County. Im dan ashley. And im kristen sze. Shock for homeowners after big rig hit a power pole causing smart meters to explode in nearby homes. Happened in discovery bay. Laura anthony is live to show you how widespread the problems became. Reporter hi dan. Power outage affected about 3,000 customers here in eastern contra costa county. Forcing closure of a school for the day but power surge surprised and frightened some customers. Pretty good explosion. Heard from inside the house and pieces looked like they went eight to ten feet. Explosion, pg e smart smeert. Cause a truck accident. Medic 54, it is a big rig into a power pole. Occupant is out. Starte in discovery bay, leaving the pole and power lines teetering precariously. The high powered transmission lines at top of the pole came into contact with the residential lines blow. Hit and caused surge in the system. Problems down the line. Reporter at this home resulting power surge caused this smart meter to explode, among other issues. All of a sudden the electrical outlets started popping and fire shooting out of one, and heard noise outside. In discovery bay, reporting a popping noise and possible exploding smart meter. Reporter pg e crews were out. Students were released from lack of power. Damage in there. Just havent found it yet. Reporter pg e says residents can submit claims. On our website, abc7news. Com. A new wildfire is burning in southern california. Wild amire fire in riverside county. Just the last few minutes spread to 350 acres and burning in rugged offroad vehicle area on the eastern side of the forest. Evacuations have been ordered, zero containment. Now to the latest in the kate steinle murder case, park ranger whose gun was stolen testified today. Investigators say that gun fired the bullet that killed steinle. Lyanne melendez joins us with more on his testimony. Reporter in court the park ranger was asked, do you bear any responsibility for what happened on pier 14, and that question went unanswered. But we did learn two things from his testimony, number one, that gun was fully loaded with one bullet in the chamber, ready to fire. And number two, the gun had no safety. A backpack with fully loaded hand gn was placed on the floor behind the drivers seat, what was testified in court. When he came back from having dinner with three children and fiance, back window was smashed out and bag stolen. Prosecutors say the gun was used four days later in the shooting death of kate steinle. He said that night his badge, credentials, and second gun clip were also taken. Federal park ranger who works for bureau of Land Management told jury he felt comfortable leaving the gun in the suv parked in embarcadero district. Car was locked, area well lit and suv had tinted windows. Theres no question that he acted negligently and triggered course of events that led to the death of kate steinle. Evidence speaks loudest and jury will rely on the evidence when they reach a determination at concluson of the case. Reporter park ranger acknowledged that the Owners Manual suggest keeping the gun unloaded for users safety and safety of others. He had driven up with his children in the suv. In court it was revealed that pieces of clothing were missing from the suv. Defense alleged that defendant found the gun wrapped in piece of cloth and fired it accidentally. Cloth was never found. Mill peat as high school went on lockdown twice today after two separate reports of students bringing guns to school. Earlier arrested 14yearold boy who waved a handgun in the bathroom. Nobody was hurt. Second incident, talked to student after campus. Three other incidents around the bay area this week involving students bringing guns to school. Berkeley police need your help finding someone who punched someone and took off in car. Drove a mercedes with paper plate frds dealership. Riding in another car and yelled at suspect about erratic driving and dispute turned violent. Novato police need your help identifying a robbery suspect. Surveillance images from local jewelry store. This woman entered on monday, asked to try on ring, ran out front door wearing it. Her hands pretty distinctive, has the word love tattooed across left knuckles and hate tattooed on her right knuckles. New developments, tips from public and Surveillance Video helped Oakland Police solve twoyearold case. Stray bullet hit musician outside an oakland night club. Eric thomas is live with more. Reporter both relief and frustration in this case, relief that police and federal agents combined in task force have solved the crime but frustration in that the suspect can never be brought to justice. Its tragic. It was a sad case. Reporter Oakland Police and fbi announced after two years of deadened leads solved killing of navarres, he was killed after finishing a gig at golden bull easter sunday, 2013. Through partnership with the fbi and media, got tips from the community, which was needed. Case that should not have happened, something we dont forget about the victims. Reporter investigators say the tips and this surveillance picture led hem to dejour jamarson. Targeting someone he had argued with earlier. Missed intended target and struck two people. One emilio. Reporter solved but never stand trial. Mr. Jamerson passed away, deceased. Reporter case was solved by joint task force of local police and federal agents. Here members of the task force searching for people behind a brutal gang hit in 2015. Fbi says it was glad to play role in that and finding this killer. Hes part of the fabric and thread here in oakland. For somebody to senselessly take somebodys life and tear that fabric apart in oakland is not something were going to stand for. Reporter in oakland, eric thomas, abc7 news. New at 6 00, new information about that dog that stopped b. A. R. T. Trains in their tracks. Hes now been adopted. Almost exactly a month ago the brown pit bull ran as crews approached. Led to chase and crowded platforms as b. A. R. T. Shut off power to the third rail getting the dog to safety. Unable to locate number. And dog now named bart has new owner. Posted this picture. Local family adopted him last week. Fell in love with mellow and affectionate attitude. Janet neapolitanno announced the university will writes quote the time has come to explore in thoughtful deliberative way the state of free speech at our nations colleges and universities. Students once and future relationship with the First Amendment and what tomorrow holds for engaging people in our democracy. She will chair the new senator. Board members include former senator barbara boxer. Cars in the express lane in contra costa county, 40 shouldnt be there. Dont have fastrak transponder. Violators will be notified by mail but not penalized for now. Using the lanes and dont have fastrak, wont receive violation penalty first couple of weeks. Just invoiced for the toll amount only. The lanes opened on southbound and north 680. Mtc says overall the lanes are working as expected with traffic moving faster than the mixed flow lanes. Some but not all the files related to john f. Kennedys 1963 assassination were released little more than an hour ago. National archives provided pdf link to thousands of documents. President donald trump has blocked a portion of documents at request of the cia and fbi to protect national security. Remain redacted for additional 180 days for government review. 49ers debuted a new partnership with Police Agencies today. Look at tough topics theyre tackling together. Im spencer christianson, accuweather forecast. Building a better battery that wont catch fire. Jonathan bloom with what a scientific breakthrough announced today could pave the way for safer batteries that last longer. All seen pictures of gadgets that caught fire unexpectedly. Today Jonathan Bloom went to stanford lab where researchers are getting closer look why they explode. Punctured it. Reporter puncture battery, catches fire. Some catch fire on their own. Hoverboards to sam sungs galaxy note 7, they were punctured too at atomic level. Grow dendrites, pierce the separatornd create short circuits. Reporter biggest thing that keeps batteries from getting smaller and holding more energy but closer look was almost impossible. Has low melting point. Reporter shows tiny needles falling apart under the microscope, looking at them with powerful electron beam makes them disintegrate. This is liquid nitrogen. Reporter turned out to be a solution. Freezes battery before it breaks down. Won nobel prize. Able to stabilize and zoom in. Reporter never done before, no instruction manual for getting frozen battery into electron microscope. Required a trip to the hardware store. Funnel and therm oes allowed the team to transfer. Can take out while under liquid niej. Reporter and keep frozen under the microscope. Can see individual atoms of lithium metal. Reporter and begin finding ways to get rid of them. Lab is backing the research which could pave the way for batteries that last ten times as long. Maybe drive from San Francisco to l. A. With one charge. Reporter and more safely. Prevent phone explosions in the future. Reporter at stanford, abc7 news. Latest of many discoveries that bay area scientists have made in battery safety. Michael finney has been researching this. Batteries still a potential danger. Talking about this for years talked with many bay area scientists working on how to prevent these fires. For now lithium ion batteries still powering millions of our devices. The question, how close to finding a solution and what can you do now to protect yourself in may recall the frightening scenes. Hoverboards suddenly exploding. Its on fire. This is the room where it happened. A san leandro home destroyed when toy car battery blew up. Researchers are intensifying research to find out why batteries explode and how to prevent it. Very simple sheet of film. Stanford professor jinan bao discovered how off battery when got too hot and but still powered by lithium batteries. Never leave unattended on charger and never near something flammable. Use only a charger intended specifically for your device. Avoid cheap products powered by lithium batteries. Pose a great risk. Always think its going to happen to somebody else, be very aware. Scientists say it could be a decade before battery makers adopt new technology making them safer. However its still rare that lithium battery will explode. Thats the good news but follow the precautions. Better safe than sorry. Even a small percentage is too much. Today and tomorrow, spare the air days in bay area. Sample of the conditions. Air quality district has never called a smog alert this late in the year. Air quality not related to wildfires but light winds, warm temperatures and car exhaust. Which hangs there in the heat and light winds. Spencer christian. Heat has lingered as you know. Week of record heat and today another day. Live doppler 7, sunny skies but see the beginnings of a little bit of marine layer approaching the coastline. High temperatures, records in san jose, 91 degrees, new record high for this date. Ukiah 93, tied record high for the date. Many other nonrecords pretty warment 92 at santa rosa and napa. 82 at oakland, 85 at San Francisco, 87 at santa cruz. Bright blue over the bay from rooftop. 74 in San Francisco, oakland and Mountain View at 79. 87 gilroy, half moon bay, 63 degrees. Western sky from emeryville. 77 at novato. Concord is 87. And one more life view over the golden gate bridge. Forecast, warm bay and inland again tomorrow but sharply cooler over the weekend. No trick, just a treat for halloween. Weather will be pleasant then. Overnight, mainly clear, low temperatures mid to upper 50s. Cooler in north bay valley. Tomorrow mild to warm but not likely to see records. Low 70s at coast to low and mid80s around the bay. Mid to upper 80s in warmest locations. Air quality poor in some locations. Another spare the air day. Poorest in inland east way and santa clara valley. Beach hazard tomorrow through saturday. Wave heights growing. Rip currents, sneaker waves, elevated waves and rough surf. Koolg over the weekend. Saturday is cooler along the coast and bay. Temperatures in 60s and 70s. 80s linger inland saturday but sunday cooler in all areas. Warmest inland locations into the mid to upper 70s. Monday is coolest of the three days, autumn chill settling in day before halloween. Friday morning, approaching light rainfall likely to sweep through the bay area next friday continuing into saturday and through the day, chance of mixed precipitation and maybe even snow if this forecast model holds up. Accuweather sevenday forecast. Another mild to warm day tomorrow and only slightly cooler inland on the saturday. Cooling kicks into high gear sunday and monday. Tuesday is looking nice for trick trick or treaters. Coming up next, how to turn two major acknowledgments from twitter. Admitted overstating number of user for past three years. Mistakenly included a segment of users from Third Party Applications but made 1 difference. Tobac twitter is poised to make first profit ever. Nasdaq was the only index to lose ground today. Walgreens will close stores next year, a month after regulators gave them go ahead to acquire half of rite aids stores. Most of the closures will be those Stores Within a mile of walgreens. Not yet announced which stores. Abc7 news in san pedro square when unveiled the go bike program. Announced latest bay area location for go bike fooling stations in San Francisco, oakland, berkeley and emeryville. As we see the city become more dense, as we see the high rise just behind me, more and more congestion and need solutions for modern city. Bikes are old solution that still works well today. 300 available for rental across san jose and every time you ride earn ten miles in Alaska Airlines frequent flier program. We had images of e. T. This is better. Bay area billionaire wanted to split california six ways. Didnt get far. Hes back again, who would join the bay area in newly proposed threeway split. Resilient. Well recover. Take a full containment is expected tomorrow on the wildfires that devastated the north bay and recovery and rebuilding efforts are already under way. Rebuilding isnt just about the physical structures. Its also reputation, rich one through napa valley. Wayne freedman with the story. Reporter what is wrong with these pictures . Napa valley wine train, epicurean delight thats major tourist attraction in the last quarter century but note the empty seats. Talk to the guy who owns the business. Down about 75 over typical october. Reporter blame the wildfires of two weeks ago. Dangers have passed but tourists not returned to region. Art gallery in napa is lonely. Business is down, perception is we all burned up in napa and fact is were more untouched than touched. Reporter blue skies and clean air, in bid to get message out, wine train filled with elected officials. Whistle stop ad hoc press conference. Asked about the difference between recovering from fire versus earthquake. Earthquake was more repair and fire is more start over. Reporter but not in the towns of this valley. Came as relief to angie and ronald of san diego. Booked this Birthday Celebration vacation two months ago. Admits to having been worried. Didnt want to come to devastation and people losing their homes. But thinking abou we live in san diego, been through this. Reporter they know the importance of supporting economies recovering from tragedies. Only cancel if closed where we couldnt get in. Reporter three years ago, earthquake, now fires. Napa valley, one twinnicontinui theme. We were so prepared because of the earthquake. Reporter notes that napa learned invaluable lessons dealing with the earthquake and now sharing those lessons with officials in sonoma county. World baseball class abc7 news. Bear fair is 100 in control now. Broke out in steep terrain between bolder creek and lexington reservoir. Charred 399 acres and destroyed 44 structures. Were expecting new information into the cause of the fire. New at 6 00, plan to split california into three states cleared first hurdle. Supporters going to collect signatures. Plan by tech billionaire tim draper who funded similar proposal in 2016 to divide into six sections. That failed. Draper argues that people would be better served by three smaller state governments. Northern california would include bay area to oregon border. Southern california in fresno and cover most of the south. And New California in P Los Angeles county covering the coastal areas. Opponents say create chaos. Three new governments, legislatures, governors, and then having to disrupt what we have as state, prison systems, higher education. I think diversity makes california great and this would actually ruin it. If measure made it on the ballot and be approved, would still need permission from congress. Happening now, first of three Community Meetings for people to talk about what they want in the next Redwood City Police chief. J. R. Gomez announced will retire in december. San francisco 49ers organization launched new division to address the distrust with the police. Details on why police in nine cities have signed on. Reporter these and other Police Officers admit theyve been angry and upset by players taking a knee, criticizing how they deal with citizens but switched from defensive to offensive strategy today. Nine officer organizations signed a pledge to join the 49ers to end the divisions and work towards better relations. Hope is through Education Officers and citizens will strive to make each interaction with one another grounded in mutual respect. I think we can bring Law Enforcement and communities they serve closer together. Im proud were starting that issue. Clear issue is ban bump stocks, device used in las vegas shootings that turn semiautomatics to automatics. Police officer said stand behind the Second Amendment but believe common sense laws are needed to protect officers and people. That is why the Law Enforcement unions here today are taking unprecedented step of supporting resolution to ban the manufacture, possession and sale of bump stocks and similar devices. Reporter 49er safety who joined kaepernick supports this. But wont stop protest. Until get something written into stone or nfl makes us feel lik