the building right now. traffic is being rerouted to sween bridge road. now according to brookneal town manager russell thurston, the fire started around 3:00. this plant was already in the process of being demolished when the fire began. the old dan river plant. crews from several communities are trying to get this thing under control, but, a again, you can see the massive view of that fire. you can also see the fire in brookneal from lynchburg. this is a live shot from lynchburg looking forward brookneal. you can see that black smoke up in the sky. so you go outside and you look in that area, that is what you are seeing, a fire at the old dan river plant in brook neal. this is a very fluid situation. courtney whedon is on the scenecourtney whedon is on the scene. we are lining up witnesses to this fire to give us more information as we get it. and we will get back to courtney as soon as we can. temperatures below freezing all day long, and this weekend will be worse.

meteorologists are calling for afor it to get down to 8 degreesfor it to get down to 8 degrees. this is dangerous cold, folks. so let's send it right to chief meteorologist george flickinger for the latest. >> george: danner, this is going to be the coldest weather we have seen so far this season moving into the heart of virginia. we stay below freezing all day today. right now we are in the 20s. the temp is 29. that light blue number, that's how combed it feels. right now feels like 21. around the rest of the area, lynchburg, roanoke, blacksburg, you stay below freezing. toward south side, temps in the upper 30s. and it feels that much colder. winds from the west. that fire you were seeing in the brookneal area. you can see where the wind was blowing that smoke from west to east as we have a west to east breeze right now. some good news that the winds will be diminishing after sunwill be diminishing after sunset. the temperatures will be falling down to the teens by tomorrow morning. coming up a little later, the newest information on the sleet and snow for next week. well, with these low

happen in just minutes. so you have to be careful. katie brooke is live outside of our studio tonight with everything that you need to know. >> reporter: danner, i am certainly cold out here and i still can feel my fingers and toes which is a good sign. when you start losing kneeling your extremity you need to worry and find place to warm upworry and find place to warm up. frostbite is all about exposure and cover any skin that you can to avoid frostbite. i talked to dr. epps with central virginia family physicians and he said when it is this cold, you have to pay attention. when you feel pain in your appendages and start losing feeling, you have to warm up. the good news is, no snow on the ground which helps keeping the kids inside, but still even a short amount of time outside could really hurt. >> you can lose feeling in that area permanently, but the big thing is that the circulation

extremity becomes frozen, and our tissue and our body is not meant to be frozen. >> reporter: and just to give you some perspective, a temperature of zero degrees and a wind speed of 15 miles per hour will produce a wind chill temperature of negative 19. under these conditions, exposed skin can freeze in just 30 minutes. according to almanac.com. dr. epps says the safe amount of time you can stay out varyof time you can stay out varies in age, size and circulation system. and i think my time is just about out. danner. >> danner: get inside and warm up, katie. abc 13 will keep you updated for potential for snow early next week as well. yes, i said know. look for updates at wset.com and on our abc 13 facebook page. quite a few days left until we have to predict that one. day one ashley white's time by judge is just now wrapping up for the day. the mother of 5-year-old noah thomas whose body was found in

he went missing faces four felony and child neglect charges. our suri crowe has just stepped out of the court room and has the latest development. >> reporter: danner, so far today prosecutors have called 12 witnesses to the stand, including the assistant medical examiner who testified that noah died of drowning with hypothermia as a contributing dues his death. prosecutors painted a picture of an unkempt home littered cigarette butts. several investigators were called to the stand including two fbi agents that testified that the cigarette smoke was so thick inside the trail we are little noah thomas lived, when they atrivd search for the little boy, two of the agents on the them a to wear filtration masks. put a of the investigator's testimony included white explaining to them that white's baby sister wore a nebulizer for breathing issues. a lead fbi agent admitted that white said her official story

she took noah and baby abigail to take her father paul thomas to work was not true. pros cueers introduced evidence of what they say that marijuana was growing in baby abigail's room as well. the defense objected vehemently throughout the day, but presiding judge bradley finch overruled most objections. the many witnesses called to the stand a a very emotional moment for ashley white and one witness. i will have that for you at 6:00. for now, danner, back to you. live no brookneal where we are following that breaking news of a bad fire right now. courtney wheaton is live outside the old dan river plantoutside the old dan river plant. courtney, what are you learning right now? >> reporter: danner, if you look behind me, you can still see both flames are going strong. i talked to a couple of residents and they say it is hard to breathe and they are worryworried about their animals and their families. i did talk to the fire department today, and they told

4:15. they say that glad disbrook neal, evanston are all on the scene and several other fire fire departments as well. they were concerned that the propane was right up the streetpropane was right up the street, and they were worrystreet, and they were worried that might effect it, but it is not going to affect anything and asked if anybody was injured. they said no injuries reported. as for how long they are going to be out there, i talked to them about that as well, and they said they could be here all night into tomorrow. i don't have any more information right now. i asked when that fire was started. they said they didn't know at this time but we will get back information. live in brookneal, courtney whedon, abc 13 news. >> danner: courtney, before you go i wanted to ask some more questions. 501 is closed. what do you know about traffic where they are fighting that fire. >> reporter: i got there literally minutes ago. i had to wait in that traffic. people are being detoured as we speak. every couple of minutes more

i wouldn't want to say at a halt but very slowed down. >> danner: definitely an area to avoid tonight. we are hearing lots of calls for viewers in the area that it is growing. are you hearing anything from the crews on the ground whether they have been able to keep this fire from -- from growing or is it continuing to -- right now. >> well, they said the wind is affecting things a little bit. just as strong now when it started. that is why they said it will be here tonight and into tomorrow likely. >> courtney, thank you for that information. we will check in with you in just a few minutes and we go the latest on that fluid situation. a huge fire at the old dan river plant in brookneal. we are live on the scene. avoid 501 in the brookneal area because traffic is very backed up tonight. also new tonight, state police are looking for a 15-year-old boy that led them on a high-speed chase through

four people went to the hospital after that chase ended in a crash. annie andersen is live in roanoke with what we knewant toroanoke with what we knewant to. >> reporter: dan they are start>> reporter: dan they are started in franklin county and ended minute later near webb roadwebb road in roanoke county. state police say they saw a chevy impala speeding and when they tried to pull it over, they say the car sped off. just a few miles north, the driver lost control and hit another car. that car glitched over and caught on fire. the person in the other car was not hurt. the four people who did go to the hospital were all in the impala. state police say the driver of the impala took off and they searched for hours using helicopters and k-9 units and so far no luck. the people inside the car with the teenager say the boy is armed but they don't think he is necessarily dangerous. >> i think right now we have a scared kid, and, you know, i don't want to make assumptions, but i don't -- i don't think he

i think he is -- he has found somebody or called somebody to come get him. so i don't think we are looking at a desperate person. >> reporter: now if you know where he is or have any information on this crash, call 911. live in roanoke, annie andersenlive in roanoke, annie andersen, abc 13 news. >> danner: thank you, annie. much more on this breaking news. the fire in brookneal that we are covering for you. again a live look. lots of smoke. you can see the flames there as well. we are live on the scene. this is right off of 501 >> next "e.t." we are invited to the bachelor wedding. but is ben ready to say i do? >> let's celebrate.

exclusive.of lynchburg, danville, bedford, roanoke and the new river valley. >> danner: it is a break>> danner: it is a breakthrough that is being hailed as one of the biggest scientific studies of the decade. today, scientists from caltech, mit and the scientific collaboration they they observed the phenomenon known as g gravitational wave. physicists have been working for a century to prove its existence. a century. they were first predicted by albert einstein in research published 1 published 100 years ago when he created a theory of general relativity. the waves started by violent collisions in the universe excites he is astronomers because new ways of study the comows tampa to them like turning a silent movie into a move see where sound because they are the cosmos.

collide, their gravity sends ripple across the yoo universe. albert einstein new 1 albert einstein new 100 years ago. >> george: gravity waves in the weather and ripple clouds can affect that. >> danner: maybe we can chat about that later. first go back to the breaking news. >> danner: the weather is affecting the breaking news. they were worrythey were worried about the wind that is out there, making it hard for those crews to contain this fire and spreading as well. >> reporter: danner, and this view here, just by looking at the smoke. you can tell that this video is being taken on the north side of the fire and they are looking to the south because the smoke is moving from right to left. right now we have a west wind at times. i was checking. we have seen wind gusts of 20 to 25 miles per hour. little bit of good news for some of the fire fighters. the wind is going to be diminishing after sunset. when you look at the grass, it is not moving too much in the view.

diminishing through the eveningdiminishing through the evening. a little bit of good news. >> danner: i think they will definitely take that and we will continue to cover this breaking news for you. >> george: take you over to the weather computer. two big story we are tracking for you. bitter cold temperatures on saturday. highs in the 20s. sunday morning the coldest morning of the season between 5 and 10. then we are closely watching the weather for next week. on monday, monday's weather does not look like a significant event -- significant event but we will see some snow flurries and chances for light snow. there could be a few slippery spots. on tuesday, the day we are going to watch that as during the morning we will see a mix of rain, sleet and snow. our preliminary forecast, 1 to 3-inch snow totals. there could be totals of 3 to 6 inches in the higher elevationsinches in the higher elevations, but right now the forecast uncertainty is rather high because will depend on the exact track as well as the temperatures as wither going to see a mix of temperatures above

that could help to cut down on some of the snow totals. want to show what you we are talking about. first up, show you the weekend. for tomorrow, we will see temperatures trying to make it briefly above freezing and see the cold colors. the area pink coming in for the weekend. that is the arctic air. as we work our way into tuesday, notice we are going to be on the edge of the warmer air to the south and colder air to the west and northwest. and that means we will see a by tuesday. now for your friday, i do want to point out tomorrow, that you may actually see a few snow flurries during the day tomorrow, more so toward the mountains. we are not expecting any significant accumulation because few snow flurries will be possible on friday, then we will see that drier air building of in for saturday. tonight, we are going to see lows in the teens, dropping down to 18 in lynchburg, 17, appomattox. 19 south boston, and 17 for smith mountain lake. your hourly weather tomorrow. dress warmly as we will be below freezing all morning and

mid-30s for your afternoon. not much wind around tomorrow and highs in the mid- to upper 30s for your friday. your seven-day forecast show all eyes will be on next week, after we have the 20s, then that chance for rain, sleet and snow late monday and tuesday. stay with us for the newest info on the winter weather. right now, major preparations are under way for lynchburg regional air show even though it is still three months away. organizers want to be sure that the same missteps during the air show five years ago don't happen again. priscilla kaiser is live from the lynchburg regional airport with more on how this year's show is shaping up. priscilla? >> reporter: before you know it>> reporter: before you know it, the flight line behind me will be filled with more than a dozen aircraft including f-18 jets from the u.s. navy elite air demonstration team, the blue angels. air show organizers believe they are expecting more than 40,000 spectators this year up

for the 2011 air show. the two-day event will feature the blue angels, eight other aerial performers and 15 stat tick displays. five years ago, parking was an issue for many. people reported having to wait up to three hours for a shuttle from the parking area to the airport. a setback organizers say people won't have to worry about this time around. >> what we have done this year is we are going to offer park together first-come, firsttogether first-come, first-serve on the airport this will eliminate people having to ride buses. they will be able to walk from the car to the air show. we do have parking offsite as well, but we have additional gates available for people to enter and exit the air show. >> reporter: be sure it head to our web site, wset.com, where there is a link for tickets to the show, and a list of what you can and cannot bring. a specific schedule of events has yet to be released. we will bring that to you as soon as we get it. danner. >> all right, thank you, priscilla, live in lynchburg

we are following much more on that breaking news.

come back. we want to go now back to brookneal at the old dan river

now. we are taking a live look at that as crews, several crews from the area are there fighting that fire. we see someone out on the ladder truck shooting water down at the blaze right now, trying to get it under control. we want to go to the phone now ishia gone to works for the brookneal auto repair a half mile down from the plant. when did you start to notice the smoke and the flames in the air. >> it was a good couple of hours ago. we came out to get the tires inwe came out to get the tires in. and the whole sky was just black over that direction. >> danner: was there any concern for you right away, working at a tire shop that -- highly flammable stuff over there, worrythere, worried that fire is going to head that direction? >> oh, definitely. it was a bit scary. >> danner: so have you been scrambling in the last couple of hours? >> i think we have all been a little nervous. >> danner: yeah. can you describe the scene?

this? the dan river plant was a staple in the community as it was being demolished, but can you describe, you know, the feeling about that fire over the shop right now? >> yeah, it is a lot of people who stop along the roads that, you know, just taking the view and the plant has been there for a while. it is hard to see it it go up in flames. >> danner: a lot of history. >> i worked there myself for a number of years. >> danner: how long ago was that? >> probably 15 years since i worked there. >> danner: seemed like the entire town of brookneal worked there. >> probably so. >> danner: watching this go up in flames probably hits a lot of people in the gut depending >> it does. it is very scary to everyone around because it is a massive fire. i mean you can even hear it

you can see the smoke rolling, and you can hear it rumbling and every once in a while you can hear a small explosion, and i know they had all types of probably toxic, you know, type chemicals and stuff, and dye they were working with. that a little scary too. >> danner: you stay safe out there.

of

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