homes are still burning in san bruno, nearly 12 hours after a gas line explosion. more than 50 homes destroyed. we'll show you what's happening in the neighborhood this morning. >> that massive fireball and explosion in san bruno forces people from their homes. i'm christie smith here live with the red cross. we'll tell you how they're helping out. >> amid the flames, stories of survival. we have complete coverage on this neighborhood explosion this friday, september 10th. "today in the bay." good morning. i'm laura garcia-cannon. >> i'm scott mcgrew in for brent. garvin thomas will be joining us from san bruno throughout the morning. >> right now we want to fill you in on the latest details about the san bruno explosion.

as of this moment, one person is confirmed dead. and more than 20 people are injured. the explosion and fire destroyed 53 homes, damaged at least another 120. >> safety crews will get together in about an hour. they will survey the damage and decide when it's time to start to search for survivors, for more dead. we have at least one confirmed death, search and rescue operations could begin any time. >> if this is the first time you're hearing about what happened, here's the details. the initial explosion actually happened just after 6:00 last night near glenn view park in san bruno. witnesses say flames shot 200 feet to 300 feet in the air. winds fueled those flames. they jumped from house to house to house in the neighborhood. >> we have new information coming from the fire chief in the area that is now six people have died in this fire. so it has gone from one

confirmed death to six, this according to one of the fire chief there's in the area. this is a google map that shows us how big the area is that is effecte effected. the explosion effecting school, obviously, in san bruno. also schools in the district are closed until further notice. for more information go to the district's website, it is fbpfd.k12.ca.us. 650, 616-7180. >> also pay close attention to the ticker at the bottom of the screen for more information. garvin thomas is out on the field gathering more information for us. >> reporter: one thing you mentioned, scott gave the new numbers of the increased death

toll, that's something we should expect throughout the day. as you know, crews have not been able to get to the heart of this fire, because of the danger, because of the heat that is still lingering and the situation, because of the darkness. as light comes up and as crews get a better handle on the situation, they should get in there. we may expect to hear about more deaths and more injuries. you are looking now at, of course, helicopters dropping fire retardant on this fire. one of the remarkable things about this fire, how it spread, this was a wildfire in an urban community. we are used to seeing pictures of helicopters fighting fires, and how wildland fires spread, particularly in this case with the wind. the oakland hills fire, firefighters had to deal with these conditions, this kind of heat, this kind of wind in an urban condition, because, as you know, when a fire gets this big, it kind of creates its own weather, and it's a known challenge.

it makes its own challenge. i want to talk for a moment about the start of this fire. as you know, pg&e has said it was a main, a gas main that ruptured and exploded. i want to show you something live here for a moment. just to give you perspective. this is a 24-inch gas mean. we have used some of these microphone cables here to show how big that is. that's a rather, as you can see, that's a rather large pipe, a lot of natural gas coming through there. the flames, the reports of the flames, easily in excess of 200 feet at the time of the fire. of course, the cause of this, we said was that pg&e main. there is disturbing information coming up from the neighbors about pg&e and particularly the days and weeks leading up to this accident. bob redell is joining me live with more on that part of the story. bob? >> reporter: good morning to you, garvin. that information coming from at least one neighbor that we have spoken with who told us that within the weeks leading up, a few weeks ago, they had smelled

gas, pg&e came out, we'll hear from that neighbor in a moment. i want to give you a little bit of a lay of the land. we're about -- if you look where those flashing lights are, to the right of that, which might be hard to see in the darkness, about a half mile to a mile south of where the fire scene is now. you can see the trucks out in the distance, to the right there's white smoke where the fire is. if you were to go to a live picture from our chopper, you would get a good sense of what the situation looks like now, compared to last night which is much improved. there are still little hot spots out there, but i spoke with a fire official with the california department of emergency services, they said the things they have going for them are the moisture, the fog, the inversion and the lack of wind. so the number last night was that this fire was 50% contained. he said they're well beyond that now, are they 100%? no. but they hope to be, their impression is that they could be once the sun comes up. it becomes a daylight issue. just to update you on numbers,

the san bruno fire chief telling the l.a. times six people were killed. about 20 people were taken to the hospital, it's our understanding that several are still in the hospital in critical condition. the neighbor we heard from saying a few weeks ago that they smelled gas. about a week and a half ago, pg&e came out and said close your garage doors, stay inside because they were investigating this gas smell. pg&e left, that's the last they heard from them. >> it's very, very disturbing that innocent people, innocent lives, the burn victims, people losing their houses, it's ridiculous. pg&e should have had a better grasp on the public cries for help of a gas smell. >> we know we have a gas line in the area and it has a rupture in it, but we don't know what the cause is it's a little too early to speculate. we will fully support the investigation. until we get the investigation

complete, we don't want to speculate what it was. again, as i said, if, for whatever reason, some of our facilities are involved in that, we will make it right. >> reporter: out here at this command post, lots of fire people, lots of police officers, that's to be expected, and lieutenant governor abe maldonado, acting governor now because governor schwarzenegger is over in asia. he has been briefed or is being briefed by the fire department, the people commanding this critical incident. that's a horrible euphemism, this disaster, he is expected to brief us this later this morning. bob redell, "today in the bay." >> people should be advised to stay away from the fire scene. skyline boulevard is a main thoroughfare through there. we understand it's just been reopened, still stay away, right? >> exactly. as you and scott have been pointing out -- we have seen the live pictures, just because skyline boulevard is open, doesn't mean you should head through there.

law enforcement is helping with guiding traffic around the incident. we have smoke smoldering, even though the fires continue to progress as far as containment, that smoldering smoke will keep going up into the air and will be visible from 280. this is close to 280. the san bruno avenue off-ramp and skyline off-ramp has been opened. 280 should flow as far as the lanes go but spectator traffic will cause more congestion coming out of daley city. use 101 if you can, just to stay clear of the area. that might be a better flow into or out of san francisco. keep your eyes on the other cars, drive defensively this morning, especially in san bruno. >> thanks for the details. kris sanchez has been following the winds all day. this will be a major factor. the winds will get high. i don't know if that's good or bad as they're trying to clear the scene. most of the fire is out, but 25 miles per hour. >> wind is never good when you are talking about fires.

from reporting i know that going out to wildfires, and garvin made reference that this feels like a wildfire even though it was in a neighborhood. we don't like talking about wind when we talk about fires and the front li frontlines. we expect winds to pick up, going 5 to 15 miles per hour, by 8:00, by 9:00, 11:00 this morning, they could be as high as 25 miles per hour. here's what you can expect around the bay area, patchy clouds this morning, mostly 50s in the afternoon, a bit warmer and warming in the inland areas. for the weekend, warming and continued cool temperatures along the coastline. we'll get your seven-day forecast coming up in just a bit. >> all right. thank you very much. with little warning people had to flee the scene of the fire with just the clothes on

their backs. we want to check in with christie smith with more on what's being done to help those victims. >> reporter: good morning to you. we're at the bayhill shopping center. this is basically a clearinghouse, a central point for people forced from their home. we are close to where the fire was, people were driving down looking for a safe place. when we talk to those people, it tells the story that it was absolutely incredible, the flames, the smoke, the explosion and how quickly it all happened. now, basically the red cross has been set up here since right after it happened. they have been taking care of people, getting them to two evacuation centers. though i'm just being told that a lot of them have gone with family and friends rather than staying at those centers. they also had a table set up out here, a clearinghouse for people looking for family and friends, making sure they're safe. i'm asking how many people they

helped out here since last night and this morning. they say they still don't have an exact count. dozens, perhaps over 100. we spoke with a woman who said she got out of her home just in time. here's what she had to say. >> i was four houses away. by the time we got the cars out, it was so hot. we went up to the top of the hill for about ten minutes and >> the last person to come through here looking for help was a couple hours ago. a red cross spokesman said they will stay out here for as long as it takes in case more people come here needing help. they also tell me that, of course, this is a time of crisis so they have mental health professionals out here as well, trying to help people, get them situated. we'll check in with the red cross in a couple of minutes here. that's the latest from here. reporting live from san bruno, i'm christie smith. back to you. >> thank you very much. we know you are continuing to gather information out there. you heard from so many people at the scene that they just opened

their doors and it felt like an oven. >> i had not heard from that woman before, i was four houses down from the explosion. a certain amount of relief in my heart that in the sense if she was able to get away, we're still trying to figure out how many people are dead. it's gone up to six, if you have to the heard. one of the fire chiefs there confirming six dead. some relief that four houses down that woman was able to get away. >> we'll hear more and more no doubt of the story today. >> it's 5:14 right now you can find any information that you need, phone numbers, in this bottom ticker that you see at the bottom of the screen. we will continue to run that throughout the newscast. >> we will have more live reports from the neighborhood the way. stay with us to see wt's inppishathmog inrn

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right now hundreds of firefighters remain in san bruno after that massive gas line explosion erupted sending flames into the neighborhood. monte francis is live in a

neighborhood near skyline boulevard this morning with the latest. firefighters still have a difficult task ahead of them. >> reporter: they do good morning. we're on the north end of the neighborhood where this fire continues to smolder. bob redell is on the south end. this road has been blocked off. they have a substantial roadblock set up. that's the case all around this perimeter, they're saying because of safety concerns they want to keep everyone out, including the media the other thing i can tell you, it's very dark here. that's because power is out to much of the neighborhood. i spoke to a pg&e spokesman who told me 5,000 customers are without power as of this morning, and that power was cut to those folks last night as a precaution. he said there was no estimate as to when power would be restored, but that crews are working on making that happen as soon as possible. i asked about concerns many here have about gas in those lines, and pg&e would not comment on that. still there is no cause

identified for the explosion yesterday, but an investigation is under way, and pg&e admitted that a gas transmission line ruptured. the real concern on the other side of the fire line is people who may still be unaccounted for. as of yet, we are told by san bruno officials, crews have not been able to conduct those search and rescue operations. >> we know we have over 100 in the evacuation centers. we hope most of those residents got out to the evacuation centers. >> reporter: now, safety assessment teams plan to meet at 6:00 so in about 45 minutes to review the damage and see if they can go in and conduct searches. again, we're being held from going inside the perimeter. i can tell you that about 200 law enforcement officers are here doing perimeter control this morning. live in san bruno, monte francis, "today in the bay." >> mike inouye joins us now with continuing coverage. there is power throughout the area. obviously avoid the area, but

even in the periphery there, lights are out. >> street lights, of course before sunrise, that's a big concern if you come to an intersection where there is no traffic control, treat it as a four-way stop. always. that's from driver's ed. we all remember that. skyli skyline boulevard was reopened. don't take that, though. if you don't have to go through that area, don't. schools are closed, information at bottom of your screen. check those phone numbers and websites for more information. 280, that's where i'm giving the warning. even though those something alerts closing the off-ramps at san bruno and skyline, those have reopened, there's still slowing because of the smoke. hot spots being battled. you will see that smoke as the sun comes up. you will smell the smoke in the area, around the airport and as far away as 101.

that will cause slowing, possibly on 101 as well. some folks heading over to highway 92, san mateo bridge heading south to avoid the area completely, slowing through both of those area. the bridge itself, no problem now. taillights towards the peninsula. the bay bridge, upper deck volume very light. it is friday. the light volume of traffic keeps things relatively free as far as the traffic goes. >> we have continuing coverage of the san bruno explosion. look at the fireball. it happened after 6:00 last night. firefighters still on the scene. a lot to go through today. we have reports from the ground and shelters where people are looking for help. stay with us. !%

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this is a live look at san bruno. we believe these are pg&e workers and firefighters. you can see the devastation this morning after a horrific explosion around 6:00, a little after 6:00 last night in san bruno. >> horrible, horrible, horrible. so much to get to. look at the charred remains, skeletal remains of cars, homes. so much to get to as daylight comes up. firefighters at the scene, pg&e officials. big trouble they had last night,

want to check in with kris sanchez covering the forecast for us this morning was the wind. you could see how it pushed the plume of smoke along. >> it did. it blew the smoke as far away as oakland. so lots of folks concerned not knowing what happened. initially we didn't know right away what happened. folks smelling smoke, packing the kids in the cars not knowing where to go. wind will be a factor again today. the usual amount of wind they expect in san bruno this time of year, however we don't like wind when we're fighting a fire. winds 5 to 10 miles an hour, but it will pick up. by 9:00 it will pick up more. temperatures will heat up as well. by 11:00 this morning, though, we are expecting to see wins as high as 25 miles per hour. so hopefully it won't create a lot of difficulty. hopefully they will get that fire fully contained and out before those winds really start to pick up. here is what we can expect for air quality. it's all green now. however that could change because we still see a lot of

smoke, even as far away as oakland, as we mentioned earlier today. the system that gave us the drizzle and the little nasty weather over the last couple of days, it is moving all the way off, heading to tahoe. if you're heading there this weekend, do watch for those conditions. 8:00 this morning, patchy fog, mostly 50 degrees around the bay area. by noontime, getting warmer in the inland areas, 68 in oakland, 73 jose. warmest spot by 4:00, fairfield, livermore, 82. the warmest spots south of san jose, east of caso valley. here's a look at your seven-day forecast if you are trying to plan your weekend. evening clouds along the coastal areas, warming in the inland areas, a nice mild weekend by sunday, nice is what we are saying. back to you. >> enougthank you very much. >> nice when it comes to the forecast but not when it comes to san bruno.

we have live pictures from the helicopter over san bruno. i believe we do, any way. >> we'll have them. >> here they come. the firefighters, pg&e crews getting ready to go into the area. it has not been declared safe as far as we know yet. they will be doing a house-to-house search. we'll be back with full coverage in a moment. ♪ [ male announcer ] it's luxury with fire in its veins. bold. daring. capable of moving your soul. ♪ and that's even before you drop your foot on the pedal. ♪ the new 2011 cts coupe from cadillac. the new standard of the world.

as governor, he cut waste got rid of the mansion and the limo budgets were balanced. $4 billion in tax cuts. world class schools and universities. clean energy promoted. 1.9 million new jobs created. california was working. i'm jerry brown. california needs major changes. we have to live within our means; we have to return power and decision making to the local level-closer to the people and

no new taxes without voter approval. jerry brown the knowledge and know-how to get california working again. i'm bob redell live in san bruno, where the death toll has risen from last night's gas leak

explosion over questions from neighbors about what they smelled in the weeks prior. we'll have that in a live report. >> that massive explosion in san bruno forces people from their home. coming up live, will you hear from a man who hopped into his car and drove up from los angeles to try and find his grandmother. good morning. thanks for joining us on "today in the bay." i'm scott mcgrew in for brent cannon. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon. garvin thomas will be joining us from san bruno throughout the morning. he joins us now with the latest. so much news continuing to come in. >> it's going to continue to change throughout the day. we want to give you a snapshot of where the numbers stand at this moment. they have confirmed six people dead in this explosion, more than 50 homes destroyed. more than 100 homes severely damaged. this began 6:00 yesterday afternoon, yesterday evening. a two-foot wide high pressure gas main ruptured in this area in san bruno. you can see some live pictures

now from the chopper at the scene of where this explosion happened. really, as of yet, firefighters and pg&e crews have not been able to access the heart of where this disaster was. i reference those numbers will change today, that's because they have not been able to get in because of the danger, the heat, the fire surrounding this so far. at first light, if they deem things are safe, they will get into the heart of this situation and we might see the death toll or injury toll rise in this as the day goes on. one of the things that was frustrating for firefighters is there was quite a bit of wind yesterday. the size of this fire, as it burned yesterday afternoon, it was much like a wildfire in an urban setting. wildfires when they get very large they create their own weather, create their own wind and can fuel themselves. so, that is one reason why this fire grew so quickly, so large. just to give you an idea now of where we are, san bruno avenue

and crestmoore, there's a road block behind us, as far as the public -- as close as the public is able to get to the scene now. keeping people away because of all the safety concerns. as the sun comes up and fire crews and pg&e get into the area, we may see the death toll rise in all of this. scott? >> one of the things we have not talked a whole lot about, and i know we can't address it, because we don't know much, are the injuries. these would be horrific injuries. do you have any idea as to how many people may be hurt or in hospital. >> we are counting, at this point in the dozens. we have 13 injuries that are pretty severe, including a couple people in critical condition in the hospital. much like the death toll, the injury count is something that is a fluid number as people are discovered or come to the hospital. but that's a number that we're talking about in the dozens.

because of the nature of this, an explosion and fast-moving fire, as you know, some of these injuries will be horrific with some of the burns that people suffer in this. >> garvin thomas reporting live from the fire, our prayers are certainly with all of those people. >> and they continue to be. we want to check in with tully lehman this morning with the insurance network information of california. they are coming to the area to help victims deal with their insurance issues. they will have so much to deal with, getting building permits and whatnot. right now it's simply overwhelming. are you there? >> good morning, how are you? >> good morning we're fine. thank you very much for joining us. what's the first step after such a huge event? >> well, obviously the first step that the homeowners will want to do, it's a traumatic experience, but you need to notify your insurer of the damage as soon as possible. if you have evacuated, as many people in the area have done,

give your insurer an alternate contact number, cell phone number or family member outside the area that your insurer can contact if they need to reach you. >> tully, it's scott mcgrew. i assume that insurance companies will be setting up some sort of center that obviously state farm and whatnot know about this fire. they are coming to the fire. >> absolutely. after a catastrophe of this nature, insurance companies move into the area, adjusters will be coming into the area. it will take a little bit of time before they can assess the damage, that's because no one is being allowed into the area at this time. once it's open to the people coming in, adjusters will be able to get in there and assess the damage for their customers. >> all right. what about people who don't have their information? a lot of people left their homes with the clothes on their back and grabbed their children. >> that's right. that's something that makes it difficult to get process started

a bit. when do you contact your insurer, you can give them your name, if you have that contact information or your policy information, in a safe deposit box, that sort of thing, someplace that can get you started with the process. >> good lesson for all of us to do some better preparations for emergencies like this. tully leyman from the insurance information net work of california, thanks for joining us. the explosion we're talking about shot a fireball more than 1,000 feet into the air. it sent people literally running for safety. some had to spend the night in emergency shelters, they had nowhere else to turn. christie smith is live at the american red cross shelter for evacuees this morning. have you been able to talk to people? are they even up yet? >> reporter: we have seen a couple people milling around here. the red cross is expected to give an update to us any minute now. basically they have this bus set up here.

this is one of the first places that copeople come that are ford from their home. they check in here, get water, whatever help they need and taken to one of two evacuation centers that they have still set up this morning. one at a senior center, one at a veterans center. i asked the red cross spokesperson out here this morning exactly how many people they helped, and they still say that they don't have an accurate count. could be 100 or more. what they're trying to do this morning, also, is connect people to their missing loved ones, those who are still unaccounted for, asking people that if they leave their homes to check in either here where we are at the bay shihill shopping center or of those two evacuation centers, give their information, name and contact information so they can keep track of everyone. just a few minutes ago in this parking lot, we ran into a man who jumped into his car late last night and drove up from southern california because his grandmother lives alone in the explosion zone.

here is his story. >> my grandmom lives in the neighborhood. we -- it was on the news down there. and once we knew where the explosion was, it was -- we were able to see it was a couple blocks, neighborhood streets from her house. heard that she was fine, but didn't want to leave her house. so we decide ed d to come help out. >> now, again, the good news for him is that his grandmother is doing just fine this morning. she just chose not to leave her home because, he said, she likes her home and wanted to stay there. they did talk to her by cell and tell me that he says he can't even get up there until daylight. right now he's just milling around the parking lot here waiting for daylight to come. he hopes to get up there then and try to help her out. that's the latest from here, reporting live from san bruno,

christie smith, back to you guys. a heart-warming story. glad she is okay. >> if you are just joining us this morning, there was a huge explosion last night in san bruno. we believe it was a gas line. six people dead. as fire crews continue to battle this fire and the smoldering remains, neighbors in the area are lobbing serious accusations at pg&e. bob redell is live in san bruno with the latest on firefighting efforts and why neighbors saying pg&e had been warned about a gas odor as early as last week. >> that's correct. good morning to you, scott. they did respond to that. we'll tell you what that response was. i want to get you up to date on the firefight itself. we are just south of the fire. if you were to look over my shoulder where the flashing lights are, that's the fire scene. we are probably maybe a half to a mile away from us, north of us, we are on glenn view and san bruno avenue. if you were to take now a live

look from our helicopter, you guys can help me with this since you are getting a view of that, there are more hot spots, more smoldering remains. if you were to compare that to what we saw last night when you had many homes on fire. unfortunately it's a simple fact that there is nothing left to burn. those homes have been destroyed. the official number being 53. more than 100 damaged. there's no more fuel for the fire, and the firefight is going on because they want to keep that smoldering mess there contained, which, right now, they seem like they're doing a good job of. in fact, there's no winds, and the fact there's moisture out here. that's helping them. san bruno's fire chief telling the "los angeles times" that seconds people are dead. they are supposed to be searching for more bodies. once the sun comes up. the expectation, according to one captain, is that that death toll will rise. interesting story, one of the challenges facing the firefighters last night, as you

can imagine, when that gas line ruptured, water lines ruptured as well. so there were fire hydrants that could not be used because the water lines were dead. in one instance crews had to string hoses that were two to three miles away to give you a sense of the challenges facing the fire department last night. pg&e is not commenting on what caused this rupture, they confirmed it's their line but have not confirmed what caused it. one neighbor we spoke to said a few weeks ago they could smell the distinct smell of gas. about a week and a half ago, pg&e came out to investigate, told people to stay inside, close their garage doors and then left. that was the last they heard from them. this neighbor is upset because they believe that gas smell is linked to what happened out here. pg&e says they will investigate this, but they are not commenting on those claims. reporting live in san bruno, bob

dvorch from san bruno, bob redell, "today in the bay." >> you look at those pictures, and you see the fire truck in the middle of that and the bravery and wonderment that no firefighters have been hurt. >> amazing to report. we want people to stay clear of the area. several roads are closed. >> absolutely. there is still a lot of activity there. fire crews trying to knock down the rest of that fire, a lot of smoke as well. that will be more visible as that sun comes up. all exits and skyline boulevard itself has reopened overnight. power is out and signals are out as well.

people will be curious, so they may be slowing down on 280. you know what's going on. you seen it here, heard about it focus on the road and other drivers. friday light that slowing starting highway 4 westbound through antioch, heading over towards summersville, and an early slowdown for pittsburg and bay point. it was relatively light through the area, as well as livermore and sunol. more traffic there as well. you will find spectator slowing on 280 past the scene as that smoke becomes visible. back to you guys. >> we got handed information that the national transportation safety board has launched a go team that will come into california. we are not sure where they are coming from, but they are en route, obviously this will be part of the investigation into what went wrong, while the information is still fresh. at this point they are not, as far as we know, even allowed into the area because it's still a danger zone. they are not huge fires, but smoldering hot spots.

as far as we know, pg&e has not declared the area safe as far as gas either. >> it's been declared a california state of emergency as well. emergency numbers for you at the bottom of your screen. if you have pets you need to shelter, more information about emergency red cross shelters, we'll continue to run those throughout the newscast. we'll take a quick break and be right back. @a@ [ woman on tv ] if you won't let me in, you can't really love me. i know about gayle. i don't know what you're talking about. if you just tell me what happened...

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. good morning. we are watching the fire conditions in san bruno. we have heard firefighters tell our reporters on the scene that they are thankful that there are calm winds and moisture in the air. unfortunately that will change. by 7:00 this morning, we expect winds to pick up 5 to 15 miles per hour. by 9:00, more wind, and by 11:00 this morning, about 25-mile-per-hour winds. hopefully before the winds pick up they will have the fires fully contained and out.

by 8:00 this morning, patchy clouds, 56 degrees. 58 in oakland, 56 in livermore. by noon, we expect the temperatures to be around the 60 degree mark. warming up in the inland areas. and staying cool along the coastline. by 4:00 this afternoon, you can expect temperatures to really kind of heat up east of castro valley and south of san jose. one of the hot spots likely to be fairfield for today. san francisco, you can expect 67 if you're headed into the city for a birt of fun this weekend. we have your seven-day forecast. expect nice, high pressure system to build those temperatures, make for warm conditions for the weekend, still cool along the coastline. though we don't expect much drizzle. do expect clouds, though. back to you. this morning hundreds of fire crews remain in that san bruno neighborhood we are telling you about where the death toll is rising, up to six people said to be dead now after

that six alarm fire ripped through the neighborhood. want to check in with monte francis this morning. firefighters say they had a good hold on the fire but as of it, right now they're not sure how many people could be trapped. >> that's right, laura. also i can tell you this neighborhood is in the dark, that's because 5,000 pg&e customers are without power this morning. there is no word on when that power will be restored. i can also show you the road here behind me is blocked off. that's the case around this neighborhood. we are told it's not safe to go into the neighborhood this morning. about 200 law enforcement officers are out here. they established a perimeter around the neighborhood. in addition to the power outage, some residents have expressed concern about residual gas in the lines here. a pg&e spokesman told me this morning he could not address those concerns, but to say they are working to determine if the neighborhood here is safe and that an investigation as to what caused yesterday's explosion is now under way. search and rescue teams have not

been able to go in and do a house by house search yet. fire officials say they are waiting for daylight. >> we are going to have to go through. it's a messy scene down there. that will be priority number on one. >> reporter: in about 15 minutes, safety assessment teams are scheduled to meet and determine when those home searches can take place. again, six people are confirmed dead what is frustrating here is that we don't have a number of people who may be unaccounted for. live in san bruno, monte francis, "today in the bay". >> thank you very much. >> christie smith is at the red cross shelters. what more did you know this morning? >> of course we all know this explosion sent people running from their homes. and i'm here this morning with

ken heche. you live about a half mile up from where the explosion happened. can you tell me what you were doing and what you saw? >> i was on the computer, i heard a roaring sound, like a train. and i felt something in my kitchen exploded or something, so i jumped up. i ran into the kitchen. as i did, i looked out through the patio glass door, i saw this enormous fireball. that was about it. >> when you say enormous fireball, what is it you were looking at? describe how big. >> it was huge. it was down in the valley, but i couldn't tell you how big it was. it was -- it was enormous. and, to me, from my vantage point, i thought that a large aircraft went straight into the ground. and that was about it. then i realized the first thing i thought was, my god, am i going lose my home.

i realized the wind is blowing from the west, so it's going blow the fire away from me. >> did you automatically go outside? did you automatically leave? think about your neighbors? what did you do? >> i went out on my patio, i thought, well, i better get the hose down and start watering things down. but it was too far away. like i say, it was blowing away from me. i could watch the fire progress away from me. >> now, you're down here, so you drove away from your home what did it look like between here and your home? >> it was difficult getting here because so many roads are closed. it kind of looks like a war zone up there right now. >> and your home is okay. everyone okay in your area? >> everything is fine. >> we were saying earlier you -- you had lived through the oakland hills firestorm, and now this. this is much closer to your home. but how do you compare the two? >> well, the three fires that i was referring to were the fires

we had up here in this open space, and we had three of them since 1972, each time they start west of us. when they come around through the cul de sac, they always burn the back end of this one house off. that's what i was concerned about i thought it's just a matter of time before we get burned out. >> thank you very much. i'm glad everybody is okay. that's the latest from here, i'm christie smith, back to you guys. >> thank you. you can hear the emotion in that man's voice. >> one of the many stories we will hear come out this morning. want to check in with garvin thomas. he is live this morning. remarkably no firp fightefighte injured. >> that's true, considering how big this fire was. in this part of the country we are used to wildfires taking place in rural areas, but this was really a wildfire in an urban setting, complete with its own weather that a wildfire

generates, and it's own wind that can push the fire so quickly through. what a huge challenge to have that with all these homes and the explosions, no firefighters injured. sadly that isn't the case with residents. at last count there are six people confirmed dead. one may expect that number to increase, as we have been talking about, fire crews have not been able to completely access the heart of this disaster because of the danger posed by the heat and the flames and the challenge with the darkness, as the sun comes up today, that may change a bit. they'll be able to get into that situation. we know of two dozen other injuries, some of them quilt serious. several people in critical condition, anybody familiar with injuries due to burns know those are horrific injuries. the red cross is speaking up saying they are in desperate need of blood donations. particularly o negative blood is the type they're looking for. i think we have a phone number we can give you now.

it's 888-393-give. the red cross centers there are going to be open extra hours. some will be expected to be open sunday this weekend. there's a great need for blood because of this disaster in this area. they want to make sure they get as much as they can. if you can help out, they would appreciate the effort. scott? laura? >> even if you are not o negative, if you can contribute blood that frees up o negative which is the universal blood type. anybody can give. >> try to make a difference. >> don't go to the area if you don't have to. a lot of streets are blocked. i want to check in with mike. he has more of the specifics. >> the note scott gave, you don't have to head to the area, you can't get there to physically help because it's blocked off. donate blood or investigate other ways to help. folks heading over the san mateo bridge to the peninsula this morning from the east bay, will you probably find shlowing on

280, especially as the sun comes up, because you will see the smoke from the area. you will also find slowing on 101 in san bruno, folks curious, they know the name of the city where it occurred, they don't realize it's this far west. christie smith also reported smelling smoke in that area as well. keep that in mind. watch for that slowing in the area, coming out of the city as well. the san mateo bridge itself moving smoothly as well as the bay bridge. a nice, smooth flow of traffic heading over there. a clear view at the toll plaza. kris, you are following the effects of the smoke? >> i am. you were saying some folks smelled it as far away as oakland. that means that we could see a change in the air quality. right now green all across the map. the fire is right here, we expect the winds to pick up 5 to 15 miles per hour by 7:00, maybe as strong as 25 miles per hour

by 11:00 this morning. we could see that air quality change, even outside of san bruno. 8:00 this morning, patchy clouds because of an area of high pressure that is going to be moving through our area and off into the sierra. temperatures right around the 50 degree mark for 8:00. by noontime, if you are heading outdoors, you can expect temperatures around 70 throughout most of the bay area. the coastal areas will be -- here we go, a bit cooler and a bit gray this morning. we expect warming, especially in the inland areas. east of castro valley, south of san jose is where you can expect the warmest temperatures. your seven-day forecast coming up. >> let's turn to bob redell, he's at the command center on the south side of this fire. bob, what's the latest there? >> good morning to you, scott. right now it appears we're in a shift change for the firefighters we're seeing volunteer inmate firefighters

coming? the ones in the orange jumpsuits are typically at a wildfire. right over there is the command center, down there to the left where you see the vehicles and fire officials standing around, presumably strategizing and talking about how to proceed from here. what we think will happen, once the sun comes up, because the fire is just hot spots, not the raging inferno we saw last night, they will go in there and do another search for bodies. we heard from the san bruno fire chief telling the "l.a. times" that the death toll is at six but unfortunately they expect that death toll to climb. coming up shortly, we'll hear from a neighbor who alleges and says that they smelled gas in the neighborhood in the weeks prior to this explosion and we'll hear pg&e's response to that allegation. in the meantime, reporting live in san bruno, bob redell, "today in the bay." we have a look at what's left of the neighborhood that we're talking about.

we will continue our coverage all morning long. stay with "today in the bay."

\ s 8 9 neighbors in the peninsula wake up to a nightmare. an explosion burns several homes to the ground. we'll take you live to the scene. >> i'm bob redell live at the scene where it is six people who have died at this gas explosion amid allegations that pg&e investigated a gas smell in the week and a half prior to this we'll forgive you in coming up in a live report.

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