Crews were out here throughout the day boarding up the windows. The homeowner tells uz he did what he could to try toesh tinguish the flames but it was likely those actions that cost him his home. When the firefighters arrived, heavy fire conditions, essentially through the roof. A fire at 1 00 in the morning during one of the coldest days of the year was no doubt a challenge for firefighters. The equipment gets a little stiff, the ladders are hard to operate. Your tools get stiff, your clothing gets wet. Or steamy and then freezes up. So its difficult. But pete, with Montgomery County fire and rescue says the homeowners likely made things even more difficult. The owner didnt want to go on camera but says he used a blanket to extinguish the flames, but it quickly grew larger. Thats when he says he grabbed a fire extinguisher, but it didnt work. Fortunately, nobody was hurt. No, there injuries, but the home is a total loss. Restoration crews arrived on scene and boarded up windows and not long after, investigators determined it was the homeowners 19yearold daughter who started the blaze in the first place. I dont think there was an intent to burn down the whole house necessarily, but materials at hand and it just got away from them. That 19yearold is also facing three counts of reckless endangerment. At 6 00, well tell you what firefighters say you absolutely should not do if youre confronted with a burning structure. Thank you. With this bitter cold descending on us, were learning the heat is back on for most people in a Silver SpringApartment Building. We first told you about their problems at the Warwick Apartments earlier this week. Today, the Tenants Association says the heat has returned for many of the units, not all of them. People with no heat still using space heaters. Get the heat turned back on for the entire building. Developing now, the fbi is now supporting the cias conclusion that russia interfered with the president ial election in part to help donald trump. In a letter to employees. John brennan says he spoke with james comey. In the message, brennan said there is, quote, strong consensus on the scope, nature, and intent of russian interference. The director of national intelligence, james clapper, is also in agreement with the cias findings. The three agencies say they also agree on the need to complete the review ordered by president obama. And donald trump continues to mock the white house response to that suspected russian hacking. Trump tweeted out a few hours ago, quote, are we talking about the same cyberattack where it was revealed that the head of the dnc illegally gave hillary the questions to the debate . Trump has consistently questioned the validity of the hacking, even as some republicans have called for a congressional investigation into these cyberattacks. President obama addressed the russian hacking during his year end News Conference at the white house. The president defended his actions, the actions he took before the election. He says intelligence agencies let the American People know what the russians were up to, but his office stopped short of talking about intent because of the hyperpolitical environment in the country. At a time when anything that was said by me or anybody in the white house would immediately be seen through a partisan lens, i wanted to make sure that everybody understood we were playing this thing straight. Early in the News Conference, president obama defended his record, saying the country is more prosperous and more respected across the world than it was when he first took office. When donald trump takes the oath of office and is sworn in as the 45th president of the united states, then hes got a different set of responsibilities and considerations. Thees the president elect trump. A guilty plea today from the man who went on twitter and threatened to bring guns and bombs to a maryland high school. Now, were learning why he did it. Chris gordon has more from High Point High School in beltsville. High Point High School was on high alert. Students and staff shelters in place. 20yearold alejandro avilae posted a report saying i will bring an ak47 with two pistols to the stadium. Im also armed with bonds. His lawyer said he had no weapons but he meant to scare students at the school. There was going to be a protest or a demonstration because donald trump had won the election. At the school. And ironically, he being the son of immigrants, mexican parents there, was in favor of donald trump having won the election. He told detectives he 2014. Today, he pleaded guilty to making a threat of Mass Violence. He was given a threeyear suspended sentence, two years supervised probation, and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service. He said immediately that it was meant to be a joke and that he didnt mean to harm anyone. And that he was sorry for what he did. I think that certainly helped play into how quickly we were able to move this through the court system and get the guilty plea today. Ahead at 6 00, how the Prince Georges County states attorney just a few years ago pushed to get maryland to pass a law making threats of Mass Violence a crime. The law which today resulted in his conviction. Reporting from beltsville, maryland, chris gordon, news 4. This weekend, a new phase of construction is set to start near the third street tunnel. That could mean even more detours and delays. It starts tomorrow. Youll see the lane shifts along parts of mass avenue between second and fourth streets in the crews are building a new onramp to i395 and theyre replacing the underground utilities. This work is expected to last about six days. This is all part of that third street tunnel project, theyre filling in what is now the open part of the tunnel. D. C. s mayor wants the man accused of shooting an Assault Rifle inside a pizza restaurant to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Mayor bowser spoke just hours after edgar welch pleaded not guilty in court. Mark segraves was in court where welchs lawyer raised new concerns about an interview in the New York Times. Very disturbing. Speaks to how irresponsible rhetoric has can have very significant consequences. Edgar welch told police he was investigating what are known to be fake news report about comet pingpong in upper northwest when he launched his att restaurant. He faced 35 years in prison. Today, he pled not guilty to all three charges. We want justice served. I think he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. While welch said he was motivated by the fake news reports, it was a real news report that was discussed in court today. He told a New York Times reporter in an interview from the d. C. Jail, the information he read online wasnt 100 . Before a federal judge, welchs attorney raised concerns about how the New York Times reporter was able to interview welch in jail without his attorneys knowledge. Asking the judge and the jail to insure it wont happen again. In a written statement, a spokesman for the New York Times tells news 4, in accordance with the times policy, our reporter identified himself as a New York Times reporter before the interview. Though under no obligation to do so, our reporter contacted mr. Welchs lawyer before and after the interview. His lawyer never responded. Its unclear if jail staff followed probable procedures in allowing a reporter to talk to welch. Requests for comment from the d. C. Public defender and the department of corrections were not returned in time for this report. Welch did not oppose prosecutors requests he be held in jail until his next court date in january. From u. S. District court, mark segraves, news 4. We have a cold weekend and theres no doubt well be facing slick roads out there. Julie carey recently spent time with a local driving instructor to get a refresher course on what to do when your car starts to spin. Welcome to a driving course created by a veteran Law Enforcement officer. His team of instructors uses this specially ekwipted skid car to show Young Drivers what its like to fishstale or spin out on a slick road. His first reminder to students about Winter Driving fourwheel drive does not equal fourwheel traction. Car with fourwheel drive or allwheel drivean turn any better than a car without. And if your vehicle does start to fishtail, resist braking. At least at first. You want to look where you want the car to go. You want to steer into the direction of the skid. Applying breaks can sometimes cause the car weight transfer toward the front of the car and unload the back a little more. He says if you havent controlled the skid after the rear of the car goes back and forth about three times, you have to use another approach. At that point, we have a saying called both feet in, where you mash the brake pedal all the way to the floor and hold it. You might still hit something, but that way, it will be at a much lower speed, and keeping speeds down in snow and ice is the key. Julie carey, news 4. A man thinks hes met a woman on facebook and arranges to meet her, but now at 5 00, how things went very wrong after that. Its way too cold out there, t to the tropics in d. C. Grab your hankys. It is National Ugly christmas sweater day. And a lot of our colleagues here at news 4 couldnt help but dig them up out of the bottom of the boxes. Thanks to everyone who shared their pictures. You can see a selection in the nbc washington app. Search ugly sweater day, and enjoy. Well, its another very cold evening, and now we could be in for some ice and freezing rain tomorrow. Many of us are under a Winter Weather advisory this evening. If you happen to be out later tonight, you may see a lot of i think a lot of these. Theyre snow plows. Salt trucks will be out. It has been a while. Will be out in force starting at midnight. Treating the roads so they dont freeze over. They have also pretreated some major roads and side streets in residentialal areas. People are trying to stay out of the cold and have some fun with it. Kristen wright joins us in southeastand shes going to ice skate for us. Ha in ten years. You want me to do more . I can. Its been a while. Its been about ten years. Well see how this goes. But you know, we went out looking for people enjoying the weather. And this is where we ended up. I love it. Of course, i love the warmth. And the beautiful plants. This is my love. Its about 80 degrees in the conservatory. Im going to stay inside. Because right outside botanic garden, theres ice. The birds dont seem to mind it, but shannon i dont like it. Its so cold. Theyre visiting from north carolina. I i cant do it. Im too cold. But theyre here on a bitter cold day. If its snowing now, i would be like, its snowing. Its okay. Its not so its just cold. Good fernando, chico and puppy are dressed for it. Got to be a good mother and put their coat on. The holiday rush starts now at Reagan National airport. You should be prepared if youre headed to the airport to catch a flight. Officials are urging travelers to use metro if its possible. If you need to drive, allow plenty of extra time and avoid the peak times of 7 00 to 9 00 a. M. And 2 00 to 6 00 p. M. If youre parking at the airport, reserve a space ahead of time online, and officials remind you that there are two exits for Reagan National, on use the second exit for direct access to terminal a and economy parking. Well, this is called Holiday Shipping crunch time. It even has its own song. You get that feeling when packages are waiting at your door. Now were getting a look at what happens before that. Susan hogan goes inside. So i am at fedex in alexandria. This is the processor plant that is massive, and right now, theyre going to be doing their peak season. Hundreds of thousands of packages that are going to go through here. Let me show you this vast place. Show this. Look at this conveyer belt. This is just an amazing system that they have here. And the most amazing thing to me is how they track it. Joining us is tony. Tony, youre the spokesperson for fedex here. How do they track this . How do these packages not get lost . Its amazing to think. Each package gets an average of 12 scans put on ithr and each one tells us a specific place that it is, whether its a city that its in or its a van that its in going out for delivery. You have airplanes also. Its not just the system on ground. Absolutely. Fedex has 650 aircraft that they fly to 220 countries around the world. We are ready for our peak season and we think we have been prepared for this. Today is Free Shipping friday. Monday is supposed to be the busiest shipping day of the year. Absolutely. Looking to break our record. Going to be one of the biggest days in fedex history. Thank you so much, guys. Were here in alexandria and this is a great place to be. It gets you in the spirit of christmas to see all of those packages and think one of those could be coming to your doorstep soon. And how much Christmas Gift shopping have you done while youre at work . Its our nbc washington flash survey. None. Thats because im doing it all for you. Many of you claim you done it at all. But there are plenty of you who have owned up to doing at least 50 of your shawing from your desk. Its a faster computer. You can weigh in still weigh in. Just head to the nbc washington Facebook Page and let us know what youre doing there at work. And when you go, you can see that our Facebook Page is just awash with photos of your fashions today. Its National Ugly christmas sweater day. And you can blame some of them on the dmv tees of merryfield. They carry custom vintage ugy sweaters. It might be the place to shop if youre trying to outugly your competition. A lot of the socalled ugly sweaters have a lot of cartoony imagery. Sequins, beads, bells. But a lot of the real ugly ones jusare ugly, the way the colors, they just almost look like they were made to be just ugly. The company has come back after a fire last season damaged its original shop in fairfax. If you want to post your picture to instagram or facebook, please post a picture of you in your ugly sweater. And make sure you use the hashtag nbc4holiday. A Holiday Celebration at a local school will be one to remember for a long time. The man in the red with the white beard wasnt who the students thought. Who was really inside that made for a big, big surprise. I cant wait to see that video. Weather advisories. Winter weather advisories in the purple. Freezing rain in the south. Well explain what it means to you and what you can expect when our storm team 4 is in weather alert mode this evening. Not just because of the freezing cold but also because weve got dicy weather coming in overnight. Amelia, i just saw her not three minutes ago racing down the hall to get out there. Shes fast. Shes trying to take as little time outside as possible in the cold air. I found this in the weather office. Omg, sno. Were having ice. It will be oh, my god, ice tomorrow morning in some locations. Thats what were going to focus on as we move through the night. It looks pretty, but its cold out there. And its going it continue to be. Take a look at the numbers, currently 27 degrees. Winds out of the south at 7 miles per hour. The rest of the area, only in the 20s. And look at thurmont, 16. 23, gaithersburg. 28 even down to charlottesville. Everything that falls will be frozen when it does so. Radar showing not much in our area. As we move to the wider view, what were going to watch is this area back to the west, and really, the storm itself not getting together yet. Its back here, you can see the first inklings of moisture, back towards st. Louis and to arkansas, thats moving our way. A little more moving off the ocean. Coming together right over our area where we have the Winter Weather advisory in effect, including areas in the purple. Freezing rain advisory to the south. Whats the difference . A Winter Weather advisory means we could see multiple types of weather, maybe snow, sleet, and then some ice out of that just freezing rain, and it wont be much, but it doesnt take a lot to produce the advisory. Doesnt take a lot to produce the problems out there on the roadways. Speaking of problems on the roadways. Thats why amelia was running outside to tell you all about what you can deal with during the day tomorrow, because amelia, its going to be a mess in many areas. Just before i came out here, i was running out here, but i was looking also at maryland. You can get the road temperatures there. And all of the road temperatures in maryland, where they report, coming in in the teens and 20s. So when we see freezing rain tomorrow morning, its going to be a huge issue, especially on neighborhood roads, those secondary roads. You want to plan for ice, avoid travel if you can tomorrow morning. By the afternoon, actually, the best time of the weekend, main roads probably will be okay because we have been out seeing all of the areas, maryland, virginia, d. C. , treating the roads today. South of d. C. , potentially even dry in spots like fredericksburg. Ok by 11 00 a. M. , just wet roads. Then looking like a rainy sunday. More wet roads on sunday. And sunday is a completely different scenario than what were waking up to tomorrow. And that is because of the temperatures. Theyre going to be rising. Lets take you through the next couple hours. Overnight tonight, just the cloud cover. By 11 00, some snow trying to form, but its so dry, moe of it doesnt hit the ground. If it does, its very light around fredericksburg. Heres the problem, 6 00 a. Tomorrow morning, notice how south the freezing rain goes. D. C. To the north, the biggest impact. By around 9 00, just d. C. To the north, down to the south, changing over to rain as the warmer air moves in. By 11 00, all just about out of here. And most of saturday is dry. If you have outdoor plans tomorrow afternoon, no problem. If you have th