances moving close to the bay area. Ill show you who has the best chance of maybe getting a little rain overnight. Thank you jeff. Well see you then. Tonight a grim picture is emerging from paradise. This video shows the aftermath of the deadly fires that swept through maui burning down much of the historic down of lahaina. 53 people are now confirmed dead and many more are stranded. Many others forced from their homes. Search and rescue remains a top priority for first responders. Today Governor Newsom announced a task force is being sent to hawaii to help and that includes a firefighter from the oakland search and rescue team. The roads have reopened in maui but getting a flight out is not so easy. We spoke with people today who did get out and returned home here to the bay area. The family was vacationing in the beach resort near lahaina. On tuesday night they got an Evacuation Order on their cell phones around 11 00 p. M. They jumped into the rental car and drove to maui high school, one of the evacuation sites. Only to find the gym was so full it couldnt hold them. So they ended up spending the night in their rental car before flying back to san jose late last night. Today raul told us about the moment he knew just how bad the fires were going to be. It got real when i walked out and you can see the sky was orange over the trees and you can see it kind of flickering. Reporter thankfully he and his family are okay after spending the night also in their ca the fam sayike many of us they are devastated by the ruction and fir l behind but also have faith that maui will rebuild and they hope to visit the island again soon. Lets take a live look now at sfo. United airlines is also lending a hand sending supplies to maui. At least one plane with supplies is leaving from sfo. Another is flying out from lax. United also canceled flights to maui today so that empty planes can help with evacuations. They are sending empty planes to maui and bring passengers back home. People and organizations here in the bay area with deep ties the Hawaiian Islan are stepping up tohelp. You may be wondering what can do as well. Here is nbc bay areas christie smith. It happened so quickly and was so devastating that people are in shock. They dont know how to react. And mourning. Reporter eric is a board member with the Hawaii Chamber of commerce of northern california. He started getting texts and calls about the wildfires in west maui almost as soon as they started. There are natural disasters in hawaii with hurricanes, different types of tropical storms. You know what is coming and you can prepare. No one was prepared for this. Reporter many of the texts and calls have been people asking what they can do to help. Now his group is working to provide some answers in a fast moving situation. Weve been calling hawaii, calling our connections, calling our contacts. And just recently we found that one of the relief organizations that were supporting is the Hawaii Community fund. It is under maui strong. 100 of proceeds goes toward the relief effort. Reporter it is one of the organizations the county of maui has encouraged people to look to if youre considering making a donation. Along with the united ways maui fire and Disaster Relief fund. So much destruction with the fire has caused and we think of lahaina as a Tourist Destination but to hawaiians it is a sacred space. Reporter pat deses himself unity organizer. We feel helpless on the mainland because of course we have friends and family on maui. But to continue to keep them in our prayers the most important thing when the time comes to help support. Reporter conversations are also starting about putting together a local support event here in the bay area. We need to bring people together so they feel like they can contribute and also, you know, provide support for one another. Reporter nbc bay area news. Here is how you can help. On our website find the link to the two organizations maui officials have identified as safe donation sites including the Hawaii Community foundation. Look for the how to help om and headline. Nancy pelosi is opening up her San Francisco home to the attorneys of her husbands accused attacker. It is part of prepara for the federal trial against d depape is accused olen attacking former speaker of the houses husband paul with a hammer back in october. The pelosis agree to allow lawyers for the government and depapes attorneys to inspect their Pacific Heights home where the attack happened. The pelosis agreed to the visit voluntarily after initially rejecting that request. Depapes access to any information from the Home Inspection will be restricted. The trial is expected to begegi in october. Up next at 6 00, our coverage of the maui fires continues w with the man who sa his business go up in flames. It might take years to rebuild the old Historic Town there of lahaina. Also the fire that burned an area bigger than the state of rhode island. Tonight we are revisiting the town of greenville two years since the dixie fire swept through. How that community is still trying to rebuild. Back to the destructive fires in hawaii among the dramatic stories from lahaina, a california native who has been running a business there for more than a decade. Tonight it has been reduced to ashes. Matthew robb coowns the dirty monkey a popular bar on lahainas front street which is obliterated now. The bar and the neighbors are gone. That is the video before. That is it now. Now robb is focusing on the people he works with and the loved ones making sure everyone is safe even as he gets nonstop texts and phone messages from family and friends asking how he is doing. Asking what they can do and what is going on and we are so sorry. We got engaged at the dirty monkey, we had our wedding reception there. We just love lahaina. Matthews says the biggest challenge is finding housing for the hundreds of people whose homes have burned. The images bring back painful memories from our own state. Last week marked two years since the dixie fire broke out destroying the town of greenville about 140 miles northeast of sacramento. We returned this week to see how the town is recovering. Everything else is ashes or twisted metal. In august of 2021. It came right down through here. Ken walked among the embers of his music store and home in Downtown Greenville burned in the dixie fire. Just stuff. It just hurts. Stuff, but his stuff. As he surveyed the devastation along what had once been a main street lined with century old buildings, he made a vow. We lost oneam. Now its timeoak a one. Reporter two y aft the dixie fire wiped away t Historic Town from indian valley, he and his dream are still here. It was a beautiful town. I miss it terribly. Reporter the ruins of main street have bee cleared, replaced withty lots and the bones of Historic Buildings i miss it so much. And yet we cant recreate that. That is gone. So are most of the towns 1200 residents. So many of my good friend have been scattered to the four winds and some of them are never going toe back. Reporter the sounds of heavy machinery are signs of life. Just off main street, residents created a pop up downtown called the spot with restaurants and bars, greenhouse is the community gatheringces specy whehe s com a b from where kevin gosss pharmacy went down he now operates the way baby way station bar and restaurant. Im still here. You bet you. Im not going anywhere. Reporter from his business he can watch a handful of new homes rising up and families moving in. Once you see another roof going on and another wall going up, it adds to that momentum. Jennifer Gray Thompson of the fire response bay area based group after the fire is a regular visitor helping to connect residents and town leaders with knowledge and resources. To see this amazing wild fire resistant, really climate resilient housing go up here is the most impressive example ive seen in six years of doing this work. Reporter among the new homes rising on the blank canvas of terrain my house is amazing. Reporter is he ken donnells. This is a two bedroom one bath house. My new home in greenville, california. This is my new kitchen. Beautiful. Efficient. Reporter his home was built specifically with fire in mind. This is 1 8 inch plate steel. There is no air space. There is no combustible materials. I am never going to have to worry about a wildfire destroying my home again. This view out here, this is what i came back for. Reporter donnells sight line is filled with blackened trees but also the greenery of new growth. We will live in this ruined landscape but well also watch it recover. Reporter along main street a new post office is under constrnked b the hills where the flaarched in town. A new antennaipes badly needed internet. The town is rewriting its history. To fill a soon to be built history museum. Beneath the seeds of devastation seeds of hope beginning to take root. If you are going to live in a place like this you have to be tough these are the kind of people who are here. Reporter nbc bay area news. The juxtaposition of seeing this, you know, a couple years out from when they lott everything to seeing now what is happening in maui is really hard. If there is something in california, we have cssion forhat isappening over he and so peoplee liv through it. It is a good example o h people c and do rebuild which is a nice story. And doing it out of steel. His structure. That could be kind of how things have to be built in some cases depending on where you are located now. Right here across the bay area we did get sunshine. Felt a little tropical out there today and that is because we are tracking some thunderstorm activity right here off to the south. Now it is primarily over central california. We are getting some real heavy downpours. There is a flood advisory here for curran and kings county until 6 45 tonight. This activity is moving close the bay area. I wanted to show you a look at future cast tonight. At 9 00 it is knocking on the door in gilroy. Into 1 00 in the morning we may actually get some rain, maybe an isolated thunderstorm chance in gilroy and through tomorrow morning at 5 00 we start with the fog and also spotty drizzle. I do see sunshine returning as we head through tomorrow but well still get some of the tropical clouds right here moving up from the south. We are going to be stuck in the same pattern of thunderstorms to the south and east of us. It is really the situation all the way into next tuesday because this same exact system right here is going to sit in just about the same spot. So that means morning fog and again those afternoon thunderstorm chans but again the highest risk is going to be off toward the east of us over the sierra where well see anywhere from a half to maybe 3 4 of an inch of rainfall. Morning temperatures as we roll through tomorrow going to start it off here in the 50s so a nice beginning w 57 in the peula. Over to the east bay 58. And for the north bay double 5s. Dae highs f tomo, pr dt here conring its august. Well be inhe 70s and 80s across the inland valleys. 79 here in napa. 86 concord. 85 san jose. Palo alto 82. You got the cool 60s from San Francisco to half moon bay. Downtown San Francisco will be at 66. But if you are headed to outside lands going to be chillier closer to the coast. Bring your jacket. Temperatures in the low 60s but of course always a great time even if that fog is rolling on in. Right here in the seven day forecast in San Francisco eventually get into some 70s as we head through next monday, tuesday, and also wednesday. By sunday into the mid nooint. No 100s as we see now but certainly a little toastier. Well keep an eye on the radar. Overnight we may get thunderstorms moving close to gilroy. Well have more reports coming up. We have a big weekend in the San Francisco area and around the region as well. Up next challenging googles incognito mode. The court win for users who say private browsing is not so private. Private. Well explain. warehouse ambience inintroducing g togos new frfrench dip s sandwiches feataturing frfresh artisasan b piled highgh with tendnder roast bebeef, smothehered with m melty provovolone cheeeese and seserved with h hot au ju fofor dipping. G. Try y the roast t beef or papasi frenench dips totoday only at togos a win for privacy on the internet. Google lost its bid to dismiss a lawsuit about how Google Stores data on its private browser setting. It is called incognito mode. The setting gives you the choice to browse the internet without storing your activity to your browser. A 2020 Class Action Lawsuit says google collected browsing data even in