>> reporter: the building old, the fire hungry, the flames hot, you're watching the early moments of a blaze that began in a 5,000 square footwear house in roughly 12:30 this afternoon and it didn't begin quietly. >> like a big ba-book. >> a explosion like a cherry bomb. >> reporter: it remained that way for three hours. witnesses say the smoke had an acidic smell. the san francisco fire department ordered a shelter in plates down wind according to chief hayes white. >> i'm concerned there might be some toxic air. >> reporter: neighbors described the warehouse as a foundry wherefore three decades the owner manufactured cable car bells. there was no one inside when the fire broke out which was fortunate because fire fighters did not have to go inside. >> i saw a car in there, lot of equipment. it's loaded. >> you have to walk sideways. floor to ceiling stuff. >> reporter: what kind of stuff? >> everything. furniture, metal, chandeliers,

whatever you can name. car parts. >> there's all hidden pockets of stuff all over. >> reporter: did it look like a fire hazard? >> oh, it did. >> reporter: how so? >> cram to the feeling full of stuff. >> we have a lot of articles in there and objects that have contributed to us having a hard time putting the fire out. >> reporter: the fire department says it has no record of violations, but it will be looking hard at what happened here. they respect to remain on scene well into tomorrow. from san francisco, wayne freedman, abc7 news. >> rescuers pulled a man to safety near battery crosby. this man was stranded on the rock face. he tried to walk down to the beach but kept slipping. the fire department got the call at 2:30. the crew took 45 minutes to prepare their lines for a high angle rescue. they brought him back up the cliff. no injuries reported. >> the two defrts charged

criminally in the ghost ship warehouse fire appeared in court together today. but they won't enter their pleas until next month. for the first time tonight we are hearing from the attorney and family of max harris, one of the defendants. abc7 news reporter melanie woodrow was in court today and is in the newsroom with the latest on this. melanie? >> reporter: dan, the attorney says the alameda district attorney is strategically going after the people he says are least likely to have the financial means to defend themselves. we learned today that two attorneys from two separate law firms have taken harris's case pro bono and at least for now they have no plans to make a motion to separate him from co-defendant derrick almena. his family and friends want them to see these pictures of him. >> there is not a greedy bone in his body. >> when i visited with alex, among the first things he said, i'm sorry if you have to miss work for this. >> reporter: harris along with

co-defendant face 36 kounlts of involuntary manslaughter for the 36 lives lost in the ghost ship warehouse fire. >> somebody who loved people as much as max harris clearly loves people, as much as somebody who loved creating art, as much as max harris loved creating art, would never put people in art in a position where they could be destroyed or harmed. >> reporter: harris wrote this statement. >> i am heartbroken to be both someone who witnessed the horrible event and who lost loved ones, but who now is on trial for something that i never would have imagined possible. >> reporter: earlier today harris and almena were in court. their plea hearing moved to july. outside the courtroom, attorneys for each promised his client would be vindicated. >> try to direct people out, he did direct some people out. he hurt himself trying to give fire fighters access. >> we don't really in this trial foresee the emphasis on defending our client. it's going to be reversal of roles. we're going to be prosecuting and we're going to be

prosecuting from our perspective the real culprits. >> reporter: he said that includes the building's owner, pg&e, the fire department and building inspectors. none of whom are facing criminal charges. melanie woodrow, abc7 news. >> now let's talk a little about the weather. check this out. the chp in oakland tweeted this photo sailing, not even noon, and we're in the 90s. 93 to be precise there. make sure your car can handle this heat. indeed, we are about to hit a heat wave. let's bring in abc7 news meteorologist sandhya patel with a look at your weekend forecast. sandhya? >> kristen, it is going to get hot inland. hotter than today, hard to believe. we do have a heat advisory that starts tomorrow morning, saturday 11:00 a.m. until 11:00 p.m. monday. most of the bay area under that advisory with the exception of san francisco and the coast. heat related illnesses possible. that's the bottom line. avoid overexposure to sun. stay hydrated.

this is an excessive heat warning for solano county noon sunday until 8:00 p.m. tuesday. it is going to be dangerously hot. you'll want to check on the elderly and pets and don't forget about pets and kids in the cars. obviously you know it gets even hotter inside the vehicles. live doppler 7 now showing you clear conditions. find out if there is going to be any fog to help out the dad's this weekend. i'll have the full temperatures including the hour by hour planner. dan? >> thank you. the heat is driving people south to the beach today. it is expected to get hotter throughout the weekend. but authorities are warning beach goers about some dangers to be aware of. abc7 news reporter jeannine de la vega spent the day in santa cruz. she is live near the board walk to explain what to expect. jeannine? >> reporter: dan, it is in the high 70s right now. it's been like that most of the day. there is a breeze blowing here. so, cooler than the inland areas, so great weather but there are some things to remember if you're headed this way.

whether it was splashing in the water or playing in the sand, it seemed like everyone had the same idea today. the crowds on the main beach in santa cruz started coming by late morning to escape the bay area heat. >> it's 105 in brentwood. we thought it would be perfect to come out here. we brought all of our kids and two friends. >> reporter: the team of marine safety officers and lifeguards are scanning the beach. they know those from out of town might not be used to rip currents and surfs. >> they get out from shore and realize how far they are. they get tired, cramps panicked. we're always looking for people that maybe don't look like the strongest swimmers. >> reporter: lifeguards stress not to turn your back on the ocean. those with childrn should always be arms length away. they even encourage parents to check in at the lifeguard station to find out about hazards on the beach. >> i still like the big waves. >> reporter: to make the waves you have to brave the traffic on highway 17.

they report a huge increase of crashes along the corridor in the most due to speed. >> expect delays. there's going to be traffic. put your cell phone down. leave texting and being on yurp phone. it's illegal and it's unsafe. >> reporter: it will all be worth it once you arrive to enjoy the sights and sounds of summer. in santa cruz, jeannine de la vega, abc7 news. >> when the weather gets warm, many people like to soak in the sun, of course, and abc7 news was at lake merritt in oakland where we found some people just taking a jog or leisurely strolling. in the afternoon sun, others decided it would be better to seek shelter in the shade. >> not a bad idea. there is a downside to the heat of course. police in marina warning people not to leave children on pets in the car even for just a quick errand. don't do it. >> we have more tips for you for handling the heat at abc7news.com and through the abc7 news app. >> a smelly mystery in vallejo

solved. phillips 66 and an oil tanker have been blamed for the stinky oil sheen that led to 1400 odor complaints last september. today the bay area quality management district announced the public nuisance violations. each party has ten days to respond or provide evidence in their defense. ultimately they could face fines or be forced to change their operations. >> san francisco's latest report on the homeless is now out and it shows a shift in where the city's homeless now live. the city does a homeless census every other year. this year volunteers counted just under 7500 people on the streets. that's down a half percent from 2015. but where they are living has shifted. the tenderloin district saw its population drop by 13% while the richmond, sunset, fisherman's wharf and north beach neighborhoods saw big increases. >> as we are seeing real estate development occur in mission bay, china basin, in other parts of the city that places where homeless people have been

traditionally encamped or sleeping they are having to find other places to go. >> over the same period, alameda county's homeless population increased 39%. >> lot more to come. the san jose police department is increasing its ranks. >> it's pretty clear. we needed a woman to get us out of this recruiting mess. >> from an academy class of just 7 recruits to its biggest in years, they say the people living there should feel safer. >> how the fight against terror sent a staffer into hiding. >> and what could be an historic case against google. tech giant and the potential for record fine. >> i'm michael finney. coming up on finney's friday free stuff, we're r ♪ ♪

award winning interface. award winning design. award winning engine. the volvo xc90. the most awarded luxury suv of the century. visit your volvo dealer to take advantage of our midsommar sales event offer. efforts to rebuild the san jose police department appear to be paying off. city leaders welcomed their newest police recruits today.

the largest academy class in years. and community members are thrilled about it. abc7 news reporter chris nguyen has more from san jose. >> reporter: in south san jose, signs of progress as the city's police department works to rebuild its force. >> we fixed the issues that were plaguing this police department and we're rising again. >> reporter: with 54 new recruits, the department's latest academy which began today is the largest class in several years. a big deal considering the critically low staffing levels that are currently forcing officers to work mandatory overtime. >> i know that it's been tough on them but i want to say thank you to them for actually doing this for all of us here in san jose. >> reporter: overall, more than 100 new officers are being trained bringing the department's staffing to just under a thousand sworn personnel. the department previously lost more than a third of its officers over the past decade due to early retirements and frustration over pay. but after years of struggling to retain or recruit officers, many

can now sense some optimism. >> officers are excited. there is a pep in the step. there is enthusiasm. i will tell you, we are our best recruiters. >> reporter: back in february police ratified a new contract with a 20% pay raise over the next three years which will make san jose more competitive with neighboring agencies. entry level officers earn a base of roughly $84,000 a year. >> citizens are more likely to speak to police officers and to work with the police when they see more police officers in their neighborhood. >> reporter: the police chief also announced today he'll explore addling officers to the city's south substation which opened in 2014, but has mainly been used as a training center. in san jose, chris nguyen, abc7 news. >> a fire damaged a beloved church in huh bolt county and arson may be the reason for this. the 50-year-old presbyterian church on maple street in garber ville burned for hours. witnesses say a man threw something from an rv in the

middle of the night. the rv was damaged in the blaze. the sheriff's department says the fire is suspicious. there is no proof of arson at this point. no arrests therefore have been made. >> a day after explaining how its content moderateers are a crucial part of fighting counterterrorism, facebook is admitting some of those moderateers had their identities exposed. according to the guardian, a bug affected more than 12,000 moderateers and inadvertently exposed their identities to suspected terrorists. the moderateers were required to use their personal accounts while working. at least one moderator went into hiding after the breach. facebook says it made technical changes to fix the glitch. google is not having a great day either. according to the mountain view based company it is bracing for an antitrust fine, possibly 1 1/2 billion dollar overseas. according to the european commission, google is using its near monopoly in online searching to unfairly steer customers to the google shopping service. paying the fine won't be a

problem. google's parent company alphabet has assets of over $90 billion. the tech giant is expected to appeal the decision. >> volkswagen is being told to change its tune regarding the placement of electric car charging stations in california. yesterday the legislature passed a bill that would force volkswagen to spend at least 35% of the $800 million project in poor and disadvantaged areas. volkswagen's original proposed investment was concentrated on busy areas where demand for charging stations is expected to be high. a san francisco man who bought mangos and seedless water melons to grocery stores has died. howard was considered a produce pioneer. he went to cal, majored in agricultural economy, and started a company called sun world in bakersfield. he started the trend of seedless grapes and vine ripened tomatoes. he planted california's first commercial mango farm and is credited with introducing hawaiian pineapples and started

the trend of selling red and yellow peppers, not just green ones. he died of cancer. he was 82 years old. >> more than half a million passengers road bart on the day of the warriors victory parade making it the fifth highest ridership in the agency's history. barts was the station of choice where dub nation heading to lake merritt for the celebrations. there were 518,744 riders to be precise. that's down about 5% from last warriors victory parade in 2015. now take a look at this view of lake merritt from droneview7. very different from yesterday, right? the streets back to normal. some trash but they picked it up quickly after the warriors victory celebration. the stage at lake merritt, though, is still being dismantled. the clean up crews very busy into the early morning hours. everything from streamers to confetti had to be removed. warriors co-owners joe and peter announced yesterday that they would pickup the tab for the

parade as a gift to the city. today we found out that final bill for them is $4 million. >> wow. good for them. well, you can really beat the heat at one place we visited, but you're going to get a little wet and that is exactly what they came for. in concord today abc7 news was at water world in california. the place was just packed. everyone but kevin costener was at water world today. remember that old movie he made years ago? the big kahuna was a hit. kids were in a heat wave driven bliss. >> the rides are great. yep. >> how about getting cool? >> yeah, it's perfect. >> the lazy river may be the ticket for those who are not daring enough for the big kahuna. the water park is in its 22nd year and is now open daily for the summer. >> announcer: now your accuweather forecast with sandhya patel. >> great way to beat the heat. or you'll want to head tote pool

or the beach this upcoming weekend. take a look at the highs so far. inland areas upper 90, along the coast places like half moon bay, 66 degrees. a good 32 degree spread between half moon bay and antioch today. typical summertime range. obviously we're still in spring. the last weekend of spring but it's going to feel like summer. take a look at the weekend tem furz in antioch. you're in the triple digits and that triple digit heat carries overall the way through most of the workweek next week. so, this heat wave is not going to be a three-day deal like we typically see here in the bay area. check out live doppler 7 right now. one of the biggest problems is we've got this big area of high pressure building in and so we have sinking air. that's going to continue to cause the heat to build. live doppler 7, clear skies, santa cruz a good place to actually deal with the hot weather and go away from the hot weather. it's a nice cool ocean water there. 70 degrees in san francisco. oakland 76, san jose 83 degrees, half moon bay 66.

from the mount tam cam, the breeze is what saved you along the coast today. it's nice weather along the coast, away from the hot weather. if you like it hot, this is really your weekend. mid 90s. livermore right now, wispy clouds from the sutro camera. triple digit temperatures inland and hot weather continues well into next week. here is the hour by hour planner for fathers day. if you have outdoor activities, first thing in the morning, 50s, 60s at 7:00 a.m., the sun is up. the weather is nice. mild to hot at noontime and then we're going to deal with intense heat. look at the 4:00 p.m. hour. 106 for our hottest inland valleys. but there is a place to always take your dad coast side only in the 60s. temperatures will be slow to drop off in the evening. tomorrow morning starting you out with mild conditions all across the bay area under clear skies, mid 50s to the upper 60s, and you will notice that the temperatures will be coming up. but it's not going to be too hot for newark memorial high school 9:00 a.m. graduation tomorrow,

you're really just looking at mild conditions, sunshine, congratulations to those graduates there. highs for your saturday in the south bay. it's going to be cooking 101 in gilroy, 91 in san jose. on the peninsula warm day 92 redwood city, 65 in pacifica, downtown san francisco 77 degrees. even warmer than today. and in the north bay we'll get you up to 100 degrees in santa rosa, 94 in vallejo, east bay 84, oakland 90 in fremont. definitely warm. this is where you do need to take it easy, especially if you're going to be out for a long period of time. try to find some shade. 101 in concord, 100 in livermore. if you check out what is ahead for the beaches, nice weather. u.v. index will be high make sure you have the sun screen. temperatures in the 60s accept santa cruz and monterey you'll be in the 70s and 80s. good idea to download the accuweather app. sizzling sunday, 19 degrees above average for this time of year in places like antioch, even oakland up 15 degrees above what you would normally expect.

could see records on sunday. accuweather seven-day forecast the hottest day of the weekend fathers day. coast side in the 60s and then the temperatures will drop a little as fog comes back into the picture early next week. at least for one day. summer starts tuesday and the sizzle continues through thursday before we see 90s. dan and kristen? >> toast. >> it's a torture. >> thanks, sandhya. >> thanks. finding something to wear or something to drink, next. that's next and at 5:30 on "world news tonight with david muir." >> coming up, breaking news right now, reports of a collision in the u.s. navy destroyer colliding with the vessel off japan. the first pictures are coming in now. condition of u.s. sailors tonight. word the u.s. destroyer is taking on water. our team is on this. "world news tonight with david muir" is coming up next. stay tuned. >> david, thank you. see you then. new at 6:00, a man rushed to the hospital after a para gliding accident. more at 6:00, kristen and i

continue here in a moment.

in italy the nation's highest court ruled that live lobster should not be kept on ice before being boiled. judges agreed with an animal rights group in a lower court. they said refrigeration or buckets of ice cause lobsters unjustifiable suffering. lobsters will now have to be kept in painless storage like oxygenated water tanks before they are tossed into boiling water. then there is this. 132 year old lobster named louie that has been living at a restaurant on long island was pardoned today. louie was given amnesty after living inside the tank for 20 years as part of national lobster week. >> after 20 years. absolutely. okay. we want to get your weekend off to a great start. one of the best ways to do that is with finney's friday free

stuff. >> michael is here with what on tap today. >> a good way to put it. this is called it is a fermented tea and you can either do one of those or they have a c botanical. let me see. >> the flavors sound interesting, michael. >> read the flavors. they're pretty wild. this is strawberry milk clearly kombucha is brewed in the traditional ancient method, but has nice flavors and light. very active on instagram. you can follow them if you want to, clearly kombucha. >> strawberry milk thistle. >> kristen is involved in our next item.

she's our victim. okay. here's what we've got right here. this is called friendage.com. look at that. >> you did not. >> the way you do trendage is you can tryout hair styles, dresses, clothing, all that kind of stuff. you put your face on there, it's kind of like -- isn't that interesting? >> i look good with bangs. [ laughter ] >> you look good all the time. >> so, the people there at trendage.com set up a website called free makeup bag.com and that's what you're going to get, free makeup. >> oh, my gosh, michael, thank you. this is so fun. where do you get it? >> in order to get in on that, you go to abc news.com, go to finney's friday free stuff. pretty fun stuff. >> you look fabulous in every outfit and hairpiece. >> i'm going to try blonde. >> moving on, round them up.

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coming up tonight new on abc7 news at 6:00, it's the little things you might not notice. what's hidden in this picture that could change people's lives? >> and the people at pixar are serious about cars. not just the ones you see in the movies they create. that's all coming up in a half hour on abc7 news at 6:00. >> well, finally tonight, sky 7 over pleasanton this morning following the herd literally. for the first time there was a cattle drive for the alameda county fair which opens tonight. >> a bunch of cowboys took the herd right down main street. it was a scene outs of a hollywood western and the sidewalks were jambed with thousands of people as the herd went by. no stray, one cow poke looked awfully familiar. >> going well. we have to make sure we keep the cattle together. they all want to stray. >> just learned everything about it. you saw all the herding dogs, all the cow boys, even saw the

cattle. it was fun. >> he has good form there, that cowboy. what would a cattle drive be without ms. ranch rodeo. don't worry, folks, dan is back in his regular saddle right here at the anchor desk. a little dusty, but a job well done. >> it was really great fun. thousands of people came out. really good time. >> pageantry is a mazing. >> it's a lot of work. >> "world news tonight with david muir" is up next. i'm kristen sze. >> i'm dan ashley. for all of us here, thanks for joining us. we'll see you at 6:00. >> bye-bye.

tonight, breaking news as we come on the air. reports of a collision. a u.s. navy destroyer colliding with a vessel off japan. the first pictures coming in. and the condition of u.s. sailors. we have learned several are missing. there is also word the u.s. destroyer is now taking on water. also tonight, the verdict, the outrage at this hour. the police officer who fatally shot philando castile during a traffic stop, the aftermath on facebook live, is acquitted on manslaughter charges. was there a list? a source now telling abc news the gunman had a list of names when he showed up to that baseball field with lawmakers. as new surveillance now emerges tonight of the moments the gunfire erupted. president trump tonight, his own tweet about firing james comey. has the president now confirmed he's under investigation for obstruction of justice?