Fire in san jose is not the work of a serial arsonist who struck at least five times over the weekend. They say this fire started when someone dropped a cigarette on a porch. The people who lived there put the fire out before crews could etch arrive. It was a nice break for san jose firefighters who had to deal with 13 suspicious fires near downtown san jose in less than a week. All the fires were set between 2 00 and 6 00 in the morning, including five this weekend. Police released this sketch of someone they say is a person of interest in this case. He is described as a white or hispanic man between 25 and 40. Hes at least six feet tall. Weighs about 170 pounds. He also wears large frame glasses. The firefighters tell us they were relieved the arsonist did not strike again and that neighborhood vigilance may have helped keep him at bay. Certainly getting into the Morning Hours without having a fire is a relief. So, you know, were kind of hoping that that might be due to the presence weve had in the public the last few days, the police presence, the fire presence. Whatever it was, we didnt have anything, so were happy about that. Heres another look at that person of interest. Firefighters say if you see him, please call 911. Dont approach him. A 10,000 reward is being offered for the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for all these fires. The California Department of Public Health said the flu activity in the state is increasing at an accelerated rate. Eke week the cdc releases this, a flu map that shows the progression of the virus. The brown state shows the highest flu activity with a handful of states affected. Then an updated map shows a significant jump here in theffe. This shows widespread flu activity in almost every single state and that does include california. The state department of health says its not the increase thats unusual, but Officials Say there are more people in the hospitals than they expected. In the bay area alone, at least ten people have died from flurelated illnesses, that includes a healthy 23yearold man. Some pharmacies in the area have already run out of the flu vaccine. This walgreens did not have enough of it to meet the demand there on saturday afternoon. Other walgreens and cvs stores acknowledge that some of their pharmacies are running low or have run out of the shot. It will take about 38 hours to replenish the supply. One step closer to the sixth super bowl title. The 49ers back in the bay area this morning ready to get back to work. Thats head coach jim harbaugh thanking the diehard fans. He and the rest of the niners Coaching Staff will be back at the facility getting ready for sundays showdown with division rival the Seattle Seahawks. The Season Series between the two teams is split, with both sides winning at home. How did they get here . Take a listen. Kaepernick keeps it. The touchdown 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick running it in for the touchdown. The niners defense really came through in the second half, keeping the panthers off the scoreboard. As mindy bach tells us, sundays game was really what we expected to see from two of the top defenses in the league. Coming into this divisional playoff game, it was really heralded as the two best defenses in the league, at least two of the top defenses. When you look at the 49ers defense, they just really wanted to prove that they were every bit as good as the panthers. It started in the Third Quarter as they came in. How did you see that set that up for the rest of the game . The 49ers were a step slow, as we talked about. But when the 49ers offense scored at the end of the first half, then the defense really picked it up. They forced a three and out at the very beginning of the second half, which led to a 49ers touchdown and a tenpoint lead. And then what happened was that the panthers put together a very good drive. 13 plays. They were controlling the clock. They really were in position to make a ball gail ome out of it. Cut it inside a touchdown. Then the 49ers defense really stepped up with two huge plays. And all of a sudden the panthers back was broken. All they have out of this was a punt. So i think that really was the key sequence in this game, the 49ers defense stepped up bigtime in the Third Quarter. On that long drive, bowmans punt. I thought the 49ers really rotated their defensive linemen effectively. Yeah, they did. We have seen this 678 look at what theyve done with carlos rogers, a starter, a guy whos played every snap, basically cornerback for his first three seasons in the league. Hell play the nickel back role. Brock and brown are the starters now at quarterback. 49ers had a fresh rotation of defensive linemen. It was a very good allaround effort after expending so much energy to beat the Green Bay Packers last week, the 49ers stepped up. This was a total team victory. Well have more on the 49ers win here against the panthers from charlotte, north carolina. Now to the seahawks. They earned an earthshaking win against the new Orleans Saints on sunday. Seismologists say the seahawks fans actually shook the ground under the field in another fangenerated earthquake. The scientists believe that the small quake was when Marshawn Lynch scored a touchdown in the first half. They will know today if it was greater than lynchs famous beast quake touchdown. That was from three years ago. Its only about a twohour flight, maybe 12hour drive to seattle, a lot of 49er fans were planning to make the trip, but the team is refusing to sell tickets to anyone with a california zip code. Bob ridel live with the story that has many fans kind of angry this morning. Reporter fans seeking autographs outside the 49ers Training Facility dont think its right. They call it poor sportsmanship. We tried to buy tickets from the Seattle Seahawks website when those tickets went on sale at 10 00 this morning and we got a message that none were available. Suggesting they were already sold out. Even if they were available, i would have never been able to complete that purchase because as the team makes clear, only those who live in washington state, oregon, montana, idaho, alaska, hawaii, and parts of canada can buy those tickets. When i entered my california zip code, it would have been denied. Seattle known for having one of the noisiest stadiums in the league wants as much of that noise coming from fans of the seahawks, not the 49ers. They want to act like that, scared of us, let them be that way. I dont think its right. Just because theyre upset or whatever, dont mean they should go about it that way. I think theyre afraid. Reporter 49ers fans will still be there thanks to stub b stubhub, where tickets are starting at just under 400. By the way, seattles not the only team thats doing this. The broncos are doing the same thing. The Patriots Fans were trying to get tickets to the afc championship game in denver. Reporting live here in santa clara, bob ridel, nbc bay area news. The 49ers play seattle at 3 30 on sunday. Nbc bay area will have coverage leading up to the game and full highlights. For all the coverage, go to our website, nbcbayarea. Com and search 49ers. Breaking news. Officials say two boys have escaped from the orrin allen youth facility. An alert went out to residents, but the two boys are both wearing blue sweatshirts. One is wearing tan pants. Investigators believe that the boys are likely on foot and could be hiding in the area. In other news, the California Senate will begin debate today on a new bill that bars employees of state Public Transportation systems from going on strike. The legislation was proposed by Senate Republican leader bob huff. Huff says if theyre going to make californians reliant on Public Transportation, we have an obligation to make sure it keeps running. Under house legislation, an employee who broke the nostrike law would forfeit their pay f forrfor every single day the law is broken. Starting today, fees at many stations increased by 50 cents. These will increase at other stations as well later on this month. Bart evaluates the station parking lots every six months. It can increase or decrease the fees based on how full the lot is. New at 11 00, the owner of a monterrey bay whale watching tour will be sentenced in federal court today. Nancy black pleaded guilty to one count. Blacks work has appeared on pbs, National Geographic and animal planet. She was originally accused of feeding oricas in 2004 and 2005 and altering a videotape of her encounters with the whale and then lying about it. A fogser farms plant in livingston is closed again just one day after calling employees back to work. The usda shut the Central Valley chicken Processing Plant down on wednesday because of a docockroh infestation. Now the company says it is voluntarily suspending operations for several days so it can properly ll lly impleme safety measures. Coming up, what lawmakers hope a special committee will find. Heres the sign the worlds getting smaller. Traditional american drink becomes japanese. Well take a look coming up in business news. And a san jose teenager turns olympic athlete. We hear from the parents of the first bay area skater to compete in the olympics since the early 90s. Shes going for the gold. Were bringing back the red flag warning. This is for Higher Elevations across the bay area. High fire danger because of the dry pattern. The good news, temperatures are going to be into the 70s and 80s as we head through the next couple days. Ill tell you the warmest spots across the bay area and were still talking about rain in the forecast. Lots to go of when we come right back. New at 11 00, George Miller will not seek reelection. He was elected in 1974 and helped to pass the Affordable Care act. He penned numerous major laws affecting the countrys education system, the labor and Health Policy and also protection of natural resources. New jersey lawmakers say theyre intensifying their investigation into the claim of bridge traffic scandal surrounding chris christie. They are look at whether christie had anything to do with causing a traffic jam on the George Washington bridge. Washington is now weighing in on whether governor christie knew what was going on. He said he didnt know. I think its credible. I take him at his word. Theres a lot of stuff out there. Your aide who was with him that day who sent the order never once communicated with him . Its unbelievable. Lawmakers are looking into allegations that christie loyalists engineered the tieups to punish Democratic Leaders in the city of ft. Lee. Target recently announced as many as 70 million debit and credit card accounts may be affected. Officials initially thought that only 40 Million People were at risk. Targets ceo spoke publicly for the First Time Since the breach. Were accountable and were responsible, but were going to come out at the end of this a Better Company and were going to make significant changes. You have to learn from it and you have to apply those learnings and were committed the doing that. Luxury retailer Neiman Marcus says it was also hit by a hacker attack during the holidays but its unclear how many customers have been impacted. Nothing much more american than a shot of whiskey. Here and there. Scott mcgrew, the world is changing. Now a shot of jim beam is japanese. Even Canadian Club will technically be japanese. Its a sign of the world market were living in. Jim beam is going to be lived by a japanese company. Beam Company Makes jim beam. The markets could probably use a drink. They continue to move lower. Weve had nearly no winning days so far this ye u e jobs report disappointing, so wall streets hoping corporate earnings will get something going. We just entered earnings season. The secret is out, google apparently working on a system where youll be able to google the cheapest airfare. Whats the cheapest airfare between here and boston . Type it into google, youll get the answer without having to go to kayak or travelocity, or my favorite, hip monk. Sorry. Travelocity stopped him from saying hip monkey. Perhaps there could be some rain drops in our future. We really need them. You dont want to stop me. Can you stop me is the question. I want you to notice oakland, 65 degrees. Its not even lunchtime just yet. Were at 61 degrees in mountain view. 58 degrees in san jose. Unbelievable to have these kind of levels this late into winter. Big waves out there. Temperatures at about 65 degrees at 1 00 p. M. 67 in the warmth of the day. I had to bump some of these numbers up because were warming up so quickly out there. In San Francisco today, 71 degrees in the north bay and 70 degrees in the south bay. So when you guys walk out that front door, youll notice just how warm it is out there. This is only the beginning. Sevenday forecast right at the bottom of that screen tells me where were headed later on this week. Why the warmup . High pressure is certainly in control. Were getting the winds. We get that friction and it warms us up. Its going to be one of those days, ten to 15 above average. Same for your tuesday. Wednesday, the beautiful beach weather continues. Peak warmth, up to 80 degrees in santa cruz. Right now im looking at saturday, late saturday into sunday. Only about a 10 opportunity right now, but that could get better. Ill be sure to let you guys know. We still need the rain. But hey, not too bad to hit the beach in january. Thats where im going. Load up the wagon. Back to you. Shes got her woody out in the parking lot. Shes good to go. The 49ers continue their quest for six in seattle, but theres talk about how Colin Kaepernick showed up cam newton. Check it out. Split screen on the left sideshowing kaepernick finishing off a touchdown run with a little performance, busting open his shirt like superman and then kaepernicking. The panthers were not pleased. They were booing kaepernick, but the scoreboard tells the final story. If youre a niners fan, we have a whole slide show of 49ers pictures on our website. You can use the nbcbayarea and well share them on our website. You get an idea. Theres some kids kaepernicking. A 15yearold from the bay area is heading so sochi as part of the u. S. Olympic figure skating team. Paulina edmonds won at the nationals. Can you do that . Oh, come on. Right here. Whoa. She found out that she and two other figure skaters will be named to the team. She will be the first female figure skater from the bay area competing for the olympics since Kristi Yamaguchi won gold in 1992. My results were very good and very fair. And i think that im really happy that i did it in an olympic year and im just really excited to see what happens from here on out. Look at that poise. 16 years old. She was just remarkable out there on the ice. Paulinas dad is thrilled by the news, of course. The sophomore will have a lot to juggle in the coming weeks. I dont think its all sunk in as much. But, you know, very proud of her. Theyre serious about school there, so we have to stay on top of that while shes going to the olympics as well. The high school is also home to two other olympians and gold medalists, that would be kerri walsh in volleyball and Brandi Chastain in soccer. Welldone. What was the move she did . Triple sow cow . That might have been a triple loop. I dont know. Beyond me. She did a beautiful job. Still to come, how one town plans to commemorate the secondyear anniversary of a deadly ship wreck. A number of World Leaders are paying tribute to former israeli Prime Minister at a state Memorial Ceremony in jerusalem. Among the speakers there, Vice President joe biden. He describes him as a complex man. In his eulogy, biden also confirmed the United States unflagging support of israel. Today marks the second anniversary of the Costa Concordia ship wreck and the cruise ship still sits stranded off the coast of italy. 32 people died when it capsized. It was set up right in september of last year but officials have not been able to remove the wreckage to this point. Can you imagine those people have been look at that for such a long time. Coming up next, the surprise you do not want to miss. Almost a year after serving in the middle east, a louisiana soldier gave his 5yearold son a belated Christmas Gift that was well worth the wait. The boy went to the mall yesterday thinking he was going to get something to eat. The folks at chickfila helped with the surprise. As you can see, he is home. That will make you cry. That was a good one. Thank you so much for joining us. Our next newscast is at 5 00. Take care. [chris]still smoking up a storm . [tom]yeah. Pathetic,isnt it . [chris] ever try to. [tom] quit . Of course my best time was six days. The worst was. Uh. 23. 4 seconds. [chris] so can i ask you. [chris tom] why are you still smoking . [tom] [sarcastic] its so much fun. [chris]why not call the smokers helpline . The programs free,and. [tom]and theyll tell me. You oughta quit. [chris] not so. Just tell them youre ready to quit. Then,theyll tell you how. [tom] really . You wouldnt have that number on you,would you . Thank you. Hey. Hey. Wow. Hot dog times, huh . I only eat them on special occasions. Whats the special occasion . I decided to eat one. Fair enough. You going this way . Uh, no. Im going in here, actually. Ill see you later. Okay. [bells tolling] church on a tuesday . But he seemed so normal. I know, right . jack and, uh, this is kenneth, one of our pages kenneth, this is devin banks, our Vice President of west coast news, web content and theme park talent relations. Hey, devin, you better watch out. Kenneth might take your job one day. Or your job, jack. [both laughing] or his job [laughing alone] why dont we just, uh morning. Ugh, dude, how can we be wearing the same outfit . You saw me leave the apartment this morning