three people including a young child are killed in an early morning fire here in oakland. what we've learned about the cause of this fire. a fatal shooting by san leandro police why oakland police are doing the investigation. we want people to have fun, but we want people to be safe. san francisco police are getting ready for big crowds on new year's eve. the story ahead at noon.

good afternoon. i'm kraig debro. tori campbell is off. we begin with a horrible tragedy in oakland. three members of the same family including a 3-year-old child died in an early morning fire. firefighters believe the potential cause of the fire was completely avoidable. ktvu channel 2 reporter claudine wong is on the scene with more on the cause of the fire and the family. good afternoon, claudine. >> reporter: good afternoon. the victims lived in the second floor apartment down here. but we have come underneath. we want to show you this extension cord. the orange extension cord comes up into the second floor apartment where the victims lived. firefighters believe the victims were using that extension cord to provide power because theirs had been shut off. there were no detectors and very little warning to get out alive. in the end this fire took the lives of three people including a 3-year-old little girl. the time eric saw the fire, it had already taken hold of this four unit apartment

building. he was next door when he saw the 7-year-old girl who lives inside that apartment being rescued by a family friend who also lived there. >> the little girl is coming down from the stairs. and she toldmy mother and my sisters inside the house. >> he went back and pulled her out? >> yeah. and he never came back out. >> no. he never came back out. >> reporter: as he went back in to save the 3-year-old and mother, he heard screams from the back of the building as a 59-year-old woman and her 19- year-old daughter decided to jump from their second floor apartment to escape the flames. >> they pulled the blanket and they just jumped over there and one started screaming because broke her leg and everything. >> reporter: downstairs out of another apartment another family of four raced out and the fire continued to burn. the noise of it loud enough to wake neighbors. >> it was just sounds of like the glass shattering and some people yelling. >> reporter: and you ran out

here had firefighters gotten here yet? >> i could hear them coming. >> reporter: firefighters say it took five minutes to get through the flames and inside and another five minutes to find the victims who were together in a bedroom. >> they were all unconscious and unresponsive when we pulled them out. i'm going to assume they were overcome by the smoke. we do all the protocols and give them every chance they have but sometimes you can't bring them back. >> reporter: investigators say power was shut off at that apartment by pg&e. someone plugged in an extension cord to a downstairs unit. those cords are being blamed for the fire. the fire is considered an accident but a devastating one that took a little girl's family from her. the depths of that loss brought tears to the eyes of the red cross. >> just breaks my heart. >> reporter: back live out here near this apartment in oakland in just the last couple of

minutes someone put a teddy bear or a stuffed animal here in memory of this family. we checked the records and according to to records this building was transferred to the bank of new york in foreclosure back in september of 2009. whether any of the tenants here were living here legally is still unclear. live in oakland, claudine wong, ktvu channel 2 news. thank you for that update. a sad ending to a search for a snow border from hum bolt county lost near lake tahoe. placer county sheriff's office say they found the body of the 25-year-old this morning. she'd been missing in alpine meadow ski resort since tuesday. searchers used a military helicopter with infrared technology along with crews on the ground. she had been snow boarding with her boyfriend and friends and somehow became separated from them. a san leandro police officer on paid administrative leave this afternoon after officers shot a woman to death after an auto theft.

the shooting took place after the chase. happened rob the oakland side of the border. tara moriarty is here to explain why oakland police are investigating when a san leandro officer pulled the trigger. >> reporter: well, good afternoon, kraig. this is the third officer- involved shooting to happen in the bay area just over the past 48 hours. it began as a car chase here in san leandro where i'm standing. then it quickly became a deadly shooting. if we zoom over to this side just several yards away this is actually considered oakland. this particular intersection bancroft and durant lies right in the middle of the two cities. police say around 10:30 they were chasing a pair of car thieves in a jaguar. neighbors tell us that the police car was following the jaguar very closely and clipped it. the suspect since smashed into a parked car which belongs to mel snell who also happened to see the entire incident. >> the police on our bumper and

this woman yelling nicked the bumper she spin, hit the car sheen she get out get out twice and just started shooting. >> reporter: so you feel it wasn't justified. >> what'd you shoot her for? you ain't even give her a chance to get out the car. >> reporter: now snell says that he remembers hearing five to nine shots fired. and our sources tell us that a san leandro police officer shot and killed the female driver. now the man inside the car ran off was tasered by officers and websites say he was handcuffed and taken into custody. now we just got off the phone with san leandro police and they say they did not perform a clip maneuver. they believe that the driver simply spun out of control. now in addition to san leandro police conducting their investigation, oakland detectives are also handling the case even though it was a san leandro officer who actually pulled the trigger. why? well, technically this is oakland's jurisdiction. oakland police are not

commenting on the case. but we did just speak to san leandro police and they tell us that that officer was actually firing in self-defense. he believed that his fellow officer was in danger of being run over by that female driver and that is why he fired his weapon. now according to police these are veteran officers and they have been placed on paid administrative leave for the next three days. that's the latest here live from oakland. i'm tara moriarty, ktvu channel 2 news. thank you. san francisco police chief will hold a community meeting tonight. the subject is yesterday's officer-involved shooting. police shot and killed the man accused of stabbing and injuring a teenage girl. this happened around 4:00 yesterday afternoon. police say they were called to the scene of a party involving lots of young people after a 15- year-old girl phoned in saying she'd been stabbed. three officers entered the home. when police arrived police say two officers fired at the man, he later died. two officers involved have been

on paid administrative leave pending an investigation. chp is investigating a fatal collision that happened overnight on a notoriously dangerous bay area road. just after 1:00 this morning a van and a diesel truck collided on vasco road just outside livermore. police say one person died but they're not releasing any information about the victim. vasco road was shut down for three hours while officers examined the scene, but it's now open again. the rain earlier this week is being replaced by cold temperatures in the bay area. this was evident in downtown oakland this morning. we were there when people were walking around in coats and hats. kind of a rarity around here. steve paulson will have more in a full forecast in about ten minutes. cold weather caused dangerous driving conditions for drivers overnight. black ice has been blamed for three rollover accidents in sonoma county including this one where a vehicle ended up in a vineyard. police in vallejo also responded to a patch of ice on

columbus parkway earlier this morning after a car spun out and ended up in an embankment. >> when it gets this cold you really have to drive careful. especially anything shiny or any area that can be wet, got to be very careful. i mean this area is known for people sliding all over especially when it gets cold. >> just after this interview our photographer witnessed another car slam into a pole. the car then bounced off the pole with its back tire damaged and then slid on a patch of ice. meanwhile in felton clean up efforts are underway after a box truck drove over black ice and overturned. chopper 2 flew over the scene earlier this morning. the accident spilled debris on the roadway and is blocking access to mt. herman road. they're also hearing about 70- gallons of diesel fuel leaking into bean creek which feeds into the san lorans so river. just a few hours ago san francisco laid out their plans for new year's eve.

crowds are expected to gather for the new year's eve fireworks show. law enforcement officers will be working together looking for dui drivers and people who don't comply with alcohol laws. >> there will be a zero tolerance for public drunkness, open containers, underage drinking and certainly driving under the influence. >> whether the chaos tomorrow night is the monthly bicycling event known as critical mass. police suggest people who come into the city take public transportation. bay area transit agencies are also gearing up for tomorrow's large crowds. san francisco muni is expanding night service and offering free rides between 8:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. in the south bay vta is also waiving fares between 7:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. bart will extend service until 3:00 a.m. with some train to ease crowding. ac transit will operate on

sunday schedule. so is cal train with four extra trains being added after midnight. still ahead a warning for some vehicle owners in the bay area. and it's the story we're more likely to hear about in a rural area. we'll show you the rescue operation in the bay area this morning involving a cow. we're getting a break from the wet weather today. ktvu meteorologist steve paulson is here to tell us if rain will be back before the new year. >> reporter: i'm jade hernandez. arrests were made today in a dui crackdown. find out why the sweep operation took place today. w t ileororr li irore

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firefighters this morning successfully rescued a pregnant cow stuck in a well in castro valley. fire department was notified just after 8:30 in the morning. the cow had fallen into the 12- foot deep well on sunny slope avenue. animal control officers took about an hour draining the well and then lowered a cowboy and a crane into the well to help lift the 1200-pound cow out. >> they employed the cowboy and he knew how to go down and strap the cow up. and we had a crane that had adequate lifting capacity and through specialized knowledge from all the folks on the scene we were able to figure out a

good safe plan and get the cow out of the well. >> the cow is okay but it's still not known how it fell into the well. a dui warrant sweep this morning resulted in dozens of arrests in the east bay. it's the fourth year in a row officers have carried out the sweep. and they say it's the biggest crack down of the year. ktvu's jade hernandez road along with a pair of livermore officers during the investigation. >> reporter: these livermore police officers found their man at the first address they tried. this 35-year-old suspect has three separate warrants for dui. initially no one inside the home wanted to tell officers where the suspect was. but they eventually found him hiding inside of a bathroom. he surrendered peacefully. >> a lot of these people that have drunk driving warrants, that's just the tip of the iceberg. they have other more serious warrants and they really need to be apprehended. >> reporter: this morning these officers attempted to serve four warrants. they made one arrest, learned one of their suspects was already in jail, another in a

psychiatric hospital. 21 agencies are involved in an operation like this one. is there a reason why you didn't appear in court? as for this repeat offender taken from his home. officers brought the suspect to the jail. when asked why he failed to appear in court he shrugged his shoulders and didn't know. >> people don't understand those warrants stay in the system forever. it might not be today you get arrested, it might be 22 years down the road but it's going to catch up to you. >> reporter: the officer knows of the 1100 warrants she gave officers to serve today on average only 50 arrests will be made. it will still be considered the biggest dui warrant sweep of the year in alameda county proving to offenders the reprocushions of failing to appear in court can follow you anywhere. in dublin, jade hernandez, ku channel 2 news. livermore police are warning people in one neighborhood about a string of car part thefts. thieves in the springtown area near oak month circle have been taking catalytic converters from toyota pickup trucks and

suvs. since mid-october there have been 13 reported thefts of car parts. >> there's a part in the catalytic converter that they can recycle and it brings in a lot of money. >> police say the car part theft is happening all over the bay area. catalytic converters are required by law. they reduce potentially toxic engine pollutants. green cars appear to be taking a backseat to suvs. this despite the growing focus on fuel efficiency. new figures show suvs were the most popular vehicles purchased this year with their sales jumping 41% through the first eleven months of the year. sales of smaller cars remain unchanged while purchases of green cars such as the toyota prius dropped about 2%. gas prices are already at an all time winter high but lawmakers are considering a tax that could make it go higher. the outgoing chair of the house transportation committee says that the revenue would be used

to rebuild roads, airports and rail lines. >> people have shown that they would actually pay more in gas taxes if they knew that they had more transportation options instead of public transportation, smoother roads. you know bridges. if they saw the benefit of that money. >> news of the gas tax whose idea came out of washington follows a dire warning from a former executive of the shell oil company who says gas could reach $5 a gallon by 2012 because of the increasing demand for crude oil. this week's storm caused another chunk of soil to give way under that vacant cliff side apartment building in pacifica. sending that city scrambling for a plan to save them. you're looking at a new video shot by chopper 2 earlier this morning. the city's been waiting for the building's owner to stabilize the cliff but there's been a delay in funding. so the city may now have to take on the project itself. the buildings are not in

immeant danger of collapse. they estimate 30 or 40 more feet of bluff would have to disappear before they would be in danger. steve paulson is here to tell us about the weather for the exciting new year's eve celebrations coming up tomorrow. >> they are. big news today and what everyone was talking about is how cold it was this morning. still kind of cold for some f. you're in a shaded area continues to be rather chilly. clouds are increasing. we talked about this system this morning. clear skies, temperatures 20s and 30s. yes, we had some 20s this morning. in fact livermore was 29 degrees. sun for a while. now clouds coming in mainly hugging the coast. far enough inland you'll get mostly sunny skies but partly cloudy elsewhere. clear and cold again tonight. start off with some chilly conditions again tomorrow. it will be sunny then clouds come in. it looks like the rain will hold off until after the midnight hour tomorrow. that's the order i'm putting in. any way, by saturday we might see some rain. here's the system come right there. not much there but it is increasing some of the clouds and the leading edge of the system that's due on friday is beginning to show itself even

though it's just kind of high clouds. even though it's not as cold as it was, it's still rather chilly with upper 40s and low 50s. everyone on the cold side. 2 below this morning. tahoe came in at zero. it's 19 right now. reno at 28. only 42 redding. 49 sacramento. 43 las vegas. same for fresno. very chilly conditions. see that little system just sliding right down by eureka and the coast not much there so it goes parallel to the coast. it could fire up maybe an isolated sprinkle or two or shower. not a big deal. everything continues to dive down from the north to the south. all it has to do is zig over about this much. we'd all be mostly cloudy. but i don't think that will happen. i think it will mainly be closer to the coast. this system that we're watching is right there. that's the one that's going to kind of spin in and then just get closer and closer by friday night. today that cold air in place and it's not going anywhere. it will be back tonight under clearing skies. tomorrow we start off all right and then see clouds increasing. i think rain saturday. i think we'll hold it off until

late. so chilly, sunny, a few clouds coming in, little breezy at times. wind has picked up. not as bad as yesterday but coast and higher elevations are picking up a little decent breeze. low to mid-50s. that's going to cover it for just about everybody. so today now i did throw in a shower or two but that's mainly coastal areas otherwise it's mostly sunny partly cloudy, clouds increase friday and saturday rain, south on sunday and that will be all right. another fast moving system on monday. >> we are ahead of schedule in terms of rain. >> everyone except san jose i believe which is just one of the conundrums i don't understand. everyone's about 110% to 150% of normal for rain. >> there you go. thanks, steve. governor-elect jerry brown says three dozen highly paid uc executives who want to see a raise in pensions are "out of touch." they're threatening to sue unless the regents agree to dramatically increase pensions for employees making more than

$245,000 a year. the executives say higher pensions are overdue because the regents agreed in 1999 to grant them. brown says the state is currently considering making billions of dollars in cuts that will effect people who are far less advantaged than those executives. according to business and transit leaders on the peninsula, cal train needs a new source of revenue such as tax or toll if it's going to survive. it's facing a $30 million budget deficit for the fiscal year that starts in july. cal train is the only bay area transit agency that does not have a dedicated and permanent source of funds. series of public meetings is planned for next month to address the situation. some encouraging economic signs came out this morning. also why it may be very busy at stores that sell megamillions lottery tickets.

this morning the national association of realtors released its figures for pending home sales for the month of november. the number of people who signed contracts to buy homes went up 3.5% last month beating analyst expectations. that's the fourth increase since june when pending sales were at an all time low. fewer people filed for initial jobless claims last week than any time since july 2008. 389,000 people were eligible

for first time unemployment insurance but that is down from 34% from the week before and it's the first time in more than two years that number has dropped below 400,000. and that's a benchmark. but analysts say that may be because the numbers are especially volatile during the end of the year holidays. a $237 million jackpot up for grabs tomorrow. megamillions has gone 14 weeks now without a winner. the jackpot amounts to a lump sum of $151 million. the largest megamillions was $390 million in march of 2007. megamillions is played in 41 states and in washington d.c. winning numbers will be drawn tomorrow night. well, long time couple angelina jolie and brad pitt are married. in touch weekly claims the couple tied the knot on a beach on the indian ocean during their recent holiday vacation with their six kids in africa. the magazine claims to have inside knowledge including details on the couple's rings

and their vows. they have been together since 2005. coming up tonight at 5:00 we're learning more tonight about the missing snow boarder found dead near lake tahoe this morning. and we'll have a live report. plus they're tracking this situation in pacifica along the cliffs there. the options the city and the property owners are considering. our next newscast ktvu channel 2 news at 5:00. we'll see you then.