i just heard a big explosion and most of them wouldn't say anything. we are told there is no dappinger to the public there's like that. but interestingly there was a fatal accident in the lab in 2013 when a lab worker was killed. burned over 50% of his body. again, we are awaiting a news conference which will include state fire marshal stephen cohen and we will bring you that live when it happens. andover ken macleod. the injured were rushed first to lawrence hospital where jim armstrong is live tonight. jim. >> reporter: paulate hospital took in four critically injured poem as result of the explosion that ken was just describing. again, the doctor the head of the er who spoke with us earlier stopped short of calling the injuries life- threatening though he did tell us that they are very, very serious injuries indeed. and as ken described that's whaty three were med flighted over to boston.

helicopter taking off. hospitals in boston have level one trauma centers which is why the three victims had to be sent there. the one who remains here at lawrence general hospital has very severe injuries critical injuries. but the physicians here feel like they are able to treat the person where as the other three did have to go to boston. doctors say they are prepared for something like this at this particular facility and train for it but it was a hectic and chaotic few moments and all four victims arrived at one afternoon. >> they came in shortly after 3 p.m. four patients total and all of which were critical with blast injuries and chemical explosionures and they were decontaminated prior to coming into the emergency department and treated rapidly. three of which were transported down to boston to the care facilities for specialty care and one is being admitted here at lawrence general. >> reporter: you heard the doctor explain one extra step they had to take because of the nature of the injuries.

injured people could even be allowed into the emergency room here at lawrence general they had to be decontaminated as the doctor described that means stripping them down dousing them with water and scrubbing them clean making sure the toxic chemicals were off their bodies before they were allowed into the emergency room. the doctor said that went without incident and went as they planned it and that's why they were able to get the four people to the high level of care they needed in a hurry. live in lawrence, jim armstrong wbz news paula. >> excellent training. thanks so much. and as ken macleod said we are awaiting a news conference any moment and we will bring it to you live as soon as they begin. we will be staying with this story into the night. stay with wbz news for the very latest at 10 and 11 as well. we have breaking news tonight from wall street. now off to it's worst start in a year ever. the dow jones dropped nearly 400 points because of the worries about china's economy.

and 3%. and new at 6, fake guns posing a very real threat. tonight a. new push to help police identify the real thing. and perhaps save lives. we will have that in a moment but fares news conference we have been awaiting in north critically injured in an factory. this is the state fire marshal let's listen in. >> you tell me when we are ready to go. okay. >> okay good evening. >> ready? >> good evening. we are at located at 60 willow street north andover. it's the dow chemical plant. the incident time was 2:28 this afternoon. when first arriving units found multiple victims from an unknown chemical reaction in one of the laboratories in this facility. north andover fire department and area fire departments transported 4 victims to

subsequently throw of these victims have been transported to boston hospitals for further treatment. north andover fire department activated the regional hazmat system and tier 3 level which brought approximately 40 hazmat techs to the scene. in addition, the state police bomb squad assigned to the state fire marshal is on scene work concurrently and jointly with the hazmat team and dow chemical personnel. speak. during the current operational period we are stabilizing the ongoing processs eliminating future hazards and will begin an investigation following the confirmation the area is secure. it's too early to speak about the cause. fire department, mutual aid

areas, north andover police department, dep, osha,member mema are on scene and i made notification to the u.s. chemical safety bureau in washington, d.c. we are aware of another incident that occurred at this facility in october of 2013. that incident resulted in a fatality also of a worker of this facility. at this time we are in the process of a preliminary review of our records from that incident. it doesn't appear to have a connection to the type of incident that we are involved in at this time. as we move forward in the investigation over the next coming days, we will do a forensic review of the requirements of dow chemical at this plant in regard to our state fire code and other applicable codes. but at this time we are focused

it's also fair to say at this time that no residents in the area no persons outside of that facility are in any danger at this time. >> can you give us a layman's explanation what have you think happened in there even some basics? >> i think all that we are prepared to say at this point let me back up and have us understand we have not at this point had direct access to the room in question, the lab in question, so we could analyze the chemical. but preliminary information we have is this was a chemical that was reactive to water and for some reason that will come out as part of the investigation. this chemical reacted with water which resulted in the explosion and therefore the injuries to the lab workers. >> how big an explosion was it in your eyes and how much damage did it cause i know you haven't been inside but was it a massive explosion that shook the building? whom people were inside.

went off can you explain the explosion. >> it very brief terms, there does appear to be windows that were broken from the explosion, it does appear to be some damage to the lab itself in the way of some protective hoods that have come down from the explosion. those are part of the investigation once we get in there that we will be able to take a larger look at. but, we do believe at this time the building is stable. the building is not in danger structurally but there's substantial damage to the will be a story itself. >> were the injured initially pulled out by coworkers? >> i don't know that. let's see if local authorities know. we believe that the injured were am bow latory and made their -- am latory and -- am blahtory and -- ambulatory. >> [audio not understandable]

>> we don't know that. >> no. >> is this a chemical used all the time in the laboratory or something different from normal. >> i don't know. we know what the chemical is not going to talk too much about the chemical at this time it's something our hazmat people are looking at, but the fact is that because this is in a laboratory and i make the assumption it's a chemical they use for some type process but beyond that we can't say much about it. >> are we talking about try. >> you've been listening to the state foyer marshal run down what happened at dow chemical in north andover. an explosion in a lab injuring workers. he describes this as stale very he active scene and they haven't been -- still a very he active scene and they he haven't been able to access the lab. but looks as the 40 haz met personnel that showed up helped the people injured and they still need to secure the area. >> and the state fire marshal saying 4 people critically injured were able to walk to an ambulance and they were later

where they are being treated right now. it's a story we will continue to follow and have much more coming up. we will take quick break and see you in a moment. dear fellow citizen, i know what it' s like to buy a house. i know how it feels to be stressed about money. i understand what a scary word "retirement" is, and i can help. because i' m not just a fellow dad, fellow mom, fellow saver, i' m a fellow citizen. who gets up every day and tries her best. just like you. sincerely, elizabeth trackler

robert kennedy deanna morrison jared duemling

you got people working incredibly long hours. median family income today -- $4,000 less than it was in 1999. the bottom line of this economy is that it is rigged. what this campaign is about is to demand that we create an economy that works for all of us rather than a handful of billionaires. if you work 40 hours a week in america, you should not live in poverty. i'm bernie sanders,

more breaking news. this time in braintree where police are investigating a possible road rage incident that ended with a stabbing. you can see a lot of police on scene right now. we have a crew there asking more questions trying to find out exactly what happened here. so count on updates as we learn more but road rage incident possibly with a stabbing in braintree. today, on beacon hill boston police commissioner pushed for changes to the law that could save lives. >> they would put limits on fake. [audio not understandable] that are on the street. beth germano is live tonight at the statehouse. >> reporter: well police are making split second decisions in determining whether a gun is real or safe. a bill now being considered by lawmakers would mandate new

>> i would like to hold up for pistol. >> reporter: a pistol that looks very much like the real thing. these are fake guns that police are faced with each day posing a very real danger. >> if you look at the guns and feel them and pick them up you can't distinguish the difference. >> reporter: and the consequences can be deadly. it's what confronted police in cleveland where is itior old -- 12-year-old tamir rice was shot and killed by a officer as he waived a -- waved a toy gun. >> we don't want what happened boston. >> reporter: federal law requires toy guns be plugged but legislation on beacon hill includes bb guns pellet guns are labeled with nonremovallable orange strips on all sides to difference eight them from the real thing. boston police commissioner bill evans sees the danger daily. >> we had someone paul gun and someone -- pull a gun and someone shoot the person because they thought the gun was real.

streets because of the fake guns. >> reporter: but the concern is not just a danger to the police but the community. this surveillance photo shows a fake gun at head he of a store clerk who was robbed of cash of the register and wallet. critics argue critics could alter real guns to make them look fake but the author of the bill fired back. >> the mind set of trowing up -- throwing up our hands to do nothing because someone might do something inaction is kind of the only course we can't take given the grave nature what have's going on. >> reporter: now 174 of the replicas were taken off the streets of boston last year. city in november passed an ordinance banning them in all public places and that could become a part of this bill. reporting live from the news. a immediatia haik up nbc

nbc will begin new station nbc boston on january 1st 2017. this new nbc station will air over the air on channel 60 which is currently telemundo. so this means nbc program will go no longer air on channel 7. whdh has been an nbc affiliate for 20 years. sun beam television the owner of whdh says it will fight the move in court. we had a beautiful day here. >> yes. >> but don't expect to see the sun any time soon. >> i know eric. gray days ahead. >> a lot of give and take this january. after a couple beautiful winter days like today and great sunset. mayorium sen to the picture it's tough to tell which is the sky and the water. beautiful reflection and now saying bye to the sun. a quick tour across the country. a lot going on. big storm in the pacific. this is the next one that will crash into the west coast heading towards the weekend. and we move to our coastline a huge storm that's off north carolina. this could become a subtropical storm.

season alex but it stays out to sea and will make for rough waters especially around bermuda and we are on the fringe of that mainly clear skies in a -- and a few sewerous clouds so tonight quiet partly cloudy 18 to 25 in the suburbs and about 31 in counsel town -- downtown boston. but what we are watching the event that's not a storm is tough to describe but could cause issues. so let's start with tomorrow morning. a little moisture moving in off the atlantic. and this will bring increasing cloud cover and a little fog and drizzle. so this is a type of event where just the finest glaze of ice could cause some accidents and slick travel for tomorrow morning. so something we will watch carefully. won't be too widespread and that's the idea into the day tomorrow and tomorrow night and even into saturday. not a lot falling from the sky. but just enough to make it slick. we are going for a high temp tomorrow close to 40 along the coast. this is where whoa won't have icing issues. but once -- we won't have icing issues. both once we move forward in the morning we will look at icy areas. in green it's regular drizzle

contact here across the interior. same idea tomorrow night and saturday. on saturday we could mix in few light snowflakes or a few sleet pellets. the idea is really light stuff just enough to make it slick. then we head into sunday and a larger storm system will move up to the west. it's a warm track which means heavy rain and a chance for record highs on sunday. and both weekend days likely not seeing any sunshine. in terms of rain many towns should pick up over an inch and maybe as much as 2 inches and the highs? in the afternoon a quick spike on sunday and a couple degrees shy of record. we have a chance in both worcester and boston. unfortunately, the warm air goes into northern new england meaning rain on sunday. if you want to hit the slopes, best days are tomorrow and saturday. here's full accu-weather 7-day. falling temps on monday as colder air builds in but a dry day. dry on tuesday as well. a storm develops quickly to the east on wednesday. if it's close enough it will

not close it heads farther out tosea and spares us. later on 6 days away. paula back to you. >> thanks so much. >> thanks. and now we have dan roche here it's been a quiet week in patriots country but good for >> they could use healing. a lot of healing actually. >> yes it's resting time. this is how you want this week to go if you are a pat. get rest and heal up and as levan reid tells us the team win. >> reporter: this week is about rest tom brady on the field and players say his leadership is on. >> when we touch the field, he gets us going, so, i think he works on everybody on the field so every time we step out we points up on the board. >> reporter: another player the pats hope to have is julian he hadelmen who has not been on

>> he's great guy and player back. offense. he is a hard worker and brings a lot of great attitude with the team and just his worth egg sick second to none. >> reporter: getting the injured back and on the field could be the boost this team is looking for. >> this evening the walk through and practice you move that over to game day, you know, think that could be a big help and like i said, having certain guys out there with leadership and experience you know i. think that always helps the team. >> reporter: couple things and players to imagine they will watch the afc wild card round on saturday and also, gronk never played the lottery and we told him how much power ball was. he paused and then said, i am going buy a ticket classic gronk even he has a price. at gillette stadium levan reid. >> that's a lot of money now basketball. celtics head coach will not be with the team tonight when they take on the bulls in chicago.

indiana to visit a former butler player. celtics did not release other information other than saying it was a private matter. assistant coach will take his place and david paula i have to believe it's personal but says a lot about the character to leave the team to be with a former player. >> thanks. cowping next -- coming up next, wall street tycoons of the future. local teens who could teach

new here at 6 a former transit police officer is facing criminal charges for a violent arrest. mary holmes says she was pepper sprayed and beaten at dudly station in 2014 by transit officer jennifer garvey. now she has been indicted on assault and civil rights violations. and transit police say that she was fired a few weeks ago for

they were smiling but those were about the only happy face on wall street today. now off to the worst start ever. big losses across the board. >> and there are two teens in west roxbury who perhaps think they do turn things around louisa moller shows us they he juan stock trading contest with veteran jealous. >> reporter: among the whispers and laughs catholic memorial school you might hear talk of girls supports instagram and for the seniors the stock market. >> go down. >> reporter: ken and chen are two of more than a thousand high school students and teens who played a statewide stock market game. roughly 4 months of trading, 100,000 dollars of fake cash to invest and very real and volatile global capital markets. >> i focused on the what is going to be current for next generation. >> reporter: he focus on solar energy and manufacturing displays.

and it was not easy. >> the week i was first place and therd i went out of 500. >> reporter: you had plummeted down. >> yeah. >> reporter: the teens road it -- rode the market to the top ken with 41.5% return above the s&p 5001 # 1,000 dollars -- 1 # 1,000 dollars chen at 34%. and dipping the toes into an environment that would see china stock market crash and abysmal opening act for the dow their advoice. >> i would still to hold what you have right now and wait until the market finds stability. >> reporter: so the the most seasoned financial expert or frankly a bright high school student will tell you the stock market is volatile so stay the course. at catholic memorial school louisa moller wbz news. >> so i consider fantasy sports they are playing fantasy stock noorkt i was going to say that

about fantasy sport. >> good for them. congratulationses.

you got people working incredibly long hours. median family income today -- $4,000 less than it was in 1999. the bottom line of this economy is that it is rigged. what this campaign is about is to demand that we create an economy that works

of billionaires. if you work 40 hours a week in america, you should not live in poverty. i'm bernie sanders, and i approve this message. two breaking stories a chemical explosion at plant in north andover four workers hurt at the dow chemical plant. the injuries are serious but we do know they were able to walk to the ambulances on their own before they were taken by helicopter to boston. state fire marshal says there's no danger to the public and dow chemical released a statement saying their thoughts are with the families of the people who are hurt. and the other breaking news we are following police investigating an apparent case of road rage in which someone was stabbed. these are live pictures from the area right now. this is along 93 in braintree near the barnes and noble on granet street and we have a crew on scene. we will have more on wbz news at 10 on my tv38 here on wbz news at 11. >> probably 3 seconds for weather.

tomorrow morning especially