be able to keep this under control. ktvu channel 2 news at noon starts right now there are several schools near the fire. but the fire department says students are not being evacuated. ktvu's robert honda joins us

live on the phone with an update on the situation. robert, does it looks like all of the fire is out at this point? >> reporter: yes, i don't know when they will assess the fire status but i talked to the firefighters here who have been working on the front line. you can hear the cal fire ahead. the fire came within a few feet from the street. the firefighters say they believe that they got this thing under control. i mentioned earlier when we were talking, i asked firefighters how it was going and they said we got it. so they are confident about that. but the cal attack unit is coming back overhead here and it looks like -- they are just making another drop right now. [inaudible]

>> reporter: i'm west. they are making sure that this fire doesn't spread to houses here. i talked to a couple of people who live here who said that they moved their cars down the street. they wanted to make sure if they had to leave, they were gonna do that. so anyway, a bunch of us -- [inaudible] >> it seems like now that the firefighters are confident that they can keep the fire from spreading. in terms of the cars, it will be hard to tell. this is a field with a lot of valleys and crevices. i think on one side of the neighborhood when we were coming around, that's what was protected one end of the neighborhood. it kind of -- the whole field goes down into -- like it's below street level. and that kept the flames from coming very quickly and the firefighters were able to knock it down. that's the situation right now. the police are still keeping

people away. there's still a lot of soot. it's hard to breathe when you get close to it. in terms of the structures and the people, it looks like that injury has passed. >> all right. robert, we're having a little problem with our picture there. dramatic images. we saw the water being dumped. you were right there. right on the scene for us. you got a little wet. let's check in with mark tamayo right now for an update on the weather situation because that's such and important factor in fighting fires. >> hi there, tori. the winds have been gusting 14, 17 miles an hour. i wouldn't be surprised to see gusts going to 20 miles an hour. is that the camera from earlier this morning? this camera is showing you the smoke coming down. it looks like the smoke is coming down as the fire crews get a better handle on the fire. the wind speeds have backed off. 13 miles an hour.

we'll keep in moo tighter to give you -- in tighter to give you a better idea. this is a very closeup view. this is the high school, as you can pick out, right around locke drive and singleton road. there is a big, empty field where the fire was burning. as you can see from the camera perspectives, we had the fire backing up to some streets. they were all houses out to brody drive and it looked like it was becoming tighter toward grand brook way, near singleton road. and there's the high school again. there's this big, open field as you can see surrounded by the high school and some schools. somewhat of a concern with the fire. kind of exploding in a -- it seemed like it was explosive growth within about a ten- minute period. but over the past, 15, 20 minutes. firefighters are getting a better handle. it's not extremely hot out there. that's not good. it's not extremely dry. the winds are gusting right around 17 miles an hour out of

the west. i'm sure fire crews will remain in the area all day long. you don't want a flareup or spark to re-ignite around the perimeter of the region. we'll keep a look out for that and the winds this afternoon. >> thank you, mark. we'll check back with you soon for the full forecast. now, obviously this did involve a response from other firefighters as well. let's check in with ken pritchett from the newsroom. ken, you've been following the whole situation with calfire and how they are responding to these local fires. >> well, calfire was called in for mutual aid. they did send five engines, a helicopter and dozer on this fire in san jose. the -- you heard mark mention the moderate winds, of course, another factor is how dry the grass is and the conditions out there. in fact, calfire says the conditions are as dry right now, in the early part of may as they would be in september and august, which is typically

the peak of fire season here in northern california. in fact, governor brown declared an early start to fire season on may 1st, adding another $51 million to the emergency fund for calfire. they are expecting this season to be that busy. so far we've already seen some of that. calfire has responded to more than 1300 fires so far this year. that's true the middle of may. compare that to last year, just over 900 fires. approximately 400 more fires so far this year than last. acreage is not even close. 38,000 acres have burned in california through the middle part of may so far this year. that was just about 1500 acres last year. so after one of the driest winters that we've had on record and warnings about an early start to the fire season, we're starting to see some of that already. tori? >> ken, i do have to ask you about the financial part of the equation because that's always an issue. does the state have the money to handle, you know, what's

considered to be a really bad fire season potentially? >> well, calfire has an emergency fund that it uses to battle fires. but when the fund gets low, they don't run out of money. more money is fund. it comes from the general fund and other places within the state budget. but that emergency fund, they've already blown through most of that already this year because of just the number of fires we've had. that will get replenished because calfire has a lot more work to do before this fire season. >> wow. kind of concerning. it's not even the end of may. >> right. >> that they've already gone through that. there have been quite a few hours. thank you, ken, for covering that part of the story. if you are just joining us, we've been following for the last 40 minutes this two-alarm brush fire in san jose at the corner of singleton road and locke drive. a rather large empty field, it started at two acres and spread possibly ten acres large. but it looks like most of the fire is out right now but

there's still some smoke coming. so fire crews will be staying on the scene for a while to make sure that nothing flares up. always a concern. now, there were a couple schools close by, the andrew hill high school was just to the west of this fire and the sylvandale middle school to the south of the fire where the field was. but no schools were evacuated. not even any houses were evacuated. but as we saw earlier, the fire went right up to the road where some houses were, but the roads were at -- basic acting as a firebreak to keep the fire contained. robert honda, on the way to the fire and is there now, is telling us it was having a possible impact on traffic because when the smoke was really going, it was quite high up in the air and quite visible to some of the major roadways, including 101 and 280 in the neighborhood. but with the smoke mostly out at this point, it looks like that's no longer a problem. looks like we're getting a live picture on the ground up right

now. this is robert's camera where you can see a fire truck going by. obviously, that looks like a chp officer or police officer on the scene being able to monitor the situation and some of the helicopters up ahead who -- there was some calfire helicopters as well dumping some water, including on our robert honda. tell us what the situation is down there right now. >> reporter: i can tell you that things are a lot more calm than five, ten minutes ago. you can see behind me, you saw our photographer giving us a live picture of the field. this is the area on kauaiy drive. it came within a few feet of the street and the fence that protects the neighborhood. a number of different people that live here were telling me they moved their car down the street and had gotten ready to move as they saw the flames jump over the road and come out their houses. so you can see that they have

this -- this particular text and most of the fire now -- section and most of the fire now under control. we were talking earlier about the fact that the firefighters felt once they knocked down the flames and kept it from spreading, there was not much danger except for the heavy smoke coming through. if we can show the trees in the neighborhood, you can see how still they are. it was a concern of the firefighters when we first got here that the wind would pick up. they got a real break, as you can see how calm the wind has been in the neighborhood. it really helped the crew attacking this fire to keep it from spreading. so again, we have a fairly controlled situation right now. we see people -- firefighters units hot spots. as far as the immediate danger, it looks like that's been cleared up. a lot of the residents not only returning but they are returning with their cameras to take picture of the danger they were once in but they seem to be cleared up now.

>> it was interesting, your photographer just zoomed in a little bit of smoke still coming from the field. i imagine they are gonna stay there for a while and keep an eye on this. >> reporter: absolutely. and we should mention, we were watching rabbits and a fox that were returning around when the fire was going on. unfortunately -- i was talking to a police officer and he said he didn't see the fox come back out. so you thinks some wildlife suffered -- he thinks some wildlife suffered in this. so there will be some toll in wildlife way. but in terms of people being affected, it looks like the -- in terms of the houses and the cars that have been moved, most of that immediate threat is gone. >> all right. that's good news. thank you, robert, joining us live from the scene of a two- alarm brush fire in san jose. it does look like this brush fire, the immediate danger is over. but as robert mentioned, they will be keeping an eye on this

for any hot spots and monitoring it at this filed that's at singleton road and locke drive in san jose. we're gonna have more of the news at noon right after this. stay with us. ♪ [ roars ] ♪ [ roars ] ♪ [ roars ] ♪ [ roars ] ♪ [ male announcer ] universal studios summer of survival. ♪

[ male announcer ] universal studios summer of survival. limo drivers got a

startling wakeup call this morning at san francisco airport. a law enforcement strike force swooped in pulling over limos, buses and other carriers. their goal, to get unsafe vehicles off the road. claudine wong is live from sfo with exclusive video of the bad day one limo driver had. good afternoon, claudine. >> reporter: there's been a steady stream of inspections. most are coming in and out quickly. but some, like that supershuttle you see parked on the side, don't leave at all. that driver has a suspended license. he's not going anywhere. that's not the first time that's happened. almost immediately, the san francisco officer who pulled over this limousine driver knew something was wrong. >> i'm just curious why a professional driver like him has an expired license for ten years. >> reporter: ten years ago? >> yes. july of 2003. >> reporter: did he have an answer?

>> no, he didn't. >> reporter: so we asked him. can we ask you? they say your license has been expired for ten years. >> no. >> reporter: is that true? it's not true. why did the officers say you had an expired you license? you don't want to talk. he made it clear he was not interested in talking with me. but he did have to talk with police. >> afterwards, we found out he had two other suspensions. he is being cited on a misdemeanor, driving with a suspended and we're towing the car. >> reporter: that him mow driver, one of dozens of him mow drivers, shuttle drivers all part of a multiagency strike force, which included san francisco police department, chp and air quality, all getting a random sample -- sampling of these vehicles. >> that officer pull me over. >> reporter: what did he say? >> took my driver's license and

asked me to come here. >> reporter: after a series of questions and a fairly quick inspection -- >> we look at the way the vehicle -- we look at the vehicle, the year of the engine to make sure everything is properly equipped. >> reporter: most drove away after 15, 20 minutes. some with gentle reminders about proper paperwork. >> he won't be issued a citation, just an admonishment. >> it's a written admonishment. >> reporter: and they got the orange tags to make sure they don't get pulled over again. >> most said they were glad. >> there's many, many limousines. >> reporter: drivers like this who should not be behind the wheel. >> this is exactly the kind of things we're trying to stop. >> reporter: that limo driver was taken out behind the wheel. the owner of the limo was supposed to take the limo. but but he didn't arrive in time. so it was towed away.

claudine wong, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you. san jose is voting to increase the city's tax on medical marijuana dispensaries. ktvu's janine de la vega tells us how much the tax will go up and talked to one dispensary who said it won't be paying. good afternoon, janine. >> reporter: good afternoon, tori. yes, that's right. we're in front of the all- american cannabis club that's been operating for the past three years. now, they are fighting paying the tax. but other collectives have to fork over more. currently the city considers medical marijuana dispensaries businesses and are required to pay a 7% tax on gross receipts. that was approved by voters in 2010 but the council just approved raising the amount to 10%. marijuana collectives are legal under the state law but illegal under federal law. san jose is in a gray zone, meaning it does not have an ordinance in place to govern dispensaries but it's still requiring them to pay a business tax. the operator of this club is

filing a lawsuit, working against the city, challenging this tax. >> it's really good that they have raised it up. i think that will be a great thing to help san jose raise some more revenue. but what they need to do is pu legal for us to pay it. that's our concern with it. >> reporter: there are approximately 100 can nimbus clubs operating in -- can cannabus clubs operating in san jose. the city would have power to take action against clubs who are not paying. raising the tax to 10% is expected to generate $5.5 million for the city. reporting live from san jose, janine de la vega, ktvu channel 2 news. well, a lot of sunshine for today but the wind probably the overriding factor with everything. gusty winds offshore, white caps and breezy conditions pushing back into the bay.

but with the wind, excellent visibility, clear skies, not a fog patch in sight. more sunshine expected for today as we head into the afternoon hours. as far as the current wind speeds, you can see pretty strong out towards sfo, 22 miles an hour. that sea breeze kicking in already. also out to the half moon bay bay area, around 23 miles an hour. in a word, windy across the entire region, especially coastside. as far as current numbers, they are ranging from the upper 50s to 60s. antioch, 64. san jose, 61 and santa rosa in the mid-60s on track to reach the lower 70s for this afternoon. for today, more sunshine, gusty winds. tomorrow, pretty much the same deal. might back off from the winds a little bit and then the weekend, a sun/cloud mix and the clouds start out sunday morning and temperatures on the -- on the cool to mild side. look at this circulation producing clouds and some rain showers out towards oregon and washington. we have the clear skies.

but the breezy conditions for today. our cloud and rainfall forecast model, no rainfall. maybe a few high clouds paint us a visit this afternoon and into the evening hours. tomorrow, more sunshine for your thursday, not much of a change in temperatures. as far as the wind speeds, strongest coast side, you can see the wind gust forecast this afternoon for point reyes, out towards pacifica and half moon bay and even for tonight, the gusty conditions stick around. a lot of white caps offshore if you are heading out to ocean beach and blowing temperatures as well. san francisco, 62, santa rosa, 71. warmest locations inland on track to reach the low to mid- 70s. san jose, the upper 60s. morgan hill about 72 degrees. here is a look ahead to your five-day forecast, with your weekend always in view, the holiday weekend coming up and you can see temperatures not changing too much. we'll warm things up a little bit for saturday and sunday and maybe a little bit of some drizzle first thing sunday morning right near the immediate short line. but no strong storms insight.

gusty winds. we'll have to keep an eye on those for later today. >> certainly a very close eye on those winds. thank you, mark. up next -- we'll go back to the fire line updating our breaking news. robert just spoke with firefighters in san jose. he will let us know what's going on right now.

well, stocks have changed course. they were higher this morning after ben berren in kay told

congress it's too -- ben bernanke told congress it's too soon to pull back. but some may be ready to start scaling back. right now the dow is down 84 points at 15,303. the nasdaq and s&p down as well. right now we want to get an update on our breaking news in san jose. the two-alarm brush fire burning at singleton and locke drive in san jose. ktvu's robert handa has spoken to some firefighters and joins us live with an update. good afternoon, robert. >> reporter: good afternoon, tori. yeah. we just talked to the san jose fire department and got some official information. first of all, this fire is now declared under control. they did that at about 12:15. less than 10 minutes ago, the fire was declared under control. they are reassessing what they said earlier. this is now a seven-acre fire in an open field on capital expressway and yerba buena road. it came within a few feet from hitting the road. this is the way it looked

earlier. firefighters had almost no visibility when they were talking into some parts of the fire. it was very difficult for us to breathe when we were there. most of the danger came from smoke inhalation. firefighters were able to knock down the flames very quickly. it was a two-alarm fire for calfire. they attacked this with a helicopter crew, a bulldozer and a number of different hand trucks to help the san jose fire department out who were the ones that called for the mutual aid. as you can see right now, they are basically cleaning up hot spots. they feel as though they were able to get this fire under control in a good way because they were able to keep it spreading into the neighborhoods. right now all they are doing is basically trying to control the hot spots as well as wait for fire investigators to come. as this point, they are not exactly sure where the fire started, how the fire started because it's an open field. one thing we'll show you

quickly, we were talking about this earlier, mark tamayo mentioned how the wind was a big factor. san jose fire department says they got a big break because during much of the fire the wind died down and so that really helped firefighters get this fire under control. again, less than ten minutes ago, san jose firefighters declared this fire under control. no injuries, no damage to structures. reporting live in san jose, robert handa, ktvu channel 2 news. >> all right, thank you robert. thank you for trusting ktvu channel 2 news. we will see you the next time news breaks. ♪

filtering process for our water. we don't need it. because crystal geyser is made by nature, not by man. crystal geyser is always bottled at the mountain source.

>> the following program contains actual video of real suitable for family viewing. coming next, a dog falls into an icy pond. plus, helping rescued animals find a new home. it's a learning experience for all ages. this is "animal rescue." [captioning made possible by telco productions, inc.]