resources stretched thin across san francisco today adds firefighters battled three separate fires within an hour and a half. what investigators are saying about the fires. bomb square evacuates an apartment building. new details about the grenade found in a neighborhood what the egyptian military did for the first time as more violence broke out between proand antigovernment

demonstrators. the latest from cairo ahead on the news at noon. good afternoon. investigators work hard to see if three fires in san francisco neighborhood are connected. we were on the scene as crews worked to put out the fires early this morning in the pasco district. the proximity has definitely raised suspicion. good evening claudine. >> reporter: we are at 16th and market. behind me is one of the damaged buildings. you can see the damage along the front of the structure. this is a fire that likely did the most damage. it really affected the most people. it is only one of three fires this morning. firefighters in the last hour told us they believe all three were intentionally set. they just still can't say if they were all set by the same person. as firefighters fought this fire on 1th and market, residents stood on the

sidewalks. this man captured the flames on his cell phone. he got out after neighbors started yelling. >> i heard someone stomping and yelling fire! >> the cause is under investigation. the majority of the fire is on the outside up here. >> reporter: 16 people in those two buildings now have to find a place to live. as an estimated 50 firefighters battled this fire, another call came in calling for 50 more. this time to fight a fire just two blocks away at the historic building under renovation. this is video of the fire fight. watch as this firefighter falls off the ladder. he was okay. crews say resources were very thin. >> the danger there is that the city is a built up city. it is a closed construction. you send a lot of resources to a four-alarm fire to contain earth. >> reporter: the owner says the renovation of the building was a labor of love and suspects arson. >> there was no power?

>> no. the power switch is there. there is no power to the building and no power in that conner of -- corner doff of -- of the building. >> reporter: arson investigators are looking at the two fires and a smaller trash can fire that happened down the street. all three fires started within a few blocks of each other between 4:00 and 5:00 this morning. >> this is shock and concern of multiple fires in the neighborhood. it makes you suspicious. >> reporter: back live out here on 16th and market where the cleanup continues of this building. where does the investigation stand from now? fire investigators told us they are hoping security cameras from another fire will provide much-needed clues. in the meantime they are asking neighbors to stay on alert. >> thank you. tense moments unfoldling here when six grenades were found in a san francisco

garage. this happened between 18th and 19th streets blocks from san francisco general hospital. jane hernandez was on the scene as crews searched the home. you learned the grenades were live, correct? >> reporter: police told us they were live grenades and they were detonated in an undisclosed area outside of the city. you would not know it now but police evacuated this apartment building and sent in the bomb squad after a scare inside of this garage. news chopper 2 sets the scene from above after the san francisco bomb squad arrived. the relative of a 92-year-old man who recently passed a way found a plain, brown paper bag. what he found inside scared him. six grenades. live or dead, he didn't know. he did not take any chances. >> police crews responded on scene and confirmed six grenades in the bag.

>> reporter: chopper 12 shows you what blockades did to traffic. the call came into police around 6:00 this morning. our camera shows up close a robot pulling the bag with grenades out to exam it. three grenades fall out nothing happens. a minute or so later a fourth grenade falls to the ground out of the torn bag. robot proceeds to roll over it. again, nothing happened. in tend -- the end at 9:00 a.m. police hauled away the grenades and cleared the streets. >> people from the military tries to keep them as souvenirs. >> reporter: nothing military was found in the garage. live in san francisco jane hernandez. >> thank you. today egypt's vice

president is blanking foreigners for fueling the and government protest that rocked the country for the past ten days. the vice president announced that president mubarak's son will not run in the election to succeed misfather misfath -- misfather. nicole collins has more on the violence and rising death toll today. >> reporter: rocks, fire bombs and bullets fly in the square thursday morning. as violence between antiand progovernment demonstrators spills over from wednesday. egypt's state-run television reports five o dead and more than 8,000 injured. those numbers could not be independantly confirmed. one doctor in a makeshift hospital says since yesterday at least ten people were treated for gunshot wounds. journalist are also under

attack. some have had camera's and video confiscated or destroyed. egypt's newly appointed prime minister apologized for the attacks blaming the lack of police and security forces for the number of casualties. >> we'll investigate the senator. >> reporter: egyptian soldiers are on the streets today separating sparring factions. many groups met with the vice president. some groups refuse to talk until mubaraking resigns. the white house says the time for a transition of power is now. >> we pray that the violence of egypt will end and that the aspirations of egypt and people will be realized. >> reporter: in washington nicole collins. >> on-going protests of violence in egypt are sending wheat prices on a roller coaster. last week price jumped by 1% in trading in asia. economist say continued protest

in egypt could proceeduate price fluctuations for quite some time. they are the largest importer for wheat. american farmer's export millions of dollars of wheat each year. sugar prices are soring due to the huge cyclone in australia. future prices reached a high after half of the crops in australia were destroyed. the storm moved inland. it is one of the strongest storms to hit australia on record. this morning the labor department reported the number of people applying for unemployment benefits dropped sharply last week. first-time claims fell by 42,000 to 415,000. experts say that number will have to fall at least another 50,000 before we see a decline in the unemployment rate. continuing claims fell by 84,000 to 3.93 million. president obama this morning calls for new

investments in clean energy technology. speak at penn state university, mr. obama says that will create new jobs and and help ensure america's long term stability and federal support for innovative energy products. >> we are telling scientist and engineers all across the country that if they assemble teams of the best minds in their fields and focus on tackling the biggest obstacles to clean abundant and affordable energy, then we'll get behind their work. we as a country. >> political analyst say mr. obama's trip to pennsylvania has a political motive. it is a state that's certain to be key in his re-election bid next year. bay area officials are trying to determine what caused dozens of children to get sick while in a popular science camp. how riders reacted after

seeing this disturbing site on a bus. our meteorologist has an amazing winter time forecast. how you can voice your opinion as the local transit system talks about an emergency and devastating cut backs.

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local firefighters are worried about a state budget plan that could leave them without the help of cal fire. state firefighters are usually first on the scene where homes encroach on wild life areas. governor brown is proposing a plan to shift the response abouts to local crews to reduce the state deficit. idea is to force planning officials to consider fire fighting costs before housing developments are approved in wild land areas. cal train is on the verge of declaring a fiscal emergency and is asking for input from the public on what could be a drastic reduction in service. right now cal train is facing a $30 million deficit. in order to deal with it officials say they may have to eliminate all non-commuter train service.

that includes midday service, evenings and week ends. they are considering the closure of some stations. this morning one rider says he could drive to work if his station closes but it will cost him more. >> at the end of the day i don't think it would be correct for me to have to bear additional financial burden because they couldn't get their budgets figured out. >> cal train is holding four community meetings before possible fiscal emergency declaration at the march 3rd board meeting. that's also when they are expected to provide details on options going forward. officials are homing to find new funding sources before they make any decisions on cuts. health officials are investigating an outbreak of intestinal illness that left 65 students and teacherrers sick at a popular science camp. people started getting sick at

the ranch last night which belongs to the marine county. the principal plans to send a bus to retrieve 20 kids who did not get sick and were at the camp this morning. walker ranch principal says the illness crippled the kids from the three schools attending the four-day program there. >> we had what we believe was a viral flu bug where students were getting sick to their stomach. mainly vomiting. it spread quickly. >> health officials have not pinpointed the source of the illness. state regulators ordered pgn to reduce pressure on four gas pipelines. all are buried under heavily populated areas. the order came after they discovered illegal pressure levels. it is all part of the

investigation into last september's pipeline disaster. first ship to be recycle at the former shipyard was scheduled to be move there this morning. the s.s.s. has been anchor in the bay since 1988. crews planned to tow it to the island yesterday morning. weather conditions prevented that. cutting the ship into scrap means reopening dry docks at the former naval base for the first time in 20 years. it could also mean as many as 120 jobs and millions of dollars for the local economy. you think people would be uncomfortable riding a train with someone smoking crack. there is not much reaction among snow riders in this youtube video shot two days ago. the video shows a passenger sprawled on a floor of a train lighting up what appears to be a crack pipe. there are dozens of passengers around him doing nothing. >> it is san francisco.

nobody comments. right? i think if it was new york you would get a different reaction. >> i don't know if i would get that involved myself. to be honest. it is difficult to say what the ramificationsing might be. >> they said they have done everything possible to keep riders in line and passengers safe. at the same time they rely on passengers to let authorities know when there is illegal activity. some people in the central states say they have not seen as much snow in decades. it is a major cleanup effort today in subzero temperatures. this is wisconsin south of miwaukee. yesterday's monster storm left snow drifts as high as ten and 15 feet in some places. which is making it that much harder to clear the roads. snow removal crews are busy in chicago clearing streets and shoveling out parked cars. yesterday lake shore freeway looked more like a parking lot

than a street. one man decided it was faster to ski. people are warned to stay indoors because the wind chill could hit 30 below. in the meantime thousands of people are stranded in airports. chicago flights headed to san francisco were all can sellinged -- were all canceled. 13,000 flights across the u.s. were canceled. if you are headed to the airport you are urged to call your carrier. back here in the bay area no problems here. plenty of sunshine out there. temperatures will be warming back up in the 60s across most of the region. right now san jose a few high clouds moving in the region throughout the morning hours. still a nice afternoon for the south bay. look at the maps now. we can show you. this a little bit of easterly wind toward fair field. that's an offshore wind. with that temperatures are warming up. winds are coming out of the

east. as a result with not much fog to work with temperatures on the mild side. here's a wider perspective on the satellite. you can see high clouds. patchy fog on coast side. and a few high clouds moving in the region. overall weather story is this. we are expecting a few high clouds. temperatures on the mild side. tomorrow will be warmer. weekend no rain clouds showing up. we could be talking about a few more low 70s. i have been watching some patchy fog developing near the shoreline this morning. san francisco 54 degrees. livermore 56 degrees. high pressure in command of our weather. still a few high clouds moving across the state today. with that in play the offshore flow warming direction will stick around today, tomorrow, on into the weekend. no rain clouds showing up. as far as highs today most areas will fall within this range from 60 to 65 degrees and

continue to warm things up as we head into your friday. 3:00 partly sunny skies. maybe a patch or two of fog coast side. 58 to 63 degrees. 6:00 this evening 53 to 58. fair skies. upper 40s to the lower 50s this evening. here's a look at the projected numbers this afternoon. most neighborhoods in the 60s. warmest locations toward santa rosa and the south bay. san jose 65. half-moon bay in the upper 50s. five-day forecast. friday still temperatures warming trend continues. warmest locations approaching the 70-degree mark. this weekend it is beautiful if you are a fan of sunshine. we are talking about more low 70s out there. 72 to 73 degrees. if you do miss the rain, long range forecast model hinting t a a potential major weather

pattern change by february 13th. we could be talk about significant rainfall somewhere across the state. we'll keep an eye on that. until then plenty of sunshine. >> can't believe it is going to be 70 this weekend. >> we have the warm part. the other part of the country has the cold, snowy part. today is the start of a lunar year. that means a big celebration in the bay area. preparations are underway for the chinese new year parade. the parade will feature marching bands, line dancers and china town. lit take place -- it will take place february 19th. you can watch live coverage here. today is your first chance to get regular season tickets for the world champion san francisco giants. tickets officially went on sale at 10:00 this morning but only if you have a visa credit card. giants are giving visa card holders the first opportunity

to buy regular season tickets on the giant's website before they gone sale to the general public. this online deal only lasts until 11:59 tomorrow night. regular season tickets for the general public go on sale there saturday at 9:00 a.m. after getting your tickets head over to at&t park. giants are hosting fan fest. while there you can get photographs from giant's team members and sit on the dugout. you can take a picture with the team's world series trophy. admission is free. gates open at 11:00 a.m. it is a day the fans of am -- apple and verizon waited a long time to see. also, why customers are taking the safeway supermarket chain to court.

stocks pushed back into positive territory. there has been concern over the protests in egyptment right now the dow is up 21. nasdaq up five. san francisco teacher is part of the class-action lawsuit against a supermarket chain. the teacher claims she did not learn the eggs she purchased at safeway were part of a nationwide salmonella recall until she read about it in an e-

mail. safeway says they comply with regulatories requirements. the attorneys said if the store can send reward card members e- mails about promotions they should be able to contact customers about recalls. apple carrier opened up to i-phone customers. you can only order online. apple says it will allow customers to place an order next wednesday and pick up the phones at one of the stores the following day. verizon is asking employees and families to put off buying the devices to make sure there are enough for customers. the chief operating officer issued a memo to verizon workers to put their customers first. verizon is not saying how many i-phones it has available. analyst expect the company to get 11 million new subscriber who is want i-phones and who don't use at&t.

coming up on channel 2 news at 5:00 cal trans will by pass an unstable part of highway one in san mateo county. tonight we'll take you on the first tour inside the tunnel. that story coming up at 5:00. thank you for watching. have a great day!