Feet, the length of a city block. Craig joe hanson lives just feet away in one of the 15 homes forced to evacuate. Just mountains and mountains of flames. Smoke billowing. It looked like a tornado. The tip of a tornado. They were going so high, it was just unbelievable. Sad day. Reporter as the fire grew to five alarms, 100 firefighters went on attack using ariel ladders to send water raining down. Firefighters say the biggest challenge was the massive size of the warehouse, and the five businesses, including a hay barn inside, each with its own possible set of combustibles. Youre looking at, you know, roofing companies, plumbing companies, insulation, things like that. All those things can be fuel for the fire. Reporter investigators are still trying to determine the cause. We have a good idea that this is not a suspicious fire. Reporter while firefighters held back the inferno from destroying homes, it did get close enough to destroy a few garages, sheds and vehicles. Fortunately, no one was hurt. Craig johanson says when he left his home watching this wall of flames behind him, he never thought he would still have a home to return to. The best day of my life that it didnt burn down. We just remodelled five years ago. It didnt burn down. That was amazing. The firefighters saved it. They saved everybody. Reporter right now firefighters are trying to determine whether or not it is re in those homes to go back into their homes tonight. Also Structural Engineers are going to be brought in to see if it is safe for the firefighters to go inside this building. If they are allowed inside, that ] 1 o will give investigators a better idea of what caused this fire. Reporting live in san jose, marianne favro, nbc bay area news. Thank you. Lets turn things over tood Damian Trujillo whos been gauging air quality concerns, obviously created by all that smoke and soot, damian. Reporter in fact, jessica, inspectors with the bay area air Quality Management district were also out here assessing the situ8lton. I can still smell the smoke. I dont know if you can see it at home but i can sure see the haze behind me. In fact it got so bad at one point some schools in the vicinity had to cancel classes for the day. Fire commanders ordered a shelter in place also this morning in the area because it had gotten so bad at one point. They say the elderly and children, especially those with asthma, are hurt the most by the bad air quality. Some businesses a couple miles away were also considering shutting their doors. One battalion chief told me the afternoon wind helped the smoke dissipate, which helped the air quality. San jose high school is only one block away, and that school opened its doors, even though there was no power. The same with ann darling elementary. At least two other nearby schools, including empire garden elementary, made robo calls to parents alerting them not to bring their kids to school. I think any time that you feel like youre in danger, especially when you have children in there to shelter in place and to shut down, i think that you know, for thinking of the safety of the children, i think that was the right thing to do. Reporter school is scheduled to resume tomorrow at those campuses, including the rocket nearby. Fire crews say at this time there is no real threat from the off gassing of the burning materials, even though we can still see the haze and smell that smoke. Were live in san jose, im Damian Trujillo, nbc bay area news. Actually that smoke damian is talking about can be seen for miles. This is a live look over san jose and just like damian says, its still pretty hazy outside. We bring in chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. We heard damian mention that the weather actually worked in the firefighters favor. Yeah, it certainly did. As you can see this video back here behind me, at the time of the fire around 6 00 a. M. A lot of the smoke plume shot directly up into the atmosphere so a lot of the embers did not have a chance to travel that far. That was the good news. Light winds out of the southeast at 5 Miles Per Hour. Also humidity at 87 . We had some moisture in the atmosphere, so drizzle happening at the time, and also, of course, those cooler temperatures. So all three of those factors helping firefighters to get containment on this a lot sooner. It could have been a lot worse if we had those gusty winds carrying those embers potentially 5 to 10 miles away. Look at the live radar that k continues to show dry conditions. Well talk about the next chance for showers coming up. Peggy bunker was also on the scene for us today in the midst of the flames and explosions. Take a look. Whoa oh, my god. Oh, my god. Peggy and her photographer are both doing fine. Theyre reporting for us for several hours covering this fire. Now, we continue our coverage on our website. You can see the photos that viewers sent us. Just click on the photo box at nbcbayarea. Com. More deaths connected to the flu and the peak flu season is just getting started. I want to show you a map that shows the total number of deaths in five bay area counties so far. The new deaths reported today are santa clara, san mateo and alameda counties. Stephanie chuang is live with what Health Experts fear as a number of those deaths continue to rise, stephanie. Reporter thats right, jess, good evening. You know, it is too early to tell if this will be more severe or less severe of a flu season, which typically runs from october, november to march, peaking in february. Now, the news of these three newly released reports of confirmed flurelated deaths here in the bay area come on the heels of the news of the death of a 48yearold woman in contra costa county, a 41yearold woman in Santa Clara County and two deaths in marin county, making it a total of seven confirmed here in the bay area just this flu season. Now, what local Health Officials say is still a real concern is the h1n1 causing more illness in young adults and in children. Over 60 of the reported cases, and again that is probably underreported, were otherwise previously healthy children who didnt have other risk factors. So again there was some prevention messages to get vaccinated. Reporter according to the American Academy of pediatrics, babies younger than 6 months old who died from the flu in the last eight years, only 22 of them who had highrisk medical conditions were vaccinated and only 9 who did not even have highrisk factors were vaccinated so very low numbers there. This year there are some new vaccines with four strains as opposed to three, so again, local Health Officials really urging people to go out, get vaccinated. Parents get your kids vaccinaten if you havent already, especially now, ahead of a couple of months of when the flu is especially widespread. Stephanie chuang, nbc bay area news. Anxious moments today at an east Oakland High School after a student wounded by a driveby shooting came running back onto the campus looking for help. Police say the teen was near a bus stop next to interstate 580 when a shot fired from at d cat him. The injured teen ran to the school and was then rushed to the hospital from there. Investigators say his wound isnt serious, and so far there are no arrests in the case. Its been more than 18 months since his arrest and the man accused of kidnapping and killing morgan hill teenager sierra lamar has still not answered to the charges. He and in court and yet again did not enter a plea. Monte francis was in that courtroom today. Monte, whats the holdup in that case . Reporter Defense Attorneys have been claiming they need more time to review evidence nnls case. Today they told the judge they are making progress, but as you said, its been 19 months since Garcia Torrez was arrested and today in court there was yet another delay. Wearing a tan suit and with his hair slicked back, anton Garcia Torrez entered the courtroom and through his attorney refused to enter a plea that he kidnapped and killed 15yearold sierra lamar in march of 2012. His public defender told the judge the defense is still sifting through evidence in the case and is close to being ready for a preliminary hearing but wanted more time before entering a plea. Although prosecutors say they have dna evidence linking garciatorrez to the crime, lamars body has never been found. About 20 to 30 people still take part in weekly searches for her. About a dozen of them were in court today. Of course its frustrating because were not getting the information that we need to go out and have better searches. You know, these people here, they go out and they search every thursday and saturday. Reporter doug says they have conducted almost 500 separate searches for lamar since she disappeared and they simply want justice and some finality for her family. Were just trying to find her. Wed like to find her whole, but if not, we want to bring some kind of evidence back that we can get the Death Penalty for this man. Reporter lamars family was not present for todays hearing, but they are being updated. The judge said a new hearing date for march 3rd. At that time she expects a date to be set for the preliminary hearing. She also expects that garciatorrez will finally enter a plea at that time. Live in san jose, monte francis, nbc bay area news. Still ahead here at 6 00, good wishes for jahi mcmath. How the brain dead girls classmates are showing their support for her family. And caulk roaches at a california chicken planlt. What foster farms says theyre doing about this problem and what it means for your meat. Reporter im Jodi Hernandez in sacramento where revenues are up but the governor says that doesnt mean its time for a spending frenzy. Ill have details on the governors budget coming up. And then tonight at 6 00, living in the shadow of a bay area icon. Its like losing a best friend. What the people neighborhood fear most after candlestick comes down and everything begins to change. Thats new at 6 00. California has a strong budget. It is a balanced budget. Today Governor Brown unveiled his latest Budget Proposal and it includes recordhigh spending. But the governor warns california is not out of the financial woods yet. Jodi hernandez is live in sacramento. Jodi, republicans are already reacting to the governors proposal. Reporter thats right, jessica. Republicans we talked to today say they actually applaud the governors budget. Though the states Financial Outlook has certainly taken a huge turnaround. The governor says that doesnt mean the flood gate suspending should open. For this year theres very good news. Good news in the fiscal stability and Resources Available for the state of california. I would also cautionary warnings that by no means are we out of the rixwilderness. Reporter a cautious governor jerry brown says despite the states surplus in revenue, a measured approach is still needed when it comes to the budget. Theres always a gap between what wed like and what were able to do. This is a prudent budget. Reporter that budget earmarks 10 billion for state public schools, including guaranteed increases in funding for the colleges and universities and a huge boost for k through 12 education. The conversations over the past few years have been what program am i going to cut, what personnel am i going to let go of. And now finally the conversation is, okay, what am i going to restore. Whats best for children. Reporter the governor is also allocating 500 million for new prison facilities, and dedicating some revenue from the states cap in trade system to help fund highspeed rail. But the governor says its not time to go on a spending frenzy. He wants to stash away money for the states Rainy Day Fund and continue to pay off what he calls the states massive wall of debt, something republicans say they stand behind. I think the governor is setting a good tone and i really hope that his own peeps work with him and try to stay fiscally conservative or restrained somewhat as the governor is. Reporter but some think the governor is holding the Purse Strings too tightly. Advocates for the poor and disabled a theyre not getting their fair share. There is more to be done to get to a level of balance and get californians the safety net they deserve and need. Reporter the budget presented today is just a proposal. Lawmakers will now weigh in over the coming months, so a lot could change. The Legislature Must pass a budget by june 15th. Reporting live at the state capitol, im Jodi Hernandez, nbc bay area news. Jodi, thank you. A lot of questions over the future of a foster farms plant after inspectors found it was infested with cockroaches. This plant in livingston east of san jose in the Central Valley remains closed tonight. That also means thousands of workers are off the job. Inspectors say this is the fifth time in the past five months they have spotted the roaches. Foster farms admits to the problem, even though it says it maintains an ongoing pest control program. Although there were no product recalls, there are still plenty of people concerned. I think its completely disgusting. Like people eat from there. Why cant they clean it better. I work for foster farms back about 20 years ago and they were so strict about cleaning. Its so sad. Its a concern for a lot of people. Foster farms released a statement saying yesterdays shutdown allowed them to treat and resolve the problem. A spokesperson says the Company Expects to fully resume operations once inspections are passed. New at 5 tonight an empty desk was symbolically filled with good wishes for the family of jahi mcmath. Shes the brain dead 13yearold. Students at the Academy Charter school wore bright tshirts in jahis favorite color. Today they recalled the good times they shared with their classmate. She liked to draw and sing and dance. She liked to dance with us. She made it fun. We know education is important but id wake up and be im going to see jahi today. Its still sad in class, but if jahi was here right now, everybody would be happy and jolly. Among the students we spoke with today was jahis younger brother. Youll hear from him at 6 00. We want to turn things over to our chief meteorologist jeff ranieri talking about our forecast as we head toward the weekend. Clearing and warming after a few isolated showers early this morning. So much clearing i was able to capture this shot on my own phone, no filter here. This is a look at the blue sky throughout Silicon Valley today. Much welcomed after 27 spare the air alerts this winter. That clearing is continuing on that Sky Camera Network right now. A beautiful picture, temperatures running in the mid50s right now. Take you into San Francisco and it doesnt get much better than this during a sunset here across the bay. Winds right now onshore at 16 Miles Per Hour so that will signal the possibility of a little fog up against the coastline for tonight, but again the trend will be a clearing one, even for the south bay after all that cloud cover this morning. Starting off at 7 00 a. M. With clear skies. By 1 00 p. M. Tomorrow sunny skies and a warmer day in that forecast. Lets get you to the forecast as we head throughout tomorrow. High pressure offshore will give us a brief respite from some of this cloud activity. Well keep it sunny as we head throughout sunday. By all accounts a great friday coming our way. Throughout saturday here comes that next system sweeping across the west. It looks like the heart of the storm will stay stay off to the north, but we may get brushed by the bottom edge of that cold front. So here it is on that futurecast. By 5 00 a. M. Saturday, it looks impressive. We have moderate to heavy rainfall up near the california oregon border Early Saturday Morning but as it marches to the south a lot of that moisture will get stolen so by 9 00 a. M. Santa rosa has a decent chance of showers. Then as it moves across San Francisco down to san jose, your chances just continue to decrease unfortunately as that system moves to the south. Then by saturday night we start to clear out and thats going to signal some sunny weather for sundays forecast as you can see in that scrolling sevenday. So for us just hoping and praying for any kind of rainfall. It of course is very desperate here across the bay area. We do want to look at the reservoir levels. The san luis reservoir, current levels do show this at this point below historical averages for this time of the year. Typically its at 43 . Right now its at 30 . Keep in mind this holds 664 billion gallons. So if you can save just a few gallons each and every day, you can help keep these levels just a little bit higher with these dry conditions in place. We may not actually get any more significant rainfall, look at those longterm models, until about january 21st through about the 23rd. So at least another solid week of this dry weather. Tomorrow warmer, san jose with 64. Los gatos at 63, redwood city 64. San francisco even going up to 63, partly cloudy skies. And the trend continues. Even a warmer trend across the north bay, east bay and trivalley. By tomorrow livermore could have 65 degrees, mostly sunny. Santa rosa 64 and looking mighty fine up across napa with 65 degrees. So again saturday a slight chance of showers in the forecast with temperatures close to 60. Take a look at this, raj and jessica, by next week inland temperatures could get close to recordsetting highs as we head throughout next thursday. 69 degrees. Its unfortunate because we need the rainfall, but if you want the sun, weve got that for you next week too. In the middle of winter. Thank you, jeff. Tablets . Maybe you are. What were learning about a condition called digital eye strain and ways to help ease those tired eyes. A close call and what one couple says saved their lives after fire broke out in their home. It was a busy morning for san jose fire. A san jose husband and wife are crediting a Smoke Detector for saving their lives. Flames broke out in their homee near san jose state early this morning. This is before that warehouse fire. The noise from the Smoke Detector woke them up and they escaped and then watched from the sidewalk across the street as their house burned to the ground. My wife heard the Smoke Detector go off. Went out in the front room and it was all on fire. That was it. And that Smoke Detector . It saved us, yeah. Without it . Without it, wed probably be toast. Firefighters say the fire began in the dining room of that home. Well, today b. A. R. T. Unveiled the fleet of the future. The drawings show how the new cars will look on the outside and the inside. Changes are made based on feedback from riders. Theyll have more grab bars or hand holds. The new ceiling suspended, easy clean seats with no middle arm rest. Each car will have a secure space for bikes. The train cars will be kwped with three doors on each side so passengers can more easily get on and off. A prototype will be unveiled this year with the first train in service by 2017. Its called digital eye strain. New information out tonight shows 70 of adults in the United States suffer from it. A new survey by Vision Council say symptoms include soreness, headaches and not being able to keep things in focus. There are a few simple ways to ease the eye strain. Every 20 minutes take 20 seconds and look at something 20 feet away. Another trick, increase the font size on the screen. Ifu 8x all else fails, get some glasses or limit your screen time. Up next, an auto show featuring a car that takes luxury to a whole new level. Okay, check it out. The fourday Silicon ValleyInternational Auto show shifted into high gear today in san jose where the show started this morning. Hundreds of the newest and most exciting models from electric cars to muscle cars are there, and you can test drive some of them. Among them a new mercedes thats super, super luxurious. Were talking about front seats with a massager and four fragrance options. Its going to cost you, though, 120,000. A ma saussager in the front . Im not sure if its a person or the seat for that amount of money. Thats going to do it for us here at 5 00. Well be back in 30 minutes. Heres what were working on for our 6 00 newscast. Another lawsuit with the parents of a girl run over in the aftermath of the crash are claiming that firefighters did not do. Until then were always on. You can find us on nbcbayarea. Com and on facebook and twitter. If news breaks out well bring it to you. What are we expecting . Much clearer skies that will lead to a cold start tomorrow morning, temperatures primarily in the 30s. Throughout friday its going to be really awesome here. Well have sunny skies and maybe 60s. By saturday a slight chance of showers and hold on, next week it could get close to recordsetting heat again. Gorgeous sunset right now. Thanks for joining us. Well see you at 6 00. Broadcast tonight, damage control. Chris christie says he was blindsided by his own staff as he scrambles now to contain the scandal. Tonight, the fallout and potential trouble ahead. Paying the price. A warning for anyone on medicare about something that is happening to a lot of patients, and the problem is the fine print that could cost you a fortune. And the salute from a badly wounded american soldier. The photo that inspired so many people. And after following this veterans journey, for the first time tonight we hear from him. Nightly news begins now. Good evening, the governor of new jersey, chris christie, said today he is angry, he is embarrassed