Stalking neighborhoods near downtown san jose, setting at least 12 fires. His down fall, homes equipped with surveillance cameras. A quickthinking Police Sergeant is getting credit for cracking that case. New at 11 00, George Kiriyama spoke with him. George joins us live. Reporter we talked with Sergeant Jason kidwell and he describes himself as a man, his computer and his coffee. He says that led to this eventual arrest. We felt we had a very good rest. Reporter he says it was consistency that helped catch a suspected serial arsonist. He cracked the case by plugging information into several databases last sunday morning. Slowly but surely, the suspect came up to the top of the pile. He matched the description. He had a criminal profile that matched. Reporter he matched 48yearold Patrick William brennan to a sketch. When you look at the sketch, you can see the similar features come out. Reporter and surveillance video. The video kind of reconfirmed once we had the information and looking at the video, we saw kind of that hairline and just little parts of his physical feature that stood out. Reporter he also looked at the state arsonist registry and Patrick Brennan was on it. Kind of seeing what his past was, what he had done before, and then trying to see if that was consistent with the crimes occurring downtown. In less than 24 hours, he felt confident he had his suspect. And a few days later, brennan was taken in. It was definitely a relief. I know when i got up this morning, i had a text message from a friend who said, i was scared and really worrieied abo this. Reporter now, Sergeant Kidwell thanked the media for their coverage and the community for the tips. George kiriyama, nbc bay area news. George, thank you. Investigators believe Patrick Brennan started that massive warehouse fire in san jose last week. It roared through the entire 125,000 square foot warehouse and took firefighters hours to put it out. Brennan has a checkered criminal past. In 1995, he was convicted of setting fires in the grand canyon. Then in 1999, San Jose Police linked him to fires across santa clara county. And Campbell Police confirmed he was on the states arson registry when he lived in campbell from 95 to 99. Hes also a registered sex offender. He has been living in a small trailer in a Mobile Home Park on East San Antonio street in san jose. Neighbors describe him as a chain smoker and loner who often carried a police scanner. He had one of these kind of walkietalkie deals that can find out where the police are and who theyre searching for. Brennans mobile home is just a few yards from a church he is expected of torching. You can go to nbcbayarea. Com and find out more information from the suspects neighbors. Thats nbcbayarea. Com. Now to a developing story. Governor brown is stepping in. Hes expected to declare a drought emergency tomorrow. This hasnt happened here since 1992. This has been one of the driest periods on record here in california. Many reservoirs are already deplet depleted. Today, three counties received a special drought designation. This allows eligible farmers to apply for federal emergency loans. Reservoirs are about 55 capacity in marin. This is lake phoenix, about 65 million gal lons of water. Lets check in rob mayeda. 1977, 1992, and now 2014, our water is simply running out. When you look at the impact statewide, 63 of california under extreme droupgt, and thin cluds all bay area counties now, looking atwater restrictions and a significant agricultural impact, as the reservoirs drop down to about 40 of where they should be this time of the year. Perhaps the best signature of this drought, compare last year at this time, you can see the snow pack in the sierra. This suspect a geology map, this is the view of the snow pack as of this week, 2014, only the higher peaks in the sierra. As you look at nevada, thats mt. Rose and theres hardly any snow there. It looks more like a desert there. So this is the scenario were seeing now. Were looking at numbers as low as 8 of average for the northern sierra. Some of the biggest snow building months, were starting to see the levels close to 8 . We usually see that snow pack max out from february into march. So all this is pointing towards this drought declaration. Were like hill to see the governori issue it tomorrow. Turning to a developing story out of Southern California. Fire crews are making some progress on a winter wildfire, burning in the hills above the city of glenn dora, east of los angeles. Fire has charred 1700 acres since just this morning. Right now, firefighters say they have it about 30 contained. Authorities are considering state, even federal charges against three men who may have started an illegal campfire that sparked the fire. Beverly white joins us now. Reporter many are back inside their homes right now, but as you can see behind us, you can see and smell from this location the reasons why hundreds of firefighters from the unified command are still here. The residents all know it could have been worse. Just inside of this fence is all burned. Reporter monty chambers is grateful others protected his home. Fire create their own wind, and it was blowing unbelievable when it went through here. Fire guys were everywhere. Thank god. Reporter the korean war veteran was here when these hills last burned in 1968. Today, firefighters got water from his Swimming Pool to fight the fire. They were back there with the hoses and they had two huge hoses here sucking it out. Reporter five neighbors were not so lucky. Their homes burned to the ground. I think the fire started right when i left from work and ive been in contact with my family and theyve been telling me a play by play whats been going on in the evacuation. Reporter we met others at roadblocks waiting for the Evacuation Order to be lifted. A lot of the structures around my home gone. Reporter your understanding is your property is okay . It is. The bedroom was on fire, but it was quickly put out. My structure is still standing, thankfully. Reporter and for monty chambers, another survivor story to tell the great grandchildren. There was firemen running around and all this stuff was going around. I went in the house and had my cheerios. Reporter every major fire incident has a nickname. This is known as the colby fire. Reporting live, im beverly white, nbc bay area news. Beverly, thank you. Back here in the bay area, a large and angry crowd turned out tonight to talk Pedestrian Safety in San Francisco. Theyre demanding safer streets and want the drivers who heat people on the streets to be held more accountable. Jean elle was at that meeting. This is a hot button topic, but will anything be done . Reporter tonight, city leaders are promising action and they heard a lot of people say they are lucky to be alive after being hit or nearly being hit often in cross walks here in San Francisco. Pedestrians say they want drivers held accountable and tonight the Police Department says its on board. I flew on the car, i dented the car. When she hit her brakes, i flew off about 15, 20 feet and cracked my head open. Reporter she lined up with dozens of others at city hall in San Francisco demanding change. Stevens has permanent injuries after being hit in a cross walk in september. The Police Report says the driver who hit her ran a red light, but was not cited or charged. While stevens is saddled with american bills and health problems. You lose your apartment and job and so much more and theres nothing to the person who did it for you. Reporter the San Francisco Police Department and members of the board of supervisors are promising change. Police say moving forward, drivers who are at fault can expect at least a citation and possibly hand cuffs. We are implementing a policy that when a determination of fault is established at the scene of a nonserious injury traffic collision, a citation shall be issued. Reporter stevens says its a good first step. You go to Traffic School for running a red light or speeding. Why not for hitting a human being . Why not getting your license suspended . Reporter the chief plans to take a second look at stevens case and others with. The youngest pedestrian killed in a cross walk on his mind, hes urging drivers and pedestrians to remember 6yearold sophia and slow down. If we could get to the zero fatality goal in her memory, at least she might not have passed in vain. Reporter activists are promising to keep up the pressure. Tonight, the Police Department agreed to issue quarterly reports, detailing action. Jean elle, nbc bay area news. Thank you, jean. Still ahead, in a split second, these two men saved a puppys life. Tonight, the honor they received and the precious reunion with the little guy. Its small but mighty. How this lightweightle contact lens will change the lives of diabetics. And the trick researchers say diet soda plays on your mind. We know the big films nominated. But theres a Short Documentary on that list made right here in the east bay. Im cheryl hurd. Ill tell you who is behind that film coming up. And the oscar goes to. Words every film maker dreams of hearing and it could prove reality for two movie makers from the bay area. Cheryl hurd spoke with them and joins us live in berkeley. [ train horn ] reporter if you can hear me over this train, sometimes you just have to put it out there, and thats exactly what two bay area filmmakers did today. They put together a short film, a dock men try on a bay area teenager, and today, they ounld out they were nominated for an oscar. The words in what i saw were far more painful throughout my life. Reporter the film is called facing fear. It was a long drive. Reporter a 23minute Short Documentary jason cohen produced and directed. It was about forgiveness. Its about a former neonazi who beat a gay homeless teenager. I kicked him in the forehead. And left him for dead. Reporter 25 years after the attack, their paths crossed, and they embarked on a journey of forgiveness. Thats the subject of the film. The 2013 nominees. Reporter and now the film has been nominated for an oscar. Were honored. Its not why we made the film. Reporter he says he made the film because it was a story that needed to be told. One of the big goals is to get it out there for educational purposes, for institutions, museums, schools. Reporter facing fear was shot in los angeles. But Everything Else was done here at the media center in berkeley. A place where many famous films have been made. This is the shots. Reporter Tom Christopher is the coproducer and editor of the film. How do you talk about forgiveness without making it something thats not a very interesting movie . Reporter it caught the eye of the academy, and who knows . It could end up a winner. Its a bay area film and were happy we can take it do the oscars. Reporter they are planning a screening for their short film. If you would like to know when and where, go to our website at nbcbayarea. Com. Reporting live in berkeley, im cheryl hurt, nbc bay area news. Very nice story. An emotional reunion at San Francisco city hall between a puppy and the two men who helped save her. Two employees were able to hold once again this puppy. The puppys name is gem. They found the puppy on a conveyer belt after she was thrown away in a truckload of recyclables. They were honored today at city hall. Oh, my god, my heart just dropped down to my heels and i wanted to cry. I wanted to choke the people that threw it in there, because i just imagined all the stuff that she went through. That was a happy ending here. This is a look at the conveyer belt. Gem, the puppy, is the luckiest dog in the world he says. Another wearable google invention to tell you about. Instead of several finger tricks each day to test blood sugar, a diabetic would pop in a lens. The lens would measure the glucose in the teens. Tiny lights would act as an Early Warning to the wearer that their glucose levels are too high or low. The lens is in the testing phase and a few years away from the market place. Diet soda is not good for weight loss a study says. Researchers discovered overweight people hooked on diet soda ate more food than people who drank regular foods. Lets turn things over to meteorologist rob mayeda. He has the forecast. Weve jumped into jup around the bay area. We saw records across the bay area. San francisco, oakland, some of the numbers youre about to see coming up. Mild out there, still 55 degrees. San francisco at 11 00 at 55, not far off from the average highs for this time of the year. We should see 50s and 60s for highs. Today we were in the 70s. San francisco, up to 72 degrees. Look at oakland, 78. We smashed that record by six degrees. You can see richmond, mountain view, the same story in gilroy, mid to upper 70s. Again, the average highs this time of the year should be upper 50s to near 60. We stand a good chance of breaking more records tomorrow as the wind pattern responsible for this is still offshore. Were seeing it tonight. Wind speeds have dropped off a little bit. The only Thing Holding us off from a red flag are the wind speeds. Our temperatures still have a chance to break some records as the pattern which has been the story, which rounded off 2013, one of the driest years on record. Its still ongoing into january. So the changes well see ahead, as the high will weaken a little bit, systems still heading off to the north. Winds still offshore. So temperatures will continue to climb. And unfortunately, the longrange forecast still looks quite dry. For the weekend, youll see it there in the sevenday forecast, few extra clouds coming in. But the next best hope foreseeing rain, not until wednesday night and thursday. By winter storm standards, that is not encouraging. Just looking at scattered showers across the north bay. We hope this system holds together better. But for right now, things looking very dry around the bay area. Tomorrow, another day of 70s from san jose southward. Could hit mid 70s. 72 in san jose. Low 70s around the peninsula. Downtown San Francisco, close to 70. And in the north bay, highs near 70. East bay temperatures in the low to mid 70s. Same story in the try valley. Squaw valley, overnight temperatures still cold enough for machine groomed snow. So the skiing, with about a 20inch base, conditions there are fine because of the cold overnight temperatures. Hope thursday brings more fresh powder next week. Back to you. Short sleeve weather for skiing. Scary moment for olympic superstar shaun white. One of team usas superstars had a fall today. Shawn white is trying to earn a spot for the new Olympic Event called slope style snowboarding. He crashed during his run in Southern California today. Heres the video of his crash. He is expected to be okay. White also has not yet qualified for the halfpipe snowboarding event in which hes won two backtoback olympic medals. He competes again on saturday, and even if he doesnt qualify, he might get an automatic spot on team usa. Just a few weeks away. The opening ceremony, 22 days away and you can find coverage on our website, nbcbayarea. Com. But first, only three days away. Continuing coverage of the 49ers quest for a sixth super bowl title. If you happen to be a seahawks fan in the bay area right now, you may want to keep that to yourself or just be prepared to catch a little grief. Seahawks souvenirs, folks. Seahawks suck. You heard that. Not the warmest of receptions in San Francisco. This is reporter jim deaver from our affiliate in seattle. He had a little fun with the locals, but didnt go over that well. He didnt get tossed in the water. Join us saturday night for a 49ers special. Well break down the matchup. Thats saturday night at 6 30. And the 49ers leave for seattle tomorrow. Tonight, red and gold, take a look. A beautiful shot of city hall decked out in niners colors. Well hear from some of the players, next. Ready to hear from the players . Lets hear it. Im ready to play this game now. I dont think the players are, though. When you think of the Seattle Seahawks offense, you think about Russell Wilson or marchand lynch. Reporter so much has been made of the struggles in the seahawks passing game. Wilson is coming off a career low passing performance, with only 103 yards against the saints. But percy harvin has not been with the seahawks for most of the season, and the receivers say that they have made the big plays when the team needed them. And theyre feeling pretty underrated. Im around these guys every day. I see the plays they make every day. I feel like if you put any of our receivers in the entire room, they would go somewhere else and catch 90 balls. Be well over 1,000 yards. Thats not the way this offense works. The good thing about it, were unselfish players. We want to win. Everybody says doug has a chip on his shoulder. No, i have a boulder on my shoulder. And every negative comment that comes out, i just put it there. Honestly, i go back and i look at the negative stuff. To me, its not about what youve dope, but what you havent done. Its what opportunities you can have in the future to prove yourself right, and ultimately prove the doubters wrong. As for perse i have harvins status, he was missing in action from practice. Pete carroll says hes going through all the nfl mandated concussion tests and status for sunday is up in the air. This situation is in the hands of the doctors. Stopping the receiver is important, but marchand lynch, line backer Navaro Bowman says it is a tall task but it can be done. I say him being as physical as he when he runs the ball, you dont want to shoot your gun. You want to gather yourself and make sure you have him in front of you. If you can do that, you can definitely get him down or have a better chance of doing it. But a lot of guys shoot their gun, thinking he will fall down. He just does a great job of fighting through it and breaking tackles. He is a hard tackle, but it can be done. The sharks in florida. They beat the panthers 30. Thats sports. More news after this. How about this, californias wine business will be booming this year. The annual wine report by Silicon Valley bank predicts fine wine sales to jump by about 10 . Last years grape harvest is the second largest in californias history. We produced 90 of the nations wine. Experts see overall wine sales declining about five years from now. They say baby boomers may cut back on purchases when they hit retirement age. So a lot of people interested, especially in the local wine regions here in the bay area. Weve got some time to drink wine. Thanks for joining us here at 11 00. Hope you have a great day tomorrow. See you then. Man so the everyday value slam has eggs . Waitress yep. Man bacon . Waitress yep. Man and pancakes. Waitress yep. Man all made to order . All for 4 . All day every day . Waitress yep, yep, and yep man i think im in love. Waitress sorry, sweetie, im taken. [ ding of call bell ] waitress hey, welcome to dennys. You name it. Ive hooked it. But theres one. One thats always eluded me. Thought i had it in the blizzard of 93. Ha never even came close. Sometimes, i actually think its mocking me. [ engine revs ] what . quattro announcer its the tonight show with jay leno, featuring rickey minor and the tonight show band. Tonight, jay welcomes mark harmon, 18yearold olympic figure skater gracie gold, the music of kristin chenoweth
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.