was rocked by an explosion. >> today drone view 7 shows you all the aftermath. you can really see those destroyed containers, the tanks, at the brief nustar facility. gonustar facility is in crockett. investigators today served a search warrant at the site. >> abc7's laura anthony has the latest live from crockett. laura? >> reporter: hi, well i'm told this investigation is still in the very early stages. the first priority is to make sure this fire does not flare up again. to that end, all day we've seen fire crews stationed here every so often. they spray foam on to thisructu two tanks actually. as for the search warrant that was served today by contra costa fire investigators, we're told that is common practice after an event like this.

less than 24 hours after fire ripped through two tanks at the nustar energy storage facility in crockett, investigators with te contra costa fire department served a search warrant on the site. >> i would ask that you not infer anything negative about that. the company is being completely cooperative, and it's purely a common practice that we do in investigations especially big complex ones. >> reporter: the evidence seized could include documents and computer servers that have video before and during the fire that consumed two tanks that contained about 250,000 gallons of ethanol. just 1% of their capacity. the huge fire sent a giant plume of black smoke over the area forcing the closure of interstate 80 at the height of the evening commute. >> you can get long-term health effects from smoke, but that's when you've been exposed for a period of time, not this short few hours we had last night. >> reporter: in the meantime, the chairman of the contra costa board of supervisors is calling on his county to introduce legislation to includ nustar

and other facilities like it in contra costa's existing industrial safety ordinance. >> while the processes are different, while these facilities are different, it is vital that they have that type of regulation, the same level of regulation that an oil refinery or chemical plant in contra costa has. >> reporter: allowed back into their homes this morning, those who live near the plant worry that something like it could happen again. and we're back live here. you can see the fire crews are still on scene. they want to make sure there are no flare-ups. they're going to keep the foam blanket as they call it in place to ensure that for the short term. now there's been some talk that this might have been caused in some way by the earthquake the night before. i did contact nustar directly about that. i just heard back from them, they said at this point there's no indication that it was caused by an earthquake, but they couldn't tell me to what level the tanks were built. what earthquake level the tanks might withstands.

there was no answer. i asked again. fire investigators luckily told me that any concerns about the earthquake causing it at this point are, quote, speculation. in crockett, laura anthony, abc7 news. >> a lot of speculation today. thank you so much. and those questions will likely be asked when they hold their next news conference which should be happening in about a half hour. you're looking live at the microphones that have been set up for this news conference with officials. they're going to give us the latest update on the storage facility fire as well as the investigation. so we will bring that to you live, if we're not on air, with our newscast, then you can get it on our app or on our website. >> we will keep tabs on that news conference as it begins. as you can imagine, people living in the town of crockett, right in the middle of this, where the storage facility is located, had a lot of anxious moments during this crisis. >> abc7's lauren martinez is there live with that part of our coverage. lauren? >> reporter: the community of

crockett is very close. there are just over 3,000 people here. residents i spoke to say it feels like a normal day, but the tank explosions that happened yesterday is still on a lot of people's minds. >> it really shook us. >> reporter: dennis raleigh lives just north of the nustar facility in crockett. he claims his home was damaged when two tanks exploded tuesday afternoon. >> that's where it cracked the stucco and in between the two doors in my garage. >> reporter: he also says the blast cracked a window pictured here. he says when officers came by, they warned him a third blast might occur, so he taped and covered the crack with cardboard. today he feels on edge. >> i'm a vietnam veteran, and -- with post traumatic stress disorder. it actually shook my nerves quite a bit like i was back in vietnam or something. >> reporter: we caught up with his neighbor, sue velde. >> i was just afraid that our house wasn't okay and that our animals weren't okay. that was my major thought was

taking care of the animals. >> reporter: sue's husband is a crockett firefighter and has worked nonstop. when i asked how he's doing -- is he tired? >> he sounded really good for a man his age. >> reporter: at a park nearby, lill akerr is thinking twice about living so close to refineries. >> when we moved here it's a concern because it's between us and our children's schools. so it is a concern. >> reporter: for her son arthur and daughter ramona, it's just another day. the john sweat unified school district did cancel classes for today. residents tell me that crockett is usually slow moving, but today it felt extra slow with no students in classes. live in crockett, lauren martinez, abc7 news. >> thank you very much. stay up to date on the latest developments in the nustar fire with the abc7 news app and at abc7news.com. shifting gears, in sonoma

county, the general manager of a small water district has taken on the state of california for essentially abandoning them in terms of earthquake safety. abc7 reporter wayne friedman has more. >> reporter: valley of the moon, a small community of 27,000 people, tucked away not far from sonoma. it's normally quiet. but the general manager of their water district is quite the opposite. >> i will not be the guy who said he didn't do everything he could to get water for his people. >> reporter: alan gardner, 30 years after loma prieta, he has discovered an earthquake danger here that could be devastating. >> no water to my residence after 24 hours, period. >> reporter: gardner blames the state of california that closed the development center and home in august. in the process, california also turned off a water treatment plant on the property that has served as valley of the moon's emergency backup since 1982. >> it put us in a position where

we had no time to drill additional wells or money. >> reporter: which leaves valley of the moon at the mercy of a 16-inch aqueduct pipe beneath the bridge above sonoma creek. this section of aqueduct pipeline feeds water via the sonoma county water agency. there's a problem, the agency described this section of pipeline as being at risk in a severe earthquake. the sonoma county water agency is investing heavily in our water transmission system and reliability, regardless every home should maintain a two-week supply of drinking water, said the agency today in a statement. >> going to take a lot more than 14 days to fix. >> reporter: gardner says sacramento has been unresponsive and if disaster strikes at valley of the moon it's on them. new report from the california chapter of the council on american islamic relations shows muslim students are more likely to be bullied by their pierce.

the organization spoke with 1,500 kids at public and private schools throughout the state. we have a closer look. >> reporter: singled out for being muslim. students are opening up about the harassment they've experienced at the hands of their peers. >> it begins with pointing fingers in elementary school. eventually to spreading rumors in middle, one day physical fighting, and then cyber-bullying. >> reporter: in a new survey conducted by care california, 40% of respondents say they've encountered some form of bullying at school. that's more than double the national average. >> these negative words being thrown around of you're not welcome here in the united states, you're not american enough, you're a terrorist, you know, those kind of things being said to a child is always very frightening. >> reporter: school districts do have a legal obligation to address bullying. this year the california department of education released new anti-bullying training modules that schools must offer to faculty and staff who interact with students on a regular basis.

some say more needs to be done. >> we also want to encourage the state of california through the california department of education, for example, to have its own reporting on bullying and discrimination in its school districts based on age, sex, sexual orientation, gender, for example, to show exactly how severe this issue is in california. >> reporter: studies have shown children who are harassed at school are more likely to suffer anxiety and depression. >> it makes kids not want to step up and be part of the soccer team or to get up in front of the class and talk about, you know, who they are and feel proud of it. >> reporter: care california hopes their work will ultimately help improve the lives of all students across the state. >> districts and schools need to be part of that process of creating environments that are inclusive and finding ways to bring people together. >> reporter: an opportunity to inspire change. in the south bay, abc7 news. if you or someone you know is dealing with bullying, check

out abc7news.com/takeaction. there are links to resources and links to connect you directly with lawmakers. rescue in sonoma, and an arboririy predicament next. half moon bay pumpkin farmers wait for a life line. why the shift to cannabis has yet to bloom. >> reporter: you've been told your home needs an earthquake retrofit. what does that mean? 7 on your side is coming up. and i'm drew tuma. a closy and breezy day -- a cloudy and

aaddiction. how juuline hooked kids and ignited an public health crisis." other news outlets report- juul took $12.8 billion from big tobacco. markets e-cigarettes with kid friendly flavors and uses nicotine to addict them. 5 million kids use e-cigarettes. juul is "following big tobacco's playbook." and now, juul is pushing prop c to overturn e-cigarette protections. vote no on juul. no on big tobacco. no on prop c. an arborist dangled 60 feet off the ground for hours monday night. he somehow got tangled in his ropes. his safety harness kept him from falling. firefighters couldn't get to him

-- two tree trimming companies ultimately rescued him because they had boom trucks that could reach him. turned out he was okay. well, last in half moon bay passed a measure to allow certain farmers to grow marijuana. it meant new business to prop up farms that need help. abc7's vic lee went back to the pumpkin capital of the world to see what's happened since. >> reporter: in october last year, we visited the iconic farmer john's pumpkin farm in half moon bay. it was just before the elections. eda and john muller, farmer john that is, were hoping gg would pass allowing starter marijuana plants to be grown in farms with existing greenhouses. >> third generation living on the farm. we don't want to leave it. >> reporter: they like many farmers are struggling to survive. pumpkins and vegetables they grow can no longer support them. in november, voters passed measure gg. the mullers were approached by a cannabis company that wanted to

rent their greenhouses. today we paid another visit to the pumpkin farm. sadly we learned that the mullers' pot dreams went up in smoke. >> the interested person was very zealous and had great ideas for having this start, and the funding hasn't come through for him. >> reporter: the mullers weren't the only ones still waiting. so far according to manfred sickenberg who grows ivy topiaries, no farmer himself included has applied for a license to get into the marijuana business in half moon bay. >> right now i'd have some space available. so we could get going right away. >> reporter: nobody's approached you. >> nobody. >> reporter: farmer john and eda may have to sell their farm if they receive no offers from cannabis companies. so far, there is some consolation. >> fortunately it's been a great pumpkin season over here. >> reporter: so the ballot measure passed, but the dream faded. like the old adage, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably

is. vic lee, abc7 news. what is a basic retrofit that can help prepare your home for the next quake? >> 7 on your side's michael finney is going through a home and making a checklist of ways to make it safer for all of us. michael? >> reporter: you guys own homes. have you ever thought about what you would have to do if you retrofitted? yeah, no. it's a lot of work. we've got mark here. he's from seismic retrofitters. i'm going to have you bring it over here. he's going to show you the basic retrofit for a house. he's opened up this wall because he's doing work right here. number one step, what do you do? >> most homes are wood framed like this, so there's not going to be a lot of difference between this and your home. what we want to do, we want to open up the wall. some walls are already exposed. and in this case, we're going to do as fast in the foundation to the -- fasten the foundation to the mud sale right here.

what we'll do, we'll detroit red wing -- we'll drill through and inject the hole with an apoxy and install a large bolt. we'll do this, as you can see, we're going to do this in this particular building every joist space. every 16 inches. home, probably a little less because there's less demand as far as when the earthquake hits how much the structure's going to be able to withstand. then this is actually called a hold-down bracket. this would go on the wall ends. this would be fastened to the stud here, and then be driven into the concrete. as we can see several inches down. that's going to help fasten that corner of the building down. so when an earthquake hits, it will be connected to the foundation, and the stud will be connected to the wall. here we have plywood. this is called sheer wall. this offers a lot of value as far as strengthening the studs and keeping them from racking in an earthquake. >> so that's the basic. what is that going to cost a homeowner? someone out in san ramon or down on the peninsula? >> a typical two-story house,

you know, three bedroom, two bath, if you have a crawl space, that's one of the things you should check out. see if you have a crawl space underneath your home. if that's the case, you'd want to reinforce your walls. that. run around $8,000. larger homes can get up to $20,000. >> reporter: a lot of money, but not compared to how much homes are worth here. >> it's a good investment. >> reporter: it is. reporting live from san francisco, michael finney. >> certainly is, especially if you have an older home. thank you so much for that. and you'll want to watch the "earthquake effect" tomorrow at 6:30. our abc7 originals documentary has incredible insight on the impact that quake still has today. it can be seen anywhere you watch abc7 including amazon fire tv and the abc7 news app. >> tune in. really it's going to be a great program. let's focus our attention on the forecast as we inch closer to the weekend. glorious weather out there. and a warmup coming. >> indeed. before that, could we be a

little wet tonight? >> even early tomorrow morning, kristen and dan. we're tracking just a little drizzle. all associated with a cold front that already brought the cloud cover for most of the day today. live doppler 7 along with satellite showing you -- you see a fair amount of gray on your screen. that is the thick cloud cover that is building right now ahead of that cold front. so that's how we go. live look, it is a agree evening on our -- a gray evening on our hands. breezy, too. the winds now about 15 to, say, 20 miles per hour along the coastline. and it will turn windier tomorrow. here are the highlights. what we're expecting in the near term tonight, the clouds will stay with us. it is a cloudy night tonight. again, we're tracking some isolated drizzle late tonight, first thing tomorrow morning. we'll show you the timeline in just one second. behind that cold front tomorrow, those winds get even windier. we're talking wind gusts near 30 miles per hour to finish out the day on thursday. and temperatures will stay below average even into the weekend. saturday and sunday it will feel like fall. out there right now, down to 59 in the city.

a cool 62 at oakland. 64 right now in novato. just updated live on the air. 64 in san jose. livermore now a little bit warmer than that, checking in at 67 degrees. here's live doppler 7 along with satellite. there is the cold front just beginning to move into northern california. some light rain around eureka. that swings through california over the next 12 hours. behind it, the winds turn up, and this area of low pressure is going to churn up our ocean water. we have a high surf advisory going into effect tomorrow, as well. let's time out the drizzle for you. again, not impressive, but still, we may find wet spots late tonight, close to 10:00, isolated drizzle around cloverdale and ukaia. as the front moves through early in the morning, 1:30, 2:00 a.m., in the central bay we'll find wet spots and even for early morning commuters. for the southern half of the bay area. by about 6:00 in the morning, still we're tracking some pockets of isolated drizzle, but the sun gets up here at 7:00 in the morning. and we dry out. much of the daylight hours tomorrow, they will be dry.

first thing in the morning, you may signed in isolated drizzle. cloud cover, it is foggy. we'll track the drizzle, mid 40s to mid 50s. not as cool as we were last night. tomorrow we'll have clouds first thing, breaking for afternoon sunshine. again, the winds turn breezy. mid 60s to low 70s. let's show the winds. the futuretracker showing by 5:00 tomorrow, winds gusting close to 30 along the coastline. elsewhere, a cool breeze out of the north with wind gusts close to 20 miles per hour. again, we have a high surf advisory synagog advisory going into effect at noon tomorrow. could have breakers up to feet. high surf advisory. morning drizzle to sunshine tomorrow. winds pick up in the afternoon. it will stay breezy even through friday. another chance of drizzle in the north bay first thing saturday. then it's warmer, brighter, early next week, guys. >> nice fall weather. >> going to be nice. >> thanks.

a lyft drive

a massive antitrust case against one of the largest florida systems has been settled. sutter health has 24 hospitals in the bay area and northern california. the state attorney general and 1,500 self-funded health plans alleged sutter abused its power to stifle competition and overnight charge people medical bills. opening arguments were set to begin this week. the settlement needs court approval. there's been no comment from sutter. a lyft driver in stockton thought she was just picking up a regular passenger, but it turned out as reporter ryan hill explains, it was anything but. the guy seemed kind of anxious, you know. he seemed like -- desperate to go home. >> reporter: marisa says she drove past stockton police investigating a hit and run on her way to pick up a rider. she says she had no idea the man who got in her car was a suspect

wanted by police. she quickly found out when she was stopped by officers a few minutes later. >> once i got pulled over and how he was acting, i kind of already knew like, obviously there -- they're looking for him. >> reporter: investigators heard the suspect involved in the crash had been picked up by rulos fleeing the scene. >> the minute we drove off he was done for. >> reporter: michael mag da lena was arrested on suspicion of hit and run. this is the first time he's ever heard of anything like this happening. >> what was going through his mind. i don't know how desperate he was. i don't know what he was willing to do once we got away from the area. >> what a wild situation. that's ryan hill. marisa has a crazy story at least to tell her passengers. >> she does indeed. >> boy, does she ever. how about this story -- witnessing a proposal right in front. your eyes. one sacramento movie star's reaction goes viral. that's next. first, we want to thank you mat for this picture of the walton lighthouse in santa cruz. great shot, matt. share your pictures with us with the #abc7now.

>> you may see it o

finally tonight, a reaction to watching a couple get engaged that is nothing short of super. >> literally. actress brie larson was at comic-con in chicago last weekend, and she could not believe her eyes. a los angeles couple getting engaged in front of the sacramento native and captain marvel star. look at that. >> the couple said the encounter was epics and that larson's character meant a lot -- look at her expression. larson wrote, "y'all i was present for proposal, and i am changed. much love to the happy couple." >> a sweet moment. priceless. >> that was marvelous, if you will. "world news tonight" is next. we appreciate your time. i'm dan ashley. >> thank you. that was kind. i'm kristen sze. thanks for joining us. >> this is the news conference at the nustar facility in crockett. >> we will stream that live on

our website. abc7news.com. you can also catch it on our news

tonight, the deadly nor'easter slamming the east right now. the treacherous drive home. three people killed. a van flipping outside philadelphia. heavy rain and winds gusting up to 70 miles per hour, from d.c. to philly to new york. tonight, the airlines now issuing waivers for the next 24 hours. rob marciano with the new track and the timing tonight. also developing as we come on the air, the meeting with president trump at the white house a short time ago. democrats walking out, calling it a trump meltdown. the president doubling down all day on his decision in syria. the impeachment showdown, and tonight, all eyes on the u.s. ambassador to the eu, expected to testify tomorrow. and nit, what we have leard. what a former white house adviser said about him in her owtestimon at s thte s a potential nationas