breaking news out of san francisco this morning where a huge four-alarm fire displaces more than a dozen people who had to run out of their apartment with only the clothes on their backs. i'm christie smith. we'll have that coming up. >> i could see the arrow sticking through her leg and i went over to the edge of the wall so i could see if i could see anybody with a bow. >> a young girl rushed to the hospital after getting shot by an arrow on a school field trip. >> new danger on the bridge. new report shows bolts on the new span are snapping. >> we take you live to the south bay. you can see city lights off in the distance, cloud cover.

we are checking the forecast for rain with meteorologist christina loren on this wednesday, march 27th. this is tod"today in the bay." good morning to you. it is 4:31. i'm marla tellez in for jon kelley. >> and i'm laura garcia-cannon. a massive fire is sweeping through an apartment building. the fire has been burning more than three hours now. the flames, in fact, spread so fast, extra crews were immediately called out. it is happening at third street and mckinnon in the bay distr t district. that is where christi smith joins us now. good morning, christie. >> reporter: good morning. we just got on scene. i had a chance to speak with a couple of residents wrapped in red cross blankets, one of them clutching their dog. they were sleeping and then they

heard an explosion. one of them got up and basically tells me he saw a wall of fire outside. this started at 1:00 this morning and quickly jumped to four alarm. started at a home on mckinnon at 3rd street. people inside that initial home were already out, account ed fo and okay, but they say the fire spread to two other buildings and there was significant water damage. in all, they tell me three buildings were severely damaged by fire. one had fire on the outside. two others had water damage. these buildings are so close together, how they're built here in san francisco, and tied together in the back. they say it just kept spreading. at least 20 people are displaced this morning. they're getting help from the red cross. i'm told two firefighters suffered minor injuries. one of them fell and got a bruise on his knee. the other may have suffered smoke inhalation. both have been checked out and should be okay. firefighters are telling me it took a long time to knock this down because the fire just kept

moving and was so intense. now, back here at 3rd street, i wanted to also mention that it is closed because the fire impacted some buildings on mckinnon and wrap ped around to 3rd. this is where muni runs by on the rail. you can see that will be impacted this morning. they'll try to clear that up as soon as they can. really, still, something they're dealing with this morning. as far as a cause, they say they still don't know. just too early to say. reporting live in san francisco, chris christie smith. >> good news is that the fire is out at this hour. meteorologist christina loren is checking the forecast. all i can tell you is that it's a full moon outside. >> it certainly is. this very morning it has become full. looking for any hot spots, monitoring that area. good news is that we don't have

any significant wind, at least in san francisco. fairfield, sustained at 13 miles per hour. our winds are going to pick up by mid morning south of the golden gate bridge. ov overall, showers stay to the north. but just to the north. getting a little bit of action near ukiah. we get a better chance as we head through tomorrow. we're looking better for that rain over the weekend. let's check your drive with mike. good morning, folks. hd camera over there at the bridge. nice definition camera at the golden gate bridge. change in effect. don't stop. laura will tell you about that in a couple of seconds. look at traffic in the city. san francisco, and actually the approach through the bay view. this is where christie just reported, 3rd and mckinnon. there will be a slight diversion around that couple block area. plan on minor delays.

so far, muni has yet to tell us officially because there are no trains running right now. vanness, should be smooth commute between the golden bridge and bay bridge as well. let's head over to marla. possible danger on the bay bridge this morning. an inspector found dozens of busted bolts on the new eastern span. the metropolitan transportation commission, mtc, will meet later this morning to talk about the 32 bolts. they're now looking at the 288 remaining bolts to see if they need to be replaced. coming up at 5:00, we'll tell you what this means at the hundreds of thousands of people who actually drive on the bridge today and whether this new issue will affect the opening of the bay bridge. live look at the golden gate bridge, there you go, that we're seeing this morning. the first commute with all electronic tolling. first time since the bridge

opened 75 years ago. there's no stopping, no humans collecting tolls. nbc bay area was there for the toll workers' last shift when the all electronic systems took effect hours ago. they hope to save $16 million during the next few years by eliminating the toll collectors. the bridge will now use fast track and cameras to charge drivers the fare. 8-year-old girl is in the hospital after someone shot her with an arrow. she was on a school field trip at uc berkeley's hall of science when the arrow pierced her in the leg. jeffrey fasalo saw it and ran to help. >> she was a brave little girl. >> looking for clues of who might have fired that arrow and why. still no answers. more questions inside the supreme court today and more

demonstrations outside. the court is looking at whether the federal government can deny benefits to same-sex couples where their marriage is legal. "today in the bay's" tracie potts reports it's likely to spark the same debate we saw there yesterday. >> reporter: with more demonstrations expected today, the court looks at whether the defense of marriage act, denying benefits to gay couples is constitutional. >> their marriage is not equal to our marriage because they cannot create children. >> if both the woman and the man are over the age of 55, there are not a lot of children coming out of that marriage. >> reporter: one of the most passionate pleas came from the defendant's son. >> we look forward to the day when we will be treated equally. >> this is not a democratic issue or republican issue or conservative or liberal. this is an issue of american constitutional rights. >> reporter: but the justices argue california's proposition 8, banning gay marriage is about

children. >> whether that is harmful to the child or not. >> the voice of those children is important in this case. >> reporter: justice kennedy, the court's swing vote, warned they may be delving into unchartered waters. justice alito agreed. >> you want us to step in and render a decision based on an assessment of the effects of this institution, which is newer than cell phones or the internet? >> reporter: but backers of prop 8 insist the voters have spoken. >> the place for the decision to be made regarding redefining marriage is with the people, not with the courts. >> reporter: even in the nine courts where same-sex marriage is legal, federal benefits are denied. that's what will be argued inside and outside the courts today. by lunchtime today, the court will have heard both sides of both arguments. we're not expecting a ruling in either case until june. tracie potts, nbc news, at the supreme court. >> thank you, tracie. we'll have more on the court's

hearing of the defense of marriage act. we'll take you live at 5:00. investigators need your help finding a man who molested and tried to kidnap a young girl. take a look at this surveillance video police have released near the intersection of 94 and b street. this is in oakland, video taken on monday. a 9-year-old girl was playing when the man grabbed her, sexually assaulted her and then threatened to kidnap her. they think this man also tried to abduct a child last year. san jose police just released a sketch of a woman to abducted an 11-month-old baby earlier this week. police are looking for this woman. take a look. she stole a jeep monday morning with a baby in the backseat. the baby was recovered and is doing okay. it actually gave santa clara county its first opportunity to test its countywide alert system. alert scc tried to call everyone in santa clara county on monday.

reached about 300,000 people by phone and sent out thousands of text messages. one of those texts reached a santa fe mab wman who spotted te jeep. the first test of the alert system went well but they're working on improvements for next time. alert scc is also used for natural disasters such as wildfires or floods. i know all of our phones were going off in the newsroom as well. >> all morning long. 4:40 now. meteorologist christina loren. the winds not too strong this morning. >> no, but they will pick up later on. expecting shower activity by this evening. right here in beautiful accept jose, 48 to start the day. let's talk about what we're expecting in terms of showers. the system sits to our north. it's moving into the ukiah

region. keep that in mind. sunshine the first part of the day. temperature lbs representative of where we hit yesterday. 66 degrees in places like fremont. let's talk about those showers. we expecting the first activity as of today. that chance gets even better as we head through your thursday. look what happens as we get into the weekend. showers start to organize off shore. c cut-off low we talked about hasn't yet developed but it will. all that moisture is headed our way. i'll time this out for you in my next report, show you how that works out when it comes to your easter sunday. we are talking showers on sun y sunday. stick around for that forecast. we'll check your drive with mike. good morning to you. >> good morning. look over here to the san mateo bridge westbound with those headlights coming down 101. construction at that interchange. the map shows you that. it also shows you a crash southbound 101 approaching 3rd. just all the activity about cleared from the roadway. flashing lights remain for a few. peninsula drive 280 very smooth.

slowing through palo alto. no incident reporting there. smooth drive into mountain view. south 85, north had slowing. south now remains construction and a live look at the volume through san jose, not a major problem. guys, back to you. >> sounds good. 4:42 bay area bank, what it means for customers. general petraeus is going public for the very first time since the discovery of his extra marital affair and resignation. why he wants people to know his story. and google sencensorship. why google is accusing one company of trying to control how people speak.

4:45, wednesday morning. wells fargo's website is back up and running. cyber attack wiped it out for six hours yesterday. customers' information remains safe. latest in the series of cyber attacks on major u.s. banking websites since september. the hacker group claiming responsibility says it also plans to attack citibank, chase and others. a judge is getting ready to approve plans for a merger between two major airlines. plus the dow sets another report. courtney reagan live at cnbc

headquarters with all your details. a lot going on. good morning, courtney. >> that's right, marla. good morning to you. futures are lower. that is after stocks rallied on the back of some positive economic data yesterday. that means the dow pushed to a new all-time closing high. the index is on track for its best quarterly point gain ever, and could still post its best percentage quarterly gain in three years. pending home sales, dow rising nearly 112 points to 14,559. nasdaq adding 17 to 3252. bankruptcy judge could approve american airlines plan to merge with us airways, creating the world's largest airline. the judge could also give american more time to come up with a reorganization plan. the $11 billion merger must still be approved by u.s. regulators. back to you. >> thank you, courtney. google took on sweden and won. the search engine was able to remove the turn -- term, rather,

ungoogable. the list includes words not in the dictionary but are part of common speech. on googleable refers to something that cannot be found on the web. but google wanted to change the definition. the language council of sweden just took it off. >> wouldn't it be easier to say you can't google it? >> it would be for me. >> most people. meteorologist christina loren is joining us now. it's a nice morning out there. >> it is. it's funny how the whole world goes to google every day and goog sl right here in our own backyard. oh, look, there's groupon. we have a good-looking day shaping up. same with internet highway cities. looking good today. los gatos, palo alto. watch out in the silicon valley. getting a little bit of cloud cover but holding off on the

showers, at least the heavy stuff, for now. good morning in sunnyvale. good morning, san mateo. stop the clock at 1:00 pm. that's all we're expecting for today. keep that umbrella handy but you don't have to have it if you're somebody that likes to just do the dodge, get into your house or car as soon as possible. they won't be heavy showers. we'll keep that pattern in the mix all the way through 11:00. better chance of rain showers tomorrow. you can see more organization at 3:00 pm thursday. more widespread shower activity. friday looks great for your outdoor activity plans. temperaturewise, as well, we'll be in the mid 70s. as we head through saturday, the whopper starts to make a little more organization. for us, that means we'll see a pretty active end to saturday and sunday right now not looking that great for your outdoor plans. easter egg hunt won't be too bad. light rain. we're talking about temperatures very similar to where they are right now as you wake up on sunday morning.

keep that in mind. it won't be that bad. kids will be mud. you might want to keep that in mind. 67 in livermore. 66 in fremont. and 66 today in san jose. don't forget, those giants versus the a's right here on nbc, 7:00 pm on friday. that will be a good game. look at your friday temperatures. warmest day in the extended period, that will be a nice day to get outdoors. the only chance where you can get outdoors without having to dodge those showers that come in saturday and sunday. we'll dry you out on monday. tuesday looks good, warming you up in the lower 70s. richmond police are stepping up patrols after a man was shot and killed outside a bart station earlier this month. an officer will now patrol the station during peak morning and afternoon hours. they will also ride the trains from richmond to berkeley. the added police presence is in response to the shooting death of raymond harris outside the bart station almost two weeks

ago. no arrests have been made in that case. four people charged in the death of an alleged pump in san francisco are expected back in court today. three men and a woman are charged in the shooting death of calvin sneed in june. prosecutors say the group planned the killing because the woman and one of the men believed sneed was pumping their teenage daughter. a judge has ordered all four defendants to stand trial. man accused of killing a long-time newspaper vendor in san francisco, mark castle, facing murder and elder abuse charges for the death of 77-year-old dallas heirs. he was attacked in january and died weeks later from his injuries. also new this morning, former cia director and retired general david petraeus is speaking out for the first time since an extra marital affair led to his resignation. petraeus was a keynote speaker

at usc's dinner for veterans and students. the four-star general spoke candidly about his affair with his biographer, paula broadwell, and apologized. >> i know i can never apologize for the pain i inflicted on those closest to me and a number of others. i can, however, try to move forward in a manor that is consistent to the values to which i subscribed before slipping my moorings and, as best possible. >> new invention helping you keep the kidmobile clean. plus new video out this morning of a major quake in taiwan. we'll show you some of the other images just coming in to our newsroom. that was amazing. looking over here to the san mateo bridge, easy flow across the bay. a new incident on the east side

of the bay. you'll want to watch for this major interchange.

we take you live to our nation's capital. people are lining up already outside the u.s. supreme court. yesterday, the court heard arguments for and against california's prop 8. today it's all about the defense of marriage act. no decision by either are expected until june, however. we will follow that story today. it is 4:54.

new video into our newsroom of a 6.0 magnitude quake in taiwan. look at this, a woman grabbing on to a door just so she would not fall over as the quake hit the island nation. another woman was knocked off her feet. u.s. geology ical survey says t quake was relatively shallow, nine miles below the earth's surface in central taiwan. 20 people suffered minor injuries. good news is that there's no reports so far of major damage. >> i don't know if i would hold on to a glass door. 4:54 right now. under water camera lost off the coast of hawaii years ago has turned up nearly 7,000 miles away. it was found on a beach in central taiwan while on vacation. the waterproof casing was still intact. the man downloaded the pictures. after a lot of research and a little help from facebook, he was able to track down the owner in georgia. she says she lost the camera

during a night dive in 2007. offering her an all expense paid trip to taiwan to pick up that camera. >> pretty cool. >> instead of mailing it to her, she gets a trip. no more toll takers at the golden gate bridge, mike. >> that's right. do not stop at the toll plaza. even if you don't have fast track. just go through. they'll get you with your license plate. i'll put a link to that website as well on my facebook page. over here toward oakland, other side of the bay, 880 through both directions. minor slowing. san leandro, a little blip. also castro valley. just off that y we have a stall blocking one lane. back to you. no matter what your kids throw at you, there's a new minivan that will help you keep things clean. new odyssey, laura garcia-can n

garcia-cannon, comes with a built-in vacuum cleaner. this will be on display at the upcoming new york auto show. it came from the idea of the daughter of the honda engineer, who saw how frustrated her dad got when her kids made a mess in the van. >> it's a gimmick, but it will work. >> there's a lot of stuff on that floor and it's all clean. 4:57 right now. breaking news in san francisco. devastating fire. christie smith is on the scene and will have a live update next. plus new video in our newsro newsroom. bay area patrol car flips on to its roof overnight. what happened to lead up to the crash? plus, we'll update you on the officer's condition. all that, coming up.

major changes into san francisco this morning. what you can't do. what you won't see, coming up. major changes to the forecast, starting today.

those rain chances increase. better chances for the weekend. lots to talk about in your full forecast. maybe you can get up and out and see the full moon out there this morning. live look outside. hp pavilion. it is wednesday, march 27th. this is "today in the bay." good morning to you. thanks so much for joining us. i'm laura garcia-cannon. >> good morning. i'm marla tellez in for jon kelley. bay view district at 3rd street and mckinnon street. christie smith will be live in a few minutes with this breaking news. the good news about this four-alarm fire is that the flames are now