we are doing investigation to see about the occupants and the driver. a dozen passengers and some drivers of the vehicles. right now, their injuries are non-life threatening. we have two with life-threatening injuries. we have a dozen rescue personnel to include the mass casualty units that is going to help out with x-ray equipment. >> captain, is traffic blocked both ways or just the northbound lanes or what? >> caller: that's correct. northbound and southbound lanes are completely shut down between cedar lane and hill road. >> do you know how many passengers were on the bus? >> caller: right now we are still sorting through the count. we had at least seven to ten passengers on the bus reported. again, we are evaluating at

least 12 folks involved in the collision. >> all right. captain oscar garcia from fire and rescue. northbound and southbound lanes closed. we will have more on this story as it becomes available. a final farewell to a police officer. hundreds of people got together to say good-bye to sergeant michael bane. he died two weeks ago trying to save a man when he jumped or fell from the key bridge. chris gordon has more on this. chris? >> reporter: jim, this evening the entrance here is draped in black. so is the police cruiser he used to drive. the flag flies at half staff. his funeral was this morning. across the river at the church -- wind chimes could be heard outside the church. inside they gather to honor sergeant michael bane. they called it a large family gathering including his law

enforcement family and church family. the police chief, his father was a hero. >> one day your daddy came out of a helicopter and was lifted down to save somebody who fell out of his kayak. that was the only way daddy could get to him. he saved that man. he suffered a heart attack. the man who jumped also died. he leaves his wife and 5-year-old son christopher, who is challenged with cerebral palsy and was the light of his father's life. >> he would also be just very positive about everything that christopher could do and was

going to do and he just he was a great dad. >> reporter: a long procession of police left the church driving more than 15 miles etch day from virginia into the district and back. traffic diverted along the route to let them pass slowly as they made their way past the park police headquarters. >> it's a police tradition for an officer who died on duty to be brought past his work sight. it's a final honor for the family and the officers still on duty. we have 24 hour duties and some are inunable to make it to the services or the cemetery. >> reporter: his love of family extended to the men and women he served with and commanded here at u.s. park police headquarters. back to you. >> chris gordon, thank you, chris. a crash on i-66 this

morning. it happened in prince william county. police say an 89-year-old tried to make a u-turn in an emergency only path in the median. she was hit by a pick-up truck. she died tat scene. two teenagers were taken to the hospital with minor injuries. they were wearing seatbelts. strong winds out there today. today's weather may be responsible for causing this tree to topple in northwest washington. it happened at the glover bridge. a clean up crew was called in to promptly clear out the mess. a bit of a breeze out there. doug, it's going to get cold? >> it's going to get cold. temperatures dipping into the 20s. 41 degrees the current temperature out there now. winds calming down a little bit out of the northwest at 10 miles per hour. we are still seeing wind gusts over 20 miles per hour.

look at the windchill, down to 35 degrees right now at the airport. storm 4 doppler radar, nothing to show you there. we are not expecting rain or snow anytime soon or anytime in the future. current temperature 41 here. 36 in gaithersburg. 39 in manassas. hagerstown, 32 degrees. frederick, maryland, not reporting. the wake-up forecast, 32 degrees. tomorrow morning, waking up to temperatures in the 20s in most locations. we'll talk about how cold things get to want and how warm things get as we head toward 2012. >> thanks, doug. they were preparing for the worst today on the campus of northern virginia community college. police, fire and other personnel held a drill for what would happen if a gunman were on the campus. erika gonzalez has the story. >> reporter: shots have been fired. three gunmen on the loose at the

annandale campus of the northern virginia community college. they set fire to a car in a garage and shot a police officer. police arrive within minutes, draw their guns, storm the campus, but it's too late. six students, an officer and gunman are all dead before authorities can take control of the situation and arrest the other two shooters. this isn't real, though. it's all a drill. >> it's one thing to have a theory how it's going to take place. it's another thing to run through the events they are faced with. >> reporter: drills like this are a state requirement. it's the largest nova has ever done with 90 student actors and 60 police officers from multiple agencies. joe hill says police have been working on previous gaps in communication for the past year and a half. >> we are going to test that training. we are going to look for gaps. when we find the gaps, we

document it and train to fill the gaps. >> reporter: it hits close to home for nova. in 2009, this student opened fire on his math professor in a crowded classroom. the gun jammed and fortunately, no one was injured. evaluators are brought in to assess emergency responders and grade them on performance so they are prepared. >> what doesn't work with this scenario we can add to the next training we have. everybody benefits from it. >> reporter: the drill was purposely done during winter break when fewer students are on campus. they have six campuses with 80,000 students in all. in annandale, erika gonzalez, news 4, washington. back to you. >> thanks, erika. thousands of women across the country and in the d.c. area

took part of a nurse in in target. it started when a woman was asked to move for nursing her baby in a store. she was covered up, in a secluded spot at the time. she complained to the corporate office. they reacted with indifference. this woman in virginia wanted to show her support. >> it's not easy. it's a hard thing nursing a baby. it's incredibly difficult. we do it, you know, with friends, with family members who don't understand. i don't want any special treatment, i just don't want people to look at me cross eyed when i feed my baby next to my sister using a bottle. >> the manager said they strongly support women who want to breast-feed and they can nurse babies anywhere in the store. the president of a pain management clinic in chantilly, virginia says he is innocent. he is innocent of the charges against him that came down in an

indictment. he's accused of selling massive amounts of painkillers without a medical license. the indictment alleges under his direction, more than 800,000 oxycontin pills were distributed including 12,0000 pills to one cost mer. he kept selling them even after hearing of a number of overdoses. our client asserts his innocence to the allegations in this case. he's looking forward to his day in court. friends and family are going to hold a rally in baltimore for a north carolina teenager who was murder and whose body was found in the area. the 16-year-old disappeared one year ago today while visiting relatives in baltimore. her body was found several months later. they ruled the death a homicide. they did not release a cause of

death. investigators made progress in the case. the killer is still on the loose. the five victims of that christmas day fire in connecticut died of smoke inhilation. the medical examiner made that determination today. investigators in stanford say the blaze began when hot embers were discarded near a first floor mud room. neighbors were awakened by screams as the fire raged through the home. three young girls and their grandparents were killed. the girls 'mother was able to escape. thousands of people lined the snow covered streets today to pay final respects to kim jong-il. the car was escorted by the country's next leader, kim jong un, the son of the late president, kim jong-il. the citizens bowed and saluted. video of the funeral was available only through north korea state television.

it is not possible to determine how much, if any, of the demonstration was staged. the leader is facing a huge challenge of running a country that cannot feed their people. a program that brought international sanction and condemnation. a week of nonstop campaigning in iowa ahead of the iowa caucuses. republicans launched new campaign ads, bus tours are out trying to suede the voters there. ron paul is the front-runner. the new target of the gop candidates. they are all calling paul a dangerous choice because of his hands off stance on national security. the economy and president obama remain the focus. >> we have to have someone who can post up against president obama on the economy, who knows the economy, with credibility on the economy. i do. it's where i spent my life.

>> we became the wealthiest country ever. now it's shrinking. voters in iowa are notorious for making last minute decisions on who they will support. bachmann and santorum believe they have a chance to win in iowa. still ahead, prime real estate. two acres are on the market and expected to generate a bidding war. >> reporter: i'm jane watrel. area ski resorts are trying to lay down a thin layer of white stuff. will it stick? shedding extra pounds without disrupting a busy life. how a woman took off her baby weight and how she's kee

we have just learned there is one confirmed death in a bus crash that happened on rockville pike at alta vista road a short time ago thachlt is in montgomery county. five vehicles were involved in the crash. rescue crews were treating about ten patients at the time. at least one person has been confirmed dead, killed, in that crash on rockville pike.

we should point out, as of a few minutes ago, it continues, traffic both ways, north and south at that point has been blocked. if you held out on buying a state of the art tv set, your persistence, your patient paid off. tv prices are a fraction of what they were a few years ago. a top of the line 55 inch sony tv, every man's dream in the basement, that one that would have sold for $6,000 is new 2600 bucks. competition has driven down the prices. it's bad news for retailers and manufacturers. they complain they are hardly turning a profit anymore. d.c. is one of america's fittest cities. looking around on any given day, no matter what the weather is like, people are jogging and packing the gyms. itis not easy work.

tonight, we are looking at fellow washington yans and asking them, what's your work out. >> my name is karen reyes. i'm a state-at-home mother. each pregnancy, i was gaining weight. she was extremely overweight. we sat down and worked out a work-out regimen based on her abilities and strengths. >> mondays and tuesdays, i come in and do 30 minutes of cardio. then 30 minutes of weight training. then some stretching at the end. wednesday, thursday and friday is when i take classes. >> not everybody can afford a personal trainer. group fitness is ideal for those who want to work out, get an effective safe work out, show gains with whatever goal it is. what is important is learning how to weight train and incorporate that into the workout regimen. women need to lift.

we need to lift weights and the more that you lift and the more lean muscle mass you have, the more fat you are able to burn. >> i have lost 73 pounds since october 1st. >> it's crazy. she was a regular to all of my classes and every week, you know, it started in her face. then you notice it in her body. all of a sudden, she was wearing different clothing. how she carried herself. she became confident. there was a certain goal i have in mind that i haven't reached yet. just to maintain it and continue to eat healthy and show my children mommy feels better when i eat healthy. >> that's great. you love squats, huh? >> love them. especially the next day. >> she was doing well on those. >> we're doing the pretty well but we are going to have to bundle up. it's windy out there.

we have a roller coaster going on out there. we are going to go up to a high point. everybody is like yeah, this is great, then put your hands in the air and go down to the next side. that is where we'll see the coldest air of the season come in next week. get ready for the little roller coaster ride down there in kings dominion. ups and downs across the board. across the area now, mostly clear skies. 41 degrees the current temperature. wind out of the northwest at 10 miles per hour. that gives a windchill in the 30s. it's a very chilly evening. current temperatures 36 in leesburg. 34 in gaithersburg. 38 in baltimore. if we are into the 30s at 5:00 at night, we are going to see a chilly night. the winds have been gusting, upwards of 30 and 40 miles per hour. starting to die down a little bit. latest wind gusts in washington. 20 in manassas. 22 in annapolis. 31 in the current wind gust in

cambridge. what are we seeing temperature wise when you add in the wind? you get the windchill. 28 in gaithersburg. 29 in leesburg. 35 in the district. a very chilly evening. when you walk out the door, you need a coat. you need it all night long and into the day tomorrow at least for the first part of the day. you will not need the umbrellas. you will not need the snow shovels anytime soon. no precipitation around the area. to the north, lake-effect snow in pennsylvania, new york, buffalo, syracuse seeing snow because of lake-effect snow machine was turned on there. windy and chilly. that's the conditions we saw during the day today. we saw a lot of sunshine. it was on the chilly side. we got above normal. tomorrow, cool with less wind. i think we'll be okay, depending on the cloud cover. more sunshine tomorrow, a nice afternoon. then we see a beautiful afternoon on friday ahead of our next storm system.

nice and mild, temperatures move into the 50s ahead of the storm. a lot of moisture. the storm should stay to the north. we are going to stay on the dry side of it. we stay mild as we work into the weekend, the holiday weekend. 39 to 43 degrees with the winds 10 to 20 miles per hour. tomorrow morning, waking up to cold numbers. 23 to 31. the windchill, between 19 and 25 when you step out the door tomorrow morning. it will start off cool. a nice afternoon. seasonable, 42 to 46 degrees. as we move on to the next couple days, you can see for the next four days. that's all i'm going to give you, 54 on your friday, 56 to start 2012. that is not bad. it's going to be windy on your -- i almost said fourth of july. not even close to that. new years. after that, it gets cold. >> all right. >> we'll talk about that later. now back to the breaking

news happening in montgomery county at this hour. one person is confirmed dead after a crash involving a metro bus. it's at rockville bike. jackie bensen is live on the scene with the latest. >> reporter: this was a terrible accident involving a number of vehicles and a metro bus. we are going to show you what it looks like at the scene. you can see rockville pike north of cedar lane completely shut down at this point and causing terrible problems in the area for people trying to get around dur thg evening rush hour. what we understand is there are a total of ten people injured. the montgomery county fire chief tells us some of them are seriously injured. again, montgomery county police confirmed one person is dead. we do not know anything about that person, whether it's a man or woman, adult or child. we do not know if they were in one of the five cars involved, we are told, or whether it was a

person on the metro bus. because officials here at the scene have kept us back some distance, i cannot tell you exactly what it looks like there, what is the relationship of the cars to the bus or how this accident might have happened. what i can tell you, neighbors here at the scene have approached us saying they have talked to the county numerous times about trying to get the traffic rate, the speed of traffic reduced on this section of rockville pike, which is very residential even though it is four lanes on both sides. at this time, ambulances are still arriving to the scene. people are still being -- people who are injured are prepared to be transported on the ambulances to local hospitals. we understand a mass casualty incident has been declared at the closest hospital, suburban hospital. it is unclear, at this point, where all the patients are being taken.

what i can tell you at this time, a metro bus, we understand it was a metro bus headed to lake forest mall was involved in an accident with at least five passenger cars. one person is confirmed dead. as many as ten other people are injured. when we get more information we will bring it to you. back to you in the studio. >> jackie bensen, thank you. coming up tonight, a proliferation of parking tickets. one district surpassed their own record. it's a pretty nice workplace perk.

my momma always said life was like a box of chocolates. you never know what you are going to get. >> who can forget that line? it's from the 1994 hit movie, "forest gump." it's among the national film treasures. of the thousands of movies nominated, it's one of 25 chosen to be preserved in the film registry. it won six academy awards including best picture. they select films because of their significance to american

culture. many of the lines from "forest gump" including that one are still quoted today. consider this. there's a company in maryland offering employees unlimited time off. employees for wedding wire can take as many days off as they would like as long as they get their jobs done. according to "the washington post," the bethesda based company is trying to convince workers this is not a manipulative trick to keep them from taking time off at all. weddingwire.com is a wedding planning website. if you have parked in the district, you may have gotten a parking ticket or 200. how much money they are making from writing 5300 tickets a day. in the background, a lot of people don't know what it is and they are worried about what it could be. i'm derrick ward. we'll have details coming up on news 4.

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we have more on that breaking news in montgomery county where one person is confirmed dead after a crash involving a metro bus. it happened just before 5:00 in bethesda. authorities say five other vehicles were involved. >> rescue crews treated at least a dozen people, we are told.

some of them were taken to hospitals in the area. it's unclear if the person who died was a passenger on the bus or in another vehicle. dan with metro is on the phone with us. are you there? >> caller: i am. good evening. >> how many people were on the bus? >> caller: we'll have better information on the details in the next couple of hours. the reported fatality at this time is not a metro bus passenger or the driver of the metro bus. it's someone in one of the other vehicles. we are, obviously, on the scene with our transit police and providing what support we can to montgomery county police. i can tell you this was a bus on the j-9 route enroute to the mall incident occurring at 4:20 this afternoon. >> do you know what happened? >> caller: it's too early to know just yet. we'll let the investigation play

out for a little bit before we get into those details. >> can you tell us, again, what it's like there on the scene? we understand the triage operation is under way and several people taken to the hospital. there are people stuck on that bus. >> caller: i'm not on the scene. that is our understanding from the personnel on the scene there are a number of folks being evaluated and whether or not there are passengers on the bus. >> 4:20 this afternoon, 911 calls were received in the call center for a vehicle collision here on rockville pike. units arrived on the scene and encountered a multiple vehicle collision with multiple injuries. the injuries range from very minor to very serious and we are confirming one fatality at this time. we are approximately ten patients treated and are being

transported to the hospital at this time the bus driver and it is a metro bus involved, we can confirm that, is being treated and extra kated and transported to the hospital. i turn it over to the county police for further update. >> commander of the bethesda district. like chief bowers said, we responded to the collision. we confirmed there was a fatality involved. because of that, the collision reconstruction unit was called. they have responded to the scene. they will be investigating this collision. at this time, we do not have causes why it happened. that is why they are here. we ask this section of roadway, 355 north and south will be closed for several hours. avoid the area, if you can. >> where are the vehicles? what side of the road are they

on? how close are they to each other? how did the metro bus become pin. >> if you look over our shoulders, they are now situated in the lanes of rockville pike. where they were at the time of the crash is under investigation. >> the fatality was in the bus? >> we are not releasing that at this time. >> can you tell us whether the person killed is an adult or child? >> we do not have that information to release right now. we want to notify next of kin first. >> are there people on the bus you are trying to stabilize and move them to the hospital? >> chief bowers you want to handle that? >> everybody in temple terms of passengers are off the bus. the driver is being treated and transported to a local hospital. >> were there other people on the bus not hurt? was it full? >> i do not know the specifics

of that. we have patients on the bus other than the driver that are being treated. approximately ten. i do not have a final count at this time. >> thank you, chief. >> okay. >> thank you. >> again -- >> further updates -- >> thank you, chief. again, i don't know if you can hear me in the studio, you just heard montgomery county fire chief confirm a fatality in the incident. we know more about this. we understand from witness reports that a pick-up truck was seen by witnesses making some type of a turn, possibly a u-turn into the path of the metro bus. from what we heard, it appears the pick-up truck impacted the metro bus where the driver sits and the female driver of the bus was trapped inside by the collision. fire chief bowers told us they are trying to extra kate her to

remove her from the bus right now. we are told this female metro bus driver is conscious and alert. again, rockville pipe closed in both directions. a major, major incident here tonight after a collision between a bus, pick-up truck and possibly three other vehicles. back to you in the studio. >> thank you. a terrible situation. traffic in both directions has been shut down. let's get a look at the weather this afternoon. doug is in the storm center. doug? all right. >> if you have talent at lip reading, you probably heard what he said. we assume from the graphics it's 41 degrees right now. the wind is out of the northwest at 10 degrees and i'm sure doug will say that tonight it will be

dark. other than that -- >> jim? >> go ahead, doug. >> everything you said is 100% correct. >> good. is there more? >> no. that is it. i am going to have the extended forecast coming up later on. i mentioned the ups and downs as far as the forecast is concerned. warm first, then very cold. i'll show you the extended forecast coming up in ten minutes. >> thank you. developers around the country are taking a look at a prime piece of real estate. the federal government is selling the west heating plant in georgetown to the highest bidder. derrick ward is in georgetown now. some of the people who live there are cautiously optimistic about this. >> reporter: indeed they are, jim. if you look over my shoulder here, it's hard to see because it's silhouetted against the evening sky. this building used to figure prominently in the city's

infrastructure, utility infrastructure. now, it could be georgetown's future. it's not among the oldest structures, it was actually build in the '40s. this steel and concrete, the west heating plant does hold architectural significance. >> it's a great example of the kind of stripped classical art style. >> reporter: it used to serve steam heat. lately, the federal government used it as a back-up plant. recently, the services administration deemed it a surplus property to be bought, torn down or something else put here. >> if they knock it down and dig down, it could be a nightmare. >> reporter: todd lives in a row of townhouses across from the plant. the earthquake did a number on his home. >> the mortar is not the

greatest. i have a crack in the floor. >> reporter: the last biggest project that blasted all the rock below georgetown. >> i felt that experience when they built the ritz karlton. >> reporter: there's no question it's changed. there's been a lot changing it. the smokestack that rises above these condos is a prime example. the four seasons hotel wants to put condos on this sight. >> if they do that, i'll be happy. >> reporter: they call for a park where there are storage tanks. it seems clear, what is arguably the last of this industrial past could figure prominently in its future. the plans are not written in stone. there are several plans for the dopplerment of the two-acre site. there's going to be a lot of public interest in this. live in georgetown, back to you.

>> thanks. police arrested fourteen agers who set two garage fires. it happened monday night. investigators say when they searched the neighborhood, they found marine flares, they tracked down the teens from surveillance video where similar flares were stolen. damage tops $130,000. all four teens confessed and admitted to setting a fire on a deck last week in the same neighborhood. they are writing a lot of tickets in d.c. in the past 14 months, the city issued more than 1.6 million parking tickets. that's according to the american automobile association. it's an average of 5,300 tickets a day. it costs between $25 and $100 depending on the nature of it. think issued 100,000 more this

year than last year. they are on pace to top the $80 million that it brought in in parking ticket revenue. at that rate, washington pales in comparison to chicago. they issued more than 2 million parking tickets between january and august of

many of you who watch our wednesday's child segment wonder

if the children we feature end up in permanent homes. >> we have happy, many of them do. >> actually, i found him on the internet. >> he was afailable for adoption. >> i knew he was going to be my son after the first meeting we had. >> my children. >> congratulations. >> thank you. >> there's nothing we enjoy celebrating more than our brand-new wednesday's child family. when i saw the picture of them and they play piano. i like singing. i was like this would be a good match. >> he's talking about his three new sons who we introduced six years ago when they were 11, 12 and 14. they had a little bit of a wait but they say the wait was worth it to end up with a dad who loves them and supports the things they want to do. he actually inspired them to create what's becoming a very successful mime troop. >> what a great family you have.

the calahans added to their family adopting a second son, a wednesday's child women william. >> a treat to have will and he's great. >> i know they love me very much. >> another family welcomes a new member. cameron joined the hayes family making them the proud parents of 12. >> he talked to me, i said another one? i said okay. one more try. >> new dad loves his new son wayne. >> i have a dad who is a college professor and i'm doing well in school. >> this happy group is the hall family. jasmine, two broths and their dad anthony hall. when we met them a year and a half before, they never thought they would have someone to call dad. >> i think the second day

dmitrious asked me if it was okay to call me daddy. from there on, we been living as one happy family. >> happy families made through adoption. a reason to celebrate now and for years to come. barbara harrison, news 4 for wednesday's child. there are still many children waiting to be adopted. still to come, tis the season for ski trip. the recent warm weather means no one is hitting the slopes at the area ski resorts. that could change soon. coming up in sports, we have local serious men in this house. home grown boxers.

if you'll forgive my excitement, i'm a huge boxing fan and especially excited because two super dudes in the boxing world are here in this studio tonight. one of them is already a champion. he won a couple weeks ago. seth mitchell. he did it. he earned it. it's his. the other one, mark my words, he is the soon-to-be heavyweight champion of the world. i'll let dan take it from there. >> vance, as you know, d.c. was a boxing town. just a few of the great fighters from the area we produced here in d.c. after a vacation from the spotlight, boxing is back because of these two gentlemen.

lamont peterson, the junior champion. oscar day lajo jolla knows abou that. i'm going to start with seth. what was it like for you to fight and get a second round t.k.o. in front of family and p friends. >> for me, it was a surreal moment. i thought i could stop him, but i didn't think i was going to run through him. i thought it was going to take sevenover eight. i was elated. the crowd was happy. i wanted to set the stage. >> vance, i have to tell you this, he defers to lamont. look at this. >> stop the fight. he's killing him. stop it! >> when we were sitting down here, seth said you have to put the champ in the middle. you have to put the champ in the middle. i told you when you got here, you are one of my favorite stories ever. you took me through the streets and showed me the shelters where

you grew up. your story is well documented. i have to imagine, after that huge win for you, you are getting international recognition, a key to your hometown. seth used the words surreal. this is surreal for you? >> yeah. each day, each week, it's hitting me more and more. the key to the city last week really pushed me overboard. i was really excited and happy about, you know, where my life is right now. >> there's your brother, anthony peterson. you two are a remarkable story. i have to ask you, everybody is wondering, obviously, they have appealed the decision. he wants to fight you again. he wants a rematch. the latest news to break is that you could be, at some point fighting manny, the biggest name in boxing in the entire world. what's up with that? >> i'm all for it. i get that call, i'll be ready

to go. you know, it's a dream, you know, that you dream of growing up. you get into the sport to fight the best and he is definitely one of the best, so, i'm anxious to see how my style match up with him and see the fight. >> why not take an easy fight and enjoy being champ for awhile? >> not at this level. you hold those titles, represent something and i'm ready to go out there and represent what i stand for. >> seth, what is next for you now? >> enjoy iing the the rest of 2011. we'll sit down at the table, beginning of 2012 and decide on which opponent i'm going to fight and where. it will be sometime in march. i don't know the opponent or venue. i'll be ready when the time comes. >> you are aware of the dirth of

american heavyweights. people were frothing at the mouth to see you become a heavyweight. >> i believed i could be the best and heavyweight champion. thus far, i have been doing well. i'm going to continue doing what i been doing, continue to get better. i think i'll be champion sooner rather than later. i don't know who is more excited to have you here, me or vance. thanks for coming by guys. much appreciated. vance, pat? >> no contest. i'm most excited.

you may be enjoying the unseasonably warm december weather. if you enjoy snow sports you have a curse. we have a report from liberty mountain ski resort in pennsylvania. >> reporter: the empty chair lift says it all. december has been a dismal month for ski resorts. liberty mountain is no exception. >> it's cyclical. we are in the mid-atlantic. we need to wait for the arctic air mass to drop like everybody else. unfortunately, it hasn't yet. >> reporter: but in a world where every degree matters, the staff here is prepping to turn on the snow making equipment.

it may surprise you to know the entire mountain is computerized and monitored in this room. >> this controls the snow cannon that is you saw out there. we have 67 of those systems there. >> reporter: zach is in charge of operations including the highly sophisticated network of snow makers known as guns complete with sensors and fiberoptics. they were fired up as the outside temperature fell to 32 degrees. >> think about pressure washing your car. we are doing the same thing in a much greater volume. we are pushing 26 gallons a min out out. it hangs in the air and pushes out the snow. >> reporter: it's been five years since december has been this bleak. most ski resorts have yet to open. workers keep reminding themselves to be patient. >> it's the nature of our business. we rely on the temperatures. many years are wonderful years.

it gets cold. we make a lot of snow and we are open and ready to go mid december. this year, it's holding out. >> reporter: they hope the sixth time making snow this year is a charge. if the cold temperatures hold, they will be up and running by the weekend. in carol valley, pennsylvania, jane watrel, news 4. that's it for news 4 at 5:00. news 4 at 6:00 starts right now. we have breaking news tonight in bethesda, maryland. one person killed, several others injured in a crash involving a metro bus. that accident shut down the pike in both directions near alta vista road. jackie bensen is on the scene with the latest. >> reporter: this was an awful accident in one of the busiest roadways in montgomery county,