very slow. if you had to go, at least you know what you are dealing with. let's go to 880. traffic has been at a standstill. i want to show you the maps of the bay area here. look at the red all over the place here on this map. it's going to be very, very slow throughout the east bay. let's go to steve. >> thank you. if you have file, it will burn off pretty soon. if you have some, it's mild to warm. temperatures in the 60s, 70s, 80s. tomorrow it still looks like an offshore breeze. fire danger and warmer temps on saturday into sunday. >> they give. it's 9:00. because of the west oakland fire and the ongoing traffic situation, we are expanding mornings on 2:29:30 this morning.

-- morninings on two this morning. this was supposed to house low income seniors eventually. not only has the fire destroyed the building, but it's turned the morning commute across the bay into a mess because it impacted the west oakland bart station. many people are trying to drive in the city, but traffic is backed up in all directions heading to the bay bridge toll plaza, and the other bridge also getting into san francisco varied slow. as we've seen, taking a bus means waiting hours. claudine wong has counted 600 or 700 people waiting in line. >> is not letting up. instead of riding bart to work, a lot of people are hoping to hop on the ferry boat come of it that's a nightmare as well. we are at jack london square ferry terminal. how is it now? >> well, thousands of people taking the ferry for the first time because of the commute issues. i want to show you this very right here. i'm told by san francisco bay ferries that this one carries 650 people. they are in the process of boarding

it right now, and it should be leaving here shortly. the one right behind it, i don't know if you can see it, i'm told that one carries 149 people, so there's a number of different boats hear. san francisco bay ferry says they've added quite a bit of service just to try to accommodate all of the additional passengers they are expecting. take a look at this line. we have hundreds of people in mind. the line still continues to grow. if you take a look around the building, the line has been wrapping around the building for the entire morning we've been here. san francisco bay ferry does say they have added votes and added staff members. they are prepared to try to accommodate the volume that will be necessary to get folks to and from work today. they also know that their website has crashed this morning because so many people were online trying to get information. they say they are working feverishly on that and plan to get it up and running as soon as possible treated in particular, in time for the commute home so

folks can know the schedules and make plans around it. some of these folks here -- how long have you been in line? >> just five minutes. just got here. >> not too bad. how has your commute and? >> not too bad, although the freeway is a total mess. >> i can tell you from listening to claudine with the buses being such a mess, the ferry has been probably been quite a bit more organized. for now we are live in oakland, ktvu channel 2 news. >> that's the advantage is that once you get on the ferry you can make a clean shot across the bay. that's obviously not the situation if you are trying to get on a bus to avoid the crowded roads getting in and around across the bay from the ferry to the buses. some people have waited in line for two hours hoping to board a shuttle or ac transit bus to get to

work. unfortunately, you still have to wait in line. if you're lucky to get on a bus, then you've got to wait to get across the bridge. by dan want live at 19th street bart station. i'm amazed that people have been waiting two hours and are still waiting. >> they are trying to be patient. they are hopeful that they will get on one of these buses. as you said, the added problem of the traffic that is a mess on the freeway. part of the line is way down there. they've been waiting patiently for a bus. the problem is there is no predictability. ac transit will only say they are doing the best they can. now we've got a fire truck coming down the road. it's a little hard to hear. you are taking a look at the long line that stretches all the way down this block. the end of the line is not down

to the next block and not down to the block you out of that but around the corner. we are talking three or four city blocks of continuous people standing here waiting in line, trying to be patient, trying to get on a bus. can i ask you how long you've been waiting for? >> two hours. >> and the people are home asking, why haven't you given it up cliques. >> i have to get to work today. >> any thoughts about quitting this and going home? >> the company i work for, i'm only an intern. i can't take time off. >> what do you think about this? certainly, people are frustrated. you are still smiling. >> i've been waiting at least an hour and a half. on your the front of the line. i have four or five times consider leaving and going home, but i near the front of the line. >> what if i tell you this, out of the seven or eight buses, some of them have gotten for people or 10 people on and now there's an accident on treasure island.

>> then i will probably go home and try later to take a ferry. >> the ferry seems to be maybe a little bit better, but still quite busy over there. good luck. you are closer to the front than all of those folks back there. again, i walked to the very end down three or four city blocks and around the corner. people are just wondering how long it takes. i think that's the biggest issue here is the unpredictability of it. when you go down anyway and you are saying, i met this corner, the big question is how long it takes to get to the next corner. when is the next bus went to arrive plex when is this going to get better? there really are no clear answers for anyone. we have two supervisors out here, but they are also saying as well, everyone is doing the best they can. claudine wong, ktvu channel 2 news. >> before you go, are there any signs of cab drivers showing up or limo drivers showing up trying

to escort people? >> we haven't seen a ton of caps. i did talk to people earlier who said there was caps coming across. it literally, they would pile in a bunch of people. a couple people told us they were squeezing far too many people in the cabs. only one car that came by going into the city said, you are welcome to come at me. it is happening. there are people. we will walk over here so we are not hit by this truck trying to

make this turn. it is getting a little crazy out here. we've got a lot of people trying to move through here and a lot of unusual traffic for this area. we have seen some of that happening but haven't been any taxicabs as of late. everyone still focused on when the next bus is going to arrive. >> is it my imagination that people are relatively cool, and you would think some people might be losing their cool by now. >> it's surprising. we have seen some instances. i will tell you, as people try to cut in line, that's when people start to lose their minds. people get a little bit pushy. then people start getting upset. really, there hasn't been anywhere to go. it's not like there's a ton of buses for people to fight over. there's just no buses. i will say, people are smiling and everyone seems to be in pretty good spirits for now are you again, you can see the back of the line. those folks getting frustrated. again, it is just the not knowing. tell us how long it was going to

take area and no one really knows. so we are just standing by and waiting. >> thank you. i'm amazed hearing the stories about people and why they are waiting in line so long. let's go to jacklin and

on the peninsula from mill bray, ffo are turning at the -- you can expect residual delays because they only can use the trains they have because there's no train service between the bay so it's such a mess right now. let's check in with sal to find out how things are looking on the roads. it's interesting when you showed that whole view of the bay area, i'm not sure i've

seen that much red ever. >> this is the worst commute i've seen in a very very long time. i can't remember a worse commute. just a few moments ago we watched them clear the last vehicle from that crash on the upper deck of the bay bridge. now we're still looking at the residual effect of all this traffic on the bridge. so once again let me tell you we just watched the last emergency vehicle drive off the bay bridge. traffic on the upper deck is very very slow, adding to that getting to the bay bridge from 580, 880, and 90, 24 all the east bay freeways super slow. this has had a really big effect on the morning commute. no bart service into san fransisco, and i'll tell you why, when there is a plan closure, people make plans, get on the road early. this happened early this morning, people woke up and heard about it and their first instinct is to get into the

car. let's go to some other pictures now. i want to show you that the bay bridge mcarthur maize is not moving. westbound 580 is also very slow. and the morning drive we talked about the maps that tori mentioned. just a lot of slow traffic. you can see all the slow traffic we have all over the bay. still a lot of red on these maps, and it's note not getting any better unfortunately. these are pictures taken a few minutes earlier of this crash and we just watched them remove it so that leaves a little bit of good news here. let's go back to the desk. >> so much to talk about. this fire has affected all that commute from the east bay to san fransisco and ktvu david stephens is joining us now. how is it there david. >> i'm standing here at howard and beal street. that is the line for ac transit

buses it's actually substantially thinned out in the last half hour. they told us they've seen triple or quad rule the the number of riders who would normally use ac transit here. operators shouted directions to the people liked up here this morning. the agencies brought in extra buses to transport riders to oakland easement mall where they could then catch additional transit. for riders it was a very confusing process this morning. >> it's been pretty hectic man, it's been chaotic but i don't really ride the ac transit. i don't like it so. >> you going to make it to work. >> i just got off work. i'm trying to go home and i'm really tired and this is not good. >> again, triple and quadruple the number of ac transit riders here. you can see some of then

boarding ac transit buses to take them across the bring or to 20th and broadway where they hope to catch additional transit. they are taking clipper cards and cash. they're trying to make it an easier process for these folks. it seems to be moving quickly the lines here. had is going to continue to be a problem both on the east bay and here in san fransisco as the day goes on until those tracks are repaired. reporting live in san fransisco, david stevenson ktvu channel 2 news. >> and it's interesting to think of that perspective. we've been focused on people heading into the city but but there are people trying to head out of the city and of course there's the u.s. open going on and a giant's day game. this start with a huge overnight fire. pam cook is here with the emotional reaction from the scene. pam. >> yeah, it was quite a scene. the fire is at mandella park

way right near that west oakland bart station so of course bart affected right away, but people could see the flames from the bay bridge. we have some exclusive video. take a look. this was taken by the first responders on the scene. this was shortly after 2:15 this morning. the building was under construction at the time. it it it was said to be finished many october. the supervisor says he was awakened by someone pounding on his hotel room door to say his building was on fire. >> gone, it's just somebody pounded on my door at the hotel down the street about an hour ago and said your building's on fire. i raced down here, and it was already burned to the ground, so it's gone. >> he does say that the building was going to be a beautiful housing complex for low income seniors who also will have to wait longer for that place to live. and he says that the police

early this morning told him that this fire appears to be arson so certainly the investigation is just beginning. fortunately we don't have any reports of anyone being injured in ha fire let's go back to dave and tori. >> a lot of aspects to this story. at this particular time show you something exclusive, an exclusive piece of video to show you. look at this. this is the bart tracks at the west open bart station. the fire damaged several yards of insulators that protect the electricity that runs the trains. if they don't work, the trains can't run at this point. now the bart crews are working on the problem. they've told us full service won't be up and running until sometime this evening, which they hope, but you can see in the pictures the extent of the damage. we wish them well in fixing this but there's a lot that's been burned up. >> yeah, and investigators are checking to see if the fire early this morning in west oakland was deliberately set. s it burned down a senior

center scheduled to open in just a few months. it was a senior sister that was going to be for low income people. and ktvu's tara more your itty joins us now. do you know if pg&e has capped the gas leak there. >> they did just minutes ago. they were able to come in, cap off the leak and then just a couple of minutes ago you can see firefighters in there actually putting out the hot stuffment they went in there two minutes ago. that's the good news they're going to put out all these hots spots and make some progress with this fire. >> joining me live is mario, and he is actually in charge of the frame construction. this was a five story building, all of this hard work that you just did over the past six months, what was it like knowing it went up in flames. >> naturally, you know, texas a it's a shame that it went down. we've been working hard on this building for two and a half months and to see it in this

condition just is pretty devastating. >> and what have you guys been doing this morning? i understand a lot of your belongings are near here in some sort of a trailer and you need to get them out. >> there was a trailer that when he here and we need to get some things out. a lot of the tools that were used in the construction here were left in the building and so we've lost a lot of equipment, and naturally all the time that we spent framing this thing. >> thank you for joining us mario, here's a look at some exclusive video that we got of the bart tracks at the west oakland bart station and you can see how widespread the damage is. it spans two entire city blocks, the fire damaging several yards of insulators on the bart track which protect the electricity so without those working trains are unable to run at this point.

>> now here's a look at some video you will only see on 2 taken by the first unit to respond to the scene here off of 7th street and mandella park way at 2:15 this morning. flames shot up 150 feet into the air. they destroyed this 5-story senior center as we mentioned which was under construction. it also charred part of the bart track. bart is now down and when it is back up around 1:00 this afternoon one train will be run manually and not by computer which will generate a longer commute time. >> if you're used to a train every 8 minutes it's probably going to be more like every 15 minutes but with the u.s. open and the giants game, i would assume that we're going to have a pretty -- pretty packed commute. >> now this is an overhead view of the scene where again hot spots still visible. 5 dozen firefighters had to tackle this mess.

that was 12 engines and three trucks. no one was hurt, and we want to throw a number up on the screen (510)238-4031. that is the number for fire investigators and when anyone who noticed people here at 7th 7th and mandella around 2:00 this morning, even before that, anywhere between 1:30 and a little bit after 2:00 to please report it to authorities. now back here live you can see that the fire was so intense that it it melted these street lamps and then down here gentleman, he works the graveyard shift he had parked his car on the street it it melted through the tires, busted through there. it actually melted all the paint off on the side. take a look at that and it busted through one of the windows here, so quite a bit of damage and crews tell me that they were 300 feet away from the fire when they first arrived but even that was too close so definitely some intense flames here, and again

if you need to use bart by the evening commute another train will be up and running so both trains will be operating but manually so therefore it will take slower than usual. no word on how long that will stay like that. they do need to fix that insulators. that could be a long-term problem at this point. live from oakland. ktvu channel 2 news. >> and tara do you know the steps that need to be taken in order to get bart running? we can see some of the workers on the track. do you know what they're doing? >> it looks -- it appears that they're just throwing off some debris. they were throwing off some things earlier to sort soft clear the track, and that insulator, i don't know if you can see this white line, and it stops, and then it it keeps going, and all of that was basically destroyed. and that actually holds the electrical, so the the tracks themselves weren't necessarily damaged but it's this little line that runs along side it that hooks up to the train and

allows it to run ask that's why the computers won't get this train moving. but bart was very helpful, they said once that problem was fixed and once the poles were removed, i don't know if you can see -- it might be a little out of our distance but up over this building there is a big electric pole that needs to be removed because it was in danger of toppling on top of the tracks. there are two poles like that. once those are removed and once the work is able to be completed on the insulators i think bart will be back in business, but for now they're trying to do the sort of makeshift things where the trains will be run manually and we don't have a time line on how long it will stay that way. >> thank you tara. very good information and we'll keep posted tara on the scene to let us know on the progress on that cleanup effort. >> as we know a lot of people have been waiting for two hours even longer trying to get only shuttle bus to get to where they need to know and ktvu claudine wong is talking to a

lot of those people who are still waiting, claudine. >> they are still waiting although the situation is better in the last couple minutes. buses actually here to pick up people and take people to san fransisco. how excited are you guys. >> at this point, everyone's so late, everything's just chaos at this point. crazy. >> at least it's a bus right. >> true. we have seen a string of buses arrive within just the last couple of minutes, finally what people wanted to see because they have been waiting out here for two hours. let's take you around the corner and another bus sitting there finally ready to take people over to san fransisco and get them safely to threadiest makes. now all they have to worry about is traffic which is no small thing to deal with because you know there's been traffic and other issues going through the city. but you know, in this is a good sight because the buses we have

seen up to this point were actually full, so you weren't getting crowds of people on these buses. you were getting four, five, sometimes ten people on a bus, and that was it, and then people had to sit there and wait again. so the folks getting on now obviously got to be just thrilled that this is happening and really happy. >> you happy to finally see a bus here? >> i am so happy. i've been in line for two hours. >> how far down the block. >> four blocks down. >> unbelievable. now they have to brave the traffic and we don't know how many in this next stream. actually, look we've got a couple more buses coming through here, so hopefully the situation is about to get a lot better but as you heard that woman say, four blocks down, so when you talk about clearing up the mess, you're talking about something that might take a while. again, steve, they've got so many buses now they have to line them up. we'll walk with this crowd. i wanted to show you the bus at

the front of this line. that's the green bus. that's a different kind of bus than the first one we've seen. we've seen a couple coming through here. it's a fancier bus but it carries people, 50 to 60 people on that bus. that is going to be the key to getting these folks on these buses, across the bridge and finally to where they want to go. how long have you been waiting. >> a couple hours. >> and how far back did you get in line. >> probably 20 feet after 22nd avenue so like an hour and a half. >> well get on the bus, i don't want you to lose your place in line. just to give you an idea where we are, we are on 20th, so someone said they were just past 22nd, so two blocks down and then around the corner. that's how bad it's been. these buses making a big dent, though, in getting this line taken care of. live here in oakland,. >> boy it's certainly nice to see that. those people have waited a long

time and now we want to head over to the ferry at jacqueline square in oakland. this is a live picture of one of the ferries that is being -- >> just got there. >> it just arrived so that is good news for some of the commuters there because the traffic is such a mess but still some lines there for the ferry. a lot of people taking the ferry for the first time and despite the wait it's a nice way to get across the bay. as you can see some of the traffic shots on the smaller screens just a standstill. and we've just heard that from orr linda at the patrol plaza it's a parking lot. so traffic is just terrible let's check in with sal to see, you know, let us know if there's any relief out there, any good options. >> i don't think i can remember a worse commute. i actually can't. i cannot remember. we can go back to the 90s when there was a gunman on the bridge or something. i can't remember it being this bad. let's go out and take a look at

news chopper 2 -- did we lose news chopper 2? i think we lost it. what we're going to do is try and come back to it it in the control room. i'm going to go here to 880 and i want to tell -- news chopper 2 we lost your signal. can you get it back up for us, please. thank you. try and do that. all right. northbound 880 we're just flying by the seat of our pants. one of our producers said it took him 55 minutes to go from fremont to this area in oakland, the coliseum. that's brutal. this is a look at the maps, the traffic is very slow. i want to zoom in here on the san mateo bridge, very very heavy people using that as an alternate. the peninsula 101 is also very slow. i think we've reestablished our signal. look at all this slow traffic still getting to the bay bridge. as i say he's been looking at traffic for us on 24, on 580,

on 880. this is all jam packed. i think that everyone just got into their cars when they heard bart is not running into san fransisco. the u.s. open is here. people are excited about the giants, trying to get to a day game at 12:45. this really came at a very bad time for people to get into the city. as you can see it's not getting any better. at 9:27 i want to toss it it back to the studio. >> thank you. let's find out what's happening at the ferry because a lot of people are hoping to get on that ferry, but that's been busy and ktvu cara liu is out there now. so what's the situation. >> we actually have earnest sanchez with us right now for the latest update. he's been up here for hours this morning. >> things are going really well. >> what do folks need to know at this point? how's your web site doing? what do they need to know for the commute hope. >> the web site crashed this morning. we had a lot of people coming to get information about the

service. >> the san fransisco bay ferry is offering service throughout the day from alameda oakland and san fransisco. there's a boat right here right now. we'll take everyone here that's waiting and we have a boat that's about 5 minutes out so we're going to run enhanced service throughout the day and people are welcome to take the ferry. >> take a look at this line, a few hundred people, but this line pales in comparison so to what we saw an hour and a half ago. this line was wrapped around the building. you did have quite a few boats boats and quite a few excalifornia tray crews. >> yes, we did and the crews did a wonderful job today. it was a great job and we're really happy and thankful for the crews. >> and how many more people do you have today than you do on a typical day. >> i don't have a specific number but i would look and say that we did four or five times our normal traffic. >> wow, so at least quadruple the normal volume here