the window exploded and flames were everywhere. ordinary people become heroes during a south bay fire. but there was a big scare for a firefighter. good afternoon. i'm tori cam be. the san jose firefighter is, in fact, recovering. he fell through the roof of a four-unit home that was on fire. we've on this story since 4:30

this morning. tara moriarty joins us live. you just got word about his condition? >> reporter: yes. that's right. tonight we know he suffered third-degree burns to one hand, second-degree burns to the other hand and his waist. the fire started in this bottom unit where it's boarded up. the fire was so intense it melted the paint off one side of the building. and if you can see the whole there, that's where it shot through the roof. the veteran firefighter severely burned his hand when his glove slipped off and the only thing that saved him -- >> this was the ventilation hole, where our firefighter went in. we were able to grab him. >> reporter: when the fire broke out at 3 3::00 this --

3:00 this morning -- >> the window broke. flames everywhere. >> he saved her life. that's where the fire started. if no one got her out -- she was asleep or unconscious. >> reporter: the man mock -- knocked on every door. >> we saw smoke in the apartment. my daughter natalie, is 7. i was awake and she woke up and yelled fire -- yelled fire. >> reporter: investigators believe this fire ignited because of a candle left burning overnight. again, the firefighter is at valley medical bush center. again, we'll get an update on

his condition later. but he's expected to survive. you can see a little smoke coming from the tree. a unit just pulled up here behind me. they are gonna be dousing this tree and make sure it doesn't ignite. back to you. >> thank you, tara. we're also on storm watch this afternoon as light rain continues to fall around the bay area. it's enough for umbrellas and windshield wipers but as you can see from this live picture from san jose, it's not enough for the heavy rainfall. we're not out of the wodz -- out of woods yet. mark mark toe micro-- mark tamayo will be here in 14 minutes with our forecast. a fatal accident happened on 13 just south of the south

exit. a tree toppled on the road. a car drove up, hit the tree, went airborne and crashed into the vehicle. >> it's usually best to stay in your car and properly restrained because you have a better chance of survival than if you are outside of your car, a driver doesn't see you, that's usually gonna be serious if not fatal. >> reporter: three others were injured according to the chp, the tree fell due to the root system being weaken bide the rain. wet pavement may have been a factor in a multicar crash in oakland t happened on 9 oth avenue. two cars -- oakland. it happened on 90th avenue. two people were taken to the

hospital. the chp is also investigating whether alcohol played a role in this freeway pileup. the jury's verdict came this morning for the death of tracey biletnikoff, the daughter of a former raiders' player was killed 13 years ago and for the second time her ex- boyfriend has been found guilty. lorraine blanco is live with the reaction from the victim's family. >> reporter: no cameras were allowed in. but i can tell you that tracey biletnikoff's whispered yes! when they heard guilty of northbound--- murder. >> there's no justice here. it's all vengeance. >> reporter: ali confessed to strangling tracey biletnikoff to death in 1999 in a san mateo

rehab facility. he was convicted in 2001 and it was overturned in 2009. 13 years later after a retrial, her family has closure. >> to have too to go through it again and see my family. >> through it gone years later, it's not -- my family go through it again years later, it's not a good situation. >> reporter: tracy's father fred, tells us he's glad ali will stay behind bars for a long time. >> thank god it will keep a person like this off the street and keep him away from somebody else's daughter. >> reporter: he wants everyone to think of his daughter as a brave young woman. >> she had enough guts to fight and everything and -- and get her life back. >> reporter: ali is set to be

back court for sentencing. he faces a life prison. back to you. >> thank you. the labor department had good news in the latest job report. new jobless claims were found 14,000 last week. that puts the number of new unemployment applications up 351,000. that's lower than economists had forecast. it's the lowest level in four years. experts say that indicates the job market is creating enough new jobs. with high gasoline prices, president obama focused on energy policy this morning. in a speech to students at the community college, mr. obama says drilling for more oil is not the solution and those who say it is are just playing politics. >> there's no such thing as a quick fix when it comes to high

gas prices. >> there's no silver bullet. anyone who tells you otherwise isn't really looking for a solution. they are trying to fid the political wave -- ride the political wave. >> mr. obama says says they are drilling and republicans say that's because of the policies george w. bush put in place before he left office. police say two men pushed a woman in her bathroom, locked the door and took money from her home tuesday morning. officers say they are increasing the patrols the area. a concord woman reported --

reported she was robbed at a grocery store -- store. when she tried to fight he grabber grab -- grabbed her belongings and took off. oakland's new police and fire chief officially took the oath of office, howard jordan takes other the policesh -- takes over the police chief job. he's twice been interim police chief. teresa reed becomes the first african-american to head a big city fire department in the united states. she comes from san jose where she was assistant chief. >> we're used to being on the cutting edge of civil rights and today it's one more step in oakland's history of challenging the establishment and even the city government making a difference and opening

doors for new people. >> the oakland city council approved the appointments on february 1st. former illinois governor rod blagojevich is now an inmate at a colorado federal prison. he made a pit stop at a fast- food restaurant on the way to denver, colorado. he was found guilty of 18 corruption charges, including trying to sell president obama's vacated seat. he will be the state's second governor currently in prison. in 2006, george ryan was convicted on corruption charges. the rain has eased up but mark tamayo says it's not over. there's new information for you on what to expect. and some bay area students may have looked like they were

having fun this morning but this is actually serious business.

the stormy weather may have played a role in this crash

outside of the ikea story of the car veered off the and slammed into a hydrant street sending water gushing in the air. the driver was not hurt. afghan president hamid karzai is calling for nato toos to pull out of his country's villages and accelerate their exit. mr. karzai said he deliver -- said he delivered that message to leon panetta. he called for foreign troops to get out of afghanistan in 2013 instead of 2014. that came as the taliban withdrew from talks over the future of afghanistan. public schoolteachers will find out if they face the risk of ruing -- of losing their jobs for the next year. school districts have already

issued about 8,000 pink slips statewide with at least 1200 here in the bay area. this step is required for schools to prepare for the worst-case scenario but often when the state budget passes in the summer, the cuts to keage education -- and the cults to -- and the cuts to education are not as severe, they are rescinded. students around the bay area were blowing bubbles outside of their schools. this is video taken of their school with signs. a teacher's group organized the event to urge state lawmakers "not to blow it" and pass a budget that fully funds education. >> yeah, you have to take it and blow it with -- with all of your strength. >> what do you think about your school? it's a great school? >> yeah.

>> there are similar protests across the bay area including san francisco and the peninsula. in a meeting that lasedful the early - -- that lasted until the early-morning hours a santa rosa school board voted to close doyle school. the three-part vote did not happen until 1:05 a.m., one member said. the predom nantly latino school will close at the end of the year and it will reopen as a french-american charter school in the fall. rainy weather and flood something threat being the boardwalk. christian calf ten has been there -- christien kafton has more. >> reporter: they've seen just how much the river has turned.

>> it's much different than it has been before. it's much more severe. it used to be not so close to the boardwalk. >> reporter: rain over the last few days has pushed san lorenzo out of the path leading directly to the ocean. cutting that new path the river has already swept away a staircase on the back side of the santa cruz beach boardwalk. surfers say park workers have a tough job ahead of them. they want to reduce the damage. look at how already there's no beach. work is underway today and the workers may be up against a tough deadline with more rain in the future. workers need to use the equipment before more storms

roll in tomorrow. pg&e crews are trying to pack out what knocked out power to thousands in the east bay. the outage affected homes and businesses in danville and alamo. at one point, more than 2600 customers were without power. that's now down to 1600. crews are in the neighborhood now searching for the cause of the outage. the wet weather is delaying plans to open new toll lanes in milpitas, the toll lanes are located at interstate 880. the valley transportation authority initially planned to open the lanes today but those plans have been pushed back in the tuesday -- until tuesday, when the rain is supposed to be over. between now and then we will be tracking multiple storms across the bay area. today not too much happening, although we still have quite a bit of cloud cover looking out

towards san rafael with mostly sunny skies. reports of follow, drizzle. the radar not too impressive right now, but even if you are not comfortable with the green, you can be experiencing driz. and wet roadways. as far as rainfall totals, usually the numbers -- these are the numbers tallied up since last sunday and look at ben lomond picking up 11 inches of rainfall. santa rosa nearly 3 and even san francisco and oakland identical around 2 inches of rain and we'll be adding more to the rainfall buckets. for today, mostly cloudy skies. the chance of a showers -- tomorrow, a chance of showers. the rain will be increasing and it will be cold enough. snow levels coming down to 2,000 or 2200 feet. current numbers is pretty mild

out there. you can see the readings in the 50s or 60s. mountain view, 64. right around 59 degrees. here is the setup. our next system moves into northern california right there. the one that will tro dues the cold front. the next system will generate more powers as it moves across the bay area and then the main front gradually moves in. as a result, rainfall rates really pick up. gusty winds, and this cool air gradually settles in the bay area for the weekend and then we'll have a few thunderstorms. winter storm watch is posted for the west slopes of the see rather you -- sierra. by saturday morning, the snow level comes down to 3500 feet. our forecast models shows an

increase of rainfall. and then friday night, saturday, the heaviest bands of the rainfall. forecast highs, in the 50s to the 60s. a look ahead, your five-day forecast with your weekend always in view. there is that rain view. the possibility of some thunderstorms. and then there's a slight chance by monday next week. not the sunniest day but i fess we can consider it our brake day. thank you, mark. there is a push for a museum in san francisco dedicated to the haight district's colorful days. the museum will focus on the art of the '60s. the goal is to educate visitors. but the opponents say this should not be the area's only attraction. there are signs that facebook may be nervous about getting approval to expand its

campus in menlo park. it's reported that facebook is look for alternate -- looking for alternate sites in case the latest plan is rejected. facebook is not commenting on the report. mare the -- rather the san jose house with so much trash the city got involved.

stocks are up due to economic data. we mentioned the unemployment report and wholesale prices. it's down 105 a barrel, oil is. the dow is up 36. the nasdaq is still above 3,000, up 13 and now the s&p 500 it has crossed the 1400 mark for the first time since june 2008 and it is up 6 points. this noontime, crews are clearing out debris from a san jose home that's been declared a public nuisance. we just got new video of the cleanup underway of the house on south claremont avenue. crews started the cleanup on tuesday. there's still a lot of debris, but before they got started the front and back yard were not visible. the owners of the home have been dead for many years.

their adult son report lid lives there now. the home was declared a public news nuisance. san francisco's newly renovated metreon is preparing to unveil vail the new book -- unveil the new look. 12 of the 20 retailers will be open tomorrow. target will open in october. the owner hopes the renovation will draw shoppers and generate millions in revenue for san francisco. apple's new identify pad -- new ipad shuts -- hits store shelves. a store employee will help you customize it and set up e-mail. apple's stock briefly toughed $600. it's now down to 587.

tonight, muni will hold its last town hall meeting on tackling the huge budget deficit. it gets underway at 2640 queerry -- geary boulevard. the agency is considering ways to pay off this deficit. thank you for trusting ktvu news. we'll see you you the next time news breaks. have a great day.