Neighborhood. The assistant police chief says the videos and Good Police Work led to his door. It took someone who took pride in his city to say im going to do something about it. Reporter they put him under surveillance sunday night and ultimately took him into custody. Its good hes off the street. The Community Needs to be safe. Hopefully theyll get him some help. Reporter she and her husband lost their home and almost lost their lives in one of the arson attacks. Its good, since he wont be committing any more of these fires. Reporter detectives returned to some of the crime scenes today, interviewing more people and trying to gather more evidence. Meanwhile, many in this neighborhood say the arrest means theyll get better sleep tonight than they have in a week. Brennan will likely face a judge for the first time tomorrow afternoon. Hes in jail on 1 million bail, facing right now, two counting of arson, but Police Reserve the right to charge him with more crimes, including perhaps attempted murder. Were live in san jose, nbc bay area news. So just who is Patrick Brennan . On your left, the Police Sketch released a few days ago. On the right, the mug shot. The sketch looks a little younger. Brennan has a long history of fighting fire, the police say. Nbcs reporter is there. Reporter he moved into this Mobile Home Park a few months ago. Neighbors tell me they would often see him Walking Around holding a police scanner, and tonight they say they are shocked to learn that he is accused of setting so many fires in his own neighborhood, including one at this church just a few yards from his home. Tonight we can say one thing for certain about Patrick Brennan, the man now accused of setting this san jose warehouse fire and at least a dozen others. He is an experienced arsonist. In 1995, he was convicted of setting fires in the grand canyon, San Jose Police also linked him with fires in Santa Clara County in 1999, and Campbell Police confirm while he lived in campbell from 1995 to 1999, he was on the states arson registry. For the past few months, brennan lived in this small trailer in a Mobile Home Park on East San Antonio street in san jose. His trailer is just yard theirs this church. Members describe him as a chainsmoker and loner who often carried a police scanner. He had one of these kind of walkietalkie deals that can find out where the police are and who theyre searching for. Brennan is also a registered sex offender. He was convicted of Sexual Battery and assault with intention to commit a sex offense. Tonight his neighbors say they are happy a suspect is behind bars and that their homes werent targeted. I should be able to sleep, you know, knowing that hes got caught already and well be able to be safe in our homes because were all propane, you know, and we dont want it to blow up. Reporter brennan was also convicted of setting 15 different fires in the Santa Clara County foothills back in 1999. Reporting live in san jose, marianne favro. Our coverage continues online. Weve posted a portion of todays news conference, police detailing the evidence that led them to that arrest. Were following breaking news in Southern California where a dangerous santa ana winds are fanning the flames of a wildfire. You see live pictures now. Our nbc chopper down in l. A. Getting this for us. This is in the san gabriel mountai mountains. This is in the glendora area. Firefighters feel they are finally getting an upper hand. Now the smoke from this fire is spreading across the southland. Investigators arrested three men earlier today accused of starting the fire. The flames destroyed several homes thus far and cars. Were going to have a live report from the fire lines. Doing up in about ten minutes. The warm, dry weather means major headaches for firefighters all across the state. The drought were talking about, very real, and today, marin county made a bold move. Stephanie strong joins us. And theyre talking about tapping into their water reserves. Reporter thats right. Theyre talking about the possibility of water rationing that could happen in as little as two monthing. They have already launched Water Conservation moves. Its the dry part that has people and businesses here worried. Its suddenly on everybodys mind. As a place that goes through a whole lot of water, were a brewery. We dont want to have a shortage. It would affect business. It could affect production. Reporter the marin district started pumping water out of one of its two reserve water reservoirs, lake phoenix. It hopes it will be enough to sustain residents until the next major rainfall. Overall, the reservoirs were at full capacity last year. This year theyre at 55 of normal. The district says 2013 was the driest year on record, with measuring stations only accumulating 11 inches of rain. That is unprecedented. Our prior low was 19 inches for annual rainfall. We normally get 52 inches. Reporter marin and sonoma have already launched their water on off the campaigns. This is worse. Reporter george koch remembers the drought in the 70s. Quit watering your garden and washing your car. Reporter he feels it will be even more severe this time around. Pray for rain. Do a rain dance. Reporter is that what youre going to be doing . Yeah, right. Reporter now the last time the Water District had to pump from one of its two reserve reservoirs was march 2012 but was ultimately saved by rain that did come. Locals calling it miracle march. Now theyre hoping for that kind of miracle one more time. Nbc bay area news. Thank you, stephanie. A lot of prayers for rain. Three counties are included in a federal drought designation. They were singled out for this drought designation meaning eligible farmers can qualify for lowinterest emergency loans, and this is becoming an emergency. Our meteorologist is with us. And its hard to get peoples attention with this when things are so beautiful outside. But this is dangerous. It certainly is now that our drought has been updated from extreme to severe. Which means likely losses for crops and pastures. And what were seeing out there now, heres 2013, healthy snow pack. That bone dry view there for this year, thats obviously not during the summer, that is outside this week. And can you see barely enough snow. By the numbers, the sierra snow pack, our agricultural water as we head toward the spring and summer, only 8 of today. Central sierra, as you move noord, you can see how the snow pack should continue to build through february and march, but were still sitting at about 16 of normal for date. You can see the volume of water were missing out on. And the bay area, looks like were going to set an alltime record low for january rainfall. Coming up, well let you know if we will see any breaks for this pattern coming up in the full forecast in just a few. Earthshaking noise, literally. Thats how loud the stadium in seattle gets during its games. One of the many challenges facing the 49ers in their quest for a sixth championship. Were live outside the very stadium right now. And obviously its very quiet now. Not going to be quiet on sunday. Reporter yeah. Not quiet at all on sunday. Ive been in the stadium numerous times. Ive been in the stadium numerous times covering the seahawks for the last three years and it is incredibly loud in here. And pete carroll says hes so impressed by the atmosphere. Ive been at the stadium in mexico city with 110, i know what that one down there. And a bunch of stadiums and indoors and all that, theres nothing like this experience here. Fortunately weve been able to ride along with them. Weve won a lot of games playing at home, which is absolutely instrumental. Youve got to dominate at home if youre going to sustain. So fortunately weve got the best play to play. I may be a little biased by that, but i think the numbers bear it out. Reporter now the architect says the fans are the main source of the noise. Ens in seattle. Nbc bay area. The season has not been easy and not without controversy. The legal trouble request olden smith has been well documented. He missed several practices while attending rehab. He was arrested in september for drunk driving. He also pleaded not guilty to three illegal weapons charges that stem from a party he hosted in 2012. Well, today alden smith reflected on how the team has helped him get his life back on track. You know, we got each others backs when things go, you know, certain ways, and, you know, its good just being back around here with the guys. Like brothers. Coach jim harbaugh adds that he deserves a lot of credit for how far he has come in the past few months. Stay here at nbc bay area. This saturday night, well have our 49ers special. Thats saturday night at 6 30 on nbc bay area. Still ahead at 6 00, the criminal ring busted, netting billions in drugs and cash. And a family thanks for clues in the beating of a grandfather. Ill have an update on a fire thats destroyed homes and led to three arrests. Who would beat, brutally beat an 82 year old man . Thats what an east bay family is demanding to know tonight. The elderly man found bleeding on the sidewalk in oakland on Christmas Eve. Tonight some three weeks later, hes still in Critical Condition. Nbc bay areas Jodi Hernandez is live where the family is pleading for some help. Reporter jessica, what happened to this 82 year old is really hard to believe. Police here in oakland say someone beat up this senior nearly to death. Tonight his family is making an emotional plea for help. Hes a hardworkingman. And hes a, you know, really responsible father. And now hes in the hospital. Reporter shes heartsick at what her fathers had to endure, the 82 year old has been in Critical Condition since Christmas Eve when he was brutally beaten just two blocks from his oakland home. We know that he was walking in his neighborhood, around 11 00, 11 30 at night when he was assaulted. He has multiple facial fractures and broken ribs. Reporter he is a father of seven and grandfather of 13, cant eat or talk. Tonight his family is pleading with the public to help them identify whos done this to the head of their family. Its important to let us know and why an 82 year old man. We want to find out whos responsible for this, and we want to remove them from our veets. Reporter police say whoevers responsible for this is clearly dangerous, preying on someone as frail as this man. Our Senior Citizens are an integral part of our community. Theyre the woven background of our fabric. And weeweee want to protect them. Reporter the family is shattered. They want whoever is responsible behind bars. I cant believe someone can do that to an 82 years old man. Reporter again, the senior remains in Critical Condition tonight. His family is praying hell pull through. Now if you have any information about what took place, Oakland Police want to hear from you. Theyre urging you to contact them right away. Reporting live in oakland, im Jodi Hernandez, nbc bay area news. Thank you, jodi, 18 million off the streets and people arrested. Theyre calling it the biggest drug raid in contra costa history. It involved the fbi and ten local agencies. They havent identified the suspects but believe they have ties to a wellknown latino street gang. Three people have been arrested for setting that fastmoving fire. This is east of los angeles. These are live pictures now. Some dramatic images youre seeing of the flames. So far this fire has scorched hundreds of acres and has destroyed several homes. Lets bring in jennifer in l. A. I know this caught a lot of people by surprise. Reporter it sure did. It broke out early this morning, just before 6 00. And people thought the sun was coming up, but it was a little too early and too orange. And it was a fire and burned five houses in the very beginning hour before all the deployed crews came out to fight this fire. They were here very, very quickly, though. So that sh the good news. The forward advance of the flames has been halted at this hour. So it is inside the perimeter there. Theyve got 30 containment line around the 1700 acres. An orange glow predawn could only mean one thing here in the bonedry foothills of los angeles fire. When i got up this morning at 6 00. I said whats it like today. Let pea go outside. And i opened the door and the top of the hill up there was on fire. And so we all ran and got our cameras and started taking pictures. Next thing we knew, the flames were coming down. He lives at the singer mansion, a historic landmark with one of the largest private rose gardens in the u. S. And it only happens, what, a few minutes, and it was everywhere, all around us. Reporter fast enough to take some cars before residents could drive away in them. And some homes and outbuildings lost to flames as well. Erratic flames hopscotching onto brush that havent burned for 45 years. All of a sudden that wind hits those embers, we could get fire popping up throughout this whole operating area. Reporter sprayers and hoses came from a church near by to supplement those from firefighters. A neighbor brought out a hose and was watering things down. Reporter three men have been charged with recklessly starting the fire. Theyre being held on 20,000 bond each. Crews are coming in from all over Southern California and from the sky with superscoopers on loan from canada. Fire crews were ready. Police say the Deputy District Attorney is in with the u. S. Attorney. Theyre discussing how to charge those three men, whether it be in state or federal court, because the fear was started on federal land, live in los angeles, nbc bay area news. Its almost like summertime conditions. Lets head over to rob my ada. Were talking about a red flag warning. Most of Southern California. This is an unusually large area seeing these very dry conditions as we take you off to the north, its these offshore winds that are continuing to keep things almost like a hair drier outside. Notice the sierra, also, south of monterey on the central coast. High pressure has built in keeping those storms offshore. If you are in the bay area, it was warm, recordbreaking warm. Oakland, 78 degrees. Gilroy up to 77 and richmond today, 74 degrees. Still fairly mild outside right now. Low 60s around the south bay. 62 in the north bay. And its really these offshore winds that unfortunately have brought up the fire danger and have boosted the temperatures into the 70s and as warm as 83 degrees in watsonville. Fire danger is going to be unfortunately very high for this time of year, as the big culprit of this, going back to this ridge of High Pressure which has not moved anywhere. So incoming storms not only missing the bay area but moving to the north of seattle. It does look quite warm. Heres a preview of your friday forecast. And can you see once again, mid70s close to san jose. Will we see this pattern break as we go through the next seven to ten days . Well have a full look at that coming up in the next half hour. Coming up also, the forecast for wine lovers. Whats in store for bay area grapes. And the first of its kind ruling. What happens when youre caught driving while wearing google glass. Well let you know what happened to this california woman. The first california driver cited for driving while wearing google glass, the ticket was thrown out because there was no proof that google glass was on her when she was pulled over in october. The Software Developer was given a citation usually given to people driving with a video or tv screen on in the video. Google glass has a hidden camera and tiny display that responds to voice commands. Three states are considering bills that ban google glass while driving. A sa monoma county man is surprised to learn he spent 32 years in the navy, including in vietnam. His story of sacrifice is the backdrop for a dance competition. The dancers were bus eye this week rehearsing and putting finishing touches on dances meant to honor him and veterans just like him. Ive enjoyed what ive done. A lot of times i didnt volunteer for things. You dont volunteer. Think just tell you where to go. I file wherever im put, ill do the very best i can. Now he says hes humbled that his story will help others, including young dancers understand the toll on returning vets. All proceeds go to the lone survivor foundation. The chilling memoir is in theaters now. Still ahead here at 6 00, a really wellknown neighborhood in the bay area undersieged by dogs. And a famed attorney known for his work helping argue bush versus gore and prop 8 is turning his attention to a new case. Im scott budman, still to come, a battle not just in the football field but in the Tech Industry as well. Well break down that rivalry coming up. Presents. So delicious, they wont even know its chicken. 50 less fat. 100 johnsonville taste. Its not just the dogs, its the people, the irresponsible owners who are doing this. New at 6 00, mans best friend becoming mans best enemy. It was once the center of the 1960s hippy subculture, but theres concern that it has a new subculture, throngs of homeless and their dog, often territorial street dogs. Jim risotto shows us why ifs become a painful issue. Reporter San Franciscos haight has been a place where this tattoo artist knows. One of my coworkers was bit and couple months before i was. Reporter as he walked on a recent morning he passed a group of homeless sitting on the sidewalk. I felt a strong pinch at the back of my leg anlooked down and theres a dog attached to me. Reporter the bite left punk tour wounds on his tattooed leg. They just split and i was standing there bleeding. Reporter despite inspurns, he ended up with hundreds of dollars of bills and no one to send the bill to. Police say the transients and their dogs have become a problem, creating an atmosphere of fear. Another resident also bears the scars of a dog attack last month. Theyre blocking the sidewalk with their dogs. And the one wroman had a dog. It was on a leash. But the dog leapt up and bit me on the arm. This is the lady that was attacked by the three dogs at golden gate park. Reporter San Francisco Police Officer john denny oversees the hearings. The problems in the haight is unique. The issue is a lot of the dogs live in the park with their owners, and they are not safely confined. Theyre tied to a tree or used for protection. Reporter he says dogs lacking proper training can have territorial and protection issues. We have issues where people just walk by a dog sitting on the curb with its owner and being bit. Reporter this woman says the issue isnt unique to the homeless. A dog being protective will protect their owners, you know. Whether its a dog out here or a dog thats not a transient dog. Reporter dogs taken into custody are quarantined for ten days. Dogs without prior bite reports are returned to the owners. Others are destroyed. Wise says its unfair to blame the dog. Its not the dog. Its the people, the irresponsible owners who are doing this. Now a follow up in the case of the teenager who was set on fire while sleeping on an ac transit bus. A judge denied a motion to move that case back to juvenile court. He was charged as an adult and is charged with setting fire to the skirt of a woman who does not identify with either gender. He is due back in court next thursday to enter a plea. The education wars are heating up against. First up, the issue of students first. The d minus is reflective of the controversial subjects we e legal eagle will return to the golden state. He will argue policies on tenure, firing and layoffs violating the state constitution. If he winen wins that case, it lead to dramatic changes in the way california hires and fires its teachers. Also tonight, a white house summit on kids and college. The first lady is setting sights on higher education. Theyre focusing specifically in guiding more young people into college. Im doing this because of that story of opportunity through education is the story of my life, and i want them to know that it can be their story too, but only, only if they devote themselves to continuing their education past high school. Now the obamas goal is to make College Accessible to low income students all across the country. Several attempted that meeting today. Were going to be watching what they do to align themselves with this white house initiative. A few weeks away. One of the most popular members of team usa took a tumble today. Take a look. Its pretty wild. White crashed at Mammoth Mountain in Southern California today. He is expected to be okay. He also hasnt qualified yet for the snowboarding event in which hes won back to back olympic medals. Some good news now about another american snow bored. Today at the same event, Jamie Andersson from South Lake Tahoe clenched the spot. She is considered a gold medal contender in sochi. Coming up, its bigger than football. The 49ers sea hawk rivalry heating up off the field too. And a gorgeous evening with moonlight across the bay. Heading towards tomorrow, another day we could be smashing records. Ill have your full forecast coming up. A special Google Doodle honoring a bay area native. Diane fossey was born here and she began a career in physical therapy. But then she became captivated by ugandas rare mountain gorillas. She then dedicated the rest of her life to studying them. While calling the worlds attention, she died at the hands of poachers. New ucsf efforts shocked the researcher doing the study. She found the cost of having a baby in a california hospital can range from 3,000 to 37,000. Double those numbers for a csection. The studys author says there is no logical explanation for the difference in the charges. Californias wine calls for record sales, but the trend may not last. Fine wine sales are expected to jump from 6 to 10 in 2014. One expert says that will help stabilize prices for consumers, however they also see a potential slow down in sales as baby boomers spend less on extras. Theyre keeping a close eye on water reserves in wine country too. Record breaking day around the bay area. And we would see more tomorrow. Well have a full look at your forecast when we come like bat. 78 degree, and i was stuck in an office all day. Our wall to wall quest for coverage continues. Well go back to seattle for a live report on the seahawks. How will they prevent marr shon lynch from breaking out into beef mode. Have you checked your timeline lately . Facebook has launched a new feature called trending. Its more personal based on what your friends are talking about, not what random people are hash tagging. It will be on the right side of your news feed and will also explain why its popular. Some users will already be seeing it while others will be getting it in the next few weeks. What were talking about now is our very, very, very warm weather. Were seeing temperatures right now that have climbed into the mid to upper 70s today. Record breaking levels. And for this time of year, our average high should be only in the upper 50s to near 606789 keep that in mind. Were almost 18 degrees above average. Mountain view at 73 and gilroy at 77. Setting new records today. And our temperatures outside still fairly mild. 63 degrees in san jose. San francisco at 65. Beautiful full moon there over the bay is causing a nice glare there across the water as you look off toward the east, and not much wind around San Francisco, but the trend with the winds has been offshore. Look at half moon bay, 68 degrees right now. This is what happens when you take warm, dry air, compress it down to sea level. The warm air compresses down. Theyre seeing the same thing down in malibu and near los angeles. The reason why we dont have red flag warnings right now is because the wind speeds arent quite strong enough. Were still seeing offshore winds at 10 to 15 miles per hour. As long as they are pointing offshore that is a very dry pattern and High Pressure which is causing it. No signs of giving any ground. The satellite view, if youre to rewind this all the way back to november and december, it looks pretty much the same way. As storms try to come across the pacific theyll toss big waves, but it heads off toward the north. Another system missing us, heading toward seattle. Just high clouds coming in from time to time. And heres the even worse news. As we go through this upcoming weekend, we have one weak system come on by. But notice the rein, off the screen. As we go through the next workweek, here comes another system approaching from the west, but it begins to fall apart as it runs head on into this ridge of High Pressure which will keep us dry, maybe see some cooling. You can see that. Highs tomorrow again in the low 70s around the south bay. Close to 70 in San Francisco and around the tri valley, looks like another record braker with highs climbing once again into the low 70s. Youve heard it all week. Its more about the Football Game and tonight we have some proof. Seattle and San Francisco will play for bragging rights, you know that. But not just the right to brag on the field. The game is also a right to brag about your tech company, of course, our business and tech reporter scott budman shows us the other rivalry. Reporter with juggernauts like apple and nearly 9 billion worth of Venture Capital funding last year alone, the bay area is king when it comes to tech companies. But dont sleep on seattle, with giants like amazon and microsoft dominating the landscape, and how could you sleep when youre amped up on starbucks also from seattle. On both sides, the football and tech tides go deep. They made billions from mike crow soft. The president of the niners, his previous gig was with facebook. A Manufacturing Company does tens of billions of dollars is flex tron ickes. The machines are operated by a native of seattle who will soon head north for the game. Well, growing up, pretty much all of my friends parents either worked for boeing or amazon or microsoft. So theres that similar type of atmosphere. When you come here you have all these really Big Companies that dominate the areas and dominate the work force. Reporter his coworkers . Yeah, theyre impressed with his dedication. We are going to watch 49ers winning from home. Reporter and then relax, they might search for highlights on google or buy something on amazon. In fact , of five the most valuable companies . Two are in seattle, two are in the bay area. The fifth is in new york. Nbc bay area news. Seahawks souvenir, folks. Seahawks suck. Well said. Not the warmest of receptions for this seahawks fan. This is a reporter, jim dever. He showed up along the embarcadero and had a little fun with all of us. Not surprisingly, he was not able to get anyone to buy or even look at his seahawks memorabilia. Fortunately he didnt meet with an unfortunate accident. Wow, people were a little rough with him. No mincing words there. Jim, you need to go out there. People would love 49ers. Please dont ask me to go to seattle and do the same thing. Please dont is ask nihang out there and do that. We continue our coverage of the 49ers quest for six as they prepare for sundays nfc championship game in seattle. First lets go down to santa clara and check in with mindy bock and find out how the 49ers plan on slowing down Marshawn Lynch. Mindy . Reporter well, the 49ers are very well familiar with Marshawn Lynch having faced him. Hes very tough to contain, as he has three rushing touchdowns and one receiving touchdown against them this year. When it comes to stopping the multifacetted back, they say it comes down to fundamentals. Hes a strong guy, one. You know, hes, you know, he runs real low to the ground. He actually runs underneath his pad, you know, good leverage. Hes a tough guy to bring down. You know, theres no, no question about that. Being as physical as he is when he runs the ball. You dont want to shoot your gun. You wasnt to gather yourself and make sure you have him in front of you. You can get him down or have a better chance of doing it. But a lot of guys shoot their gun, thinking hell fall down. He just does a great job of fighting through it. Hes a hard tackle, i will admit that. But it can be done. Hes a powerful back, but he has the ability to get you off balance which now makes his power even more effective. And hes a relentless guy. He doesnt like to be tackled. We cant let him get into the secondary unscathed. Because then hes really tough on the db. Hes just a great back. Reporter and the seahawks like to run Marshawn Lynch when the 49ers are in a nickle package, and this game could very welcome down to how the 49ers stop lynch when they only have six in the box. Reporting live from santa clara, mindy bock. The seahawks running game, theyre getting all the publicity. The Wide Receivers dont preeshlgt that too much. Reporter theres been so much made of the struggling seahawks passing game. Russell wilson is coming off a career low passing average. And theyve been playing without piercy harbin. So the receivers that are playing feel like theyve been making the big plays when the team has needed them, and theyre feeling pretty underrated. Im around these guys every single day. I see the plays they make every single day. I feel like if you put any of our receive rs in the same room they would catch over 1,000 balls. We want to win. Reporter not only does he feel the Wide Receivers are underrated, the seahawks think theyve been underdogs for way too long, the lack of love fuels the players to get better. Everybody says we have a chip on our shoulder. No, i have a boulder on my shoulder. Every negative comment that comes out, i go back and look at it. And its not so much what you have done, but what you havent done and what opportunities youre going to have in the future to prove yourself right and prove those doubters wrong. Reporter now we have an update for you on piercy harbins status. He was missing from practice once again today. Pete carroll says he is going through all the nfl mandated concussion tests and this status is all in the hands of the doctors. Nbc bay area. Thank you very much. Sharks in florida taking on the panthers. Sharks lead it 30, third period. But were one game closer. Were going to have more on the game tonight at 11 00. That will do it from the xfinity sports desk. You think that poor reporter is still on the embarcadero . I want to help that guy. Were brothers in reporting. Thank you. For big news on the niners and sharks you can watch sports net central not at 10 30. Tonight at 11 00, an attack on a gay teen and the spirit of forgiveness become the focus of a documentary. The film maker is now nominated for an academy award. Its the focus of a story tonight at 11 00. One last look. And what do we say as the warmest summer ive ever spent in the winter . On our way to more 70s tomorrow which will be breaking more records tomorrow. If we can get anywhere above 70 degrees, and it looks like were going to get there. And the game time forecast, well go with the lucky number 49 temperature as the game gets started. Just cloudy. So all the things that the 49ers have seen from the sub freezing at lambeau field, its the cloudy sunshine theyll be seeing. And nice and warm here. Thank for thanks for joining us here at 6 00. Well see you at 11 00. Oprah and tom hanks shut out of the oscars, now on extra. Get ready for the leo, sandra, and julia show. The oscar race is on. What would it mean for you if you did get another oscar . Im at oscars headquarters with the big surprises and the how could they snubs. Kate gosselins twins getting their revenge . Their cringe worthy interview on the today show. Mady . Your words. The most wordless ive heard them all morning. Did the kids intentionally sabotage kates appearance . Biebers naked photo fears. Whats on his phone just seized by detectives