. >> and the prospective firefighters pour into calfire's bay area headquarters. hear why the agency says they will need more fire crews on the front lines this year. >>> right after the break, tracking the cool down that happened today. good 10 degrees cooler but it's going to go the other way here. temperatures will start to increase. i'll look for rain as well right after the break. >> now here's a look at the bay area commute. this is interstate 680 in sonol. slow going tonight. those head lights are drivers headed in the northbound direction. >>> and this is what interstate 880 in oakland near the coliseum looks like at this hour. the head lights you see out there are drivers headed south. right now it is slow going in that direction. back with more in just a moment. >>> anti war activists protested in oakland against president obama's activation request to use force against isis. about 2,000 people from veterans and peace groups gathered in front of the federal building. they said the president's plan would continue the world is a battlefield type of strateg

they know they have to hit the ground running if they are selected by calfire and that's because calfireexpects they will declare an early start to the fire season this year. some stations never even closed for the winter. about 300 recruits will aruf here for interviews in just a few hours for those job interviews that's narrowed down from about 1,200 applicants trying to make the cut. by the end of the process, calfire may add 20 to 30 positions in the bay area and about 120 statewide. the pressure is on to get the ball moving. with our recent gorgeous weather we could have an ugly fire season. >> staff worked really hard across the department to accomplish getting all of our hiring processes done even earlier so that we can get folks trained and get them out and deployed to the stations. >> reporter: now the drop made for a tough fire season last year and all of the rain that we got in december made things worse because the grasses were sprouting up and then they just dried out, so there's lots of small fuel. the calfire plan is to have the new firefighters ready to go by the start of

. >>> calfire is getting ready for an early fire season by launching an aggressive hiring campaign. azenith smith went to calfire headquarters where hundreds showed up hoping to be hired. >> if it looks anything like last year i would say yes it's going to be a very active year. >> reporter: active given the combination of warm sunny days. possibly ignite larger drier field. calfire says a dry spring also means fires could spark sooner ahead of the typical fire season that starts in april. >> statewide we've had 160 fires already since the first of the year. typically we're looking at half of that normally. >> reporter: that's why calfire started interviewing 300 firefighter candidate -- candidates a few weeks sooner than normal. a competitive process, calfire says to ensure they hire quality firefighters. >> every fire season they say it's going to be the worse fire season of all time. so i guess we'll see. >> reporter: nicholas ernest drove three hours from san luis obispo. he's up for the challenge knowing he can help keep families out of harm's way. >> concern for the welfare of

woulderary looking at -- we're looking at half of that normally. >> calfire is preparing for what it is calling an active fire season. that's because the combination of warm, spring days with some rain, creates enough vegetation to start fires. >>> ktvu is once again the proud sponsor of "we day." you cannot buy tickets to the concert event. children must earn a seat by making a positive difference locally and globally. this week we are sharing stories with children in schools doing just that. today we're visiting jesuit high school where they are using their service schools to help them get to "we day". >> reporter: the director of service is looking through applications to attend "we day." a fabulous event that students can only attend thru public service projects. in this school every student comes from a low-income family. >> and the other thing that makes this unique is they go to work, working at corporations like adobe, cisco systems, hewlett-packard, catholic charities, goodwill, the tech museum, santa clara university. >> reporter: to qualify, the students prarnt patted in w

. >>> coming up, gearing up, what calfire is doing to make sure it's ready for an early and dangerous fire season. >>> an update to breaking news, chaos at carnivale. powerful electrical line electrocutes a boat. >>> we're back with 15 minutes of nonstop news, traffic and weather after the break. this... is the best part of the day. when we sit down together and talk. more and more, we're having conversations about the food itself: how good it is for us. how good it is for the planet. at monsanto, we're working with farmers to make balanced meals accessible to everyone. while using natural resources more efficiently. it's time for a bigger discussion about food. be part of the conversation at discover.monsanto.com >>> breaking news out of haiti this morning. power line fell on a parade float there, electrocuting at least 20 people. this happened early this morning during carnivale in the capital of port-au-prince. witnesses said somebody on the float used a pole or some kind of stick to move the line so that the flow could pass underneath it, ending with a shower of sparks. 46 other p

. >> calfire is beefing up its staff. early this year because of the drought. interviews began today for the 3 300 applicants vieing for calfire's 120 positions. state-wide the agency will add 120 positions. they are jobs that the candidates applied for as far back as november. while the fire season usually starts around mid-april, the drought guarantees an earlier fire season start. they have been very busy over the last two months. >> seen about in california at a time where we normally see half that many, we have seen about 160 fires including a fire just within the last ten days or so that burned over 6,000 acres and over 40 homes. >> calfire already added more than 70 engines this winter and they have already responded to more fires than they usually do this time of year. >> right now, clear skies are lining the bay area this morning. a little bit of fog as well. live look at san francisco and san jose. christina loren here with an early look at the forecast. >> hey, good morning to you, c cris, scott, everyone. i want to start with a brief synopsis of why

al terminar se cree que "calfire" empleara de unos viente a treinta bomberos para el area de la bahiae para el estado. kris on camera calfire espera que los bomberos nuevos estn listos para trabajar a principios de abril. unas dos semanas antes de lo que se considera el comienzo normal de la temporada de incendios forestales. en morgan hill kris sanchez telemundo 48 primera edicion. regreso con ustedes.. lorena juan francisco. live bug bump out lorena --- tiempo de la pausa... no se mueva porque tenemos mucho ms para ustedes aqu en noticiero telemundo 48 primera edicion... take vo ---la actriz lorena rojas pierde la batalla contra el cncer...y el mundo del espectculo est de luto... juanfra/take vo --y la determinacin de esta maratonista no cesa...entrese porqu gateaba haca la meta.... take lucrecia/live ===nuestros paises open=== juanfra facebook juanfra --continuan las protestas en la ciudad de pasco, en el estado de --continuan las protestas en la ciudad de pasco en el estado de washington take vo donde la semana pasada, oficiales de policia dispararon mortalmente contra el inmigran

. >>> calfire is already gearing up for a very busy fire season.hey plan to hire 100 new firefighters. 1200 people have already applied for jobs. 300 of them were invited for interviews at calfire's morgan hill headquarters. now, this comes weeks ahead of schedule but calfire says this year has already been more dangerous than usual. >> we've had about 160 fires already since the first of the year and typically we're looking at about half of that normally. >> calfire is getting ready for what's called an active fire season. that's because the combination of barm, spring days with rain. that creates enough vegetation to start a fire that can quickly spread. >>> a student at santa clara university is due in court tomorrow on a charge of stabbing his roommate. 19-year-old dylan kim was arrested yesterday afternoon. police say kim attacked his roommate in their on-campus dorm early yesterday morning. the roommate is suffering from several wounds but is expected to recover. kim is being treated for self- inflicted wounds. >>> police in hayward arrested

calfire says the fire is 85% contained and the cause is under investigation. >>> it was an emotional morning at a santa rosa preschool after a devastating fire over the weekend. despite the damage that was done to the children's learning center, the school on steam lane opened as normal this morning. the fire on saturday night destroyed about half of the school but it was contained to one building, meaning all 30 kids will be moved into the other building. the flames destroyed supplies and toys, much of those materials were bought with many from a grant the school had just receiveed. >> everybody -- everything is gone. >> people who have heard about the fire have dropped off donations. the school is looking for more items, including clothing, art supplies and toys. investigators have not figured out the exact cause of the fire but suspect there was a problem with the school's electrical system. >>> partly sunny, mostly dry day. let's step outside. a mix of sun and clouds. and mostly cloudy. you can efrom the picture at the moment -- you can see from the picture at the moment. at this

. >>> calfire today interviewing hundreds of candidates in morgan hill for the upcoming fire season. have the new firefighters ready to go by april. another update in half an hour. see you then. this... is the best part of the day. when we sit down together and talk. more and more, we're having conversations about the food itself: how good it is for us. how good it is for the planet. at monsanto, we're working with farmers to make balanced meals accessible to everyone. while using natural resources more efficiently. it's time for a bigger discussion about food. be part of the conversation at discover.monsanto.com female announcer: through sunday, save up to $300 on beautyrest and posturepedic. even get three years interest-free financing on tempur-pedic. and of course, free same-day delivery. but hurry! sleep train's presidents' day sale ends sunday. >>> from nbc news this is today's take with al roker, natalie more ram less willie geist, and tamron hall live from studio 1-a in rockefeller plaza. >> oh, welcome to "today" on this tuesday morning, february 17th. >> you know what new o