Good evening and thanks for joining us. Im diane dwyer. A serial arsonist is on the loose in the south bay. There have been ten fires in less than a week, all in downtown san jose. Police are hoping a new 10,000 reward will make the difference. Kimberly terry is at the scene of the latest fire with more for us. Reporter Authorities Say they have grave concerns for Public Safety and also for the firefighters who are risking their lives to fight this rash of suspicious fires which have been moving fast, growing very quickly. The 10,000 reward is being offered by the San Jose Firefighters Union for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible. Neighbors who live on east st. John and 17th woke up just before 4 30 this morning to massive flames. I went to the back and i came outside and there was a fire in the back. So i came over here right away and tried to get them out. Reporter a couple in their 70s were inside sleeping but escaped unharmed. According to investigators, this is the 10th suspicious fire since wednesday. These fires have targeted san jose residents in the darkest hours at night when they are most vulnerable. We have been very fortunate these fires have not resulted in serious injury or death. Should these fires continue, i fear this fortune may run out. Reporter that is why firefighters are working with police to find the suspected arsonist. The connection with all those is they are in the same geographic area. They are similar in nature. They are similar as far as the time frame that they occur. Reporter san jose fire issued this sketch of a person of interest taken from home surveillance cameras. The person is a white or hispanic male, 25 to 40 years old, 6 feet between 62 180 pounds, wearing large frame glasses. Neighbors say theyll be on the lookout for anything suspicious but are especially concerned sims it seems the suspect is randomly targeting buildings and homes. These fires are happening in the dark of night. Make sure that your smoke detecters are operational. Replace the batteries. There are ways that you are alerted in the event of a fire and housekeeping around your home and smoke detecters are very good things to do. Reporter if you have any information about the fires or the person of interest, call san jose fire or san jose police. Live in san jose, kimberly terry, nbc bay area news. Thank you for the update. Fire investigator also be out in palo alto tomorrow trying to figure you what sparked a house fire there. The house is too unstable to go in and investigate. The fire chief believes it started in the kitchen and says the house was filled with boxes of newspapers which made the fire difficult to fight. Police have not released their names. We are halfway through the flu season and as the number of deaths in the bay area continues to rise, theres now word of a temporary shortage of flu vaccines. Monty . Reporter as far as we can tell, this is not a widespread shortage, but there are some drugstores that have run out of flu shots. This pharmacy had about 30 doses on hand earlier today but ran out this afternoon. Walgreens and cvs are acknowledging that their farmlies are running low or run out of flu shots and will take 48 hours to replenish the supply. Flu season runs through april and demand is high. Basically, its just for the protection of myself and my daughters. Reporter officials are urging everyone to get a flu shot, setting a series of deaths from the swine flu or h1n1. The flu shot, if you get the h1n1, and there are other vary yamts. Reporter in 2010, about 600 californians died in the swine flu pandemic. So far, Health Officials are not predicting anything like that. But since october, seven bay area counties have reported collectively 13 flu related deaths. All the victims have been under the age of 65. I know that there are people that have died recently, but i consider if its my time to go, its my time, but i dont worry about getting illnesses or being overly concerned about that. Reporter the most recent victim was a 23yearold man with no Underlying Health problems. Some people who have never had a flu shot are now considering one. But many others say they still dont want the vaccine despite the deaths and the warnings. Ive never had one. I dont do all the shots. I havent gotten the flu, so i dont know. Reporter if you want the vaccine, you should be able to find it. This wall greens is expecting more on monday. Monty francis, nbc bay area news. Thank you, monty. Police in one east bay city say 2013 was one of their safest years ever. There was not a single homicide in san pablo. There was a drop in other crime, as well. Reported rapes dropped by 50 and assaults fell by 19 . Well, first it was shoppers at target who were victims of a cyber attack. Now its neimann marcus. They were informed of the breach in december. And they are working with the secret service. Target still hasnt said how the information was stolen from stores or internal systems. One customer we talked to ordered a new debit card after the target breach and now hes worried it wasnt enough. Monitoring for one year for all customers regardless of when you shopped. Tomorrow it is a big day if youre a 49er fan. The niners take on the panthers. And mindy bach is there. Im joined by matt. Heavy rains here in charlotte on saturday. Generally the 49ers get outside on the day before a game and go through their final walk through, the final practice that they have before the game. They were unable to do that saturday in charlotte, north carolina. So because of the weather, they stayed inside. The motel ballroom and went through the final preparations there. The reason they didnt want to get outside is theres no use to deal with the wet conditions today when its going to be sunny and mid 50s on sunday. So the 49ers got their final preparations in a ballroom, strictly ballroom. The 49ers have two coaches, greg roman as well as jim, who are not only preparing for this game but preparing for job interviews for other nfl teams. I asked jim harbaugh earlier this the week if thats a distraction. I asked him about the coaches keeping focus. He says he knows his guys and knows where all their preparation is into, and its into this game on sunday. They did interview with the Minnesota Vikings and all the game planning stuff was taken care of earlier in the week. But still, thats time out of the week that these guys are studying up about the Minnesota Vikings. Its tough to quantify how much it will impact the 49ers. But i dont think it will have any bearing on the game on sunday. The one thing it did have a bearing on is whether the 49ers could play at home for that championship game. Seattle took that away. So the end of an era. It is. We know now the time game in 49ers candle stick history was played on december 23rd. The 49ers did have a glimmer of hope, but with seattle win, the road to the super bowl leads through seattle. The 49ers need to win this divisional playoff game. The last time and the only time the 49ers have won a divisional game on the road was in 1970 over the Minnesota Vikings. Theyre hoping to get number two on sunday. Reporting from charlotte, north carolina. Fans come in all sizes and ages. This is 2yearold mckenna. Shes a bigtime niner fan. Weve been follow thing fan since birth be. Here she is at a newborn. And here on her first birthday, sporting a Michael Crabtree jersey. Looking good. We would love to see your fan photos, as well. One way to share them is on twitter or instagram. Coming up next at 11 00, a bay area teenager competed tonight for a spot on the olympic team. 15yearold Paulina Edmonds took second place in nationals tonight. And there are three spots for u. S. Skaters. Well explain why she still might not make the team. And colorado is making millions after legalizing recreational marijuana. What stores are doing to make sure they dont run out of the drug. What little rain we had is already moving on. 40s and 50s right now. Tomorrow afternoon, highs climbing into the mid 60s. But notice the north bay and san francisco, turning breezy. Offshore winds, rising temperatures and fire danger for the week ahead. Counting down to sochi. Tomorrow, well find out who will represent the United States in the ladies figure stating competition. The youngest competitor is from the bay area and she won a second place finish tonight at nationals. From san jose, california, Paulina Edmonds. An exciting night in boston for the best figure skaters in the nation. And bay area native Paulina Edmonds had a breakout performance. She surprised the judges and crowd with a second place finish in the Short Program on thursday, and then tonight. She has one of the most technically challenging programs of the evening. She started strong with a tripletriple combination. Her only major flaw of the evening, a fall on a triple lutz. Shes just 15 years old, the youngest competitor tonight. Shes a sophomore in san jose. And i talked to Gold MedalistChristy Yamaguchi tonight by phone. She was quietly rooting for her fellow bay area scokater. You have to root for the hometown girl. To just go lights out and skate like she said is incredible. She trains at the sharks facility in san jose. I knew from the moment i saw her skate that she would have such a great chance at making it, because of how hard she works and on her moms car, she has the Olympic Rings on it. Thats always been in her mind. So despite her number two finish, and there are three spots for the u. S. Womens team, its possible she still might not make it. Officials plan to meet tomorrow morning to decide who will be named to the olympic team. Ashley wagner, who finished fourth, has International Experience and is a twotime national champion. So according to Christy Yamaguchi, its possible wagner could get the spot over Paulina Edmonds. Well, the legal sale of marijuana is a booming business for the state of colorado. Experts say sales of pot have topped 5 million. An ounce of recreational pot is going for 400. The demand means some stores are selling out. Many stores say they need to ration their product. Weve got meteorologist rob mayeda. She hes checking out the weather around here. We still have enough clouds and a breeze to keep the temperatures up. 51 in san francisco. 47 in san jose. 49 around palo alto. 46 in the east bay around oakland. Skies clearing tonight and we might see a few 30s up in the valleys and briefly patchy fog, too. Todays rainfall, Half Moon Bay about 0. 05 of an inch of rain. Just maybe one raindrop fell in oakland to register that trace. All the action has moved away from the sierra. A decent weather system, but things clearly have shut down around the bay area, whats left of those light rain showers have pushed off towards the east. The trend were going to see tomorrow, well start off with some clouds, during the day tomorrow well start off with these patches of fog into the north bay. Through the afternoon, look how the skies start to clear out. This is High Pressure starting to build in. Winds during the day tomorrow will be out of the north by the evening. The pattern is going to flipflop again as High Pressure builds back in. Highs in the 60s and 70s and perhaps fire danger in the hill tops as we head into tomorrow. Tomorrow, 62 in san jose. 50s around the peninsula. San francisco in the upper 50s. Low 60s around the east bay tomorrow. In the sevenday forecast, talking near record breaking temperatures tuesday and wednesday, approaching close to 70 degrees as things warm up. And looks like well be drying out again for the beginning of next week into next weekend. Diane . We need some rain and some snow or more of it any way. Thanks the, rob. Henry wofford is here now. Hello, henry, how are you tonight . Doing well, diane. You said we need some rain and snow. No, we need a victory tomorrow. Thats exactly what we need. Its very early. Well be ready to go. Its 10 00 in the morning. When we come back, College Basketball saturday, both cal and san jose state in action. Plus, the sharks and bruins go down to the wire and tomorrow, the 49ers fans will be wearing their colors, baby. Some more permanently than others. Find out where you can get inked for less than the cost of a nice dinner. Its all next in sports. [ male announcer ] start engine. Accelerate. Shift. Shift. And shift again. Through all eight speeds of a transmission connected to more standard horsepower than its german competitors. And that is the moment that driving the lexus gs will shift your perception. This is the pursuit of perfection. Welcome back to nbc bay area. Its the bay area versus boston. Last night, the warriors beat the celtics. Tonight, the sharks tried to bring the pain to the bruins in a matchup between a pair of goalies, both looking to make the olympics for finland. Both goalies did not allow a goal through the first two periods. Under 10 00 in the game, and it was stratberg finally getting on the board. Gets the favorable bounce, his sixth of the year. Late in the game, another save in tight on burns. Boston wins 10 is your final. To hoops now, cal at oregon state. Gary payton, the glove in the house. Second half, cal down by one. Tyrone wallace, if youre going to slam it, slam it light you mean it. Bears win 8883. Cals fourth consecutive win. New mexico and san jose state. Minute and a half left in the game. Spartans down three. Rashad muhammad, long three and nothing but the bottom of the net. 16 off the bench for him. Tied with a minute to go. Williams drives and puts it in. New mexico holds on to win 6965. With a win tomorrow, 49ers play the winner of the saints seahawks game. Saints down 8. Onside kick, oh, my goodness, its successful, right off of tates chest. Last chance for new orleans. Drew brees to marquez kolston. He throws the ball. Unbelievable. A forward lateral. Seattle wins 2315. They will host the nfc championship game next sunday. Some people bleed red and gold. Some people take a step further. Right now, silver needle studios in concord is offering 49er tattoos for 49. The offer is good for the duration of the 49ers playoff run. Thats right, its the quest for six. And after tomorrows showdown, well have postgame coverage. That will do it now. We will see you right after the break. Well be right back. A flock of 9monthold whooping cranes has arrived in florida this weekend. They were guarded by a group of volunteers. Joe duff uses ultralight aircraft to help them learn how to cry and then to guide them on the migration from wisconsin to florida. The birds are pretty curious, as well. Whooping cranes inhabit wetlands. The team says true success comes when they make their way back to wisconsin. Pretty cool. Thanks for watching nbc bay area news. Saturday night live is next. Get your gift wrapping right over here. All proceeds go to putting an ice skating rink in our senior center. Now, lets drum up some business here. Angels we have heard on high sweetly singing oer the plains