good morning to you. it is saturday, november 10th, at 7:00 a.m. on the dot. here's a live look outside, smokey skies covering sfo. another tough start to the day in the bay area. thanks so much for joining us. i'm kira klapper. vianey arana has a look at your microclimate forecast and you have a lot going on.

>> there is a lot going on. its been a tough week both emotionally and weather-wise. we're dealing with the extreme fire conditions and unfortunately that's going to remain a concern through the weekend for much of california. right now, though, current temperatures in santa rosa below freezing. there is a frost advisory in effect for santa rosa right now waking up to 27 degrees. look at napa, 31 degrees, down through oakland and san jose in those 40s, but its the red flag warnings and the extreme fire danger that i'm keeping a very close eye on. you can see there's red flag warnings not just northern california but down through southern california. in addition to those red flag warnings, there's a couple of fire watches as well and this is said to take effect tonight into tomorrow. we're expecting those locally gusty conditions to pick up once again tonight into the overnight hours. as far as your saturday goes, we're expecting the winds to be fairly tame, however that does not change the extremely unhealthy air quality that the entire bay area down to southern california is seeing.

i will break down all of these red flag warnings for you and i'll continue to track the weather conditions in about 15 minutes. >> there's so much going on. we'll see you in 15, thanks. we begin with breaking news, a 3.7 magnitude quake struck just before 6:15 this morning. it was centered 14 miles south of hollister. we received calls to our newsroom that people in san jose felt it. there are no reports of any damage nor injuries. back to our big story, the camp fire. it continues to rage in butte county this morning with crews working tirelessly as the fire enters its third day. its now considered the most destructive in california history. more than 6,700 homes and businesses are destroyed. 50,000 people remain evacuated. nine have been killed. many of those people were found dead in their cars trying to escape the flames. the camp fire ignited thursday morning near the town of paradise, that's east of chico

about 140 square miles have burned. that's larger than san francisco and oakland combined. "today in the ba "today in the bay" cheryl herd is in the destroyed town of paradise. >> reporter: we are in paradise, there's virtually nothing left. we did catch up with a strike team from the bay area and they worked overnight. we caught up with the santa clara strike team battling the camp fire. >> we're doing structure defense. >> reporter: there are homes in the hills. 15,000 of them being threatened by fire all over butte county. >> there's still areas that are unburned and we are in those areas. we're in place to keep it from spreading. >> reporter: as crews do what they can to keep fighting this wildfire, law enforcement is on

patrol in paradise. there have been reports of looting, but so far no arrests. >> i was able to manage to save my house and the neighbor's house next door. >> reporter: shane bender stayed behind when the fire swept through on thursday. >> what's more overwhelming is when you drive through the neighborhoods and its almost 95% of paradise is at a loss. >> reporter: and those that evacuated and got separated from their families are reuniting at local shelters. >> you look at what you have and you have all each other and that's what counts. >> reporter: janice clark has all she needs now, her son says after fearing the worse, he's never been happier. >> she's here now that's all that matters so -- the best birthday gift i got this year. >> reporter: shelters are full in the area and neighboring cities are trying to help out to find places for people to stay. in paradise, cheryl hurd, nbc bay area news. this morning many people

don't even know if their homes are still standing. one man we caught up with left his home thursday night. he returned last night and was stopped at a roadblock just blocks from his home. >> i stopped to see if our home had burned down. >> reporter: don't know? >> i don't know yet. >> his home was spared we learned. many others were not so lucky. as of this morning, cal fire says more than 6,000 homes were destroyed by the camp fire. how did this most destructive wildfire in california history start? there are several signs pointing to pge power lines. they filed a report with the state admitting there was an outage on a transmission line in the fire zone right before the fire started thursday morning. here's the dispatch audio. >> engine 33, company 33, hazardous conditions power lines possible, correction, lines down with a possible extension to a tree.

confirming fire line hazard. >> copy power lines down. >> that was recorded on thursday at 6:30 a.m., 15 minutes after pge reported its transmission line outage. pge released a statement saying in part, quote pg & e will fully cooperate with any investigations. the cause of the camp fire has not yet been determined. as a side note, pg & e stock plummeted yesterday losing $4 billion in value. meanwhile back in the bay area, air quality remains a big concern throughout this veterans day weekend. this is a live look over san francisco. it looks like nothing new there. we normally see it in fog but this is a thick layer of smoke. several schools and clubs canceled their sporting events because of the smokey conditions. one football game, however, went on as planned last night. the smoke seemed to have eased up a bit for the game. many school districts didn't follow suit, though. they called off sporting events yesterday and this weekend and

they're considering calling some of next week as well. continued exposure to the smoke can trigger real health issues. >> it can cause a lot of different symptoms including irritation of the eyes, throat, lungs. it can be particularly problemtic for people that have lung disease or heart disease and it can increase the risk of symptoms of asthma and c.o.p.d. as well as heart attacks in people who have underlying heart disease. >> it prompted the north bay and east bay high schools to reschedule at least 16 high school football games to monday. now we take you to southern california where the woolsey and hill fires condition to burn. the raging woolsey fire for one has spread to more than 35,000 acres burning everything in sight. the flames even jumped a freeway and the historic pacific coast highway. it headed right for the pacific ocean. this is video from the malibu

colony area, one of the most upscale neighborhoods in the country. no one is immuned in the fire zone. multi-million dollars homes and celebrity homes have been destroyed in malibu. 250,000 people are evacuated from that area. we have this overnight report from nearby. >> reporter: there are police officers on virtually every road here in ventura and los angeles county for this fire, there seems to be no end in sight. not even night fall provided a break for the exhausted first responders. they raced from one fire to the next hoping to save a home or a life. the battle against mother nature continues. >> i resorted to shovel and hose when i could get pressure. >> reporter: this man decided to ignore the mandatory evacuation orders in the mountains above malibu. >> they said you have to evacuate and you said i'm not going anywhere. >> i stayed back. >> reporter: why is that?

>> if i haven't, i would have lost my house. >> reporter: his hard work paid off. he saved his home. he went toe to toe with the flames and won. you fought the fire yourself. >> yeah. >> reporter: you saved your house? >> yes, i did. >> reporter: scary? >> a little bit. >> reporter: the fire destroyed hundreds of homes, knocked out bridges and sent panic throughout the l.a. region. the good news, the santa ana winds have decreased but the damage may already be done. the latest numbers out of the woolsey fire, it stands this morning at 0% containment. we're in l.a. county, nbc bay area news. more help is on the way, additional crews from alameda and oakland are heading to ventura county. this is a statewide response as cal fire officials said yesterday, quote, every day is fire season some where in california. it is 7:09 right now h. we have much more ahead on "today

in the bay." what might have motivated him? the social media post, the thousand oaks shooter made during his attack at a southern california bar. plus, the scare in golden gate bridge park that prompted a big response from the san francisco fire department. i am a family man.

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welcome back at 7:12 on your saturday morning. it looks like a foggy morning at the golden gate bridge but this is smoke, of course. we are seeing this across the bay area coming to us from the camp fire burning in butte county. vianey arana has your microclimate forecast coming up, including poor air quality, a smoke advisory, a red flag warning and a microclimate weather alert. so many questions remain following wednesday's mass shooting in thousand oaks. why did that marine veteran kill 12 people? ian long may several posts in the middle of his killing spree at the borderline bar & grill.

sources para phrased that he wrote on instagram, people will debate for years whether i'm sane or insane, but i'm sane. life is b.s. who cares? and i'm bored. while people are blaming long, one father of one of the victim's killed is doing the unthinkable calling for empathy. >> i'm not going to vilify this kid because he's got parents that are grieving too and i feel sorry for them as well. >> a spokesperson for facebook which owns instagram declined to comment. law enforcement has not elaborated on the social media post nor specified which social media the killer used. meanwhile, the friends of alaina housley one of the victims are organizing a march in her memory. the 18-year-old was from napa, she was a freshman at pepper diane and was at the bar on wednesday night. it will be at her vintage high school at 10:00 on monday.

we have much more ahead on "today in the bay" coming up. run, hide and text. we'll tell you how a bay area woman hiding under her covers was able to get the police to respond. we are under a microclimate weather alert, a smoke advisory remains in effect due to unhealthy air quality. we're still dealing with extreme fire conditions. i'll break down all of the red flag warnings coming up for you in just a bit.

good saturday morning to you. it is november 10th at 7:16 taking a live look outside in downtown san jose. not quite as smokey there but smokey conditions across the bay area, please limit your exposure outside today. vianey will be along with your forecast in about two minutes. a bay area woman in danger contacted emergency dispatchers without even making a call. she used the text 9-1-1 service to contact the police when she

said she heard several people breaking into her house. the woman didn't want to call 9-1-1, of course, because she feared the burglaries might hear her calling upstairs. officers found the car and the stolen property that same day and arrested these four people. >> technology is advantageous for people using it and for us on receiving end of it, so as we say with the text 9-1-1, call 9-1-1 if you can, if you can't text to 9-1-1. >> if your town or city uses the text 9-1-1 service, your first text should be your location and what type of emergency it is. 50 firefighters responded to a fire in golden gate park last night. it looked like one fire started a second fire. crews say it was difficult to

get to the flames but they managed to put them out quickly. the cause of those fires is under investigation. speaking of fires, poor air quality, so much going on. let's check in with vianey arana with a look at our microclimate forecast. >> we have a lot going on and unfortunately the weather isn't getting any better in terms of elevated fire danger. we're still tracking this dry air mass. look at this live picture right now in san francisco, you can see that's not fog. that's smoke and this is the latest imagery from the nasa satellite view. you can spot not one, but both -- i should say three, there's two tiff wildfires burning in southern california. this is the smoke coming from the chico fire and look at that plume of smoke in southern california. if i zoom this in closer toward the chico area, this is the latest imagery. think about it like this, this huge air mass, you're spotting it from your window, you're probably feeling it. unfortunately, that dry air mass that continues to sit over the bay area, what its doing is

cooling down our overnight lows but keeping that air quality extremely unhealthy which is why there is a smoke advisory in place until monday. that smoke will continue to drift from the camp fire near the chico area. as i said, because we have this dry air mass sitting over the area that's actually cooling down our overnight lows which is why, believe it or not, there is a frost advisory for the north bay. santa rosa waking up to 27 degrees. 31 degrees in napa. down through the san jose area, 42. now, let's talk about the upcoming changes because today one thing you will notice, its not going to be as windy but its still going to be dry. our daytime temperatures will climb into the upper 60s for san francisco, 68 degrees. 70s through the livermore area and san jose 73. what about those red flag warnings? it may not seem like its windy today, however, we have increasing offshore flow kicking in tonight which is when those concerns will be elevated which is why there is a red flag warning in place.

i want to show you this overall picture of california so you can really get a good picture of the elevated fire danger heading into tonight. look at northern california and down through southern california. now, unfortunately, as that offshore flow increases, what's going to happen is those winds are going to kick up locally gusty conditions, low humidity levels, especially overnight starting tonight into sunday afternoon for the bay area. the north bay mountains, the mount diablo range. there is a red flag warning in chico area through monday. they're dealing with even gustier conditions, 40 to 50-mile-per-hour winds kicking up tonight. relatively humidity of less than 5% at time. that high fire danger is very much going to remain a concern through tonight into tomorrow. those winds will remain calm through tonight. those winds beginning to pick up near the napa area and over the next seven days, unfortunately, we're not seeing any signs of rain in the seven day outlook.

that smoke is going to linger, the winds will kick up into sunday for san francisco and for inland areas as well expect windy conditions and that's going to remain a big concern as we head in toward tonight. i'll give you an update in just a bit. >> thanks. still ahead on "today in the bay," fighting wildfires by using computers. the way two bay area students could save homes in the future. its a story that will make you "bay area proud." once again --

. as we've been seeing these last couple of days, destructive wildfires are once again threatening lives and homes in california, but what if there were a way to stop them from happening at all? two south bay teenagers have been working for years to turn that dream into a reality and garvin thomas as their story in this morning's "bay area proud." >> reporter: in the "bay area proud" series we've covered a number of young people over the years using their considerable intelligence to try and solve

some of the world's toughest problems. rarely, though, have we seen someone or two someone's working on a problem that hits so close to home. faced with something as powerful as an out of control wildfire, it is easy to feel powerless to do anything about it. >> we used -- >> reporter: if you're these two seniors, they are two students with a passion for engineering and a desire to do good. >> why don't we have a proactive measure that can prevent this destruction from happening? >> reporter: the answer to that question is what they are carrying in their hands right now. for the past two and a half years, these two have been working on a smart wildfire sensor. the idea very simply put, is to

use photography to determine just how much fuel for a wildfire might dry grass or dead trees there is in a certain location, then combine it with realtime weather data such as wind, temperature and humidity to pinpoint where a wildfire is most likely to happen. >> we thought that why not use the technology that we have in our generation in order to solve something that terrifies people so frequently. >> reporter: the prototype they've been working on uses a stationary camera but they're idea, they hope, is about to reach new heights by using drones and machine learning, they anticipate being able to cover huge swaths of territory, something impossible using the current manual methods. their work has been so promising that cal fires research and development branch has been in touch and they made a presentation at google who's

technology is key to the effort. >> it feels really satisfying to know the number of lives that you're actually helping. that's what the fun part about it, knowing we make a difference. >> reporter: these two say perfecting their system is going to take more work, but because the benefits are so great, they are eager to do it. garvin thomas, nbc bay area news. we have much more ahead coming up. we will head back to butte county for the latest on the camp fire h. we have new numbers in from cal fire just minutes ago. on us... i can't feel my legs. ...no way are we giving up on burgers. that's why i created the all-american ribeye burger, made with 100% ribeye beef, ribeye burgers are back, america.

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inside your homes. i'm kira klapper. vianey arana is a busy lady this morning. >> i am, but not as busy as all those folks that have to remain on high alert. we've been chatting about this. look at this impressive view. this is the nasa satellite view and you can see those aren't clouds. the white you see on your screen up there, that is all of these smoke being detected from the chico fire and if you look down, that's the camp fire, if you look down through southern california, you can also see that smoke as well. now one thing i do want you to keep in mind is that the unhealthy air quality is still going to remain a huge concern through this weekend. the reason why is because we have a bit of a dry air mass sitting over the bay area so that smoke advisory is going to remain in effect until monday. all the way from the north bay to south bay. keep those windows closed, wear the appropriate attire if you see people walking around with

masks, i know they have to be n 95. i'll give you additional tips to that. i have a look at your red flag warning which will be in effect starting tonight through tomorrow for the bay area and, unfortunately, the chico area has been under a red flag warning. >> so sad. those n 95 masks are hard to come by. they're sold out in a lot of places, so hopefully people can get their hands on them. thanks. as we begin this veterans day holiday weekend, the weather remains a danger to our north. that could impact the firefighting in butte county. crews have been working tirelessly. this is the third day of the fire. cal fire just updated us a few minutes ago with these numbers. the camp fire has scorched 100,000 acres and containment has gone up from 5% to 20%. more than 6,700 homes and businesses are gone. 52,000 people are evacuated.

at this point nine people have lost their lives. many of them were found inside their cars trying to escape the flames. the camp fire ignited thursday morning near the town of paradise, east of chico about 140 square miles have burned. that's larger than san francisco and oakland combined. cheryl hurd has this overnight report from paradise. >> reporter: we are in paradise where this apartment complex burned to the ground. there's virtually nothing left. we did catch up with a strike team from the bay area and they worked overnight. we caught up with the santa clara strike team battling the camp fire. >> we're doing structure defense. they're doing a backfire operation at the base of the hill. >> reporter: there are homes in the hills, 15,000 of them being threatened by fire all over butte county. >> there's still areas that are unburned and we are in those areas. they're still uncontrolled fire

edge and we're in place to keep it from spreading. >> reporter: as crews do what they can to keep fighting this wildfire, law enforcement is on patrol in paradise. there have been reports of looting, but so far no arrests. >> i was able to manage to save my house and the neighbor's house next door. >> reporter: shane bender stayed behind when the fire swept through on thursday. >> what's more overwhelming is when you drive through the neighborhoods and its almost 95% of paradise is at a loss. >> reporter: and those who evacuated and got separated from their families are reuniting at local shelters. >> you look at what you have and you have all each other and that's what counts. >> reporter: janice clark has all she needs now. her son says after fearing the worst, he's never been happier. >> she's here now that's all that matters so -- the best birthday gift i got this year. >> reporter: shelters are full in the area and neighboring

cities are trying to help out to find places for people to stay. in paradise, cheryl hurd, nbc bay area news. unfortunately, many people still don't know if their homes are standing. one man we spoke with left his butte county home thursday night as the flames swept toward his neighborhood. he returned last night and he was stopped at a roadblock just a few blocks from his home. >> i came back tonight to see if our house had burned down and. >> don't know? >> i don't know yet. >> his home was spared, we learned. many others were not as lucky. cal fire estimates more than 6,000 homes are now gone because of the camp fire. so how did this most destructive wildfire in california history start? there are several signs pointing to pg & e power lines. pg & e they filed a report with the state admitting there was an outage on a transmission line in the fire zone right before the fire started thursday morning.

here's the dispatch audio. >> engine 33, company 33, hazardous conditions, power lines, possible -- correction, lines down with a possible extension to a tree. confirming fire line hazard. >> copy power lines down. >> that was recorded on thursday at 6:30 a.m. 15 minutes after pg & e reported its transmission line outage. they have released the statement saying in part, pg & e will fully cooperate with any investigations. the cause of the camp fire has not yet been determined. as a side note, pg & e stock plummeted yesterday losing about $4 billion in value. we want to take you now to southern california where the woolsey and hill fires continue to burn in l.a. and ventura counties. the raging woolsey fire has spread to more than 35,000 acres burning everything in sight. the flames jumped the historic pacific coast highway and headed right for the pacific ocean. this is video from the malibu

colony area. it is one of the most upscale neighborhoods in the country. no one is immune in the fire zone. multi-million dollars homes and celebrity homes have been destroyed in malibu. we have the last check at 250,000 people evacuated from that area. "today in the bay's" damian trujillo has the latest report. >> reporter: there seems to be no end in sight for this fire. not even night fall provided a break for the exhausted first responders, they raced from one fire to the next hoping to save a home or a life. the battle against mother nature continues. >> i resorted to shovel and hose when i could get pressure. >> reporter: rex levy decided to ignore the mandatory evacuation orders in the mountains above malibu. they said you have to evacuate and you said i'm not going anywhere? >> i stayed back. >> reporter: why is that?

>> if i hadn't, i would've lost my house. >> reporter: his hard work paid off. he saved his home. so did this man, his face full of soot. he went toe to toe and won. you saved your house? >> yes, i did. >> reporter: scary? >> a little bit. >> reporter: the fires destroyed hundreds of homes, knocked out bridges and sent panic through the region. the santa ana winds have decreased but the damage may already be done. the latest numbers out of the woolsey fire it stands this morning at 0% containment. we're in l.a. county, nbc bay area news. while the woolsey fire remains at 0% containment with 35,000 acres burned, there is some better news for the nearby hill fire. cal fire just updated us. the hill fire is now 15% contained with 4,500 acres burned. turning to other news now,

spending just one day in lock-up can be devastating especially for a child. that's why many counties have developed a tool to determine which kids really need to go to juvenile hall and which are better off waiting for their day in court at home, but investigative reporter found some counties aren't using that tool as intended. >> good morning. that tool we're talking about is a detention risk assessment. we never heard of it before, but turns out its pretty important. when kids get arrested probation officers assess whether they pose a danger to the community and should be locked up before their cases go to court, but we found in several bay area counties when the scores on those assessments indicate the kid can be released, most are sent to juvenile any way. its called the detention override. experts say normal override rate is about 15%, but we reviewed five years of data from san francisco and found that probation department locked up 65% of minors who scores said they should be let go.

now reasons for those overrides vary. maybe a kids parents can't be located or he's from a different county. the probation chief didn't know his override rate until we calculated it. now he says he'll take a closer look at his numbers. four other bay area counties also used detention risk assessments, in some cases, their numbers aren't much better than san francisco's. for an in-depth look for their overrides, head to nbcbayarea.com/investigations. back to you. 7:38, still ahead on "today in the bay." while kevin durant traded in his warriors uniform for construction gear? sports is next. smoke advisory l

still host oregon state despite the poor air quality and smoke advisory, stanford will still host oregon state tonight at the stadium. cal is in southern california taking on the usc trojans. i want to take you to the ice

now. an ugly night for the sharks. the blues crewsed to a victory shutting out the sharks 4-0. san jose falls to 8-6 on the young season. getting a first hand look at the warriors soon to be new digs. kevin durant visited the chase center yesterday switching out his jersey for a hard hat. k.d. and warriors' president got a vip tour of the waterfront arena. the chase center is set to open in october of next year. 7:41 we have much more ahead on "today in the bay." a freak accident with their tow truck leads to the death of a city worker, now a whistle-blower steps forward, how he says a local towing company is putting the public safety at risk? we investigate. the poor air quality in the high fire danger continues this weekend. i am breaking down for you all of the red flag warnings and the things you really need to look out for as you head out this weekend. details coming up. stay with us.

good morning, bay area. it is 7:43 and, unfortunately, we are waking up with a microclimate alert as the high fire danger continues. san francisco is 49 degrees. look at that live picture. that is not fog. that is a thick layer of smoke that we've been seeing, really, for not just today but through yesterday and unfortunately, we're expecting that to continue this weekend. we do have a dry air mass sitting over california and that's what's been dropping our overnight lows. there is a frost advisory for the north bay mountains. 27 degrees right now in santa rosa down through san jose waking up to about 42 degrees. as far as your daytime highs, our temperatures will climb into the upper 60s and the low to mid-70s through concord, 74 degrees. san jose at 73. san francisco at 68, but the wind is expected to be much calmer today, not as windy today but as we head in toward tonight, we are tracking a big change. i do want to show you, if you haven't already seen this, this

is the latest imagery from the nasa satellite view of the california fires. this is northern california near the chico fire. look at all of that smoke. you can visibly see this picture down through the active wildfires that are burning in southern california, which is why the air quality is expected to remain a big concern. if i zoom this in closer toward the chico fire, you can see just how massive that smoke and plume of unhealthy air is sitting over portions of the bay area, which is why that smoke advisory will remain in effect until monday. all the way from the north bay down to the south bay, please limit any type of outdoor exposure. put that car a.c. on recirculate and where an n 95 mask if possible. if you see an area where you're selling them, tweet it out and help your neighbors out. bring all of your furry friends inside. bring the pets inside and make sure they're safe as well. that extreme fire danger will remain through the weekend. red flag warnings are in place

not just from northern california but all the way through southern california. the reason that a new red flag warning will kick in tonight is because offshore winds are expected to kick up the gusty conditions lowering our humidity levels especially overnight to possibly less than 10% in some spots for the north bay mountains and east bay hills. i want to show you a map of the chico area because their red flag warning will remain next through monday morning. they're talking about gusts of up to 50 miles per hour. humidity is down toward 5% mark. that extreme fire danger will kick up into the overnight hours as that humidity tends to recover. tomorrow at 2:00 p.m., we're dealing with humidity levels before the 15% mark. you have to be on high alert over the next several days as we head in towards tomorrow. the breezy conditions will really kick up especially for the inland areas. that fire warning will remain in effect, the temperatures in those 70s and please just limit

outdoor exposure and as always, please remain on high alert. back to you. >> good information, thanks. just shy of 7:47. still ahead on "today in the bay" -- >> the things that happened while i was there, i just knew everything wasn't legitimate. >> a whistle-blower speaks out accusing a bay area towing company of putting public safety at risk and robbing workers of their hard earned pay. with a hy

violations.is still on the road after causing the death of a a bay area towing company with a history of safety violations is still on the road after causing the death of a young mother. a whistle-blower tells us the company is putting workers and the public in danger. let's bring in senior investigative reporter vicky nguyen. >> the former driver told me he can't understand why regulators allow irvine auto towing to stay in business. he says it has a history of cheating workers out of wages and ignoring safety issues. >> reporter: as of april 20th, the permit was suspended for that number. were you aware of that? >> i don't know anything about that. >> the things that happened while i was there, i just knew everything wasn't legitimate. >> reporter: tim hudson reached out after seeing our reports

that the towing company was still in business. the company was called out to tow this car when it became unhitched, rolling off the truck and killing a mother as she prepared a water main in san francisco. >> these people just cost somebody they life. >> reporter: according to state records. the company goes by stride, pride and modesto. hudson started working for pride in late august. he said he saw red flags from the start. >> i watched vehicle after vehicle be serviced in the yard by handy man who just, you know, looking up stuff on youtube and piecing things together. >> reporter: after three weeks on the job he says he quit when the company refused to pay him for all of his hours. >> never filled out a w-2 and the first two weeks i was there, i had worked four days without pay. >> reporter: turns out the company has a history of not paying its workers. last year the state issued a

$4.8 million fine to irvine auto towing for cheating dispatchers, drivers and mechanics after their hard earned wages but more than a year later the state says it has not collected a single penny of that fine. according to investigators, employees were forced to work 12 hour days without breaks or overtime. >> when do you say enough is enough, we're going to take away your business license. >> if you're asking me if there's a double standard, i have to say yes. >> reporter: labor attorney represents victims of wage theft across the state. >> if i steal your wallet, i'm subject to criminal charges and i go to jail. an employer repeatedly rips off wages of hard working families and they don't get charged criminally. >> reporter: last year he represented two irvine towing workers. he filed a civil lawsuit. the company did not admit wrongdoing but settled.

they should put a lien on a company's property when it commits wage theft. it puts people in danger especially when workers are on the road. >> if you treat people like machines they're going to break down. they're going to be unsafe. they're going to make more mistakes. they're going to get out on the road and get in more accidents. >> reporter: we told you earlier about the long list of safety violations that includes hiring unlicensed drivers and operating without insurance. the owners have never returned our calls for comment. we asked the state labor commission to explain why it hasn't gone after the towing company. they dlienled to do an interview but it has actively work to go investigate and hard work is being done to collect these unpaid wages. >> and these cats are still operating the same way. >> reporter: hudson is now back in school and looking to start a new career but he says he still wanted to speak out to put a spotlight on a safety issues effecting workers and the public. >> it makes me feel like the state knew about it and knows about it and doesn't do anything about it. >> in addition to the labor

commissioner, the chp, tell us they all have ongoing investigations looking into this company, but as you can see, none of that has slowed it down. we will stay on this story. >> vicky nguyen, that whistle-blower reached out to us. if you want to connect with our investigative unit, please call us 1-888-996-tips or visit our website, nbcbayarea.com/investigations. it is 7:54. we do have much more ahead coming up on "today in the bay." its our clear the shelter segment featuring our friends from pets in need. get an update on them next.

welcome back. its time for our clear the shelter segment featuring our friends from pets in need. jacklyn stewart or here with zen. you might remember a few months ago we had zen on and he was about to undergo surgery. he had to have his leg amputated, he had to have a

hernia repair, dental extractions -- he was perfect before, he's even better now than he was before and cynthia you said he's just the calmest thing and people would really love to have them in their home. >> he's very social and energetic and playful. he just hops around like the kid he is. >> you call him a tripod. he was running through the studio with his sweater on. any home would be good for him? >> yes. he's very good with dogs and he's good with families. he's very social and he likes to pl pl play. >> what's special about pets in need, we always talk about how great you guys are. you take in animals who have previous problems. he had all those issues when you found him and you were able to take care of him because of this

special program you have called the second chance fund. >> right. so our second chance fund helps animals like zen get all the care they need. we're fund-raising on that fund on giving tuesday which is november 27th, the tuesday after thanksgiving. >> okay. >> yes. >> after everyone takes care of themselves with black friday and cybermonday, they can give back on tuesday. >> exactly. >> and you guys -- i mean we already know with every animal you spay, you neuter, you microchip and flea collar, you take care of all these other special procedures. >> yes. if they come to us with anything, if they are saveable then we will do whatever we can to save them. >> if you're looking for a way to give back on giving tuesday and global day of giving, the tuesday after thanksgiving, hopefully you will consider the second chance fund. thank you guys so much for being here and with zen, we hope zen finds his forever home and thanks to all of you for making

us apart of your evening. our next newscast is at 11:00. stay up-to-date on our website. have a great saturday. . symbol you know you're

watching television that's educational and informational the more you know on nbc. josh: today on the voyager... i feel the beat of aruba when i learn to play the steel pan. i'm following your lead, don't be surprised if i start dancing, okay? get a glimpse of 1,000-year-old cave drawings. looks like someone got like a rusty colored crayon and just went crazy on the ceiling. and discover why the aloe vera plant is so special to the island. you can barely hold onto it, look, it's slipping out of my hands. my name is josh garcia. ever since i was a kid i've dreamt about travelling the world by ship, immersing myself in new cultures, and exploring nature's wonders.