>> hi, everyone and welcome. i'm veronica johnson. this is news 4 this week. this is where we show you the most heart warming and thought provoking stories making news. a woman walks into a nursing home and sees a man who rescued her from a nazi concentration camp. a springfield father is the second local service member finds himself embattled in a zoning fight over his children's tree house. why people are lining up to buy a piece of local real estate that is yet to go up for auction. first we start with firefighters in clinton, maryland whose quick

thinking helped save the life of an adorable 5-year-old little girl. tracy wilkins introduces us to the responders and the little girl who stopped by the firehouse to say thank you. >> she has asked them but it's never like that. >> we're got the call for a 5-year-old trouble breathing, asthma attack. we got on the engine and we went to the house. >> she was hollering and screaming and fighting and saying she couldn't breathe. >> i was trying to convince her we weren't there to hurt her. i wanted to listen to her lungs. >> she went out and i lost it. >> the medic unit is five minutes away. i said we are not waiting. let's go. >> he was going and that's when i figured out it was the fire department. they were getting on the fire truck. >> we put her on the floor here and had one person at her head on the other side standing in the wheel well so they could control her head.

then there was another emt back there with controlling the oxygen. >> i didn't know what to think. i was praying she was breathing and fine. >> what was going on in your mind when your hands are on the wheel and doing something you don't normally do and this young girl's life -- >> that engine was not going fast enough. >> that was back in late november. today 5-year-old christina, the girl who took a ride in the back of that fire truck had something to say to the crew. >> thank you for helping me feel better. >> you're welcome. >> ashley butler received an award from the fire department. christina gave them a award of her own. these firefighters say it's all in a day's work. >> it's our job, you know? we don't do it for awards. we do it because we like doing it. >> the firefighters who made this life-changing decision say that it was their experience

that helped them. had they been rescued, they may note have thought to take her to the hospital in this fire engine. i'm trace wilkins. news 4. >> a reunion 70 years in the making. it starts in a concentration camp in the 1940s and picks up in a hospice room in leesburg, have virginia. >> i have the nightmares. >> katherine is haunted by the memories from 70 years ago in a nazi concentration camp. >> american soldiers rescued katherine who was 7 years old at the time with her family and the concentration camp. she wrote a book about her experience, dreaming of a day she could thank a soldier who saved her and so many others. >> to shake the hand of a soldier who knew exactly what we

went through and who saw the horror. >> she miraculously accidentally saw a rescuer at the nursing and rehab center inialli leesburg, virginia. >> he is recovering for pneumonia in the same room. his hat displays his world war ii purple heart. >> i said i was in germany and then we started talking more. >> she found out he was one of the soldier who is rescued christians and jews at the camp. >> it was an honor to do it. it was great people. >> at last the moment she waited seven decades for, the chance of a lifetime. >> felt appreciative for what you have done for people like me. i just want to say thank you so much. >> god bless you. >> cathline and salvatore, they

exchanged phone numbers and will remain friends for the rest of their lives. in leesburg, virginia, back to you. >> that's definitely fate. what were the odds they would wind up at the same place at the same time? interesting. we brought you the story of a serviceman whose family was asked to take down the tree house while he was deployed overseas. another military family is coming forward with a similar problem. you see this father said he finished the tree house with his kids just before being deployed. news 4's jane watrel has a report. >> the boy can get up in the lost here. >> it's a labor of love for phillip levin who spent two years building this tree house with his son. after the family transfered from colorado. >> we contacted the county and said we are looking at building a tree house in the back yard. they said for a tree house

unless it was something extravagant, we didn't need permissions or paperwork to go along with it. >> two months after finishing, he was deployed as part of operation enduring freedom. someone brought the tree house to fairfax county's attention saying it was too close to the fence line e. denise called the zoning official and asked for a delay. >> i said there was nothing i can do. my husband is deployed. what am i going to do? he said he would just talk to a supervisor and see if we can delay action on it and he did. >>or friday the family got a court summons saying the tree house has to be moved or torn down and has 21 days to comply. this is the second time a military family has been in a zoning scrape in fairfax county. last month there was a ground swell of outrage from the neighbors. an iraqi war veteran finally won permission to keep his tree house standing after the second try for a zoning variance.

the family is hoping for the same out come. >> it is very frustrating. the kids love it and this is something we did, but i don't know how you move four live trees and salvage this. >> worry moving the tree house out of the question, they contacteda know attorney in the hopes that fairfax county might change its mind. in springfield, jane watrel, news 4. >> that's right. news 4 contacted a spokesperson and they are currently looking into the matter. there is a newman at the helm of public safety at loud on county. mike chapman is the new sheriff in town and while he just started the job, he has big plans in store. news 4's julie carey has more. >> day on the job and new loud on county sheriff mike chapman found himself in front of the board of supervisors advocating for a substation. he defeated the sheriff in november and has already brought in a new leadership team that

includes administrators from both the dea and fbi. chapman himself is a special agent. >> i wanted to establish a dynamic team. i decided to have a blend of the institutional knowledge we have in the department and bring in outside expert who is personally i will work with. >> worry former federal agents in tope pogsz, the department will work cooperatively with federal law enforcement to attack the top problem in the county. drugs. >> you integrate effort and talent, but when you seize a drug dealer's car, you share the assets and a lost money comes back which will be a great benefit. >> the sheriff is not all that's new. for the first time since the board was elected in 1992, every somebody a republican. one of the board's first orders of business, setting up a government reform commission to examine ways to privatize or consolidate county services. >> look at ways we might be able to take parts of county

government and privatize it into the private sector or look whether or not we should still be providing those services as a county. >> the new board will focus on improving transportation in an area that is one of the fastest growing in the nation. julie carey, news 4. >> let's think about this now. let's think about jobs. what's important to you in a job? more vacation days? unlimited vacation days? that may sound too good to be true, but a maryland company said they are serious about the offer. employees for wedding wire can take as many days off as they like as long as they get their job done. wedding wire.com is a wedding planning website based down the road in bethesda. >> a piece of property that is not going up for auction until this summer. still ahead on news 4 this week, why investors are already lining up to get a piece of property going up for sale by the federal

government. >>. >> up next, where d.c. ranks on the list of bes

what's becoming an extra slow commute for drivers near the mark center in alexandria, the final wave of the federal workers moved into a new complex off i-395. more on how commuters are battling the big gridlock. >> at the mark center in alexandria, it was bracing for freezing temperatures and more traffic. >> it's going to be a little craze we more people moving in. the traffic is going to be a little bit bad, you know? we will adjust. >> the final round of federal employees, about 1400 workers move in. the transfer to the new center is part of the base realignment plan that started last summer. it now means new ways to travel. >> i have to wake up early to

get to work on time. >> in total that's 6400 workers on top of the 200,000 people who travel 395 daily. commuters say the morning drive was generally light. >> it hasn't been bad, but people have been off on vacation and stuff. we will see. >> predicting a traffic nightmare, congress put a cap on the parking spaces, limiting 6400 workers to about 2,000 spots. v dot looked to add relief with traffic signals and reconfiguring ramps to open up more lanes and some drivers have noted. >> i have come from fairfax parkway and then 395 and it's better. >> reporting in alexandria, virginia, news 4. >> for anyone looking for love in the new year, it turns out you don't have to look too far. washington made the list of those in 2012. the city was compiled by the daily beast website.

at the top was atlanta, georgia. lincoln, nebraska and austin, texas and then minneapolis, minnesota, d.c. was at number ten. to rank the cities, the daily beast credit three things. available number of singles, the cost of dating, and the mental and physical health of each city. d.c. is made up of 69% single men and 74% single ladies. the guys and the ladies who are on the dating scene probably know that. after four years a maryland family is reunited with their long lost dog. what this family did that brought their blofed pet back to them. why hundreds of kids in the montgomery county area were excited to return to school af

now to a piece of real estate in georgetown going to the highest bidder. the federal government is putting the west heating plant

along rock creek up for auction this summer. derek ward reports, developers are lining up for their chance to acquire the two acres of prime land and classic architecture. >> for rises above the ramp to the white hurst freeway and a tribute to the melding of art and industry. a popular school of architecture, the 40s when it was built. >> it's a great example of a kind of terrific classical style. it's heroic and really excellent example of that kind of thing. >> the architect designed other buildings like the gao building, the west steam plant out lived the youthfulness to the federal government and figures promin t prominently in the waterfront future. as the gsa sells off of property, developers are lining up for including those with the four seasons hotel across the canal. they top the put up residences on the site, keeping the

building's facade. >> there will be a park right there. if they do that, i will be happy. >> they will get rid of the tank beyond the stonewall. >> those are eyesores. >> rebuilding could mean brafting through the rock beneath georgetown. those who live across 29th street, that could mean trouble. >> over here when high built the ritz carlton, it took them an extra year. they didn't do the studies right and they had to keep digging because of the foundation. i can feel the shakes four blocks away. >> redevelopment is almost inevitable as this is the last vestage of the industrial path. while this building may have outlived the usefulness, it may find new in redevelopment and may in fact eclipse redevelopment already there from the waterfront. in georgetown, news 4. >> pretty cool.

if you are looking for a quality education at a good price, you don't have to go for. kiplinger is out with the best values in colleges across the country and the best are here in our region. the university ranks third and the college of william and mary was fourth. the university of maryland at college park came in eighth. james madison and george mason also made the list, but at number one, was the university of north carolina chapel hill for the 11th consecutive time. wow. most students still look forward to going back to school after the big break, but after the christmas break, kids at three montgomery county schools a new year means new facilities to learn and play. in canyon run elementary school, they are modernized. melissa melee found quite a bit of excitement around one campus. >> take a look around. everything you see construction-wise is new or

updated. they added this entire second floor where i'm standing and look behind me. every gray bubble now has their own hall. on a brutally cold morning at garrett park elementary school, they shuffle into the new school and see almost nothing looks the same. >> it's awesome. >> they are excited about a new building and a new year. the modernization projects here at garrett park, cannon road, sench spring and seven locks cost a total of $50 million and took 18 months to complete. >> it's awesome because it's all new and awe new supplies and everything. >> the schools are considered state-of-the-art and environmentally friendly. all three use a geothermal exchange for heating and cooling and two have a green vegetative roof to help with run off. garrett park has a separate jim and cafeteria. no more sharing space.

mom jeannie kaufman who attended years ago said what she sees was worth the wait. >> this is a beautiful skoochlt we are very lucky. >> teachers spent the morning making last minute tweaks to the classrooms after all between the three schools, 1300 students would be inspecting the digs and some of them have a discerning eye. >> if the little ones are excited about having lockers, we had an assembly and asked me about the lockers. >> while this dad appreciates the building, he misses the old. >> it's nice that it's you will new. >> renovations were under way, students were taught in temporary facility, the same where kids from bradley hill and willer road will now go and their schools undergo a similar type of renovation. in garrett park, news 4. >> that's great and there few things that come close to seeing a child excited about learning. still ahead, a local family

reunited with their dog four years after it went missing. a mother of who shed 70 pounds in a couple of months. we will have her story of [ female announcer ] what would you call an ordinary breakfast pastry that's been wrapped in a flaky crust stuffed with a gooey center toasted up all golden brown then given a delicious design? a toaster strudel. pillsbury toaster strudel. so delicious...so fun. mom, we're dying. no you're not, you're just hungry. make some totino's pizza rolls. we don't have any! front... left, totino's. [ male announcer ] well done mom! less drama, more fun! totino's pizza rolls.

. d.c. is of america's fittest cities on any given day. a lot of people are jogging, biking, packing the gyms around here. for busy parents, it's not easy to find the time. we caught up with one mother of three who took a second look at her health and she lost 70 pounds in just a few months. here's her story. >> my name is careen reyes and i'm a stay at home mother of three boys. each pregnancy i gained more weight. >> she was extremely overweight and very unhealthy. we stat down and worked out a work out regimen based on her abilities and strengths. >> monday and tuesday i will do at least 30 minutes of cardio

and 30 minutes of weight training. some stretching at the end. wednesday, thursday, and friday i take classes. >> not everyone can afford a personal trainer. group fitness is ideal for those who want to work out and get an effective and safe work out and show gain with whatever goal it is. i think what was very important was learning how to weight train and incorporate that into her work out regimen. women need to lift. we need to lift weights. the more that you lift or the more lean muscle mass you have, the more fat you are able to burn. >> i lost 73 pounds since october 1st. >> crazy. she was a regular to all of my classes. every week it started in her face. you would notice it in her body. all of a sudden she wore different clothing. just how she carried herself.

she became very confident. >> there was a certain goal i had in mind that i haven't reached yet. just to maintain it for the rest of my live and continue to eat healthy. to show my children that mommy feels better when i eat healthy. >> check with your doctor. now to the story of a lost dog who is reunited with his maryland family after four years. they searched all over the neighborhood and contacted the animal shelters and the pest seemed lost forever. someone found the collie mix and brought him to the anne arundel county animal shelter. shelter workers tracked down thanks to the microchip he had implanted. he had missing teeth and scrapes here and there, but seemed just fine. another happy ending. that's all news 4 this week, i'm veronica johnson. thanks for joining us and have a good week. see you back here next time. so, this is delicious

okay... is this where we're at now, we just eat whatever tastes good? like these sweet honey clusters... actually there's a half a day's worth of fiber in every ... why stop at cereal? bring on the pork chops and the hot fudge. fantastic. are you done sweetie? yea [ male announcer ] fiber beyond recognition. fiber one. hey, i love your cereal there-- it's got that sweet honey taste. but no way it's 80 calories, right? no way. lady, i just drive the truck. right, there's no way right, right? have a nice day. [ male announcer ] 80 delicious calories. fiber one.