jodi hernandez, nbc, bay area news. and of course, we'll continue to cover the southern california fires. you can check it out on our home page, nbcbayarea.com or super easy. scan that qr code you see right there. it'll take you right to it. still ahead, trying to find the right person to be alameda county's new district attorney. the important meeting to determine who's next, and the candidates being backed by the community and trying to find a solution for those trying to make it in the bay. the new interim housing project that i'm not happy with the way that pg&e handled the wildfires. yeah. yeah. i totally, totally understand. we're adding a ton of sensors. as soon as something comes in contact with the power line, it'll turn off so that there's not a risk that it's gonna fall to the ground and start a fire. okay. and i want you to be able to feel the improvements. we've been able to reduce wildfire risk from our equipment by over 90%. that's something i want to believe. [skateboard sounds] who will serve the rest o

jodi hernandez nbc, bay area news.le a bit of good news for survivors of the los angeles wildfires, some evacuations were lifted today as crews continue to gain ground. palisades fire sparked last tuesday. now 31% contained. up nearly 10% from this time yesterday. the eaton fire burning north of pasadena, is now 65% contained. slowly, evacuation orders are starting to lift. tens of thousands of people still can't go home yet, and a lot of firefighters are still working to extinguish the flames while wondering if their own homes are still standing. i'm just so used to being the one coming and asking, how can i help you? and now being the one needing that service? it's just completely different. some 67,000 people have registered for fema assistance as of this morning. la's mayor has appointed stephen soboroff, a real estate developer among longtime civic leader, to lead the wildfire recovery efforts. now, we should note he is the father of nbc correspondent jacob soboroff. jeff is with us now to talk about the weather d

jodi hernandez got a sneak peek at defender one today. jodi, can you go ahead and explain to us exactly what it does? well, audrey, that rig will serve as a traffic safety unit, a much needed traffic safety unit. so when firefighters are responding to a call on the freeway or along a busy roadway, they will have an added layer of protection. now, believe it or not, line fire says that firefighters are actually more afraid of responding to incidents on the highway than they are going into a burning building. that's because they've had so many close calls and collisions in the past several years, including 1 in 2023 involving a tesla. that crash left the tesla driver dead and injured a passenger, and caused significant damage to a fire engine. now, the new rig, called defender one, which is actually a 2002 fire engine repurposed, will help alert oncoming traffic with its lights and signage and its 13 foot attenuator, or crash cushion that's been added to the back of the rig, will take the brunt of any potential collision. that crash cushion

in contra costa county, jodi hernandez, nbc, bay area news. bloomingdale's is now the latest retailer to announce it is closing its store in san francisco's largest mall. that bloomie's, located in the san francisco center, is at union square has been there for nearly two decades. the company, now citing a shift in the retail landscape and, quote, evolving business strategies as the reason they're shutting it down. san francisco center has been a scene a string of high profile departures since the start of the pandemic. you remember nordstrom's, the flagship store there, closed august 2023. then the cinemark theater closed not long after. then lego, adidas, hollister, all of those left. bloomingdale's is set to close for good at the end of march. san francisco has lost a culinary giant, charles fan. the owner of the iconic slanted door restaurant has died. today, his friends and colleagues credit him with helping change the landscape of the bay area food scene. here's nbc's sergio quintana. no soy dressing. for nearly 30 years, chef charles ph

jodi hernandez, nbc, bay area news. let's take you to san francisco, where doctor jill biden made what may end up being one of her final public speeches as first lady. she arrived last night at sfo for a three day visit. this afternoon, she spoke at the jp morgan healthcare conference at the west saint at the saint francis. in her speech, mrs. biden discussed the importance of advancing women's health research and innovation. she is expected to attend that conference tomorrow as well. another school district is considering shutting down schools to balance the budget. that includes the franklin-mckinley school district in san jose, but one of the schools on the chopping block is named after captain jason dahl, one of the heroic pilots of nine over 11. and that has added a new level of anger and frustration to the discussion. here's nbc bay area's damian trujillo. parents will hold a huge rally here before school. they say they understand the need to close some schools, but they argue this is not the one. a captain's hat

jodi hernandez, nbc, bay area news. let's talk about some of the executive orders that have been issued now in the last several hours that mr. trump has signed. one of the big ones here has to do with tiktok. mr. trump will not enforce the law that bans the app for the next 75 days. the order does not overturn, though the supreme court decision, but it does give tiktok time to find a u.s. company to buy 80% stake or be shut down. well, it depends on the deal. i mean, i may not do the deal or i may do the deal. tiktok is worthless. worthless if i don't approve it. it has to close. i learned that from the people that own it. if it. if i don't do the deal, it's worthless. worth nothing. he evenuggested in that oval office informal briefing, that briefing that maybe the u.s. government would partner with tiktok and bytedance. we will see. there's also a freeze on federal hiring, except for the military. no federal civilian position that is vacant at noon today may be filled, and no new positions may be created. also this ev

in contra costa county, jodi hernandez nbc, bay area news. well, more money for wildfire relief is heading to l.a. county. governor newsom signing a $2.5 billion fire relief package. state leaders also approving another $4 million to help the local government rebuild homes, and an additional $1 million focused on supporting schools. the governor says he expects the state will be reimbursed by the federal government. firefighters are making progress down south the hughes fire, which started yesterday north of santa clarita. that's near magic mountain. it's 10,000 acres burned now and 24% contained. the palisades fire, 72% contained. and the eaton fire near pasadena is now 95% contained. there is another source of money and support for fire victims. venture capitalists in southern california and here in the bay area are stepping up thelp. vcs, as you know, are known for raising a lot of money and quickly. and that's needed down south. they're also known for putting money to work in the form of companies, and those companies are now helping as w

in antioch, jodi hernandez, nbc, bay area news. up next, we go one on one with barbara lee as she looks back on her run in congress after 25 years. she's going to make a run, will she, for oakland's next mayoral spot? what she's telling us about the possibilities. plus, it's reopening earlier than expected. what you need to know as santa cruz welcomes visitors back to its wharf after the end of it fell off during a storm. and we are tracking some patchy fog tomorrow morning. i'll get you the latest on this and your full 7-day forecast coming up in just a couple of minutes. tonight, new details about the attacker in that deadly terrorist attack in new orleans. what was found in his apartment? plus, the surgeon general's new call to toughen cancer warnings on z's bakery is looking to add a pizza oven, arissa's hair salon wants to expand their space, and steve's t-shirt shop wants to bring on more help. with the comcast business 5-year price lock guarantee, they can think more about possibilities for their business and not the cost of

jodi hernandez, nbc, bay area news. thanks, jodi. our coverage of the southern california fires will continue at six. coming up, we'll have live updates from the front lines, as well as a look into evacuation plans here in the bay area. are we prepared for if and when a massive fire breaks out here? moving on to some other news now. new mayor of san francisco daniel lurie is making his first official move with a citywide hiring freeze on his first day in office. mayor lurie says he is working to curb spending to get ahead of the city's budget deficit. so he has ordered the city to stop hiring new city workers and pause new contracts or programs that have not already started. the mayor is also ordering other departments to realign their spending with the city's priorities. now, such a difference, but still just as harsh here. a winter storm warning has hit parts of texas, inches of heavy snow piling up across that state. texans have seen the weather shift from snow to rain to even sleet, making the roadways, bridges and highways just

here's nbc bay area's jodi hernandez. brothers mason and ryan woodruff should be at school today, but they had an unexpected day off after thieves left their school unable to open. sad and a little bit mad. i don't i don't know why people would do that, especially for to a school. i am feeling sad because i really like going to school and i just don't like not learning every day. the vallejo unified school district says thieves ripped out the copper wiring at solano whitman leadership academy over the weekend, leaving the school without power. they had broken into part of our electrical panel area and cut out copper wires, and soo tt shut down electricity to the entire school. the district canceled classes today for the school's 600 students. they say it may take a week to repair the damage, which could cost as much as $250,000. it's just sad that somebody would think that this is the place to steal from is a school. the school's teachers spent the day putting together learning packets and adjusting lesson plans. the dist

jody hernandez, nbc, bay area news. san francisco police hit a milestone in its efforts to reform its department. today, the department officially left state oversight after seeing a decline in its use of force. you may remember the department requested a federal review of its policies back in 2016 after a string of scandals. it got a list of 272 recommendations to implement. san francisco police doubled down on the effort by entering monitoring with the california attorney general's office in 2018 to help track the progress. today, attorney general rob bonta says sfpd has successfully implemented nearly all of those recommendations and has seen a significant drop in use of force incidents, especially among black people. the ag says the handful of remaining recommendations are in progress and being phased in over time. we are continuing to follow a very active and terrifying situation down in l.a. county. the santa ana winds fueling a large wildfire near the coast. this is in the neighborhood of pacific palisades, home

jodi hernandez nbc, bay area news. up next. dia de los reyes, the holiday celebrated by millions with a big focus on a special kind of cake. but could the egg shortage have an impact? we went to a san jose bakery today to find out. i'm sergio quintana at fisherman's wharf in san francisco. the california crabbing season has finally opened after a couple of months delay. and we'll tell you why. the price of crab may stick around for a while. coming up, i'm chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. we are tracking a wind advisory. we'll talk more about those gusty windsnd a connoisseurs got their pick of fresh local catch yesterday right off the crabbing boats. now, restaurants across san francisco got their first shipments of local crab last night. that means today is the first day it will be on the menu. but as nbc bay area's sergio quintana tells us, the price of crab is higher than it's been for a few seasons and likely to stay that way for a while. at the alioto lazio fish company, there are two tanks full of crab fresh from the cal

our jodi hernandez tells us what the police department needs to do now following a race discrimination investigation. and it is his first official day as a congressman. when sam liccardo has to say about representing the bay area in our nation's capital, and is it a case of paella piracy? the lawsuit claiming that a couple stole a recipe from a popular spanish restaurant here in the bay area. our robert honda is looking into the savory details on that one. but let's begin with the rain. this is what it looked like on 101 in santa clara this morning. windshield wipers in full effect. let's bring in meteorologist vianey arana. okay. the rain came last night. what happens now? very quick moving. as we had forecasted. this is what it looks like now. gorgeous, gorgeous. and this is a sneak peek of what's ahead for the weekend. so let's get right to your microclimate forecast so i can show you where the rain is headed to now and what things we got to look out for as we inch into the weekend. so notice the sierra still very active. we've got some light scattered activity passing through sacra

nbc bay area's jodi hernandez has that part of the story from the oakland hills. most of the people who died in the oakland hills fire was a result of the traffic jams. elizabeth stage nearly lost her home in the oakland hills fire. she's been focused on improving evacuation routes in the east bay hills ever since. road structure isn't sufficient to carry everyone out quickly, stage has worked tirelessly to push for improvements. watching the devastation in southern california this week has been even more of a wake up call. those of us who were here know it can happen here. more than half the people who live here now were not here then. the most important factor for residents to be aware of is to know how to get notifications on when to evacuate. michael hunt, with the oakland fire department, says the city has made a lot of changes since 1991. evacuation warnings and routes are now pushed out digitally through the county's ac alert system. when there's a fire, the system kicks in. we begin identifying areas that are likely going to need to incident commanders beg

here's nbc bay area's jodi hernandez. reporter around 457. it was like three shots. they were really loud because it's like right by my bedroom door. and then about five minutes later, we heard eight shots really loud. and then just like, let's go, let's go. that's how neighbors described the terrifying scene that took place on their street early yesterday morning. oakland police say a man and his two teenage kids were preparing to leave their oakland home near 77th and garfield avenue to work at the flea market when they were attacked. as they were loading up in their vehicle, the suspect tried to open their door, and that's when the suspect initially engaged in their vehicle. neighbors tell me the family had just loaded up their car with bicycles and toys to sell at the swap meet. when the suspects approached them, they drove their car to this corner, where neighbors tell me they heard multiple shots. as the bullets started flyin super scary. i definitely don't even want to be living here anymore. i have two young girls, so it's not very comfortable hearing gunshot

here's jodi hernandez. reporter.into a gas station to get gas when they were suddenly approached on either side by people in two separate vehicles who began shooting at each other and using our students and their vehicle as a shield to hide behind. cal maritime academy president michael dumont describes the shooting that left two of his students wounded. it happened at the express gas station on tennessee street in vallejo tuesday evening. surveillance video captured the shooting and the students caught in the crossfire. it's really something that they should not have had to go through. nobody should, in this day and age, in a community in california. video shows the students running out of their truck and inside the gas station to safety. dumont says the young men's emergency training they learned at the academy kicked in. one of them used his thumb to plug the wound in his neck as he helped his friend and called 911. one of our students used his first aid training to treat himself and to treat his fellow student. y

in vallejo, jodi hernandez, nbc, bay area news. it's also an emotional night in half moon bay. a candlelight vigil has just begun to remember the seven people that were gunned down in that mass shooting two years ago. police say the farm workers were killed by a disgruntled employee at a local mushroom farm. let's bring in nbc's robert honda, who joins us in half moon bay. and robert, as you know, this is a tight knit community that still remains shaken up by what happened a couple of years back. oh, yeah. that's right. you know, that tight knit community has organized here tonight under this tent here in front of the community group headquarters, where they are having a memorial, as well as that candlelight vigil ceremony, which you will see right now, you are hearing singer francisco herrera, a theologian who is helping unite the group here. even though it was a horrific event two years ago, what the people here are trying to emphasize is the improvements that have been made to farm workers, living and working conditions, as well as reforms that have made for farm worker issu