county border. the fire started shortly before four this afternoon and has already burned more than 50 acres. evacuations have been ordered. you can see here homes very close to the fire's path here. even though fire crews are stretched just so thin right now, they are responding quickly to try and knock down some of these flames early on. the new fire comes as a red flag warning has now been extended to tomorrow night. all right, let's talk about the original fire. that palisades fire. it has now grown to almost 20,000 acres. that is bigger. think about this than the entire city of palo alto. and the devastation is widespread. cal fire now estimating that at least 5300 buildings may have been destroyed. and a lot of those are homes. now that palisades fire has also now turned deadly. human remains were found las night in the rubble of this destroyed malibu home. this is along the iconic pacific coast highway. sheriff's

personnel medical medical examiner are investigating to figure out how the pern died from asphyxiation or from the fire itself. in altadena, where the eaton fire is burning, we are told some people are starting to return home, even though the fire has not been contained there yet. an estimated 4 to 5000 structures are believed to have been destroyed by this fire as well. i've never seen nothing like this before. like from the smell to even how the sun is red. it's. it's the worst thing i've seen. look like a bomb just went off over here. like that's the only way i could describe it. authorities also dealing with looters in that area. they say they've made 20 arrests since tuesday, and they're now considering creating a curfew for the areas around the palisades and eaton fires. now, as crews desperately try to gain control of all the fires burning, the magnitude of the destruction is still unknown. nbc's jennifer bjorklund continues our coverage from altadena. it is day three of the

firestorm sweeping through los angeles county. it is safe to say that the palisades fire is one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of los angeles, and palisades is just one of the multiple fires burning for firefighters. the struggle is around the clock against the fast moving, unpredictable flames. we're fighting fire on one side, and then all of a sudden the wind changes direction and now we're fighting on multiple fronts. those flames advancing due to strong winds. some hurricane force. we had gusts up to 99 miles an hour and firefighters were used to. we're used to the santa ana winds, but we're not used to is these erratic winds and the, you know, two mile ember crossing. but officials say after days of bad news, there is progress. while we are still facing significant threats, i am hopeful that the tide is turning in neighborhoods hit hard by the fires, blocks of

destruction, entire businesses destroyed, homes completely gone. families feeling helpless. first home purchase. you know. so it's like you work hard for your american dream and a dream that is now gone. she says she was looking for her mother in law's ashes, but had no luck, and that they do plan to rebuild, but know that it will be an uphill battle. in altadena, california. jennifer bjorklund, nbc news. all right. let's bring in meteorologist vianey arana vianey. is the weather getting any better to help some of these firefighters? well, we've had some brief breaks in where the winds have decreased somewhat, but unfortunately, it is still very dry. and we are expecting for the winds to ramp up yet again. so those periods where we see the winds ramping up, i'm going to take you through the timing, but i want to show you first this map, because it kind of shows you where some of those active wildfires are burning. we added the kenneth fire now, this one near the calabasas area.

temperature wise, we are comfortable in the 60s and 70s. so it's not the temperatures that we're worried about when it comes to the number. let's look at palisades fire. now. this is the largest at almost 20,000 acres. you'll notice. here's the emphasis in the focus. that low humidity right now at 12%. and the wind gusts still at about 19mph. but again, even though the winds right now seem to be diminishing, they will ramp up again. and that is the reason why that red flag warning was extended through tomorrow. i'm going to take you through the timing here. this is through about 6 p.m. you'll notice even at around 6:00 tonight, we've still got some gusty conditions, 30 plus. but look what happens as we inch into tonight and early friday morning. so we're talking about that overnight window where things really begin to get extremely dangerous right here around calabasas. look at that. wind gusts 61 plus miles per hour inching towards pasadena 43 plus. so really, the la and ventura county areas are expecting to see those winds kick it up a notch. we'll see some relief heading into friday evening, but unfortunately, just looking ahead into the weekend, it does look like that sunday

monday forecast could also bring some impacts with the wind, but i'll be back with more updates on that and your local forecast in just a few minutes. unfortunately, the nightmare is not over for these folks. thank you. vianey now wildfire victims in the cing days, months and weeks will need help in so many different ways from navigating insurance to trying to clean up to figure out how they start over again. well, tonight, a bay area based agency is stepping up to help them. nbc bay area's robert honda joins us frorom the santa cruz mountains. and, robert, you've got more on this. boulder creek is still recovering from the ccu fire of 2020, and it is one of the communities that the organization, after the fire came in to help after the fire says the fire here had many similarities to touthern california fires. and as people here will tell you, many of the same needs as they try to recover. burdick bly is still repairing his own property, damage from the ccu fire and helping his neighbors. they were

all victims of the 2020 ccu lightning complex fire that burned up more than 86,000 acres and destroyed over 900 homes. bly, who runs a fire mitigation company, conscious clearing, is also headed to l.a. to help family members there. it's going to beeople stepping in and helping and trying to keep things as affordable, and they're going to need labor help. and so i i'm really deep and saddened, and i pray for the families. i had to go through it. and it's quite a nightmare. the sonoma based group after the fire usa is already helping boulder creek in santa cruz county, as well as in southern california. ceo jennifer gray thompson says this nonprofit group works with local agencies, providing hope and an eye to what comes next. the top priorities are, you know, how do they access insurance? what nonprofits are trusted, like united policyholders to help them navigate that, and how to

navigate things like contractor fraud? you know, three types of people show up after a dister. those who want to sell you something, those who want to defraud you, and those who want to help. bly says he's grateful you got to be community driven to help these people, you know, facilitate and get back into homes and to get their fire mitigation handled. what do the homeowners need right away, even at this point? money. the long road to recovery is something every area hit by wildfire understands. and fortunately, groups like after the fire stay for the long run in boulder creek, robert honda, nbc, bay area news. okay. thank you very much, robert. our team coverage of the southern california wildfires continues a little bit later in this newscast. coming up at 530, we're going to take you to the oakland hills, where neighbors are raising new concerns about their city's decision to close fire stations to help balance the budget, especially after seeing what's happening in southern california. we're also going to take a look at technology used

in the bay area to help fight those southern california fires. it was an emotional morning in the nation's capital as america paused to honor former president jimmy carter during his funeral at the national cathedral. the service was attended by all five living presidents, along with dignitaries from around the world. here's nbc's jay gray from washington, d.c. thank you. jimmy carter's final stop in washington, like so much in his life, defined by faith. and whosoever liveth. the national cathedral filled with family, friends, dignitaries, the five living presidents sitting together, president biden delivering the eulogy his friend requested to make every minute of our time here on earth count. that's the definition of a good life, a life jimmy carter lived during his 100 years. president caer didn't particularly enjoy

politics, but understood its importance to his life's mission, bringing change and help to those who need it the most. he built houses for people that needed homes. he eliminated diseases and forgotten places. he waged peace anywhere in the world. wherever he saw a chance. he loved people. the very definition of a servant leader. few in or outside the political arena have matched his impact as a global humanitarian. i hope someday, or his commitment to peace. still, no matter what he did or where he traveled. he would always come home to plains, georgia, making that trip one last time today. as a nation gives thanks and honors jimmy carter for a century of

dedication and love for his country and fellow man. after an evening service at maranatha baptist church, where the former president taught sunday school well into his 90s, his final resting place is alongside rosalynn, his beloved wife of 77 years in the backyard of their modest home. now a memorial in plains. jay gray, nbc news, washington. habitat for humanity is showing their appreciation for president carter with a series of memorials across the world. the late president and mrs. carter dedicated themselves to habitat for humanity for almost 40 years. habitat for humanity says the couple helped renovate or build homes in 14 different countries. and to honor their service, the organization has created a series of memorial doors like the one you're looking at here, including two that were placed at oakland and at san jose city hall. several people across the bay area took a moment to sign

these memorials, as a thanks to the carters for their work and influence. you know, habitat for humanity is really driven by the community, whether that's the folks that come out and build, the folks that give and support, the folks that sponsor the faith communities that come together and support. it really takes people from all over the community to make this mission happen. and so we're so grateful for the decades of example that president carter set and got so many people involved in this mission. the carter's helped build more than 4300 homes worldwide. quite the legacy. all right. security screeners hit the picket lines today at san francisco international airport. the screeners are contract employees who work for a company called covenant. they claim that a law was signed two years ago that required the department of homeland security to raise their wages to match. tsa employees pay, but they say they haven't gotten that raise. we're pushing. we're pushing to try to get the money that we deserve. you know, i mean, it's not like we're trying to get extra. we're trying to get what we deserve,

what we what we've fought for, you know? what the what the rules that they've established say that we're supposed to be getting. tsa isn't commenting on the security screeners wages, but they did say that today's rally did not cause any delays at the airport. it is worth noting that the screeners are considered essential employees, meaning they are not allowed to strike. still ahead, difficult news for people living in san francisco. walgreens is closing 12 stores in the city. the reason the company is leaving and when you can expect the doors to close for good. and more cuts at microsoft. why the tech giant is slashing jobs and the number of people impacted. and we've been dry and warm in some spots. we even saw some new daily record highs. manage to climb to the 70s. i'll tell you what spots saw a new record number and also what to expect

that's because walgreens says it's going to shutter a dozen stores in the city, part of a nationwide closure of 1200 walgreens locations. here's nbc bay area's christie smith. reporter well, the 12 walgreens stores are expected to close

towards the end of february. some customers we spoke with today say they're disappointed, and they're going to have to travel further for what they need. the walgreens store on noriega street is a close and convenient location for customers like eastern. lie to get prescriptions and other items, but that convenience is about to come to an end. it's one of 12 san francisco walgreens stores now set to close. it's bad news, for sure. bad news for lie and many others who will now have a further track to get some of those necessities. it doesn't matter. you're going to have to drive a little further. and the parking is really good here too. so i'm worried that i have to go somewhere where the parking isn't as great, and it's just going to make everything a little harder. walgreens says the decision to close 1200 stores nationwide was not an easy move to make. telling us in a statement increased regulatory reimbursement pressures are weighing on our ability to cover the cost associated with rent, staffing and supply needs. the closures have been happening for

a while because of various reasons, but mainly profitable reasons. walgreens is the latest in a series of drugstores to announce closures. we reached out to an associate professor in the department of management at cal state east bay for a closer look at the economics of it. when it comes to pharmacies, they are not the they are not determining the price. so when it comes to prescription drugs, usually there are several parties involved. he says other challenges can include theft, rising rent and customers opting for online options to fill prescriptions, leading to less foot traffic. supervisor connie chan says the local closures also include the 5280 geary boulevard location in her district. they have informed us that they're going to transfer some of these prescription and pharmacy services to the walgreens, located out of richmond. it's not going to work for us. we're in communications with them. we are reaching out to the walgreens representative

to figure out what are our options at the end of the day? that's critical service for our residents. walgreens says they will work to minimize customer disruptions. patients are being notified as to where their prescriptions are being transferred in san francisco. christie smith, nbc, bay area news. a new round of layoffs for tech giant microsoft, this time targeting underperforming staff. the company says it's cutting a small percentage of jobs across several departments based on performance. we're told it will affect less than 1% of employees. back in 2023, the company laid off 10,000 employees, and in january of last year, microsoft's gaming unit slashed 1900. jobs. all right, difficult climate around the, you know, different things now in business a difficult climate. but here when we talk about the real climate, we're having a nice time. you know, it's been nice and clear and certainly but chilly. yeah. we've had thahat highressure that's helped keep the clear skie around. and also it's been keeping us dry as far as any

rain chances go. well, we've been monitoring the forecast for that as well as winds here locally as well. so let's get right to a live look of how beautiful it looks right now in downtown san jose. now you also likely notice the warmth. that is also thanks to that high pressure. now we did manage to see some new record daily highs. these are preliminary numbers. but the national weather service is saying that the san francisco airport, they managed to hit a high of 71, tying the previous daily record. and then also in redwood city. they saw mid 70s today. and this is where we stand right now. so we've got 60s on the map, still seeing some 70s up through santa rosa and calistoga. and just to give you an idea of how much warmer we're running compared to the past 24 hours. look at santa rosa, about 12 degrees warmer, fairfield about 11 degrees warmer. and we can expect to keep these sort of above average temperatures through friday and into the weekend. so what does satellite look like right now? notice it is clear we've got that high pressure that's been reigning supreme and dominant. also bringing of course those gusty winds. and the dry

offshore winds are still going to be problematic for areas in southern california. and even in some of our ridges here locally. i'll take you through that in a second. but notice san francisco right now is about 64 degrees. look at the icons here. we're talking clear conditions even into the overnight hours. 50s on the map. light winds right now in san francisco, san jose, also in those 60s, keeping the clear skies as well into those 50s overnight with some chilly overnight lows. but let's talk about the wind speeds here, because we also had some gusty, windy conditions at some point earlier through the week. as that high pressure keeps building, you'll notice we still have some areas where we could see some wind gusts upwards of 17 to 20mph at times for the north bay and some of those higher elevations. so just be mindful of that proximity wise. if you are anywhere near these areas where we're still seeing the gusts at those higher elevations, definitely want to keep an eye out for that and then things will change. so let's talk about first the temperatures heading into your friday forecast. we're going to be in the 60s for san jose, 68

degrees 66 in hayward. notice novato 62 san francisco will remain in the 60s for your saturday forecast. so no big changes when it comes to those temperatures. we're going to keep that around through the weekend. and here's what we're looking at ahead. now. we do have the possibility of seeing more wind heading into saturday and sunday. the winds right now another dry offshore event. we're talking from the north northeast. it's going to impact us here locally, but also down through parts of southern california. we could see those gusts once again, not only ramping up tonight into torrow for socal, but also into sunday, monday and tuesday of next week. that dry weather will continue. this is taking it all the way through january 12th. you'll notice we've got a system just to our east. but aside from that, this high pressure is keeping any sort of rain out of our forecast, keeping things to the north. and we're going to remain dry here. so of course we'll have to monitor that potential wind event once again heading into the weekend for southern california temperature wise here for the next seven

days. and san francisco, you're going to notice a lot of 60s on the map. so that's still going to keep us above average for this time of year. and if you notice, inland temperatures will also climb to the mid 60s heading into tomorrow so that dry weather will remain but eventually notice by next week. the overnight lows start dipping into those 30s into the morning hours. yeah, it's refreshing to see 60s, right? we've had some really chilly mornings. okay. thank you. vianey. well coming up, he once owned the l.a. dodgers, but now he wants to own tiktok. the push to buy the app as it could be banned from the u.s. in just a matter of

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before, the u.s. ordered parent company bytedance to either sell tiktok or face a ban. users say they're hopeful bytedance will be able to find a suitable buyer. a nonprofit called project liberty is among those offering to be the social media site. the project is an internet advocacy group that the late businessman frank mccourt founded. the group says if the deal happens, they plan to restructure the app to exist on an american owned platform. they also say they would prioritize users digital safety. now, no word on whether bytedance is seriously considering this proposal. tech billionaire elon musk is now backtracking on his federal budget, cutting predictions. president elect donald trump, as you know, appointed musk and vivek ramaswamy to lead a new advisory board dubbed the department of government efficiency, or doge. in october, musk declared a goal of cutting at least $2 trillion in spending from the federal budget. but on an interview on x yesterday, he said that that is probably an unlikely figure,

saying that 1 trillion is a more realistic estimate. elon musk has also been busy stumping for another politician, this time in another country. musk held a live event on x today with alice weidel. she's a german leader. far right alternative for germany party known as the f afd. afd has largely been frozen out of mainstream german politics. the party has been investigated for its extremist positions, including downplaying nazi atrocities. party members have also advocated for a two tier society, where so-called ethnic germans have more rights than those with immigrant backgrounds. during today's event, musk said that he strongly recommends people vote for afd. germanyny's national election, by the way, is next month. now, seeing the planet mercury like we've never seen it

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visit vraylar.com to see additional side effects. ask about vraylar. abbvie could help you save. yeah. a european and japanese robotic explorer spacecraft got 183 miles away from the planet. that's very close. they passed over its north pole while swinging by. they captured these close pictures. they're giving scientists a better look at

mercury's shadowed craters and those volcanic plains. now, this is the last time the spacecraft will fly by the north pole, as it will officially land on mercury sometime later this year. and we'll follow up. all right. don't forget, you can watch our newscast 24/7 on roku and other streaming platforms. janelle wang joins us with what's coming up now at 530. jessica and candice, right now at 530, our team coverage of the southern california wildfires continues. we're going to have the latest info on those fires that are still roaring through neighborhoods. the tireless effort by crews to gain control. also turning to technology to help fight not only these fires, but future ones. the work being done in the bay area and beyond to make a difference. and a day after being inaugurated, san francisco's new mayor makes a major decision. the big announcement from daniel lowry today. the news at 530 starts right now. thanks for joining us. i'm candice nguyen and