negotiations with sutter health. they failed to resolve numerous disagreements. gil diaz is live in oakland with the main sticking points. gil. >> reporter: hi, grace. good afternoon. for these strikers right behind me, it is hour 5, and 19 hours to go. some of them are still here and you can see. some of them headed to the alta bates campus in berkeley where there is a noon rally going on right now. some of these protestors holding picture signs like this, the sutter is the grinch. but according to the hospital, the real grinch is the nurses union for calling a strike just days before christmas. >> what's this about? >> patient care! >> reporter: and with bull horns and picture signs, nurses at alta bates summit hospital pounded the pavement for a 24- hour strike. one person worked a grueling 12.5-hour shift and then joined the protest. >> i'm having a happy holiday. don't you see me with my coworkers? >> reporter: christmas is only three days away. instead of earning holiday money nurses are losing a day's salary. >> it doesn't matter how much money we'll lose short term. we're looking at the long-term goal. >> reporter: the nurses' contract expired about six months ago. the union says the hospital proposed 150 so-called takeaways. one of those is some of their paid sick time. hospital administrators say the nurses are being offered 40 days of paid time off to be used however they want. >> that's two months of paid time off and in that, they can use sick time, holiday time. >> reporter: another sticking point, nurses being asked to co- pay for their healthcare coverage. the hospital says it's asking nurses to pay for their coverage outside the sutter healthcare system. >> if you want a cadillac plan to go anywhere you want and do anything you want, we're going to ask the nurses to pay $24 a month. a very, very small amount of money for a cadillac plan. >> reporter: a full-time alta bates summit nurse earns on average $136,000 a year. dr. o'brien says these nurses can afford to sit down, negotiate their contracts and get back to what's really important, the patients' well- being. this is a live look at the nurses and healthcare providers whose demands are loud and clear in front of alta bates summit campus. in the meantime the hospital hired 430 temporary replacement nurses from all over the country. the hospital welcomes these permanent nurses back to work saturday morning. grace, for those contract negotiations talks, no mediation meeting has been scheduled. >> thank you. nurses in southern california in the meantime are also taking part in the rally. about 2,000 registered nurses at long beach memorial medical center are joining in the 24- hour strike. dozens of "occupy" campers are still at a park in berkeley. they are defying an order to leave. police have removed some of the tents that were left unattended. but they are holding back on making a full-scale raid. anne makovec is in berkeley where the city is take a wait- and-see approach. >> reporter: that's right. now, it is not illegal for them to be here now. it's not even illegal for them to have tents here now in the park. but it is between the hours of 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. we're not sure yet, though, when police are actually going to enforce that law. >> the movement is still strong. >> reporter: larry silver has been at this "occupy" encampment since october and is now watching its slow demise. >> i think it's bad timing, first of all, given it's the christmas season. >> reporter: the city sent out this notice yesterday saying the park was closed athe 10 p.m. and everyone was expected to leave. more than half the campers did. their tents leaving spots of dead grass on the lawn. others ended up in confrontations with police overnight including this one posted on the internet after removing abandoned tents and protestors pushed back. police used their batons. >> i think they are just pulling guerrilla tactics on us. >> reporter: the police response today? >> force is used most often in response to threats. >> reporter: and there has been plenty of crime at this camp. arrests for battery, theft and assault with a deadly weapon. many offenders homeless and/or mentally ill and many coming from other "occupy" camps that were recently raided in oakland and san francisco. >> there have been problems with the, you know, with the site and some of the activities here, unfortunately. we haven't been able to police ourselves like we should. >> reporter: and the camp is located across the street from berkeley high school. >> what's happened in the last couple of weeks is things have really deteriorated. >> reporter: berkeley mayor tom bates says they will continue with a wait-and-see approach hoping more people will leave voluntarily. >> it's really not a good idea to stay when they start enforcing it because it gives everybody an opportunity just to mobilize. >> this is an occupation. we're out here for a reason. you know? some people out here have forgotten what that reason is. >> reporter: larry silver hasn't. >> you know, we're going to stay here and try and clean up this park because we love this park. i do, anyway. i lived in berkeley for quite a while. >> reporter: now, in the two confrontations with police last night, there were only two arrests for narcotics and alcohol and then one for resisting arrest. grace. >> we'll see if the strategy works. thank you, anne. this morning, "occupy" protestors at san francisco state university packed up and left campus. they first appeared three weeks go know front of a student center but the university told them that they could not stay during the holiday break. ten people and two tents lingered overnight. police showed up at 5 a.m. and the remaining students left. oakland mayor jean quan says if protestors want to close the port of oakland, there is not much the city can do to stop them. in fact, quan tells the "chronicle" that just a handful of those protestors could stop work at the port. she says it would take at least 500 police officers to try to keep it open. the port would have to pay for the officers. that would be $1.5 million. there are more signs that the job market is improving. the number of americans applying for unemployment benefits dropped last week to the lowest level in 3.5 years. economists were actually expecting claims to rise. the news is having a positive impact on wall street. the dow is up 54 points. the commerce department also saying that the economy grew at an annual rate of 1.8% in the july-september quarter. in washington, president obama is pressuring house leaders to pass a temporary payroll tax cut extension soon. >> i believe it's going to happen sooner or later. why not make it sooner rather than later? let's give the american people, the people who sent us here, the kind of leadership they deserve. >> the president says americans cannot afford to lose $1,000 a year because of a political standoff in washington. house republicans say they agree but they are rejecting that two-month extension. >> it's time for us to sit down and have a serious negotiation, solve this problem so that american workers don't see their taxes go up in january. >> if the tax cut is not extended, the average family would have about $40 less with each paycheck starting january 1. the white house has seized on that $0 number to launch a twitter campaign. they are asking americans what $40 means to them and they are getting a lot of response. so what's at stake in an extension of unemployment ben in its is not improved by the end of the year? an estimated 1.1 million californians would be affected. about 100,000 unemployed people would see their benefits stop immediately. the rest would no longer be able to file for extensions. and we have a breaking news story to tell you about. chopper 5 as you can see, there's some smoke in the distance there. this is at 1015 pierce near turk and golden gate avenue. all we know at this point is that a structure is fully engulfed and you can see the smoke still rising. try to get a closer shot of exactly what's going on here, but all we know at this point is that there's some sort of structure fire at 1015 pierce near turk and golden gate avenue. admitting fault. what the u.s. is saying about a deadly attack by nato on pakistani troops, plus a rare bacterium found in infant formula proves deadly. where it's being taken off shelves and what the manufacturer is doing now. and a second chance for frosty, the fairy tale ending for a dog that stole our hearts after some very tough times. and we have a beautiful winter day shaping up across the bay. here's live look outside in san francisco. we have sunshine. we are getting cold tonight though. how cold? we'll tell you after the break. keurig has over 200 varieties from 20 leading brands, including tully's. it's the way to brew everyone's favorite cup in under a minute. way to brew. chopper 5 is above a huge structure fire. take a look at this! the structure fully engulfed in flames. you can see the firefighters on the roof trying to battle this. we have wilson walker one of our producers who is in the area. wilson, what can you see from your vantage point? >> i'm standing right at golden gate and pierce which is essentially the corner that this building is sitting on. and it is gutted from top to bottom. i'm sure you can see how much smoke it coming out. but a lot of smoke. we have a couple of ladder trucks here and they are on the roof getting in there. but i'm telling you, the smoke is so thick on the street that you can't even see down the street. i'm standing at pierce. i can't see scott on the other end of the block. there's so much smoke coming out. i don't see any evidence of medics taking this away. there is a third ladder truck around the corner but a small army of firemen here are crawling all over this building but it is burning top to bottom front to back the entire thing pretty much pumping out smoke right now. >> wilson, we have a great picture from chopper 5 showing just how large the flames are and they are shooting through the roof. can you tell us what the structure is? is it an apartment building? >> yeah. it's just an old looks like an old edwardian and now i have come around the western side and there are flames on the back side of the building i can see. i had just come out of usf out of the center and the smoke was spread up to the panhandle. you couldn't miss t oh, gosh, okay, big flames on the western -- the western side of the building. it's still really, really burning on the back side on the -- i guess that's the northwest side of the building. a lot of flames coming out of what looks like the second floor and burning clear up to the roof. i don't know. i think this thing is -- >> it definitely looks out of control from our vantage point and it looks like there are two buildings that may be on fire. >> reporter: there's a smaller building on the corner of pierce and i would imagine that's been affected at some point but the worst of the flames -- i'm on the west side of the building now. the entire back. building and the west side of the building are just pretty much a wall of flame from where i can see. the front of it not quite as bad. but i think the fire department has its work cut out for them here. >> they definitely do. wilson, whenever you go to these scenes, you normally see residents who are in the area. do you have any idea if anyone is still inside? >> reporter: i just -- i can't say. i would imagine -- i don't know. big cloud of smoke coming out here. i don't see any degree of urgency that would lead me to think that they were trying to get people out of there. just from my layman's sort after sessment here, it looks to me more like they are just trying to keep this thing from completely gutting the building. it's burning really good on the back side. it's hard to describe how much smoke is coming out of this thing. this building is really going up fast. and in fact, i -- i'm amazed that these firemen are on the roof considering how much smoke is coming out. i mean, it's really got to be intense up there. here comes another ladder coming up here pierce, 16 just rolled up. but a lot of flame and smoke and i don't think anyone living on this side of town could not see or smell what's happening here right now. >> it's a massive plume of smoke. as far as you can see, i know you just arrived there, but are there buildings around there that are also evacuating perhaps just in case? >> reporter: i don't know. the building -- the golden state annex counseling center which is sort of an old warehouse-style building, sits just to the west of the building that's on fire. it doesn't look like it's too affected. i think the only other building that would be affected would be the white smaller apartment building on the corner or if there is anything behind. i'm going to move down golden gate a little bit. oh, gosh. now you have flames coming out the other side. [ inaudible ] >> yes, sir, i'll go. i don't know if you just saw that. but the building pretty much burst into flames on the front side here. there are still men up on that roof. i'm telling you, that's -- >> it's very dramatic what we're looking at from chopper 5. the flames that you are describing on the front side and the firemen were just above those flames. >> just jumped out... and there were just a minute ago there were men standing right above where that happened. like i was saying earlier i'm -- it's pretty stunning to think that there are men standing on top of that building the way it's going up right now. and now i'm telling you there's literally debris shooting out of the fire falling around me. a lot of smoke. they are actually going to move me down a block here so i'm going to have to move away a little bit. it's hard not to say that the fire is not getting worse. i'm going to have to move a little bit. the wind, i'll tell you, the wind could not be helping matters here. >> it's a very windy day. wilson, we are going to check back with you in a second. we apparently have a witness on the phone right now. john burrell is on the phone. john, where are you and what are you seeing? >> i'm right -- i will right across the street at 956 pierce and i'm filming. i had just began to park my car and i saw a few flames. and all of a sudden everything went up. so i ran upstairs and got my camera and i been filming since. >> john, you must be familiar with this area. do you know maybe anyone who lives in the building in does it look like it's been evacuated? these flames are just unbelievable shooting out of the roof. >> unbelievable. and there's a school right next door. so i'm sure they are having to be very careful to make sure that everybody is out of that school. i'm going downstairs now. i have a roof and i was filming from the roof so i got to really get perspective when i'm on my fire escape, got another perspective. and now i'm on the ground. but the flames are really billowing and the -- [ signal breakup ] >> going out the door and... [ signal breakup ] >> sounds like we're losing our eyewitness but from what he is saying is that this -- what we are learning is that this structure which is on pierce is a residential building. we don't know if anybody is inside. but our producer wilson walker who is there says there doesn't seem to be any urgency to evacuate the building. it looks like the big urgency now would be to fight the fire. and wilson, i know you moved down the block. did you learn anything new is. >> reporter: i have kind of gone back around the block. i don't know if you can see from the chopper but it looks like they have abandoned ship from the roof. i have five firefighters coming back down the ladder. and now it looks like they are trying to attack from the other building. you know, again that smaller white residential building on the corner. looks like they are heading up there. but all the guys that were up on the roof just came back down the -- just came back down that ladder and frankly, i don't blame 'em. >> i don't either, wilson. from our vantage point from chopper 5, those flames were huge and came very close to the firefighters when the flames burst in the front of the building. we're also learning, too, is that the wind as you mentioned are very strong today. we are getting a north wind about 20 miles per hour. it is not helping the cause of the firefighters. the wind is blowing directionally from downtown so it's an east to west wind. you cannot see from golden gate from pierce to scott. it's utter black down that direction. this police with the wind is really cooking. >> even in the few minutes we have been watching this fire it's gotten worse, the smoke has gotten thicker. we are seeing a lot more flames coming out of the roof. there are crowds out there. >> big crowds, that's kind of been -- [ signal breakup ] >> where do you want the press? >> yes, sir. just saying -- [ pause ] >> sounds like wilson communicating with some of the crews in the area, clearly firefighters have their hands full as they fight this fire. if you are just joining us, this is 1015 pierce in san francisco. this is near turk and golden gate avenue. we just learned of the structure fire several minutes ago. and in that time, it is progressively gotten worse in the beginning we had firefighters on the roof trying to maybe breakthrough the roof to kind of -- to get control of the fire from the top but they have since try he had. and we have seen those flames progressively grow through the building and in fact it looks like some of the adjacent buildings may have caught fire, as well. okay. i believe elizabeth just has some new information about the winds because the winds are coming out of the north making it difficult for the firefighters with the smoke. i'm sure a lot of people seeing the smoke in san francisco and possibly beyond. >> these breezy conditions are not helping firefighters at all. in fact, we have been forecasting these breezy conditions since very early this morning so yeah, we have northeast winds. they are at 20 miles per hour. so now, these winds are expected to slowly die down over the course of the afternoon. but for right now, again, northeast winds 20 miles per hour, that is not good for the firefighters out there. obviously wilson walker has been feeling the windy breezy conditions and they are all over san francisco. it's an issue here in the bay area. i also have a little bit of traffic information for you if you are in this area. again, this is san francisco's western addition enabled. so we understand that golden gate avenue is closed now between steiner and scott. pierce is also closed between turk and golden gate. so obviously, there are likely evacuations in this area. you heard the witness describe that there was a school right nearby. we don't know the exact -- what's going on with that school, but obviously it is a good idea to avoid that area. if you live in the area, if you work in this area, again, this is golden gate shut down all directions between steiner and scott in san francisco's western addition. so we'll continue to follow the traffic situation and these winds northeast winds in san francisco not helping the firefighters out there trying to get this thing under control. >> the smoke is blowing away from the building and you can see just how strong that is and it looks like almost like it's stoking up the flames. >> it is. i mean, winds obviously not good when you're trying to battle a huge structure fire like. this and again, the good news is they are expected to slowly die down over the course of the afternoon but for right now, obviously this is a major issue. >> it's not soon enough for the firefighters fighting these flames right now. what you are looking at are live pictures from chopper 5. this is 1015 pierce. we had a two-alarm call to the fire department at 11:53 a.m. for this fire. wilson walker one of our producers is on the ground. wilson, are you with the crowds there? have you heard anything else? >> reporter: i'm still in the same spot. i'm trying to track down -- they are getting ready to set up a command center so hopefully i'll get someone who can give me a little more hard information. at this point i'm pretty much watching what you are. the wind is blowing them almost due west over the roof. >> if the chopper 5 can hear what i'm saying if you look on the pierce side of this on the north side of golden gate, that smaller building -- hold on. >> that sounds like wilson trying to get some new information. as we see these flames, the smoke has gotten darker in the last couple of minutes and the flames are much more intense on this structure. now, we believe that this may in fact be two structures which are burning. it is stoked by the wind that we are -- we believe is coming out of the north at 20-mile-per- hour direction. part of the reason we're having such clear conditions today, but for this situation the worst possible scenario as far as the firefighters are concerned because the flames are progressively getting worse. wilson? [ pause ] >> he is still busy at this time. once again, though, we did learn that this fire was called in around 11:53. we are not sure if anyone is inside. but all indications are that there are not people inside because there's been no intense search or evacuation of the area. a lot of residents in the area are worried and watching this fire closely. there's also a school nearby. and again, if you are just joining us, this building is at 1015 pierce. it is in the western addition section of san francisco. >> reporter: grace? >> yes, wilson. >> reporter: okay. definitely two buildings involved here. it took me a while to get around onto pierce here but there's definitely the second building has burned. it looks like through. so from the main building we were watching burn, it has burned east and now a good bit of name coming out of the building on the very corner of golden gate and pierce. this is definitely two buildings well involved at this point. >> looks like the smaller victorian is really burning now. and looks like it was just caught up as you mentioned those flames almost seem to be roaming with the wind. >> wilson? >> just seems like the fight here is having to move kind of move back again. i mean, i just don't know how they can even get close to the original, you know, the taller edwardian that was burning. seems now they are coming off the roof of the smaller building as the flames are really dramatically intensifying on this second building. i have another guy coming down the ladder. the firefighters are back up on the roof. they are using water. it looks like they are getting some control over that smaller victorian because this smoke isn't quite as dark but we see firefighters coming down the ladder as you said. there's still a group of them up there who are trying desperately to get some sort of control over these flames. but it looks like it's very difficult. >> reporter: i'm sure you can see the second building is really starting to go now. the two minutes i have been standing here it's gone from burning at one of those bay windows to the next set of bay windows right beside it. it looks like it's burning toward the back of the building. maybe they have -- i don't know. there's so much smoke between me and the other one that it's almost hard to tell. >> it's even hard to tell even though we have an amazing picture of the fire because the smoke is just so thick. we are just learning i believe from the fire department that there are officially three buildings that are -- have been engulfed by flames at this point. three buildings are on fire in the western addition of san francisco. and a massive effort by san francisco. there are 125 firefighters who are on scene trying to get control of what is looking like an increasingly difficult situation because of the winds that we're seeing out there. but the flames even higher than they were before but the smoke not quite as dark. but again, three buildings are engulfed in flames at this time. do we have any -- are we waiting for any information coming out of the command post yet? did they set it up? i know this is a developing news situation. >> i don't know. i'm getting conflicting stories on where a command post might be. give me a few minutes and i will check back with you.