ferry. >> absolutely. if there are more updates we will continue bringing them to you throughout the day. >> tara before you go can you ask him about the process? i know they had to scramble to prepare for this. before he leaves can you ask him what was it it like scrambling to pull all those boats together. >> absolutely we have a question from our anchors. what was it like scrambling to get all this together last minute? surely you were not expecting this this morning. >> no, we weren't and we got the call early this morning just after five we called dispatch and they quickly started notifying crews and trying to get additional crews and boats going. some of our crews were stuck in traffic trying to get to the boats but they did a wonderful job and we're so proud of the crews and captains today. >> how have the folks been here in line? you haven't heard a lot of screaming. >> they've been great. the san fransisco bay community have tolerated a lot and put up with a lot. they're very understanding and

patient and we thank them. >> tara while earnest is there, what about this afternoon? what's his plan for this afternoon for the ferries. >> another question, what are you planning for this afternoon? >> we're going to run enhanced service throughout the day. we're going to run additional boats. we're going to run our regular schedule boat. we're going to get them back to the east bay or to san fransisco depending on which direction they went. >> how much longer should folks plan on their way home. >> i would think they would expect at least half an hour but please be patient but we'll get to you and serve you as quick as we did k. >> and any advice for first time riders. >> once our web site gets back up they're welcome to go and check out our four services that we run on the bay. >> what's the best way to get information before that web site is back up and running?

it was crashed this morning because of the volume. >> the best way to go is call (415)364-3190. >> all right. earnest i think that's all we need from you. thank you so much. he's been out here all morning long. if we have anything else we'll bring that to you live. >> thank you cara. at 9:31 we're staying on for another half hour here on mornings on 2. we've seen lines at the ferry. some people waited in line for over two hours to try and get a bus to get across the bay. ktvu claudine wong is live at 19 bart station. many people waiting but last time we checked in with you there were finally some buses there. so what was the delay? why can it take so long to get buses there there. >> >> now we have another supervisor on scene and they're trying to get the buses ready and hear and everyone has been

asking that same question, what took so long, what can we expect, and all we have gotten from ac transit is they are in crisis mode and they are trying to deal with this the best they can. certainly some people are asking how come they didn't get school buses and do this and this and certainly that's going to be something they do after the fact when they talk about a crisis plan in case something like this ever happens again. in terms of right now though the big question is what to do about this line that continues to stretch down the road here. when you talk about how long this line is i'm telling you at 6:30 this morning, one of the persons in line called this an epic line. it just got longer. i walked all the way down just a little bitting a and it went past 21st, past 22nd, wrapped around the corner and just kept on going, everyone asking the same question, how long is it going to take, and we've been asking people how long have you been in line? >> about an hour. >> that's not too bad, some people it's two hours, and why

are you so patient? going to work? >> it's a beautiful day. >>i think everyone's got a nice attitude about it. have you noticed the change in the pace of the line and how fast it's moving. >> it's faster now. hopefully this is the end right. >> how far back did you get in line. >> it was turning on 22nd, so we were back to 22nd. >> at no point did you say to yourself that is crazy we're not going to get in line? we're not going to wait. >> no choice. >> everyone's just hanging. they are just trying to be patient because they have no choice. they want to get to work. they need to get to work. we talked to one woman. it was her first day on the job. she wasn't going to stop. we talked to another person who said he's got to be there, there's no choice. even if he's hours and hours late he's going to be there. so here we go walking down the line again waiting for that next bus, the unpredictability of the day. that's been difficult. we have another supervisor out here answering questions. i don't know if i can put you on the spot and ask you when the next bus is coming.

>> i'm sorry. >> so we need an official spokesperson. i totally understand. we talked to clarence johnson and haven't been able to get an official word on an exact schedule. this is not a usual day. this is not a forseen circumstance. this is something they are calling crisis mode. it has gotten better in the past little bit here, but we have a lull in buses. we're hoping certainly all the people in line are hoping that more buses are coming and that their commute will start moving very very soon. live here in oakland claudine wong. >> just an amazing patience out there. great job covering it and we have much more coverage on this. there are people who are trying to get not just from east to west but also west to east, and that's causing problems as well. we're going to check in with david stevenson next and see how people waiting in san fransisco are getting across to the east bay. we'll be right back in just a

minute.

welcome back to a special tex of ktvu on 2. we've been focusing all morning on people trying to head west. there are plenty of folks trying to head east from san fransisco to oakland who are impacted by this transbay bart shut down. ktvu david stevenson is at the transstate terminal in san fransisco with more on that part of our coverage. >> yeah, we're seeing a steady flow of confused commuters coming into the terminal there. you can see them lined up waiting for buses to take them across to the east bay. we've also seen a number of buses coming in from the east bay disloading dozens and dozens of commuters who made it over from oakland. these folks are trying to find the quickest way across the bay at this hour. >> the line starts back there. >> and there you can see an ac transit operator he's guiding commuters on to buses that will take them to the easement mall or 20th street in oakland where

they will be able to pick up other buses and get to where they need to go. operators told us they've seen three to four times the number of commuters riding ac transit from the transbay terminal that they would see on a normal day. and that has brought frustration and confusion to the morning commute. >> this is ridiculous. there's no contingency plan. they said there's no service, you know, you need to figure out your own way. please make alternate arrangementings. in other cities there's some sort of contingency plan. i've lived in new york, where there's shuttle buses they have set up. they tell you the information. there's signs up. there's people there. they dropped the ball here. >> and again, if we can come back live right now, we can show you a live picture of people streaming off of a bus that just arrived in from the east bay. these are folks who are hours behind on their commute and making their way to their san

fransisco jobs. we expect to see a steady stream of people coming and going from had terminal through the next couple hours. it's still going to be a very busy and late morning for these commuters. they've added extra buses and operators to try to make the confusion less but still going to be a long morning and a difficult morning for people arriving and leaving san fransisco. >> reporting live. >> just a quick question, road traffic in san fransisco in the area where you are, has it been appreciably heavier? have you noticed? >> not necessarily. there's a bit of construction going on around this area and a number of people are coming in for the joins game as well too. it hasn't been as heavies a you might expect. from what we can tell so far this is normal san fransisco downtown traffic. >> all right. thanks david time now is 9:40. the investigators are busy. they want to see if that fire that broke out earlier this

morning in west oakland may have been deliberately set. it destroyed a senior sister center that's due to open in a couple months. accuse accuse tara has more details. >> you know, you could really sort of sense the frustration from firefighters because they arrived at 2:15 to fight this fire and in an hour they had it fully contained but they were here for six hours after that waiting for pg&e to cap the gas line which they finally did after 9:00. once that was completed firefighters were able to get inside and tackle these hot spots. joining me is lisa baker with oakland fire department. >> what's the scene right now. >> we're continuing to hit the hot spots. we're able to get a better handle on it now that the gas is shut so we'll probably be out here for four or five more hours. >> is there any danger to anybody around here. >> at this time there's no danger. i mean, the building it's still real hot so we'd like citizens not to come to the area.

>> i've noticed a lot of embers falling and smoke has finally dissipated. thank you for joining us, and we do want to show you a little bit of a scene here. this heat was so intense that it melted the headlights off of this car here. you can just sort of poke your finger right through. the tires are completely popped. glass melted, so a lot of damage here and if we take a look up, we can see the street lamp was completely melted as well. now, the morning commute of course to and from the east bay has been i did sastras because the bart tracks are shut down. you can see the domino effect that we've been covering all morning. that is 880. you can see traffic gridlocked there. let's take a look at some exclusive video that we got of the bart tracks at the west oakland bart staying station. the fire damaged several yards

of insulators that protected the electricity. trains are unable to run at this point. the damage is quite extensive spreading out over two entire city blocks. >> now this is a look at some video you will only see on 2 taken by the first engine to respond to the scene here off of 7th street and mandella park way. at 2:15 this morning those flames were shooting 150 feet into the air. they destroyed the 5-story senior center under construction and charred part of the bart tracks. we spoke to the foreman in charge of putting up the frame on this building. he and his workers clearly disappointed that they would have to start over from scratch. >> naturally, you know, it's a shame that it went down. we've been working hard on this building now for about two and a half months, and to see it it in this condition just is sort

of devastating. >> now this is an overhead view of the scene where hot spots still visible but firefighters getting a handle on those now that the gas has been turned off. five dozen firefighters had to tackle this fire earlier this morning. luckily nobody was hurt. we do want to throw a number on the screen. (510)238-4031. that is the number for fire investigators they're trying to figure out whether this is a case of arson and they want anyone who noticed people here at 7th and mandella around 2:00 this morning to report it to authorities. there is a security guard that noticed some suspicious activity. now when bart is back up around 1:00 this afternoon, one train will be run manually, not by computer. that will create some extra longer times. that means that instead of every 8 minutes trains will be arriving perhaps every is a minutes. now by the evening commute bart will have another train running so two trains total but they will be slower and no word on

when everything will be back up and running the way it normally would be. barts spokesperson is in a meeting right now and we're hoping to get some updated information by noon. >> thank you, so much tara and we obviously are going to be keeping you posted on the situation with the traffic. is this not a normal commute day because there's the u.s. open going on over at the olympic club. just because i was curious i checked the leader board, two americans on top, jason ban and kevin that at 2 under. phil mickelson plus 4 so off to a shaky start for the big guys and then there's also a giants day game coming off of yesterday's perfect game pitched by matt cane so a lot of people probably looking forward to watching that. >> let's check with sal on what the traffic's looking like. when i checked on ktvu.com, every direction solid red from walnut creek down to hayward up

to richmond. >> it's terrible out there and you mentioned all the events. we don't usually have day games. we have them maybe once every two weeks at at&t park today. it's a 12:45 start so even more people are trying to get to the game. those tickets are expensive. you want to go. they're out there. one of our co-workers came in and said it took him two hours to drive from antioch to oakland to get here and we still have one of our producers stuck in traffic. let's go now and take a look from news chopper 2. this is interstate 580. you're thinking i'll get on 580 and outsmart everyone. 580 is backed up all the way to high street mack arthur high. it slows before that and it's slow traffic as mike our photographer in news topper 2 doing a good job in swinging that camera around, and getting out to the lake shore area and downtown oakland area and over to the bay bridge. 24 is slow coming down the

hill. 880 is slow from the coliseum solid, solid traffic all the way up to the bay bridge. i really cannot remember a worse commute in the last few years. if i'm forgetting something go ahead and tweet me but i don't think there's been a worse commute in the last ten years. let's move along and take a look at the maps. tori mentioned the maps are all red. san mateo bridge getting to it out of hayward is going to slow, very slow traffic there and people on the move on the peninsula getting up from redwood city to san mateo. 280 is not bad, you can take it to the bart station and park your car there if there is room. or get on the train to cull ma and take the free shuttle from cull ma to the u.s. open at the olympic club. give yourself plenty of time. give yourself plenty of patience. let's go back to the desk. >> thank you, sal and right now we have joining us on the phone

that mara from pg&e. >> what is the situation of the scene of the fire in west oakland. >> things are looking better. we did have facilities impacted both on our electric and gas facilities. our gas meter was impacted by the fire. gas was actually blowing at 5 5th and kirk ham. we waited for the all clear by the oakland fire department to be able to access that site, and we did receive that all clear from oakland fire at 7:20. we were able to squeeze the gas off by 8:07 so right now that situation is holding safe and tak taken care of for the time being. repairs on that are going to have to hold until the fire investigation and whatnot is under way but no customers are impacted and like i said it is

safe. on the electric end the integrity of two of our poles were impacted by the fire. these poles were holding up lines that crossed over the bart track. we've since removed those poles and removed the lines so right now there is no impact from that end of things. there are four customers that are out and we are looking into providing them. >> so you said that the sagging, the poles the lines and i know that was one of the reasons that bart was impacted is there anything else on your end that is impact the bart service or lack of bart service. >> no, not at this time. >> can you pinpoint where that gas leak was? we've had a broad description that we know there was a gas leak. where exactly was it? >> it was at 5th and kirk ham. beyond that i'm sorry, i can't get more specific but it was at 5th and kirk ham. and like i said we have been able to take care of that

situation. that is safe and we will be going back to make final repairs once everything is done with the fire portion of it but it is a completely safe situation at this point. it's been cut, capped there's no flow of gas and it's waiting for us to come back and make final repairs and no customers impacted by that gas leak. >> was this gas leak the cause of the fire or just part of the problem because of the fire. >> absolutely not. it was not part of the cause and it did not contribute to the fire in any way. the fire actually damaged some of our facilities and caused the gas to start blowing. so it was -- the gas was actually flowing because the fire hit one of our facilities, one of our service risers, so if you can imagine one of our underground lines, one of our

-- excuse me. one of the pipes that connects the underground gas line to the aboveground meter was hit by the fire, and that's why it started to blow, but it did not trigger the fire in any way and it did not lead to any further problems. >> all right. and was there a healthy issue at all in the area, gas obviously not a good thing to inhale? >> no, natural gas dissipates naturally into the atmosphere so there were no health concerns, and it blows off quite quickly. >> we're glad that you've got it capped, you said about 7:20 and you were able to go in there given the all clear and it was capped at 8:07 and the integrity of the two poles have been removed, so still a little work there but it sounds like things at least on your end are getting under control; is that correct. >> that's correct. we're happy with the work that's progressed and are

continuing to stay focused on that scene. >> all right. tamaa joining us live from pg&e letting us know about the scene. thank you for joining us this morning. >> time now 9:51 let's go to ktvu claudine wong where the people have been waiting to try to get on a bus in oakland at the 19th street bart station for hours now. what's it like out there now? >> another round of buses is here. that's the good news. we can see one that has two parts to it, up in the front and then you have the second bus that just pulled up and that will start this line moving. that is good news because this line is still extremely long. it stretches all the way around this corner. we've shown you these pictures all morning long and really it's hard to find a place where it's gotten any better. we've been talking to folks all morning about how long they've been in line. not everyone wantston to be on tv, how long have you been in line. >> that's not bad.

>> you've been moving. we finally have gotten to the point in the line where it's not so bad. where folks have been able to get some progress, make some moves through this line and that's going to have some much happier people coming down through here. it is still a very long line that being said down to 21st, down to 22nd, around the corner from everyone we've heard. you guys have been in line for half an hour or? >> about that. >> so not bad, not bad. where did you get in line? >> around the corner on 22nd street. >> so it hasn't gotten any shorter. it's just moving now. >> it is moving quickly. >> okay. well, someone's got a sense of humor out here which is good so the first people we talked to in line a couple of hours ago were waiting in line for two hours, half an hour and now we're finally seeing an end of this very long road. >> claudine thank you, there are also long line at the bus

bridge at the mcarthur bart station in oakland. we're going to show you some new video, people waiting to get on buses at the station. man look at that line. people who came to that bart station expecting to get on bart got in line for a bussed in, and others who heard about the bus bridge here say they headed here hoping to get a ride into san fransisco but they ended up waiting a long time for the buses to show up. >> i heard about this on the muse, left my house at 6:00. it is now 9, and i am not to work yet. very very unacceptable on bart's part. >> well they say they're trying to increase the number of buses they have going to the various bus bridges. got some new video now, inside the oakland rock ridge bart station, there are several hand painted signs telling passengers about the fire and how it cut off service across the bay. a lot of people were just caught off guard, they didn't know. this group of kids had planned

to go to the california academy of sciences in golden gate park, but with no trains running they were left outside on the pavement. they say they're keeping up their spirits and they're not too upset. >> it's a little hickup in our day but we'll still come and have a lot of fun. >> you know, we'll talk about it a little more. >> they're staying optimistic. they say they'll probably make that trip to golden gate park and do all the museums tomorrow. >> it is 9:55. well, instead of riding bart to work across the bay since that's not an option, some people are taking the ferry. that's been pretty crowded as well. let's check in one more time with ktvu cara liu who's live at jock london ferry terminal. >> it's been very crowded for much of the morning. we had a line ha wrapped all the way from the front of the line over there by the water around this building, quite a few points in the morning.

there's just a few strag letters here now. the ferry lines have been moving smoothly despite the huge volumes of people. the spokesperson tells me they had about four or five times the normal number of passengers that they normally had, and when they first heard about this fire and the situation this morning, they did start scrambling to add extra ferries, to add extra crews, they were able to get extra boats out here starting at 6:30, 7:00 so that helped get people across the bay quibinarily. also their web site crashed because so many people were on looking for routes to get to and from san fransisco and oakland. the line moved pretty smoothly. it did take peek quite a while to get here. they were out here in line around 8 or 9:00. a lot of folks expecting their commute to take a total of three or four hours even but

again everything moving smoothly here and we will be here throughout the morning giving you any new updates as they become available. we are live many oakland cara liu. >> thank you. now we want to go to ktvu tara more yourty you've been talking to fire officials and more. what's the latest out there. >> it looks like crews are able tote to get a handle on the fire. they're dousing some of these hot spots and pg, and e was able to cap the leek after 9 had morning so that is the good news. we were waiting for pg&e for about six hours. as you pan over to the right you can see the intensity of these flames it was so strong the heat, that the sign actually melted, and the street lamps as well. a couple streets still blocked off and crews say they're going to be here pretty much the whole day so definitely make other plans if you're in this area and then of course bart is impacted as well, and if we

take a look over here we can show you that these are the bart tracks where all of the flames sort of leapt up over that fence there, that railing and they damaged the insulator which is causing the bart trains to not be able to run right now. they think they're going to have one train up by 1:00. it's going to be manually run, a lot slower and they'll have the two trains back in service by your evening commute. live from oakland ktvu channel 2 news. >> and we thank you for watching our extended coverage of the bart closure. and thank you also we will continue to follow this story up until noon and beyond. we will have a cut in at 30 minutes. we are always here at our web site at ktvu.com. thanks for watching.