i'll craig melvin. wildfires burning out of control. wind gusts fueling blazing in maryland and virginia. team coverage tonight. we start with darcy spencer in clinton, maryland. >> reporter: nearly two dozen building were damaged or destroyed by the fire including several homes. joining me a mark brady of the fire department. this started as brush fire on a farm? >> it did. it quickly moved with the wind driving it. it consumed four barns on that farm. spread across the woods. reports of scataway road and anything in its path, it was burning up. we were trying to get to as many homes as we could. we saved several of them, but there were, as you said, about two dozen structures affected by this brush fire. >> reporter: tell us about the houses damaged? major? minor? >> a handful of occupied homes damaged. damages range from mild to moderate. there's repairs to be made as a result of the siding on the houses being melted. >> reporter: there's a house here near us that sustained major damage. apparently the fire jumped pit scatsaway road. >> correct. what's where we tried to prevent the fire from jumping over. in most cases we successful. with the winds as high as they were they took the embers from the other side of the ride, blew them on to this community and on to this particular house where it ignited the siding. >> reporter: tell us, also, where are the winds and complications of it? >> winds play havoc in fighting a fire. any type of fire we know it's a significant incident and the sprob getting ahead of the fire. we've had fired owl day long and the wind hampered our efforts in fighting those fires. as you can see now they're strong and stiff. you know what's going it happen. if there's a fire, it's going to fan the flames and make them grow more intense. >> reporter: here in prince georges county what started as a brush fire has damaged or destroyed several building. there's more than 1 positive firefighters out on the scene. the blaze continues to burn. reporting from clinton, darcy spencer, news4. right now, i-95 remained shut down in both directions in the laurel area because of a mattive brush fire there. just after noon, firefighters responded to an industrial lot where they found hundreds of burning piles of mulch. officials say wind helped to quickly spread that fire to i-95. no one hurt, but firefighters are still working the blaze there. you might match, traffic not moving much. there's a look at it. officials say at this point avoid that part of the laurel area completely. from maryland to virginia now. crew, battling several brush fires in prince county. we're told there have been fired in dale city and woodbridge. so smik smoke, the northbound lanes just reopened in dale city. let's go to the prince william county fire department. how widespread of the fires and what's the effect so far? >> we've had brush fires in various parts of the county. we currently have six brush fires that we're dealing with. two of which have been contained, but the dry conditions and wind is really causing significant issues for us and requiring a lot of resources to bring under control. >> how -- in terms of the acreage, how much that burn so far? any idea? >> they range from about ten acres to one that we have estimates of over 100 acres. >> and at this point, are you asking people who live in certain areas to take any special precautions? >> we have one community that we've evacuated. we've evacuated 60 residents from this forest area, and that fire is -- has been contained. so we believe that the rest of the community is under control. we're not quite ready to allow the residents back into the community yet, though. >> all right. chief kevin mcgee with the latest in prince william county tells us about evacuations as well as firefighters working to contain several brush fires. chief, thank you so much. appreciate your time. check back in with us a little later. please, sir. >> okay. to the district now where an ic iconic sign of christmas was no match for today's winds. the national christmas tree snapped at its base. derrick ward has been across the metro area today and continues our team coverage. derrick? >> reporter: well, we are here near the ellipse. i don't know if you can see it behind me. in life, all about ceremony and pageantry. in death, the national christmas tree will be unceremoniously cut up and mulched so other trees may live. another thing that fell victim to the high winds that buffeted our area and continued to do so today. high winds fanned the flames of this house fire in college park that started just before sunrise. the house destroyed and structures on either side and behind it also damaged. >> i woke up. my master bedroom was orange from the flames. >> wire also damaged gas and other utilities lines leaving customers in the area without service for the early part of the morning. trees didn't fare well either amid sustained winds of 25 miles per hour and occasional gusts of up to 50 miles an hour. the national christmas tree fell. a 46-year-old colorado spruce planted on the ellipse during the carter administration. and we are told that a second tree has already been selected that will replace this cree. now, as for the fires, luckily, there have been no injuries we have heard at this point. there has been a lot of property damage to fields, and things like that. fortunate in that rp that no one has been seriously injured and we hope that lasts as long as this wind does. live on the ellipse. back to you. >> derrick ward, appreciate it that, sir. turn to chuck bell. bring our meteorologist and talk a little more about the high winds and when they might die down. chuck what do we know at this point? >> reporter: craig, an amazing day in the wind tunnel around the washington area today. winds out at dulles international airport gusted in excess of 40 miles per hour for 11 consecutive hours. since before the sun came up this morning, the wind out at dulles international has been gusting to 40 miles an hour our higher. that's amazing in and of itself. winds gusting in excess of 50 miles an hour reported at 36 different stations in maryland, and 26 different reporting stations in northern virginia. that doesn't include central and southwest virginia. so tops op the list, wintergreen virginia, down near the shenandoah valley. 71 mile-per-hour wind gust. parole, 60. even the u.s. capitol, is 56 mile-an-hour wind gust. winds dying down about sunrise tomorrow. more coming up. >> we'll come back to you. thank you, sir. those gusty winds are causing delays at local airports. most problems at dulles. the average delay is almost 45 minutes. other airports experiencing general delays of around 15 minutes. the winds have also knocked down lots of power lines in our area, folks. pepco now reporting around 6,500 outages, mostly in the district in prince georges county. dominion virginia around 2,700 customers. northern virginia in the dark. bge reporting 4,000 outages. montgomery, and we'll continue to stay on top of the dangerous winds and update you throughout the newscast. also ahead, koworked late into e night. an update on the street could avoid a government shutdown. we'll tell you all about that and coach obama. today, the leader of the free world led a bunch of 9-year-old girls. we'd love to see your windy weather pictures as well. send those pictures of what's happening in your neighborhood to tonight the violence continues in libya. this morning police attacked a protest encampbellment in the city of ben gaghazi. 84 killed in three days of protests. moammar gadhafi, calling for him to step down. the house worked late into the night to pass a sweeping new spending bill that cuts more than $60 billion from federal programs. the $1.2 trillion spending measure includes cuts to schools, nutrition -- housing spub subsidies for the poor and plans to chine up the chesapeake bay. the big passed. it will now go to the senate where it's less likely to pass. many expect a temporary budget to pass, though, to avoid a government shutdown march 4th. still to come tonight, continuing coverage of the dangerous winds battering the metro area. and tom sherwood is going to join us to talk about his very rough landing at reagan national. also, chuck bell updates ♪ [ female announcer ] starbucks via is planted the same... ♪ ...harvested the same... ♪ ...and roasted the same as our other premium coffees. it only makes sense it would taste the same. so, try it for yourself. buy a pack of 100% natural starbucks via ready brew. we promise you'll love it or we'll send you a bag of starbucks coffee. it's the starbucks via taste promise. look for it where you buy groceries. ke continwe continue to fol breaking news. news 4's tom sherwood on the telephone. tom, of course, i follow you on twitter like lots of others an i understand you had quite the experience when were you returning from vacation at reagan national. tell me what happened. >> caller: first all, everybody at us airways plane, i'd like to thank the pilots for the job they did. ever been on a plane, waving it around? that's what it felt like this afternoon about 2:30 going up the potomac river. very bumpy. they had told us when we were near richmond it would be bumpy and to put everything away. the way they said it, colder than they normally say it. just as we go there. people we people were holding hands, just as we were getting ready to land, the plane looped back up into the sky. to make another try at landing. the pilot told us the plane in front of us hadn't quite cleared the runway so they had to go back up into the weather. it was a long few minutes and by the time we touched down, cheers and applause. pretty good. >> a white knuckle landing. >> caller: and i was observing it all as the reporter i am but kind of glad to be on the ground, too. >> hey, we're glad you made it back as well, tom sherwood. >> caller: thanks to the pilots. a great job. >> thanks, sir. appreciate that. >> caller: okay. the big story today continues to be the willnd. you were telling me some areas, 60 mile-per-hour winds? >> at least a half a dozen reporting stations somewhere above a 60 mile-an-hour wind gust. just in our little part of virginia today. this goes all the way north through philadelphia and new york city, on up into new england. we're not alone in dealing with it. some of the fiercest winds in the highest spotses, talking about wintergreen, virginia, in shenandoah valley, 71 mile-an-hour wind gust, all around the washington metro area, wind gusts between 50 and 60 miles per hour were not only commonplace, but commonplace over many consecutive hours. why i showed the graphic at the beginning of the newscast. dulles had winds gusting over 40 miles an hour four 11 consecutive hours and that continues at this point in time. here downtown at national airport, 49 degrees, current temperature. dew points are way down. so the humidity, 24%. that extremely dry air is contributing to the unbelievable high fire danger. be extremely careful. smokers put your cigarettes in an ashtray, don't flick them out the window. that's how the brush fires get started. northwest winds at 18 gusting to only 31 miles per hour. temperatures back down into the upper 30s. the cold air is starting to spill in now that the sun has gone down. expect a considerably colder night tonight than what you had last night. check out the current wind guchts, though. still winds gusting between 20 and 30 miles an hour around town. dulles international around. the gustiness is starting to come down a bit. the real strength of the winds will ease up after midnight tonight into early tomorrow. the cold air bottled up to our north is going to be making a run tat. right now our temperature is 24 degrees colder than it was at the same time yesterday. of course, yesterday we made a record high of 77. high pressure moving on in. in a will take the winds away for tomorrow. so tomorrow, feeling like february with temperatures in the 40s, but without the ferocious winds around. high pressure tomorrow bring as relatively nice day. sunshine to start. clouds spilling in later in the day. it's the time to guess to 7:00, 8:00, skies over to mostly cloudy. getting into the day on monday, starting out with plenty of clouds. even one or two breaks of sunshine on monday puts temperatures back in the 60s again. at this area of low pressure scoots by, drops a cold front down into the area, could kick off showers. second half of the day monday to start the cooler air and another chilly day coming up on tuesday. so for your saturday night, clear and windy through late tonight. evening temperatures in the 40s. start off temperatures tomorrow morning, 25 to 32. so a much colder start. then tomorrow, increasing clouds but a lot less win, feeling like february. tomorrow's high, 48. monday's high 66 degrees ahead of the rain showers. might actually end, craig, as a wet snowflake or two early tuesday morning. tuesday's high staying in the 30s. wednesday, back into the 40s. finally, a little closer to average, right around 50 degrees for thursday and another chance of some needed, desperately needed on friday. trying to play spoiler against the hocus. john wall puts on a show during the nba rookie president obama became coach obama for the day. the president is a big fan of playing pickup games. we all know that. today he was on the sidelines coaching his daughter sasha's team. president obama stepped in with another parent who usually coaches, was unable to attend, and the president gets extra good dad points, because sasha wasn't even at the game. she and her sister malia are skiing out in colorado along with michelle obama and some friends. we should note, though, at this point, we do not know if the president coached that team to victory. that would be embarrassing. >> ah, maybe not. >> no? it's embarrassing. if you lead the free world, you should be able to -- >> the president knows, you can't win them all. and virginia tech can't win them all. thanks for the nice segue. virginia will not be invited to the big dance. in-state rival virginia tech might be watching the action from that awkward spot in the back of the room. you knee place. i do. today they beat the hokies. the only hope for them to get into the tournament win all four remaining games on their schedule including an upset of number five duke. this afternoon at jpj, a/k/a john paul johns arena. his team offensively challenged. bennett's team, not having problems today. second half, working to the baseline. had to guard limb. cavaliers led by as many as 15 in the second half. under eight minutes to play. a six-point virginia lead. delany, corner, top three buries it. cuts the deficit to 45-42. the coach screaming, let's go. a minute to play. hokies down 6 and -- >> oh, no. >> delany turns it over. cavs on the break. gives it up to farrakhan for the layup. that's it. virginia beats virginia tech 61-54. cavs snap a losing xreek hokies fall to 17-8 overall. in west virginia, coach huggins and the mountaineers hosting seventh ranked notre dame. second half. dennis, backs in and scores. they call it the turkish twist there's for him. west virginia leads 52-42. later for three, got it. he went for a game high 24 points. west virginia knocks off notre dame 72-58. go to annapolis. 114th meeting between army and navy. jordan sugars all alone at the key. closes out the half on a 36-14 run. second half, more navy. off the miss. getting the offensive rebound and dunk. 17 points. navy beat army 75-58 and coach billy lange in a sweet series. >> you remember justin friedlander? 14-year-old kid diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor then started his quest to raise awareness to find a cure. today in los angeles during all-star game festivitiefestivi friedlander reached his goal. one basket for every person diagnosed with a brain tumor in the u.s. good work. keep it up. and john wall playing the rookie sophomore game. bounces the ball high off the floor for blake griffin. oh, my. amare stoudamire serving as assistant coach for the rookie, not worthy. see it again. that's just like phenomenal. love that play. end the game, wall as it passes to former kentucky teammate cousins. wow. wall finished with 22 assists. sets the game record for assists. wall the mvp. rookies beat the sophomores 148-140. later tonight coming up, highlights. georgetown played at south florida and george mason takes on northern iowa. yep. >> thanks for all that. appreciate that. >> yo! >> and they're off. if you've ever been to a nationals game you've seen the mascots. seen them. we love them. a group of fans got a chance to try out to become one of the founding fathers. the team held auditions to fill the shoes at abe, george, tom and teddy for the upcoming seasons. the presidential hopefuls had to race, do an interview and show off some of their dance skills as well. good luck, and we certainly hope this is the year teddy finally wins one. >> maybe. that's the news for now. "nightly news" is up next and don't forget, we will be back here tonight, news4 at 11:00 with lots more on the dangerous wind conditions today. have a great night. ♪ [ male announcer ] america's beverage companies are working together to put more information right up front. adding new calorie labels to every single can, bottle and pack they produce. so you can make the choice that's right for you. ♪