devastating, six family members including three young children are killed in a three alarm fire. >> sweet people, they are going to be missed and it's sad because it's almost christmas. god rest their souls. what made the flames difficult to fight. the investigation and how the victims are being remembered. hello everyone i'm vic carter >> and i'm denise koch here is what people are talking about. there was little firefighter and people could do to help six people trapped in a fire inside

their home. tonight mike hellgren has more on the tragedy. >> reporter: winds span flames killing a couple along with their granddaughter and great great grandson. >> they used to play with the family a lot, mr. richard and mrs. adelfield. lovely people. heaven has welcomed new angels. >> reporter: the wind made fighting the fire tough. those who saw the flames can will never forget them. >> i had more smoke in my home than fire. to the front door everything was just on fire. >> reporter: the fire department is unsure whether the home had working smoke detectors, investigators are still working to determine the

cause. >> exactly what started the fire we're not sure. fire investigators are on the scene. >> reporter: the department also responded to concerns that a near by fire company was not on the scene due to rotating budget related closures, noted the response was quick at three minutes. >> i don't think there's words to describe how devastating this is for their family. i don't think there's ever a good time of year to lose family, the holidays make it particularly difficult. >> reporter: a memorial has started to go up for the six victim, including a 9-year-old, a 3-year-old and 2-year-old around the mess that's left behind. the city and red cross are helping nearly 30 people displaced by this fire. reporting from east baltimore, mike hellgren, wjz eyewitness news. 18 people have died in fires in baltimore city this year. if you stepped outside tonight, you know it is bitterly cold out there. people were bundled up and moving fast in felts point. the strong winds are making it

feel everyone worse. baltimore city issued the first code blue alert of the season, opening up additional shelters and extending the hours for anyone trying to get warm. so far we have dodged this however, the snow 24-inches of it recorded near cleveland, ohio. they are pulling out every weapon to deal with all two feet, snow blowers, plow trucks, most of this snow is lake effect from the great lakes. and it's not taking much snow to cause this pile up. temperatures are causing concern even in florida endangering crops there. another terrorist plot in our backyard is foiled. this time federal agents nabbed a virginia man threatening to blow up the metro system. kelly mcpherson explains the government zeroed in on this suspect in a familiar way.

>> reporter: the suspect goes by several different names in life an online. but the fbi believes that they have caught the man who has been threatening bombings online for three weeks. 26-year-old uniss has been arrested for threatening to bomb the dc metro after chatting about it via facebook with his girlfriend. the suspect said he would put the pipe bombs in the third and fifth cars of the trains because that's where more people would be so he could have a deadlier impact. the complainant told the fbi quote you wouldn't do that, he responded watch me. agents raided his arlington, virginia home. our affiliate spoke to his father. >> they couldn't find anything from the bomb. they spend six hours here. >> reporter: younis has only been charged with threatening via communication. quote that is the problem with

americans, they can't leave well enough alone until something happens then they sit there wondering why we developed the twin towers like a bad habit. ha, ha, ha i'm telling you right now you're going to regret what you did. less than a week ago, agents arrested antonio martinez for attempting to blow up a recruitment. he too had been turned into the fbi after someone found extreme view postings. >> they need to keep the security up. >> it's great that they caught him. so obviously somebody is doing their job behind the scenes. >> reporter: the federal affidavit quotes younis says he wanted to put bombs in the manholes in georgetown in order to kill more people.

yuonis has not been charged with any crimes, only intimidation. officials are trying to figure out how a teenager snuck through airport security and got on a plane. devonte is originally from baltimore. she was the soul survivor and tonight she wants tens of millions of the dollars. wells filed a lawsuit. >> reporter: jordan wells and her friend younger was on their way home when they crashed. >> everything was just slow motion. i was like, this is it. i'm dying here.

>> two patients. >> are you folks able to fly. >> reporter: they were air lifted to the hospital but never made it. >> we're unable to land there. >> andrews said they called them and lost them on the radar. >> not good. >> reporter: the pilot a flight paramedic, an emergency medical technician and ashley died in the crash. >> i just looked up into the sky and said, god, please save me. >> reporter: among the findings a multitude of causes, including outdated weather -- there was no response from the attorneys about the lawsuit. the state has implemented new rules. adding a second pilot and paramedic and replacing outdated helicopters. ten, yes i said ten that's

how many shopping days left before christmas. you may be behind or ahead of schedule. things are looking even more holly and jolly for retailers. kai jackson explains why things are looking brighter this year. >> the national retail federation retailer holds up, this year, why many americans are still looking for jobs. >> reporter: crowded malls and bags at hand are signs of shopping, christmas is little more than a week away. it appears retailers may have reason to smile. >> we've expected a great holiday season and it's even better than anticipated. the national retailer federation predicted holiday sales would teeter. now the organization that advocates for retail is more optimistic increasing that estimate for 3.3%. >> everyone though we're in a

rescission as they say, shopping has been in an up rise. the scene of people, they're spending money more so than months before. >> reporter: the national retail federation says so far holiday shopping has exceeded the expectation. they are seeing evidence that customers are spending more money. while there's a big focus on holiday spending, many remind retailers they can't spend what they don't have. >> we're doing okay. you know we're spending, we're shopping for each other. but we have cut it back. we actually cut it back last year so we're staying on the same level field this year as well. >> reporter: cyber monday helped boost holiday sales this year. the retail federation estimated that americans shopped online the monday after thanksgiving. everyone though across the country, many americans are out of work. >> we definitely have hired lots of help to help our

customers but we haven't hired any seasonal people. >> reporter: back to you. >> thank you, kai. the national retail federation says stock market gains and savings are improving holiday sales. you are living in the most wealthy state. the howard is the wealthiest county. it also has the longest commutes in the country, second only to new york. the sun will have more on this report in tomorrow's paper. >> i can attest to the commutes, that's for sure. stunt gone wrong, after hugh jackman tried to put on a show for oprah but it doesn't go quite as planneded in a man opens fire in the middle of a school board

meeting. i'm alex demetrick. coming up an air attack on freezing weather. i'm bob turk, i'll have your complete weather forecast coming up next. ,, [ female announcer ] safeway talks holiday baking. that smells scrumptious. yummy! smells delightful. awesome! i'm not smelling anything. [ female announcer ] everything for holiday baking. just add love. safeway. ingredients for life.

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in baltimore right now. a tornado rips through a city. local schools were put on lock down while the storms passed. the no serious injuries were reported. >> a brazen shooting, a man opens fire on the school board members. the entire thing was caught on tape and amazingly no one was hurt. we want to show it to you but we do warn you it is very dramatic. you can see clay douge raise his gun. moments later a security guard shot duke. none of the school board members was injured. investigators say that the shooter mentioned his wife was fired from the district. but right now it is not clear whether that is true. another dramatic scene caught on tape, a passer by saves the day for police officer in ohio. from the officers dash cam you

can see a violent confrontation. if officer regains control and makes the arrest. the unidentified woman was thanked but also warned about getting involved in police business. the las vegas strip is buzzing over an early morning casino caper. this surveillance video from the belaggio resort shows a man wearing a motorcycle helmet running through the lobby. he made up with $1.5 million in casino chips. he fled in a motorcycle and harmed no one during the robbery. >> he didn't confront any of the customers with the exception to move them back away from the craps table. he simply took the casino chips that were, i don't know what you call the area. the box they keep on the craps table. >> police believe the suspect pulled a similar heist at the sun coast casino earlier this month. that's when about $120,000 was taken from a dealer. the annual survey found

more teens are smoking marijuana on a daily basis. there's also an increase on the number of eighth graders who have used extasy. hugh jackman learned there might be a skill he might have to work on, breaking. he told the audience that it was so much fun, until the end. the cold has plunged maryland into a deep freeze is extending deep into the south. that's placing florida's crops in jeopardy. >> we're looking to make sure

we don't have any frost crystals forming on the leaves. >> reporter: thanks to helicopters. as the rotors spin, they pull down warmer air from above to counter colder air on the ground. >> the frost could damage the buds. >> there was seven helicopter, it gets to be crazy overnight. >> reporter: and tonight, unlike oranges where ice is produced orange juice. >> i've been told that if we don't get on them, we can lose 80% of the crop in one night. >> carefully passing over this section and a couple of passes on the other vineyard on the

hill. >> reporter: and what's worked in maryland might just fly in florida. alex demetrick, wjz eyewitness news. now using helicopters to beat the cold can cost the grower $850 an hour to $1,000 an hour. a fleet of helicopters could not help this home. the became a igloo after a sprinkler pipe broke. >> it just got cold yesterday, so it's going to take a lot

longer for the ice to be thick enough to ice skate. so please don't go out there. orlando at 30, just east of tampa down to 32. fort myers at 40 degrees. this is in florida my friends. a little further up north gets even colder, 29 in gainesville florida right this minute. around here, not quite, well not quite that warm actually. it's 21 here. they haven't had terrible winds chills in florida. they why they had the heavy frost down there. the barometer is on the way back up. 21 here, 70 the actual temperature in oakland. 23, 23 and 23. but with the winds blowing still at 15 miles per hour, 14 ocean city. still 16 in oakland. the windchill there is down to 10 below zero and we're at

seven. this is the lowest i've seen all day long. 11 is the way it feels on your skin in ocean city. now there's two weak systems right now. that i can they're going to change over the day. it could bring us a dusting of snow. looks like most of the activity will continue across kentucky and virginia and the carolinas. looks like it's going to pass a little to the south. the next system is going to head down to the gulf of mexico. and it could come up the east coast saturday night and sunday. if it does, and if it's in the right spot. enough cold air we could see some accumulating snow here on sunday or by sunday. now, for the time being, higher pressure, cold, breezy yes. tonight the same thing. one of the models has a system

coming off the coast. there's an outside chance that could curve up. still windy at the bay. clear to partly cloudy, mid- to upper teens. still kind of breezy. tomorrow more sun, 32 degrees. the next three days, maybe rain. a risk of some snow here maybe mixed with some rain 38 on sunday. denise. >> okay, thank you bob. check in with don scott and marty bass starting at 4:55 a.m. for the updated weather forecast. mark has the latest from the ravens coming up next in sports. ,,,, when i saw all the jobs disappearing,

i knew i needed to find a better way to support my daughter. [ male announcer ] at age forty, greg flowers went back to school. [ greg ] i got a job as a computer applications engineer. [ male announcer ] but now, some in washington want regulations restricting access to career colleges and universities, denying opportunity to millions of people like greg, letting government decide who can go to college. it's my education, my job, it should be my choice. [ male announcer ] don't let washington get in the way.

big game coming up sunday. >> we have a team coming to

town that plays in a dome that should be a home field advantage. the ravens are looking forward to it. coach harbaugh spoke, harbaugh did admit he should have called a time out with his defense appearing tired on the texans game winning drive. the ravens offense strong, they sputter to the end. they escape with an overtime win and another lesson learned. >> you're never satisfied, you always want to get better. we are in a suit of perfection right now. and we know it's hard to attain. but along the way, you know, you catch excellence. >> amazing the ravens will face

an excellent offense. when drew brees comes to baltimore in five days. they are passing third ranked in the nfl. new orleans has a record of 10- 3. the clean up of the stadium in minnesota will not be done on time so they are planning to play in an outdoor stadium at the university of arizona. causing the vickings to move their game to detroit. they'll play host to have the chicago bears on monday. college football news, james franklin is reportedly in negotiations to accept the head coaching job at vanderbilt. but the report is not yet confirmed. franklin is in his third year as the terp's offensive coordinator. but appears poised to take the job at vanderbilt instead. baseball news, the orioles add another relief pitcher, he's former toronto arcado. he gets a three year contract

pending a physical exam. in philadelphia they are already selling cliff lee jerseys. that's $30 million less than what the yankees offered. lee pitched for the rangers last season, was with the phillies for their world series run two years ago. terps coach gary williams in the seats in dc to take the wizards take on the lakers lakers. and third quarter lamar odom back to bryant. scored 34 points to beat the wizards. the ravens are back in ,,,,,

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