behold! a glorious round table pepperoni pizz... huh? behold, the pepperoni, grilled chicken and bacon pizza from round table! three magnificent toppings. try it at round table pizza! on nbc bay area news tonight. we might be seeing peace in the middle east, but who gets the credit? is it president biden who just addressed the nation for the final time tonight, or

incoming p president trump? we'e joined by former secretary of defense leon panetta. also, after their schools were destroyed, hundreds of kids in southern california returned to the classroom. it burned down my house. i was literally devastated. our bigad shaban is live in the fire zone. as families continue to scramble. and some good news for a decorated olympic swimmer who lost everything in the fires. his medals are coming back. he's with us tonight. and dozens of displaced animals from the fire zone arriving here tonight in the bay area. good evening. this is nbc bay area news tonight. i'm raj mathai. a lot happening on this wednesday evening here in town, down in la and at the white house. let's begin in the south bay. a gut wrenching story involving students at hollister high school. three classmates died in a car crash. the chp

says they were among four people traveling on shore road in gilroy around 7:00 last night. their car veering into oncoming traffic and hitting another vehicle. three students died, but a fourth person survived and was rushed to a local hospital. paramedics also took the driver of the other car to the hospital. investigators are still trying to figure out what happened, why this car veered into the other lanes. the students identities have not been released, but word spread quickly at hollister high. when i got the news of this. at first we didn't have the ids yet, so once we got the ids, it was it was heartbreaking. you know, you go through that little bit of shock and then you're ultimately jumping into, okay, now we've got to help support our students, support our staff, support the families and help everyone get through this so difficult. grief counselors were on campus today, and we're told more programs will be set up in the coming days. a community gathering is also in the works. well, a pivotal plan in san

francisco. new mayor daniel lurie is addressing the city's fentanyl crisis under his new proposal. mayor lurie wants to better coordinate city departments for enforcement and treatment. he also wants to create more treatment facilities. but in order to do that, he wants more flexibility in how he spends the current funding and wants supervisors to allow him to seek out private funding. he also wants to streamline the city's contracting process for nonprofits and other vendors that will provide these treatment services. this is what i ran on. i got a mandate to deliver, and the first thing we talked about was public safety. the second was the fentanyl state of emergency. now, supervisor shamann walton has concerns about some of the plan's details and the scope of the mayor's request. supervisor connie chan is concerned about approving anything that would reduce the board's oversight. this is just the start of what could be a long legislative process. well, it is a big night at the white house just a short while ago. you might have seen

it. president biden saying good-bye to the american people. he also had a stern message about social media and abuse of power. a message that seemed to be directed right at mark zuckerberg and elon musk. i have no doubt that america is in a position to continue to succeed. that's why my farewell address tonight, i want to warn the country of some things that give me great concern. and this is a dangerouous conrn, and that's a dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultra wealthy people. and the dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked. today, an oligarchy is taking shape in america of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy. mr. biden from the oval office has final address as president. he continued to condemn social media for, quote, giving up on fact checking like fake. facebook just announced mark zuckerberg, just announced a few days ago. well, earlier in this

day, the big news about the peace in the middle east agreement after 15 months of fighting, there is cautious optimism now, the israel-hamas war taking thousands of lives. 1200 israelis killed many of them. on that very first day, hamas attacked and at least 46,000 palestinians killed. this new ceasefire deal is set to take effect this sunday, with the first hostages expected to be released in the coming days. bay area groups say this could be a turning point in the conflict. i personally know a number of people who have lost dozens and in some cases, over 100 family members in gaza from indiscriminate israeli bombing and violence. and so the idea that the people who remain there might be, at least temporarily safe is a huge, huge sigh of relief for the many gazans that live in the bay area. it's just a huge relief that there's finally been a deal reached, and the hostages will be able to

come home. those that are still alive, and that there's going to be relief in the war. timing is everything here. there are questions why a similar deal proposed by president biden was not accepted when it was proposed last year, noting the delay likely cost hundreds of lives. and why is incoming president trump taking the credit for the ceasefire deal? a former secretary of defense, leon panetta, is standing by his thoughts about who gets credit for this peace deal and the magnitude of this deal. we'll get to secretary panetta in just a few minutes. also tonight, progress down in southern california. the santa ana winds weren't too strong today, but cal fire says they're not out of the woods just yet. together, the palisades fire and the eaton fire near pasadena have scorched more than 35,000 acres. the palisades fire just bumped up to 21% contained. the eaton fire 45% contained. that eaton fire isn't expected to fred any

spread any farther. but firefighters aren't backing down and are working around the clock to extinguish the flames. the wildfires have overwhelmed animal shelters in l.a. county to help make room for the animals displaced by the fires, volunteers flew 30 shelter pets from l.a. up here to the bay area. they arrived at moffett field this evening. they'll be ready to adopt these pets at the san francisco spca in just a few days. so what's happening tonight? back down in the fire zone. among the many reporters that we sent down south, our senior investigator, bigad shaban bigad. nice to see you. you're inside the palisades fire zone there. just describe what you're seeing and where exactly you are. yeah. let me give you a sense right now, raj. we are standing in what was the entranceway to the front of a home? someone's home was here. it's now been reduced to rubble and ash. this is one of the neighborhoods in pacific palisades, which historically has been one of the most beautiful places in southern

california. but the reality is, after these wildfires, so many neighborhoods now look like this raj nothing was spared. and bigad just tell me the logistics here. we've gone through it, obviously here in the bay area and santa rosa and up in paradise. i'm the homeowner where you stand right now and that whole neighborhood. are they allowed to come back or are they just relying on the fire department? cal fire and journalists? this area is still under a mandatory evacuation area, so homeowners still aren't allowed in. we obviously have press credentials, so we're allod and there are several checkpoints that we have to go through consistently showing our press badges and ids. they're very, very aware of the possibility. and certainly we've had circumstances of people actually looting. and so we've seen members of the national guard, law enforcement actually basically posted around the clock raj to make sure that those who aren't supposed to get in aren't. but as you might imagine, that's part of the huge frustration from homeowners who want nothing more than to come back and see what's left, even

though in many cases virtually nothing is left. but i think people are just wanting that closure and to actually see it with their own eyes. but the reality is, is there's still a lot of work to be done. this can still be a very dangerous area. and earlier today we actually saw representatives doing some basically looking to see if there are any remains in neighborhoods. so there's still so much as part of this recovery, even though residents continue to be frustrated and anxious, frankly, of wanting to return home, even though in many cases raj there is no home to return to. it's just part of that closure and a big term that we're hearing from everyone down there. bigad i'm sure you've heard it is just people are so overwhelmed. we're both dads to kids here. what about schools? one thing i'm thinking about is what happens to that homeowner there. and everyone in palisades and altadena. where are their kids going now? because some of them don't even have schools to return to. what do they do for education? yeah, i'll give you st a sense here. so the largest school district in the state is los angeles unified

school district. we're talking about more than a thousand schools. so of those, three were seriously damaged as a result of the wildfire. but that trio alone. raj. you're talking about some 4000 students that no longer have schools. so actually, today we were at one school that welcomed in an entire other school. they actually had enough space to bring in some 300 students and their teachers, which, as you might imagine, parents just hailed as really the ideal solution. even though these children have been through so much, many have lost their own homes. the idea was that they didn't want to separate them from their classmates and their teachers. so even though they're now at a brand new facility, at least they're there with the other students that they've had this shared trauma with. their teachers were there to welcome them. but as you might imagine, raj, this is not a short term problem at all. i mean, the reality is, is that schools welcoming in new students who are transferring because they may have lost their school or have to relocate, they're likely not going to be there for a few days or a few weeks. they very well may end up spending the

next several years at their new school. yeah, this is not short term by any means. bigad shaban in the fire zone. we see you there in the ashes in pacific palisades. thank you for your reporting. be safe down there. coming up. inust a few minutes, we'll be joined by olympic swimmer gary hall. junior. he escaped the fire right there in pacific palisades. and in the ashes were his olympic medals destroyed? but he will be getting new ones. we'll explain. gary joins us in just a few minutes. let's get back to our coverage now in the middle east, after months of negotiations and thousands of deaths, israel and hamas agreed to a ceasefire and hostage deal. the agreement is set to take effect we mentioned on sunday, and it's very similar to a proposal president biden announced last spring. it will unfold in three phases with israeli, three phases with israeli hostages being gradually released in exchange for palestinian prisoners, dramatically increased aid into gaza and a withdrawal of israeli troops from population centers. i've spoken to the mayor of

kuwait and the president of egypt, and we have pledged to make sure that the negotiations will keep moving forward for as long as it takes. now, the remaining hostages include americans, though at least four are believed to be dead. the deal's first phase will see 33 women, children and elderly and injured hostages released. soldiers and other male hostages would be released in later phases. negotiators negotiators in qatar confirming the three phase agreement and crediting a joint push from the incoming trump administration and the biden administration. joining us now, someone that we turn to for stories of this magnitude, leon panetta, former secretary of defense under president obama and former chief of staff for president clinton. secretary panetta, nice to have you back on the program. you've been in these negotiating rooms. you've been in these war rooms. let's just start by asking, how significt is this proposed deal? well, it's very significant. it's a little late in coming. it's been being

worked on for months and months and months, and it didn't seem like it was ever going to come to fruition. but fortunately, there was an agreement. i think the fact that president trump had a special envoy who was part of the negotiations, i think that was helpful because it meant that both president trump and president biden said that this deal should be put into effect. now, that helped a great deal. so i'm glad that we got to a cease fire. i'm glad we're going to see the hostages finally released, and i hope that it's a beginning and not just a cease fire or a temporary cease fire. this is high stakes politics. who gets the credit here? is that two kris of a question? is it president biden? is it incoming president trump, or can we share this? i think the reality is that that both

can share it. obviously, biden has put in a great deal of work. he's had people working on this for months and months. i mean, we've had 15 months of violence in in gaza, and biden has been there constantly trying to work it, but it did help that when president trump was elected, they placed a special envoy into those that were negotiating his name. his name was steve witkoff, and he was present. so you had the trump administration engaged as well? and i think that was helpful because, you know, my sense initially was that netanyahu was not going to agree to any ceasefire until after trump got inaugurated. but having trump's person working in the negotiations, having trump be there, working on this, this

ceasefire, i think that helped the ability to be able to put it will be in in effect on sunday.t the israeli cabinet still has to approve it, but i'm sure they will. i hope that we can find a path towards to a more peaceful solution in the middle east that will be permanent. your your perspective is fascinating. you are a democrat. you are an optimist. for the years we've known you, are you optimistic that under president trump he can make this things in this country better? well, you have to be you have to be, because frankly, the middle east is important to our national security. we can't walk away from that. it could very well be that trump, having worked on something called the abraham accords, which is the development of a coalition of countries, arab countries that

recognize israel and are working together, if he can get saudi arabia to now join that abraham's accord, i think we could build a very strong coalition or alliance of nations that could focus then on on not only giving the palestinians the area they need the governing ability to be able to have a separate state, but also can promote better relations between the arabs and the israelis. you're a wealth of knowledge for us. we're s so happy to have you in our backyard. leon panetta, former secretary of defense. appreciate your time. happy new year to you, sir. good to be with you and happy new year to you and all of your watchers. up next, his olympic medals destroyed in the palisades fire. but there is some good news. we're joined by ten time medalist gary hall jr. there he is. looking good.

i don't ever see anyone coming out to maintenance anything, so it's very scary for me because i have everything i love in this home. so, we've now implemented drone technology. how is that safe for me? it enhances the inspection, so it allows us to see things faster. your safety is the most important, and if you're feeling unsafe,

that's not okay. it doesn't feel like that in our hearts. i mean, it's worrisome. [dog barks] [dog barks]

doesn't matter what you have among the people who fled the flames. and pacific palisades is a decorated olympic champion. gold medal swimmer gary hall jr was one of the many people who had to flee his home last week, leaving all ten of his medals behind his home and all of those medals destroyed. today, he allowed our nbc crews to tour the aftermath. they actualllly facetimed with gary, showing him firsthand. like we said, only

certain people can go into these fire zones and we, with press credentials can do that. they facetimed with them, showing him the destruction. there is good news here. the ioc has vowed to replace his medals five gold medals, three silvers and two bronze. let's bring in olympian gary hall jr. gary, thanks for being with us. you are smiling. i just want to ask, are you okay? and where are you now? i'm safe. i'm in encinitas with my sister, staying in a guest room, and i've got my dog cuddles and i'm safe. i lost all worldly possessions. i lost my home and i lost my business. and instantly. and i'm one of so many people in this boat and just trying to wrap my head around what has happened and plan out next steps. i remember my sportscasting days following you around the world, watching you compete. you've always had a

really good perspective and it sounds like you still have that. what was going through your mind when you first heard that you had to evacuate? did you see flames? did you see smoke? yeah, i got the notice to evacuate about 10 to 15 minutes after the fire came racing down the hill and took my house. so i was one of the earliest ones, i think probably to see the flames and be in that proximity where i was able to get to safety. before the rush, i thought i was had reached a safece and the heart of the pacific palisades downtown area, but watched a wall of flame overtake the hill above it, and the whole area descend into pandemonium. it was terrifying. and you know all of this in mind is knowing that i.

i've just lost everything. the olympic medals were the thing that was on my mind as i crossed the threshold of my home for the last time, knowing that i was leaving behind something very valuable, very important to me. the sentimental value of those things almost as much, much more valuable than than the gold. yeah. you put in so much hard work into that. were you pretty touched the ioc pretty quickly reaching out to you, i believe, saying, hey, we will replace those medals. what does that mean to you? yeah. you know, having love is more important than having things. and i feel loved at this particular time. and it's been an incredible reprieve from the amount of sorrow, the amount of sorrow that i have endured over this past week. and the sense of loss has been tremendous. and so to have the olympic committee, the

international and united states olympic and paralympic committees organize this in such an expedited way, i'm really touched. it took a lot to do that. and it's extremely unusual for them to, you know, do that. and so that that solidarity with the olympic committee really makes me feel supported in this time of need. what's more, i would also like to thank all of the people, all of the friends and family and acquaintances and people that i don't know that have reached out and expressed support in this really dire time. i cannot say thank you enough, gary, you've always been a class act. we appreciate your time tonight. thanks for joining us. we're glad you're okay. we'll talk to you down the road. thank you gary hall jr. pretty incredible there. let's take a live look outside now on the bay br

jeff for an area with a quick check of your weather. and as we head through tomorrow, that windy system in southern california moves off towards the east. so calming conditions throughout the state on that wind, we have high pressure that will bring us back some sunshine. so we'll start it off. chilly here, 30s and 40s. then by the afternoon. beautiful day here across the bay area, up to 69, in morgan hill, 67 in livermore, 65 in napa and upper

50s to low 60s san francisco to the coastline. how about some rain chances as well? high pressure will keep it dry through the next seven days, but we actually may be able to break through this and get some rain in here. once we hit about january the 25th on a saturday, we'll keep our eyes on that. otherwise, as we roll ahead towards the upcoming weekend temps in the low 60s, mix of sun and clouds, we could get some more wind next monday 15 to 40. we're still waiting on more information on that. we'll keep also a watch on this one, but so far so good on that saturday and sunday rush. okay, three day weekend for a lot of people. thank you jeff. that's going to do it for us here at 7:00 for everyone here at nbc bay area. thanks for joining us. we hope you enjoy your evening and we hope to see you back here at 11.

life imitating art. the chicago fire star turned l.a. fireer