pierce and golden gate avenue. fire chiefs in fact, says this was one of the worse fires the city has seen in years and that it caused mayor damage to two buildings and also has left a number of people without a home just three days before christmas. we have team coverage this evening from the city. we begin first with ktvu's david stevenson who was our first reporter at the scene. >> take a look behind me. you can see firefighters are still working in the building behind me. moments ago they were spraying water on that gutted hook behind me. they are working through the evening to make sure the fires are out as the investigation begins. six hours before it began, the smoke and billowing smoke could be seen across the city. it started behind this historic building and quickly led to a four story wood apartment building in a matter of minutes. >> it's awful, just absolutely awful. >> reporter: within minutes it became a five alarm fire.

50 firefighters, about half of the city staff responded working in some of the worse possible conditions. >> windy conditions, there's hills, there's zero lot line separations, as you can see these buildings are joined together. >> reporter: smoke inhalation sent a neighborhood resident to the hospital. >> it was one civilian with minor smoke inhalation and one firefighter he had burns to his neck. the other firefighters i talked about was treated on scene and released. >> reporter: the fire tore through the 25 building apartment building and damaged a single family home next door. city officials call it a devastating loss in a historic neighborhood. >> this was the area that was the epicenter of one of the

best victorians in san francisco. >> reporter: you can see some of the water still being sprayed on the scene. the victorian and apartment building are likely to be complete losses and we've learned that firefighters are expected to remain on the scene here at least for the 6:00 hour. for a look at how some of the victims of the fire are coping right now, let's go ton the sce as well. sal-- >> reporter: david we're just down the street from where you are. we're right here on golden gate avenue which is usually a very busy street. you see the red cross van in front of the church there. the evacuation center, as you can see a lot of people are coming in, some people haven't even realized that their building has been burned up yet. they are coming in to receive help. now the owner of 1015 pierce said the building had 25 units, we spoke to one man that ran out of the building but first tried to alert people. >> grabbed my cat, and ran down the hall way banging on doors as well. but then i could see that the smoke was coming into the building.

i saw the flames through the window, by our back staircase and our garbage area, i ran out the building. >> reporter: people looked stunned and shocked as they watched the fire grow and with it their home go up in flames. they were also -- there's also some confusion. people heard about the fire and they heard who it was, they didn't know if it was their building or the building across the street. >> we saw our neighbors running toward us completely hysterical. and we couldn't understand what they were saying. they were saying to us that our house had been spared, but of course we could not understand them. >> reporter: we did see one cat owner leave with a cat box. the family we're told that at least one cat is missing. if you are a displaced person you can come right here to 1455 golden gate avenue here, it's

golden gate between steiner and pierce. that's where city officials say you should meet red cross officials if you are a victim or a family member of one of those victims. live in san francisco, sal castaneda, ktvu channel 2 news. as you can imagine, people for blocks around gathered to watch this afternoon's massive fire. they lined the sidewalks and watched from near by buildings. they also took pictures with their cell phones. others though were eyeing the flames nervously. sal eluded to this hoping firefighters would be able to keep the flames from spreading throughout the neighborhood. the weather especially the strong winds played a big part in the fire fight today. ktvu's meteorologist mark tamayo is here with what those firefighters were up against. >> reporter: a moderate to fairly strong offshore wind event. we did not have any wind advisorys in place but still enough to impact this fire.

remember whenever you have a wind over 10 miles per hour that could increase the flame length and those winds topping 10-miles-an-hour throughout the day. you can see the time line at noon gusting at 21 miles per hour right around the fire zone. peaking at 21 miles per hour. the most recent observation, winds have been coming down. there's still a breeze out there, winds around 11 miles per hour. i am expecting the winds to be on the decrease later on tonight as we head into early friday morning. with winds backing off, temperatures will be really impacted as we head through tomorrow morning. we have a freeze warning to talk about, we'll have more on that coming up in just a few minutes. it's one thing if you can grab valuables and run but it's another when you're wheelchair bound and do not understand the threat. sal castaneda was a few feet away and tells us about a delicate evacuation that has to happen. >> reporter: the winds are

mostly calm now, but earlier wind whipped flames endangered a buildings near by. >> there was smoke coming into the building and so we closed all the windows and they are elderly and they are compromised. >> reporter: the worries soon spread. >> the fire didn't department deem it necessary, but just in case it jumps we started to do a voluntary evacuation at about 12:30. >> reporter: moving the patients is a daunting task since some are immobile. others are hard to leave at a fast pace and others have memory problems. >> we received a call from their administrators saying they needed some support and

they were evacuating the residents so we literally just jumped in our cars and here we are. if i see other institutions that are here. the institution of aging, onlock, i don't know who else. i'm sure the community is gathering together as they should as like we want to do for each other. >> reporter: all during a liable where people will sue at the drop of a hat. john fowler, ktvu. the buildings of the buildings damaged by the fire was almost 100 years old. according to its website the 1015 pierce street apartments has 25 units mostly studios. it's four stories tall, and also has two garages. our coverage of this massive fire in san francisco will continue throughout this newscast including why some folks in the neighborhood are seeing this in their sinks. and it's because of that fire. that story coming up in just

about 20 minutes. just as firefighters in san francisco were gaining the upper hand a separate grass fire sparked in vallejo. this one threatened homes. john fowler has the danger. >> reporter: this is the meadow area of vallejo. the last of the fire trucks just prepareing to leave here but earlier in the afternoon there was some very tense moments. thick smoke has been rising from brush adjacent to the highway, you can see here from chopper 2, -- the channel 2 news chopper 2, the flames were next to the home along sonora pass road. it's been very breezy and dry here. the humidity about 10%. flames brushed through this marsh land and at one point burning some backyard fences and had some neighbors briefly frightened. >> i started spraying the lining to make sure it wouldn't

get to the houses. i sprayed the corner, knocked on the doors. before that knocked on the doors and told them to go get buckets of water. >> reporter: brenell said he went door to door to alert the neighbors. right now the units are on scene from cordelia, sassoon city all here to bolster the vallejo fire department. they've been cut in half by budget cuts. firefighters will likely stay through the night to make sure there are no hot spots and make sure nothing pops up through the night. house republicans gave in to the senate.

>> it might not have been politically the smartest thing in the world. but i make our members wage the good fight. >> reporter: speaker john boehner has resisted a short term solution and that's just what he agreed to today. boehner announced the deal that will temporarily extend those tax cuts while congress works out a long term solution. earlier today the president had mocked republicans for failing to act. >> how can we not get that done? i mean has this place become so dysfunctional that even when people agree to things we can't do it? >> reporter: the house and senate could approve that legislation as early as tomorrow by a simple voice vote. we continue to follow developing news, traffic is beginning to move again in the key traffic rout in the bay area along the mcarthur maze after a car fire. you can see traffic is moving.

wind will continue to remain on a decrease. temperatures will be dropping. coming up an update on the freeze warning and where temperatures will be dropping below 20 degrees.

an update now to our top story, the fire in san francisco. news chopper 2 was over the scene when the fire broke out. it quickly went to five alarms and spread to three buildings including an apartment house and a historic home. two firefighters and one civilian were injured and dozens of people had to evacuate from their homes. we now want to return to developing news along the mcarthur maze. this is live pictures from news chopper 2, this is where a car fire started to jam traffic and it's that key intersection where you're looking at where 580 splits off 80 in the

oakland area near nokia. you're looking at the back up, we believe in just the last 15 minutes or so some of the lanes did start to reopen and traffic did start to ease a bit. but for those who know the area, you know what a key rout the mcarthur area is. it is the westbound area of 580 that has been affected so just be advised as you go into the area, there's going to be a back up and it's going to take a little bit for that to ease. >> dozens of bay area nurses are half way through their planned 24 hour strike after walking off their job this morning. mike mibach is live with why they'll be out of their job a little longer than planned. >> reporter: they're also going to be locked out as well. these nurses tell us they've been working without a contract for a month. it's been a loud one and it just wrapped up.

nurses looking to drive home their point, not just here but a number of other hospitals including alta bates in berkeley. >> thank you for your support. >> and points to be made. >> they're trying to bust the union. >> i just don't think we can do our job as effectively as we used to be able to. >> reporter: an estimated 4,000 nurses, are on a one day strike over stalled contract negotiations. the california nurses association, the union behind this one day walk out has objected to changes in paid sick leave and contributions to health care coverage. >> make some concrete counter proposals. >> reporter: dr. steve o'brien, vice president of alta bates says nurses have received a 22% pay increase over the last 10 years. >> $67,000 a year, $100,000 in the bay area. our nurses $137,000 a year

salaries for a full time nurse. >> reporter: hospital officials at alta bates said a cancer patient died as a result of a replacement nurse. hospital officials tkraoáeubed it as a tragic mistake that could have happened at any time. the more than 100 replacement nurses it hired are qualified professionals. >> it's ironic that the nurses are worried about health care, why did they ask the nurses to leave their patients at their bedside. >> we're not being greedy, we work really hard for our money. >> reporter: this is a one day strike, but striking nurses will be lockedded out from their jobs tomorrow, because sutter health said it was too difficult to hire replacement nurses for just one day during this holiday season. mike mibach. >> nurses also walked off the job in southern california, about 2,000 of them staged a one day long strike at long beach memorial hospital. they are upset about nurse to

patient staffing ratios and increases in their own health insurance premiums. they've been working without a contract since september. in santa cruz authorities are searching for a man who threatened to bomb a pg & e facility and threatened to shoot them on sight. about 50 employees were evacuated but a search of the building turned up no bomb. the sheriff's department traced the threat to a pay phone on east cliff drive. and investigators say this surveillance tape from a near by store actually shows a reflection of a man who may be the person who made that call. we have new information about yesterday's officer involved shooting near the hilltop mall in richmond. police say the man who was shot came out of surgery and is stable. the shooting happened after police got a call about a man with a gun in his waistband at the extended stay hotel. they opened fire when the man came out and tried to run

across the street. an early development involving occupy berkeley which is located right next to berkeley high school. rob roth tells us what happened and what's going on there now. >> reporter: have a look at occupy berkeley this evening or what's left. within the last hour, berkeley city workers came in and cleaned up. with police providing security, berkeley public works crews came unannounced to civic center park this afternoon and cleared away about 20 unclaimed tents. doesens of other occupiers left last night rather than face arrest leaving little left of the occupy berkeley encampment. >> they've told me to leave, they said if i have everything i should go. >> so you're going to go? >> i'm going to. >> but some vowed to stay. >> we're going to tough it out through the winter. try to any way. >> reporter: today's clean up

went off without any confrontation unlike early this morning. this home video shows several scrimmages between police and occupiers after officers tried to arrest campers. officers were trying to protest a public the áf work truck surrounded by workers. >> the people who want the confrontation have now been coming to berkeley so we're concerned about that. so what we're saying to the people is we're going to enforce all of our laws. >> reporter: police say encampment became more dangerous. in the past few days there's been reports of a stabbing and an attempted rape. >> we had two domestic violences here, you know and it just goes on an on. the energy is not good. >> reporter: and we are back live, you see the remaining tents but it's against city laws to be in this park after 10:00 so even these could be gone by tonight.

reporting live tonight in berkeley, rob roth, ktvu news. oakland major jean quan says she doubt it is city can keep protesters from shutting down the port again. mayor quan says if there is another protest she wants the port to pick up the $1.5 million tab for the hundreds of police officers that presumably would be needed to deal with the crowds. all of this comes just as a measure calling for more aggressive policing to prevent port shut downs failed to get enough votes to be heard by the full city council. our coverage on the occupy movement continues online go to our website ktvu.com where you will find a lot of occupy stories. just click on the occupy movement on the top of the home page. just one week after the last u.s. combat troops pulled out of iraq, more than a dozen explosions ripped through baghdad today. at least 69 people were killed.

car bombs, roadside explosions and at least one suicide bomber tore up 11 different neighborhoods. no one has taken responsibility for the bombings. the white house issued a statementing condemning the quote terrorist attacks against innocent iraqis. the press secretary said the bombing served no agenda other than murder and hatred. iraq security forces are up to the task of responding to the attacks and regaining authority. the fire started in the town of kyburiz. there were some vacant vacation cabins that were threatened at one point. a fire in this area is very rare because generally that area is under a fresh blanket of snow. tonight there seems to be two weather headlines one being

the winds we saw today, the second going to be just how cold it's going to be. we turn now to mark tamayo for a look at what we should expect. >> they are all connected. the winds in fact, a big issue. you take a look at impressive gusts throughout the day. 3:00 this morning a gust of up to 72 miles per hour. the most recent observation that's 4:00 back down to 32. this trend will continue with decreasing winds. now as a result, temperatures in fact, cooling off rapidly. here's a look at the latest numbers. at this 5:00 hour, santa rosa 57, santa rosa 58 degrees. san jose mid-50s. so here we go with the forecast headlines for tonight. clearing skies, cooling off rapidly, we have a freeze warning to talk about first thing tomorrow morning. and mostly sunny skies, still right on through the weekend we will hold on to this dry weather pattern. you can see a few high clouds clipping the northern portions of the state. northern california but still

high pressure in command of our weather. there's some activity here out in the pacific. but most of the activity will be heading to the north. we will track a few changes as we head into the last week of 2011. here we go with the freeze warning, this in place for the inland valley. this in place lasting until 9:00 friday morning. you can see for the areas shaded here through santa rosa, napa, fairfield, antioch, san jose and morgan hill. you work your way well inland bang down into the mid-20s. in fact, here's a look at some of those cold numbers projected overnight. look at the 20s for santa rosa and napa. you may want to keep your plants warm, animals warm and keep the pipes insulated. san jose right around 31. so here we are tomorrow morning in the 20s, 30s and 40s. as we put this map into motion. we do recover nicely until

12:00. it will be cooler just a little bit by tomorrow afternoon. we are tracking some rain chances of la nina. our coverage of that massive fire in san francisco continues, the unusual impact that people living near by saw in their water as firefighters were battling the flames. and san francisco's glide memorial church is getting a big gift. what company just stepped up with a generous donation just days before christmas. it may be an emergency, but don't expect police at your door. we'll reveal the one call san jose police won't necessarily answer. and we'll have continuing live team coverage from the fire in san francisco to bring you the latest updates from the scene.

an update now on our top story, that huge fire that sweat through an apartment -- that swept through an apartment house and two other buildings. two people were hurt including one firefighter. firefighters had to fight against high winds. a third person suffered from smoke inhalation. the massive fire fight put a big strain in the area's water system. so much water was needed to douse those flames and it did cause some issues. john sasaki live in san francisco with that part of the story, john. >> reporter: frank this fire prompted a huge response from firefighters some who are still on scene down the street there. all of this mean that is the water system got a huge major work out this afternoon. hydrants around the city were tapped for hours. now the activity stirred up muddy waters for near by

residents, you can see in this video of the blaze, the loan firefighter -- the lone firefighters on top of the ladder is dousing the fire with some brown water. that water also was heading to the residents. the use of the water stirred up the sediment. >> they're going to temporarily have brown water. try not to pull into the hot water tank. >> we saw water pouring out of a few fire engines and it appeared to be back to normal. i learned i shouldn't be drinking it because it came out of a hydrant it looks pretty

clean. as one firefighter told me, just one fire hydrant can cause the water to go brown for an entire neighborhood. i'm john sasaki, ktvu news. oakland police officers give santa a little help today and brought christmas cheer to some needy children. >> thank you. >> that was chief howard jordan who led the way bringing christmas presents to a family that was adopted by his department. jordan and his elfs delivered gifts through north and west oakland. they are helping families who have been struggling financially and some who have been victims of violent crime. they were partnered with mcdonalds. a san francisco church known for its generous give aways were on the receive end today. wells fargo handed a check to reverend cecil williams. the money is going to help fund a center for victims of

domestic violence and a dental van. continuing coverage on our top story. that five alarm fire in san francisco that destroyed at least two buildings and forced scores of residents to flee. an early morning shooting leaves behind a grieving family and sáefl neighbors wondering what exactly happened to their cars. -- behind a grieving family and several neighbors wondering what exactly happened to their cars. [ female announcer ] hurry to jcpenney... ...for the final days to save before christmas... ...and shop til midnight for those last minute gifts. save 60% off must have winter coats. 60% off the coziest sleepwear. 9.99 for the coolest men's shirts. and 40 to 60% off fine jewelry. need another idea? get the jcp gift card. the perfect gift to bring holiday cheer. don't miss the final days to save before christmas.

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an historic san francisco apartment building goes up in flames and tonight questions remain about how it started. as we told you earlier in the newscast the fire chief calls this one of the worse fires san francisco has seen in years. our team coverage continues now in the city, ktvu's david stevenson is live with what

firefighters are doing right now. david. >> reporter: maureen, behind me you can see the police car still guarding the fire sight. firefighters have received their presence as it's gotten darker. but make no mistake, this fire brought out a huge turn out of firefighters today and it's still not over. this is what firefighters were up against at about noon today. a five alarm fire that brought out 150 firefighters. half of the cities force. it began at the rear of a three story, three unit victorian. shocked neighbors watched as the flames scorched the buildings and sent smoke billowing into the sky. >> when we got here they told us that there was nothing they could do and that it looked like they were just going to have to sort of sit here and wait for it to burn to the ground. >> my understanding at this time is preliminarily that it started in the rear of the building. whether it was the lower floor or upper floor. we do know that flames quickly

blew through the roof of the building. >> smoke inhalation sent one resident to the hospital. a firefighter suffered what we are told are minor injuries from the flames. firefighters are remain at the scene until at least 6:00 until the investigation begins. david stevenson, ktvu. that fire has left a lot of people looking for a place to stay and it couldn't have happened at a worse time, two days before christmas. >> we're here at the evacuation watching people come by. one person came by, chelsea smith to show us sráeud owe that she shot across the street here on her phone. what were you seeing? >> i got the update that there was a fire so we rushed back home and we climbed to our roof and there were just flames shooting everywhere. it was devastating. >> some of your neighbors are

displaced and they're all going up the street. do you know any of the people that were displaced? >> we didn't know any of the people but we're helping as much as we can. >> one of the things that we did see was there was a lot of confusion, people heard about the fire and now with twitter and facebook they heard it was on the corner of golden gate and pierce, and they raced frankicly. let's hear from one woman who was told about the fire. >> i had someone in the neighborhood call me, i was at work and they said you need to get home right away. then when i got into the cab and i told the cab driver my address, the cab driver said there's a terrible fire there right now. so he knew and we could see it all the way south of market. >> all right city officials are asking those of you who need help if perhaps you're watching tv or you're a family member, you're looking for your displaced relatives, the address is 1455 golden gate avenue. it's a church, it's right here

on golden gate avenue between pierce and steiner, that's where city officials want you to meet and that's where the red cross is. reporting live, sal castaneda. >> a massive fire forced more than 100 senior citizens out of their assisted living facility less than a block awe. - - block away. senior citizens were helped out of the retirement home. other senior facilities are taking the seniors in until it's safe for their return. >> we want to give you a look at what it was like for firefighters during the fire. another picture shows the flames shooting from one of the windows and the billowing smoke. this was seen from all over san francisco. our coverage of the fire will continue we're going to head back out to the scene in about 20 minutes to just see if the situation has changed. you can also go to ktvu.com and

ktvu mobile at any time for updates. want to go back now to that developing news we've been reporting about the mcarthur maize. the situation there, these are live pictures at the 580, 80 split going toward san francisco. to give you some perspective it is right next to where the ikea is in emeryville. traffic is heavy but not nearly as bad as it was nearly 20 minutes ago. a car caught fire right at the 580, 80 split and authorities had to shut down all westbound lanes. needles need-- need less to say that caused a massive back up. traffic is still heavy but not any where near as bad as it was 20 minutes ago. a man was shot and killed while driving in his car then plowed into another car before coming to a stop. ktvu's jade hernandez is at the scene and tells us what witnesses say they heard and saw right after all those shots

were fired, jade. >> reporter: neighbors say that the man shot lived not too far from here and he did not survive. we can show you tonight the honda that the victim's struck after he lost control of his car. and you can see why so many neighbors in this neighborhood are worried. neighbors at 46 and west called police shortly after hearing what they thought was gunfire. >> i heard gunfire and i seen him, the tires were burning. >> pow, pow, pow then you hear the car. plump, tires, smoke. >> reporter: witnesses report hearing five shots then an explosion. >> i went over there to try to get him out of car, it was burning. >> reporter: police told the man to stay back. firefighters then rushed the man to the hospital. minutes before neighbors could only rush out to look at damage. >> wow wouldn't even know there was a car there because there was so much smoke. all you could hear was a motor groaning.

>> i guess his foot was still on the gas. so when my neighbor was in her car, he ran into the back of her car, which ram into the back of my grandma's car. >> reporter: paramedics later took her to the hospital. >> reporter: her great granddaughter was also upset by what happened. >> she had a party to go to, so she was upset. aáepb -- and she was not missing her party for the end of the world. so my uncle came to take her. >> it's a very dangerous situation. we have children out of school. >> reporter: the woman taken to the hospital has been released. positive economic reports pushed stocks higher on wall

street today. the government says the u.s. economy grew with an annual rate of 8.9% last quarter the fastest rate this year. the nasdaq added 21 points. wall street also responded to news that unemployment applications dropped for the third week in a row. the labor department says first time jobless claims fell by 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 364,000. that is the lowest level since april of 2008. the u.s. has added at least 100,000 jobs every month from july through november. millions of the dollars are up for grabs tonight. how much money is on the line for tomorrows mega millions drawings. and just days before christmas, customers are left an alert. why best buy says it can't fulfill some holiday orders. !

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they are being left in the lurch this christmas after an electronics giant told them it won't be able to deliver some online orders by ordered three i tunes discounts at a discount that best buy now says it can't deliver. >> what a let down, you know cause i could have just gone to the store and get the product or gone some where else. >> reporter: in a statement best buy said it is very sorry for the inconvenience. and that it has notified all impacted customers. an oil spill in brazil has executives for a bay area company on the hot seat. how long a chevron executive could spend behind bars if convicted for that massive oil spill. and in weather, winter decreasing right now, as a result temperatures will continue to rapidly cool off. coming up the areas that will be in the 20s first thing

tomorrow morning. the forecast for the holiday weekend, and when shower chances could be added to the bay area forecast. it may be an emergency but don't expect police at your door, we'll reveal the one call san jose police won't necessarily answer. and we'll have continuing live team coverage from the fire in san francisco to bring you the latest updates from the scene.

as we've been reporting today's five alarm fire in san francisco forced dozens of people to leave their homes. hundreds had to be evacuated from a near by assisted living facility. the good news here is that

everyone was evacuated safely. brazilian authorities say they want criminal charges brought against some chevron executives as a result of that oil spill last month. the spill appeared november 7 off the coast of rio de janeiro. one of the people the brazilians want to charge is george black a chevron exec. they also want to file charges against transocean. fed ex employees are busy delivering packages. significantly more than last year. >> throughout the company i know we've hired a lot more team members this year as we've had in the past.

i've hired extra team members to make sure we have enough people to assist. >> reporter: fed ex says it delivered 150 million packages on november 12th the company's biggest day in history. they tend to indicate just how the broader economy is doing. and a you tube video showing a fed ex driver throwing a box containing a computer monitor has gone viral. the fed ex delivery man is shown hurling the package over the fence without ringing the doorbell. everyone though the owner saids he was home with the door open. the driver will face disciplinary action. let's talk more about our weather. another beautiful day here though it was pretty windy. it's interesting how it warms up during the day and just like that it gets cold. >> a sudden shift in temperatures, that's happening right now. you can see looking out toward the bay here. a time lapse over the last few hours. the setting sun and mostly

clear skies. probably already feeling that chill here. those very cold numbers especially up in the north bay and inland numbers, livermore 26, santa rosa 24 and morgan hill 27. that's where we have the freeze warning for the east bay valley and the santa clara valley as well. including san jose, san francisco downtown pretty chilly as well in the lower 40s. this was the set up today. low pressure to our east and high pressure developing offshore. that set up the strong northerly flow. we're going to scale back on those winds and lighter winds for your friday. with the decrease in the winds a very cold morning. dry weather pattern continues right on to the weekend, we could be tracking just a few shower chances and right now it's only a chance. so here's the plan for tomorrow. your bay area forecast at 7:00, clear and cold. that freeze warning in place.

by 12:00 mostly sunny skies. we'll call it mild in the afternoon hours. a few spots could be touching the 60 degrees mark. santa rosa right around 50. san francisco 57, and hayward 58 degrees. san jose 59 and los gatos 58 degrees. you will notice this no rain clouds just yet. just some cold mornings for tomorrow morning and basically into saturday morning as well. coolest locations back down into the mid-20s. we want to keep the plants warm, the animals warm and also protect the pipes as well. keep them insulated. and there's that chance of a shower on tuesday. but i will say maureen and frank, this has been a very dry december. we could be tracking changes next week but i wouldn't bet on it just yet. >> it has been really dry, thanks mark. firefighters in san jose say a two alarm fire apparently started by a chicken coop heater damaged two homes today

and knocked out power to an entire neighborhood. the fire started in a home on paloma avenue about 1:00 this afternoon. fire crews say the flames raced up a power pole causing live wires to fall. the fire then spread to a home and another house behind it on ventura avenue. seven adults and four children have been displaced today. a plea for help tonight just days before christmas. who's issuing the call to make sure needy children have toys under trees.

back now to our top story, the fire in san francisco. it started just before noon when flames broke out in a backyard near golden gate avenue and pierce street. the fire tore through three residential buildings and it took 250 firefighters roughly three hours to control the fire. two firefighters and another person did suffer minor injuries. dozens only people had to evacuate from their homes. coming up in less than five minutes, we're going to head back out to the scene where firefighters are still working. there's been occupy wall street, occupy san francisco, occupy oakland and occupy the rose parade. but the people will not be marching with the bands and parade. officials have made a deal with the occupiers that will allow

they will to march the route at the end of the parade after all of the floats have passed. in years past, the rose parade has been a target for protesters looking for global attention. a program to help low income children celebrate christmas has put out a desperate call for help. major jean quan has said the need for toy donations has skyrocketed this year. the toy supply is low so the mayor is asking for last minute donations. some families say this is the only chance they have to give their children something for christmas. >> i didn't have any money for presents, but the community was able to tell me about this and through the word of mouth, i was able to come. >> there are collection bins for the payor's toy drive throughout oakland, at government buildings, the zoo, also at target and wal-mart stores. coming up here in just 90

second, smoke fills the skies over a vallejo neighborhood where neighbors come within feet of a home. and also san jose police may not show up the next time your house alarm goes off. the change in policy that some residents are pretty upset about: ok, you guys wanted a space for entertaining your friends,

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more than 100 firefighters risked their lives to beat back flames burning below their feet and right above their head. the fast moving flames once peaking through walls consume historic homes down to their frames, now dozens are homeless just days before christmas. good evening i'm julie haener. >> and i'm frank somerville. the fire started just before noon on golden gate avenue. those flames quickly spread to pierce a much bigger building. we watched as the fire ate away at buildings from the inside out. >> you can see fire crews are still there monitoring the house and the structure to make sure the flames don't flair back up again. and that huge billow of smoke