breaking news and breaking news. the southern california wildfires are burning for a fourth day. thousands of

firefighters are battling at least five sprawling wildfires spreading around the l.a. area, with a new fire sparking just this morning. good afternoon, i'm kristen z. a new brush fire ignited in granada hills this morning, briefly prompting an evacuation order. firefighters on the ground and in the air responded to the archer fire just before 11 a.m. so far, it's burned nearly 20 acres. the cause is still unknown. meanwhile, the largest of the fires, the palisades fire, has burned more than 20,000 acres. it is only 8% contained. the second largest fire, the eaton fire, has burned nearly 14,000 acres in altadena and pasadena. it is only 3% contained. at least ten people have died between these two fires, and more than 10,000 structures have burned. this morning, governor newsom thanked president biden for his support. >> the major disaster declaration for mr. president was a game changer. in fact, you were able to do that within 36 hours. i don't know, there's

another precedent in american history for disaster. that was in the making, was unfolding. and for you to be there in real time and prescient as well, it turns out that we're going to need all of that support, and we'll have a live report from the eden fire for you in just a couple of minutes. >> meanwhile, earthquakes and aftershocks are rattling the bay area. first, a magnitude 3.6 temblor struck just a few miles off the san francisco coast after 7:00 this morning. then a smaller 2.5 quake hit just after 930, and then later a 2.9 quake shook just before 11 this morning. all were centered about three miles northwest of the san francisco zoo. abc seven's lena howland talked with people who felt the initial quake just before sunrise friday morning. >> max gardner was in the process of getting up to start his day when he noticed some unexpected shaking. >> i was just puttering around, like making coffee and i, i noticed, like, the things in the

kitchen started shaking, like the cabinets and the glasses in the cabinets. so i kind of froze. >> yeah. the u.s. geological survey says those shakes were part of a 3.7 magnitude earthquake. >> it only lasted like 10 to 15 seconds, but i immediately like, looked it up just to confirm, like, is that what's happening? >> the usgs says it hit about three miles off the coast from the san francisco zoo, and the depth of the quake was about five miles. an overnight guard at the zoo explains what he felt. >> i felt a little wobbliness in my legs for a moment, like i was getting really tired and i was like, for a second there, i was like, wow, the grape ship really got to me tonight, you know? and then i heard one of my gates make a little rattle sound. i was like, okay, so i go to take a look at it. and right when i turned the corner, i hear a call on the radio. everyone's like, hey, did you feel that earthquake? >> no injuries or damage was reported and the zebras didn't seem very fazed. but for this earthquake, no one got an earthquake. early warning on the

myshake app. >> this is a lower than a magnitude four earthquake, and that's probably. well, that is the main reason why no one received a shake alert powered alerts on their phones, because the earthquake was too small. >> robert degroot, a scientist with the usgs, explains earthquakes of these size happen more often than we think. california has around 50 a day. still, they want to use this as a reminder to stay prepared. >> basically, we tell people probably not something bigger from this particular event, but still be ready for earthquakes that can happen in other places. >> because of the small size of both of these earthquakes, no tsunami alerts have been issued like we saw happen in san francisco just last month. the usgs wants to remind folks that if they experience another earthquake to drop, cover and hold on in san francisco. lena howland abc seven news. >> turning to the weather is another dry, warm one in the bay area. here's abc seven meteorologist drew tuma with the weekend forecast.

>> the accuweather headlines calling for another warm day. records are possible this afternoon. we do have a windy day on the way tomorrow. 30 to 50 mile per hour winds and again next seven days. we're not finding any significant storms on the horizon. let's talk about the warm temperatures. this was just in from the national oceanic and atmospheric administration this morning. the continental u.s. just had its warmest year on record temperatures. the average temperature across the united states was 3.5°f above average. that is a record. and the records go back to 1895. it's not just the u.s. it's also across the globe. we are setting new records. so this warming climate for the u.s. last year, we had $27 billion weather and climate disasters in the united states alone. globally, last year, 2024 was the warmest year on record. not surprising, 2023 was the previous record holder, and this is an important stat

that i really want you to take away. this is the first year the earth is warmer than 1.5°c. that's a big deal because the paris agreement, signed in 2015 by world leaders, was trying to stop this exact thing. so nine years later, we're already failing at that threshold. so we are just seeing a warmer and warmer climate month after month, year after year. today we are finding mild temperatures, lots of sunshine, mid 60s to the upper 60s. light winds today. the winds are going to pick up overnight tonight and first thing tomorrow morning. that's the big story we're tracking. so the wind advisory will be for the north bay mountains, the east bay hills and the santa cruz mountains. saturday could see winds upwards of 50mph. that could cause some trees to come down and some outages. here's the accuweather seven day forecast. we're sunny and dry today. gusty winds are back here tomorrow. it's less wind on sunday and then we keep it dry and sunny through next week. >> now we want to continue our coverage of those devastating wildfires in southern california. at least ten people have been killed, and at least

180,000 have been forced to evacuate at at least five separate wildfires. they rage on across los angeles, with authorities expecting the death toll will increase. abc news reporter alex stone joins us live again from altadena with the very latest. now. alex. >> kristen, we just got some new numbers after they were able to do an aerial survey. firefighters got up in helicopters and they now estimate that over 7000 buildings structures have been destroyed on this wildfire alone. not to mention the pacific palisades where that one, they're looking at probably 5 to 6000 structures on this one. it makes it now the most destructive wildfire in los angeles county history, and the second most in california history, the most being the camp fire in paradise in 2018. so many homes like this one were the only thing left standing. it's only the chimney. there's nothing else here. as firefighters try to put out the flames, national guard troops

now patrolling the streets in los angeles to help enforce evacuation orders. a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew for the eaton fire and palisades fire areas to prevent looting as the city deals with catastrophic wildfires. >> we're not doing this to inconvenience anybody. we're doing it to protect the structures, the houses that people have left, the fires which have devastated los angeles neighborhoods on the east and west sides of the city, have destroyed over 10,000 buildings. >> with those figures expected to grow. >> we found out through word of mouth yesterday, confirmed from our neighbors that hiked in that our house was gone. >> the palisades fire between santa monica and malibu on the city's west side, and the eaton fire in the east near pasadena, already rank as the most destructive in los angeles history. they've consumed over 53mi■!s and turned entire neighborhoods to ash. the winds with gusts up to 100 miles an hour earlier this week, have

died down due to the favorable overnight weather conditions. >> we can report that the palisades fire is now 8% contained. the kenneth fire forward progress has been stopped with 35% containment at 1000 acres in washington. >> president biden pledging to pay for 100% of the state's immediate costs for the next 180 days. >> the scope, the scale and the erratic movements of these fires is truly unprecedented. >> christian. the winds have calmed quite a bit today. the red flag fire warnings are set to expire in only a couple of hours after being in place for so many days, so all of that is good news. firefighters have been trying to use that to their advantage today. really getting into these neighborhoods and trying to put out areas that are still burning. but come late sunday into monday, the santa ana winds are expected to come back. a whole new round of them going into next week. live in altadena. alex stone, abc seven

news. >> more danger ahead. alex. thank you. abc news is putting together a special episode of 2020 about the wildfires in los angeles. tune in tonight at nine for american catastrophe. l.a. burning, you can watch it on abc seven tonight. and then tomorrow on hulu. san francisco has a new fire. chief. today, mayor daniel lowery announced that veteran battalion chief dean crispin will serve as the city's 27th fire chief. crispin is a 34 year department veteran and a san francisco native. he served as a captain and battalion chief at several stations across the city, and was recognized three times for bravery. a majority of justices on the supreme court appear ready to uphold a law that would likely ban tiktok in the u.s. the court heard arguments for and against the ban this morning. it will take effect after january 19th unless tiktok's chinese owned parent company, bytedance divests from the platform. the company argues the law violates the first amendment right to free speech. but the u.s. government says the

app poses a national security risk. it usually takes the supreme court about three months after an argument to reach a decision, but with the january 19th deadline, the court could issue a ruling, and that's expected as soon as next week. president elect donald trump was sentenced today in new york following his conviction last year for falsifying business records in order to influence the 2016 election. new york judge juan merchan said he must be, quote, respectful of the office of the presidency. the judge imposed an unconditional discharge, finalizing trump's conviction without jail time or probation, and trump plans to appeal the case. much more ahead on the southern california wildfires. we'll talk with cal fire about how you can safely evacuate should an

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all of the importance of knowing how to evacuate safely should such an emergency happen in your neighborhood. as residents saw the flames approach in pacific palisades, a chaotic scene played out. there was traffic gridlock and many people abandoned their cars and actually walked. they told us their harrowing stories and we see video of the many, many charred vehicles. joining us live now to share essential tips on how to evacuate in a wildfire. we're joined live by cal fire battalion chief david acuna uh. chief acuna, thank you so much for your time today. >> absolutely. thank you for having me. >> what does it mean to be prepared in this case? and why is it so important? >> so there are a number of levels of preparation in southern california, from santa barbara to san diego. we are going to continue to have these red flag warnings. so in order

to prepare, we need folks to go to ready for wildfire.org where they can find out how to prepare their homes, but more importantly, prepare themselves, their pets and potentially livestock to evacuate in case of an emergency. >> you know that website you just gave out? ready for wildfire.org? i took a look and there was some great information, including the pre-evacuation part, because a lot of it is the prep work you do before and knowing these things. so i'm going to put up some tips and i think we'll start with inside the home, because i think these are just so invaluable. walk us through this list please, of what these things mean and why they're so critical. >> well, first of all, let me say that if somebody feels like they are threatened with fire and it's getting close, just leave. don't worry about doing these items. however, by turning off gas at the meter, most of the areas we're talking about have propane tanks so they can go outside and shut the propane at the tank before they leave. that would be great. uh- next thing is to turn off the ac.

that way it doesn't suck in any embers as they're flying by. we want to make sure that any flammable materials, you know, think of uh- wood stacks or flammable plastic chairs. these sorts of things leave the lights on. the lights will let the firefighters know. okay, well, there's the house, especially if it's incredibly smoky and closed all the windows and doors. that's so very important because what it does is it prevents the radiant heat from coming in. there are times where the radiant heat, especially when driven by 60 to 100 mile per hour winds, is just too much. but these are the steps that people can take. >> i see, but leave the windows and doors unlocked. is that so that emergency crews can access it quickly? >> yes. so what happens is that the windows, of course you can lock, but leaving the doors unlocked allows firefighters to go in and take a look, make sure no one is there and then leave. and we have a checklist of how to make sure that everyone is left. >> got it. okay, those are great tips. now let's take a look at

pre-evacuation steps for outside your home. again, this is predicated on that. you actually have time to do all this. okay. so walk us through these. >> so as you can see the moving the grill and propane tanks. and to clarify i do mean the 5 pound tanks, the small ones. not your 1,000 pound tanks. move those away from your house. and then when you're able to move away, any of your soft. oh, it's actually garden hoses. and make sure that that's available. what will happen is on a wildfire, sometimes the fire crews will put garden hoses into their tank while they're protecting, especially if we have time less of an issue when we have 100 mile per hour winds. make sure that there's plenty of bottles of water. and what that does is it allows you to have some sort of potable water. if you come back and it's not available from the system, and then don't don't worry about sprinklers on, because a lot of what the water issues with the fire in pacific palisades, as well as altadena, was the fact that there was so

many sources of water around, not only the hydrants, but as the houses got destroyed, it turned out that all of those water distribution lines were cut and just spilling all over the ground. >> oh, i see okay. that is really great to know. thank you. okay, now let's talk about drawing. i mean, obviously we know the things like have you know to go kit or go kit with all your emergency supplies. we know that. so you're in your car am i, you know, question is should you park it a certain way? gas up. pardon me. i have to go off. and when is it time to abandon the car? >> well, let's start from the top. so first thing, preparedness is so important. and i know there can be times where it's like, oh, i don't really want to go by the gas station, or i don't really want to plug my ev in. but the thing is, especially if there's going to be a fire weather watch, apparently, whether it's going to be january or july, make sure your car is fully filled up. make sure your ev is fully

charged, and then ensure that you have enough ability to get out, like you mentioned, to go bag or a go box to be able to pick up and walk out with. >> all right. thank you so much. but what about the picture we saw earlier with the abandoned cars? right. i understand what happens there. there's one road or maybe there aren't a lot of options, especially in the most fire prone areas. they happen to be the ones that are in the hills where you can't really build a four lane road. how does that play into our evacuation picture? >> well, you make a great point right. and this is where preparation is key. so if you know you live in an area with very narrow roads, if an evacuation warning comes out, that is an indication that you should not wait for the order to leave, then leave early while the roads are open. if everybody waits until the evacuation orders come out, not only are you having a thousand residents trying to get down the hill, but you're having fire equipment, engines, crews, heavy equipment going up the road and that makes

for a very fast log jam. >> all right. that is another great tip. and for more, once again, can you give us the website where you have this whole how to make a plan and most important tips? >> absolutely. it's ready for wildfire.org. and one good key is the fact that although it has evacuation specifically for wildfire, if you needed to evacuate because of an earthquake or a flood or anything else, it's the same procedures. >> we have three small earthquakes just today in san francisco, so i get it. cal fire battalion chief david acuna, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> up next, how protected are children from fires when they're at school? a new investigation into fire inspections found huge lapses in the city. we'll talk with san francisco

in california. but it's not just wildfires we need to worry about. what about urban fires, like at your kids school? our

media partner, the san francisco standard, just published a new investigation into fire inspections at san francisco schools, both public and private, over the last decade. and they found huge lapses. joining us live now to share his article with us standard reporter jonah owen. jonah, thanks for joining us. >> pleasure to be here. >> tell us what you looked into here, what time frame and why. >> so this was an audit that was done just before covid, basically showing that in 2018, the fiscal year, the fire department missed almost a third of school inspections. and when i saw this, i thought to myself, this is pretty wild. it was, of course, before covid, so a couple of years back. but it really did capture kind of these massive oversights that the department had because the years during covid didn't really reflect the reality of what was going on. right. this was an audit done by the comptroller's office. it also showed some other very worrying issues in this fire inspection bureau,

showing that 44% of all the inspectors thought that if they reported unethical behavior to their bosses, that they would be punished and get in trouble. i mean, this shows that there's a culture in the fire department where if someone does something wrong, it's unethical. almost half the inspectors don't feel like they can tell their bosses. i mean, again, there was so much in this audit that really revealed some troubling patterns in the department. i can't even go into all of them. i mean, on top of this, it showed that they missed hundreds of inspections at businesses as well. and what's worse is if this was all fixed back in the day. right. these these schools were missed. and now all the problems that existed that, that related to why they weren't inspected. if that were all fixed, i think it would be less of a story. but the fact that the department, when the audit came out, agreed with almost every single recommendation in finding and the audit said that they hadn't fixed any of these problems. so i think that there's really a

lot of concern around this, and there should be more investigation into kind of what the department's doing and why it failed so miserably. when it comes to these inspections specifically. >> you raised so many interesting salient points in there. i just want to dive a little more into a few of them. first of all, real quickly, what is the inspection schedule that is, is every school supposed to be inspected yearly or every other year? >> the department is. the department is required to inspect, by state law, every school, public and private. and they're supposed to have a list because the state department of education has a list of all the schools. so if you need the list, you need to check to make sure your list is good. go to the state. they'll give you the list. 26 of the schools on this list weren't even known to the department. wow. so they were supposed to inspect them every year. and this is for stuff like, just so you get the sense of what they're inspecting for. it's like, you know, are there fire extinguishers are the exits and the assembly areas appropriate and in the safe in

the place where they should be. so it's like, you know, the common things that you think of when a building needs to be safe in case there is a fire and emergency, so that when people run out of it really fast, there's more than one exit. all the kind of things that you think of when you imagine something horrible happening in a building. so, jonah, did you ever get a chance to ask them, you know, to respond to this? >> my big question is, why did this happen? right. you referred to the culture of retaliation or fear of it. i imagine that played into it. but what is the official explanation? is it lack of manpower? woman power? what is it? >> officially, they said they blamed part of it on the lack of manpower. frankly, you know, their responses were in the audit and they just agreed and they didn't give the best explanation. frankly, it's not as if when i reached out to the department and i asked for kind of a detailed explanation of how you could miss a third of the city's schools. >> so we have about 30s. and

what i want to ask you is, so what's the remedy? i mean, if the backlog or lack of manpower is part of it, are they adding people? what's happening? >> they have added people. they've added inspectors, they've increased the number of inspectors who are looking into schools. at the time, one inspector was responsible for looking to inspecting all schools in the city, so hopefully that will make it so this doesn't happen again. and hopefully this embarrassing coverage and the audit will shame them into making sure that they do their job. but i think that, you know, their lack of answers and details are really revealing in terms of what in culturally doesn't seem to have changed. >> jonah, thank you so much. and folks, we encourage you to check out more of the san francisco standard's other original reporting, as well as jonah's article on their website as of standard.com. abc seven will continue to bring you more segments from them every tuesday, right here on abc seven news a team can help you plan for your dreams. so your dream car, and vacation home, may be closer than you think.

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he announced it's recalling about 239,000 vehicles because rear view cameras could fail. the recall impacts 20 2425, model three and model s vehicles, as well as 2023 to 25 model x and model y suvs. tesla says repairs will be done through a software update. that's how they do it, according to reports. tesla recalled more than 5 million vehicles in 2024. that's the most in the u.s. thanks for joining us today. world news tonight with david muir starts now. and i'll see tonight, the abc news exclusive. you can see the aerial efforts right here over my shoulder, topanga canyon, three days into this