afternoon is now gone. >> ktvu crews have been speaking with evacuees, the red cross, near by residents and fire officials and we have live team coverage tonight. we begin with ktvu's david stevenson and what fire authorities are saying this hour about that massive fire fight, david. >> reporter: take a look behind me. you can see that it is dark at the scene of these two charred buildings. but firefighters have been working through the last hour to make sure the fire is out as their investigation into its cause begins. let's take a look at some video that was shot at around just before noon today. this is how the flames looked, billowing smoke to be seen from across the city. firefighters say it all began behind a three story victorian building on golden gate avenue and quickly led to a neighboring four story wood victorian building in just a matter of minutes. it quickly became a five alarm fire, 150 firefighters about half of the city staff responded in windy conditions. firefighters say it was a difficult area to fight and

there were several injuries as well. >> there was one civilian with minor smoke inhalation. one firefighters had injuries, both minor. >> firefighters were forced to temporarily abandon one building amidst concerns that it would collapse. the fire completely gutted the victorian, tore through the apartment building and damaged a home next door. the fire chief says she believes it began at the back of the victorian but as nightfalls that investigation is going to have to wait to get more answers. david stevenson, ktvu channel 2 news. i'm sal castaneda here at the fire scene, we are just about a block down from where david was here on golden gate avenue. and you can see the red cross van is still there right in front of 1455 golden gate where the evacuees have been taken.

now some residents of the building at 1015 pierce street say they feel lucky to have gotten out as the fast moving fire didn't leave them a lot of time. >> somebody buzzed our buzzer from outdoor, our door buzzer. i answered and they said fire, fire. i started banging on doors as quickly as we could. i grabbed the cat and got out. >> reporter: this woman says she unwittingly got a firsthand view of the fire when her car was trapped by dozens of fire engines and fire trucks that boxed her in. she showed us the video she took with her phone. >> what happened? >> i was pretty scared to tell you the truth because ke oh my spreads. >> now all the human victims were able to get out but sadly some pets did not make it out of the fire. at least they are still missing. we did see a woman walk out with a cat carrier. we've spoke to a man said his sister just didn't have time to

get all her pets. >> she opened the door basically and the flames were already at her door so she had time to get one cat. not the other one, so -- >> once again city officials are asking those who are displaced to meet them here at the red cross center. it's right down the street from where the fire is. 1455 golden gate avenue between pierce and steiner here. that's where they're asking you to meet tonight or if you're a family member of one of those victims you can also meet them there as well. in san francisco, sal castaneda, ktvu channel 2 news. now even though the fire department said an evacuation probably would not be necessary, the folks at victorian manner on mccallister were taking no chances. >> reporter: bre summoned other assisted facilities to help evacuate her 100 residents to other facilities. >> nine people showed up with

personal vehicles and their facility van to transport our residents and staff. >> her staff and those from other facilities know that moving the frail and disabled requires a lot of individual care. thanks to help from on lok the aging institute and age song it went off without a hitch. >> i'm impressed, i mean they know exactly who's going where. i have to say. i'm impressed. i don't know who's coming to our place, we'll figure out, we'll meet them when they get there, but i've been impressed by their efforts. >> and to make sure the other centers are not overburdened. >> staff has gone to all of the evacuation staff, adequate staff has gone. nobody is going to be away from those sites until someone relieves them and we will use the generosity of all of our partners in health to bring our residents back. >> reporter: the assisted living community quickly assembled their own kind of mutual aid system that worked well with a huge assist from the fire department that kept

the flames at bay. reporting live, tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. the massive response to the fire meant the city's water system was working overtime. firefighters tapped into multiple hydrants in the neighborhood that activity stirred up sediment from the bottom of the water main and left tap water in the area brown. but city water officials say it has been chlorinated and despite its look it is safe to drink. the fire devastated one of san francisco's historic gem. a centuries old historic building. it was built in 1915. the structure was kind of a construction boom that followed the 1906 earthquake. the 1015 pierce street apartment building was four stories tall with 27 rental units. firefighters were able to take pictures as they arrived aopb the scene -- arrive on the

scene. engine eight sent us this picture. the next picture shows the flames burning through the building, the top floor and back pretty much destroyed. we've also posted more of that incredible video on our website. just look on our home page for our link to our raw video as well as a slide show of pictures throughout the day. firefighters were also busy fighting a grass fire in vallejo. it threatened homes at one point, making homeowners very dangerous. >> i started spraying the grass and knocked on the doors, before that knocked on the doors and told them they can go get buckets of water. >> reporter: fire crews from cordelea, fair field and sassoon city joined the vallejo fire department. noinjurys were reported. the cause of the fire is still under investigation. seven bus drivers are hospitalized at this hour after their buses went out of control

at the pittsburg bus station this afternoon. there's no word yet on what caused the crash, all the injuries are said though to be minor. the san jose police department is now alerting thousands of people about a new policy that's already making some residents a little nervous. new at 6:00, ktvu's robert handa live in san jose to tell us why officers may not respond to fire alarms. >> reporter: starting tomorrow, dozens of homeowners and business will be getting this flier alerting them that in essence if their burglar alarm goes off, officers may not necessarily show up. there are a lot of different burglar alarm systems set up in homes and businesses, the san jose police department is now sending out thousands of mailers telling homeowners and business owners officers will not respond to alarms where there is no verification of an

actual crime such as a witness on camera spotting an intruding. one neighborhood homeowners group is worried about the message that policy sends to criminals. >> it is saying, knock knock, nobody is home or something. and it's an invitation. it's a big invitation for burglars. police say it's necessary for a department hit hard by lay offs. officials say other cities including fremont adopted that policy and did not see a jump in burglaries. but the key issue, san jose officials responded to more than 18,000 home alarms, more than 28% have been false alarms. >> we have been to homes where helium balloons or cats have set off alarms. >> reporter: business owners are concerned but understand the dilemma.

one sam's downtown feed is aware that several things set off their alarms. >> the vibrations from the trains, kids will throw rocks up in the on the roof. and the neighbors asked us to tune down our alarm because it was being a nuisance. live in san jose, robert handa, channel 2 news. we are learning more tonight about the 7-year-old skier who died after falling out of a chair lift at sugar bowl ski resort. john henderson was from davis. his family says he was an active and rambuntious child who dreamed of being an astronaut or inventor. a man who was shot by police near hilltop mall in richmond is now in stable condition. they weren't responded to a report of -- they were

responding to a report of a man carrying a gun in his waistband. he was reportedly shot when he tried to run out a rear exit door. no one else was hurt. thousandsover bay area nurses on -- thousands of bay area nurses on strike over stalled contract talks. >> all right here we go. >> reporter: the one day walk out got under way this morning at eight hospitals. including alta mead. >> our nurses, $136,000 a year salary for a full time nurse. >> we're not being greedy, we work really hard for our money. >> reporter: sutter health has hired more than 400 replacement nurses. a hail of gunfire then an explosion. the mysterious shooting in oakland today that took a young man's life. live pictures from news

chopper 2 showing the aftermath of that massive fire in san francisco. roads are still closed, you can see a lot of fire apparatus still on the scene. and scores of people trying to figure out where they're going to stay tonight. more news coming up after this break. and in weather, strong winds are moving out of the bay area but temperatures are dropping off rapidly. coming up in our next freeze warning is set to begin and the neighborhoods are going to be starting out friday morning in the lower 20s. keurig has a wide variety of gourmet coffee and tea to choose from. keurig is the way to brew fresh, delicious coffee in under a minute. way to brew. so with keurig, every cup tastes like it's brewed just for you. because it is. [ man it's big.

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the occupy berkeley camp near city hall is nearly empty tonight. this morning, crews came and cleared 20 unclaimed tents.

doesness of protesters cleared out this morning. still a few protesters vowed to stay put. oakland police are reporting a shooting that left one man dead. neighbors near 46th and west street called police after hearing what sounded like gunfire then an explosion. it appears a man was shot in his car then hit two parked cars. the victim's car then burst into flames. >> i went out there and tried to get him out of his car, it was burning. >> the man was taken to the hospital. no arrests have been made. prosecutors say linda gomez worked as an administrator at the sisters of the holy names of jesus and mary convent for more than 20 years. according to the indictment, gomez embezzled money but

submitting fake reports. house speaker john boehner called it the right thing to do although earlier the gop leader argued against that short term fix. if the deal passes possibly as early as tomorrow, it will keep paychecks from shrinking as of january 1st. unemployment claimed dropped last week twice in a row. u.s. the has added at least 100,000 jobs from july through november. that news gave wall street a boost. the dow closed up 61 points for its third day of gains. the nasdaq rose 21 points to finish at 2,599. berkeley police teamed up with community volunteers to deliver holiday food bags to those in need. the volunteers started the morning by walking down a line

of produce filling up 250 bags for delivery. >> we can deliver a food basket to them. bring some warmth to their family during a time of the year where they may not other wise be able to do it. áeut makes us feel great being able to do something that's 100% positive. there's no downside to it. >> berkeley police also hand out food at thanksgiving, the program is paid for generally with a fund raising bike ride in september that they call the turkey run. apple is set to build a new prototype store. the store will look a bit different with a glass roof and basement. planning officials say work will begin soon. recapping our top stories now, fire crews still on the scene of a huge five alarm fire that badly damaged two san francisco buildings. the fire started just before noon at a multi unit victorian on golden gate avenue.

the flames then spread to a bigger building on pierce street. and the high winds in that area made this fire especially difficult to fight. one firefighter actually two firefighters and a civilian suffered minor injuries. fire crews in vallejo rushed to a grass fire this afternoon. it started in a marshy area near highways 27 and 29 and threatened several homes at one point coming within feet of those homes in fact. crews from cordelia and sassoon all helped the vallejo fire department. no injuries were reported, the cause of that fire is still under investigation. fire officials are blaming a downed power line for a small house fire in el dorado county. the fire started at about 7:00 this morning. the flames burned about a half acre, a few empty cabins were threatened but no damage was reported. a fire in this area is rare at this time of year since it's usually under a blanket of snow. the wind has been a concern for crews battling the fires today. right now the winds have died

down but we did have some pretty strong gusts this afternoon. meteorologists mark tamayo is in for bill, he's tracking the conditions. he joins u -- he joins us now live. >> reporter: you see that flag getting a bit of a work out from the conditions. you will notice a big change, a big change first thing tomorrow morning. here's the time lapse showing you this. the sun going down with mostly clear skies across most of the bay area. just looking toward the san francisco bay. we are really cooling off out there already for the 6:00 hour. fairfield checking in at 46 degrees, napa at 44, san francisco in the upper 50s and san jose lower 50s right around 52 degrees. take a look at these numbers first thing tomorrow morning. the 20s showing up in santa rosa, napa, livermore 26. san jose 31, ewe -- you

definitely want to keep the planets warm and pets warm and pipes covered. this in place in the inland bay valley. including san jose. overnight lows back down to the mid-20s to lower 30s to start out your friday morning. basically the same deal as we head into saturday morning as well. this pressure to our east and high pressure developing offshore. the pressure difference creating those winds as air pressure produces some of the highs and lows. tomorrow strong winds down toward southern california. the lighter winds for your friday but a very cold morning as i just showed you. dry weather pattern continues right through the weekend. for friday, saturday, sunday and into monday. sometime next week we could be

tracking shower chances but nothing too impressive just yet. i almost want to expand that contour, we will likely have mid-20s to start out. maybe even a few 20s to start out. there's the temperature scale. 50s in a few spots and touching the 60 degrees mark for tomorrow afternoon. tomorrow in general, cooler than today. you will notice that, especially tomorrow morning as that freeze warning in place. by 12:00 mostly sunny, mostly sunny and mild by 3:00 and temperatures mainly in the 50s. a few neighborhoods just touching the 50 degrees mark. and morgan hill at 60 degrees. here is a look ahead. your extended forecast with your holiday weekend in view. you will notice this some frosty mornings to start off your saturday. pretty much the same deal for your saturday morning. then on sunday, partly sunny skies. no rain clouds for sunday but maybe the slight chance of a few showers for tuesday. if you thought it's been cold for the next few mornings get

ready for tomorrow morning, everyone we're going to shave off everyone a few more degrees. an airman returning from iraq had a special reunion with his girlfriend. they were the last california guards men to leave iraq. and one of them popped the question to his girlfriend as soon as he saw her. fortunately she said yes. coming up on bay area news at 7:00 on tv 36. continuing coverage of tonight's five alarm fire in san francisco that displaced dozens of people. some call it the grinch who put christmas on hold. the major retail mishap that has some holiday shoppers scrambling for gifts tonight. join us tonight on the tv 36.

>> and a star player has just signed be a new team. it's a holiday traditional but she hasn't done it for years, it all has to do with what happened to her hand. why wrapping a present is a major milestone for this woman.

california's firsthand transplant recipient did something she hasn't done in five years. wrap christmas presents. 26-year-old emily fennel was the first person to receive a hand transplant back in march. she lost her right hand in a car crash in 2006 and she says she thinks about the donor and the donor's family often. >> i hope that one day i can meet them so i can thank them

in person. bauds this gift that they have given me it's a true blessing and i hope they understand that i'm so thankful for them and every day they're on my mind. fennell is said to wave her new hand at the donor float on the rose parade. >> news from the a's and the giants. >> not exactly the season, but you have to wonder who are these guys going to be. the latest to go very coveted, popular and young left-hander. gio gonzalez is going to the washington nationals. he was set to make about $4 million this year. too much for the a's payroll. in exchange the a's get four prospects. the top one is a guy by the name of peacock. pretty good prospect. guess we better start learning new names.

meantime the giants will definitely no longer have carlos beltran. he's not exactly albert pujols but the cardinals figured they better go out and get a big time bat to replace the best hitter in all of baseball. beltran becomes a cardinal today. it's a two year $26 million deal. and it's not an easy one for the 49ers. this saturday they're going to seattle, they are on a roll. and of course lynch former cal star and rolling it on the tkpwrupbd. he's been a touchdown machine. interesting the note the 49ers haven't given up a touchdown on the ground all yearlong. one of his former teammates lynch's his name is dante whitner now with the niners nows what to expect from this freight train on the move. >> we're going to try to get that ball off of him. we understand these guys are going to come out, try to get their hands on the ground. it's like a pride thing right now with other things that we face.

we have to be prepared to stop the run. all right, we'll have that game for you saturday at 1:00. niners and seahawks and mark barkly is saying at usc. great news for all trojan fans. that's the sporting life for right now. >> and bad news for cal and stanford fans though. >> exactly. >> thank you for trusting ktvu channel 2 news. stay with us on ktvu.com and mobile ktvu for any major news developments. >> right now you can watch more video of today's intense fire in san francisco and get the latest updates, just visit ktvu.com. [ male announcer ] ziploc presents ziplogic.

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