Nats fire chief a 911 call was received around 330 this afternoon that there was a fire at the old dan river plant, Randall Johnson is the fire marshall for campbell county. He says there are about 7590 firefighters on scene battling the flames. Johnson says this fire is unusual because of how massive it is, its engulfing the 355 thousand square foot facility. The biggest challenge to fight the fire getting resources like water to put it out. Randall johnson campbe ll county fire chief because we are limited to hydrants there are none in the factory in a proper it itself and also in the beginning we had several small spot fires that started in the grass surrounding the plant that we had to deal with, johnson says right now he feels there arent any toxic chemicals in the former site. The property was a textile plant. But was shutdown. For the past six months a recycling plant has been in the process of tearing it apart. Piece by piece. Cross after today i dont think they are going to have to worry about that so much, but as the fire burns people like cross will make sure it most of the evening, firefighters say they are still started. We dug a little deeper into the history of the plant. The former textile plant built in 1948 is over 300 acres of land. The process of tearing down the months. Nearly a dozen washington and lee students recover the charred remains of their belongings today. After their lexington apartment was destroyed in a fire early wednesday morning. The fire at the building on the 200 block of randolph road in lexington began on the wooden fire escape. It was caused by discarded smoking material. The building is more than 120 years old. Senior kaela fiutak was the first to notice the blaze. Many of her roommates say they owe her their lives for out safely. Kaela fiutak, discovered fire at that point, your mind is just, its go, you just have to get out of there. Grab some pants and, didnt even get any shoes and just woke up my flat, apartment mate on the third floor and we tried to get everyone else out. No one was hurt in the fire. All of the students have found alternate housing. The Danville Fire Department is offering free Carbon Monoxide detectors as bitterly cold temperatures are expected over the next few days. Carbon monoxide is a colorless and odorless poisonous gas that can cause you to become sick or even die if you consume too much of it. The Fire Department has 90 detectors, which they purchased through a grant from walmart. Heaters and fireplaces produce Carbon Monoxide, which is why the Fire Department wants residents to get these detectors as soon as possible if they dont already have one. Shelby j. Irving danville fire marshal in the event that the Fire Department. Let us come and come in with our meters and check out what you have. If youre interested in getting a free detector. Head over to our website wsls dot com for more information. Roanoke police are investigating an accident that sent a pedestrian to the hospital. Police say it happened tonight around 8 15 in the 500 block of orange avenue. Orange avenue westbound is closed between plantation and williamson while officers investigate. The Virginia House of delegates passes a bill targeting drivers who Smoke Cigarettes in cars with children. The bill would make smoking illegal if a child under eight is in the vehicle. While drivers could not be pulled over for smoking with children in the car. They could get a 100dollar fine if pulled over for another reason and to be smoking. Supporters say the measure would help protect the developing lungs of children. Invasive measure by state government. Alex morris smoker you should not be smoking in the car 18. Its just, theyre not allowed to smoke it , why the smoke butted to Michael Holman if they want to smoke in their car, its their car its perfectly, they pay taxes for their cars any damn way the bill still has to pass the final reading tomorrow. Testimony begins in the trial against ashley white. She is charged with three counts of child abuse and neglect in connection to the death of her son. Noah thomas. Today we learned more about the charges against white. The prosecution says two of her child abuse and neglect crimes occurred when she left noah and his sixmonthold baby sister home alone while she took the childrens father. Paul thomas. To work. The third offense occurred when she fell asleep after returning home that morning, leaving noah unattended. Thats when the prosecution says he ultimately died. The defense argued falling asleep in your home is not a crime. The prosecution is expected to rest its case tomorrow. For one local school. Preventing drug abuse begins in the classroom. Middle school just received a grant to begin the too good for Drugs Program this semester. The program is offered once a week during school hours for 5th and 7th grade students as a supplement to the dare program. The class teaches students social and emotional character that will help build self esteem and enable them to say no to drugs an issue many children may already face at home. Jared rader principal Macy Mcclaugherty so many people get involved with drug abuse from an environment or family life. If we can teach kids the necessary tools that we have to think better of themselves so that they dont fall victim and prey to things like those in their life, that will give them a step and an advantage over other students. Too good for drugs is a program taught by prevention specialists from new River Valley Community services who partner with the school system. A decision is expected soon on whether Deschutes Brewery is coming to the star city. Roanoke is competing the west coast brewery to open its newest east coast location here in southwest virginia. New tonight at 11. Wsls 10s danny fried spoke with the owner to see if specific city. Shipping costs and Business Growth have been the deciding factors in Deschutes Brewerys expansion to the east coast. And some of the cities in the running for the new brewery arent just putting out the welcome mat they are in the midst of full fledged social media campaigns. Its a long way to ship beer all the way to the east coast, and beer is heavy and bulky and relatively inexpensive. Therefore, the transportation costs are a major factor, Deschutes Brewery founder and ceo gary fish said this week. Right now, five cities are in the running for deschutes next location not just of a pub, t brewery. E want a place thats autiful great people, good recation opportities, fish id. Andall the places that we have on the short list are very high in that regard. Anoke, virginia, and hille, North Carolina are o cities ashort list that have received a lot of attention. Its a very outdoor type oflre that wevetransitioned into something that would be very familiar, and we are centrally located on the east coast, said michael galliher, campaign deschutes 2 roanoke. We have major highways and interstates and we have the train line. So theres easy ways of transporting and our quality of water is the best in virginia, galliher said. But ashville is not backing down. Fit, said tony kiss, beer reporter for the asheville citizen times. Everyone here would love to have deschutes come and be a part of our scene. If you go into an area that doesnt have the same history and tradition of craft brewing, you might have to explain. But you dont have to do that in asheville. Its already well established what craft brewing can do for a community, s new at 11. Natural bridge is out of debt. New at 11. Natural bridge is out of debt. The park paid off its three Million Dollar debt. The park is also becoming a state park and will receive 120 thousand dollars from the state each year for an operating budget. The town of bedford is making upgrades to its major source of power. The hydro plant along the james river built in 19 11. Has not been renovated since the 1980s. The town of bedford plans to increase electric rates to pay for the renovations which will cost nearly a Million Dollars. However. The town manager says the upgrades will pay off since the town will no longer depend on other companies as much for power in the future, which would lower bills. Renovations include upgrading gates so they can open, add an automatic cleaner. Charlie kolakowski tow n manager the hydro facility it does contribute toward stabilizing prices it is good clean Renewable Power and it is affordable. The town of bedford will start increasing rates and make upgrades this july. Putting a smile on others faces. How local High School Students are giving back to veterans for valentines day came early for some southside veterans today. Jrotc cadets at Bassett High School delivered valentines day cards to veterans at the kings grant retirement home in henry county this morning. The henry county parks and Rec Department collected over two thousand hand made cards from citizens over the past few weeks as part of their cards for vets program. Edward cozzette Army Air Corps veteran i think its wonderful. Im very much impressed with the rotc. Im always impressed when i see these youngsters in their uniforms. After handing out the cards. The vets talked to the cadets about their time in the service. Tonight was the 4th annual urban professional League Community achievement awards. It recognizes people making a difference in the community. This years recipients included sheriffs Deputy Antonio hash. Who won citizen of the year. And Business Award winner cora carpenter small. The creator of paint nite roanoke. Wsls 10s brie jackson emceed the event. The urban professional aims to promote professionalism and Community Service while improving the quality of life in the star city. The flurries and snow showers have finally ended. For a brief time. Thursday was pretty chilly but at least we saw more sunshine however, another clipper will impact the region on friday, bringing more snow showers, especially into the mountains. Tonight clouds thicken, cold with less wind. Lows in the midtoupper teens. Friday mostly cloudy with mountain snow showers. Highs in the middle 30s. While most of the snow showers will occur in the mountains on friday, we will see a spillover of some flurries, maybe even a few snow looking at a coating1 maybe above 2500 ft. , up to 2 in the nrv and highlands, with a possible dusting in spots farther east. This will start in the morning and end in the afternoon or early evening. The weekend looks dry. But very cold. Saturday will see a mix of sun and clouds with highs in the middle 20s. It will be breezy too, so it will make the temperatures feel even colder. Overnight lows saturday night will get down into the Single Digits in most spots, with some mountain locations getting wind chill. Thats strictly air temperature. And with the wind, it will feel colder than that. Sunday looks partly to mostly sunny with highs in the midtoupper 20s. Please bundle up all weekend long. Things get interesting on monday. Frankly, you want computer model consistency and modelto model. There is none of that right now. Both monday and tuesday look cloudy with precipitation likely. At this point, it looks a good Old Fashioned wintry mix is in the forecast. Last night, it looked more like snow for us. Now it is looks like more of a mix. The best chance of snow accumulation will be the farther west you go. Farther east, while i think you will some snow, sleet, and freezing rain just like the mountains, you should probably see more plain rain involved. Just know, there are lots of question marks with this system. What will be its track . How much warm air will be drawn up into the system . Timing of storm . Temperatures will reach the lowtomid 30s on monday, with highs climbing into the low tomid 40s on tuesday. By tuesday, i think a lot of what we see will likely of the storm holds off until tuesday, that should cut down on the amount of snow we see. Things will settle down on wednesday and thursday. Although we may still see a little lingering moisture early on wednesday along the west slopes, most of us look dry on wednesday with increasing sun. Wednesday could be a day where we see more sun east and more clouds west. Thursday is mostly sunny everywhere. Temperatures both days go up into the upper 40s. We may turn even warmer after that. Have finally ended. For a brief time. Thursday was pretty chilly but at least we saw more sunshine however, another clipper will impact the region on friday, bringing more snow mountains. Tonight clouds thicken, cold the midtoupper teens. Friday mostly cloudy with mountain snow showers. Highs in the middle 30s. While most of the snow showers will occur in the mountains on friday, we will it was a special night around sw virginia. From the return of an nba star in the city. To National Recognition in salem. Well have that and more. Next in there has to be a way. Carry the centimeter, divide by 3. 14 something something something. [ beeping, whirring ] and now the name your price tool shows people policy options to help fit their budget. Is that a true story . Yeah people really do save an average of over 500 when they switch. I mean about you inventing it. I invented the story, and isnt that what really matters . Guard . Well its an honor to have my jersey retired here if im not mistaken i think im the first so its a great feeling just to give back to my family and my community its a humbling experience i had to go through a lot of ups and downs it William Fleming but i got through it just as well as i got through it its called life but its a great experience to be here. Current nba guard troy daniels. Has his jersey retired at the home of the colonels tonight. The 6 4 daniels wore number 30 when he helped lead fleming to the Group Aa Championship in 2007 as a sophomore. And two years later. Fleming lost the group aaa championship game to kings fork by a single bucket. To the ball game tonight. One loss northside in. To battle the colonels. First half von saunders. Pretty move in traffic, and he banks it in for two. More from the home team. Its saunders again. The deep 3. But northside has been the big dawg all year. Nick price with the reverse pivot drive thrive for 2 of his team high 21 coach hardy could have used troy tonight. The vikings grab the win. Salems incredible 150 football season. Earned them. Not just the vhsl state title but a spot. In the National Rankings as well. Tonight at salem. The maxpreps opped through the home of the spartans. Its one of 50 stops. As the spartans finished number 86 in the nation. Out of more than 15 thousand High School Football teams ranked around the nation. Coach Stephen Magenbauer received the Army National guard ranking trophy. Honoring their win over previously undefeated lake taylor for the title. And their spot amoung the nationss elite teams Stephen Magenbauer sal em head coach we were very appreciative and very thankful to be recognized from max preps which we follow all year and the things that they do. The ceremony happened at halftime of the Boys Varsity Basketball game tonight. Where the spartans and pulaski co did battle. The spartans. Were showing well there too. This is Trevor Austin ahead to baylor mabes for two of his 22. Pulaski responds with the nice dish to noah bradley for a bucket. But salem. Gets this three from goran vukovich. Radford. At the big south leading unc asheville bulldogs tonight. A chance. To make a statement. With the Conference Season winding down. Radford trailing second half. But rallying at the conference leaders house. Ya ya anderson the clutch 3 and the lead is just 2. 2 and a half to play. Lead is one. 22 seconds left. Rashaun davis to the rack for the lead. He had 16. And the final toss. Does not find the mark. Radford. Pulls the big south upset. 6059. Vmi with just their 7th win of the year. Its a great effort. 8672 a bright spot. For the hokies in the loss in charlottesville. The return. Of chris clarke. The freshman out of Virginia Beach made his return to game action after suffering a broken foot in late december he finsihed with 11 points in only 13 minutes. He was the second leading scorer for the hokiesand that bodes well moving forward i thought you gave us some life we probably need to do more with the foul issues than i wouldve anticipated but hes a good player and we couldve used him all along. To news and notes. Four players from Virginia Tech are invited to the nfl scouting combine including kendall fuller. Luther maddy. Ryan malleck. And dadi nicholas. The vt women fall at nc tonight in a tight one. 71 67 hannah young had 22. And the orange. Get a home win over floreida state. To move to 75 on the Conference Season. And your lite o the nite. European tour golf. No shirt. No shoes. No service. Hayden porteous in south africa. Decides in the water. To go shirtless. He eventually put it back on. But was shoeless. For stay with us. Were continuing our coverage tonight of a massive fire at the dan river plant in brookneal. The fire started this afternoon around 3 30. And crews are still at the scene. Thats where duke carter is tonight. Duke duke adlibs about fire latest on this developing story. When were not on the air. Make sure to head over to our website wsls dot com. And make sure to join jenna and patrick tomorrow morning on virginia today. The tonight show with jimmy fallon is next. man this is where it all started. I received a call from our dispatch center. Smoke was coming from a manhole, and thats not good. We entered the manhole. We discovered that the cables had been melted by the fire. We jumped in, we got to work, and in a little over eight hours, we had the power back on. Hi, im john snyder, Distribution System supervisor for appalachian power. Its my goal to keep the lights on and everything run smoothly, and no one even notices. announcer we may be a power company, but the true power in our communities [ cheers and applause ] steve from studio 6b in Rockefeller Center in the heart of new york city, its the tonight show starring jimmy fallon. Tonight, join jimmy and his guests kristen wiig, bob odenkirk, musical guest, elle king, and featuring the legendary roots crew. Questlove 416 t. O. Steve and now, here he is,