. breaking news at this hour in south tampa, an apartment fire leads to a bazaar stand off with a man inside threatening firefighters. we are live right now a including how crews got the man out. >> and new video this morning, a drone captures the devastation in gatlinburg tennessee. the wildfire death toll is climbing this morning, coming up how a tampa couple escaped with their lives. >> and caught on camera a tornado touches down near a school sending debris flying as part of a wave of severe weather sweeping across the southeast but the big question this

ahead. >> and the lightning losing streak continues. we'll tell you what happened last night when they took on st. louis. sorry, it's a heart breaker. >> tough way to start out a friday morning. good morning to you. >> thanks for joining us on this friday morning. we want to check in, feeling pretty nice out there. >> hopefully that will put you in a nicer mood. look at this view perfect conditions out there right now, 58 degrees comfortably cool. right now max defender 8 is showing crystal clear conditions, 52 in inverness, that's where we've got some of the colder locations. 63 bradenton and apollo beach. north of i-4 you may need a little jacket this morning but the dew points, it's so much more comfortable this morning. these numbers have been dropping, 75 is your average high and we'll hit 75 later this afternoon. coming up

hour by hour including a preview of the weekend, but first weather is nice, are the roads as nice? they're not perfect but pretty good. there's no congestion out there appeared that's the issue that really slows you down. well i'm going to start off with south tampa. we mentioned this earlier. the stand off, and here's what's going on. traffic wise we've got bay to bay blocked. and this is due to police activity out there. we'll have more on exactly what's need to know is you can get by. you just need to block yourself around it. there are plenty of side streets available and no congestion. so you'll just be moved around that area. also out in the sun coast area university parkway blocked completely underneath i-75. right lane taken away at river road and the entrance ramp is blocked as well due to overnight construction. should wrap up by

we want to get right to that breaking news we were just mentioning out of south tampa, where an apartment building has been burning. when crews arrived they were met with a man who was threatening them with a hammer. we're joined now live from the scene in south tampa. good morning, where's that man now? . >> reporter: well, just about 45 minutes ago he was taken away on a stretcher. he was baker acted and told he'll most likely be charged with felony arson. when i arrived on scene this morning he was peeking his head out of the second story window and throwing things at firefighters. around 3:30 this morning tampa fire respond today reports of a barricaded subject inside an apartment on fire on bay to bay. crews put a ladder up and found a man threatening them with a hammer. fire crews were able to make entry with police who used shields. that man had

barricade the door. we spoke with a woman who lives next door to this man. she had to evacuate this morning with her children. >> everything probably is going to be damaged unfortunately that's the scary part, but we're a bunch of believers, and we'll make it. we will. . >> reporter: now, that woman did have a few pets that she was concerned about, we did just learn that they're all okay no injuries reported in this fire. now, of course the focus turns to damage, how much damage did this fire cause? we know that that fire was contained to one room in the apartment building and this is actually a building that has businesses on the bottom floor and 2 apartments on the second floor. so we don't know exactly how much damage was sustained throughout this fire. we are told that the fire marshal is on scene right now and investigating.

south louis is still blocked off. there are still a lot of police out here and a lot of fire crews. back to you. >> good thing everybody made it out okay. thank you. now, to the ashes of gatlinburg. the death toll from the devastating wildfire has risen to 11 this morning and we've learned that a tampa couple who moved to gatlinburg are among those survivors. >> they narrowly escaped those deadly flames and now for the first story of survival. we're told that they had it make a split second decision to save their lives. >> yeah, that's right. imagine being in that situation. what would you do? they left behind their medications and their photos almost everything, but they say that deciding what they should take was an easy call. they grabbed their dogs and stuffed them down their jackets. they ran down ski mountain in

. >> both sides of the roads flames 15, 20 feet tall. we walked down ski mountain road through the flames with masks over our face and our dogs under our coat. we walked all the way through the middle of gatlinburg on parkway stomping out as we were going . >> a passer by finally picked the couple up and their dogs taking them to safety. and this morning they're in an shelter. gregg worked at the tourist destination over gatlinburg which because of the wildfires can no longer guarantee him a full-time job. karen is a diabetic and has a limited supply of insulin. so the family here in tampa has established a gofundme account to try to help them. we have posted a link to that account on our website wfla.com. . >> you know all those things are replaceable including the medicine, but not those dogs.

>> we're so glad they're okay and alive. >> absolutely. >> what a story they're starting over and then their dream home and dream really has been destroyed by those fires. >> hopefully they can find work as well. >> right. well, a dangerous car jacker is expected in court today. the 53-year old is accused of beating a man back in october. investigators say he then tried to car jack 2 people before taking off. he has been behind bars since it happened and is on today. well, porch pirates are becoming more and more bold stealing your stuff from your doorstep. delivery trucks are dropping off packages leaving them in sight and reach of bad guys looking for free gifts. >> we had a ups product left on our porch and someone took it. it came in and that was that. >> well, one way to protect yourself is with an amazon locker. their outside stores as you see here.

code. you can always ask a friend or perhaps somebody at work to receive packages on your behalf. >> you going to take my packages for me? >> sure. done. happening today getting into the holiday spirit speaking of packages. the city of tampa will hold its annual tree lighting ceremony. it will be complete with music, food and fun for everyone in the family. it is happening of course at waterfront park and the fun starts around 6 with the mayor flipping the switch to light the about a great event kindness day is coming up. you can help news channel 8 support a number of worthy causes for the community. donation for toys for tots also feeding tampa bay and one blood are being accepted. it is friday december 9th out at our studios. i us a like to say this is the easiest way to give. >> one stop shop, right.

>> much better than we were 24 hours ago. we started off december on an extremely muggy humid note but this morning it feels much more comfortable. in fact, taking a look at that humidity yesterday we were in the uncomfortable category, this morning we are in the pleasant category. and hour by hour today we're starting off around 60, those numbers get to around 75 this afternoon. just some fair weather passing clouds today. skies are clear as you head outdoor but we have clouds out in the gulf that will so we'll call it partly cloudy at times especially south of i-4 but overall not a drop of rain in sight for today. long-term enjoy the cool air while we've got it because the numbers will start to warm up quickly. and then way down the road a huge drop off in your temperatures. looks like a much cooler, in fact, colder air mass coming in by friday and neck weekend.

>> yeah, nice. >> not looking forward to that. all right. let's look at traffic. here's what's going on. as we take a look at the sun coast area we've got a lot of construction. university parkway is blocked both directions completely underneath i-75 due to construction. and we've got the exit ramps taken away and portions of i-75 some lanes taken away but you can get by on the main portion. if you need to go instead. . river road southbound is block and southbound the right lane taken away on i-75 right there at river road. quick look here at the skyway bridge looks wonderful. donald trump is putting his team in place. >> he's naming names for his cabinet and one of mr. trump's picks has ties to our area but just might come with a little

couple dogged by phone calls with folks ordering pizza. you'll want to hear what's going on now.

a high profile cabinet pick. mr. trump announced that he plans to appoint retired marine corps general james mad dog mattis. he oversaw central command now, he's being picked for secretary of defense. ryan hughes joins us live. some controversy, what's that about. >> james mattis would need a waiver if h secretary of defense that's because retired officers are required to be out of uniform for at least 7 years before heading to the pentagon regardless. donald trump well, he wants him as his secretary. listen here. >> we'll be announcing him on monday of next week. keep it inside the room, but that's what we have and he's our best. they say he's the closest thing to general george patton that we have and it's about time.

. >> democratic new york senator g gillabrand claims she will vote against him. he served in the military within the last 7 years and his appointment would violate the 1947 law. it requires a civilian to lead the pentagon not someone recently in uniform. she went onto say control of our military is fundamental and exception to the rule. he served here in central command from 2010 to 2013. he has been in the united states military for 44 years. . >> interesting choice. thank you. well, lightning fans are singing the blues this morning after a big loss to st. louis. this makes it a 4th straight loss. sadly it

goals and the final score 5-4 finishing their road trip 0-3. not what we wanted. >> well, a happy update to a story we told you about a land o' lakes couple flooded with calls for pizza. well, this morning some relief. the company is working to now remove the listing on google and map quested that listed their phone number as the pizza shop's phone number. a company spokesman has alert concerning your child's mental health. how can you tell if you're child is being a teenager or truly in crisis. depression and anxiety is on the rise right now and many times kids don't know who to turn to. there are new programs to help those teenagers that are having crisis. . >> thank you for calling. how can i help you? >> 211 tampa bay cares is now up

of the mental health system. teens and young adults between the ages of 16 and 25 where depression rates are spiking especially among girls. >> at the very difficult for me at the time because it was like i was younger, so it's just like everyone would blow it all type thing but as i got older people started to notice it's like it's not a game any more. >> after years of struggling with depression and anxiety she breaking point. >> there's no judgment. everything is confidential. >> the success for kids and families healthy transition program is designed to offer a support system. >> help the youth and young did you tell us. >> if your child starts having mood changes that could be a signal they need support. >> we typically say if the moodyness is going on for 2 weeks or longer heads up if

really sad or incredibly irritable you want to find out what's going on. >> she says keep an eye out for changes in school performance, sleep patterns all signs that something is wrong. time now 5:18 and a tornado touched down in atlanta wednesday afternoon and it was caught on camera. at least one ef 1 tornado struck northwest of the city. this is security footage from a school powerful the winds actually were. the camera lens caught a large treetop pebbling down. thankfully out of this no one was hurt. a former football running back mcknight is dead. they were in their vehicles when an altercation took place and another driver shot and kill

able to revive him. another reminder kindness day coming up on december 9th, you can drop off your toy donation, food donation or you can give a donation of blood. our of course or teddy bear round up going on as well. max defender 8 right now looking good across the area dry skies 57 in palm harbor a cooler start thisni city and expected to stay dry for today and the weekend but long-term we're going to have a series of cold front first one coming in on tuesday giving us a 30% chance of rain followed by another one on thursday here. so it's been a very dry november, and didn't have much rain yesterday but our rain chances do look to improve as we go into next week. through today and the weekend gorgeous 75 this afternoon, warming up to 82 by sunday. time for another check of the roads. it's traffic on the 8s.

course i've been mentioning the overnight construction still exists out there university parkway blocked underneath i-75 both directions. also we've got the exit ramps affected due to construction as well. should all be wrapped up by 6 a.m. but you can still pass despite some construction on i-75 itself. now, over here in the venice area southbound i-75 right lane taken away right at river road. also thent well. and moving over here to the bay area out in the south tampa area still a lot of police activity on bay to bay. you'll be routed around it. no delays as of yet but that portion is actually blocked. that's a look at weather and traffic. some big leadership changes at starbucks. >> which means changes that affect customers. coming up who is stepping down as ceo of starbucks and what he plans to

that's next on news channel 8 today on

starbucks making some changes not in cup design this time around but in leadership positions. come april ceoschultz will step down to become the company's executive chairman. starbucks says he'll

innovation. kevin johnson will take over the ceo position. thousands of baby bath seats and chairs are being recalled due to a drowning hazard. it involves all lexa book chairs for children 6 months and older. they apparently can tip over while a baby is in it pose ago drowning hazard. for more information and how to get a full refund we've listed all the information at wfla.com we are in theth believe that which means folks are buying gifts and singing songs. when it comes to items listed in the 12 days of christmas all of them total would cost $34,000 and there's 2 turtle doves alone $375. >> who wants that? >> that's a true price for true love right there. okay. if you're going to buy the whole 12 days you better be ready to write a big old check.

just get me a cup of coffee or a doughnut. i'm easy to buy for. should women have to register for the draft, young women. >> president obama weighing in on this, we'll tell you what he has to say about it coming up. >> but first check this out, what a beautiful sight, 5:25 this morning downtown tampa all lit up, weather and traffic on

. getting the kids to the bus stop this morning 60 degrees, some passing fair weather clouds a much cooler and less humid start you'll notice that. 75 by the time the kids come home and rain chances stay zero through your weekend. we're checking out the

accident tying up some lanes here on kenny harmon road. if you're not familiar with it is the west here of 17. so be on

a bazaar scene where firefighters battling a fire faced off with a man who was throwing things out of a second story window. good morning. >> this is on the 4,300 block of bay to bay. and we're joined live from the scene. bring us up to speed on what's going on at this hour. >> reporter: right now crews and police have cleared the scene but when we first arrived here this morning it was a wild scene. there was a subject hanging out of this apartment building who was throwing things at firefighters who had responded to this scene trying to fight a fire inside of this apartment building on bay to bay. now, around 3:30 this