From 11 other states, including as far away as kansas, texas, and montana. The czu lightning complex fire in Santa Cruz County and San Mateo County has now burned 78,000 acres and containment is only at 13 . 176 homes have been destroyed. Cal fire says in San Mateo County, the fire is no longer moving toward lahonda, lolamar, or pescadaa, or moving east to santa clara county. A 79yearold man died, possibly trying to flee the fire in davenport. Four other people are unaccounted for. The deadly lnu lightning complex fire continues to burn through several counties in the north bay. Five people have been killed by the fires there. Three in napa county and two in solano county. According to cal fire, this complex has burned about 547 square miles and is 22 contained. 871 structures have been destroyed. 234 others have been damaged, and more than 30,000 are still threatened. The scu lightning complex fire has grown to more than 347,000 acres. It is burning across 7 counties and is only 10 contained. A dozen buildings have been destroyed, thousands are still threatened. This afternoon, cal fire officials updated People Living near the evacuation zones of the massive scu complex fires. Tom vacar joins us now live with an update. Tom . In this story, youre going to learn something thats a very new twist about evacuations, as we move forward. But as one cal fire chief told me, he says that these fires are very much like running a marathon, and we still have a long, long way to go. Cal fire says it got lucky last night on the scu fire. Very lucky. We were actually aided by the fact that the lightning strikes did not come in the way we expected them toy yesterday, only having started one Additional Fire last night. Reporter but the fire still remains a monster as it grows in two dangerous directions. Our number one priority for this fire will remain this entire western front along within what we call the calaveras zone. A large part of our priority right now is to stop any further southerly movement of the fire. Reporter we drove in Stanislaus County along mines road to livermore, crossing a major southern portion of the scu fire footprint. Much of what we saw was scorched earth of an extremely sparsely populated mountain wilderness. However, we were somewhat surprised to see a number of Still Standing homes and structures that had a lot of well trimmed and clean areas surrounding them. Outbuildings not so well cared for were taken by the fire. We also saw repnants of the firefight that went on here, such as this track of retardant laid down by an aerial tanker. Because folks on delporto road take defensive space very seriously, and the firefighters worked hard, it looks like many of these people will have homes to gotten home to. This childrens playground was virtually untouched. But the park did suffer the loss of the rangers home, a barn, and a small cottage. We frequent lip encountered groups of fire trucks stand big to go on patrol for hot spots. Other troops went to the steep terrain to put hot spots out. A crew from torens used their waiting time and location to take scope rapell training. And there can never, ever be too much training. We are essential living in a mega fire era. Reporter and said chief hess, evacuations will now come earlier. Were going to have to evacuate people more often, and more people. Reporter in remember, the traditionally worst two months of mega fires is still ahead of us, september and october. So youre going to have more evacuations, there are going to be larger evacuations, and very likely, they will last longer. Otherwise, these mega fires present a real and present danger, almost from the beginning. Tom vacar, ktvu fox 2 news. I know youre talking about evacuations, tom. In that presser, did they say anything about shelters, and their capacity, given now that we are in the age of covid and people have to social distance . Reporter no, its one of those things where a lot of people are making do, a lot of people are going to friends, and a lot of people are camping out. Weve seen a lot of camping oust going on. So i think that its not something that is, you know, completely thought through. Theyre doing the best they can. But theres only so much space available. But i think as we move on in this, theyre going to have a much better idea. Remember, all of this really just came up about a week ago in an explosive way, and nobody expecting in like this to happen. They knew we would have big fires, but didnt know we would have these lightningdriven mega fires, but now we know the winds are coming the next two months, and that is going to be mega. And they are stretched then right now. Tom, thank you. Lets bring in bill. Thankfully that red flag warning was canceled earlier today. Yeah, yeah, things went pretty well for cal fire last night. We were worried about the thunderstorms, but it was pretty clear by yesterday morning that these storms didnt have the or pack the punch that they did last sunday, and thats what everyone was worried about. Theres lots of fires out there now. Air quality less than mag negative isnt. This is live chopper two, or sky fox. Its heading to the santa cruz fire, as we always monitor that area. There is a spare the air alert out for the whole area. When you get out in the morning, if youre an Early Morning jogger or walker, that smoke wants to silt right down on the ground when it is cool, right . The spoke smoke is right down by where you breathe with that in . Tuesday and wednesday morning, think youll see more of this. Theres the smoke were talking about, or the haze and the par tick lat matter that will linger through wednesday. Back in the Santa Cruz Mountains, these are terrain driven fires, so there is a lot of tough area to get to, so they are really having to basically let some areas burn that they cant get to, because theres not a lot of roads, so its terrain or topically driven terrains are tough. The air has cleared enough now in the Santa Cruz Mountains that cal fire is able to attack that fire from the air. The cal fire, san mateo, Santa Cruz Unit posted this video this afternoon. As you can see, it shows helicopter after helicopter flying in to fill up a bucket of water in that lake. The full clip is two minutes long. During that two minutes, four helicopters are seen filling up with water and flying off to make another drop. Jesse gary joins us in santa cruz tonight where the weather continues are helping fire crews increase containment lines there. Jesse . Reporter julie, good evening to you. A red flag warning issued over the weekend has just been expired here in santa cruz. Thats because of the favorable wind conditions. A large firefighter contingent here around the u. C. Santa cruz campus. That means this area is no longer in direct threat of the flames. But you can see there is still smoke floating over the Santa Cruz Mountains, over the towns along the highway 9 corridor, so crews are using an old technique in hopes of making continued gains in the firefighting effort. Just north of felton, firefighters are taking advantage of cool are temperatures and higher humidity to make gains against the czu august lightning complex fire. The weather is cooperating with our efforts to get those containment lines around those communities that are involved. Reporter firefighters are using fire to fight the 78,000 acre fire, burning potential file fuel before spreading flames reach this site some burn everything. The difficult task in an operation like this, burning the vegetation on the grind, but preventing the flames from going up into the trees. If that happens, the flames could jump the fire lines and make conditions worse. Reporter czu is growing in size, but so is containment. Containment went up to 13 overnight. We have a good handle on the north end of the fire, and down on the coast, some of the fire is actually selfmitigating, as the fire is actually effect ting wishing itself. Reporter so far more than 24,000 structures inner danger of burning, and over 200 have been destroyed in santa cruz and san mateo counties. Pg e crews are patrolling areas for treeing in danger of tomming, and taking utility utility lines to the ground. Its a painstaking process. Its a slow process, but we are continually working on that. Our crews are making advances every day to making that more safe, and getting the Community Back on its feet. Reporter and a lot of people in the community are wondering about when these evacuation orders could be lifted. We have no word on that as yet. Could be another week, possibly, at the longest, maybe a little beyond that, as well, but to definitive word on when they will lift the evacuation orders. You heard julie mention earlier about the aerial drops they are using here in Santa Cruz County. Theyve been doing that, hitting hot spots with the helicopters all day, and that has also aided the effort in Getting Better containment and knocking out these flames, but they have a long way to go. Back to you. Yeah, it was nice to see the air clear just enough for those helicopters and air tankers to get up and fight the flames again. Jesse, thank you. Joining us is daniel from cal fire. Daniel, how stretched right now are firefighters . They must be absolutely exhausted. Well, you have to remember that while this lightning siege has been occurring for just over a week, you know, the week prior, we had several major fires down in southern california, so many of our firefighters have been battling fires down south, have been immediately diverted up here to northern california. See owe so they have been on duty for weeks at a time, though we are bringing new crews from other states. I know him is on the way, but is that enough, or do you still need more . Well, we have brought in about 100 fire engines from a number of the western states. We have several hundred additional orders for more assistance. We have activated the National Guard. Not only using helicopter, several of their c130er craft have been relatetro fitted into air tankers, but we have bells using some of their guard troops as fire crews we trained earlier the year. So were using an all of the above approach right now. And we have to. Some of these firefighters have been on the lines for weeks as a time, as i mentioned, and it is nice, though, to have just a little bit more favorable weather, not only to allow us to build our containment, but also a lot easy inventory fight fire than it was when we had 115degree temperatures. Thousands of buildings threatened in the santa cruz area in the czu fire, and according to the cal fire website, 77,000 supreme been evacuated. How long do you think it might be until they are allowed back into their homes . Its too early to estimate, though we have been able to downgrade a number of the evacuation orders in santa clara county, just on the other side of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Weve been able to reduce those down to evacuation warnings. And on a number of the fire front, weve been able to allow people to get back home. So as we do make more progress, we are working to get homeowners back to their homes, as soon as its safely possible. Is the coronavirus affecting firefighting efforts at all . Covid19 is affecting us, just like its affecting all californians. Weve been planning for this, though, for many, many months. Weve been looking on how to change our tactics, so that we can ensure that wire keeping our employees safe, our firefighters safe, the residents that we protect safe, as well. And so weve made some modifications to how we operate. But we still fight fires the traditional way we do it, but, again, it does have minimal impacts, but not an impact that were going to see in fighting the fire. Well, great job out there by all of the thousands and thousands of firefighters on the front lines. Daniel, we appreciate you taking the time to talk with us tonight. Thank you. Thanks. So they went in there, just hoping they could ride it out. Unfortunately, the fire was so intense. The number of lives lost in the massive fires burning around the bay area is rising. Coming up at 5 30, we speak with a family who rothstein three loved ones in the flames. Zoom had problems for hour this morning. Why the outage affected people who werent even on the Video Conferencing app. And day after day, the skies over the bay area are filled with smoke. Coming up, the longterm impact of this unhealthy air. And when i come back, well look at the potential for some air quality improvement. Also, temperature increase. Well let you know what the timing is on that when i see you next. Experience the ultimate sports hub. Where you can find games, news and highlights. All in one place, right on your tv. The xfinity sports zone. Use your voice to search every stat, standing and score. Follow the teams you love. And, even get notifications with breaking news alerts and more. So youll never miss an update. With the xfinity sports zone everybody wins. Now thats simple, easy, awesome. Click, call or visit a store for details. This is what it looked like in walnut creek within the past hour. From this camera near the 680 highway 24 interchange, its hard to make out mount cubs there in the distance. Reporter a curtain of smoke hovered of the entire bay area again monday, but worse in the east pay near pleasanton. The bad news is, this is the 6th consecutive day and counting of unhealthy air from the wildfires. The spare the air alert has been extended until at least wednesday. The more you are exposed to this, the more it stresses the body. Reporter dr. Ron vero works at a Medical Center in oakland. It take a toll on, as we expect, those most vulnerable. The older people, younger people who maybe havent developed their immune system yet. Were talking about young babies, and then of course those who have chronic medical conditions. Reporter at hayward hardware, owner jim wheeler said he is having little success replacing some items. Its unprecedented that we wouldnt have access these every day items that weve had access for in the 15 years ive been doing this. Reporter the store sold out of respirators in days, air Filtration Systems popular because of covid are also out of stock, and n95 masks . Forget about it. First responders have needed them because of the pandemic. If i call somebody and i ask for an n95 mask, the answer is not no, the answer is hell no. We dont have it. Reporter much of the problem the timing of the current fires. Traditionally, they is come in the fall when supply can usually meet demand. No one predicted this, that we would be needing them for the fires as early as mid august, or late august, and were total economy is completely unprepared for that. Reporter doctors saw the cloth and surgical masks most people are wearing do not felter smoke, but they are urging people to wear them in public. But youre going to see more people coughing, which means theyre going to be put be more of their saliva and dropletting into the air. That just speaks why its all the more important to be masking. Reporter two years ago, the bay area endured 14 Straight Days of unhealthy air because of the campfire. The medical advice is to stay indoors and keep the windows closed until the smoke clears. Julie . Rob roth reporting live for us tonight. Rob, things. And were in sky fox 2 right now, were heading to the Santa Cruz Mountains, but really highlighting the air quality, and im looking at this picture live like you are, so were just picking it up as we go. Not quite there to the Santa Cruz Mountains. Were not quite to our destination, the big fire there out by bonnie down in davenport. I think to note here oh, lahonda . Thats where were heading to. See how this smoke is lying down. Its dropping down, its flattening out. As it gets cooler tonight, that smoke just lays down even more so on the hills and in the valleys, so that Early Mornings are nasty for air quality. Around the bay area and in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Weve had some of the worst air quality weve seen in a long time. I definitely like this shot. One other thing you can see, if you look off to the right, youre going to see some fog. I wish i could point it out to you guys. That curve jade showing some marine layer. Thats been a roll helpful component to the firefighters, right . Because youre bringing in cooler air, and humidity is increased, and that has mass live helped in the firefight. Lets look at the air quality for tomorrow. Unhealthy air in the south and east bay. A spare the air day for everybody tomorrow, but it will be worse in the south and east bay tomorrow, especially in the Early Morning hours, as i pointed out. When we return, well look at the forecast and look at the winds. Because once we get ourselves a good strong westerly wind, well start blowing this stuff out, but just know that this smoke in idaho, montana, and wyoming. Our california fires are impacting a good portion of the united states. So its not just us. So air quality, gradually Getting Better. Spare the air day goes away on wednesday. But until then, get used to it, and just try not to exert yourself too much, because if this type of smoke, as the doctor pointed out. Okay. Ill see you pack here with the fiveday. Thanks, bill. Its official, the gop made donald trump their candidate for president today. Up next, its night one of a scaled down Republican National convention. And coming up new at 6 00, dozens of inmates in california prisons have died of the coronavirus, and now families are getting a financial shock when they lay their loved ones to rest. And details on the new rapid coronavirus testing site opened today at San Francisco international airport. Those stories and more coming up at 6 00. The president today made a visit to charlotte, north carolina, the site of the extremely scaled down Republican National convention, that will go mostly virtual tonight. Greg lee with what weve seen so far, and what is next. Greg . Frank, what we knee officer sure is President Trump is expected to speak or appear at every night of this convention. Tonight w