Setting off investigation orders and and warnings at this hour. At least five different fires in san mateo and santa cruz counties. You know see the big plumes of smoke from the air above the fires. There are now Evacuation Orders in the area of Butano State Park, and people who live in the communities deer born park be under evacuation warnings. Altogether, these fires have burned about 1,000 acres, and right now there is zero containment. All right. Lets bring in our chief meteorologist bill martin now. What are firefighters dealing with, and is there in any positive news . Well, what theyre dealing with, frank, we have a live picture of the hennessey fire in napa. What they are dealing sat two and a half days of lightning strikes in the bay area. Unprecedented from my tenure of 35, 40 years in the bay area to have that much lightning that much over adoration over that large of an area. All bears counties had some strikes. Weve seen numerous fires. So cal fire is in a situation where theyre putting out spot fires. Now, i want to make an important distinction. What youre watching is obviously the hennessey fire, burning up the ridgeline. I guarantee you cal fire is doing that on purpose. Theyre going to let that get to the ridgeline and then cap it. These fires, what im getting at is, are not in a firestorm, like we see in the fall. I know i get a lot of emails and text people really worried, especially up in paradise. These fires spot fires. They are developing big because its hoot and its well, its humid, but very hot, but were not seeing the devastating winds. Now, you put wind on top of this, and then you have waft i would call a firestorm and real concerns. What were looking at now is real concern, but in terms of spreading, i can assure you, cal fire has a handle on i dont know about all of them, but almost all of these fires theyve got a good game plan for, because they are not bucking the wind. The intend also the issue with these fires, frank. Spectacular shots from the napa valley. Again, just know cal fire, they have a plan. The weather is work slightly in their favor, if that there is no big wind. Bill, i just got an email from mark, who we use quite a bit here to talk about fires, and he wrote he has seen something he has never seen before, the number of fires which do not have resources assigned, i. E. , firefighters, engines, air ops, et cetera. He said its not just a few fires either. That is just remarkable when you think there are some fires burning right now, and there literally arent enough people to deal with them. Yeah, and thats a testament to the lightning strikes, frank. There are thousand of lightning strikes. Hundreds, but i think it was 1500 lightning strikes in Northern California over this period, and i dont know what personal sparked fires, but just picture that, middle and end of summer, everything is tinder dry and then someone starts throwing a match in different places. So, yeah, thats what seeing. They are doing a triage thing where theyre taking the biggest fires first. No big wins, and that is crucial too getting a handle on this fire in napa and. Of the other fires were seeing up in the north and south bay. All right, bill, thank you. Well, these fires are threatening homes, as weve been telling you. People living near these fires have been ordered to evacuate. Hundreds of firefighters are battling these fires in the extremely hot conditions outside right now. And with so many different fires, as frank just mentioned, fire crews are being stretched then. Rob roth joins us now on the challenges that firefighters are facing, especially during a pandemic. Rob . Right, julie. Well, the fires are burning in remote locations, but they have the potential to travel fast, and thats what has firefighters worried. Reporter cal fire calls the three most serious fires the lightning complex fires. Including hennessey, gam, and the 1510. About 400 people received Evacuation Orders tuesday to go along with the approximately 200 from yesterday. Just as i picked the can up, the lightning struck out right over here on Hennessey Ridge on the other side. Reporter but this man hadnt left yet. Its a very stressful time right now. Our house is just a couple of hundred yards from here, and it doesnt look good. Reporter firefighters say lightning strikes are responsible for these fires. This video was take by any photographer last night of the gamble fire at north lake berryessa. At one pint, the fire morphed into what looms like a tornado. An Evacuation Order for nearly 400 residents of the nearby variesa estates. To use a football term, nature is piling on. Not only are we dealing with covid, we have the fires, and also have a subsequent heat emergency and potential rolling power outages. Reporter a center was set up at cross walk church, but only a handful stayed there last night. People evacuated normally go stay with family and friends. Reporter cal fire says between 500 to 600 firefighters have joined the fight, and there is aerial support. Its about 103 where were at right now. It could be warmer on the fire line, and also the access, very rugged terrain. So far zero containment as of this afternoon. And cal fire says if the past 24 hours, there have been 60 fires in the area. Julie . Yeah, its a stressful time for a lot of people right now. Rob, thank you. And be sure to download the new ktvu weather app. That way you can bring all of our up to date weather forecasts with you. Those forecasts can be especially important during extreme heat events like this. Its night two of the virtual Democratic National convention, now less than an hour away. The democrats still talking about last nights keynote speech from former First Lady Michelle Obama and her blistering words against President Trump. Our political reporter greg lee now with a look at what we can expect tonight. Greg . Well, frank, now we have an idea of what the format will be. A highly produced two hours of speech personal stories. Tonight all eyes are on dr. Jill biden and an unorthodox mashup of 17 speakers delivering tonights key note as democrats prepare to unveil night two, many are still talking about stinging remarks from former First Lady Michelle Obama, who closed the premier night with a taped address. Donald trump is the wrong president for our country. He has had more than enough time to prove that he can do cl over his head. Reporter at an event where he announced he would pardon susan b. Anthony, President Trump fired back at mrs. Obama. I thought it was a very divisive speech, extremely divisive. We have a tremendous amount of enthusiasm for my campaign. Reporter the president traveled to iowa to survey damage from last weeks deadly storm on the way to yuma, arizona, to visit his border wall. Counter programming to tonights dnc, which will feature dr. Jill biden, former president bill clinton, and speeches from 17 of the parties arising stars. This is a different kind of keynote. We have a lot to say. They will offer different perspectives during the key note address, but everyone will speak tow future were building together. There are also be a virtual roll call, after senator Bernie Sanders called for his base to back biden last night, alexandria ocasiocortez will get one minute to speak tonight, a point of frustration for some sanders delegates. They hope former v. P. Widen speaks directly tore the policies. Up want to hear him with a commitment to fighting climate change, the green new deal, to be getting beyond the Affordable Care act. Reporter this afternoon, the dnc released a clip of dr. Jill binds speech. It is a deeply personal portrayal of wife she thinks her husband should be president. Yesterday we saw several highprofile republicans speaking at the Democratic National convention. I cant remember the last time i saw Something Like that. Tonight we have cindy mccain, john mccains widow, nare raritying a piece about how senator mccain and senator biden were good friends. Is this to tell republicans that you can still be republican but not vote for donald trump . Reporter well, and megan mccain and cindy mccain have been very critical of President Donald Trump during the last three and a half years, but like youve said, frank, the democrats are trying to create this big tent coalition, showing they can reach out to disaffected Republican Voters and tell them its okay not to vote for President Donald Trump, or at least thats the idea of including some of these republican speakers like former Ohio Governor john kasich last night, and like you said what will be a deeply personal video tonight about the well right hand late john mccain. You also mentioned jill biden will will be take bout what kind of man her husband is. Bill clint license also be speaking tonight. What do you see as his role here . What does he need to do tonight . Well, frank, like some of the other speakers, weve also received a an excerpt of that speech. What allegation he be unorthodox about that speech is it will be a direct attack on President Donald Trump as not something we often see from a former president to a current sitting president. So it will be stark terms, much live Michelle Obamas speech tonight in drawing contrasts between biden and mr. Trump, and we will see if bill clinton delivers tonight that very strong message that we have been told to expect. Greg lee, live for us tonight. Greg, thank you. The first county in Northern California is now off the governors coronavirus watch list. Coming up tonight at 5 30, what that means for santa cruz and how its a sign of hope for some people who live there. Plus another day of possible rolling blackouts in california. Why experts say the blackouts are partially caused by where the state generates its power. Plus were keeping our eye on those fires burning around the bay area. Fire crews battling multiple fires in napa county. Plus Evacuation Orders and warnings have now been issued for san mateo and sonoma counties, due to those fires. Superfast internet. Its a beautiful thing. Superfast internet with an xfinity flex 4k streaming device included . Even beautifuler. And now flex also comes with peacock. Ooh la la. This rare bird lets you stream tons of movies, shows, news, sports and more. And with flex, its all at your beck and call. Show me parks and rec see . The best really did get better magnificent. Switch to xfinity internet and get a flex 4k streaming device with peacock premium included for no additional cost. Can it one up spaghetti night . Cleaning power of liquid. It sure can. Really . Can it one up breakfast in bed . Yeah, for sure. Thanks, boys. What about that . Uhh, yep it can . Yeah, even that i would very much like to see that. Me too. Introducing tide power pods. One up the toughest stains with 50 more cleaning power than liquid detergent. Any further questions . Uh uh nope one up the power of liquid with tide power pods. Way are on stand birr until 11 00 tonight for possible rolling blackouts unless everyone decides to conserve energy. Tom vacar has a look at why this happens when it gets really hot for several days on end. Tom . Well, californias power grid operators say that their demand today is about 2 higher than it even was yesterday. And without serious conservation, right now, underscore right now, we can look forward to those rolling blackouts. Where california gets its power from is a big reason were in the dilemma were in. Since our last mega heat wave more than a decade ago, california has taken 15 to 20 of it natural gas fired fuel plants out of service, plus a Nuclear Power plant. Theyve been relaced with solar and wind, which to the cheap, super cheap and green, cannot be switched on like traditional power plants according to berkeley schooling of Energy Economists bernstein. Wind and solar are constrained why whether the wind is blowing and whether the sun is shining. They are not something you can just say we want your full capacity. So grid operators told pg e and other utilities to warn of possible outages. That information was information we provided also on sunday and monday, and ultimately did not end up being the case, but we wanted to make sure that we alert our customers at least to the high possibility overt, because we would like them to have the opportunity to prepare. Reporter as diamond was skyrocketing yesterday at 3 00 p. M. , customers finally paid attention to conservation pleas. We had a dramatic flattening of load curve like weve never seen before, and we believe its all attributable to the great work that people did to conserve. We havent seen heat like this since 2006. Voluntary calls for conservation help occasionally, but theres a lot of evidence that if you consistently ask people to voluntarily conserve, you get conservation have a teague and people stop conserving as much. So blackouts today, tomorrow, and even as heat returns next week could still happen. The most important hours are 6 00 p. M. To 9 00 p. M. Thats when the demand is very high and the solar rolls off. And so since that blackout risk remains, pg e has just set up a website today where you can actually go and type in your address and learn if you are or are not scheduled to be on an outage tonight. Go to ktvu. Com, click on web links, and well send you directly to that site. All right, tom, thank you. More now on those fires burning around the bay area. There are Evacuation Orders and order of warnings in San Mateo County at this time. Here is a look at that is fire burning in southern San Mateo County. Experts say that lightning caused these fires. Right now there are Evacuation Orders in the area of Butano State Park and people who live in lomama r and deer born park are under an evacuation warning. A lot of fires, a lot of lightning strikes, and around the state, i just got mark to put this together for us. A map of not all the fires, but some of the more notable ones. You can see that cal fire is stretched then from Northern California into Southern California. Varying sizes of fires. Reno has some big fires right now as well. And a heat warning stays in effect. That doesnt help the firefighters, just working in these conditions. With humidity at almost 30 , thats significant humid that makes it tough to fight fires. The most important thing is the winds. At napa, 17 miles an hour. Thats the most i could find. Most are around 5 to 8 miles per hour, which is out of the west at this point, which is better than a northeast wind. Just trust me on that. So we go to another day tomorrow near 100. That excessive heat warning stays in effect. Another very dry day tomorrow. Everybody in red, excessive heat warn, so thats most of the bay area, except the immediate coastline. Even oakland with an excessive heat warning. Cities like oakland, richmond, parts of San Francisco, dale city area a lot of homes in those areas still without air conditioning, and that makes it rough especially with this type of pat everyone thats been hot day after day. We might see a record today. Ill cheek and speak that soon. The air quality less than great. Not horrible, but its not good. You have that smoke from just numerous fires in the area. There is the satellite loop. Right now all of that tropical moisture that brought us our thunderstorms, theyll start seeing some thunderstorms there. So the plan for tomorrow, not quite as hot, but pretty darned hot. And then we get a break as we go into not really a big break, but were going to cool a off a little bit as we go to thursday and friday. So well see you back here with the fiveday forecast. A political battle over the post office. Coming up next, the bay areas dell legation turning up the pressure on the Trump Administration over threatened changes. Plus. I imagine with this pandemic, you might have a few extra computers sitting around. Yeah, sure do. Coming up, new at 6 00, how silicon valleys tech giants are stepping up to help bridge the Digital Divide as students start distance learning. Today the postmaster general announced he would hold off on any operational changes at the post office until after the election. Some say thats not enough. Christien kafton joins us more on the fears about election interference. Christien . Reporter yeah, you hit the nail on the head. Speaker pelosi saying while she is gratified to hear the postmaster general wont be making anyone future changes to the post office until after the election, she said she still wants him to roll pack the changes he has already made. Speaker of the house nancy pelosi spoke in front of one of San Franciscos biggest Postal Distribution Centers in the cities Bay View District saying the Trump Administration is try fog sabotage the postaller is elvis for political game. And and theyre trying to undo it. Why . Because they want to interfere with the election. Reporter the 0 postmaster general said to the removal of mailboxes and sorting machines is aimed to save money, and announced tuesday that the post office would put off any changes at the post office until after the election. The speaker saying the changes already made by the trump appointee have already sabotaged the post office to the president s benefit. I dont frankly trust the postmaster general on what he said, and he f he is sincere about it, it means the bully has backed off. Reporter eric swayl well, the former democratic president ial hopeful saying that voters need to start planning now with things like ballot drop off boxes. The president can continue to sabotage the mail. We expect that he will try and do that, but by having events li