good night . fire before the winds build back up. we're tracking the conditions on day five of the l.a. county wildfires. plus, more help has arrived for firefighters from mexico arrived in los angeles, joining more than 10,000 on the ground trying to get the flames under control. also, it's hard to be on social media, you know, at the moment, and it feels kind of numbing without actually doing anything. so this feels better and like we're more involved. how the bay areaea is rallying to support fe victims down south. the news at

six starts right now. thanks for joining us. i'm gia vang. it is day five of the battle against two of the worst wildfires in california history. the eaton and palisades fires continue burning a path of destruction through parts of l.a. county, with thousands of homes and lives at risk. so far, 13 deaths have been confirmed, with at least eight people killed in the eaton fire burning to the northeast of l.a. the fire swept through the city of altadena, destroying homes and businesses, wiping out entire neighborhoods. now, this drive through altadena shows the destruction left behind. we now know that 7000 structures have been damaged or destroyed. many residents under evacuation orders are anxious to see if their homes are still standing. but for the ones who were able to see the aftermath, they found nothing left. we worked so hard to get here and now to see it this way. the eaton fire has burned at least

14,000 acres with containment up to 15%. today, federal authorities are taking over the investigation into the cause of the palisades fire. the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms explosives now leads a task force of police trying to figure out what sparked the firestorm that has now burned more than 22,000 acres. it is the larger of the two major fires and is moving closer to i-405, the san fernando vley. the fire is triggering more evacuations for parts of brentwood and the hills of encino and tarzana. containment ticked up to 11% today. we want to get right to meteorologist rob mayeda. rob, we know crews are bracing for more wind tonight. yeah, and unfortunately, right on schedule. those north winds have arrived. as you see here, the wind speeds in the santa monica mountains there between malibu and heading up towards encino to the north. north at 38mph, gusting now to 45mph and the humidity quite low, down to 20%. we've been watching the expansion of the evacuation order zones from last night, as the fire made a run to the north

of a bit of a change in the wind earlier this morning, and then activity in these red dots here, more active on the east flank of the fire near the mandeville canyon area there, north of brentwood. so the concern is, is the fire made a bit of that jog towards 405 north of brentwood as the winds are shifting, that could allow the fire to make another run to the south. that is something we're watching tonight as red flag conditions continue around the palisades fire and to the northeast, the eaton fire. seeing a high wind warning as these wind speeds expected to accelerate tonight and peak tomorrow morning out of the north from about 40 to 50mph. and those hilltops there around the palisades fire and not far from altadena. very dry conditions. and unfortunately, the long range forecast for southern california shows relentless offshore winds, ongoing at least through the middle part of the week. coming up, we'll let you know if we're expecting any rain to help things out in southern california. coming up and a look at our own 7-day forecast in a few minutes. all right, robin, more help for los angeles. more

than 70 mexican firefighters and humanitarian workers touched down at l.a. airport today to join the fight on the ground. they also brought food and supply donations with them. they'll join the 14,000 national guard members, firefighters and officers already in l.a. nbc bay area's jamar lopez reports from lax. we just spoke to gavin newsom. we had a lot of questions. will the community had a lot of questions, especially the latino community. but i want to show you what's going on right now, because this is the mexican military. they have arrived here. and look at them. they're bringing whatever they could bring to help out the families here that have been affected by these fires. we also have the firefighters on the other side. i was able to talk to one of them. he told me that he found out that he was coming yesterday. he was really excited for me. siento muy contento y pues estamos aqui es un placer poder apoyar a todos nuestros paisanos y también al pais vecino. well you just you just

heard him say that he's really excited. he's really happy to be here. he is ready to help his brothers and sisters. and they're going to be pretty much just going through all the fires. they're going to assign groups to go to the different fires. governor newsom was also at lax to welcome those firefighters and humanitarian workers. they took photos in front of a mexican air force plane. the governor thanked mexico's president, claudia sheinbaum, for offering support and standing in solidarity with la. 40 million americans that live in the great state of california. i want to thank president sheinbaum. i want to thank all the members of the military for being here. it means the world to us. canada has also sent aircraft and equipment to los angeles. yesterday, canadian leaders said they're getting ready to send firefighters as well. and hear more from governor newsom when he speaks exclusively with meet the press moderator kristen welker tomorrow. watch at 8 a.m. right here on nbc bay area. they

are on the same page. that is what l.a. mayor karen bass said today about the relationship between her and the city's fire chief, christine crowley, after crowley made critical comments about city hall. the fire chief and i are focused on fighting these fires and saving lives, and any differences that we might have will be worked out in private. but right now, our first and most important obligation to angelenos is to get through this crisis. the mayor's comments come one day after she had a closed meeting with chief crowley. this right here is exclusive video from our nbc station in l.a. showing the chief walking into that meeting. it is unclear what they talked about, but chief crowley sat down with our sister station in l.a. to talk about the challenges her department has faced.d. this was yesterday. she says her department has been hit with nearly $18 million in budget cuts, which has had a significant impact on their response to the fires. so $17

million cut did not allow us to do what we needed to do and where that impacted us specifically for palisades was our ability to move into reserve apparatus so that apparatus could not be utilized in this fire. we were limited with the number of resources that we could add and pre-deploy to this fire. yes, this all comes as governor newsom calls for an independent investigation into the loss of water pressure at fire hydrants during the initial fire fight, and these fires are happening hundreds of miles away, but have left so many of us here in the bay area wondering, how can i help? across the bay area, people are organizing donation drives and fundraisers to support fire victims. nbc bay area's christie smith has a look at how the bay area is jumping into action. we are decided to make a coconut layer cake that has on the top. i love la on it. we are inspired by the randy newman song.

jillian lundgren, the owner of black jet baking company in san francisco, has found a sweet way to try to help l.a. wildfire victims, sharing pictures of what the cakes will look like. you order it online, all of our orders are online, and we're going to try to, you know, make as many as we can and run it through the end of the month. proceeds will be donated to restaurants care, which is organizing relief for industry workers impacted by the fire. they've created this fund that will go directly to restaurant workers, food and beverage workers to aid in food. you know, just help people to get back on their feet and down the street. today at shop summer, people came today to help in another way, filling up the store with donations. my brother lives down south in pasadena. he hasn't been evacuated, but i do know a lot of families who have been displaced. and i'm from san diego, so i was displaced when i was around six, so i know what the evacuation process is like. i know how traumatic it can be.

i just felt like it was like there wasn't a lot i could do besides give money. and, you know, it didn't seem safe to, like, drive down right now either. so it was really great to, like, find out about other people who are, like, organizing. everything collected here will be delivered to a larger event tomorrow. local content creators are teaming up to host a donation drive at trader vic's in emeryville, where people can donate new clothes and toiletries. they are working with a group in l.a. i am working with a group based on the ground in los angeles. they're called we love la and they are doing community care packages. they've basically got 60 families right now that they are catering to. the full list of the needs of these families in san francisco christie smith, nbc, bay area news. and right now, we're taking a live look at the palisades fire. it is, again, has burned over 22,000 acres is just 11% contained. the sun has gone down. so you can see those flames, right there appears to be near temescal fire

road. we will, of course, continue to follow the fires in la throughout this newscast. we're not on the air. our website is a great resource. our team is posting updates around the clock. just go to nbcbayarea.com. still ahead, the growing problem of drones interfering with a fire fight. what the fbi is saying about the risk and the planes, and to help to planes and helicopters, that is. plus, the growing evidence that climate change is fueling more intense fires in california. and right now we're seeing clear skies still in the 60s around san francisco, when these warm temperatures may start to move out, and when those winds back down across some of our bay area mountains. and

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barber, accused of a string of sexual assaults. court documents show 34 year old franklyn enrique sergino also has hiv, and investigators are urging his victims to get tested. that is according to a report by the mercury news. all is accused of more than two dozen drug and sexual assaults in the last six years. police say he fled while out on bail, also faces life in prison if he is caught and convicted. and returning now to our coverage of the fires in southern california. fire leaders say the number of unauthorized drone incidents keeps increasing. documented cases are now in the double digits. the most serious incident was when a drone collided with a super scooper

thursday, as the aircraft was involved in a water drop in the palisades fire zone. investigators say they have recovered pieces of the drone, and the case could lead to federal charges. it is illegal to fly drones in any area where there are flight restrictions, including fire zones. well, 15 of the 20 most destructive wildfires in california history have happened within the last decade. the eaton palisades fire joined that list in just a few days as they continue to rage. it's a clear sign of how climate change is influencing how wildfires behave. here's nbc national climate reporter chase kane with the impact our climate crisis is having on this. lots of things have to come together to cause massive, devastating wildfires like these. so it's not the climate change causes a fire, but it does allow them to burn much more intensely and spread much more quickly. and that's a painful reality for folks here in southern california. i mean, i have family who who asked me like, so who started the fires? i was

like, what are you talking about? this is the climate change as we see it. like we came yesterday, it looked like an inferno in here. so let's focus on two factors with clear connections to climate change one, when we burn fossil fuels, it puts greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, making it hotter. and physics tells us that the hotter we make the atmosphere, the more moisture it holds, but it also makes the atmosphere thirstier, quite literally sucking moisture out of plants, grass, brush, anything that's creating more fuel for these wildfires. and two, climate change is creating more extreme swings between wet and dry. the last two winters in socal were the two wettest back to back on record. that led to flooding and the growth of grass and brush. then last summer was california's hottest ever recorded. and to make matters worse, since september, southern california has had its driest start to the winter on record. the real connection is the overlap between what i call sufficiently dry vegetation season a strong santa ana wind season. had we seen s significa

or widespread precipitation in the weeks and months leading up to this event, we would not be seeing the extent of devastation we are currently seeing. this is the same story, by the way, of what happened in paradise with the campfire. that's where the climate change connection is. so santa ana winds are a natural event, but you mix them with climate change and this is what can happen. it's also important to note that of the 20 most destructive wildfires in california history, 15 of them have happened in the last ten years. and we can already add the palisades fire to that list. that is where climate change is taking us in los angeles. i'm meteorologist chase cain. well, dozens of berkeley residents took part in a disaster training class today with the socal fire's top of mind. the city holds cert classes every year for people to come together, form connections, and learn about how to help in emergencies when first responders may not be readily available. cert it stands for community emergency response team. the instructor began the class by talking about the fires near los angeles. in

1923 and 1991. fires broke out in berkeley under very similar conditions and with similar troublesome evacuation routes. the berkeley hills are very, very narrow, curvy streets. and like i said at the beginning of the class, the geology goddess lucy jones said that the best thing you could do to be prepared is know your neighbors and know who is vulnerable, who might need help. yeah, organizers say there were 70 people on the waiting list for this introductory class. it is the first in a series of seven classes. the city is adding two more classes to accommodate everyone interested in this program. and rob mayeda is here. now, rob, let's talk about these fires in socal, because i think last week we looked at a drought map and up in northern california, we were doing way better than southern california. yeah, in both areas, seeing offshore wind obviously stronger in southern california, but really a tale of very two different areas when it comes to the rainfall we've seen to start

this year, benefiting from the very active november and december in the bay area. look at this map. and it's just two sides of the same coin for zenni. you've got one area well above average. as you go north of san francisco, you've got 100 to 140% of average. but as you move down the central coast into los angeles, almost no rainfall. so the calendar essentially becomes irrelevant. it doesn't matter that it's january. you just haven't had any rain pretty much since october. in fact, for parts of southern california, that goes back to late spring. so the calendar says it's january. but in terms of fire danger for areas south of santa barbara and los angeles, it is still summer to early fall dry in sououthern california. anothr thing you don't typically see this time of year around the bay area is the fact that we're close to 70 for highs today. we had highs in the upper 60s from the north bay to san jose. average highs should be in the upper 50s, and we're still pretty mild outside right now. pleasant conditions, not windy, not too windy, at least in san jose. northwest wind at 15 at 63

degrees, 56 in walnut creek. and as we head over to san rafael, 59 degrees there and into san francisco, clear skies and a pretty view looking west. no fog. still hanging on to 63 degrees. different story though. the conditions up in the mountains. you got 50s and 60s around the bay area, but also 50s in terms of wind speed up at mount saint helena, gusting at times above 70mph. these are the locations that will maintain the wind advisory, mostly above 1000ft into tomorrow morning. gusty conditions around the north bay and east bay hills peak winds into early tomorrow morning, then probably a little less wind for a time sunday evening. and then the winds kind of keep going offshore as we head into monday, which means that dry weather pattern will follow us out of the weekend and through the beginning of next week. wind sheltered valleys watch out for some colder mornings ahead. we'll have 30s and 40s thanks to the drier air, clear skies in place, and as we head towards the afternoon, tomorrow might not be quite as warm, but still a chance of mid 60s closer to san jose and low

60s around san francisco and oakland. so the reason why we're still having that fire danger in southern california blocking high pressure, no signs of rain, offshore wind at times. bay area staying dry. there is a little window of opportunity. we might see a few showers in southern california, however, keep an eye on this forecast for the bay area, where we have high pressure to our northwest and low pressure to our southeast. that sometimes could mean more wind at times, kind of like we're seeing this weekend. could see a repeat performance locally for next weekend. so san francisco looking at highs in the low 60s, cooler mornings ahead. we'll have mid 40s around san francisco. and for the valleys, the one part of the forecast that might feel more like january will be those morning temperatures, some 30s and maybe some patchyrost or frost advisories early in the new week, but still no rain in that 7-day forecast into the beginning of next weekend. and then i'm still i still can't get over the 0.03in of rain in la.

and just for reference, la should have about four inches or so of rain, so even it doesn't seem like that's that much. but when you consider almost 8 to 10 months of pretty dry conditions, it's starting to add up. all right rob, thanks. our coverage continues in two minutes how people in the east bay are stepping up to help the wildfire stepping up to help the wildfire vict (humming) behold! a glorious round table pepperoni pizz... huh? ah. huh. well, behold the pepperoni and grilled chicken...? what the? (clears throat) behold, the pepperoni, grilled chicken and bacon pizza from round table! three magnificent toppings grilled chicken, pepperoni, and sizzling bacon.

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side effects. ask about vraylar. abbvie could help you save. proceeds of meals. the bay area is jumping into action to help people displaced by the devastating l.a. wildfires in the east bay today. a group called the oakland home boys held a car wash to raise money for fire victims. we have perienced the same disasters and the same traumatic

experiences as far as fires, so i know what it is to lose during a fire. so we're giving back to la because la helps us. organizers say they're donating 80% of the profits from today. no word yet on how much they were able to raise. los angeles dodgers star freddie freeman and his wife are pledging large donations to help in the aftermath of the soc fires. the freemans are giving $100,000 each to the los angeles fire department, the pasadena fire department and the salvation army for wildfire relief efforts. fellow dodger chris taylor and his wife have launched a fundraiser through their ct3 foundation, matching donations of up to $5,000 to the lafd foundation. deservedly so in that area, right? yes. that's great to see them helping out and doing more baseball news. but this time, closer to home, it's a done deal. one of the era's most dominant pitchers is now officially part of the giants rotation. what it took to

get justin verlander to come to the bay

most celebrated pitchers will call oracle park home this season today. the giants signe justin verlander to a one year deal worth $15 million. now in 19 seasons with detroit, houston and the new york mets, the 41 year old has 262 career wins and more than 3400 strikeouts. that's more than any active pitcher. he's a three time cy young award winner, a nine time all star and a two time world series champ, both of those coming with the houston astros. nfl playoffs former niners head coach jim harbaugh leading the chargers into houston against former niners defensive coordinator demeco ryans and the texans. houston's defense was awesome. they had four interceptions, including this pick six by eric murray. the texans shocked the chargers 32

to 12 by blake mohs to jump into the passing lane. good if it goes. got it. off the bank. the bank is open on saturday for jaylen blakes. he's. the cardinals gave the cardinals a ten point lead heading into the break at halftime over virginia. maxime renault led the way for stanford. had a game high 24 points and ten rebounds. the cardinals win it 88 to 65. also, cal lost to virginia tech. some soccer news the quakes shaking up their roster today. they traded for mls all star forward christian chico serrano from real salt lake. the quakes give up a $1.4 million and a 2026 international roster slot. aron goes, 29, from colombia. last season, he scored 17 goals with 12 assists. he won the mls cup title in 2022 with lafc. dave's been very excited about saving big with the comcast business 5-year price lock guarantee.

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2000 acres, just 11% contained. we're getting a new death toll number right now. 16 total from these fires. we will, of course, continue to follow the fires in la throughout this nscast. we're not on air. our website is a great resource. our team is posting updates around the clock. just go to nbcbayarea.com. yeah, those fires are just so hard to look at and so, so hard to hear. the updates that keep coming out of that area and the weather not really helping right now. yeah.

winds increasing in the region into tomorrow morning. and the red flag warnings for that area through wednesday in southern california here, dry weather here and warm temperatures actually during the afternoons as we head through the middle part of the week. all right. that does it for us right now. we'll be back at 11. we'll see you then. joe rosato jr.: this is an nbc bay area news special. tonight we'll tag along as san francisco's cable cars get into ththeir holiy duds. male: it's really important to show the spirit. joe: we'll tour a bay area cheese company that's getting a holiday thumbs up from a big celebrity. jill basch: it really is a game changer for us. joe: we'll go on the job with a san francisco barista who's been serving up black gold for 3 decades. paul maedje: and so it's just like a big family.