[ cheers and applause ] >> seth: hey, everybody. i wanna thank quinta brunson,

matt rogers. thanks for watching. we love you, everybody. happy new year. [ cheers and applause ] ♪ right now at 11. it is a full fledged battle in southern california. tonight, a new fire has erupted amid howling winds. i'm going to bail as soon as if the wind gets worse or the fire gets closer. this is new video from altadena, which is just north of pasadena. people scrambling to get out of harm's way. that includes seniors who live at a health care center in the area that had to be evacuated as thick smoke blanketed that facility. now, this is the main event, an explosive, erratic fire that is terrorizing the upscale coastal

community of pacific palisades. crews overwhelmed by the fire that's burning in so many different directions as neighbors watch home after home go up in flames. really hard. i think it it really hit me when i heard that all the trees around the house were burning because i have. my youngest son is still going to poly high, so, you know, hope hopefully that the high school survives. i don't know. difficult situation for sure. the situation is so dire that people were forced to ditch their cars on sunset boulevard and flee on foot. then emergency crews were forced to bulldoze those cars so firefighters could get through and other people could get to safety. now it is going to be a long, difficult, sleepless night for many people down south. firefighters are saying they have never seen the santa ana winds this vicious. right now two fires have their full attention. the biggest fire

is this palisades fire that we've been telling you about. it's burning in pacific palisades, which is nestled where you can see here between malibu and over here, which is santa monica. okay. tens of thousands of people are under evacuation orders. the second fire broke out this evening about 30 miles northeast of there. that one is in altadena, okay. which is right here near pasadena. we're going to begin tonight. our coverage with nbc's tracey leong and pacific palisades, where the wind is relentless and only expected to get worse. and just as we speak right now, i can feel how intense those winds are. the santa ana winds, that's what's fueling this massive fire broke out around 1030 this morning, and it's exploded to nearly 3000 acres. my photographer, sean browning, zooming in right now to give you a look at those intense flames. we're talking about this fire burning up the hillside. and there are homes and structures along this area. we were about a quarter mile down earlier tonight. it got

dangerous, so we had to relocate, but we saw homes just burning down all in the fire's pathway. and this is a huge concern. these winds. so what you're feeling are these sporadic winds. it's not this consistent flow from the usual santa ana's that puts it in a in a consistent direction. embers jump ahead as the wind blows. so they jump ahead of the fire and they catch things on fire. it's just there's fire all the way around us. we are at the command post. this is where they set up earlier tonight. but because of the unpredictable flames, beuse of the strong winds, they have decided to relocate the command post. because they have decided that it is unsafe for emergency personnel in this area right now. so they are moving north to a safer area away from these flames. but right now, the big concern is that these winds are only going to get worse. we saw these winds pick up throughout the evening, but the really strong winds, those will be moving in through the overnight hours so far. the

good news no injuries. but right now they do not have a containment on this fire. and the structures we have seen dozens and dozens of homes burned down. we have reporters spread out across this area of pacific palisades, and we've reported many homes just burning down in a matter of seconds. so it will take at least 24 hours until they can get a handle on how many homes and how many families have been impacted. all right. thank you very much, tracy. it is really remarkable that no one's been hurt. now get out. now, that's been the warning for many in los angeles all day long and into the evening. don't hesitate. don't stop. because the wind whipped fire is showing no mercy. nbc bay area's jocelyn moran continues our coverage now with the rush to safety and jocelyn truly terrifying. yeah, jess. that's right. d firefighters are going into the night battling the fire on all sides against the strong winds. those winds have picked up in the past hour, and it's going to be a long and dangerous night for

thousands. tonight, the firefight intensifies as those strong winds fuel the wildfire burning through pacific palisades. i know these houses because i've lived here for 20 years. i know which house that is that's burning. i know which houses they are right next to mine that are burning. derrick has lived in the neighborhood for 20 years and spoke to our sister station, nbc los angeles. really hard. i think it it really hit me when i heard that all the trees around the house were burning because i have. my youngest son is still going to poly high, so, you know, hope hopefully that the high school survives. i don't know, i haven't been down there yet, so people racing to get out. many deciding to abandon their cars in a huge traffic jam with just one way in and out of that canyon. those cars were in the way and had to be moved fast. the gist of moving them with bulldozers was an emergency situation. you got to get those fire resources through, and they do what they have to do to be

able to facilitate that. adam handler was one of those who evacuated and abandoned his car. he spoke on the phone with our nbc station in l.a. adam, we understand you were driving a black audi. is that the first one? that's right there at the at the beginning of the dozer? yeah, that looks like the car. palm trees near us started catching on fire. and then some flames came down the hill to the point where there may be like 10 or 15ft away. and either a fireman or a policeman, i think it was a policeman started telling everybody, get out of your car if you want to live. governor gavin newsom declaring a state of emergency. by no stretch of the imagination are we out of the woods. the windstorm is forecast to be heaviest overnight. these winds are expected to actually pick up. it's really windy already, and so if it gets windier, we're trying to battle this fire on all sides of the fire. but with extra wind, it's just going to make it that much harder. tonight, a cal fire strike team

from the bay area, consisting of five fire engines, are there fighting the blaze. o personnel tonight are working on structure protection, collaboration proving to be essential tonight as first responders work to ensure people are out of harm's way. focus is still t make sure that all lives are saved. all lives are out of the way of this fire. it's still spreading. it's still moving very quickly. there is no there is no form of containment yet on this fire. jocelyn moran, nbc, bay area news. and it is not even close to being over yet. you just heard that firefighters say that. let's bring in our meteorologist, jeff ranieri. he saw the winds pick up tonight. we keep hearing about these winds that are going to escalate. what are we talking about. still winds up to 100mph. so an extremely critical 24 hours still ahead for southern california. that's getting into these extreme conditions. we'll set the scene for you once more. here we have the palisades fire, which started earlier today. then the second fire, the eaton

canyon fire near altadena that started just this evening. we'll take you to the palisades fire first. the way the wind is blowing right now, it's pushing most of the smoke in the embers towards the ocean. gusts up to 55mph, but santa monica on high alert. that second fire right near altadena, 50 to 70 mile per hour gusts. right now, with that wind that's pushing it all towards the valley. at least all the smoke and possible embers could move into pasadena. alhambra. also el monte. so this is a situation here where people are likely under evacuation warning watch or some sort of advisory. look at the winds here 30 to 70mph. this is on average some of the mountain peaks up to 100. as we head into the overnight hours. same thing tomorrow morning, but eventually, by tomorrow night, that wind will start to calm on

down. so tomorrow night, we should start to see those winds beginning to relax. we've got this red flag fire warning in southern california until 6 p.m. back here in the bay area. two spots with some gusty winds. mount saint helena up to 60. mount diablo 53. everywhere else, it's five to about 25mph here in the bay area. i've got more checks coming up in just a few minutes. okay. thank you very much. well, you heard jess. jeff mention it right now. this wind is like anything a lot of people in socal have ever seen. that includes the firefighters to nbc's robert kovacik caught up with an l.a. fire captain who is leading this very difficult charge tonight. i got to ask you, first of all, friend to friend, how do you put this fire in all of our years of experience, one of the most challenging due to the most powerful winds that i can really remember. unfortunately, this spotted so quick in so many directions that we have to just move to evacuating people out of

the way. it's simply impossible for us to completely stop the fire when it's this bad of winds. but you got to admit, man, this is one scary, scary day in southern california. this is one of the worst wind driven fires i've had the privilege of being on. you heard them. they're one of the worst wind driven fires. now, president biden says he's being frequently briefed on the wildfires. in a social media post tonight, he said he's offered any federal assistance that is needed to help suppress the terrible pacific palisades fire. the president went on to urge people in the area to stay vigilant and to listen to local officials. again. so many people just don't know where they're going to be waking up to tomorrow. we invite you to stay with us for the latest on southern california. we'll bring you updates throughout the newscast. our website, always nbcbayarea.com, is being updated around the clock. all right. inauguration eve and san francisco mayor elect daniel leary spent the night taking part in a long standing tradition for incoming

mayors. the unity service. meanwhile, volunteers are busy prepping for the historic celebration after he takes the oath of office. nbc bay area's gia vang has more. as we ask your blessing on daniel on the evening before he takes up the mantle as our city's mayor, mayor elect daniel leary is the focus of prayers by dozens of leaders of all faiths at the san francisco interfaith council's unity service, a tradition that started with then-mayor gavin newsom. it happened inside congregation emanuel, a familiar place for leary. i can truly say that this feels like home and my home temple. laurie has attended the synagogue his entire life. his father, brian laurie, a former rabbi there. and tonight he blessed his son. i love you very much. and i believe with all my heart that he will be a blessing for all of san francisco, the incoming mayor told the crowd he plans to return the city back to its reputation, a place where people

seek safe harbor and shelter and tackle the toughest issues like the addiction crisis and homelessness together. and not just by changing policies and practices. i will do itt by changing the tone and the culture of politics in this city, and by rejecting the politics of division. the mayor elect will be sworn in tomorrow at 1130 at civic center plaza, and then the new mayor will then head to a night of festivities in chinatown. and preps tonight are underway. we are very grateful that the mayor is giving us this recognition to celebrate with him together. new beginnings is signifies a lot of hope for god of hope. fill the temple where faith leaders say they're not just praying for the mayor elect, but also to publicly commit to serving and being supportive. no one person can do it alone. i will see what

he does. let's give it all a chance and work together. thank you and i'll see you tomorrow in san francisco. gia vang nbc, bay area news. and you can stick with us for complete coverage of the mayoral inauguration tomorrow. we've got live team coverage all day. that includes airing the city hall inauguration ceremony live. you can watch it right here on nbc bay area or on any of our at 1130 in the morning. we'res back in 60s ahead. new charges for the man already in prison for raping and kidnaping a bay area woman. the new details we're learning about matthew mueller, who became the focus of a netflix series. and a rash of break ins over the holidays in palo alto. but are they connected? what the suspects were after? that's next. and i'm continuing to track the wind from the bay area down to

to a bay area kidnaping and rape case that sparked international headlines and inspired a popular

netflix series. matthew mueller, the man convicted for that crime in vallejo, is now being tied to more home invasions. the new details were revealed today by authorities in monterey county. matthew mueller was convicted of raping and kidnaping denise huskins, kwon, in vallejo back in 2015. vallejo pd infamously called the case a hoax before mueller was eventually arrested. the crime, though, got fresh interest last year after netflix aired the documentary series americican nightmare. the police chief in seaside watched that show and decided to write to mueller in prison. surprisingly, mueller wrote back. chief says he gave critical info tying him to at least four other crimes, including a rape and kidnaping back in 1993. when mueller was just 16, mueller was 16 years old when he attacked his first victims. and he was 38 years old by the time he got to us. that's two decades of this mindset that

he was living in. by the time our case came about, they found storage units full of equipment to help him facilitate terrorizing people. that's denise huskins and her husband, who initially was suspected in the hoax as well when he was just her boyfriend. this week, mueller was also chargedith a previously unreported 2015 kidnaping and ransom scheme in san ramon. he's also being linked to home invasions, now in mountain view and palo alto, county of san mateo, responding to a $10 million discrimination claim from their own sheriff. yesterday, sheriff cristina korbin albert filed the government claim alleging gender and racial discrimination. it comes after the county ordered an independent report into her leadership and found multiple abuses of power. corpus's filing is likely a prerequisite to filing ann oicial lawsuit against the county. san mateo county issued a statement tonight saying in part, quote, the assertions that she has been discriminated against, harassed and defamed because she is both

a woman and a latinx person are completely baseless and a distraction from the issues. the county has 45 days to respond to that claim. well, a big shakeup in social media today that some are calling politically motivated. meta, the parent company of instagram and facebook, says it will soon eliminate its paid third party fact checkers. instead, it will rely on users to moderate content similar to what's done on elon musk's x site. the move, announced this morning by meta ceo mark zuckerberg, drew mixed reaction, some calling it dangerous, with others describing it as forward thinking. meta's announcement will have a devastating impact on young people in particular, who are widely exposed to misinformation and disinformation and all sorts of unmoderated content on platforms like instagram and facebook. maybe people who normally wouldn't spend time there because they're upset by what they feel is misinformation will

now be interested to go because they feel like they have a voice to push back on, that it might lead to a much more robust and complete debate on a lot of issues. the move comes after president elect trump recently accused meta founder mark zuckerberg of censoring conservative voices on facebook and instagram. all right, i want to take you back to that breaking news in southern california. two fires now raging out of control. firefighters overwhelmed. minutes ago. we learned more help is on the way from the bay area. several firefighters from the east bay are now heading south. and, jeff, those crews down in palisades area, they actually really need the help. yeah they do. and the fire near altadena. that one is r raging too. and there's quite a few embers flowing around as we saw in that video. i mean, there's no stopping it. once that fire makes contact with a house, it's just going up there just on the defense trying to keep it if they can, from spreading to the next neighborhood. and look at these winds here. top gusts in

california, san gabriel mountains, 97mph. malibu 85. burbank airport down in the valley, 83mph. chino hills 74. and this wasn't just a one time thing. we've seen several hours on end here of wind gusts like this in southern california. so extreme wind there for us. we did get in on 64mph here in saint helena. i did want to show you again, if you have friends or family in southern california, the high wind warnings, fire warnings go until 6 p.m. tomorrow. we should see some improvement by late tomorrow night, but right now, no big rain chances the next two weeks. now, when it comes to the bay area, we're still focusing in on some strong gusts at mount saint helena 58 and mount diablo 62. most of the lower elevations, five to about 25. but we're seeing it pop up a little bit in santa rosa to 37 and san jose 46. but i can show you this tonight. all of our wind will be moving on out with

this area of low pressure pushing off to the south. let me get you more details on this in your microclimate forecast, and you'll see as we begin. 8 a.m. tomorrow. this is what we want to see. anywhere from five to about 20mph. so still a little bit breezy, but some of the strongest gusts in the mountains should be exiting through tomorrow morning's commute and then not looking that bad here as we head through tomorrow afternoon and evening, 5 to 10mph. otherwise, as we started off, make sure to have your jacket when the breeze kicks up. it's going to be a little bit blustery out here. temperatures in the 40s across the bay area that will dip us down to 46 in the south bay, over to the tri-valley 42. and that sunshine will be with us here for the east bay, san francisco and the north bay. daytime highs for tomorrow rebounding into the 60s. so i think we get rid of the wind, we get some sunshine, and these numbers will make it a pretty good afternoon for us. coming in on our wednesday forecast 64in napa, 63 livermore and 65 in palo alto. seven day forecast keeps it dry into this

weekend. temps in the low 60s here through san francisco and across the inland valleys. we're also going to be remaining in the 60s down there in southern california. it is going to be another sleepless night. i'm sure a lot of families, they're going to be sleeping in shifts tonight, because it's one of those situations where everything seems fine and then a fire starts and it moves so quickly and the wind can change so quickly to plus a situation like. so far, we've been blessed that no one's been hurt, but we've got a long night ahead of us. yeah, and at night, just like, you know, when you get into strong storms, it makes it even harder to see on top of the smoke and the visibility and the flames. so, you know, if you have friends or family down there, they're feeling a little nervous. you know, they might want to go to that backup plan now. yeah. all right. good advice. thank you jeff. all right. check this out. is it a prank? a waymo mishap leaves a no driver. and the vehicle isth doingonuts. what's

a holiday crime spree in palo alto. what? you're looking at a surveillance video of one of the burglaries happened around 1 a.m. december 31st. palo alto police say several people forced their way into the kupa cafe on ramona street and got away with several hundred dollars in cash in the early morning hours of the 26th. police say burglars broke into the restaurant. nola

stole a safe containing several thousand dollars. same thing happened at local union 271 on university avenue, december 23rd. police say they've added extra patrols downtown overnight, and as they continue to investigate those break ins, they'll be on the lookout. all right. he was in a rush to get to the airport, but his decision to take a driverless waymo car literally left him driving in circles. okay, why is this happening to me on a monday? i'm in a waymo car. this car is just going in circles. in circles. passenger mike johns recorded this video as he was trapped inside the waymo driverless taxi doing loops in a scottsdale, arizona parking lot. after about five minutes and some help from rider support. johns was on his way to the airport, made his flight. good news. waymo says johns was not charged for the trip. why would he? then they say the issue was eventually addressed with a simple software update. okay. big changes coming to the 49ers coaching staff also. the warriors try to get

back on the winningng track, and back on the winningng track, and the giants may have their new ehh... hmm. oh, that's very, uh... - right? - mmm... this store doesn't have agentforce, so an ai agent didn't tip off the stylist as to what i might actually wear. - yes. - oh. that's a commitment. [glass knocked] hey bud! whaddaya think? you know, people can see you out here. ha ha ha ha, yeah, yeah, right, right, ha ha. love you, too. agentforce helps retailers prevent fashion fails. it's what ai was meant to be. ♪♪ today, it was revealed that special teams coach brian schneider has been fired. and then tonight came word that the defensive coordinator, nick sorensen, is out. no word on who's going to replace either man. warriors at chase center tonight's opponent opponent miami heat. steph curry was the

one bright spot in the first half. he scored 20 points, but the warriors still trailed by 13. second half as much as the warriors tried to come back, miami just continued to pour it on. they ran away to a 100 1498 victory after starting out the season 12 and three. now the warriors have now lost 1 of their last 21 games. switching to the ice sharks are home entertaining the vegas golden knights. second period the sharks were trailing two to nothing when the sharks william eklund takes a pass in the slot. slaps right past knights goalie. sharks now trail by one. unfortunately, that was as close as the sharks would get, as vegas would score two more goals and go on to a 4 to 2 victory. well, after losing ace blake snell to the hated dodgers, the giants may have filled his spot with one of the best pitchers in a generation. according to multiple reports, they have signed three time cy young winner justin verlander. the deal is pending his physical. we're sure he's passed future hall of famers entering his 20th

season and turns 42 next month. he'll be looking to rebound his 2024 run with the astros mired by injuries, leading to one of the worst seasons of his career, so see there in the background is some ash. you see the wind. this is the palisades fire that we're looking at. broke out at 1030 this morning. upwards of 3000 acres burned. right now, tens of thousands of people have been evacuated. the winds have really started to pick up this evening. now, we've also learned that a third fire has broken out because we also have the altadena fire, which is the eaton fire. that one's in altadena. and now we have one in sylmar, which is in the san fernando valley. some homes are being evacuated. and this is exactly what we've been talking

about, that people have feared because of this wind, an ember flies and can fly really far. and the next thing you know, you have a new fire and you have more chaos for firefighters because the locations are separate and they're going to stay with these strong, gusty winds all the way through tomorrow afternoon. i do think by tomorrow evening there will be some marked changes in the wind as it will be dropping. but look at these flames in this video. i mean, it is so ferocious out there. once it gets caught on a house and it starts, there's no way to put it out at this point. the way, the way things are going at this point, i think it's going to be pretty stunning for people when they wake up in the morning and see the devastation that's happened just in 24 hours. of course, we're going to continue to follow al >> breaking news tonight, the explosive wildfires raging in los angeles as life threatening winds spread danger across southern california. homes are burning in the pacific

palisades as officials order mandatory evacuations. thousands racing to get out. vehicles abandoned in the gridlock. firefighters rushing to reach those trapped. santa ana winds burning hundreds of acres and gusts of winds up to 100 miles perer hour. plus the deep freeze and new winter storm warnings we are tracking. just breaking in the las vegas cybertruck explosion police are now saying it was plotted using ai, including chat gpt. why they are calling it a game-changer. president-elect donald trump suggesting he can use the military to seize greenland and the panama canal, and the head of meta, mark zuckerberg announcing major changes and announces facebook and instagram are getting rid of fact-checkers. jimmy carter begins his lie in

state beginning tonight. the member of a legendary folk trio that gave the world puff the magic dragon. remembering peter yarrow. >> this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. >> good evening and welcome. a wind storm -- homes are engulfed in flames in the pacific palisades section of l.a. forcing thousands to flee and forcing an incredibly dangerous situation. santa ana winds gusting up to 100 miles per hour and spreading for acres and acres. the plume of smoke visible from lax. officials warned of extreme fire danger, the highest alert. tonight the danger has become a reality for those caught in the path. as the flames and the smoke spread today some dr