an hour ago more than 100 people were evacuated from the building at sound of the smoke alarm. one person smelled smoke and didn't know where it was coming from. an alarm was activated. berkeley fire was called to the scene. when people started to leave the building they saw plumes of white smoke from between two buildings on university avenue. they were not sure of the source but a witness smelled something that smelled electrical. crews found what was happening. >> looked like it may have been caused by smoking material above the debris pile, possibly the fire is out just clearing out the smoke.

>> a resident was smoking in the building. it is important to mention that is a nonsmoking building but they were tossing the cigarettes out the window below, not knowing what was down there. between the two buildings were the personal belongings of a resident who formally lived in the building and the belongings caught fire from the cigarette butt and the chief explained when the materials caught fire it ignited and that was the source of the fire. one person was treated for smoke inhalation but they refuse the transport. the chief says they are expecting to be okay. the chief says everyone in the building did what they were supposed to do, knocking on the doors and immediately got out. they didn't know how serious the fire was. in berkeley for abc7 news.

>> 4:32. breaking news involving the best lead in the search for the missing malaysia airlines jet with 239 people. what could be aircraft debris has been spotted in the indian ocean. >> this is taken seriously and the australian prime minister called the malaysian prime minister to tell the news. these are the satellite images taken by australian satellite showing two pieces of possible debris from the flight, the largest is 79' long. an official says they appear to be moving up-and-down in the water 1,700 miles southwest of australia, four hours from land. multiple machines and -- planes and ships are headed to the location. >> this is "a" lead, probably the best lead but we need to get there, find them, see them, assess, and know whether it is meaningful or not.

>> a navy submarine hunter is part of the effort and we learned in the last hour it has landed back in picture, australia, after searching for three hours and did not find anything but there is limited visibility because of rain and clouds and the imaging are a few days hold. an australian and new zealand plane are continuing the search and a ship to norway has reached the area. satellite images have been wrong before. malaysian's transportation minister calls the findings "credible but not confirmed." our reporting continues on twitter. >> 19 high school is mourning the death of alumnus a sheriff deputy shot to delegate by an armed robbery and kidnapping suspect. the crime spree started with a

kidnapping in oregon yesterday morning and ended north of fort bragg if a shootout. the 32-year-old cheney ambushed the deputy. a police officer arrived and exchanged gunfire with cheney who ran into the woods where he was found dead from his gunshot wounds. the deputy drew up -- grew up in napa. he was a football and wrestling stear in napa in the 1980's. >> the governor brown issued a statement saying "the deputy was killed upholding 9 oath he swore to protect his community with deepest condole ends to friends and family and coworkers and community." we express our condolences to friends and family and the deputy on facebook. you can share your thoughts, as

well. >> san mateo police are searching for a burglary suspect who tied up a woman in her home after she interrupted him mid- crime. it began monday when the 6 66-year-old woman found the man burglarizing her house he tieder up and took her a.t.m. card and password information and let to get money from the account. the woman was not able to free herself until tuesday. the image was captured at bank of america a.t.m. on 3rd avenue. a man accusing of forcing a kiss on a boy has turned himself in to police at a gas station yesterday morning. a group of middle school students were hanging out and a man in a pickup walked up to a boy, grabbed him and tried to kiss him. the student pulled away. the man turned himself interest police a few hours later and was arrested. >> u.k. san francisco has sent

out letters warning personal information could be compromised at desktops were stolen from a medical center at lake more -- lake shore shopping center with personal information of 10,000 including their insurance information, driver's license and some social security numbers. the computers were taken around january 11. ucfs located state, local, and federal thunderstorms of the potential security breach and offering assistant for those who had compromised information. >> the city college of san francisco chancellor calls for independent review of campus police officer. response a woke after students and faculty character with police. this is cell phone video of the protests on campus on thursday. demonstrators den maaed resignation of a special trustee and re-instatement of elected board. two students were arrested and

a dozen occupied the building. the chancellor will propose initiatives to promote better dialogue with students. students are planning another demonstration before the meeting. >> in san jose, national hispanic university will close as a four year check with a chain buying the campus four years ago with hopes of best enrollment through internet classes. the school suffered a set back last spring when the department of education reduced financial aid to students if programs that did not offer good prospects for employment. the university is now looking for a charter school to move in. >> a big opportunity kicks off for bay area residents with mortgage issues. the american dream event starts at 8:00 to downtown oakland with hundreds of bank representatives will help people try to reduce mortgage payments. this ever sent is free and you do not have to go through foreclosure to get help. this runs from today through

monday at oakland marriott hotel from 8:00 am to 6:00 p.m. a control burn has broken through the boundary and green to 300 acres. it is burninged eight miles southeast of salinas and it is worried it could spread to 600 acres starting before 5:00 yesterday afternoon, according to officials no home are threatened. the kids were out late last night because it was so warm. >> it will be cooler today but, still, very mild by mid-march standards. we have high clouds but the low clouds are few and far between and most of us are unlimited this morning. here is the day planner the next 12 hours with a colorful sunrise because of the high clouds. temperatures in the mid-to-upper

40's inland and around 50 for the rest of us. by noon we have high clouds, and low-to-mid to upper 60's from the ocean to the bay and inland. at 4:00, we have high clouds and 60 at the coast and low-to-mid 70's elsewhere. this evening, 68 inland and 62 around the bay and a jacket at the coast at 56 but it will be breezy compared to yesterday. moving forward, tomorrow is the cool of the day with low clouds at the coast and high clouds for the better part of the day. then we will be one to two degrees warmer on saturday and sunday and a few clouds along the coast and it will be a bright and warm weekend. >> happy first day of spring. as we take you into the east bay, this is where we have issues involving some construction. i will show you that in a second eastbound and westbound side of 80 between powell and buchanan

with lanes blocked off until 5:00 this morning. we are also hooking at clear conditions up to the bay bridge toll so nothing out there. the traffic is looking nice with 580 over the altamont pass, 23 minutes from tracy to dublin and westbound highway 4 antioch to concord 15 minutes and into san francisco, 17 minutes but southbound 101, that is where we have a car that hit a deer and we have lanes blocked. you could see a slow down as c.h.p. makes it out there. in san jose, 87 beyond the julian street off-ramp traffic is smooth with no accidents to report and no construction to slow you down. 4:40 a survey reveals what could be a dark irside -- darker side to life on uc campuses.

>> drought is taking its toll on a blooming industry. >> big rig is stuck in the path of a train. wait until you see what

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covering santa rosa, berkeley, san jose and all the bay area, this is abc7 news. a new university of california survey shows a fourth of all students and employees have experienced intimidation or hostile conduct or felt ex clued on campus. 9 percent said it was bad enough to affect their welcome or study. the survey was part of a system-wide campus climate study including looking at attitude and behavior on campus that affect minority group members. 100,000 people from all uc campuses participated in the survey. >> two california congressmen

are pushing a plan to build a new reservoir in northern california that is located north of sacramento. the reservoir holds enough water to supply almost two million families at a price tag of $2 billion to $3 billion. the democrat and republican lawmakers are introducing a bill to study the feasibility of the reservoir. >> contra costa water district is asking customers to cut back on water use by 15 percent. this was voted unanimously and the governor brown called for 20 percent reduction statewide but contra costa officials say sin the district's provide marry reservoir is nearly 80 percent full, less conservation is needed right now. >> interest in drought tolerance and at official turf has reached new heights at one of the largest flower shows in the country. cornell? >> around the san francisco flower and garden show you will

not see a lot of flowers but you will see a new shift to plenty of plants that barely drink water. >> how do you save or conserve water? >> a landscape designer doesn't install green lawns anymore now he is all about drought tolerance. the dislay features cactus with technicalture and color. >> most thing this is a tropical rain forest but, they are like, where are the or kids and i said they don't work because this is a dry garden. >> less water is number one. >> a couple came to change up their yard. they left with lots of inspiration about save water. >> we have been cutting back and we have rain barrels, the little bit of rain we checked. >> for drought tolerant landscapes, synthetic grass, zero maintenance, industry water. >> we have a great product but we have the largest three months

in history. it is slowly becoming a "need" item. >> if fake lawn is not your tinge there are other options. the show continues through sunday at san mateo event center. happening today the south bay construction will begin on a new bus rapid transit project the first in the bay area with the transportation authority saying the seven mile long santa clara alum rock line will connect east san jose to downtown with 11 stops loan capital expressway, alum rock and santa clara street with buses every ten minutes in their own dedicated line. the $114 million project is scheduled for completion in 2015. >> a georgia liver is credited for getting a driver out of the way after the massive semi trailer got struck on the tracks. >> it will not be able to stop.

it will hit your vehicle. get out of the truck. >> seconds later, camera shows the plane plowing into the semi pushing it a quarter mile down the track. the police department posted this video on facebook and the 29-year-old driver was not hurt but was cited for failure to obey a railroad crossing. >> if that is the worst that happens to him from that he is lucky. >> now this morning's weather with the spring arrival. >> step outside and greet it, welcome it, and it will be blurred by the high clouds. you can see them on live doppler 7 hd. still have high pressure at the surface, and light and variable winds, just oakland at three and hayward at five miles per hour and forward at five miles per

hour and everyone else is calm this morning. the high clouds are in the upper part of the atmosphere where we have a west to east flow this morning. 45 at woodside and menlo park and palo alto is 47. temperatures are warmer than yesterday. the low-to-mid 50's along the east bay shore and san jose at 53. concord is 51. 48 in san ramon and livermore and 51 and antioch is 55 and 44 in napa and 46 in santa rosa, so, temperatures running three to six degrees warmer than yesterday. from the east bay hills camera, which is very still this morning. spring starts with average, above average highs although we are cooler than yesterday. cooler weather tomorrow and we spring back to warmth through the weekend before the first storm arrived next week. now, today, high pressure to the

east and to the west, cold front to the north, that cold front is what is helping steer the high clouds our way and slowing down the offshore wind. another reason why it will be cooler today. we have mid-to-upper 60's along the coast and half moon bay at 68 and into san francisco at 69 and the rest of us are in the low-to-mid 70's. tonight we will join a few low clouds along the coast with the high clouds and temperatures are running the same as in morning and maybe cooler in the north bay valley with low-to-mid 40's and the prosecute of us are in the mid-40's and near 50 inland and upper 40's to 50 around the bay shore to the coast. next week, tuesday, our next system is barreling toward us and something different has happened. an area of low pressure is starting to develop along the wave closer to us and that could possibly enhance the rainfall. temperatures down a couple of

degrees today, and to to four degrees tomorrow and we gain a couple saturday, sunday, monday, and tuesday and wednesday most of us are in the 50 and 60's because of the chance of rain. we have construction out there. we have areas across the bay area that could slow you. southbound direction along 680, willow pass road the on and off-ramps are shut down until 6:00 this morning. that will cause a crimp in the commute and away from sfo along 101 from the peninsula to san francisco you can see nice top speed not taking you very long only nine minutes away from the airport at the 3rd street. if you taking the bay bridge it is cheer to the east bay. here is a look at san mateo bridge where traffic is running smoothly as you leave hayward headed into foster city so top speeds over the water will take

you about 10 minutes to make it in the westbound direction. it is 4:51, a growing trend made popular by celebrity moms, and the wanting that the baby doctors are sounding this morning about water birthing. >> are you feeling sleepy when you wake up? a lack of shut eye could actually be shutting down your brain. >> science meets art with amazing technology giving a victim of the boston marathon bombing her dancing shoes

if your kid is an artist with big ideas google wants to hear from them by the end of day with the deadline admit night for doodle for google open to students from kindergarten through 12 "if i could invent oning to make the world a better place," and the winner is chosen from each state and the public votes for the favorite and the winning animated doodle is

displayed on the google home page on june 19th. we have all of the details posted on our website by click on "see it on tv." troubling news for sleep deprived, long term sleep deprivation can fry 25 percent of brain cells. researchers say this is the first evidence showing that sleep loss can lead to irreversible brain damage. researchers testified laboratory mice that mirror chemicals shift workers. at first nerve cells were protected but then they died off at an accelerated rate. the results are likely the same for people but more research is needed. >> so, i will turn it over to meteorologist...that is his

name? it is...umm... >> i am meteorologist, mike nicco, been here 7 1/2 years. the cloud cover is taking over california with no rain right now. we could use some, and above-average temperatures if you are headed to sacramento at 77 and chico is 75 and fresno is 82 and 67 in san diego and 85 in palm springs and 60 today in lake tahoe. safe travels. here is leyla gulen. >> smooth sailing so far starting off with a look at walnut creek and 24 junction will only take you nine minutes so traffic is light. we have a little bit of construction back from this view at willow pass road on-and-off ramp to southbound 680 are shut down until 6:00 and another look at the richmond san rafael toll

plaza only one car in the toll. and san jose traveling away from 880 up 101 to the san jose airport it is smooth with no accidents to report. >> >> amazing video of a bicyclist on the shoulder of a road was sideswiped by a mattress on a truck only to land on the mattress the mattresses knocks the bicycle it off and cushions the fall. what are the odds of that? it was caught on the surveillance video and the bicycle disappears but it could be under the mattress. you can see the bicyclist looking dazed and it is not cheer exactly when and where this happened but the clip was uploaded to youtube in portugese. america's obstetricians are weighing in on the popular practice of women giving berth

in water. doctors say this is probably helpful to relax but they are not thrilled with the idea of delivering while submessaged. underwater birth can lead to health problems in the child including infections and breathing issues and seizures. the study is from the american college of ob/gyns. >> a professional dancer has taken the stage for the first time since loading part of her left leg in the boston marathon bombing. the 33-year-old woman performed the rhumba at the tech conference in vancouver and twirled on her new leg made specifically for dancing. designed by a professor who wanted to get her back to doing what she loved and after the performance she had a huge smile and wiped away some tears. >> we are following three big

stories: breaking news in berkeley where a fire forces dozens of students into the street and at action we are at the seen. also, a major break in the search for the missing malaysian airplane nine with a big clue that has researchers scouring the sea near australia. >> and a fall enmen zoe send county sheriff deputy who was involved in a deadly confrontation with a

live from the kgo-tv broadcast center this is abc7 news. >> shall we toast the arrival of spring in a few hours? he is to spring. >> it is