>> bart is on strike. we have team coverage ahead. traffic is already beginning to show signs of unusually heavy traffic in some spots. we'll let you know where. the first bus has arrived in walnut creek. good morning. thank you for joining us. it is monday, july 1st i'm pam cook. >> and good morning, i'm dave clark. >> we begin with breaking news this morning. the entire bart system shut down and the transit system's first strike since 1997. 400,000 bart riders need to find a way to get around. the official announcement came right after midnight. the moment their contract ran out. workers walked out of the negotiations and announced they would be on the picket lines instead of at the bart trains

and stations this morning. this comes several weeks after intense negotiations. but in the end they could only agree they are nearly far say part. >> we want the public to urge the bart board of directors to get us back to the table and back to work and do serious, serious bargaining. not the kind of surface bargaining they have been doing since may 13th. >> it doesn't do any good when you leave the table early. it's bart tradition to go to midnight or past midnight. >> talks between the two sides came to an abrupt stop at 8:30 last fight. more details on what bart says its union workers already earn. the average union employee makes at this point $71,000 a year. they also receive $52,000 worth of benefits.

bart says union employees get an average of $11,000 a year in overtime. plus receive 10-12 weeks in paid days off. and there is no contribution to retirement at this point. now the bart strike expected to create gridlock on bay area highways. sal is watching the traffic as always during this morning commute. sounds like people are making adjustments already. we saw that line out at the walnut creek bart station. >> that is right. we are also seeing more slow traffic. let's take a look at what we have now on 80 westbound. as you head out to the mccarthur maze. more people are on the road. however, we will see stop and go traffic already at the bay bridge toll plaza. westbound. you can see traffic is backed up in some of the cash lanes. the fast track lanes are not actually too bad.

casual car poo. but the best would find on the internet where they do casual car pooling. 5:02 with with the bart strike in effect major traffic delays are expected throughout the day. transportation officials are saying between 60,000 to 100,000 extra cars will be on the road. katie utehs is in walnut creek talking about that. >> reporter: good morning. the charter bus option is a good option for a lot of people. there was a little bit of a confusion at the -- the charter bus did not pull up into the bart station. although the parking lot is open, the line was really long. people getting here early and now we are pointing people to the right direction. because other commuters are showing up here at the bart entrance. not really sure where to pick up that charter bus.

it is out by the road. by 4:00 a handful of people had already arrived. that is a full hour before the first scheduled bus arrived. as you can see the gates to station are locked. but bart is open up the -- the buss will accommodate 2,000 to 4,000 people. we spoke to a woman that got up at 1:30. >> usually i take it out of concord between 7:30 and 8:00. and i get to work between 8:30 and 9:00. sop i dressed super early today. >> reporter: walnut creek is one of four bus locations offering charter buses. the charter buses will run

between 5:00 a.m. the first one just arriving and until 9:00 a.m. and then from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.. there are not any set times for when the buses will arrive. they will make loops based on traffic. large crowd out here this morning that. muni is also preparing for extra passengers. hewn know will prioritize service on the -- they are the two for mayor roadways have been if zillion track -- clipper e-cash can be used on

samtran and cal train. samtran customers should look for their regular buses at temporary stops. many bay area commuters can remember the last time bart workers went on strike. that was september 1997 and that was the result. traffic all across the bay area a nightmare during that six-day strike. but back in 1997 he carried 1225 passengers a day. the good news may be this new strike is in july. not september. and there are fewer commuters during the summer months. for more information you can go to our web page. our ktvu home page ktvu.com and click on the bart strike tab.

if very -- sop are asking for a cog ever if -- we think the city is hiding money in the budget. that there has been great revenue improvement with the housing boom here in oakland. and we think we can pay for all of it. but the city is not coming clean with the information. >> six unions will be represented in today's picket line. police, fire, and emergency workers will not participate. online services also will in the be effected. time now 5:07. sal, come on back. you are watching the commute. what do you see on the east shore? >> i'm look agent the east shore freeway. i see traffic will be a little

busier than normal. traffic is still moving but it's more congested. what we are hoping it will stay this way and be even instead of having a huge spike sat 7:00. it will be more like this for four hours instead of two hours of really bad traffic. it's happened before. this is a look at the bay bridge. you notice the cash lanes are the ones that are backed up. my bet a lot of these -- yo can sew -- this morning's commute is nice and receive is. we do have it's going --

there is a 20-degree difference between some of the forecasted highs. anywhere from 110-92. i've never seen that. if you are far enough inland it will be all right. today there is an on shore braze brees. i've seen anywhere from 15-25 mop. there is if aof if fog,en, so czar anywhere from 60s to 1 hurricanethen if so again today we will see the transition today. tomorrow we will see how it

kicks in. it still looks hot inland. coast and bay i don't see much of a change there. time now 5:09. the heat wave we're having in california also causing problems in other states. in las vegas 117 degrees. dozens of people treated for heat exhaustion and elderly man was found dead in his parking lot. he didn't have air conditioning. back here in california temperatures in death valley hit almost 127-degree. arizona, idaho, california, utah, and texas. they are cads is -- so you are encouraged to reduce any energy use from noon to 7:00 p.m.. imparticularly when air conditioning usage is at the

highest. 5:10 is the time right now. horrible tragedy in arizona. an elite team of firefighters killed battling a wild fire. what investigators are saying about what happened. we are live in oakland at the ferry terminal where people are already starting to show up. it's because of the bart strike. we will tell you what is different with the ferries and how they plan to handle all the extra commuters. good morning. highway 4 we see more people coming up on the willow pass grade. we will tell you more about the morning commute straight ahead.

welcome back to the ktvu channel 2 morning news. 5:13 is the time. this is a live picture from the toll plaza. you can expect ask lot of extra company today. 400,000 bart riders need to find another way to get to work. bart workers on strike the entire transit system is shut down in the first bart strike since 1997. talks between the two sides came to an abrupt end last night hours before the midnight deadline when bart workers walked out of the negotiations. and at this point there are no new talks scheduled. 5:14. help commuters deal with the bart strike san francisco ferry is extending its rvvega is at t ferry terminal at oakland jack london square right now with more on buyi the tickets and parking if you plan to use a

ferry. >> reporter: good morning, dave. people have started showing up. they started showing up a half hour ago. there is about 20-30 people in line right now. a lot of them normally take bart. they are weight for the first boat that is supposed to leave in 40 hah minutes. they wanted to make sure they got a spot. they already put out cones. also something to keep in mind that ticket office is opening up at 5:30 this morning. san francisco bay ferry service says it will be using all available vessels. norrally the ferry service handles about 20,000 riders a day. it will be increasing its capacity to 50,000 riders a day. routes are being slightly changed. ferries will go directly from oakland to san francisco. and alameda to san francisco rather than making any stops before goisan francisco. the first ferry will depart from oakland at 6:00 a.m..

and departures will take place every 45 minutes. we asked passengers if they were afraid of getting to work on time. >> no fear. just not from here. i never relied on public transportation. i heard stories. plus with my bike. >> reporter: you must have a ticket or clipper card to board the ferry. normally tickets are sold on the bus but today no tickets will be old on board. parking at the ferry terminal will be extremely limited. they are encouraging to get dropped off or to use a bus. and you can see people just keep trickling in here as each minute passes by. so we will keep giving you updates on just how crowded this gets. again ferries will be leaving

every 45 minutes. reporting live from oakland janine de la vega ktvu channel 2 news. >> we want to hear how the bart strike is effecting you this morning. go to ktvu facebook page and share your story. we want to tell you about developing news. horrific news in arizona. 19 firefighters have been killed battling a wild fire. that fire is burning in the town of yarnell. about 85 miles northwest of phoenix. flames overtook the firefighters after they deplayed some deployed a fire resistance shield. >> the people that literally go out on the fire line and attack these with tools and other implements. they are not the people that have engine companies and large trucks. these are the core of fire fighting where they are right there in the middle of the incident.

>> it's just a huge fire. it has destroyed 200 homes. many people are still evacuated. it's believed that lightning started that fire on friday. other deadly incidents involving firefighters back on august 4th, 2008 nine people including seven firefighters were killed when a helicopter crashed. on august 24th, 2004 eight were killed in a crash from oregon after battling a wild fire. court houses around the bay area will begin issuing marriage licenses to same sex couple whence they open -- couples when they open up this morning. they started conducting services after they lifted their stay friday afternoon. and it opened again saturday and sunday. yesterday the supreme court

rejected an emergency petition from prop 8 supporters to stop the county clerk from issuing same sex marriage licenses here in california. the san francisco county clerks office will open again this morning at 8:00 a.m.. contra costa county will also open its doors at 8:00 a.m.. alameda county opens up at 8:30. santa clara will open at 9:00 this morning. since friday the san francisco county clerk office says it issued 563 same sex marriage licenses. same sex couples that wanted to marry waited in line for hours outside the clerk's office. san francisco was the only county in california that was open this weekend for couples to get married. 5:19 is the time. of course our big story. bart son strike. a lot of people have to find other ways to get around the bay area. sal is here to help us with that. >> good morning, to you. so far we have seen traffic

ramping up gradually. certainly we have seen changes in the traffic patterns. let's go to highway 24. more people on the early. usually we have fewer cars driving this road. right now traffic is moving well. as we look at a bart track, if you do see a train running it's an inspection train. but they are not picking up passengers as you already know. let's go to the bay bridge toll plaza. you can see traffic here is moving along okay. some of the cash lanes are backed up. there is a big backup in the cash lanes leads me to believe a lot of these people do not have fast track because they don't normally drive. the fast track drivers over on the right of the toll plaza are doing a little better.

the metering lights are not on. livermore valley looks pretty good. across the bay on the peninsula 23 minutes. let's go to steve. how much is the cash lane for those that may not know? >> it is $6. >> we have a little bit of patchy fog. and high clouds. coming up tropical clouds from the area of high pressure. there is a little bit of a west wind. sfo has a west wind. hayward has a weasand. those are signs of a sea breeze. 50s and 60s and 70s on the lows. very, very warm air aloft. there is a little bit of an on shore breeze today. there is going to be very hot conditions again inland. tomorrow is the key. one forecast model is

unbelievablely hot. the other is 20-degrees cooler. so what do you do? you split the difference here. right now the tropical clouds are coming up. that might take one to two degrees off the high. fog, sun, cool for some. warm for others. hot. just depends on your proximity to the coast. 6:s and 70s -- 60s and 70s and 80s. tomorrow is really the key day. i can't go either way pip split the difference. it will be hot inland but coast and bay looks like they stay the same. it does look cooler toward the end of the week. >> you ready for the weather? >> i think so. it's been pretty warm. time now 5:22. a controversial freeway project in the north bay could resume today. the reason wildlife advocates

are crying foul. gorge. traffic on the -- we'll let you know where the trouble spots are.

high speed internet. yeah, you couldn't just stream movies to a device like that. one time, i had to wait half a day to watch a movie. you watched movies?! i was lucky if i could watch a show. show?! man, i was happy to see a sneezing panda clip! trevor, have you eaten today? you sound a little grumpy. [ laughter ] [ male announcer ] connect all your wi-fi-enabled devices with u-verse high speed internet. rethink possible. welcome back. 5:25. we have a bart strike this morning. and we're keeping an eye. these are live pictures from walnut creek. a lot of people lined up at this hour in the morning. they are lined up because bart has charter buses out there.

look how long the line is. people are getting on the charter buses. first come first serve. and it's one of the things that is happening already this morning as the bart strike begins. the charter buss have been sent out there by bart to accommodate some people throughout the strike. we will keep you posted and even more people are showing up as we look at this now. in the meantime we do have breaking news in case you have not heard bart is on strike. the first bart strike since 1997 is under way. union workers announced they walked off the job during a midnight news conference and the entire bart system is shut down. the talks between the two sides abruptly ended shortly before 8:30 last night. that is when union negotiators left meeting. make sure you stay right here with us all morning for live team coverage. also new this morning president obama is beginning

the last leg of his week long tour of africa. i want to show you new video of the president and his family arriving in tanzania in the last hour. and george bush also in tanzania. first lady michelle obama and former first lady laura bush plan to team up at the conference tomorrow for a joint discussion on promoting women's education, and health. and the white house aids say there may be something scheduled between president obama and former president bush. back here at home working on a freeway widening project in petaluma could resume today. wildlife advocates asked the judge to postpone crust on the highway 101 bridge. so far no word on a ruling. wildlife advocates says the project endangers a federally

protected bird. another potential problem for the new eastern span of the bay bridge. the important paper work that cal tran says they are not finding. we're also going to continue to follow -- >> we are live. bart workers are protesting out here. there are charter buses running this morning. we will give you you information on that and ac transit. ;