Transcripts For KRON KRON 4 Early News 20170707

dave modest warming trend inland areas today into friday with more widespread highs from the upper 80s to dave modest warming trend inland areas today into friday with more widespread highs from the upper 80s to lower 100s. Marine layer deepens and stronger onshore flow returns over the weekend resulting in a cooling trend back to normal. Long range pattern looks dry and seasonable. No major hot no major hot spots. Bay bridge wb 80 is less then 30 min from the maze to sf. San mateo bridge less then 30 min from 880 to 101. Golden gat bridge drive time less than 30 min from 37 to the toll plaza. Richmond bridge drive less than 20 min from the toll to 101 james our top story this morning. Justice for the families of two women four years after a horrific crime. Today a jury convicted 27 yearold barry white junior for shooting two women, and stabbing another man at a San Francisco jewelry story back in 2013. Good morning im james fletcher. tiffany and im tiffany mcelroy. And kron 4s Ella Sogomonian has reaction from employees who were there the day of the murders. It was an unforgettable scene for jewelry mart employees four years ago. Sot omer zach, jewelry mart tenant i was just exiting the building. I saw hundreds of cops outside. It was brutal to know the consequences that somebody inside died. Victor hung the owner of victoga barely made it out alive after he was attacked inside by an enraged customer. But his employees 51 year old lina lim and 35 year old khin min were killed. 27yearold Barry White Jr was arrested almost immediately outside the store. But this wasnt a heist. Jewelry mart employees told kron 4 news the believe white came back with a vengneance because he may have been overpriced for a chain he purchased. Sot diane knoles, assistant District Attorney there was not attempt to steal anything in this case. This was not about money. This was about the defendant being disrespected. Knoles says white nearly killed 6 officers as he tried to flee. Thursday a jury found white guilty on two counts of first degree murder. Sot diane knoles, assistant District Attorney its been a long time for the families. Theyve been waiting a long long time for this day. Although family members of the victims made no comment other jewlery mart tenants were pleased by the outcome. Sot garo demirjian, jewelry mart tenant it should be that way. Somebody takes a life they should be guilty. One tenant believes the ease of access to firearms is to blame for violence like this. Sot omer zach, jewelry mart tenant i think we should remove more guns from the streets and be able to feel safer in this country not every time someone disagrees with you they just pull a gun. tiffany california congresswoman jackie spier is offering a 50 thousand dollar reward for infromation to help find the suspect in the fatal 2016 shooting of a student playing pokeman go. 20year old calvin riley was playing the game with his friends near aquatic park in San Francisco when he was shot and killed by an unknown suspect. Riley was a student at Delta College in stockten and went to high school in san mateo. Officials said the reward is being funded by the city of San Francisco. A formal announcement is expected to be made on monday. james we are learning new details about Lemuel Wilson junior. He is the suspect charged with twocounts of murder in the deadly hitandrun crash where two young boys were killed in concord. He is also facing dui charges. On june 24th employees at this nordstrom called Pleasanton Police in a panic after Lemuel Wilson repeatedly entered the store and along with his brother started harrassing employees and customers. Witnesses say when asked to leave lemuel pushed a manager and threatened to kill him. Police arrested the two. Police say when they searched his vehicle they found hundreds of credit cards and a device to forge credit cards. Court documents also reveal, lemuel has a long criminal past dating back more than a decade with charges of drug trafficking, assault, battery, driving with a suspended liscense and dui. james a close call for neighbors in one north Bay Community after flames came dangerously close to their homes. It happened in suisun city. At one point firefighters issued mandatory evacuations as winds fueled the fire. tiffany as kron 4s alecia reid explains some quickthinking residents stepped up to prevent this fire from spreading. Mom said i hope that aint my house, and we turn the corner and it was. It was a scary afternoon for neighbors on bella vista drive. A fire started in the yard of this home, quickly spread to the backyard, and the open field behind the home. Patrick lair burnt the gate up, the side of the yard and the whole back yard. Neighbors say it took about 10 minutes for the Fire Department to get there. So in the meantime, they tried to keep it under control. It was like boom, and then it was like, ok Fire Department when are you gonna show up . Although i kept putting it out, it kept coming back, all this. Once the homeowner puled up he tried moving the cars out of the driveway but to no avail. We got in the car to back it up but the heat was too intense. It was an inferno right here, so thank god it didnt burn the house down. Because then wed be homeless. Patrick lair says this car just got a new engine, but now its totaled. The electric and gas meters were also burnt to a crisp. Luckily they were replaced by nightfallman i thought the house was gonna burn to the ground. Standupno major injuries were reported, but the neighbor in the adjacent home suffered minor burns on his arms while trying to out the fire. Reporting from susuin city. tiffany fire crews are trying to get a handle on a fire burning in yolo county. Right now the winters fire has burned athousand acres and is only 15percent contained. The fire is burning in dixon near highway 128 near Pleasant View road. There are mandatory evacuations and several road closures in the area. Highway 128 near Lake Berryessa dam and Pleasant Valley road is closed. Is it expected to reopen sometime today. james for up to the minute updates on weather and wildfires download our kron4 mobile app its free in the Apple App Store and google play store. You can also see radar and the latest forecast for the day. We will also notify you when breaking news happens in your area with push alerts. Tiffany Richmond police are asking for the publics help in finding a missing 12yearold girl. Police say Jessica Padilla was last seen wednesday night at the richmond public library. Jessica was being picked up by her mom around 5 45 yesterday afternoon when the two got into an argument and jessica ran back into the building. She was last seen wearing a green shirt blue jeans and black shoes. james coming up. A violent mob style robbery on bart days after new security cameras were installed. How police were able to catch the suspects. And. Roseville police have added a new tool to their arsenal. What they are now carrying that may save your life. dave a look at your forecast next. dave the heat is on, looking at readings near 100 today. Minor cooling, but warm this weekend. Tracking your forecast next Tiffany James welcome back. Checking in on your morning forecast. dave modest warming trend inland areas today into friday with more widespread highs from the upper 80s to lower 100s. Marine layer deepens and stronger onshore flow returns over the weekend resulting in a cooling trend back to normal. Long range pattern looks dry and seasonable. Right now if seasonable. Dry and seasonable. Right now if youre leaving your home and need to cross the bay bridge you wont have any issuesabout 9 minutes from the span to fremont streetthe Golden Gate Bridge is also very smoothand if you need to travel along 880. 20 minutes from san leandro to Milpitas Tiffany another robbery on bart just days after the new surveillance cameras were installed. A woman robbed then a passenger who comes to her aid was targeted. That man beaten after teens boarded a train at the coliseum station. james kron 4s dan kerman tells us this time Police Caught up with the group. dan kerman natsa suspect description following another mob style robbery aboard a bart train at oaklands coliseum station. Bart says saturday evening about 630 a juvenile grabbed a womans cell phone aboard a bart train and then ran off the train with a dozen others. The woman was not injured but when another passenger chased the suspect and demanded the phone back, he was beaten, but he did get the phone back. Nats members of barts Robbery Suppression Task force intercepted the group, detained and photographed them, but ultimately released them when the victims could not identify them. Sotim afraid everytime i catch a bart passengers are well aware of these attacks and are taking steps to keep themselves safe soti usually catch it in the daytime, but once it gets nighttime i take a uber or get a ride,soti just try to hid my belongings whenever i see someone strangesotim not on my phone on bart, i just keep it in my pocket and get off and go to work, just keep it in your pocket, people too vulnerable, keep their head down, they dont know what they doing. Though bart robberies have skyrocketed, bart likes to point out that crime is much worse in the city of oaklandsot paul justi attorney representing bart victimsthe issue is whether you are doing an adequate job solving and preventing the crimes on the bart system, its not whether you are better or worse than oakland and theyre completely missing the pointattorney paul justi represents 7 bart passengers who were victims of similar mob style attacks. While he applauds bart for finally deploying a special Robbery Suppression Task force, he says more officers must be riding the rails where the crime is taking place. Sotthey need to be out of their cruisers, out of the parking lot and actually in the Transit System itselfstandup dan Kerman Oakland 158208bart is now reviewing Surveillance Video to see if they can identify who was responsible for the robbery and who for the attack. At the coliseum bart station, Dan Kerman Kron 4 news. 212 std james police in roseville have a new tool to help fight opioid overdoses. Officers will now carry naloxone, also known as narcan. Its a medication that works within minutes to restore breathing to someone experiencing an overdose. Roseville is one of just 12 agencies in the state to carry it. Although police have not carried it in the past paramedics have for more than 30 years. In the past two years medics say they have used it almost 90 times. james naloxone only works for aopioid over doses. For drugs like heroin, percoset oxycontin and vicodin. The department started carrying the medication two weeks ago and says they have not had to use it yet. tiffany bam another big story we are following this morning. Protests erupting in germany where the g20 summit is being held. Police used Water Cannons as protesters threw bottles and smoke bombs during the anti capitalist welcome to hell march the clashes resulted in at least one arrest and dozens of injuries. As david daniel reports larger numbers are expected for protests friday and saturday. Frederik pleitgen Cnn Senior International correspondent things are kicking off here. You can see the water cannon trucks are in use back there. We think that some smoke bombs and fireworks were set off. German riot Police Clashed with protesters thursday evening leading up to the g20 summit. Police used Water Cannons in an attempt to break up the massive crowds of rowdy welcome to hell protesters. They threw bottles and firecrackers at police trying to disperse the crowds. The march started about two miles from where the g20 summit will be held friday and saturday. The group had only gone about 200 yards, before they were blocked by lines of police, according to cnns fred pleitgen. Once things calmed down, the group was turned in a different direction and eventually allowed to continue the march. With police, close at hand. Its estimated thousands of people are participating in the anti capitalism march, which is expected to last most of the night. Leaders from 19 countries and the European Union are in town for the meeting, which is expected to focus on climate change, trade, terrorism, and north korea. President trump met with Angela Merkel in the german chancellors birthplace of hamburg ahead of the summit. Im david daniel, reporting. james a horrendous crime out of georgia. A woman is accused of stabbing four of her own children to death along with their father. Police have now filed murder charges against the woman 33yearold isabel martinez. They say that after she stabbed the children and a man believed to be her husband she was the one who placed a 911 call to report the crimes. All four of the children killed were under 10 years old. A fifth child was also stabbed but survived that child is currently hospitalized with serious injuries. tiffany congressman Steve Scalise has undergone another surgery for wounds sustained in last months congressional baseball practice shooting. The Republican House majority whip was originally moved out of the intensive care unit on june 22nd after undergoing multiple surgeries. He was readmitted to the icu wednesday because of concerns for infection. Hospital Officials Say he tolerated the latest procedure well but remains in serious condition. Scalise had a single gunshot wound to the hip in the june 14th attack. tiffany comedian bill cosbys retrial on sex Assault Charges is set for november. The order was signed today and it will be at Montgomery County courthouse in norristown, pennsylvania, on november sixth. Prosecutors found themselves back at square one on june 17th after the judge declared a mistrial. The jury failed to reach a verdict in more than 52 hours of deliberations over six days. Cosby was tried on charges stemming from an encounter with a former Temple University worker, who said she was sexually assaulted in 2004. Cosby contends the encounter was consensual. tiffany coming up. Warning to east bay residents. Why you should stay out of local lakes this weekend. After the break a look at movies for you to take your family to this weekend. tiffany and heres a live look outside. Toll plaza will no major hot spots. Bay bridge wb 80 is less then 30 min from the maze to sf. San mateo bridge less then 30 min from 880 to 101. Golden gat bridge drive time less than 30 min from 37 to the toll plaza. Richmond bridge drive less than 20 min from the toll to 101 james welcome back to the kron four morning news. Here are your entertainment headlines today. Spiderman homecoming opens this weekend. Tiffany David daniel tells you what you wont see in theaters. Heres the hollywood minute. Nat youre the spiderman no im not plenty of movie trailers feature shots that wind up being edited out of the actual film. But the trailers for spiderman homecoming feature two shots that were never going to be in the movie at all director jon watts tells the website screencrush, shots of iron man flying alongside a webswinging spidey. And of the villain, vulture, swooping down a hotel atrium. Were created for trailers and other promotional materials, not the finished film. singing oh, after everything youve done, i can thank you for how strong i have become. Keshas first single in more than four years, praying, reflects the legal and Emotional Turmoil she went through over that time. Thursday, she released the song, and an essay about it, writing i have channeled my feelings of severe hopelessness and depression, ive overcome obstacles, and i have found strength in myself even when it felt out of reach. Just how talented. Britney spears is making an impact and not just in music the singer donated more than oneMillion Dollars from her vegas show ticket sales to the nevada Childhood Cancer foundation. A new facility bearing her name is set to open this summer. Spears, who lost an aunt to cancer, said in a statement, im just glad that i can help in some small way. In hollywood, im david daniel. james coming up. Its been months since flooding destroyed homes and lives in san jose. How some are blaming the city for what happened. dave and after the break. A look at your forecast. Were coming up on 430. Here are the big stories were working on for you this morning. A man from antioch is found guilty of all charges after killing two women at a San Francisco jewelery store four years ago. A jury convicted 27 yearold barry white junior for the shooting at the jewelry mart in 2013. White waited until customers left the store before shooting and stabbing two woman and badly injuring the stores owner. He left the store and fired at officers before surrendering when he ran out of ammunition. Prosecutors say the dispute started over the price of an item that white had purchased. tiffany a large grass fire came dangerously close to homes in suisun city. It happened on bella vista drive near the Travis Air Force base. The fire started in the yard of a home and quickly spread to the backyard and the open field behind the home. Some people were forced to move their horses out of the area. Neighbors say it took about 10 minutes for the Fire Department to get there. james happening now. Richmond police are looking for a missing 12yearold girl. Police say Jessica Padilla was last seen wednesday night at the richmond public library. Jessica was being picked up by her mom when the two got into an argument and jessica ran back into the building. Tiffany James now lets get a check of weather and traffic. dave modest warming trend inland areas today into friday with more widespread highs from the upper 80s to lower 100s. Marine layer deepens and stronger onshore flow returns over the weekend resulting in a cooling trend back to normal. Long range pattern looks dry and seasonable. No major hot spots. Bay no major hot spots. Bay bridge wb 80 is less then 30 min from the maze to sf. San mateo bridge less then 30 min from 880 to 101. Golden gat bridge drive time less than 30 min from 37 to the toll plaza. Richmond bridge drive less than 20 min from the toll to 101 james with the temperatures getting hotter around the bay area you may be thinking of heading to lakes. But a warning if youre thinking of going to one in the east bay. Two popular lakes are still closed due to reports of dangerous toxic algae levels. Lake temescal in oakland and quarry lakes in fremont are both closed for swimming. The east Bay Regional Park District says they are trying to figure out way to get rid of it but since it is a natural toxin they are having a hard time. If you touch blue green alage park Officials Say you need to wash it off. They recommend showering before and after you go in the lakes. Exposure to toxic algae can cause rashes and allergic reactions among other things. It can also be deadly for dogs. Two dogs died from contact with toxic algae in napa county. No word yet on when the lakes will reopen. tiffany landing happening now. Nearly six months later, the coyote creek flood is still making waves in san jose. Some flood victims announcing that theyre filing damage claims. Many victims say if they were given some sort of warning they could have had time to bring some of their things to safety. A growing number of flood victims are filing claims against the city of san jose, Santa Clara County and the Santa Clara Valley Water District. You are made whole both for your material losses and addressing your emotional losses and we want the Water District to make the changes necessary to see that this doesnt again. tiffany flood victims have until august 18 the to file a claim. james heres a breakdown of the huge impact the flood damage had on the city of san jose. The latest damage estimate sits at roughly 100Million Dollars. When the coyote creek first breached its banks, 14 thousand people were evacuated. Some of them havent been able to return to their homes. About 15hundred people have been displaced and the city is trying to find them housing. California did provide some aid with 5 point4 Million Dollars in emergency funding. james more than a dozen cars broken into overnight in the east bay. It happened in the bollinger hills area of san ramon. tiffany the first car burglary was reported around 10 wednesday night continuing until seven yesterday morning. Kron4s Haaziq Madyun was with the police as they went doortodoor looking for details on what happened. Solid advice given to residents in san ramons bollinger hills neighborhood, the location where 13vehicles were broken into overnight. San ramon Police Corporal is getting the word out to residents here this resident who asked not to reveal her identity says she did hear something strange san ramon resident yes tom alexanders vehicle owns one of the vehicles broken into totally unusual for this neighborhood . Alexander auto breakin victim for this neighborhood yesinvestigators say out of the 13 breakins there were only two reports of something stolen. Residents here try not leave anything of value in their carslinda alexander auto breakin victim no i dont leave anything in my car investigators are also checking Surveillance Videos in the area for any possible suspects. In san ramon Haaziq Madyun kron4news tiffany and lets take a live look outside right now. Heres a live look the embarcadero. We will have more news for you when we return in a few minutes. tiffany ridesharing has become a primary method of transportation for many. But what happens when the drivers of those Ride Sharing Companies dont obey the law james Stanely Roberts shows us on this edition of people behaving badley. If youre like me, you have seen this many times, you are driving along when all of a sudden someone realizes they need to be in your lane. Nats ambiance so youre kind enough to offer them a break except they decline the break and drive up to the head of the line blinker to turn left still activated. Between a fire engine and a sam trans bus then somehow the uber driver convinces the firefighters to let them make a left in front in the process blocking traffic in two separate lanes nats ambiancein an effort to cut down on congestion the mayor of San Francisco ed lee has asked for stats from ride Hail Companies like uber and lyft i thought we should look at what probably wont be submitted nats ambiance for instance, there will be no mention of the black lexus uber slash lyft on Chestnut Street which apparently missed the pin so the driver slowly backs up so the passenger can jump in all the while waving the other drivers around even the whit mini cooper which was parked has to go around the ride hail nats ambiance in fact on Chestnut Street double parking appears to be a way of life, everyone in in on the act but the onslaught of ride hail drivers stand out like a sore thumb nats ambiance ober on third street just outside the w hotel, the habits of ride hail isnt much better. This uber driver is making a right turn from the left lane seem legit nats ambiance will the stat show how many are using the dedicated transit lanes. Or how about the ones stopping in front of the fire hydrant while in the crosswalk nats ambianceim sure there will be no stats that show uber breaking traffic laws i agree there should be dedicated pickup and drop off spots but lets be realistic many stop wherever they please and thier flashers are a staple of ride hail in San Francisco. If you see the lyft of uber logo you pretty much expect some form of shenanigans in San Francisco Stanley Roberts kron 4 news james and heres a live look outside. San handballer 1 you know what i could go for . Some scrambled eggs and pancakes. Lilly we got a craving go, go, go crashing cravings in the crave van jacks gonna crash your crave jack hey, guys. Try my jumbo breakfast platter with sausage or bacon, plus 8 mini pancakes, eggs and a hash brown for just 2. 99. Handballer 2 2. 99 . How bout we play you for it. Handballers oooooooh. Jack vo you crave it, we serve it. Try my 2. 99 jumbo breakfast platter. Crave van james welcome back to the kron 4 morning news. Here is a look at the major headlines before you head out the door this morning. A man from antioch is found guilty of all charges after killing two women at a San Francisco jewelery store four years ago. A jury convicted 27yearold barry white junior for the shooting at the jewelry mart in 2013. White waited until customers left the store before shooting and stabbing two woman and badly injuring the stores owner. He left the store and fired at officers before surrendering when he ran out of ammunition. Prosecutors say the dispute started over the price of an item that white had purchased. A large grass fire came dangerously close to homes in suisun city. It happened on bella vista drive near the Travis Air Force base. The fire started in the yard of a home and quickly spread to the backyard and the open field behind the home. Some people were forced to move their horses out of the area. Neighbors say it took about 10 minutes for the Fire Department to get there. Happening now. Richmond police are looking for a missing 12yearold girl. Police say Jessica Padilla was last seen wednesday night at the richmond public library. Jessica was being picked up by her mom when the two got into an argument and jessica ran back into the building. james here is a live look outside from our Golden Gate Bridge camera. james meteorologist anny hong has what you need to know before heading out the door this morning. dave modest warming trend inland areas today into friday with more widespread highs from the upper 80s to lower 100s. Marine layer deepens and stronger onshore flow returns over the weekend resulting in a cooling trend back to normal. Long range pattern looks dry and seasonable. No major hot spots. Bay bridge wb 80 is less then 30 min from the maze to sf. San mateo bridge less then 30 min from 880 to 101. Golden gat bridge drive time less than 30 min from 37 to the toll plaza. Richmond bridge drive less than 20 min from the toll to 101 tiffany you may be able to enjoy your drinks a little bit longer in california. The golden state is now one step closer to pushing the last call for alcohol until four am. A bill is making its way through committees andmay soon be considered by the entire assembly. The state Senate Approved the measure back in may. It would extend alcohol sales past two am. If the Assembly Approves it, restaurants, bars and nightclubs will be allowed to sell booze until four in the morning. They could designate certain days of the week and holidays where extended hours would apply. Liquor stores are not included under the bill. james a 13yearold boy who is deaf is devastated after his bike was stolen from ramona street in palo alto. This is servaillance video of the bike being taken. In the video you can see the thief walk up to the bike and after standing near it for a minute they eventually hop on it bike and take off with it. Here is a closer picture of the person. The family is hoping someone will recognize the person or hope they will return the bike. james we are getting a look at the repairs being made to the oroville spillway. Its been nearly five months since the structure began to collapse forcing thousands to evacuate. Ben deci has the latest on the construction. A look from drone 40 gives you a sense of how the oroville spillway is coming along. Gone now is almost the entire length of the old, lower structure. But memories of february 11th, and the frenzied evacuations as the spillways collapsed, have proven more durable. Sot rachel cowan orovilleoh yeah. I think that a lot of people make jokes about it. Like the damn dam just to process through it. You are looking at a milestone for the new lower spillway as crews turn the corner from demolition to construction. And begin to pour the first significant layers of cement, that will serve as the foundation for the replacement. Ben now this is just one step in a 275 million dollar, multiyear project. As the project enters this new phase, we checkedin with residents of oroville to see how they are feeling today about their stories spillway. Sot i think its overblown myself. I really dont know but it seemed to me like theres just truck after truck going up there. Theyre working night and day. Or were. Sot ben do you have faith that the repair they are making will be sound and you wont have to go through all that again . I have faith in god. Sot ben do you have faith that theyre doing a good job up there . I do i do. Im actually trying to get a job up there now, so. tiffany happening now. Two popular hiking trails in san jose are closed after Mountain Lions were spotted in the area. Its happening at alum rock park. That park will be closed until saturday. Officials say at least one Mountain Lion has been spotted just a few feet from the one way road trail the south rim trail is also closed. Rangers say the trails could open saturday if they think the threat is gone. They say if you do encounter a Mountain Lion try to look as big as possible and make as much noise as you can. And do anota turn your back to them. Tiffany Police officers are usually pretty busy on the fourth of july keeping the streets safe but that does anota mean they cant have a little fun. An officer in pennsylvania made an unlikely arrest during his shift. Take a look at this. Officer sheehan found these suspects loitering in a parking lot on fourth of july. And yes those are ducks. They did anota resist arrest and hopped right into the back of the patrol car. Police were able to locate the owner and she came and picked them up. No charges were filed. james and heres a tiffany dubs fans listen up. Kevin durant posted a trailer for the nikesponsored internet movie about his life that will come out next week. Take a quick look yo, life is funny. Is everyone going to like your decisions . Nah man, they going to second guess you. Misunderstand you. Say you changed. tiffany the film which will likely be released on durants Youtube Channel chronicles his youth and rise to nba stardom. It also focuses on his much criticized move from Oklahoma City to golden state. It is set to come out next tuesday. james coming up. The search is on for a missing girl in the east bay. Well tell you where she was last seen. And. A fire comes dangerously close to homes in suisun city. How residents were able to keep the flames away until firefighters arrived. Also. Nearly six months after the devastating coyote creek flood in san jose. Some victims are now filing damage claims against the city. See what they want the city to do going forward. Who are these people . The Energy Conscious people among us say small actions can add up to something. Humongous. A little thing here. A little thing there. Starts to feel like a badge maybe millions can wear. Who are all these caretakers, advocates too . Turns out, its californians its me and its you. Dont stop now, its easy to add to the routine. Join Energy Upgrade california and do your thing. mark this morning on the kron 4 morning news. The search is on for a missing 12yearold girl in the east bay. Were live with details about her disappearance. james a wildfire in the bay area burns dangerously close to homes. See how people were able to protect their property until firefighters arrived. mark and breaking news. Protests in germany just hours before President Trump is set to meet with russian president Vladimir Putin. james good morning im james fletcher. mark and im mark danon. Lets start the morning with a check of weather and traffic. dave look for another round of very warm temperatures for inland areas this afternoon as High Pressure dominates our weather pattern. A gradual cooling trend is then forecast for the weekend and into early next week as High Pressure weakens and an upper level trough impacts the pacific northwest. Overall, look for dry weather conditions and temperatures returning to near seasonal averages by early next week. So far so good for traffic on this friday. The bay bridge is wide open. Just 8 minutes. The san mateo bridge youre looking at 13 minutes james happening now. Richmond police are looking for a missing 12year old girl. Police say Jessica Padilla was last seen wednesday night at the richmond public library. Jessica was being picked up by her mom around 545 when the two got into an argument and jessica ran back into the building. Jessica is about 5 feet 5 inches tall and about 140 pounds. She was last seen wearing a green shirt. Blue jeans and black shoes. mark a large grass fire came dangerously close to homes in suisun city. It happened yesterday afternoon on bella vista drive near the Travis Air Force base. The fire started in the yard of a home and quickly spread to the backyard and the open field behind the home. Some people were forced to move their horses out of the area. Neighbors say it took about 10 minutes for the Fire Department to get there. So in the meantime, they tried to keep it under control. mark one person suffered minor burns, but other than that there were no major injuries. Fire crews put out the fire a fire hours later. The cause is still being investigated. james an antioch man is found guilty of all charges after killing two women at a San Francisco jewelery store four years ago. A jury convicted 27yearold barry white junior for the shooting at the jewelry mart in 2013. White waited until customers left the store before shooting and stabbing two woman and badly injuring the stores owner. He left the store and fired at officers before surrendering when he ran out of ammunition. Prosecutors say the dispute started over the price of an item that white had purchased. james white was found guilty of all 16 charges including two counts of firstdegree murder. A sentencing date has not yet been set. mark happening today. The two men charged in the deadly oakland warehouse fire will be back in court. Derick almena and max harris are expected to enter pleas during a hearing later this morning. Investigators still have not figured out what started the fire that killed 36 people back in december. Almena was the buildings master tennant and prosecutors say max harris is the man who organized the party the night of the fire. Todays hearing is scheduled for 10 oclock this morning. And if they enter a plea this morning we will notify you about it with a push alert through the kron 4 mobile app. The app can help you stay up to date with breaking news in your area. And it is free to download. james we are learning new details about Lemuel Wilson junior. He is the man charged with twocounts of murder in a deadly hitandrun crash in concord. Both victims were children. He is also facing dui charges. Last month. Police say employees at this nordstrom called Pleasanton Police in a panic. They say wilson repeatedly entered the store and started harrassing employees and customers. His brother was with him at the time. Witnesses say when wilson was asked to leave he pushed a manager and threatened to kill him. Police arrested wilson and his brother. Police say when they searched his car they found hundreds of credit cards and a device to forge credit cards. Court documents also reveal that wilson has a long criminal past dating back more than a decade. It includes charges of drug trafficking. Assault. Driving with a suspended liscense and dui. mark happening now two popular hiking trails in san jose are closed after Mountain Lions were spotted in the area. Alum rock park will be closed until at least tomorrow. Officials say a Mountain Lion has been spotted just a few feet from the one way road trail the south rim trail is also closed. Rangers say the trails could open saturday if they think the threat is gone. They say if you do encounter a Mountain Lion. Try to look as big as possible. Make as much noise as you can. And do anota turn your back to them. mark breaking news we are following this morning. Police and protesters are clashing outside the g20 summit in germany where presdient trump has been meeting with world leaders. James Tiffany mcelroy is following the overnight news. Tiffany. tiffany this is actually the 2nd day of protests in hamburg, germany. We have new video just into the newsroom showing the protests this morning. You can see the protesters being sprayed with water canons. So far more than two dozen protesters have been arrested. Police in riot gear had to prevent protesters from entering the blocked off zone near the g20 summit where President Trump will be later today. Many of those on hand said they were protesting against capitalism, others said they wanted to raise awareness about global warming. The summit consists of 19 countries and the European Union. And in just about 2 hours. President trump will meet with russian president Vladimir Putin at the g20 summit. There is no word on what the two leaders will discuss. Early this morning the president took to twitter to say that he looked forward to all of his meetings today. Including his meting with Vladimir Putin. President trump added that the two have much to discuss. I will continue to follow the protests and the president s meeting with Vladimir Putin and bring you updates through out the morning. Back to you. James James James nearly six months after the devastating coyote creek flood in san jose. Some victims are now filing damage claims against the city. Many victims say if they were given some sort of warning that officials were going to release water from the anderson dam. They could have had time to save some of their belongings. The claims are being filed against the city of san jose. Santa clara county and the Santa Clara Valley Water District. Damage estimate is roughly 100 Million Dollars. When the coyote creek first breached its banks, 14thousand people were evacuated. Some of them still havent been able to return to their homes. About 15hundred people are still displaced and the city is trying to find them housing. California did provide more than 5 Million Dollars in emergency funding. mark still ahead on the kron four morning news. 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A gradual cooling trend is then forecast for the weekend and into early next week as High Pressure weakens and an upper level trough impacts the pacific northwest. Overall, look for dry weather conditions and temperatures returning to near seasonal averages by early next week. Week. Early next averages by near seasonal averages by early next week. Breaking news. A massive fire burning in oakland. We have a crew on the way to the scene. Burning on 23rd and valdez. Breaking news out of oakland. A major fire is burning at a construction site. The blaze is at 23rd street and valdez street. Streets are being shut down and its slowing down on 580. Well bring you more details as they come into our newsroom. lydia massive fire at a building under construction in oakland. The best way to get together is with a treat you make together. mark take a look at this twitter video of that massive building fire in oakland. Breaking news. A massive fire burning in oakland. We have a crew on the way to the scene. Burning on 23rd and valdez. Breaking news out of oakland. A major fire is burning at a construction site. The blaze is at 23rd street newsroom. Come into our details as they you more well bring you more well bring on 580. Slowing down down and its being shut streets are street. And valdez at 23rd street the blaze is construction is burning at a a major fire oakland. News out of breaking breaking news out of oakland. A major fire is burning at a construction site. The blaze is at 23rd street and valdez street. Streets are being shut down and its slowing down on 580. Well bring you more well bring on 580. Slowing down down and its we it is i think you reestablished your signal can you hear us . Describe the scene right now. Reporter i moved back from where they told me so i moved a few feet back to get out of the way because theyre going to start putting up caution tape they put up behind me. I have to move in a little bit. You can see the crane is spinning in circles has not collapsed yet but it keeps spinning. First it was straight up up a little bit and then it fell over a bit and then it just started spinning in circles. There are dozens of people here and they are watching in horror. People have been evacuated from nearby Apartment Buildings and again this call came in about 4 15 p. M. An Apartment Building that is under construction. There is not believed to be anyone inside his Apartment Building. You can see the flames are fierce. Ive heard they spread started in the middle one man told me it started in the middle of the complex and started spreading throughout the area. I was told i have to move back but it started in the middle and in about 10 minutes it was spread to the entire building. One man pointed out there as been several construction fires in the oakland area in the past few months. We one year emeryville the quarter emeryville and oakland. It was similar to this and about the same time when it started early in the morning so this is exactly what is happening now. Im what you told have to move back. There with me i will not keep the shut up and i can move back just a little bit. I have to go right here scary scene with that crane. Just spinning around lydia mentioned it appeared it tilted to one side and there you see again on the top lefthand side of your screen the arm of the construction crane it appears to be slowing a little bit but just spinning completely around and the fear is the crane will come crashing down with the intensity of the flames. Lets go back to the scene. Lydia we saw you as you move the camera position. We are talking about evacuating some folks from nearby buildings. This fire is burning close to a number of residential buildings. Reporter it is very close. You can see the ashes falling in front of me. There are several ashes falling and one hit my head a short time ago. The ashes are falling. As i said before this Apartment Fire came in around 4 50. Its under construction and we have seen several apartments under construction within the last few months go up in flames. They go up around the same time. We spoke with one man who said he compared the flames to sitting in front of the fireplace and thats how it feels right now it feels like im sitting in front of a dangerously close to a fireplace. Its very hot and its spreading quickly and the building is crumbling. If you can see im going to move a little bit. So you can see the crane closer. On going tos human a little bit. Matt crain is spinning in circles. It seems that its going to fall and has already the flames have already hit the crane and i can hear loud noise now. The crane has fallen quite a bit but it keeps spinning in circles. And the flames are already starting to burn the bottom of the crane as well. We spoke with some people who evacuated and some people were passing by. Did you live in the area . You saw the fire from where i alameda and you can see all the way from alameda. This fire for the viewers tell us what you are feeling. Ashes came down and its feel like youre at a fireplace are a fire pit. Pretty intense. Its definitely intense as you heard him describe. Also we have some people here let me talk to you. Do you live in the area . A man in his pajamas sitting here next to me. Or you evacuated . I woke up to the flames. The flames were hitting your window . Yes. [ indiscernible low volume ] thank you so much. The man told me if you could not hear him that the flames he could feel the flames on his window and he left he has a dog and hes in his pajamas as well. We there are many people that some people still on the other side of the police line. Again this fire started about 4 50 a. M. We have seen several firefighting crews come in. Paramedics as well not sure why the paramedics are here. Something happens and they are here in case. We have seen more firefighting crews come in but when we arrived there is not enough firefighters to handle this fire. You can see the fire is located at 24th street in harrison. This is probably the view that you will see of that fire you can see from the highway. Driving in i could see from the 580 west. Any highway around the area. It is intense and the smoke is billowing into the sky. Incredible. The eerie sight of the crane and the arm just spinning around in circles. The real concern of that crane is going to come crashing down at any moment with the intensity of the flames. Weve seen a lot of evacuations in the nearby buildings. Its a densely populated area. Northwest side of lake merritt 23rd in valdez. 30,000 square feet of construction on the ground level alone and close to 200 apartments. That were being built and we are talking about the intensity of the flames and the extreme heat. This fire visible for dozens of miles around the bay area. People coming to see the scene and people on the streets right now evacuated from the neighboring buildings. There is the crane continuing to spin around this construction site. Matt crain in the middle of the construction site and the fire that started almost one hour ago the quest now will be how much longer can that steel support that holds of the crane which is now engulfed in flames how long can it hold out . Before ultimately the structure fails and the giant arm they see swinging around comes crashing down to the ground. Ive been watching various satellite shots and as weve been able to gauge in these live pictures that arm stretches quite a ways out away from the construction site. If it does come down theres a good chance its going to damage some of the properties in the surrounding blocks. Again this fire on 23rd and valdez. This construction site runs the length of valdez between 23rd and 24th it spans the entire block. On the backside of it there are a number of houses and businesses and they all but operate against it. They are just a few feet away from the side of this construction site with the flames as intense as they are a hot as they are you have to imagine some serious damage is being done to those surrounding properties. This is burning again across the street from a large apartment tower and a Large Commercial Office building as well. If he is anything like they were describing from this distance imagine what those windows are feeling across the street. There could be damage done to those windows as well weve seen reports in past is a windows across the street shattering from the heat. Will monitor the story and this is breaking news out of oakland. A massive fire burning now construction site and be back with more coming up. burke at farmers, weve seen almost everything, so we know how to cover almost anything. Even a coupe soup. [woman] so beautiful. [man] beautiful just like you. [woman] oh, why thank you. [burke] and we covered it, november sixth, twothousandnine. Talk to farmers. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum [brother] any last words . [boy] karma, danny. Karma [vo] progress is seizing the moment. Your summer moment awaits you, now that the summer of audi sales event is here. Audi will cover your first months lease payment on select models during the summer of audi sales event. Breaking news. A massive fire burning in oakland. We have a a massive fire at a construction site on the north side of lake merritt in oakland. The third and valdez. The fire started about one hour ago and a construction site is now engulfed in flames. Several neighboring buildings have been evacuated and what you see is a large crane in the middle of the construction site wildly spinning in circles and that is preventing firefighters from fully attacking this fire over Major Concerns of the construction crane is going to come crashing down. A four alarm fire at the construction site close to 200 apartments and 30,000 square feet of retail. It is completely destroyed right now. Unfortunately neighboring buildings are feeling the flames as well. People have been evacuated and out on the streets now. Fire crews trying to fight the fire but are concerned about matt crain that is wildly spinning. Following a waste on social media folks on twitter talking about how they can feel the heat and one person said they are up 27th which is four blocks away and they still feel the heat from this fire. You can only imagine how intense it is. We have seen shots with firefighters with ladder trucks fully extended trying to attack this from all angles and from above and from ground level as well. I believe we have a standing by with more on the situation on the ground. Lydia has a chance to talk with some of the people whove been evacuated. Or helping people evacuate. Reporter i spoke to both people evacuated and helping people get evacuated. The people that evacuated from their homes were not evacuated by officials because fire officials just arrived. They said they actually found out about the fire because he could feel the heat on the windows and some of the window started shattering and they left. They did not wait for anyone to tell them to get out. This Apartment Fire started about 4 50 and we are located at 24th and harrison street in oakland. It is a fire in the apartment complex that is under construction and you can see part of it now if you look to the right of the video it fell over now. And you can see the crane has been spinning around for the last five minutes. The crane is now on fire. We are not sure how long that crane is going to be able to stand up. It has fallen already a bit. Firefighters you can see are attacking the fire from one side sprang onto it but its hard to get close because that crane is dangerous. If that falls it could hurt a lot of people. Everyone is watching in awe looking at the crane as it keeps spinning. And the fire keeps crawling up onto that crane. As i said behind me the caution tape we are in front of it and we got moved back about 15 minutes ago. People here are saying the ash and i can see the ash falling on it. Theres a lot of ash and it is hot. It feels like you are sitting very close to a fireplace. You can actually feel the heat but in the time ive been here this apartment complex has almost disintegrated. We have seen it tumble down to the ground and is going to keep tumbling but everyone is keeping an eye on that crane. That just keeps spinning around. We have some people here do you live around here in this area . I live right next door. My house is on fire my house is right next to where the literally adjacent to the fire. Im sorry. I know you are emotional now. How did you find out about the fire . A gentleman came in rang our doorbell and told us there was a fire and we tried to back up where the first ones to be notified. We immediately got up and looked outside and ran back and grabbed whatever our important things like documents because that is it. Whatever im wearing is the last thing im wearing. We ran and knocked on everybodys door and told them to evacuate now. Likely for that gentleman who notified us it took a minute after for the firefighters to come in and tell everyone to get out as well. And thats where we saw the this blew up in flames and spread quickly. s but i heard it started in the middle and just spread to the rest of the building within about 10 minutes. It was all over the building the if you were to face forward of the building it looks like it started from the right side so basically opposite side near grand and then just from there it spread. Five or 10 minutes. To me it felt like faster than that. But who knows because right now im devastated. I can not even think right now. I dont know where to go after this. You worried about your home which is located right next to it. Yes. It looks like they are able to contain it but i dont know because im literally right next to it so i could not see what the building in front of us right now yes. Reporter when you were inside your house could you feel the heat . Stepping outside yes. Inside i was not feeling much because i was just panicking and at that time at that moment the only thing you think of is grabbing whatever is important in making sure your family is out. I grabbed my dog and i left. And thats when i was outside of the building and i realized what was really happening and felt the heat and saw and felt the ashes falling from the sky. I think thats where actually hit the hardest is watching your house being burned. Right next to that building. Reporter and you are scared now because everything you own is inside your home. Yes that is it. Reporter have you seen anything like this . No not up close like this. And especially losing my own home but no. I watch the news and i would never have imagined this could happen to me and my family. Reporter how many people in your family did you have to get out . Four of us. Plus my dog. Thats the important part is you guys are all safe. Of course. Reporter thank you for talking with us. And describing the fire. I hope everything turns out okay. The most important thing is my family is out. Material and all that comes and goes. The family is important. Reporter thank you so much. Again we spoke with a woman who said she was evacuated and you are not evacuated by Police Officers or anyone just someone a neighbor who came to the house. Police have not even gotten here yet there is not as many firefighters not many at the scene yet when she was evacuated because of the fire spread so quickly. Again this fire started around 4 50 a. M. We spoke with one i said within 10 minutes the entire building was on fire. The building is under construction so no one was living inside but there are several Apartment Buildings and homes located around the area and thats what we are seeing is a people that are standing here next to me live in those places that are surrounding this construction site. We will continue to watch the flames. You can see the crane has stopped spinning fire crews were able to get a handle a rope on there but the crane which was spinning wildly in circles for the last 15 minutes appears to be secured now. Its no longer spinning. That will aid fire crews as far as being able to closer to the fire and attack it better. Lydia has been talking to people out of their homes woken up in the middle of the night and hopefully firefighters are able to put water on the surrounding buildings and keep those buildings from burning those folks woke up to the scene you see on the left side. That is video from earlier in the fire was raging. It engulfed the entire building. It was so heartwrenching to hear lydia talk to that one lady who lives right next to this construction site one of those homes we mentioned earlier was butted up against the backside sharing the same block. If the heat is anything like people are describing you know theres going to be at least some exterior damage to those homes and if the fire did spread then in the worstCase Scenario they might have lost their homes entirely. Thats something we have to try to assess as we get more cruise around the fire. Lydia is the ladder truck in the shot and the flames are dying down considerably since we first started covering this shortly after the hour started. It looks like they are making progress on the dark black smoke now turning white which typically means they are getting a handle on it. Some of the more manmade artificial elements be have stopped burning and its more just the wood and natural elements theres nothing left to burn. Everything has burned up already. A six or seven Story Building around the corner of 23rd and valdez. The north side of lake merritt a densely populated area with people evacuated from the building and surrounding buildings. Next to this construction site. There is location just off of grand avenue. This construction project mixed use residential close to 200 apartments were being built and construction site going up in flames about 4 50 this morning. The flames visible from all around the bay. Across the bay in San Francisco over to alameda people who have seen smoke and people nearby noticing the intensity of the heat of those flames. It seems to be calming down a bit right now still seeing lots of fire and they have secured the crane which was spinning around wildly. We are live on the scene and bring you the very latest information and more video coming in from the cruise around. Lets take a quick break and be right back with our continuing coverage of this massive construction fire. mark that brea we are kron4 news starts now with breaking news. A massive fire at a construction site at lake merritt in oakland. The building going up in flames hours ago. The construction crane spinning wildly at times around the construction site and nearby buildings being evacuated. Its at 23rd and valdez on the north side of lake merritt and nearly 200 Apartment Buildings being built along with retail space and the entire complex burning down this morning. And our crews are on the ground. We have been chatting all morning long with i know kron4s will tran arriving on the scene moments ago. Lets go to him now. And youve got a slightly different perspective on all of this. Describe what you see. Reporter im at the intersection of 23rd and valdez and more fire crews are arriving to the scene. You can see the fire has considerably gone down over the past 15 minutes. When i arrived here, you could see the huge orange flames reaching into the morning sky. They have been knocked down a lot but you can see right in the heart of the structure, it is still burning out of control and you can see the water, thousands of gallons of water being poured down to the structure. When i got here, like mark danon was talking about, we saw the crane, it was spinning out of control. I thought that at one point it was going to collapse down to the ground but it looks like they have locked it down. A lot of people have been evacuated from their homes. Ill zoom in and as you can see right there, they are standing on the other side of the yellow tape. More firefighters are arriving to the scene. Look at this, heres another fire truck rolling out more fire hoses as this is far from over, breathing not so bad, at least in my direction from my location but there are so many embers on the ground. You can see the black embers right there thats been blown off from the construction site. It does not appear at this point to be any major injuries. I dont see any ambulances rushing to the scene, which is a sign that somebody got injured, somebody got killed. But at this point it looks like its being handled by the Fire Department with assistance from the Police Officers. They are setting up a perimeter to make sure that the firefighters have plenty of room so they can operate. Cars are going by here very slowly, some people actually stopping their cars, taking pictures and theres been some honking, people going around the cars. So right now this situation seems to be locked down at 23rd and valdez. There are some people let me move the camera over here. You can see theres some people right there and that man in the black jacket that you see, he said that his home is dangerously close to the fire but at this point he does not know the fate of his place. So lots going on right now. Ill see you ill see if i can talk to some of the witnesses, residents, as well as the Fire Department on the very latest of this fire. You can see in the course of my live shot, the huge flames and looks like they are making very, very good progress, guys. Back to you. Thank you, will. Lydia has been talking to people who have out on the street who have been evacuated from their homes. Reporter as you can see from where we are standing, firefighters are definitely tackling this fire. They actually have gotten it to where the flames have diminished just a bit. There are still flames but there is a lot of smoke but its definitely a big difference of what we were seeing maybe 15, 20 minutes ago where the flames were billowing into the area and the crane, of course, that was spinning earlier, spinning in circles and varying everybody in this area is now secured. It looks like its in one location so it hasnt been spinning and actually the flames that were on that crane are now gone. Now, this fire, again, started 4 50 in the morning. We talked to one man who says within 10 minutes that fire had spread to the entire building, kind of started in the middle area and then spread to the entire building but we talked to a lot of people that lived in the area and live in the area and here with me now is michael. You live right next to it burning building . Across the street from it, yes. Reporter did you feel the fire, did somebody come to your door . At first we heard the fire engines pull up, i was awake, couldnt sleep and when we heard the fire engines i went outside to see what was going on and at first it seemed like it was no big deal and then after seeing a little bit of smoke at the top of the building, another neighbor came out, we walked around the side, didnt actually think it was going to be much of anything but then when we got to the front of the building and went around we saw the fire had entered into the elevator shaft and once it hit the elevator shaft it just went to multiple floors and took off. Reporter no one lives in that building. That is a building thats under construction so we dont believe anybody is in danger, obviously, inside that building. But its around. How close do you live near this building . Im directly across the street and we could feel the heat once the fire went up and then i went up and down the street yelling to wake people up and calling people and making sure people got out of their houses. Reporter you were one of those people that were actually telling people to get out . Because i know firefighters got here, started fighting the fire but it spread so quickly, that a lot of people say the firefighters didnt go to their house to evacuate them. It was actually people like yourself that did that. Thats correct. Theres a few of us that went through the neighborhood and firefights did have to break in a couple of doors for people who couldnt be woken by others like myself. Reporter windows being shattered around the complex . They had installed new windows and those were the ones that were breaking because of the fire. I havent seen any evidence of any of the neighboring buildings. My house is directly across the street, there are a couple of structures that butt up next to it so maybe they had some windows breaking. It wouldnt surprise me. Reporter tell me about the crane. Earlier we were talking and you were saying that the crane you wanted go back inside to get some things because you walked out with whatever you have on . I grabbed my kids, put them in the car, grabbed a couple of drawers where i keep documents and we left. And when i came back after securing my children, i thought i would go back in the house and i got into the house and i got back out with a couple of things and then when i looked up and saw that the crane was spinning, i knew i wasnt going to stay there any longer just because i didnt want to chance that crane coming down. Reporter because that crane earlier was on fire, it was spinning rapidly, so at any point it could come down. It actually did come down a little bit. We saw it did kind of fall a little bit and then start spinning. Right now it is moving a little bit but its not spinning in circles and you can see that firefighters are on one side battling this fire but it was pretty dangerous earlier because that crane just kept spinning so kind of prevented firefighters from getting into certain areas because of that danger. And you are just waiting here now, waiting to see what happens. Obviously your home is right there and a lot of people i have spoken to, thats their biggest fear, that they are going to lose everything. And i wish i had renters insurance right now. You dont have renters insurance . No. The big thing was the crane. At first it didnt seem like that big a deal and it escalated into a very good deal. You were talking you are talking about that crane, it sits 10, 12 stories tall and the flames were all the way up to it so it was a huge fire. Reporter the flames were actually above that crane. It was incredible sight. I wish that i could observe it with different emotions but it was really scary. Reporter yeah, and we actually have seeing ash falling throughout the area so we are right here and im wearing a black jacket. You cant see me but im wearing a black coat and there is ash all over my coat so we are extremely close to this fire again started at about 4 50 a. M. Lydia . Reporter yeah. I have a quick question for the person youre talking to. He was one of the first people that woke folks up and told them there was a fire, you got to get out. Can he describe what the reaction was from the people whose homes he was knocking on . This is 5 00 in the morning. He was waking them up. Have him describe a bit about that. Reporter so our anchor wants to know, hes asking a question for you, describe what the emotion was when you were waking people up that early in the morning because of the fire. What were they saying to you . What was their emotion . At first everybody was coming out to see what was going on but by about that time it pretty quickly spread to the back right side of the building and you could feel the heat off of the flames, so people were coming out, were confused, a few people were moving their cars, some were just trying to take in the scene. It was kind of hard to kind of process how in flames the building was and yet you werent yet smelling smoke because it was billowing so high. Reporter you come to the door at 5 00 in the morning and they had no idea what was going on . I wasnt able to go to every door. Mainly i was yelling in the street telling people to wake up, fire, wake up, fire and people were staggering out and coming out and trying to wake up and process what was happening. But you see people come out, they would look at what was going on and be in shock before they could figure out what to do next. Reporter and you saw they moved a lot of their cars out of the area as well . They did, yeah. A lot of the vehicles got moved. Reporter as he said, people were in shock. You can imagine what it felt like. People are getting woke up at 5 00 in the morning and somebody is knocking on their door saying theres a fire so obviously in shock, kind of stumbling out of bed and trying to get whatever they could to get out and as you heard michael say, he wanted to go back and get more items but he said that crane just kept spinning over his house and he just felt it was really unsafe and he couldnt go back in there. Incredible scene here this morning as we are watching on the righthand side of your screen, that was at the height of the fire in the Early Morning hours, this fire breaking out about an hour and 10 minutes ago. On the left is the current scene. The biggest concern was on the right when that crane sort of tilting a little bit and you see the crane arm wildly swinging around in a circle and that was a real concern for fire crews in the area. That crane was going to come crashing down. This apartment thats being built, these apartments being built in the retail on the west side of 23rd and valdez, about half a city block but on the other side is waverly and 24th and there are several multifamily homes and Apartment Units that are there in that section and real concern about the fire spreading to those. Neighbors going by waking up other neighbors in the building that were adjacent to the construction site, waking them up in the middle of the night and getting them out and fire crews seem to be doing a pretty good job. We have seen some damage to the neighboring buildings but havent seen any of them burning down right now and the hope is everyone was able to get out safely but we are out on the street and people are real concerned about their homes this morning as they just jumped out of bed and standing in the street with the clothes they were sleeping in. I can only imagine the shock and then the horror as they began backing up as the heat got more and more intense. Mark mentioned 24th street, right along 24th about a block away towards 27th and harrison is kron4s will tran and hes got a different angle on all of this. Get back out to him live as we continue with this breaking news story. What are you seeing there . Reporter right now its still burning but the huge orange flames that we saw just about maybe 10, 15 minutes ago, they have been knocked down considerably. At my location at 23rd and valdez, im a little bit away from lydia but i was told that when it first started and it ramped up that they could not stand here. It was so intense as far as the heat. It looks like the firefighters are maybe turning the corner just a bit. They are throwing everything that they possibly can into the fire or to the fire. You could see theres the skeleton of the building right now and the smoke has turned from thick black to white smoke and thats a great sign. The crane, well, you can see they moved just a little bit, now it looks like its about at 6 00 facing me as opposed to spinning round and round when i first got here. Some of the other buildings, you can see heres this pink building still there and theres a car dealership right across from the fire. So it looks like at this point from my vantage point, it looks like just the building that was under construction, thats the building that is on fire. Also heres the intersection, it is not ending anytime soon. You could see the Fire Department, they have stretched out their fire hoses to another fire hydrant and anytime they do that, that means this intersection is closed. They are not letting anybody drive over their fire hoses, theres a Police Officer manning the scene right now, just to handle some of the traffic. This is a heavily traveled area as far as the downtown oakland morning commute and you can see cars are being told you have to make a left turn. Now, you can see people off in the distance right there, a lot of them are people who live nearby, had to come down and check it out for themselves or they lived in homes right next to the fire. I havent had a chance to talk to the Fire Department but just at first glance and just me reporting for a long time, the fact that i dont see a lot of ambulances rushing to the scene already parked at the scene, that on its surface should be a good sign that there does not appear to be any serious injuries or any fatalities at this point but i hope to track down the Oakland Police department and Fire Department to get an update on this case and as you can see in the midst of my live shot it looks like the flames are going down more and more by every minute and remember we showed you some of the firefighters on a ladder shooting water down to the fire . For whatever reason, they have their ladders now pulled back and we dont see any more firefighters at the end of a ladder shooting thousands of gallons of water down there so there could be a change in strategy, meaning they dont want to be right in the midst and the heart of all that smoke blowing into their faces. They might now be fighting the fire from the ground and that is a very good sign. Back to you. Give you a better idea where this fire is burning right now at 23rd and van des, about valdez, about two blocks from lake merritt on the northwest corner of lake merritt off of grand avenue. This is a construction site that almost went the whole block on valdez from 23rd up to 24th, about 31,000 square feet of retail and 200 Apartment Buildings that were going up in the six or seven story structure that completely went up in flames this morning along with the crane that is dangling above the scene right now. Another massive construction fire, this is now the third one we have seen in the area, the last two at the same construction site in he he rememberville emeryville and those are both ruled to be arson. In the Early Morning hours, still dark out, lydia was visiting with some of the people who not only helped others evacuate and had to be evacuated itself. She had a chat with the woman who describes that moment when she left her home this morning. A gentleman came and buzzed our bell and told us that theres a fire, a huge fire right and evacuate. We were the first ones to be notified and so we just my family and i immediately got up, we looked outside, ran back, grabbed whatever our important things like documents, whatever, because thats it. And whatever im wearing, this is my last thing that im wearing and then we ran and knocked on everybodys doors and told them to evacuate now. And luckily for that gentleman who notified us, it took like a minute right after for the firefighters to come in and tell everybody to get out as well and then thats where we saw the fire just blew up in flames and it spread so quickly. That was a witness account this morning, just terrible to hear these people woken up in the middle of the night and hopefully their homes are okay right now. Firefighters doing all they can to try and evacuate everyone safely, save the surrounding structures and keep control of the situation here. As you saw the scene on the right from where we were this morning and how large the flames were visible from many locations around the bay for dozens of miles, on the left is that live picture showing the scene right now, the crane appears to be at least slightly stabilized, not swinging around wildly but still Major Concerns that that crane can come collapsing down from the intensity of the flames that may have melted the metal tower that was holding that crane up. Yeah, and as mark mentioned earlier we saw a similar fire in emeryville at a construction site that also involved a crane and in that case once the fire was all out and they assessed the damage of the crane, they had to bring in a second crane that then piece by piece took down the crane that had been damaged and looks like that may very well be the situation that they are going to have to do again here with this fire if that crane doesnt collapse between now and when they can safely bring it down and of course if it does collapse that would be a worst Case Scenario for a lot of the surrounding properties. The arm stretches out beyond the construction site and there are several homes that butt up against this construction site right now. Lydia has been providing us live pictures and talking to witnesses all morning. Lets check in with lydia once again. Reporter in the past hour you can see that firefighters have definitely gotten a handle on this fire. Started at about 4 50. People we spoke to say it started kind of in the middle of that building and quickly spread within 10 minutes that entire building was engulfed in flames. We were talking to some people who said they were evacuated but not by firefighters. They said that other people were actually going down their neighborhood screaming and knocking on doors telling them to get out. We spoke to a man who actually did that. He said that he saw the firefighters, he knew they were busy, he knew they were trying to get a handle on this fire so he did whatever he could to help and so he ran to different areas trying to knock on doors, trying to get people out. This apartment complex, it is under construction is what we are told, so nobody was inside when the fire started. The concern is all the areas, the apartments and the homes that are located around there, so we are seeing a lot of people in this area that are standing here in their pajamas and waiting to see whats going to happen and seeing whats going to happen with their homes. We have some people here actually that are waiting here. You guys were evacuated from your homes . No. She was. Reporter you were evacuated from your home . Yes. Reporter tell me what happened when they started coming to your home and the police came banging on my door, banging and banging on my door, you got to get out, you got to get out and i was asleep and sleeping with earplugs so i didnt hear them so they broke my front door and told me to get out and i wasnt able to get any clothes on or anything and i was just able to get my well, my i. D. And everything but i left my phone. And youre standing here with a robe. You cant see her because we are showing you the fire but she is standing here in her robe and slippers and pajamas. Tell me about the intensity of the heat, what you saw. Could you feel it . Oh, yeah, you could feel it. It just feels like an oven. Whats funny is they had just put something on the door talking about on saturday they were going to be working and hopefully it wouldnt be as noisy in the neighborhood from them working and now the building is burnt down. Yeah, its scary. Reporter obviously youre waiting to see what happens to your home because how far is your home away from the right across the street, yeah. Reporter what is your name . Ethel richardson. Reporter obviously your home is right across the street. Did you your windows break or anything like that . No. Reporter we did hear some people said their windows broke. No. Im in a duplex and in the back and not that i know of because they had me get out. So only thing broke is my front door that i know of. Yeah. Reporter thank you so much, ethel and stay safe. You heard Ethel Richard son tell us she sleeps with richardson tell us she sleeps with earplugs and police had to break down her door to get her out. Several people here were all sleeping, the man we spoke to earlier, michael, he told us that he went door to door and he said when people came out they were dazed, they were confused, they kind of stumbled out of bed, didnt know what was going on, but when i got here, i mean, i got here shortly after it started at about 5 00, 5 10 and you can feel that heat on you and like ethel said, i think that was the perfect description, it felt like an oven. It was so hot and so intense. But as you can see right now, the flames have definitely died down. You can see the firefighters seem to be getting a handle. One thing i do want to point out, though and im going to move my camera to show you what we are seeing right now, the crane you see there, it has moved, so it spun around a little bit, not like it was earlier. Earlier that crane was spinning in circles pretty quickly and right now it actually spun to the other side. There were flames on that crane but they have died down so they have gotten rid of those flames on the crane right now and the flames have definitely died down on the building as well but a lot of the building has definitely crumbled and im going to zoom in just a little bit so you can take a closer look at this building so you can see that it has crumbled quite a bit but still plenty of smoke. I dont see any flames from where im at right now but, of course actually you know what . I did see flames right at the bottom of the building right now but definitely died down from what we were seeing earlier. Back to you guys in the studio. Thank you, lydia. Intense heat with the fire this morning and fire crews are surely going to be there throughout the day putting out any hot spots from the heat and then of course the real concern is going to be the crane and whether or not these people are going to be allowed back into their homes. They live very close and even butting up against this construction site in oakland at 23rd and valdez with this building taking up half a block and burning down to the ground right now, six or seven Story Building that was under construction and the crane looks to be partially melted and the real concern from crews is going to be getting that crane down for the safety of the people in the neighborhood so it doesnt come collapsing down but this quickly grew to four alarms during the Early Morning hours, the fire starting at about 4 50 this morning at 23rd and valdez in the northwest corner of lake merritt, about two blocks away on valdez, and this building stretching from 23rd to 24th. There are about four or five multifamily dwellings that butt up right up against the construction site and all those people being woken up in the middle of the night and evacuated from their homes, everyone saying they felt the intense heat with windows shattering on the nearby buildings just from the heat of this fire itself, 31,000 square feet of retail, almost 200 apartments and completely burning down to the ground this morning as youre seeing not much left but some of the scaffolding and some of the twisted metal from this fire. We will continue to follow the large fire thats burning at this construction site in oakland on lake merritt and be right back with our Team Coverage as the kron4 morning news continues. What twisted ankle . What muscle strain . Advil makes pain a distant memory nothing works faster stronger or longer what pain . Advil. Itthe power of nexium 24hr protection from frequent heartburn. All day, and all night. Now packed into a pill so small, we call it mini. New clearminis from nexium 24hr. See heartburn differently. Brookside dark chocolate is for my smooth side. My sweet but not too sweet side. And my diverightin savoreverydeliciousbite side. Brookside. For all your sides. We are back. Time now 6 22. If youre just joining us, our breaking news story this morning is a massive construction fire in oakland right near lake merritt in the northwest corner, broke out just about 5 00 this morning at 23rd and valdez. Six, possibly seven story apartment complex and retail space site went up in flames. And it was enormous. The flames were pretty intense, a number of evacuations of some of the nearby homes in the area occurred, police, fire responded within 10 minutes, though, this thing tripled in size. We have been tracking the latest from the ground. We had kron4s Lydia Pantazes and will tran on the scene interviewing those who had been evacuated, witnesses who saw the flames and, of course, we are looking at conditions that are improving but obviously still very dangerous out there. We are still seeing flames even though the fire started about an hour and a half ago. Real difficult time for firefighters, especially with concerns of that crane coming crashing down and this 4alarm fire, all the fire crews pulling back from the scene, getting the neighbors evacuated from the area. In fact here was the scene. This is what it looked like three months ago as this was going up, working on the third story at that point but the being was already up to its the building was already up to its height of six or seven stories that was going to have close to 200 apartments and over 31,000 square feet of retail on the bottom level. It went almost the whole block of valdez from 23rd to 24th on the western half of that street and that was what went up in flames this morning. Now, it wasnt the entire block and there were several multifamily units surrounding this and adjacent to the construction site and those people all evacuated from their homes as you can see how densely populated the area is this morning with a lot of people having to be evacuated because of the intense flames, the heat and the fear of that crane that could come crashing down. If youre thinking to yourself wasnt there a fire recently at lake merritt, like another construction site . Well, yeah, back last october in fact on lester avenue we had a similar situation, not nearly as big a site as this one but it was also a multiapartment complex that was under construction that went up in flames, it was on basically the opposite side of lake merritt on the west side. Or on the east side. This occurring in the northwest corner near 23rd and valdez. The other site that you mentioned burned twice. In emeryville. Yes, a fire with that construction site going up twice. Yeah. And this leads to continued fears there was a serial arsonist out there who is anticonstruction and development in these neighborhoods. The last one in emeryville started in a stairwell, the same location both times. It will take a while to determine if this was a construction accident or arson but still a massive fire in oakland this morning. This one at 23rd and valdez in the Northwest Side of lake merritt and this construction site burning into the ground. Dozens of people evacuated from their neighboring homes. man vo dad forgot how to brush his teeth. woman vo my husband didnt recognize our grandson. woman 2 vo thats when moderate alzheimers made me a caregiver. avo if their alzheimers is getting worse, ask about onceaday namzaric. Namzaric is approved for moderate to severe alzheimers disease in patients taking donepezil. 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The camera is live from this particular intersection looking at the damage. We have will tran basically on the opposite side of the property on 27 and harrison. Lets get him now the update from your location. 90 minutes into the fire and right now only pockets of flames that are still happening. The urgency seems to be over at this point. You can see theres firefighters right there. But earlier i saw them running around. Now they are just Walking Around evaluating the scene. Just a couple of minutes ago before you came to me i heard some crumbling in the background so part of this structure is starting to collapse just a little bit. You can see when i told you about the pockets of orange flames that seems to be the only pocket at this particular time. The crane still doesnt spin as fast as it did when i first alived at 5 45 in the morning. It stopped for now but at one point it appeared like a topspinning round and round and i was fearful it would collapse down to people on the ground or some of the buildings but it looks like at this point they have secured it and its not spinning. As far as the fight by the firefighters, you can see they are no longer spraying water from a ladder high above the structure down to the building. It seems like theres no need at this point. So it looks like they are fighting the fire from the ground level. They have plenty of hoses stretched out and you can see there are hoses right there running all the way into the scene as far as any casualties, any injuries we simply dont know at this point. I tried to talk to a battalion chief but she was handling her crews. Speaking of crews over here ill zoom off in the distance heres a fire truck, on the other side of the fire they watch out for the embers. At one point they were fearful that nearby buildings could possibly and there are the embers they were fearful the embers could cause fires at other buildings which is why they had firefighters fighting this fire here but they also made sure to put firefighters off in the distance at other locations and you can see that intersection there just in case the embers flew in that direction and caused a fire over there. So they wanted to contain the fire just to the structure and it appears thats exactly what they did. You can see now the sun is up, clearly up. You can see right through the skeleton of the building. As far as the cause of the fire, yes ive been to every one of the fires that have happened over the past year. This one is just simply too early to tell the cause of this fire at this point. The flames we saw one hour ago and came from San Francisco as soon as i hopped onto the bay bridge i would clearly see the huge flames that are now down to just it appears to this patch. James, mark . Better news there, will, as far as intensity of the flames and fire crews getting a handle on this huge fire. Still a lot of damage to deal with. Theres a nine story parking garage thats right up against the construction site. Concerns about the Structural Integrity of that building as well as the crane. There was a lot of intense heat and being close to the fire lydia has an update from a closer angle. How is that crane doing . Well the crane actually started spinning just a little bit earlier so after it stopped remember you said that we showed viewers it has stopped and right now it looks like its in one place. But a little while ago it started spinning very slowly and it stopped again. My concern is there is smoke billowing from the center of that crane. Im going to zoom in because you can see that smoke just coming from the center of that crane. Im not sure if you can see it from there but im zooming in. You can see smoke there. Earlier that crane was spinning in circles very rapidly and it was pretty scary especially for people who live in the area. One man told me he actually wanted to go back in and get more stuff when he saw that spinning he said its not worth it. Hes not going to take that chance. It was a bit harder for firefighters to fight this fire because of the danger of that crane. Now you can see that the actual fire itself looks like there isnt any more flames but there is plenty of smoke and firefighters are still tackling this fire. But they have definitely gotten a handle on it. There is a lot of black smoke coming from one side. You can see near the crane to the left of the shot you can see a lot of smoke coming from that area as well. Now we spoke with people who say it started at about 4 50 and within ten minutes this fire spread very, very rapidly. Im sure youve seen video of the flames billowing from this area. This is an apartment complex that was under construction and we have seen several fires similar to this, one near emeryville near the border of oakland where a complex under construction was also on fire as well. So this seems to be a common occurrence in the oakland area. And they all started about the same time, early in the morning as well. It looks like theyve got a handle on it. Earlier we spoke with people that say they didnt have firefighters come to their door. They actually got people coming to their doors because the firefighters were so busy trying to get a handle on this fire that people were knocking on each others doors trying to get each other out. One woman tells me she sleeps with ear plugs and the police had to break down her door in order to tell her to get out. The fire felt like an oven. It was that intense and it definitely felt that way. I actually got here within 15 minutes after that fire started and it wasthe heat was extremely intense. It felt like your opened an oven and the hot air blew into your face and the ashes are just falling throughout the area. So this entire area is covered in ashes and behind me i know we are looking at the fire but behind me you can see there are several people that are sitting here in their pajamas. They have bags of items with them and they are just trying to gettrying to get their stuff and get in there right now. With me i have ethel. We spoke to her earlier. You didnt get to bring anything with you, just your documents. Nothing. My cell phone. Im sure everybody has been trying to call me, no clothes, no glasses. Im out here in my pajamas and robe. I told viewers earlier about you and how police knocked your door down. Tell me about that. They kept banging on my door and then they broke the door in and said you got to get out. You got to leave now. And so i wasnt able to get my cell phone, my glasses or any clothes on me. Your cell phone is still in the house and your glasses . Yes and everything except i was able to get my id and stuff so i was able to get that. Yeah well now you are seeing it because obviously the flames were intense earlier. The whole area was lit up in orange from the flames. But now its died down a little bit. Do you feel better a little more hope for your place . Yes i feel hope but it was very scary. You walk out your house and you see this across the street from your house its like an inferno. It was like a heater. It was so scary. Very frightening to me and not being able to get in touch with my family, thats really scary. And your name is ethel. Eitherm richardson. Any family members of Ethel Richardson are watching she is okay. I know they are probably trying to get ahold of you and very worried about you. Yes because i dont have my cell phone so nobody cant get in touch with me. But my niece heather did come and find me. She was walking and she saw it. So im just grateful that were okay and my neighbors are okay. Thank you. Thank you so much ethel. All right you heard from Ethel Richardson. She said shes the person who actually told me earlier that i was talking about police had come to her door and actually broke her door down. People were reporting windows were breaking in the area as well from the intense heat. We havent talked to anybody who had their windows broken but we did speak to some people who saw windows breaking in the area as well so keep a close eye on the fire as you can see now. It seems like the flames have died down. The crane has stopped spinning which is good news but there was smoke coming from the middle of that crane which worries me and that is a danger to firefighters. A lot of people i spoke with here are actually worried about the firefighters and the police that are on scene because it is very dangerous in there because of that crane. Back to you in the studio. All right lydia thank you. As we look at your shot lydia and we also have up on the screen the transcamera perspective as well. The smoke is starting to turn color once again. You can see plumes on the left side of thick black smoke beginning to billow again and could indicate that perhaps another structure has caught fire or some other material that hasnt burned already. Maybe now in the fire as well so the situation is obviously developing. Keep it tuned here. We could see this thing start to reignite. Keeping a close eye on the crane, the biggest concern as the crane stretches over half a city block sticking out beyond the Construction Zone right now with several multi family homes adjacent to the construction site and crews standing by trying to put out hot spots we are seeing. And watching the cab of the crane with electical equipment in there and thick black smoke in there as well. The biggest concern one of them has to be whether or not that crane is going to hold in place especially after that intense heat and flames we saw attacking the steel at the base of the crane this morning. We have a map of the county that gives you an idea of where this is located 23rd and valdez the construction site between 23rd and 24th so its a massive construction site that caught fire this morning. A lot of folks with only one option which was to run out into the street in their pajamas and get as far away as they could. We had a chance to speak with folks who witnessed it and had a chance to evacuate this morning. Lets play you a brief portion of one of those interviews. It started from the right side so basically opposite side near grand and then it just from there spread like five or step minutes. It felt like faster than that but who knows. Right now im just devastated. I cant even think right now because i dont know where to go after this. You are worried about your home which is located right next to it right . Yeah. I mean it looks like they are able to contain it but i dont know because im really right next to it so i cant see what the building is in front of us right now. But yeah. Wow. So there you see just one account of somebody who is worried they may have lost everything who lives right near the property that erupted in flames this morning. Hopefully thats not the case but a number of folks on social media asking where are we supposed to go not getting much direction from emergency responders. There have been a few reports of blankets being handed out but typically they setup a Red Cross Center where people can go and get new information. Thats something we are trying to track down. A real intense fire and continuing to follow the latest with a massive construction fire near lake merritt in oakland. Handballer 1 you know what i could go for . Some scrambled eggs and pancakes. Lilly we got a craving go, go, go crashing cravings in the crave van jacks gonna crash your crave jack hey, guys. Try my jumbo breakfast platter with sausage or bacon, plus 8 mini pancakes, eggs and a hash brown for just 2. 99. Handballer 2 2. 99 . How bout we play you for it. Handballers oooooooh. Jack vo you crave it, we serve it. Try my 2. 99 jumbo breakfast platter. Crave van broadcasting News Coverage of the massive fire of the construction site in oakland. A live look from the scene right now as firefighters are dealing with hot spots and the large crane that continues to hang over that construction site that was spinning around wildly with the intense flames earlier. It appears they have at least right now secured that crane from spinning although it is moving slightly and the view from the ground we have nearby a multi family unit that has been evacuated, people woken up in the middle of the night in the streets when this fire started at 4 50 this morning. A four alarm fire 23rd and valdez on the Northwest Side of lake merritt as the construction site is going up in flames. We can see in this shot here on the right hand side a ladder truck spraying water out across the street down onto the construction site and it was this shot earlier we saw what looked luke the beginning of black smoke beginning to billow up into the air. They may have doused that now. I dont see that anymore in the shot but obviously a situation they are going to be out here for quite some time as they continue to stamp out hot spots and double Check Properties that butt up against the construction site to make sure flames havent crept onto the properties or burning in walls or attic spaces so definitely making sure of that. Even with the fire out with the Structural Integrity of the crane in question its going to be tough for people to go back to their homes as the crane in danger of collapsing here this morning and those homes are right butted up against the construction site right now. Heres live pictures from the ground and things do seem to be improving as firefighters continue to pour water on them. Weve had viewer pictures coming in. Look at that. The mobile app by hitting the report it tap and this fire was visible for miles around. You could see the smoke plume this morning. And i dont know the location of where the shot was but looks like a body of water in the foreground and that smoke that just basically covers the entire skyline there from right to left the source of the fire burning on the right hand side of the shot and the wind taking it across the scene there. So obviously pretty impressive angle from that perspective. We have another photograph too this one from a viewer closer to the scene. Actually some video and again illustrating just how thick that smoke was, how high it went up into the air and how far away people were seeing it. As you mentioned we have no reports right now of any injuries it appears everyone was evacuated safely from those nearby homes as fire crews doing a credit job going door todoor as well as neighbors going around and waking up other neighbors to get them out of their homes which were adjacent to this construction site on 23 23rd and valdez and everyone just talking about the extreme heat from this six or seven story half a block wide building that went up in flames this morning and another construction site here burning in oakland it appears this one a total loss this morning and concerns also about the crane. Look at the view from across the bay on the right hand side the view from earlier this morning we saw this fire was visible for dozens of miles around the bay. Yeah we had kron4 lydia on the street talking to folks impacted by this and sent will tran who was here in the studio doing traffic for us here this morning and we said get out there and get to the scene and hes there now with more from the ground. Hey will. I arrived here at 5 45 and when i did the flames were still sky high thick black smoke orange flames. You could see here live shots from 27th 27th and harrison my location and the huge flames are gone. Even the pockets of orange it does not appear to be as frequent as what i saw just a few minutes ago has turned into white smoke. Lets walk around here and give you the lay of the land. This intersection obviously would be very busy in the height of the downtown morning commute but it has been shut down for the crews to have as much space as they possibly can, you can see there is that fire hose stretched all the way from that fire hydrant right next to the Whole Foods Market if you know oakland its down here at 27th and harrison right down to the scene as well. And you can see theres a ladder fully extended at this point still shooting water onto the flames. I want to show you the scene on the ground. There was so many embers just flying around. Look at those pockets. It looks like pepper on the ground, thick black pepper. No those are embers that flew everywhere in all locations and they were very fearful which is why you see crews off in the distance, a fire truck off in the distance to maintain a perimeter in case any embers would fly around and start another fire at another location. They had crews here but they had crews spread out all over the place. Lets see if we can talk to some of the other people. My colleague lydia is doing a wonderful job. Let me see, excuse me. Whats your name . This is live on channel 4 news. My name is. What did you see this morning when you looked out . I saw fire and thats it. Do you live on that street . I live further away but they still told us to evacuate just in case. Did you feel the heat . Yes i felt the heat and then i heard some noise. I was kind of scares because of that. Your home seems to be okay at this point . Seems like it but back then i was scared because we are low income so its like if this is gone where are we going to go . Thats what i was scared of. Did they tell you when you can possibly return to your location . They just told us to evacuate and thats it. How many people do you think live in your building . Around maybe 30 to 40, around that. So you were sleeping at the time when somebody knocked on your door . My mom woke us up and all of the neighbors up in case and there were people taking pictures and my mom told us we should evacuate but they werent caring about that. What did you grab if anything . My phone. He was about to grab his x box and i x box. [laughter] my mom grabbed her purse. Thank you so much for spending the morning with us. I know its been traumatic. There are family members right there and she has a robe thats all she could possibly get. Some people this woman here was able to grab her dog as well. We are not hearing of any fatalities, any injuries. The urgency seems to be gone at this point. Over the past 30 minutes i have not seen any other fire crews arrive to the scene. There are the embers. Look at this black paint of the Oakland Police department tar here clearly shows how many embers were flying around at the time. Officers maintaining a perimeter shooting thousands of gallons of water down to the building. You can clearly see the crane, well step back just a little bit, it looks like the crane is holding steady. When i arrived here it was spinning like a top and i was so fearful that it would collapse because you could see like the flames reaching up, touching the crane. The smoke. But it was spinning and it looked like they were able to bring it down just a bit. That will be a huge priority moving forward to see if they can secure it. Dont want it to fall on any building or anyone obviously. So once they have the situation cleared under control and i have not heard it called under control at this point, the fire, then im sure the next priority is to maintain the integrity of that crane and make sure that it does not spin and definitely does not fall. You can see the crews right there down the street here this is 24th. You look right down they have taken over that street. Police officers, fire crews and over the past 15 minutes it looks like the red cross, they are here as well to help out the victims. We are not hearing of any other buildings possibly damaged or destroyed from the fire but the red cross arrived to the scene just offering assistance as they possibly can. Will . Yes james. You are probably the best person to ask this question, we saw a similar seen in emeryville a big construction site going up in flames, a crane that had been burned and was in danger of falling over and people evacuated into the streets. How does the scene there this morning compare to those two massive construction site fires we saw in emeryville . You covered both of them. It looked carbon copy, both sites under construction. Both sites were not done. Both sites just went up in flames in just the course of an hour or so maybe even less. Huge orange flames reaching into the night sky and thats exactly what we saw on the border of emeryville as well as oakland about a year ago. It was so bad, it is so bad that the other site in emeryville now they have Security Officers and surveillance cameras 24 hours a day just to make sure that it does not happen again. And this particular case, same scenario. Suspicious. It does not appear that any construction crews were working at the time. I have to talk to the Fire Department but usually you see a lot of fire crewsexcuse me, construction crews walking out from the scene. Clearly evident they have their hard hat, their uniform, yellow jackets. But you dont see and weve been showing you, lydia and i, showing you live pictures throughout the morning. You dont see construction crews back across from the fire so it appears on the surface that this was not a construction site that was going on around the clock. So a lot of similarities. Im sure the oakland Fire Department are used to this and will compare the notes on this fire to the other fires that have happened and see if theres a common denominator but the one right off the top of my head most of these sites or all of these sites were under construction at the time. James . All right thanks will and well be right back to take a quick break as we continue our coverage of the massive construction fire near lake merritt in oakland. A little thing there. Starts to feel like a badge maybe millions can wear. Who are all these caretakers, advocates too . Turns out, its californians its me and its you. Dont stop now, its easy to add to the routine. Join Energy Upgrade california and do your thing. james that again if you are just joining us a quick recap on the breaking news story this morning we have a Major Construction fire in oakland, 23rd and valdez an Apartment Building retail space venue was being built about six or seven stories tall but it burst into flames this morning just before 5 00 a. M. Firefighters immediately responded. Folks around the construction site have been evacuated and thats the situation right now. Theyve done a good job knocking down the flames. Obviously a tense situation still there. Well have continuing coverage of this breaking news story in just a minute. Introducing new parodontax. The toothpaste that helps prevent bleeding gums. If you spit blood when you brush or floss you may have gum problems and could be on the journey to much worse. Help stop the journey of gum disease. Try new parodontax toothpaste. mark that breaking news we are following. A massive fire burning at a building in oakland. james this is the bay area news station, kron4 starts now with breaking news. A Major Construction fire on the Northwest Side of Lake Meredith at 23rd and valdes, half a block of construction going up in flames with a seven Story Building burning down to the ground and that crane you see, the red train is in danger of collapsing this morning. Thanks so much for joining us here with our breaking News Coverage. Lets get right to the scene. We have libby who has been interviewing people impacted by this right there on the ground floor. Reporter the good news is that that crane has stopped spinning. It was spinning rapidly earlier this morning, and then it stopped and started in the spinning just a little bit again and now its stopped again and there was also smoke coming from an area of the crane that we are seeing anymore and it looks like they definitely have a handle on this fire. What we know is that it started at about 4 50 am this morning, that it started in the middle of the building and quickly spread, within about 10 minutes. It is an apartment complex under construction so nobody was inside. As we believe. One person did tell me though that there was security Walking Around the building earlier, and there has been the last few nights, so we arent sure obviously if they saw anything, those guards saw anything but right now we have a man what was your name . Salaam. Reporter salaam, what happened and how did you find out about the fire . You were evacuated . Yes just before dawn, before sunrise the firefighters came into our apartment and evacuated us very quickly. I only had time to grab my keys in my phone and that was pretty much it. I couldnt smell or feel the heat, but when i got out it was just radiating. So yes within like a few minutes like you said it was just totally taken over. Reporter one woman described it as an inferno, like an oven. When she went outside her house. Yes i was across the street and i could feel the heat of the fire from far away so i could imagine like how it must be pretty close to it. Reporter have you ever seen like this before. Not in my lifetime, yeah. Im only 26 years old but ive never seen anything like that. Reporter the man standing next to you said when the scaffolding fell