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it was like fire everywhere. and i ran out the front and told my son. >> a fast-moving fire hits six homes in the district today. tonight, families assess the damage, investigators are trying to figure out what started the fire. good evening, i'm jim vance. doreen is off tonight. a busy day for crews in d.c. at a row home on cater street in northwest. the flames spread quickly. tonight more than a dozen people have no place to call him. darcy spencer is on the scene with more on this. >> reporter: a u.s. park police helicopter crew that was returning from a mission apparently was the first to spot the smoke and flames. they called it into d.c. fire and shot this spectacular video. this video taken by u.s. park police helicopter camera shows thick, black smoke and flames engulfing four row houses in the 900 block of decatur street northwest. the flight crew apparently the first to spot the fire that also left more than a dozen people

displaced on this holiday weekend. >> when we arrived on the scene, we had pretty heavy fire conditions. it was well advanced and already from the basement up through the roof essentially already spreading through the neighboring houses when we got here. >> reporter: the flames broke out around 4:45 in the afternoon. meadow meadows, who is hard of hearing, was inside his home in an upstairs computer room. someone banging loudly and persistently on his door saved his life. >> i heard banging. most people know i don't hear well. whoever did that, i came out of the house. that's when i saw this. so i -- god is good. >> reporter: black smoke billowed from the buildings. firefighters say the blaze started toward the rear of one house. flames quickly spread to two others, filling two more with smoke. >> i saw the fire flames. i thought somebody was shooting fireworks but it wasn't. it was like fire everywhere. >> reporter: the blaze went to

two alarms drawing 125 firefighters to the scene. battling the flames and the heat and thick smoke caused problems for some firefighters. two were treated for heat exhaustion including this fireman who was taken by stretcher to an on-scene rehab unit. firefighters were working in rotation drinking cold drinks and resting at a cooling station. >> fire is devastating in and of itself, but when it gets this personal, it's really, really scary. >> reporter: d.c. fire is conducting an all-night fire watch here on the scene. they want to make sure they're here just in case there are flare-ups. 13 people are assisted by the red cross tonight and the cause of this blaze remains under investigation. reporting live from northwest, darcy spencer, news 4, jim, back to you. another fire destroyed a barn in lowden county, virginia. chopper 4 was over the scene in loveettsville 7:30 tonight. the barn was in a remote area.

there were not fire hydrants nearby. water tankers had to be trucked in. nobody injured. the barn was a total loss. they're still trying to figure out what started that fire as well. developing story now involving the d.c. government. two girls say they were touched inappropriately while taking part in the city's summer youth employment program. the latest incident happened this morning at ancostia high school. a 19-year-old said she was groped by a contract worker there. wednesday a 17-year-old reported a similar case with a man who worked as a file clerk in the department of employment services. that worker has been charged with a felony. >> we want to make sure the young -- that the young, the participants are aware of their surroundings, that the host supervisors are always looking out for them and, you know, just think we really need to heighten the sense of awareness about who they're interacting with. >> the mayor vincent gray called

the incidents extremely alarming. the city says not all employees are required to go through background checks. still no word tonight on how a 5-year-old child got his hands on a gun used in a playground shooting. that child shot a 4-year-old outside an apartment complex in temple hills, maryland, yesterday. the 4-year-old is recovering in a hospital now. prince george's county police say it is not yet clear how that boy got the gun or to whom it belongs. they're doing ballistics tests to determine whether that weapon has been involved in any crimes. detectives in prince county went back to the university town center in hyattsville today. they're looking into a deadly stabbing that happened there. 21-year-old leonard smit smith-mathews was killed. four others were injured after a fight broke out last night. the four victims are expected to be okay. police have not said what started the fight. nor have they identified any suspects yet. a 6-year-old boy is alive

tonight thanks to some quick thinking lifeguards at a pool in alexandria. jackie bensen with that report. >> i was standing over here by the pump room when i heard her call. >> reporter: lifeguard britanay doddwell had one fleeting thought when she saw the unconscious child pulled from the pool byifeguard, travon lincoln. >> my first reaction, you can't let this boy die. >> reporter: it happened 1:30 p.m. doddwell who works at another city of alexandria pool was at this pool for a lifeguards meeting. >> the child was not breathing when he was pulled from the water. immediately our staff jumped into action and followed an emergency action plan to begin reviving him. >> reporter: once the child was out of the water, doddwell immediately began cpr with fellow lifeguard maureen ogondo calling the breaths. the world stood still as doddwell breathed life into the

child's body and began turning again when a woosh of water came out of the boy's mouth. >> i was so, so relieved. i mean, i just -- seeing him come back and seeing him respond and seeing him react, i mean, that -- having a child, myself, just seeing somebody come back in, everything's okay and that's he's going to be all right and can go home to his mom tonight, best feeling in the world. >> reporter: this pool has been here for more than 40 years and the hundreds and hundreds of lifeguards who have been trained here have used that responsibility and discipline to go on to college and successful careers. in alexandria, jackie bensen, news 4. they have stepped up security around the national mall tonight. hundreds of thousands of people are expected to crowd downtown for the fourth of july celebration. more of them will likely be locals this year. according to aaa, 39 million people will travel 50 miles or more away from home this weekend. that's a 2.5% decrease from last year.

gas prices have dropped recently, they're still a dollar more than they were this time last year. that's forcing a lot of people to stay home this holiday. still to come tonight, maria shriver made a move to end her 25-year marriage. a stunning turn in the sexual assault case involving one of the world's most powerful men. the man who flew across the kcountrkucountry without buying may have gotten away with it self-times before. we saw a fantastic friday. a temperature of 79 degrees. we have

air traffic controllers now permitted to use sick days if they're too tired to work. they'll also be able to listen to the radio or read between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. the federal aviation administration announced the new rules today. they're designed to help keep controllers from falling asleep on the job. this year there have been seven reports of controllers nodding off at work including one case at national airport here in washington. a man arrested for flying without a valid boarding pass may have gotten away with it several times before. the man was denied bail during a court hearing in los angeles today. he flew there from new york last

week using somebody else's old boarding pass. he was caught with ten other expired passes in his possession. authorities are trying to figure out how many times noivi flew for free. there are also reports he was charged for not paying a train fare in chicago several years ago. maria shriver made it official. she filed for divorce from arnold schwarzenegger today. she gave the reason, irreconcilable differences. that divorce petition comes six weeks after schwarzenegger admitted fathering a child with the couple's former maid. shriver is a former news anchor here at nbc. she's asking for spousal support and joint custody of the couple's two teenage sons. coming up next tonight, former imf chief dominique strauss-kahn freed from house arrest because of questions about his accuser's credibility. celebration and sadness. as the royal couple visits canada on what would have been princess diana's 50th

dominique strauss-kahn once was the head man at the international monetary fund. tonight he's been released from house arrest but is still facing sexual assault charges. a judge in new york eased restrictions among concerns of the credibility of the alleged victim. ron allen has our report. >> reporter: with his wife by his side and a smile on his face, dominique strauss-kahn left court, free of a $6 million bond. he returned to his luxury townhouse. he's no longer required to stay there under house arrest which cost him $200,000 per month. a dramatic contrast to the may perp walk that led to his resignation as head of the imf and ruined his chances of becoming president of france.

today his attorneys claimed vindication. >> it's so important in this country that people, especially the media, reserve their judgment on the facts of a case until they are all in. >> there will be no rush to judgment in this case. >> reporter: in court prosecutors admitted strauss-kahn's accuser, a 32-year-old woman from guinea, west africa, made numerous conflicting and false statements starting with a claim she was gang raped and fleeing a brutal government when she applied for asylum in the u.s. in 2004. in a letter prosecutors wrote, she stated she fabricated the statement. and in may, after the alleged attack at this luxury hotel, the woman had said she ran to the hallway and reported the crime to a supervisor. prosecutors say she later admitted she proceeded to clean a nearby room then returned to suite 2806, strauss-kahn's room and began to clean before she reported the incident to her supervisor. sources close to the

investigation say the woman called a suspected drug dealer after the incident to discuss how to profit from it. her attorney pleaded her case before a crush of international media. >> it is a fact that the victim here made some mistakes, but that doesn't mean she's not a rape victim. >> reporter: he claims she was bruised, her stockings torn and there's forensic evidence of a sexual attack. >> prosecutors now have to decide whether they'll dismiss the case or move forward with the investigation. the alleged victim says she plans to come out of hiding soon and plead her case publicly. we had a really nice day out there. as a matter of fact, couple, two, three of them in a row. kind of extraordinary. >> it really is. we might have one more tomorrow. i think the humidity is going to be up there tomorrow. today, the humidity stayed down as that northerly wind continued to be across our area. that helped to keep temperatures around the 91 degree mark. we did hit 91.

didn't feel like it. out there right now, a beautiful shot, the kennedy center out there right now. it's looking fantastic. great evening. great night to be out and about, even at 11:16 at night. we're going to see a nice couple of days. it's going to get hot. one day in particular is going to be hotter than the rest. high today 91 degrees after a low of 69. we're above average, but with low humidity, it was a comfortable 90-degree afternoon. especially in the shade and with a little bit of a breeze out there, it felt pretty nice. 79 degrees the current temperature. winds on the calm side. notice the dew point. dew point up to 54 degrees. that's going to change things during the day tomorrow and especially into the day sunday as the dew point will continue to creep up and humidity increase as well. 73 in sterling. 66 in manassuss. as we make our way through the next couple hours, clear skies out there. you're going to wake up to plenty of sunshine tomorrow morning. it's going to be a spectacular

start to the day. nice weather. high pressure is dominating. that area of high pressure moves off. we stay nice during the day tomorrow. i do think we start to get hot by tomorrow afternoon. as the humidity will creep up. on sunday, a frontal boundary moves toward the area. hot and very humid temperatures. we are going to -- very humid conditions. we're going to see a heat index probably around 100 degrees sunday. sunday is going to be the one day that's really, really hot. as this frontal boundary moves in, sunday has a pretty good chance of seeing storms. most of those storms will be late in the afternoon into the early evening hours. they could affect some of the fireworks festivities on sunday night. but i think most of us are going to be on the dry side. i'm not talking about a washout sunday afternoon. clear skies. another great start tomorrow. 56 to about 76 degrees inside the city. sunny and hot tomorrow. more humid. 87 to 91. you're going to feel the difference. tomorrow the heat index around 93, 94, maybe up to 95. the real heat, sunday.

94 degrees. feeling more like 100. on the fourth of july, we're calling for a dry fourth of july right now. best chance of rain well to our south. but 92 degrees with the heat index probably around 95 as we'll see that humidity creep up then, too. tuesday, 90 degrees with a 40% chance of rain. looks like we stay 90 or above through the extended period. could be a lot worse. of course, as you said the other day, it is july. >> yeah. so this is what we get. >> this is what we get. >> thanks. we have sports coming up. nationals are granted the

so nationals are home now.

they're going to be here a while. then start it off in style. >> they started off in style, jim vance. exactly what we like. davey johnson told us he got a great nights sleep, ten hours to be exact and he was rearing and ready to go. tonight in his home debut, davey makes a gutsy decision and earns his first victory. davey johnson looking sharp as always. top three, no score, where we start. tom vorzlani. fwr tries to scoop it. ball gets away. bad throw to first. that gets away, too. mcmchenry goes all the way to third. and the pirates would take a 1-0 lead. one batter later. ouch is right. but in the sixth, roger berndina ties it, crushes it to right. solo home run. tied at 1 just like that. bernadina finished 2 for 3

tonight in the leadoff position. good job. top seven, tied at 1. pitching to presley. the go ahead run at second. check this out, folks. nasty change-up for strike three. gorzelanny, seven innings, gave up one run, striked out eight. davey johnson sends matt stairs to the plate. with runners on the corners and the 43-year-old canadian comes up clutch on canada day. the nats beat the pirates 2-1, get back to the .500 mark. davey johnson gets his first victory. stairs gets the pie in the face. here's a happy skipper. >> it feels great. i got a great group of guys out there, and excuse me, you know, i thought we were going to score a bunch of runs today. swing the bats better than -- it was a great game. i loved every minute of it. >> get in the situation where you want to drive the ball hard.

got to pitch the hit. >> fun night at the ballpark. to atlanta. braves hosting the o's. that one fine hat complements the outfit there. very nice. superstyle points for adam jones. jeremy guthrie delivers. to the deepest part of the park. wow. adam jones and jim vance, you know what i like to say, glovely. guthrie says thank you very much. bottom sixth, still no score. ra jason hayward up with a man on. adam jones not going to catch this one. out for a two-run home run. also braves' starter jergens gave up one hit. the braves blank the orioles 4-0 the final. day one of free agency in the nhl. the capitals were busy like a pr person after a politician tweets photos of himself. seriously. the caps were making moves trading varlamov to the avalanche for a first round pick in next year's draft and second round pick in 2012 or 2013

draft. that was funnies right? not at all. i tried. it was reported varlamov would play, but that didn't work out, colorado signed him to a two year deal worth $5.5 million. the capitals drafted him in 2006. he was expected to be their goaltender of the future. several injuries limited his playing time. 23-year-old varlamov was in 19 post season games for the caps. caps free agent friday, as for the new guys, jeff halpern, with him, roman hamrlik. the caps sign ward to a four-year deal worth $12 million. former caps forward yarmer signs with the philadelphia flyers. we'll be excited to see him next season. >> how old is yarme? >> 39 years old. yes. you're exactly right.

39. good job over there. >> weather guy knows.

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wa. the duke and duchess of cambridge helped celebrate canada day in ottawa today. thousands of people greeted prince william and kate as they arrived at parliament hill in a horse drawn carriage. the royal couple took part in a citizenship ceremony for two dozen people. today would have been princess diana's 50th birthday. another royal wedding. this one a bit more subdued. monaco's reigning prince albert ii married former south african olympics swimmer charlene woodsock today. it's the first wedding of a ruling prince in monaco since albert's father married american

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kind of an ugly end to a burger eating contest today at z burger. >> look at all that. is that a winner? >> sore loser. >> i'm not a sore loser. that's what you did. you don't do that. that's cheating, man. that's cheating. >> they're really stepping each other, aren't they? he accused dale boone, the guy in the overalls of eating uneaten food in his cups. yuck. in the end, zorwinski was declared the winner any how. ate 17 hamburgers in 10 minutes. his prize, nearly $3,000 and

some food vouchers. why does anybody want to do that? i'm still impressed. i think the best of them all is the woman, the little teeny little woman in coney island. the black widow she's called. that eats the hot dogs up in coney island every year. >> that's coming up this weekend. >> is it really? >> going to cover that? >> i'm going to get up on the jet now. the news 4 chopper. >> investigative unit is on its way. that's our broadcast for now. the tonight show is next. we hope you have a good weekend.