the flames shot o from underneath the sidewalkn center city philadelphia wires

and electrical equipment caut fire, spewing not only flames, but thick ong smoke into the 2100 block of walnut street a at th hour, 90 customers are still without power. it the is thursday night and theig story on "action news" tonight is fi underground. "action news" reporter chad pradelli is live at the e tonight, chad, what is the situation e no >> reporter: yeah jim, peco crews are stl on the scene trying to resre power to dozens of customers. earlier tonight four hundred customers were without por but as you mentioned peco tells me it is down to 90. youan see e on the th 2100 block of walnut. now elr tonight several buildings in th miate area were evacuated but the police department tells me that everyone is allowed back in their hom although, some without power and heat. underground fire sent tck black smoke billowing out of the drains and manholes. the residents on e100 blockf walnut we aled out of their homes.

>> all of sden there was st a fire fighter incoming on myo telling me to get out. >> reporter: amber woodward said she panicalleder boyfriend and tried to grab few items. >> electronic, my thousand dollars camera, and i started to smell mhing. i asked my bfriend if there was anything on the ov or stove. nothing was there. >> reporter: jennifer cabrera oked out and saw the sme and fles right oner frt steps. youay lose everything, what do u ab. >> i grabbed my sort, my car y my dog the boyfriend, gas champagne we were going to take to dinner tonight. reporter: as fire fighters worked to get the fi under control, displaced residents waited in nearby restaurants and shops. riam tater a the way broadtreetas al affect. only those with orchestra level cts were aowed to see it in's rrmance of rain. and because emergency lighting had been income ou and many people got back in e homes without an ho or so but for others, it was a iting me.

>> they just teased a lot of us. ey sa th some pele could go back in. butot all . ' waing. >> reporter: peco tells me a transformer did in the blow. th was not the u of the fire but actually some equipment that attaches to the transformer. i'm live om rittenhouse chad pradelli r channel six "action news". jim? >> thanks, chad. if you thought tonight was cold well, as th ynhe north pole, you ain't se nothing yet. accu weather tracking a plunge in the single digits and ev aurst of snowo come. the meteorologist cecily tynan is at t "action news" big board with the first look at the forecast, from accu weather, cecily. >> jimts hard to believe ll get cold thenh currently in philadelphia a 2degrees. o sundayur hi wi not even climb up to at and th the wind, theyave dinished. they are 15 milesn hou earlier 30. we have wind chill factor

that makes you feel li 10 degrees. the bus stop rast for tomorrow you wl want bundle up kid at 6:00 o'clock. sixteen at 8:00. seventeen. butactor in the breeze, the wind clwill be right around 10 degrees but is is just the first wave of the ld ai a we've got another one wting in the wings and this e wl really pack punch. that second arctic front mos through earlyat the day morning, cld brg us another round of ow uals and behind that nrous wind chills and record cold. i wi talk more abt that, d track our next wter storm on the way in the ll accu weather seven day forecast jim? >> thanks, cily. ursinus college rpened its feria for dinner tonight that following an out break of the stomh b that sickened 185 students. the will schoolays that the montgomery uy health department gave the dining ll the l car tonight. however, classes and aities are still canceled until monday. newly formed schuylkill riverrail wch met tonight in the wa of several violent attacks along the pular

jogging a bing path. city officials are considering more lighting, emergency phe boxes, sveillance cameras and increased police patrols al as a deterrent. volunteers on therail t will serve as aitional ey andars. tonight victim emill nunez spokexclusion live to "action news" rorter christie lleto aut being held up. >> he had a handgun waving at my face. >> reporter: did he take anything from y. >> give me your money watch. >> reporter: police have arrested four teenagers for at least one the of the recent robberies. the 14 year-old lehigh county girl who helped plot heroer ease murder pleaded guilty to day a will be a middle-aged woman before she's eligible for pole. jamie took a plea de of 35 years to life. she wanted r mother ad after i ordered to break up with her 21 year-old sder boyfriend, army specialist, cal barnes, who goes on trial inpl for allegedly

stabbing, 54 year-old cheryl silvonek inhe driveway of her upper mon ku i he. tonight a south philadelphia surant is at the nr of emotional dispute that has to do with a waitress and what she did or did not the do to a nr stricken child. ction news" reporter dann cuellar hashat story. >> reporter: b2fter a owner ncy and her staff got an alarming lesson when they are target of the something negative and goes viral facebook. >> we're being bombarded with bad riews. >> it began tuesday when south phadelphia woman d r three-year old daughter battling ccer and her friend visited in the 16up bckf east passyunk. three-year old was ang musicn the cellhone at was t loud ung sve tore visithr bl what happens ne is unr dispute. >> they asked the table turn off e cell phone. >> reporter: mother on have the child declined to speak went on cook and as that the server grabbed t even ifut ofhe child's

hand and said i don't wanto listen to your music right now. theo went vil being shared over 400 times. the with most people orage that someone would allegedly do that a cancer stricken chd. a mr of people threaten violence. lateheir night someone indeed threatened to r her with physical harm. she show th video of the incident. it shows server going to the tableaying a few wd and waving her hand but never touching the child or the phone. >> since it was finally out of control a further ay from the uth, i decided to give them the proof thathey absolutely deserved. reporter: woman later admitted by phone th no one at the table saw the serv touchhe child or the phone becauset happened so ft. she n points to threat that she has received on the internet and peoplealling herid ugly. forer rt she says at her employeesre also in fe and, bear witness to the uy terrifying side of social media. >> is there very difficult to imagine wt it would be like to be in the shoes of a person suffering fm wt

happened when lot can go viral. >> reporter: dann cuellar for chnel six "action ns". unaudible. >> cabdrivers, swarmed the stets outside philadelphia city hall today demanding the speaking with mayor m kenney they say ride sharing svices like uber x and lyft are operating illegally. mayor kenney did not meet th them but did say when it ces toide sharing, there are a host of issues that his administration still needs to sift through. and kenney also ordered an endo the bwn outs pi of the idelphia fi department. a rotating li of fire stations would close in an effort to save mey. that ishe brown out ly. fire fighters hail the decision today sing that the temporary sh down, did effect response me dozens of members of the ed sder youth foundation accepted a two million-dollar check from the flyers um association tonight at the wells r cter. money will get toward a brand new rk.

that nwill be m for snyder, who is chairman of comcast spectacor a of coursehe uer of the philadelphia flyers. the two democratic candidates for president squared off in a n'tonight in milwaukee. hillary clinton and re sanders, carried on e economy, sizef government, criminal justice system, campaign finance reform, race national surity, d feign policy. there was relatively little litical diatribe but calmer d more substantive esentation of their respected positions. imagine that. in other news, the is suddenly talkbout the possibility of a seized re in syria. the civil w has cimed more than 400,000 lives and secretary of state hn r said in germany today that majororld powersa agreed to a seized fi th could be put in effect in sone week. thea wod not apply to terrorist oanizations like isis. the

humanitarian aid is bei stored there and can be immediately broad to the sieged areas in syria. still to come o"action ns" tonight several arrests for a ddly new york ty explosion caught on ma. > einstein's mindending prediction about space and time is on to berue. scientists are hailing it one of the great break throughs of geration. the cecily? get a for recordold weather here in philadelphia, from two in philadelphia, 12b le in the poconos. wind cllsi maket feel colder then th i' explain and track o ice a i next weekn the au wther forecast. some parents are claiming that a popular smart o app may motivate young people take dangerous chapses. investigativeeporter wey saltman is here with th. >> this may not be on parent's radar b it should be. tonight we areooking allegations of social media tool may have played a len the e csh that aed theis of three young philadelphia woma we will veo on the

messages my members were say were sent in the mutes before the aident. and ducis rodgers hes fromew eagles hd coach doug pedersonhen "action news", continues tonight.

five people ha en indicted foreman slaughter and hide, in connectionith a deadly gas psion in new york ty la yr. the building's ownerer son a contractor, and two plumbers have been accused of illegally rigging a gas line for apartments that cost an average of $6,000 a month. the the psion last r in the st lge lt two people dead, several injured and ded three iings to ruble. excitement is rippling through the scientific community and beyond tonight after a la rk diovery that finally cfirms onef einstein's predictions abt

the universe. physics had detected gravitational we a violent collision two bla hos merge nothing to one more than a billion yrs ago rpled the very fabric of space a time. oseaves hurtled across the university ming the eah ke yell but to a microscopic ge. it required one of the most sensitive instruments humans have everut to detect ti disturbance in the fourth dimension. many say that th break through will i a new era of discovery about the cosmos, similar to whenale o turned his telescope to the skies. that is something. tonight an exclusive "action news" vtigation let's look in the popular app snap chat and how it may have played a role in the crash that killed threeoung women. investigative reporter wendy saltsman isereith th story. >> reporter: most people know snap chats app to allow users to send tir friend cturesideos or te that

disappear within seconds but a triple faith willal accident on torresdale avenue raises questions about whether it has another feature that u encourage young pele to speed. >> people getirborne and flying. >> reporter: in the early morning hoururs of sunday, december 28th, 5 taste before christmas, 30 lease say a black camaro carrying three iladelphia boys was speeding do torresdale avenue. that car slammed in the park tractor trailer carrying herbicide and burst into flames. >> witness on the scene said they could hear people screaming from inside the car butould not get tohe vehicleue to t flames. >> reporter: inside was that driver ani barton and two others. all in their early 20's. ey were all possibly bn alive. >> i really wanted to thank god w tried to ve them. >> reporter: what prompted the dv to apparently break t speed limit? new evidence uncovered by "action news" points to the possibility, an a explode nothing popularity may have played a role. >> she was a big fanfnap

chat. sheould cck fm wre she was at. >> reporter: according to several srces cding h uncle, that t night ge a posted several snap chats documenting their whereabouts. >> apparently showed them at a bar rer this is day and then house party. >> reporter: and then there was what may have been t final a >> and then allegedly showed them in the car holding up how st theye gng. i believe the mis was 73 they said. dould have gotten r reporter: he provided with us this sveillance video showing ushe car flyingown torresdale enue. the girlsere td, ty were snapping, their speed. we found others on the internet alsosing t filter torag about their speed. one snap chat posted 6iles an hour. students at temple told us they us e miles p hour milter in innocent ways but also, beingsed in potentially dangerous snap chat seding. >> you watch how ft you ge >> people go a ned to schuylkill. >> one time i saw 120

miles. >> reporter: here's how it works. users can record video fm inside the app. when one lr rerts speed. the pblem is it automatically disappears. the there is no wayor family to prove wh she sent, her phe was destroyed in the fire. her uncle says that family meersaw gian. >> speed was on the phone from the app. >> i think it really hoiblehat it is something that is there. >> go sr. >> reporter: barton left behind two young children and a devastated family. >> unaudible. >> reporter: police are trying to determine whether the app played a role in the accident, fitid her m has ry strong feelings. >> if that hpened, and it helped kill my daughter. >> reporter: "action news" reached out to snaphat multiple times r a mnt. they sd they wouldn't share a statement but ty do ke distracted driving seriously. thfirst time someone i theiles per hour feature a message pops up, warning not to sn and ive. her ule's opinion.

>> fix i i would not cment. would i not say anything. would try x it. >> reporter: the attorneys plan to subpoena that veo from snaphat, the phadelphia a police, accident investigating unit s yesterday released their findings of the oicialause of the crash although, speed was an initially ad as a factor. >> all right wendy. tough story. thank you. a young r received a surprise that s will ner for get the toy. morgan brunell has been counting days unl her stepfather sair fce sergeant timoy ld w to riveome fmis ployment. e bigay was scheduled for tuday, but her mo and teachers of wliamstown middle school in monroe township decide that d she had waited lo eugh. >> i missed yo >> morgan says shs lking

forward to special dinner at the texas roadhouse and h step d's rirement, in 17 months. these stories alwaysake me cry. ey are jt so ne. absolutely. yes, oonal. >> lets gethe accu weather forecast. it will be a cold, ld weekend. here's cecily tynan. >> my years will tiering this weend to >> yes. >> exactly. >> storm tcker six live double scan, showing that we are dry out the and the action cam is ting aook at d gry really blowing in the breeze and the winds has diminished greatly from earlier d. we d wind gusts to 3miles an hour. now those wind are sustain at 10 miles an ur but that still does cree a wd chl factor. currently 21 in philadelphia. nineteen in ltown. twenty in wilmington. twenty in tnton. atlantic cy airport 21. factoring in wind not rg at t les an u feels like ten in idelphia zero in lcaster 56789 in

reading. 7 degrees l zero and the poconos and thinks the first of twoo sps t second ones going to be a lot more harsh. the a satellite six with action d showing ce sunsets e cloud really diminish. theext frt north of the ereat lakes. e this is vg tough tomorrow night and r saturday morning. tomorrow will be a co day butith less windhen toy. it wille tr. the at 70 o'clock 18 degrees. the bundle up kidor bus stop. by 1:00, 25. by 7:00 o'clock 2degrees. building cloud and n much wind, and then future tracker ishowing at ne arctic frontike the one today it could contain so heavier snow squalls th can quickly coat the a most of these will bin the middle of the night enost people are f ad at 1:00 in theorning the saturday. somecrosshe poconos far north d western suburbs. moving through and aing theoast by abt 5:00 o'clock. not everyone willee th but yone who does, could t a quick cting of one or 2 inches ofnow on the the ground.

22 degrees at idelphia at 5:00 inhe morning. theut then mratures dropping throughout the day as thereaded por vortex, we have in the seen th since last winter, makes a return and we are lking at wind picking up through the day on turday sng higher than miles an hour. sohe wind chillies oing ar zero. buthey wi ke dropping into t sday morning and this what it ing feel like on sunday rning. it is the a of the ld air. the northwest suburbsind chill, 25 l to 20 bows. i- met the tro aa including philadelphia, 20 below to 15 below and central delaware and southern new jersey, ten below to5 bow with wind chillsike it this theas le ha a half hour to get front biten exposed sn. so just limit your ti outside on sunday. if you haveo outside cover up d dress in ys. so e exclusive ac wther seven day forecast, it is a bitter cold one. 29 degrees tomorrow. saturday the high of 20789 temperatures falling. wind picking up. lentines day l a record

ld o. afternoon high of on 19. andhen for psident day 31 degrees, our ne wier storm, arrives with so sn la inhe aftnoon and en monday night a then this track looks to be inland. so whathat will do is pull in lr air change that snow over, first to an icy mix andh all to inn tuesday with a high of 50. wednesday and thursday, temperatures in the 4 i amtl concerned about a period of ici relevant i tuesday rng. when you get a co sn lk this ev ifou get rain you have frozen ound d that couldause freezing rain. >> you know what he g whether it combine polar vortex with retro grade? >> what? >> i don't know, you are the meteorologist. >> i thought it was a ke. >> it was a poor excuse. >> where is the punch line. >> that washe punch le. it was graduation day for hundreds of high sool students in philadelphia. more than 200 students donned their ps and gowns to

reivehr diplomas at ben franklin highchool. this w t second chance for e students, all pviously droppedut of schl but turned for an accelerated learning programnd midyear graduation is now in the sixth year. in an age of texting a social media one new jersey youngsteras honor nht for his old fashion hobby. eleven year-old hunterrim is the youngest personn e stateo ve oained his h radio lense. tonight, aegg harbor, he was presented th a a proclamation celebrating the hievement. studied basics of electronics andv lrned

villanova university presented espn's tom renaldi with its aual father bl atkinson humanitarian award tonight. renaldi was honored for his stories of athletes who overcome physical challenging. father atkinson was an up are darbyate tf taught at monsignor bner and was first

quriplegic to ordaineds a pest. but doug person, in the the house and talking out quarterback d oth stuff. >> talk about sam bradford. wow like to have h back. we shallee. doug pederson has been, eagles head coach for ls than a nth. he has been one busy man. he told jeff skversky he s been getting sff up to speed on his oense evaluating the roster he inherited and scouting for nfl draft. pederson is confidenthat this come seasonhe bird will be a playoff contender. this am ivery cse. when you evaluate this team, this roster you are a few piece's way. ether you do that through free agency and df you a lking at that evy year yy. i feel like this team has the talent, younowon is roster to really ma a run here the next couple years good all right. flyers are ting put brakes on the stes. they he dropped three games in theow inhe middle of the playoff push, hosting

ses tonight. scoring is not a problem th evening. second period no sce rj umbg a his first goal in 50 games, five to zero. one to nothing flyers. less th a nute later brayden schenn. it is two to nothing lead. were still in the second when wayne simmonds ts home his team heating, 20th goal of the a he sred eight goals, in the past eight games. the flyers win easily five-one. >> tonight was a good night to ve that kindf output in the second ri. younow, going in the third period with that kind of a cushion for myself is a nice feeling. >> still ahead me basketball big deficit to overcome and g g for quinton decozy,

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temple and u-conn tonight when nine team met a mth ago it was tight one with the owls copping out on to tonight deja vu all ov again. tie game ju bere ha time, quinton decozy wh filthy jumper. owls le - at the ba u-conn willomeut on fire in the send half. at one point owls trailed by a dozenoint. that is mton. decozy shows his senior leadership downhe setch. d two th a minute to play damage and circus shot. he sres 23. mple erased a huge deficit to win 658. a rare bright spot for delaware comes at drexel's expen tonight. blue he at dragons 69-60.

delaware snaps 15 game sd. top ranked lnova will host st. johns saturday at wellsargo center. cats comi off a win over paul coach jay wright els playing that game lessens the pressure onis am. >> i sensed a little relief at lea playing one game as a number one team in the country now. going in chicago y can senseverything was different. people are treating us different. they were a little bit more hype about us being e. what didn necessity how we would a. i oht we ned it well. >> cats have st. johns sat the daynd next week they ke on temple. that is sports. i'm buying. okay. jimmy kimmel live next on channel he wl six followed by night line. michael willbone, tony cohisser and mic. for the entire "action ws"eam including a nerous cis rodgers i'm jim gardner

go nit.