Big fire prompts evacuations in Redwood City

Morning on the fifth floor of the building but as Julian said earlier the good news is no injuries have been reported in this and we know that because of the fire the tracks in Redwood City uh some trains are experiencing delays in that area um so we're definitely seeing and hearing about the uh widespread impacts that are.

Going on we see that the fire is just grown just in the last few minutes of Drew kind of explaining how that might happen and here we are seeing that exactly and the darker we see that smoke become which just kind of happened in the last few seconds here uh that means the worse the air quality is going to be in that area so if you are uh in the.

Area there in rwood city or south and east of this area uh in San Mato County as Drew mentioned you will want to be aware of the air quality potentially even close your windows if you have them open so some of this nasty smoke on really bad air doesn't get inside of your home uh we want to keep you up to date on what we're learning about this.

Structure uh we told you about 45 minutes ago uh that this appears to have been an affordable housing complex that was under construction uh we're learning that this housing project was called Middlefield Junction with roughly 180 units uh about 20 of them said to be earmarked for people who were experiencing homelessness uh also it was.

Supposed to have a child care center there as well construction apparently started last summer summer 2023 uh and again we are watching unfortunately this building go up in Flames if you're here in the Bay Area you know just how difficult it is to get virtually anything built uh so to see this affordable housing complex that was.

Meant to uh be able to House people that have a tough time paying for mortgage paying for rent or folks that were experiencing homelessness uh go up in Flames is really something that's pretty sad to see here but again we see those firefighters uh in this eight alarm fire responding uh to this uh intense Blaze that we're watching uh here in Redwood.

City we've seen some scaffolding uh giving way to the intense flames and falling down as well as some of that construction material uh over the course of the last 45 minutes as we've been bringing you this live here on midday live uh we do want to mention that we are continuing to stick with this expanding our coverage uh through the.

End of midday live and if you were expecting to see gma3 what you need to know right now uh we are continuing to follow this breaking news of this massive fire burning there in Redwood City this is unfolding in about the 2700 block of Middlefield Road we're hearing from the San Mato County sheriff's deputies um that if you were in the area.

Of Calvin um Avenue and Pacific Avenue you need to get out of your home now I imagine at this point many of those sheriff's deputies have reached those homes and gotten those folks out of the way way yeah and we saw less than an hour ago what the Sheriff's Office did expand that evacuation order to also include Dum Barton Avenue again as.

Julian mentioned the 2700 block of Middlefield Road the location was a former recycling facility which was demolished back in 2015 now the site of that construction site we talked a lot about just the raw material uh that is going up in Flames now we're hearing from Plenty of viewers uh in the surrounding cities as well.

We've seen images from Meno Park showing uh just that black smoke billowing from that specific area wind gusts at 30 30 miles per hour you see on the on the screen there 29 miles per hour live is what uh we're seeing now but because of this large fire we also know that it's impacting some of the Cal Train operations they're seeing delays and so.

If that's something that you rely on that's something to keep in mind as uh Crews continue to battle this Mass massive fire in Redwood City we want to get back to meteorologist Drew Tuma for uh more on how the winds the relative humidity are all affecting this firefight that we're seeing there Drew yeah hey guys I just want to take you uh.

To the latest map that we have when it comes to the winds we're going to widen out the picture so to speak so uh here's the fire itself right here on the 2700 block uh of Middlefield Road and what we have on our map are the wind barbs basically the way the wind is traveling so you have the fire up here we have these winds out of the Northwest you can.

See they're gusting close to 30 mes hour that's why I see all these wind barbs on your screen moving very quickly uh so let's talk about first where the direction the smoke is going so you have the fire here and then you have the winds traveling in this direction so we're seeing smoke certainly in Meno Park we are getting reports of smoke.

Over Pao outto some reports of that smoke in East Palo Alto and some of that smoke uh is making it as far south and east as Mountain View so those are some of the areas where our air quality sensors H have really dipped into the Moder if not unhealthy category and these are some of the same places that firefighters are most certainly watching.

For any of those Rogue Embers to go into the air those Embers are most certainly going to follow this wind pattern so folks if you're watching us and you live in some of these areas like Meno Park Palo Alto East Palo Alto you you do want to stay vigilant over the next several hours because we do have this fire that is Raging in Redwood City and under.

These windy conditions it's not out of the question that we could see some of these Embers get launched and travel several miles to the south and east so that's something we're watching very closely but like Julian alluded to relative humidity it is on the high side so that's good for firefighters but it's these winds that are associated with a.

Cold front that are really just pushing this fire uh to breathe more and more of course fires of oxygen wind gives these fires oxygen and that's kind of what we're seeing at this point point so again just folks if you're in Menlo Park poo Alto even Mountain View you're most certainly smelling the smoke at the very least you may look outside up at the sky.

And the sky does look a little smoky uh just be aware of that and then we are watching those areas very closely for any of these Embers that could potentially travel again down wind of the fire and potentially start a new fire as firefighters battle uh this fire we're currently watching guys thank you so much Drew we want to.

Get back to the live images of the fire uh here again as we just cons continue to watch the fire rise higher and higher into the sky right now and also that thick dark gray nearing black color of the smoke that is billowing from that fire right now if you're just joining our breaking news coverage we'll catch you up to speed on what's been unfolding.

Here uh this structure that you see was an affordable housing complex that was under construction about 180 units were hearing that construction started in the summer of last year you can see they were making good progress on building the structure there but now this thing is Up in Flames we're hearing that the fire started on the fifth floor of this.

Apartment complex around 10:15 this morning uh the local sheriff's deputies there in San Mato County now calling this an eight alarm fire that means all fire engines that are available in the area are responding to this fire to help try and knock things out uh we're also hearing about evacuation orders that have been in place for about the last at.

Least 45 minutes perhaps close to an hour now trying to get people that live nearby the 2700 block of Middlefield Road where this building is uh especially along Pacific Avenue and Calvin Avenue to evacuate those deputies were going door too to get people out of the area we've been also hearing about the impact um to Cal Train uh in that.

Area yeah and so Cal train riders can expect some delays because of all of the activity in this area and when we talk about the area we're talking about residential area we're talking about businesses in the area we know that uh several viewers from neighboring cities have written in talking about having seen this big column of smoke go up and.

We just know that when it comes to a construction site there is plenty of raw material and room for this fire to grow and we have seen that in the last few minutes alone uh we're talking about 10:15 is when this fire ignited so we're coming up here on 2 hours we know that they are considering this an eight alarm fire we're seeing.

Plenty of resources dedicated here again that black smoke billowing you see that on the right side of your screen this is a live look at exactly what's going on Plenty of activity especially on the 2700 block of Middlefield Road uh just to go through it again if you know someone who maybe lives in the area we know that evacuation orders have.

Expanded again to include Dumbarton Avenue specifically Pacific Avenue and Kelvin Avenue people living in that area have been asked to evacuate deputies have been spending time going door too to get people out um and so it all started at this building it's a building that's under construction and we're just keeping an eye on the growth of this.

Fire as is as it expands wind we know is a challenge for the uh all of the responders really in the area we talked a lot and followed some of the breaking news out of San Jose just yesterday about how an ember from one fire at a home there I traveled about a distance of a block and a half and ignited two other homes and we know that that is.

Definitely a threat here because of the fire that we're seeing you can see a lot of the trees even moving in the wind uh you can imagine how powerful uh the fire is just looking at it and what those Embers might do especially the ones that are coming off of this construction site we've seen the scaffolding impacted as well just because of the sheer for of.

This fire that continues to grow at this hour again we're coming up on 2 hours since it was first ignited on the fifth floor of this building under construction on the 2700 block of Middlefield Road in Redwood City uh we are getting some more information on the impact uh in that area Cal Train TW tweeting out just moments ago uh that.

Due to a fire near the tracks in Redwood City some trains are experiencing delays train 114 holding at Redwood City and 115 holding at mow Park uh train 508 southbound is running about 5 minutes late approaching menow Park um so if you are streaming us on the ABC7 News Bay Area mobile app uh we're giving you this information uh perhaps as you're waiting.

For a a train there uh with Cal Train uh letting you know about uh how this fire is impacting their operations another update now coming in from um Sam trans alert that there is currently a bus bridge in place from Redwood City to midow park for Cal train riders affected by this uh we will be honoring all Cal train tickets at this time so looks like.

They plan on holding those trains there in Redwood City in mow park for a while as they use buses to uh get around uh this mess that we're seeing here again we continue to watch these live images uh of this large fire that has been burning at this construction site in Redwood City com up on two hours now uh as the Flames show no signs of slowing.

Down as firefighters try and knock this thing down we are getting a good look at the current wind speed from Drew's weather Graphics in his Maps right now those wind gust about 21 miles hour down from what we are seeing of uh about 30 mil hour when we first broke in and started reporting on this about an hour ago so some good news there that.

Hopefully those winds will continue to slow down and ease any fears of Embers traveling from this fire to nearby structures or even some of the potential brush that we have uh in this area surrounding Redwood City and we know that the sheriff's office has called the wind a challenge there the site that is burning as Julian mentioned is meant to.

Be an affordable housing project called Middlefield Junction with roughly 180 units about 20 are earmarked for people who are unhoused the building is also supposed to have a child care center we know that construction started just last summer the location there on the 2700 block of Middlefield Road was a former recycling facility which was demolished.

Back in 2015 uh so just when you think about this specific footprint that's that we're seeing on fire now it is surrounded by res a residential area it is surrounded also by uh multiple businesses on Middlefield Road which we know is an alterior Road through Redwood City and we are hearing from viewers in.

Neighboring cities about just witnessing this large column of smoke go up you can see just the active Flames there we have in the last two hours watched some of that scaffolding also start to fall because of the power of those flames and that heat I'm sure just coming off of the raw material that we're seeing uh completely engulfed at that construction.

Site if you are just joining us here at 12:13 we're coming up on exactly 2 hours since this fire first ignited the what we're learning is that it may have ignited on the fifth floor of this construction site that is burning on the 2700 block of Middlefield Road evacuation orders were expanded at around 11:18 to then include the.

Dumbarton Avenue area and if you live in the area also encompassing Pacific Avenue and Kelvin Avenue you have been asked to evacuate sure uh certainly that I'm hopefully has already happened for you because deputies have been going door to door to get people really out of the area that is being impacted by this massive fire at a construction.

Site we are again continuing to stick with this breaking news story here in Redwood City of this large apartment complex that was under construction that's been on fire for about 2 hours now we're hoping to get an additional update from from the sheriff deputies the fire Crews that have been battling this fire uh for the last couple of.

Hours uh we know this fire started at around 10:15 this morning on the fifth floor of this apartment complex um and uh the smoke there continues to kind of obscure our view uh you can see this thick hazy smoke in this area uh we are also learning about impacts to uh travel there in the San Mato County uh area close to Redwood City calt train holding.

Trains there in minow park and Redwood City I imagine until things clear up a bit more there is currently a bus bridge in place by Sam trans to help those riders that might be trying to get around San Mono County that were depending on Cal Train uh to get to where they need to be but again we have been watching this effort to knock down.

This fire uh for quite some time now there in Redwood City the good news that we're able to report right now is that there are no reports of injuries um we imagine that there were construction workers that were probably on site this morning so it's good to hear that none of them have been injured in this fire uh and so far from our last report last.

Update from the Sano County Sheriff's Office uh it appears that no firefighters had been injured in battling these Flames either uh large response from firefighters there in San Mato County uh an eight alarm fire uh essentially you don't have to be a fire expert to know what that means uh that means that all available units in the.

Area are being call to assist to try and get this thing under control now one thing we've been curious about is if they are using we've seen a bit of an offensive stance trying to uh put as much water as possible on this housing structure to stop the Flames from spreading um we are beginning to see a bit more scaffolding fall there in the.

Distance um as we watch this fire continue to make its way as it rips through uh this apartment building that was under construction we check back in now now with Drew Tuma yeah hi guys uh I'm just looking I'm just looking at those images that are live on the left hand side of your screen you are seeing less flame let's.

Say than five minutes ago and the smoke is not nearly as thick and dark as it was about five minutes ago so that' be an indication that maybe firefighters are getting a a better handle on this right now which would be encouraging news but again we're still looking at those winds that smoke is not going straight up in the air that means the.

Winds are still active uh out of the Northwest they are gusting still to 21 mph but still on the live images that are coming out of Redwood City right now you can still see some active flame certainly uh the fire is nowhere near out but it does look a little less aggressive than it did say uh five minutes ago but we are just continuing.

To watch areas that are downwind of this fire so we'll just kind of widen out the map uh even more we were looking uh at air quality sensor up and down the peninsula and into the South Bay and we are seeing that smoke traveling down through Palo Alto down into Mountain View and even as far south now as Sunnyvale and Santa Clara so our.

Sensors our air quality sensors even as far south and east as Santa Clara picking up on the smoke at this hour so we're certainly seeing this smoke travel a very far distance tens of miles away from the original fire and you can see those winds again out of the Northwest those barbs you see on the right hand side of your screen on the weather map.

Indicating the wind and the wind direction the more of those uh streamlines you see the stronger the winds so we are watching those areas downwind of the fire but again those live images you are looking at on the left hand side of your screen When the Smoke becomes a little less thick and a little more white in nature that means.

Fir Fighters are likely getting a bit of a better handle on it you saw those images maybe 5 minutes ago those Flames uh were quite vicious you can still see them right now through the scaffolding uh through the raw materials of that apartment complex uh that is certainly giving off still a lot of energy there's still a lot of energy it could work with.

And those raw materials um but we are of course watching those areas downwind because you guys have talking about the Embers where they could travel and we're highlighting those towns uh we're watching Men low Park very closely Palo Alto very closely because we don't want any of those Embers to travel uh downwind of the fire but again the.

Conditions do have that smoke traveling as far south as Santa Clara guys so you may be smelling that smoke up and down the peninsula and then down into the South day yeah and Drew we have viewers calling in a woman who lives about four miles away from where this is burning she is describing Ash falling in her backyard she really wanted to let us.

Know and that's something people are keeping their eyes on I mean we just yesterday had a story about uh three buildings three homes in San Jose uh being impacted by a home that was on fire about a block and a half away and an ember traveling uh in that wind to another F another home in all three homes were impacted with that and that.

Again is the San Jose Fire that I was talking about um on Quimby Road in East San Jose but right now we want to get back to what's going on in Redwood City we have ABC7 News South Bay reporter Zack Fuentes live for Zach what can you tell us yeah I'm standing off to the side of the camera here so we can continue to.

Bring you this look of the fire we're seeing the Flames kind of like Drew said calming down a little bit but there is just so much smoke still absolutely some flames in this building this newer building right now we're not thankfully in the path of the smoke but I heard you mentioned just a moment ago the woman who said that Ash is coming in her.

Backyard you can absolutely see how that would be true when you see the path of the smoke and really what's coming from that smoke these buildings here it looks like it might be two buildings but it's all part of one project called the Middlefield Junction it was an affordable housing project about a year ago the county Sano County was talking.

About how work was underway on this project this was about June 21st they released something on it it was once vacant lot this was supposed to be affordable housing for people earning uh between 15 and 80% of the median income in this area now we're seeing it literally Up in Flames when it seems like it had progressed pretty far along.

In terms of the building and stuff there's not really any windows or iding on this building but definitely built up we know that it's right next to a County Health Center the Fair Oaks Health Center Sano County they tweeted out a little bit ago that people's appointments have been canceled they're working with people to reschedule right.

Now because this scene around here on Middlefield Road is pretty chaotic again this is an eight alarm fire so that means that you have emergency response Vehicles all throughout this area traffic is closed on this road there's a lot of people behind the camera too looking spectating as they have their phones out looking at this fire that's.

Catching so much attention this is a busy area not too far from us too there's a Costco so traffic is being let out to get people out of here but nobody is allowed and I had a hard time coming in myself to get here uh to cover this right now but again we're seeing emergency crews come in and out AMR coming in here into the scene right now.

We see Meno Park fire out here Redwood City remember this is an unincorporated area of San Mato County so this is not Redwood City proper so we're seeing the different responses from people uh moments ago we saw uh public information officer spokesperson for the the Sano County and the Meno Park fire chief they the ones who are kind of speaking about.

This talking about what's going on right now I'm going to continue to look for them to get some more information but again what we are seeing right now is a ton of smoke we're not seeing as many Flames as even just a couple moments ago so it looks like fire crews are working hard on this continuing to work hard to extinguish this fire as for the building.

It' be hard to imagine if they'd be able to salvage most of what's already been built up on this affordable housing project project another concern I kind of have right now is this Construction crane also um what kind of impact the Flames might have on that I don't know if you can see that from the vantage point we have right now but there is a.

Construction crane here right now and that is a big part obviously of this construction project that got underway about a year ago so we see the cruise working very hard it is incredible when you see start to see the Flames uh go up more you can actually feel the heat out here it is just a very uh intense fire that we're seeing out here right now and.

Crw just hard at work so I'm going to continue to we're going to continue to give you this live look at it right now I'm going to work to get some more information get somebody on camera with the county with one of the fire agencies working to respond um to this fire right now but I'm going to move off the shot right now Alex gr photographer out here.

Is going to continue to bring you this live look and I'm going to work to gather some more information on the scene as to where progress is with fighting this fire at this Middlefield Junction as it's called this affordable housing project uh that we now don't know what the progress of it is going to be at this point right now the focus of.

Course is just extinguishing this fire and people's safety at this time so I'm going to send it back to you guys in the studio while we work to get some more information here on the ground all right Zach thank you and we do know when we're talking about impacts to kind of the surrounding area we have heard Garfield School which is in Meno Park about 08.

Miles away from where this is burning they have actually dismissed School immediately for the saf and well-being of their students and staff they are assuring everyone is fine and safe at the schools they're telling their family uh that the families I should say that they're encouraged to come and pick up their children as soon as possible.

They're saying if you're unable to come by rest assure that your child will remain indoors and supervised at school until you are able to arrive uh again this is Garfield School in Meno Park it has been dismissed because of the impacts of of this construction site fire that we're we've been monitoring for quite some time now first igniting.

At around 10:15 they're saying on the fifth floor of this construction site is where that fire ignited it has since impacted many cities in the surrounding area it has also impacted people who are living nearby Pacific Avenue Calvin Avenue also Dumbarton Avenue people who are living in that area all of them have been evacuated or have been asked to.

Evacuate that evacuation area also expanding in the last hour as we continue to look at the live images on the leftand side of your screen as Drew mentioned and as Zach mentioned as well we are seeing a bit of a change in the color of the smoke it signals a couple of things to us one as we see that lighter color.

Smoke that means uh that the fire crews are getting a bit of a better handle on things but of course as soon as I mentioned that we're beginning to see a bit of a darker color darker Hue to the Smoke um as well we don't see those raging Flames that we initially saw as we first brought you these live images from our incredible photographer who's.

Been working the scene for about an hour now Alex Gray who's doing a great job for us on the ground right now um but we do see that smoke uh and again a bit lightish in color uh but earlier we saw those really uh intense flames shooting through the roof of this building and we also that saw that thick black uh dark gray smoke that lets you know that the.

Area quality the quality rather is really not great in the area so again as you're looking at this live split screen here on the left you see live images of what's happening on the right you see the pre-recorded video that shows those more intense Flames also whipping in the air there as we first started covering this breaking news there um in this.

Unincorporated part of San Mato County uh we were hearing that the wind gust were about 30 mph the winds have since died down just a bit at last check they were about 20 to 21 mph that's good news for the concern that an ember from this fire from the Flames there uh could skip uh from this fire and potentially catch a nearby building nearby brush trees on.

Fire and that would be an even bigger headache for those fire Crews to have to worry about right now but again the San Mato um firefighters there many of them responding from all over Sano County we see the mow Park firet trck directly in front of us have been doing a really great job of uh dousing this building with as much water as possible to try.

And get these Flames under control if you're just joining our live conference we want to let you know what we know so far about this building uh it appears to be an affordable housing complex that was under construction about 180 units there were being built uh and this is for people that have a hard time affording housing here in the Bay Area.

That we all know all too well is really tough to be able to afford uh at about 10:15 this morning we're hearing that the fire started on the fifth floor of this housing complex that was under construction uh and luckily so far no reports of any injuries from any of the construction workers that we imagine were on scene or any of the.

Firefighters that have been responding to this Blaze for more than the last couple of hours now yeah and we talked a lot about that raw material easily igniting we saw that as we watched the Flames tear through this construction site we also saw just the power of those Flames uh send some of that scaffolding down to the ground we know that when it.

Comes to this affordable housing project called Middlefield Junction with those roughly 180 units being built about 20 of those units were earmarked for people who are unhoused we also know that the building was supposed to have a child care center construction on this building and in this area started just last summer if you are maybe unfamiliar.

With this specific uh construction site maybe you know it as a former recycling facility that recycling facility was demolished back in 2015 we know that we're also seeing some impacts to some of the commuting in the area when it comes to let's say cow trains we also know that some trains are experiencing delays train 114 is holding at Redwood.

City and 115 is holding at Meno Park train 508 southbound is running about five minutes late approaching Meno Park Sam trans is saying that there is currently a bus bridge in place from Redwood City to Meno Park for Cal train riders impacted by this Sam Tran's also saying that they will be honoring Cal train tickets at this time important to.

Note especially if those if people are uh planning on traveling during the summer during the summer excuse me during the afternoon hour especially in this area we know that this fire has been burning for more than two hours now again igniting at around 10:15 again you continue to watch the live images on the left hand side of your.

Screen um where we don't see much fire but we do see lots of smoke there in that area we're also looking at the latest conditions when it comes to the weather there uh in this unincorporated area of San Mato County really close to in bordering Redwood City uh the wind currently gusting at around 21 milph that relative humidity is high about 71%.

And as Drew Tuma has been telling us um that is good news for the firefighters there uh because the fire would then be less likely to be able to spread to uh other brush uh Greenery um in that area right now as far as impacts are concerned we told you moments ago that a local school there has been evacuated or at least their ending classes early uh I.

Believe that was Garfield Community School uh there are are also telling parents if you're watching this your child goes to Garfield Community School that if you can't make it to school in time they said rest assured that the kids the teachers they're all safe and they will of course um make sure your child is being cared for until you are.

Able to make it to the school and be able to pick them up right now uh there was a lot of concern initially about whether this could have been Wildfire related uh we've been closely watching uh wildfires across the bay area which is shocking to say this early in June we typically think of wildfires in August September uh and not this early in the.

Month of June but of course there was that fire near Tracy that burned uh pretty quickly into a sizable amount over the weekend the latest update that we got about that one this morning is that was about 75% contained and then also the Quimby fire there in San Jose called the quinby fire because it's right on Quimby Road and the concern.

There was what they call um with was the concern about the Embers from that fire uh spreading so quickly to other homes that weren't even directly near the initial home that caught fire so uh that was of great concern obviously still too early to know the cause of this fire that we're watching and the response that we're watching here uh just outside.

Of Redwood City but of course that'll be something that fire officials will be trying to figure out throughout the day here yeah and fire fire officials calling the wind a challenge in this situation specifically almost immediately we uh were getting video from people who live in neighboring cities menow Park even uh showing a lot.

Of that smoke that we're seeing on the right hand side this is video taken from earlier today the video that you see on the leftand side that's a live look at what's happening and conditions now we also took calls from viewers who are reporting falling Ash in their backyards one woman says that she lives about four miles away and she was seeing Ash.

Falling in her backyard uh she was concerned right here we see uh officials with the Sheriff's Office stepping up it seems to the cameras maybe to give us an update as so we're continuing to follow along we know that they've been updating on X as well as uh trying to tell people get out of the area specifically those on Pacific Avenue Calvin Avenue and dumb.

Barton Avenue I'm wondering if we might be able to uh listen in once they come up to the podium to give us us an update okay on exactly what's happening and we know that that will be the case again Garfield families Garfield school over in Meno Park uh that school saw a dismissal already they're calling it an immediate dismissal for the safety and.

Well-being of the students and staff there again parents if you're listening now making your way toward the school you are being encouraged to come and pick up your child as soon as possible they're saying if you're unable to do that at this moment your child will remain indoors and supervised at school until you are able to.

Arrive uh we also know Sano County Health are saying because of the nearby construction site fire County Health's Fair Oaks Health Center has been evacuated staff are working with patients to reschedule appointments so we uh continue to give you live images on the left ins side of your screen uh and images from much.

Earlier when the fire was much more intense on the right hand side of your screen uh and we give you updates on how this fire that uh appears to be under control but we are standing by to get an update from uh firefighters there in San Mato County and also the San Mato County uh sheriff's deputies in just a moment but it does appear to be uh in better.

Shape that firefighters have a better grasp on this fire than they did uh earlier ago and that's what you're seeing on the right hand side of your screen uh there there have been impacts to Cal Train we know Sam trains currently has that bus bridge in place uh to get folks to and from and around San matelo County uh as this fire.

Is messing up some of the operations there with Cal Train um and we are also as Amanda just mentioned letting you know that the uh County Health Fair Oaks Health Center office is now being evacuated um and parents who have a child at Garfield Community School are being encouraged to come pick up their child if they're able to if not.

Uh they also let us know that the students are safe uh they're going to keep everyone inside uh as the firefighters do what they do best and that is knocking down the Flames of this fire that we've been watching burn for over two hours at this point again any moment from now we are expecting to get an update from the San Mato County.

Sherff deputies and also firefighters there in that region many of them uh responding from fire departments all Lacross and Mato County mow Park we saw the firet truck there parked and I imagine they're getting Mutual aid from firefighters uh from all across this area here we will continue to follow this breaking news as we have been for.

About the last hour a little over an hour now and bring you all the updates as we get them we appreciate you watching here on ABC7 News midday live of course if you're used to watching gma3 what you need to know at this time we are continuing with this breaking news uh Instead at this hour of course we're always posting the latest updates.

On abc7news.com and the ABC7 News Mobile app and if you're trying to place this site that's burning right now it is an affordable housing project called Middlefield Junction we know that they were building roughly 180 units with 20 of them ear marked for the unhoused now let's go straight to this live press conference that's happening right now on.

A him with s County Sheriff thank you everyone good afternoon uh I am Ryan Monahan with the Sano County Sheriff's Office I am the assistant sheriff and I'm here on behalf of sheriff Christina Corpus today so our role in this is to support Fire's efforts primarily in ensuring uh evacuation and safety for the folks in.

The immediate area so when the call came out our deputies were immediately dispatched to the area uh they responded to the scene we sent deputies from bureaus all over the county um so we had not only deputies that are assigned to the north far Oaks area but deputies assigned throughout our County immediately start responding uh when we.

Leared of the alarm and the the structure that was involved deputies quickly got here to the scene they assessed the need for evacuation uh worked with our partners at fire we set up a unified command post with the fire department so that we could work collaboratively with them and assist them uh in safety measures so once we.

Got here we realized that we were going to need assistance uh we're very fortunate here in Sano County that we have a very very strong uh Allied a Allied agency Partnerships and we are able to reach out to those Allied agencies in the area and they immediately sent uh resources to assist us with the evacuation efforts as of.

Right now we have an estimated 50 people or so residents from the adjacent area or in the general vicinity that some of them were evacuated for precautionary reasons because of their proximity to the fire uh some of them were evacuated because of some of the Embers that spread and and touch some other uh locations in the area so right now we.

Have those folks evacuated we're very happy to say that those folks are safe that's our primary concern here is making sure that our community members here are safe uh and our Emergency Services Bureau uh we have that helps uh with these types of incidents is working right now hand inand with the Department of Emergency Management which is a.

County department to find a suitable evacuation point or location for our vaces to go so they can get the resources that they need so we're working diligently behind the scenes right now and we'll be providing updates on where that location is we're just asking the public right now the fire is doing an out fire department uh is doing.

An outstanding job right now uh controlling and containing this this fire and so our primary goal here is we want to keep our community member safe and so we're asking you all in order to do that to please stay out of the area please let the fire uh fire department personnel uh our deputies and all the rest of the First Responders out here.

That are committed to the safety of the scene do their job and we will be providing updates uh in a very timely manner to keep people up to dat on the evacuations and any other information thank you Chief can we ask you a couple of quick questions uh it looks like from a clayman's.

Viewpoint that you're making progress also from from this bage point of look like three buildings you talked about two it looks like can you clarify that for us as well sure yeah yes we are making good progress on it um you it's basically burning all the the wood Timbers and members structural members from the interior out so the fire.

Started on the north end of the building and then was pushed by the winds basically all the way over to this side I know from here it looks like there's multiple buildings involved it's one building that looked like it was either an l-shape or kind of a a U-shaped building so and then there's a a building in the in you know closer to us.

That's also under construction that one is not involved we're working on structure protection with that also so it's just one single building that's been involved it's just a rather large building and the difficulties you're having we're seeing scaffold is crawling uh what what are what are some of the big issues you guys are having right the.

Big the big challenges initially are um you know there's no firewalls in there they haven't been constructed yet so it's just a Tinder Box in the fire spreads pretty quickly we had some decent winds kind of pushing the fire through the building we recognized early on that this was going to be an exterior attack as we call defensive because the.

Just there's almost no way to stop it and we want to ensure that we don't harm our firefighters also so um yeah that's our current plan is to stay back far enough so if it collapses we're out of the collapse Zone uh it's one thing we we don't want to do on a on a building that's already been determined a loss is to you know hurt anybody injure anyone.

So just like I had said earlier exposures are our primary goal protecting those that's the building under construction and then the neighborhood just to the South Chief can you talk to me a little bit more about these spot fires that you say you're fighting where exactly are they if you know and what Mutual Aid that you get.

From and from what department oh sure yeah uh as the sheriff was saying earlier you know our mutual Aid System up here is very robust the initial response from all of our um uh Allied departments in Sano County was robust that's where the 26 engines and seven ladder trucks came from is all just here internally we have the 10 additional.

Engines coming from a mutual Aid partner s uh Santa clar County to the South um what was the the rest of your question the spot fir oh the spotfires yeah the spotfires in the neighborhood it's interesting I was walking over through there and there was large pieces of insulation that had melted were on fire caught you know part of that thermal.

Column and floated into the neighborhood and were causing fires anywhere and in a grass lot in somebody's uh collection of items there on roofs um you know and it was just kind of indiscriminate throughout the uh the community over here so uh those are the spot fires that we're dealing with and you said fire in the insallation was the first report.

Obviously Purity to tell the cause but are you still thinking that it was you know not a piece of equipment that was left on or well we'll see you the we have fire cause investigators out here right now hopefully there were eyewitnesses to it that will helpful for us in determining the cause those were just the initial reports whether they're.

Accurate or not I can't attest to those um but those were the initial reports so and as we know on a construction site there's usually quite a bit of equipment sometimes there's hot work going on so but we'll do a a thorough diligent investigation and report back to you when we have a cause and it was fully operational they were working at the.

Time yes can you talking we kind of touch on this but just how dangerous the risk of Ember spreading is I mean we just saw a worst case scenario with that yesterday and I mean it's what we were dealing with here it's very interesting uh typically on a on a large structure fire we're not dealing with structure protection in the.

Neighborhoods next door but it's you reminds us a little bit of Fire season and Wildland fires The Embers whether they're from insulation or from vegetation uh really work just the same and so here we are in the middle of a a urban suburban area dealing with what we saw yesterday in sanen Valley is yeah uh fir spread uh through Ember um Embers.

And winds so those are obviously our two biggest threats right now can you tell us if any if any of the scaffolding is falling any of the planks do any of that collapse I think some of it has not very much of it there risk with the crane uh whether or not any of the scaffolding has come down and with the crane is that like a risk also with fire burning.

Around it there's not there's not a current risk uh it would be a big risk if the fire spread to that building that the crane is next to okay so the crane is the building that is not the right the crane is in the uninvolved it may still be a housing building but it's in an uninvolved separate building last question there were any workers inside a.

Building the fire uh as far as I could tell when I got here they were all evacuating it looked like there was well over a hundred uh construction workers so I would imagine there were like I said we'll see whether or not we had any eyewitnesses to the fire start thank you all thank you thank you.

Folks Spanish is right here I'll switch it over to Spanish so whoever uh want to start this County Sheriff's Office um okay again we have been listening to a press conference there by the Sano County Sheriff's Office uh and also fire officials on the ground giving us an.

Update on this structure that we've seen burning for two and a half hours at this point uh we got many of the reports that we were hearing earlier confirmed that this was an affordable housing complex that was under construction uh we also learned in this press conference that 50 people were evacuated due to their proximity uh to this area.

In this unincorporated part of san matelo county bordering Redwood City uh we're hearing that there was one structure that caught fire at around 10:15 this morning a l or a u-shape there apparently is another building that was also under construction but thankfully that has not been affected but as we saw those Flames so quickly.

Make its way through this apartment complex that was under construction there we heard the fire chief there in mow Park describe it as just a tinder box that is how easily the fire spread throughout that building and with that he called that building a total loss so there's no saving it at this point the concern now is any Embers.

That may have traveled from this fire to other areas uh in the mow Park area uh and also making sure that other building that's currently under construction does not catch fire fire and we know that early on we heard about these evacuations first on Pacific Avenue and Calvin Avenue uh near the 2700 block of Middlefield Road and then that expanding.

To also include people who live along Dumbarton Avenue and I know that Julian mentioned an estimated 50 people from that adjacent area uh were evacuated because of their proximity we're also told that of those people others were evacuated because of flying Embers and we know that the sheriff's office has talked a lot about the wind being a.

Challenge in this situation uh you know the fire spreading through Embers and winds we also took some calls from viewers who said that they were seeing Ash falling in their backyard people who lived as far as four miles away from where this construction site is Burning uh deputies we know were immediately dispatched that's what they.

Were just talking about they talked about having to send deputies from various bureaus around the county because of just how Mass massive this fire was how powerful this uh fire was and once they arrived they really assessed the need for evacuations and we heard about that uh pretty early on they did set up a unified command post and so.

That's probably what people are seeing if you're in the area what we do want to say and what uh First Responders have said is that they don't want you in the area they really want you uh to stay a safe distance away from it what they're worried about um is that they want to make sure that people are out of a collapse Zone if that ends up being the.

Case at this point we did see some scaffolding fall as we watched those Flames kind of tear through the construction site uh in the last Almost I want to say two and a half hours now we know that it first ignited at 10:15 this morning on the fifth floor of this construction site um all of the agencies who are responding they say even some as.

Far south as Santa Clara County are really coming to help work and put the Flames out here again the 2700 block of Middlefield Road um on in unincorporated Redwood City we're also hearing from the fire chief there in minlo park uh he was telling us about insulation that caught on fire there because again this building is under.

Construction melted and then that began to blow in the wind and that what that was uh what was allowing the fire to be able to spread from this fire currently um that these crews are working to knock down to other areas nearby he mentioned roofs uh the front yards of folks um that live nearby as well um we do just want to get another update on the.

Current conditions there on the ground that those firefighters are contending with we check in now with Drew Tuma yeah and and you were saying Julian about the uh insulation uh being lofted into the air and these winds uh what you're seeing on your screen has it kind of widen out the picture on on your right that is the weather map that you can see.

Where that fire currently is still burning in Redwood City but the live images on the Le hand side of your screen are giving us uh encouraging news compared to 30 minutes ago that smoke is more translucent looking it's not that thick dark smoke uh indic indicative of a pretty healthy fire now it's more of a fire that firefighters have a handle on.

But that smoke has traveled pretty far under these Gusty northwesterly winds in fact that smoke has traveled several miles away tens of miles down into the Santa Clara Valley where now we're seeing areas like Willow Glenn Campbell uh being impacted by the smoke that's more than 20 miles away from the fire just getting taken lofted into the air.

And traveling on these Gusty winds uh South basically along 101 so there's areas well removed from this fire that are getting impacted from smoke a big portion of the South Bay is now dealing with moderate if not unhealthy air quality because of the smoke and you can just tell how far that smoke travels that's possibly how far Embers could.

Travel so you heard the uh Captain there uh from Meno Park telling him telling us that they were seeing uh bits of pieces of this construction site getting lofted into the air that were on fire and moving Downstream from this wind this wind is still pretty Gusty out of the Northwest it will continue to stay that way throughout the afternoon I hear a.

Lot of folks are saying it just feels weird out there today because it's quite cloudy it's cool but it's also on the the humid side kind of feels a little tropical when it comes to our humidity and this is all uh because of a cold front that is going to move through here this afternoon that is why we have the winds that are so active on the.

Peninsula and across the big portion of the region we've seen frequent Gust in other areas uh like the East Bay over 40 miles per hour so we're seeing right now winds in Redwood City they're gusting over 20 mil per hour at times uh that smoke has been impacting areas south of the fire like Meno Park certainly Palo Alto Sunnyvale Mountain View uh Santa.

Clara Campbell uh has been impacted by this smoke so just be aware of that if you uh can see Ash falling in your backyard like we have been hearing from viewers uh your air quality is going to be on the unhealthy side so if you are sensitive to this kind of particulate matter you do want to take precaution because of the smoke that is in the.

Atmosphere so once again the winds out of the Northwest guys uh it is quite Gusty it will remain that way but it looks like on the Le hand side of your screen those live images is being fed to us right now looks like it is encouraging to see that smoke a lot whiter it's translucent not seeing as much flame activity out there right now.

So it looks like firefighters getting a better handle on this fire yeah and Drew we saw just on the bottom of our screen a warning to Garfield families people who have kids at the Garfield Community School just about uh 08 miles away from where this is actually Burning uh they did send out a notice saying that they are dismissing school immediately for.

The safety and well-being of their students and staff assuring everyone is fine and safe at the schools and families if you're under way to pick up your kid right now they are encouraging that that happens as soon as possible they're saying if you are unable to come by rest assured that your child will remain indoors and supervised at the.

School until you're able to arrive um we also know that some of the travel impacts include both Cal train and Sam Tran's really picking it up and um allowing a bus bridge to happen to get people uh across town where they need to go we're also hearing from Redwood City Police they're asking people to please leave 911 open for emergency calls only.

And they're asking people to avoid calling their Dispatch Center to report the fire they are there they know about it uh we know that several agencies from various communities are involved in this fire fight including as far south as Santa Clara County are assisting with the fire response as well um and so just make sure that you're keeping those 911.

Lines open as they are aware again if you're just joining our live coverage here of the fire that we've been watching burn here in Redwood City uh for about the last hour and a half here on air but we do know that fire has been burning since about 10:15 this morning this is in an unincorporated area of Sano County.

Bordering Redwood City City where we've been watching all of this unfold in the last 10 minutes we received an update from the San Mato County Sheriff's Office and also the mow Park uh fire department that is taking command uh of this situation um that has garnered a very large response from firefighters all across San Mato County uh and even.

Parts of Santa clar County uh here's what we know so far about 50 people were evacuated in the surrounding area uh due to their close proximity to this fire there was concern about Embers from the fire and eventually even parts of this building that is under construction uh we're hearing of some of the insulation that melted in the fire then got caught.

The wind and began to spread to other parts of this area Redwood City mow park there was concern of those Embers and also pieces of the construction that caught fire uh kitting roofs nearby potentially even catching grass on fire and that's something that we've been seeing play out in wildfires across the bay area which is very strange to say.

This early into the year we know Fire season Wildfire season that is usually picks up in Greater steam um in the months of August and September uh but what we're hearing right now is that this just appears to be a fire to this building that was under construction uh we've been telling you throughout our live breaking news coverage here that.

The building under construction that you see there on both the left and right hand sides of your screen uh appears to have been an affordable housing complex that was under construction uh we've been bringing you this live team coverage here on ABC7 News throughout midday live now gma3 uh we want to get to ABC7 News South Bay reporter Zack.

Fuentes who's been live there on the ground he joins us with an update Zack yes and because Julian it was under construction we just heard from the Meno Park fire chief who's handling this leading the operations that that made these buildings a Tinder Box at this point there are no there's not fireproofing in there at this point.

There were not the typical safeguards that are in a building when it catches fire and then of course the wind had a big impact we have seen throughout the morning I guess at this point uh deciding that I guess drywall just coming down from that building that is on fire you now see scaffolding you see how much more of it is now that.

Scaffolding is just exposed compared to even just a half hour ago so again though what we are starting to see is that smoke uh looking a little more clear like Drew was talking about earlier we're not seeing the same amount of flames that we saw we were literally feeling the heat from those Flames where we're standing right now and it's not.

Like we're right next to the fire to be able to feel the amount of heat that intense heat that we were feeling I was just speaking a couple moments ago uh to one of the people who is evacuated uh first responder saying that 50 families 50 households were evacuated and one of the guys was telling me that he was throwing water on his garage uh trying.

To make sure that his home was protected he says he's only about 100 ft from this building and so a lot of people a lot of those evacuees standing there watching you heard First Responders talking about uh trying to find a good place for them to stay while they deal with this fire while they continue to fight the progress on it right now but again that.

Progress is uh they're doing well with that progress at this point given the circumstances and everything that they're facing and some of those circumstances like we've been talking about have been the wind and the risk that that presents the wind accelerated that fire they said it started in one part of the building and then the wind.

Pushed that fire to another part through the rest of the building leading to what we've seen right now again Embers are a big risk when we're talking about wind and dealing with this we just saw in San Jose yesterday a total of three homes that caught on fire two of them uh because of the Embers that had spread from that initial fire what we know and.

Then of course wildfires we know start from Embers and so we have seen spot fires in this situation as a result of that as a result of the wind and the things spreading but again fire Crews doing a good job uh maintaining this fighting progress and or continuing to progress with this fire here and we are seeing so many different Crews again.

This is an eight alarm fire multiple engines multiple crews out here working this menow Park fire has been our point of contact and of course the Santo County Sheriff's Office also handling the evacuations and making sure that roads families that need to be evacuated are evacuated at this point again I want to and I've heard you guys talking about.

This but I want to tell people you definitely don't want to try to come to this area right now if you don't need to Middlefield Road there is some major major traffic impacts at this time right now as Crews work to get in and out of here because again it's not just fire creu First Responders we've got pg& trucks in here making sure that the.

Power lines are secure and that there's no risk from that and of course uh there's train tracks coming through here right now and so we have the crews CHP unseen right now I'm looking of course Sano County Sheriffs and all the First Responders just surrounding this area which really is a main road to and from different parts of this area right now.

So you don't want to come through here if you absolutely can't avoid it and in some cases if you're trying to get right here you can't get through here so avoid the area if you can again we're looking at the building right now and it's incredible you know as I turn my head right now to describe some of the first responder vehicles that are behind the.

Camera I turn back around here now and continue to see more scaffolding ex um exposed and continue to see the smoke uh flying again we're not seeing the same Flames that we were seeing even just an hour ago a half hour ago maybe 45 minutes ago so that does indicate some progress being made by the crews we're really out here working so hard given.

The circumstances given the windy conditions that we're seeing out here we know that it's a couple of buildings that are here as part of this affordable housing project but it is one building that has caught on fire the other thing I was talking about earlier when I was live as well was this crane this big construction crane and is the fire.

Posing any risk to that might that come down might something happen as a result of that crane the Meno Park fire chief said that that crane is not at risk at this time they're just focused on this building making sure any spot fires that occurred are out and of course making sure that they can extinguish this fire uh that is currently burning he said.

That that building uh a total loss not sure what's going to happen with the other buildings here but this was an affordable housing project that really got underway about a a year ago and the neighbor I was speaking with who had been evacuated said he'd been watching the progress of this affordable housing project uh coming up in East sad to see.

This go you know uh so right now I'm going to wrap toss it back to you guys as we continue to watch here from the ground the progress fire crews are making and we'll be sure to bring you any updates as soon as we get them guys thank you so much for that live report we have Jr Stone now joining our live breaking news coverage of this.

Fire that's been burning there in the Redwood City area for quite some time uh as we've been keeping you up to date we know that a number of people have been evacuated from this area no reports of injury so far in this eight alarm fire uh we do want to let you know that we are going to continue this live breaking news coverage on the ABC7 News 247.

Stream and also at AB abc7news.com in the meantime we are going to conclude our live breaking news coverage here on air we return you now to the Tamron Hall Show for everyone else watching on your mobile devices online and on the 247 streaming app we will continue that breaking news coverage right now and we do want to continue our.

Coverage now as we mentioned J.R Stone joining us live here uh this has been quite the fire that those Crews there have been trying to knock out for the last going on 3 hours now it certainly has uh I've been you guys have been on TV talking about this I've been online talking about it and so many of our viewers out there uh have been sending.

Us videos and pictures and I think one of the reasons for that is uh there's just so many people who live around that area I mean there was a gentleman earlier by the name of Steve who sent me a video and I mean the fire was right there and he said he was going to drop off a weed whacker he lives in Meno Park but was just making a trip doing some.

Stuffy had to do during the daytime looks over and you see this massive fire and I think it it grabs you quickly especially in light of what we dealt with over the weekend and that was weather conditions that really really led to some situations that were very concerning in San Jose and San Wen County and so then you have another.

Scenario like this and I mean those images of the Flames I think uh are are ones that a lot of people are going to remember today because they were so big exactly those flames shooting through the roof of this building that's been under construction uh for quite some time now uh we now want to bring in San Mato County Supervisor Warren slokum who.

Joins us live on the phone right now Warren can you hear us okay let's try this one more time we can't hear Warren uh Warren can you hear us okay all right we are going to work to uh get that connection there with Warren slokum supervisor there in San Mato County we did see that Warren just.

Tweeted out moments ago that there is now an evacuation Center for those impacted by this fire at the red Morton center community activities building that is located at 1400 Roosevelt Avenue in Redwood City uh the North Fair Oaks Library will be open until 8:00 p.m. and the Fair Oaks Community Center will be open until 5:00 p.m. we've been telling.

You on the flip side about closures the Garfield community school that's less than a mile away from this structure that is on fire right now um and also the impact to a Cal train service um in the area again all because of the concerns of the imbers from this fire potentially skipping to nearby areas and wreaking havoc there it's wild because.

When you when you see a fire like the one we saw and you you're looking at some of those images on our uh stream on ABC7 News Bay Area apps and and on our website but when you look at those images you think okay well at least it's in one spot but what we saw over the weekend in San Jose was Embers that were jumping and you know when you hear Drew.

Tuma talk about 30 m per hour winds uh that that's certainly a concern and to be able to get those school kids out I think if there is anything optimistic to look at right now it's that we haven't heard of any injuries at this point and if you look in the video and that picture on the left hand side uh you can see it's white smoke it's not that black.

Smoke that we saw earlier so it just shows that you know all those firefighters did make an impact on this um you know you you talked about I know there were talk about a seven alarm an eight alarm uh that's a lot of firefighters you know whether it's a seven alarm we were talking about a four alarm yesterday but seven or eight alarm.

I mean you're talking about hundreds of firefighters who are out there and really focused on getting this out I think you know once you you realize okay well everybody's okay or appears to be okay at this point then you wonder and a lot of people have asking online uh and saying well how did this start you know and um I I know a lot of concerns out.

There because we have seen uh construction sites like this go up in flames in other places like Oakland I know I've been out on the scene of similar ones when these construction sites burn they burn and and we saw that this morning and essentially they're Tinder boxes and that's what we heard from the fire chief there in mow Park uh.

He stressed that there were no firewalls that were in place they're not quite there uh at that point in the construction we know the construction started on this building in the summer of last year summer of 2023 so yes uh when something catches on fire it spreads so quickly and the wind gusts that we saw earlier in the day that were.

About 30 miles per hour as you mentioned meteorologist Dre Tuma telling us uh things spread extremely quickly at one point we saw the Flames essentially parallel uh to the building itself just to let you know how intense the wind gusts were uh on the right hand side of your screen right now we're just showing you a compilation of videos that viewers.

Watching like you folks there in the area in Sano County have been sending in uh and that video showing those more intense Flames that we've since seen uh die down and also the thicker black smoke that's indicative of poor ear quality that we've now seen um dissipate into this gray uh light gray uh smoke which is a good tell that the.

Firefighters are now getting a better hand on this right now um we have also been telling people about evacuation orders we were hearing that uh about 50 people have been evacuated from the nearby surrounding area they are all okay the concern was if the fire could skip from this construction site to their property uh but it appears that we.

Don't have any uh secondary large fires that have started because of this uh construction fire that we've been watching for almost 3 hours now it's certainly a lesson I think for for all of us as we go into you know usually when we talk about fire season we're talking about fire season in a couple months from now in a few months from now.

Um but and I know so many of us here in Northern California have that emergency bag ready and but I know sometimes you think about well I'm in a city area I should be okay um but what we saw today was a a very busy area with a construction site like this that caught fire what we saw yesterday in San Jose was uh six different structures that.

Burned uh on different blocks in a very residential area so uh you know M wakeup call for all of us me included to have your emergency bag ready and ready to go in case something like this happens because there were evacuations and uh you know they wanted to get kids out of that school uh and some of the schools in the area because even though you're a.

Mile half a mile away or so uh one of those Embers hits and we we even saw it in some of the video we slowed down yesterday from the week where one of the trees caught fire and it led to another building Catching Fire so uh certainly concerning but boy so much calmer on the Le hand side of that screen in comparison to the right hand.

Side that was Daniela one of our viewers who sent us that video when she just walked up and said whoa look at this you got to check this out because the Flames are just shooting up in the air exactly and it's certain something certainly something that will make you stop pause and grab your attention and and wonder what's happening there thankfully we.

Have many of those questions answered at this point uh we want to get you a tweet or a full screen let's see what we have here uh confirming some information about evacuation orders this is for people uh who were evacuated from their home by the Sano County sheriff's deputies uh to give them a place to be right now as we wait for the.

Firefighters to knock this fire down and also allow people who've been evacuated to get to their area nearby we're also working to get you some more information from one one of the County Supervisors there in San Mato County Warren slokum uh we were trying to speak with the supervisor live but we had a bit of a technical issue we'll bring you that.

Conversation as soon as we can but um here is the updated information from the San Mono County Sheriff's Office it says that the temporary evacuation site will be located at the red Morton Community Center 1120 Roosevelt Avenue in Redwood City resources will be provided at this site to those who have been evacuated due to what we're now calling the North.

Fair Oaks fire and with that we want to welcome in uh supervisor Warren slokum there in San Matel County into the conversation uh supervisor can you hear us okay this time I can hear you perfectly excellent thank you so much for joining our live breaking news coverage here uh what can you tell us about this building that was under.

Construction we've been learning more about it throughout the hours uh that this was an affordable housing complex it's so awful uh to see see this thing uh go up in Flames we know how hard it is uh to get affordable housing complexes built here in the Bay Area what can you tell us about it well you're absolutely right on the.

Difficulty of getting affordable housing developments constructed I started working on this or the Board of Supervisors started working on this project 10 years ago so it's been 10 years in the making construction um started last year anticipating to be completed at the by the end of next year and uh you know.

It's just heartbreaking it's a tragedy for the community and it's a special tragedy for those that are in need of affordable housing which is so scarce can you tell us more about the response from the firefighters also the sheriff's deputies there in San Mato County that have been really doing their Deb level best to get this fire under.

Control the last three hours well I can't tell you a whole lot but I can tell you that there were a lot of firefighters and First Responders involved very proud of their response and the work that they're doing also very proud um of the response of the Sano County Sheriff's Office um I think all entities have done an amazing job.

It's just unfortunate and it's heartbreaking that the building uh is probably a total loss at this point supervisor I know any anytime this is JR Stone here um anytime we we see circum St like this you wonder was anybody living inside of this location was it actively under construction because often times and sometimes we'll see a.

Construction site go up and then there will be pauses in that in that process of getting that built are you aware uh was construction actually taking place at the time uh were were was it known that any individuals might be living on the property or anything like that no I've heard no reports of people living on the property and I've I'm.

There every week um there was construction work going on at the time the fire started I don't have any of the details um yet um I know there'll be an investigation and the official cause will be released here sometime pry soon um but yeah it's a it's unfortunately just a tragedy for the community uh supervisor can you tell us.

More about the evacuation shelters that have been opened up for the folks that have been evacuated I know you tweeted out that information a short time ago yeah there's a evacuation Center for anybody that needs it who's been evacuated uh or who may need help frankly um it's at the red Morton Community Center um in Redwood City it's.

Uh on Roosevelt avenue I don't happen to have the address maybe tweek um but anybody that needs help can go there and and receive assistance I believe that's 1400 Roosevelt Avenue there you go 1400 yeah hey it's teamwork here it's teamwork here we appreciate you joining us and giving the US the information uh that you do know Miss supervisor you.

Mentioned that you're out there at the site where the construction is happening quite often we've been getting intermittent updates from Cal Train letting us know most recently about four minutes ago that uh the trains will be transitioning to hourly service but folks should still expect some significant delays there uh our our.

Reporter Zack quentes is also mentioned it but how close is this construction site to the train tracks there that carry those Cal Train uh cars well it's it's actually pretty close I I was trying to picture it in my mind I maybe um 100 yards 150 yards something like that I guess okay so there in lies the.

Concern about those trains they running and why Sam trans decided to open up that bus Bridge instead um thank you for that uh new bit of information here uh supervisor before we let you go just any closing thoughts or remarks about you know the the tragedy that is seeing this affordable housing complex go up in.

Flames well as I said we've been working on this for 10 years and it's it's a travesty because in California um affordable housing is so difficult to get built it takes so long and the primary problem is the finding ing of those developments and this was a a unique development in that it had one two and three bedroom units three.

Bedrooms is pretty unusual and so families were going to get to enjoy this new building and those three-bedroom units uh child care and Community reading room uh community meeting rooms so all that is gone now I say I hate to keep saying it but it's just a tragedy it certainly is supervisor and I don't know where you're located right now but.

We're in studio I know earlier today we saw some of those shots of the Winds uh seemingly looking to go sideways have you been outside and how windy is it down there uh at this point uh it it comes and goes it's it's uh kind of a I don't know that I'd say strong wind but um consistent um consistently blowing and I I'm not at.

The fire location I'm in Redwood City right now but um that's what it's been all morning yeah well we certainly thank you for for your time uh supervisor Warren slokum joining us um to give us his take on what was being built as a affordable housing location and I thought it was interesting mentioning the one two and three bedrooms so you.

Could have an entire family in there and we know it is a such you know a major topic that we're always covering here on ABC7 News is a part of our coverage to build a better Bay Area how do we get more amilies that are in great need affordable housing um and how do we give these folks a place to stay so we don't see people unhoused and living on the.

Streets here in the Bay Area something none of us want to see uh we do want to uh hear some sound uh reaction from a person who was evacuated uh who lives nearby this apartment complex that's on fire let's listen in I was probably around 9:45 when I started smelling smoke and um then my knece came out out of the room and said you know what I.

Think the building behind our house is burning and um then we all walked outside you know on the other side of the house and uh yes the building was very thick smoke and uh we started uh trying to figure out what was going on you know and then I I would look through the through the fence and I saw just one firefighter or you know one.

Truck and uh and then I said this is going to be kind of U bad and uh so I started uh throwing you know water and top of the garage that we have you know because it's very close it's about 100 ft from the the fire and uh maybe 10 15 minutes later I saw that police were uh trying to get everybody out of the out of the street.

You know so they started evacuating everybody and that's when the fire really got strong I live in Pacific Avenue so they evacuated everybody what did they tell you uh there was a mandatory evacuation so we had to get out so what I did I uh we have two little dogs so I grabbed the two little dogs put them in the car my mom and uh.

My niece and my cousin we just drove away they I think they're uh about five blocks back you know on Metal Field and uh I had to stay here and watch to see what what was going to happen to my mom's house it was pretty scary you know but I was more worried about the house you know you know I said what's going to happen and but luckily I.

Think I can see that uh they're taking control of the house already this construction project how long have you hadn't been seeing it go up and what has that progress been like uh they I think they've been working on it for about a year maybe or maybe a little bit more and uh I thought they were doing pretty good you know I was very happy that they.

Were doing that those apartments there but now that uh it's totally you know one of the buildings is totally burned down you know it makes you know breaks my heart to see that you know you know cuz you don't want to see that you know but but that's how life goes and um I guess we just have to take the punches yeah certainly you were just.

Hearing from some of the Witnesses on scene there in Redwood City as an affordable housing complex uh caught fire you're looking at some of the newer images we have from this morning with the white smoke uh that's seen in the air and that is that is certainly good news I mean never like to see any smoke um but it's not black smoke and it's not.

Those incredible Flames that we saw earlier today exactly uh control room Chris please correct me if I'm wrong but I think these are the first images that we're getting from sky7 uh you see that live on the rightand side of your screen and now with this aerial Vantage view we are getting a better idea of just the effort to attack this large scale.

Apartment complex that was under construction you can see um those ladder trucks spraying this thing down from multiple directions and no doubt they have been after this at this rather for quite some time now uh as we take these aerial images no fire is visible at least from this vantage point right now uh but we do see that smoke continuing.

To Billow uh from this unincorporated area of Redwood City uh and with that we're hearing from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District that the smoke from the structure fire uh in the Redwood City area is expect expected to impact air quality nearby with that I want to check in now with ABC7 News weather anchor Spencer Christian for an.

Update on the current conditions that those firefighters are contending with and anything that we need to know about air quality in that area right okay well Julian uh the air quality certainly is being impacted in a negative way as the smoke continues to Bow into the air but you know the side by side video view we had earlier showing the the current.

Lighter whiter smoke uh and the darker smoke from earlier in the morning uh is encouraging news because it does indicate that the fire is more under control now than it was earlier we don't as you pointed out we don't see those Flames leaping into the sky as we did earlier we don't see that thick dark smoke building out anymore nonetheless.

Even as this lighter smoke continues to push into the atmosphere it is bringing air quality down a bit uh to the moderate perhaps even poor level we don't have an exact reading on it right now but let me show you one of my weather Graphics here uh going to the site of the of the fire the the the weather element that is the the concern.

Right now is the wind it certainly is not hot it's only 69 degre in Redwood City right now and relative humidity is far higher than you would expect this time of the year especially as we're about to go into a bit of a heat wave later in the week 71% humidity certainly helps the firefighting effort and the steady winds out of the Northwest at 13.

Miles per hour with occasional gust to 21 miles per hour I believe it was supervisor slokum who pointed out earlier that the wind has um been sort of up and down uh and it has earlier in the day had some stronger gusts up to about 30 mph and the gusts would diminish and then bounce back up to about 29 or 30 but right now the gusts.

Have been fairly consistent at about 21 milph but let me show you a wider view here you can see how the smoke is being carried by the winds out of the Northwest into areas like paloalto down into towards Sunnyvale and red and Mountain View and Los Altos so as the fire continues to put smoke into the air of course it is is going to uh cause the.

Air quality to diminish a bit uh but it is hopeful now that we're seeing this thing apparently becoming more into control now I want to point out that um the gusts are going to remain fairly steady going into the late afternoon and early evening hours as you can see on this graphic they will remain around 20 to 22 miles hour then into the evening.

Hours 78m we might see the winds diminish just a little bit but not significantly until perhaps after 10 or 11:00 tonight so we'll be keeping an eye on the Winds of course and um we have a bit of a a well it's a breezy pattern all windy pattern all across the bay area as you can see with gusts up to nearly 25 miles hour in many locations.

And again that General pattern will continue but we have some hot weather coming our way over the next couple of days that's going to be a concern not just for this particular fire in Redwood City but for the possibility of fires anywhere in the Bay Area tomorrow afternoon we'll see high temperatures in the upper 90s to low 100.

Across the almost all of our Inland areas that pattern will linger into Wednesday and as a result of that we have a heat advisory that'll be in effect for virtually all of the Bay Area except the immediate um Bay Shoreline and the coast that'll be from 8:00 a.m. tomorrow uh through much of Thursday and over in salano County an even more.

Serious alert it's a an excessive heat warning so uh during this time of course there is an increased risk uh of heat illnesses and uh we uh point this out to you when we have any heat wave but it's worth repeating uh as the the heat becomes more intense it's important for us to hydrate ourselves with plenty of fluids wear lightweight clothing take.

Frequent breaks in the shade if possible or seek places that are air conditioned and and recognize as signs of heat related illness and of course never leave people uh or pets uh inside cars but getting back to the Redwood City fire I just want to show you this graphic one more time the winds continue to to flow out of the Northwest at about.

13 M hour with gusts to 21 M hour we haven't seen any stronger gusts in the last hour or so so it looks like the that uh element that may affect the firefighting the wind is sort of um falling into a a steady pattern uh and as we look again at The Wider view you can see the smoke being carried by that wind from Redwood City down to areas.

Like pal Alto and Mountain View and sunny Veil perhaps even farther south Santa Clara and that will continue as long as the F the fire is not extinguished Spencer thank you so much for that uh again I just want to emphasize that we're just getting a really good look at what is left of this apartment complex that has been burning.

For more than three hours right now in the right hand side of your screen these images from sky7 and boy uh the fact I mean this thing is a total loss truly uh an understatement it looks like a you know tree completely stripped of all of it leaves this thing uh all of the scaffolding uh a lot of it has charred uh much of that wood sighting that was.

On the exterior of the building you can see is God and we see just a dark charred aftermath uh of what was going to be this affordable housing complex I said to have 180 units and what was so unique about this complex that we heard from San County Supervisor Warren slokum is that this was going to have one two and three bedrooms the two and three.

Three bedrooms meant to be for families so families that are struggling uh trying to make ends meet um having a tough time uh getting affordable housing here in the very expensive Bay Area we're going to be able to have a place to stay a place to call home uh but this project again as we heard from the mow Park fire chief is now a complete and.

Total loss we also learned from the Sano County Supervisor Warren slokum that they started working on this project 10 years ago to be able to get it into motion construction started summer of 2023 and now this in June of 2024 this building burned to the ground and it was 10 years in the making a really tough thing to see here as we all know how.

Tough it is to come by affordable housing and even tougher to be able to get it built here in the Bay area again we take these live images from sky7 right now showing the smoke still smoldering from the aftermath of this burnt building and just a few moments ago as we took that wider picture that W wider vantage point from sky7 we saw.

Just how close this building is to those train tracks those are the tracks that carry Cal train cars and that is why we've seen uh that Cal train has delayed its service they have been uh doing service hourly at this time and now we're getting another update here from Cal Train let's see what it says a trains.

Will depart fourth and King to Redwood City every hour trains will be departing San Jose to mow Park every hour as well Sam trans is honoring Cal Train fairs between Redwood City and menow park um but we see why there is an impact to Cal Train uh and that is because this site that's been on fire for more than three hours first started at 10:15 this.

Morning is so close to the train tracks you can see them just behind the building uh from this Vantage Point uh here from Sky s also in the distance we see those fire trucks there are dozens of engines and about a dozen ladder trucks that's the information that we heard from the minow park fire chief in that update um about uh 45 minutes ago.

You see just how many of them are responding to this fire uh all of those ladders spraying down what's left of this building and clearly we see not much is Left Behind uh we've been covering this breaking news here on ABC7 News on air on line on the ABC7 News Mobile app uh since we first got word of this fire and that was around 11:15.

Today the fire started shortly before that at 10:15 earlier about 15 minutes ago we brought you a sound bite from a man who was uh evacuated from the nearby area uh we're hearing from the Sanel County sheriff's deputies that about 40 people have been evacuated uh from the nearby area there was concern about the fire.

Potentially uh being picked up by the winds and hitting nearby homes hitting nearby grass and vegetation and this fire spreading uh quickly um but essentially that man who was evacuated said you know we're just rolling with the punches uh and that is exactly what these fire Crews have been doing throughout the day as they have knocked.

Down this fire so a good news here no more images of they want live hello I saw e e e after.

Try to keep up some of the images that you're looking at from sky take a listen to what officials r l renzen I'm the fire chief of the Meno Park Fire Protection District uh we are at the scene of a commercial structure fire at 2700 Middlefield Road this is an area of North Fair Oaks it's an unincorporated.

Area of the county that the Meno Park Fire Protection districts uh protects along with SEL County Sheriff we had uh reports of a structure fire on the fifth floor of a building under construction at approximately 10:15 uh reports initially were fire in the insulation we got unseen and found thick black smoke emanating from the.

Fifth floor immediately it was escalated to a third alarm uh the building had been evacuated by all the construction workers that were already on scene uh right now the said ear that was that was one of the fire chiefs there in Redwood City um he was describing what was going on.

And you're actually looking at uh images from Redwood City right now if you're just joining us this is the 2700 Middlefield Road area uh of Redwood City and you can just see uh it is charred uh not much left this was a building that was under construction the supervisor even talking about the uh what they were so excited about with this building was.

It wasn't just one-bedroom units or Studio units but it was also two-bedroom and three-bedroom units that would have been used to house different families in the area but uh around 10:15 uh fire started on the fifth floor um it escalated they were able to get people out they were able to evacuate people in the neighborhood and that is certainly.

Your number one concern in a situation like this you want to make sure you get people out and you don't have people who are hurt at last check when we spoke with officials it appears that everyone was able to get out and that is certain good news uh people were evacuated from nearby neighborhoods uh around 50 people or so and then you had the Garfield.

School that dismissed early uh today uh just to keep PE kids out of Harm's Way I mean you think of what we have dealt with over the last couple uh of days here in the Bay Area as you look at this image from Redwood City but you look back over the weekend and there was a situation in in San Jose over the weekend where were six different.

Structures burned and they weren't even right next to each other they were located on different streets it was the Embers that spread that fire so when this went up in Flames today you had a situation where you know you see those Flames going up into the air and there was a hope that those Embers wouldn't spread this fire and that's one of the.

Reasons this was there was such a response from firefighters hundreds of them responded these are some of the images that were sent to us on social media um this came in earlier today I talked with Steve online uh who told me that he was going to return his weed whack you know he lives in Meno Park but he was out in this area in Redwood City.

To return as weed whacker and looked up and saw this uh you know this was a a location that had six stories on it so um you know this neighborhood it just gives you the idea that you know the neighborhood is right there this is also another image from earlier this morning um just after 10 15 when those Flames really uh really went up and you know.

Really uh really grabbed what what it was burning so um certainly a a concerning situation all day continues to be a concerning situation um but for as bad as these images were earlier today and you see that flame just way up in the air that's probably why one of the reports why we got so many reports uh from people who saw it uh from some.

Far distances away another one of the images these are these are interesting images because it gives you almost like a time lapse and you see all that black smoke and after a while it turns into white smoke and the white smoke is really what we are seeing uh this afternoon but again I think it is important to reiterate too uh that.

Nobody was hurt as far as we know at this hour this was one of the ground shots um from earlier this morning some of those ground shots and you can see the firefighters there uh I mean it gets to a point been on so so many fire scenes over the years uh that when a fire is this powerful they go into what is called a defense mode and that is.

Basically they just want to defend other structures so they do keep water lines on it but they also keep their distance it's not like they're going inside to try to put this fire out inside uh when it gets to a certain point they just got to be defensible about it and that is what we saw earlier today as some of these firefighters just prepared in.

Certain areas I mean you see these firefighters standing here but downwind they were shooting water at it uh and and trying to make sure that it didn't send Embers into another area wow the intense um size of that flame this is an image and I believe this is a live image right now from sky7 showing what it looks like right now we went from that.

Fireball seemingly Fireball um to just a chart out look of what was uh a structure that was going up this was an affordable housing complex 179 units of affordable housing uh a product project that was called Middlefield Junction um and obviously uh this puts everything back to the start of that project you know you got to get to the bottom you.

Gota you'll have to clear all this area um but but to think that um so many different firefighters were able to get in there they were able to put water on it they were able able to spray it down um and here we are 10 11 12 1 nearly 4 hours later um and that fireball is no longer there uh you just have those images of that smoke just drifting into.

The air but one thing I think is interesting to look at this and you can see uh in the bottom right hand of your screen they're still um putting some of the uh putting some of the spraying some of the water down on this structure but it's interesting because that's smoke is still not going straight up into the air it's still being blown to the side and.

That is something we continue to deal with we saw it in San Jose yesterday we saw it over the weekend in San waen County uh when we had the Corral fire that burned more than 14,000 Acres those strong winds can be such a danger and we have now seen that in three major fires over the course of the last three days uh but you can see those powerful.

Streams of water and they are going to be water BR this down uh for some time today uh we do want to go to the press conference that was held earlier um within the last hour or so uh some of the officials talking uh about what they can tell us basically about the situation uh a bit Limited in what they could say but this is what they did say.

A little while ago Mark lenen lenzen I'm the fire chief of the menow Park Fire Protection District uh we are at the scene of a uh commercial structure fire at 2700 Middlefield Road this is an area of North Fair Oaks it's an unincorporated area of the county that the mow Park Fire Protection District uh.

Protects along with SEL County Sheriff we had uh reports of a structure fire on the fifth floor of a building under construction at approximately 10:15 uh reports initially were fire in the insulation we got unseen and found thick black smoke emanating from the fifth floor immediately it was escalated a third alarm uh the building had been.

Evacuated by all the construction workers that were already on scene uh right now the fire stands at eight alarms that's 26 fire engines seven ladder trucks we also have 10 Mutual Aid fire engines responding to us immediate need from Santa clar County kind of as a contingency plan uh right now the building that the fire was involved in.

Looks like it's going to be a total loss our goals right now are to prevent fire spread to the adjacent occupancy there's still one under construction and then immediately to the South uh the neighborhoods and the homes over there we have structure protection forces in place there's probably at least a dozen small little spot fires they've been.

Dealing with on roofs fences grass Lots so right now that's our current plan no injuries as of this moment and with that I'm going to turn it over to assistant Sheriff Monahan with s County Sheriff thank you everyone good afternoon I am Ryan Monahan with the Sano County Sheriff's Office I am the assistant sheriff and I'm here on behalf.

Of sheriff Christina Corpus today so our role in this is to support Fire's efforts primarily in ensuring evacuation and safety for the folks in the immediate area so when the call came out our deputies were immediately dispatched to the area uh they responded to the scene we sent deputies from bureaus all over the county um so we had.

Not only deputies that are assigned to the far Oaks area but deputies assigned throughout our County immediately start responding uh when we leared of the alarm and the the structure that was involved deputies quickly got here to the scene they assessed the need for evacuation uh worked with our partners at fire we set up a unified command post.

With the fire department so that we could work collaboratively with them and assist them uh in safety measures so once we got here we realized that we were going to need assistance uh we're very fortunate here in San County that we have a very very strong Allied a Allied agency Partnerships and we are able to reach out to those Allied.

Agencies in the area and they immediately sent uh resources to assist us with the evacuation efforts as of right now we have an estimated 50 people or so residents from the adjacent area or in the general vicinity that some of them were evacuated for precautionary reasons because of their proximity to the fire uh some of them were evacuated.

Because of some of the Embers that spread and and touch some other uh locations in the area so right now we have those folks evacuated we're very happy to say that those folks are safe that's our primary concern here is making sure that our community members here are safe uh and our Emergency Services Bureau uh we have that helps uh.

With these types of incidents is working right now hand inand with the Department of Emergency Management which is a county department to find a suitable evacuation point or location for our vaces to go so they can get the resources that they need so we're working diligently behind the scenes right now and we'll be providing updates.

On where that location is we're just asking the public right now the fire is doing an out fire department uh is doing an outstanding job right now uh controlling and containing this this fire and so our primary goal here is we want to keep our community members safe and so we're asking you all in order to do that to please stay out of the area.

Please let the fire uh fire department personnel uh our deputies and all the rest of the First Responders out here that are committed to the safety of the scene do their job and we will be providing updates uh in a very timely manner to keep people up to date on the evacuations and any other information thank you.

Sure yeah yes we are making good progress on it um you it's basically burning all the the wood Timbers and members structural members from the interior out so the fire started on the north end of the building and then was pushed by the winds basically all the way over to this side I know from here it looks like there's multiple buildings.

Involved it's one building that looked like it was either an l-shape or kind of a U-shaped building so and then there's a a building in the in you know closer to us that's also under construction that one is not involved we're working on structure protection with that also so it's just one single building that's been involved.

It's just a rather large building and difficulties you're having seeing SCA what are some of the big issues you guys are having right the big the big challenges initially are um you know there's no firewalls in there they haven't been constructed yet so it's just a Tinder Box and the fire spreads pretty quickly we had some decent winds.

Kind of pushing the fire through the building we recognized early on that this was going to be an exterior attack as we call defensive because that just there's almost no way to stop it and we want to ensure that we don't harm our firefighters also so um yeah this our current plan is to stay back far enough so if it collapses we're out of the.

Collapse Zone uh it's one thing we we don't want to do on a on a building that's already been determined a loss is to you know hurt anybody injure anyone so just like I had said earlier exposures are our primary goal protecting those that's the building under construction and then the neighborhood just of the S CH can you.

Talk to me a little bit more about the spot fires that you say you're fighting where exactly are they if you know and what Mutual Aid did you get from and from what the oh sure yeah uh as the sheriff was saying earlier you know our mutual Aid System up here is very robust the initial response from all of our U uh Allied departments in Sano County was.

Rob that's where the 26 engines and seven ladder trucks came from is all just here internally we have the 10 additional engines coming from a mutual Aid partner s Santa FL County to the South um what was the the rest of your question the spot fir oh the spotfires yeah the spotfires in the neighborhood it's interesting I was walking over.

Through there and there was large pieces of insulation that had melted were on fire caught you know part of that thermal column and floated into the neighborhood and we causing fires anywhere in in a grass slot in somebody's uh collection of items there on roofs um you know and it was just kind of indiscriminate throughout the uh.

The community over here so those are the spotfires that we're dealing with said ins first obvious a we'll see you the we have fire cause investigators out here right now hopefully there are eyewitnesses to it that will be helpful for for us in determining the cause those were just.

The initial reports whether they're accurate or not I can't attest to those um but those were the initial reports so and as we know on a construction site there's usually quite a bit of equipment sometimes there's hot work going on so but we'll do a a thorough diligent investigation and report back you when we have a.

Car yes can you talk and you kind of touch on this but just how dangerous the risk of Embers spreading is I mean we just saw a worst case scenario with that yesterday in sose I mean it's what we were dealing with here it's very interesting uh typically on a on a large structure fire we're not dealing with structure protection in the.

Neighborhoods next door but it's yeah reminds us a little bit of Fire season and Wildland fires The Embers whether they're from insulation or from vegetation uh really work just the same and so here we are in the middle of a urban suburban area dealing with what we saw yesterday in s Keen Valley is yeah uh fire spread uh through Ember.

Um Embers and winds so those are obviously our two biggest threats right now what kind of risk does the CR if any of the scaffolding is falling any of the planks is any of that collapse I think some of it has not very much of it is there a risk with the crane uh whether or not any of the scaffolding has come down and with the crane is that like a.

Risk also with fire burning around it there's not there's not a current risk uh it would be a big risk if the fire spread to that building that the crane is next to so the crane building is not right the crane is in the uninvolved it may still be a housing building but it's in an uninvolved separate building last question.

Were building uh as far as I could tell when I got here they were all evacuating it looked like there was well over a hundred uh construction workers so I would imagine there were like I said we'll see whether or not we had any eyewitnesses to the fire start thank you all.

You are listening to officials down in Meno Park Redwood City area firefighters and police officers talking about the situation that you're looking at in Redwood City a situation and we're going to recap it here we have been talking about this for hours on end this is at 2700 Middlefield Road in Redwood City this was a construction site um and at.

10:15 or just before 10:15 this morning fire started on the fifth floor and that fire quickly spread and we saw that in some of the images today but uh you can see it's gotten to this point today where there is no longer a massive Fireball shooting hundreds of feet into the air there is now a charred location this was supposed to be 179 unit.

Affordable housing project called the Middlefield Junction uh and it has been destroyed um we did received word from firefighters and police that at last check doesn't appear as though anyone was hurt uh there were evacuations of people who live in the area around 50 of them on three different streets and there was a school Garfield School that.

Dismissed early they were able to get the kids out of school they were able to evacuate those neighborhoods they updated US during that press conference to say um that those people were all safe um and I uh believe those people are able to go back to their homes but I can't be certain on that at this point as we continue to receive information.

But you know when sky7 and this is a live picture of sky7 right now Zooms in you really get an idea uh of the extent of this damage uh they described this location as not having any firewalls they weren't there in the process of building this location yet and so they described it as a Tinder Box that just went up in flames and really anybody who.

Was within uh several miles of this location I mean I was getting pictures and video from people obviously who live in that neighborhood but also folks who were several miles away who could see this from a distance that is how intense it was this morning in Redwood City but to see that firefighters who were able to take a defensible approach to things.

Uh were able to get it to where it is now is certainly a thumbs up in the right Direction at this point we are going to leave this location uh we are going to leave this shot on your screen um for the afternoon we're going to continue to take this live picture uh from sky7 uh so you can get a better look at things uh I will be anchoring.

The 3 pm show today and we have some guests to talk about this we have a crew that is on the ground in this location has been talking with people out there today uh you'll hear I believe it's Zack Fuentes is down there you'll hear uh what the situ situation is on the ground there at 3:00 today we will also have experts too because I know a lot of.

People are asking uh this is three days three massive fires within a 100 miles or so of one another uh what is the situation we'll talk with some experts about why we are seeing these fire conditions right now as we leave you with this shot we'll see you at 3 o'cl uh and we will continue to follow this story have a great afternoon everybody.

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