it is friday, february 17th, i'm gasia mikaelian, this is bay area news at 7:00. >>> we are at one hour and counting at 8:00 tonight cal transcrews plan to spring into action and close the upper deck of the bay bridge. it is the top story at 7:00. alex safe raj is live with last- minute preparations are now taking place, alex? >> about an hour from now taking the bay bridge into san francisco will not be an option. chp and caltrans crews are set to detour traffic in this area near the maze, i should say, shortly. and, some people say they may just skip that trip into the city all together. some east bay business owners are hoping to see a bump from the bridge closure. the shutdown of the westbound bay bridge has a lot of drivers worried. >> it is just a big mess every time they do it. >> reporter: some folks in the east bay may not bother heading over into san francisco. at least that is what the owner of this restaurant is hoping for. >> we are looking for a good night. >> reporter: reservations here are filling up fast for the long holiday weekend. >> so, i think people are staying in

>> reporter: well, gasia mikaelian, for the second time this month, pg&e has replaced this transformer area. pg&e is not sure they say why the transformer blew this morning. but one possibility, a spark in power perhaps caused by an illegal marijuana imbrue grow in the area. late this afternoon, the undercover san francisco police came by the scene of the fire, leaving minutes later without saying why they were here. but just before 4:00 this morning, the transformer blew up like a roman candle, we saw it live on ktvu morning news. the fire knocked out power to more than 2400 customers. the cause is under investigation. at this electrical supply store just feets from the fire, an employee told us what pg&e told them. >> they say it was something maybe, you know illegal power that they use a lot of power, you know. >> reporter: pg&e told us it is looking into whether or not unusual power spikes caused the fire. the inside growing marijuana operations use massive amounts of electricity, but bypass the electrical meters to avoid getting caught. >> if we do find evidence of that, by passin

. >>> it is friday february 10th, i'm gasia mikaelian, this is bay area news at 7:00. we begin with developing news. moments ago we learned that a police standoff involving robbery suspects have come to an end. this is a live look at the scene from our news chopper 2. we have is been bringing you developments for the past 90 minutes on ktvu channel 2 news at five clock and 6:00 and we were live on the scene when the house burst into flames. -- we are live with what is going on right now. >> reporter: gasia we just heard from the police moments ago that this standoff is now over. they would not elaborate about exactly what happened. they told us they will brief us later this evening. until just moments ago both police and firefighters were very focused back here on castlewood drive. that is where they believe they had several armed robbery suspects dur rounded. the question now, of course, is where are these guys and what exactly happened to them. i can tell you that we did not see anybody walked out or wheels out of here. we want to show you video that we recorded in t

good evening i'm gasia mikaelian in tonight for julie haener. >> and i'm frank somerville. police thought they had the suspects cornered inside the house but soon after they fired the tear gas that house went up in flames. eric rasmussen is live in vallejo. he was in castlemont drive. >> reporter: police are adamant that they did not start this fire. they thought they had as many as six robbers suspects surrounded but by the time the house went up in flames those people were gone. investigators don't know how it all started. >> reporter: when police heard gunshots, police hurried to push onlookers down and take cover. our cameras were burning as thick smoke billowed out of the house. we now know that the men inside were no longer there. in gunshots were ever fired. >> we ruled that out at this point due to the fact that there was no one inside the residence. >> how did the fire start? >> we're not confident the fire started but we're sure that the fire was not started from incendiary devices which is flameless glass. >> reporter: it all started when a man said six men beat

good evening i'm gasia mikaelian in tonight for julie haener. >> and i'm frank somerville. police thought they had the suspects cornered inside the house but soon after they fired the tear gas that house went up in flames. eric rasmussen is live in vallejo. he was in castlemont drive. >> reporter: police are adamant that they did not start this fire. they thought they had as many as six robbers suspects surrounded but by the time the house went up in flames those people were gone. investigators don't know how it all started. >> reporter: when police heard gunshots, police hurried to push onlookers down and take cover. our cameras were burning as thick smoke billowed out of the house. we now know that the men inside were no longer there. in gunshots were ever fired. >> we ruled that out at this point due to the fact that there was no one inside the residence. >> how did the fire start? >> we're not confident the fire started but we're sure that the fire was not started from incendiary devices which is flameless glass. >> reporter: it all started when a man said six men beat

gasia mikaelian ktvu, channel 2 news. >>> as always, we post all of our special reports at ktvu.com.ust look for the tab on the front page. >>> san francisco activists are celebrating a victory tonight after 8 restaurant workers won a $316,000 award to settle claims of wage theft and worker abuse. the chinese progressive association credits the large settlement to the workers speaking out, as well as state agencies and local groups standing forcefully behind them. the former employees said they were paid below minimum wage, not given tips and not allowed proper breaks. >> my coworkers are very worried, because they were scared that without a job, they would not be able to support their families. i explained to them, these are rights protected by the law. >> some employees said they worked 12 hours a day, for as little as $65 a day. the owners of the restaurants ask not return calls from ktvu. >>> the stock market had its worst day of the year so far. the dow jones ended down 97 points. the nasdaq dropped 16. kellogg made a deal today to buy pringles from proctor and gamble after plan

gasia mikaelian ktvu, channel 2 news. >>> as always, we post all of our special reports at ktvu.com.ok for the tab on the front page. >>> san francisco activists are celebrating a victory tonight after 8 restaurant workers won a $316,000 award to settle claims of wage theft and worker abuse. the chinese progressive association credits the large settlement to the workers speaking out, as well as state agencies and local groups standing forcefully behind them. the former employees said they were paid below minimum wage, not given tips and not allowed proper breaks. >> my coworkers are very worried, because they were scared that without a job, they would not be able to support their families. i explained to them, these are rights protected by the law. >> some employees said they worked 12 hours a day, for as little as $65 a day. the owners of the restaurants ask not return calls from ktvu. >>> the stock market had its worst day of the year so far. the dow jones ended down 97 points. the nasdaq dropped 16. kellogg made a deal today to buy pringles from proctor and gamble after plans from