backpacks. officials say the backpacks, a hose and the proper techniques can put out -- >> quite a bit of fire with only 20 gallons of water. >> if we don't have a water tender to refill it we have to find a water source. that can be between 30 minutes and an hour. >> reporter: this winter and spring there was just enough rain to create fields of grass. there are still some signs of moisture, like this green grass that didn't burn today. but officials say if this practice would have taken place in august this entire field would have gone up in flames. a situation cory says he would be ready for. >> we all pretty much know what's coming. it's just a matter of how big it's going to get. >> reporter: just last week cal fire responded to 192 fires. and just to give you a little perspective, they've already responded to 400 more fires than they did at this time last year. reporting live michelle roberts, nbc bay area news. >> this is a double edge sword. a lack of water means increased fire danger. we've been saying that for the last several years. this is the fourth year of the drought. some areas are worse off than others. for that we bring in our chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. >> we get a birds eye view across the west. as we zoom in, the worst conditions are through alameda county contra costa, santa clara as well. some of the gustiest winds west-southwest 20 to 22 miles per hour thursday and friday. it decreases this weekend but remains breezy. i'm really concerned about next week's forecast. that's when we will have humidity in the 25% range. temperatures from 80 to 88 degrees and the highest threat across alameda and contra costa counties. we're tracking any potential of rainfall throughout the next 20 minutes. just in santa clara county sheriff's office releasing details oh of a grisly murder. investigators arrested these two men accused of stabbing a man to death sunday morning in a field off of east main avenue. spencer smith and chase benoir are both 20 years old. no word on motive. >> we believe the suspects a and the victim are associated. we don't know how they are associated but we believe it is isolated. we don't believe it was part of a crime spree. >> reporter: are they being cooperative? >> at this time, they are not being cooperative. >> spencer smith was arraigned today and charged with murder. investigators say chase is still being questioned at this hour. we have a developing story out of boston right now. this is still picture of a body camera video police showed to community leaders today of the shooting and killing of a man they're calling a terror suspect. we're joined now where members of the area are calling for an independent investigation. >> reporter: more on that video we showed earlier. the 179's brother lives here in the bay area and is questioning police packtactics. this comes as police say they foiled a plot to kill police officers, but some think the cops pulled the trigger too soon. boston police showed clerics a surveillance video between the confrontation. police say raheem came after them with a knife. >> i think the video is clear as far as the officers who are retreating. you see them probably retreat a good 15 to 20 yards with a threat coming at them. >> reporter: but others aren't so sure. >> the video is inconclusive. i don't think he was shot in the back, however, we couldn't see clearly at all whether he had a knife or not. it was 1/20th of the overall frame, so we can't be clear to what transpired. >> reporter: raheem's older brother, seen here at the lighthouse mosque let immediatelily for boston. others of the bay area muslim community agreed. >> everything we know is just what law enforcement is saying. they didn't even have enough evidence to get an arrest warrant before they approached him. >> reporter: the victim's older brother is very respected member of the community. chuck coppola, nbc bay area news. a struggle with a wanted man left two police officers hurt at the wells fargo bank on center street. police say employees asked the man to leave the bank but he refused. the suspect then fought with officers when they tried to arrest him. both officers are expected to recover. this is shaping up to be the most expensive nba finals in history. vip seats, about $30,000 each. upper deck seats about $1,000. for the rest of us a great seat on the couch. jodi hernandez is at the oracle arena. the finals start tomorrow but a lot of action today. >> reporter: there is no shortage of excitement here. oracle arena is abuzz, as the warriors prepare to go head-to-head with the cavs. the warriors hit the court for some time tuning up with just a day to go until game one of the nba finals. the warriors say they're ready. >> there might be more people around a different kind of routine, but once we leave after practice today, it's the same kind of vibe you can do whatever you can to get your mind right. >> reporter: the cleveland cavaliers also got their first full practice. lebron james wearing some snazzy shoes. even danced a little. he says he's fired up. >> i'm going to come in and hopefully we will come through. >> we're going to stop him. >> reporter: fans are confident the warriors will shut lebron down. the new store this san francisco can barely keep finals gear in stock. fans say they can't wait for the times game to get under way tomorrow. >> the first game will be 1-0, warriors. >> reporter: i like that prediction. now that practice is over steph curry says he plans to spend the rest of the day relaxing. he says he's going to get a haircut and lay out by the pool. i'm jodi hernandez, nbc bay area news. >> thank you, jodi. a mini vacation so to speak for steph curry. you can track the warriors' nba finals run on our digital platform. you can also check us out on twitter and facebook. new evidence of our tech boom highsal ris. more than $300,000 the average for a san mateo tech worker. for santa clara county $250,000. in san francisco, the average is more than $150,000. what does this mean? our business and tech report e scott budman is live in san jose to crunch these numbers for us. scott? >> reporter: the numbers are staggering. not only are bay area tech workers the highest paid in the nation this average salary is 60% higher than the second highest region that being seattle. it's a combination of innovation and competition that's hard to beat. tech salaries have been on the rise for years now, but the new figures from ucla's anderson survey are jaw dropping. san mateo county home to facebook boasts an average tech salary of $317,000 a year. that's the average. a bit south in santa clara county home to apple and google the average tech worker takes home more than $211,000 per year. in san francisco county home to twitter, the average is $157,000. answering the question, why do so many companies and techies want to come here? >> tremendous benefits for startups and other companies to locate in a place where they can get deals done and talk to other people. >> we're growing all the time. we have over 40 positions right now in san francisco and santa clara. >> reporter: but high salaries for some put pressures on others dealing with among other things, the skyrocketing price of housing. >> there's limits on how much housing we can build in the bay area. so there's a certain point where those two forces will come together and crunch. >> reporter: the tech job boom is real and record setting. another eye opening statistic from the survey tech job growth in san francisco over the last eight years, 101%. tech growth here in santa clara county 50% over the last eight years. reporting live in san jose, scott budman, nbc bay area news. >> thank you, scott. an emotional message from one of the titanstitans. david goldman died last month vacationing in mexico. today marked the end of the 30-day mourning period. she gives a description of the ambulance ride to the hospital and how she is struggling to cope and how thankful she is for her family. "as heart broken as i am i look at my children and rejoice they are alive. i appreciate every smile and hug and no longer take eatch day for granted." slated to host a championship game. the reason, $100 of missing wiring is costing thousands to fix and putting this game and others in jeopardy. one of the rarest birds in the world is here at the oakland zoo. not for display. this bird is a california condor suffering from lead poisoning. we'll have the story coming up. thanks for joining us for this special 4:30 edition of nbc bay area news. we're on early tonight because of the stanley cup finals at 5:00. in the headlines, a little league letdown. someone stole copper wiring from one of the light towers at san jose's powell baseball field, putting tonight's championship game in jeopardy. damian trujillo joins us at one of those baseball fields. what happens now with the kids and this game? >> reporter: there are two baseball fields here at powell. this one is for the bigger kids. the theft happened on the other field where tonight's game is taking place. but rewiring could cost the city thousands and take months to replace. this is where they come to live their dreams. it's where kids from neighborhoods lace it up and run the bases. but it's also where someone turned off the lights. >> that whole light tower is out. >> reporter: the center field light tower. someone snuck in through the back of one of the two baseball fields and made off withable on estimated $100 worth of copper wiring. >> from this entry point, you can get to all the wires. >> reporter: thefts of copper wiring has been an ongoing problem. the repairs can cost between $20,000 and $25,000 and take months to complete. >> with the way the budget is right now and some of the funds, it's going to be very costly to fix that and there's a backlog of other projects. >> reporter: that puts tonight's championship game and next month's world series tournament in jeopardy. parents are angry. [ speaking spanish ] >> reporter: gloria says powell baseball helps keep the local kids out of gangs and drugs. now the wiring theft might keep the kids off the diamond, as well. >> safety for us is paramount. >> reporter: no one, he says, will play in the dark. there are two playoff games tonight. one takes off at about 5:00 today. the other one at 7:15. they're not going to bring in portable lights. they're going to play the game and assess the situation. i'm damian trujillo, nbc bay area news. a san mateo woman accused of shining a lacer at a task force plane pled no contest. prosecutors say she repeatedly flashed the green lacer, causing the pilot to see spots. she admitted to using the device but said she thought she was pointing it at a star. a woman rescued from the balcony of a burning apartment this morning in kentfield. this is aerials from our nbc chopper of the aftermath. when firefighters arrived, the building was engulfed in planes. none of the tenants were hurt. one of the rarest birds in the world is now living at the oakland zoo. if you want to see her, you can just get on your computer. this is miracle, a california condor seen earlier today from the zoo's condor cam. unfortunately, she's now living at the oakland zoo instead of the wild because she's suffering from lead poisoning. mark? >> reporter: the oakland zoo has the only condor treatment facility in northern california. since the state's two big flocks are north, this is where condors are brought when suffering from lead poisoning. miracle is sick suffering from lead levels four times higher than the threshold set by managers at the state's condor program. she was pulled from the wild in may to undergo treatments here at the oakland zoo. >> ultimately i do have to treat them. >> reporter: she's convinced the lead being ingested by california condors is coming from spent ammunition lodged in the bodies of dead animals like squirrels and feral pigs who have been shot and abandoned. >> the condors use their holes, the bullet holes because it's a good entry point to get into the car gas and they ingest the lead. >> reporter: miracle is responding to treatments and has a good chance of surviving her stay at the zoo. there are only 240 of the birds in the wild. their wingspan of ten feet is the widest in north america. but a firearms trade association says bullets are not to blame. "condors ss are exposed to other sources of lead in the environment. " i just finished speaking with the head of the wildlife society. he has come here tonight to lecture, along with dr. goodnight, about california condors and said it's just time to get the lead out, make bullets out of copper. california has a law that will do that. but the law is being phased in slowly and will not take effect completely for four years. reporting in oakland, mark matthews nbc bay area news. >> thank you. let's turn things over to our chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. >> we have this low pressure area developing in california bringing cooling in the bay area and areas of drizzle. you can see right now on the satellite radar picture those clouds increasing throughout northern california even yes, some rain returns offshore. we're not expecting any big rainfall out of this system, but we are going to get drizzle for tomorrow morning. that chance looks great here from the south bay up to the north bay and the cloudier skies, as well. temperatures in the 50s, so tomorrow morning, you'll likely need the wind shield wipers to start. you can see at 7:00 in the morning, santa clara, san francisco county those areas of green, that drizzle we expect maybe even towards santa clara and san jose and possibly for alameda counties as well. in the afternoon, we'll get clearing for the interior valleys but i think another day of high clouds passing throughout the bay area. the big wild card coming on our thursday forecast is rainfall from that system in northern california. we'll be getting very close to napa and also sonoma. we think the best chance would be here in santa rosa. that's where you want to watch out for spotty showers on thursday. you can see tomorrow 73 with clouds lingering in san jose. for the coastline, it's clouded in again, with 57. but that's normal this time of the year. so those of you at the coastline, probably loving this foggy pattern. san francisco, upper 50s and low 60s. north bay and east bay, on these microclimates, the biggest focus is up into the north bay. santa rosa best chance of isolated showers and a temperature of 75. trivalley, 73 expected in pleasanton. we have been mentioning the possibility of thunderstorms this afternoon. only a 10% chance throughout saturday and sunday. we have two pacific hurricanes happening. some of that tropical moisture may get pulled right up into california. but looks like the better chance would be across the sierra. that has a 75% chance of possibility for thunderstorms. and we are tracking the one of note hurricane blanka now a strong storm with winds at 140 miles per hour. we've seen a shift in the track on this. approaching as a category 1 hurricane on sunday and passing as a tropical storm by monday. no doubt cabo san lucas will have impacts from this storm system saturday sunday and monday. if you're traveling there, please take extra precaution. the storm is headed that way. >> thank you, jeff. going out to dinner tonight? we'll tell you which restaurants are the worst offenders when it comes to calories. another chase through the streets of san francisco. the search is on for a suspected robber who sped off after hitting a mehit ing a pedestrian last night. police lost the suspect in emeryville. the pedestrian that was hit has life threatening injuries. police were out in force today to crack down on dangerous drivers. police cited motorists caught speeding and not yielding to pedestrians. the goal is to have zero pedestrian deaths. >> the whole message is slow down motorists, pay attention. see the me decembers pedestrians, slow down when it's yellow. >> they also did a pedestrian safety operation a few blocks away. the most gut wrenching restaurant dishes in america could ruin your diet for days. on top of the list today, red lobster's create your combination meal with three types of shrimp size and margarita, the meal is 3600 calories. in second place is steak n shake's burger and fries with chocolate fudge brown you milkshake, that's 2500 calories. and rounding out the top three is the three meat plate in the south bay. all of these are more calories than you're supposed to eat in an entire day. we'll be right back. you need crystal geyser alpine spring water. made by nature, not by man. crystal geyser alpine spring water. bottled at the mountain source. ♪ da da da da ♪ ♪ da da da da ♪ ♪ da da da da ♪ ♪ da...♪ sorry brenda. crystal geyser. bottled at the mountain source. da da da. coming up next, game one of the stanley cup finals. the chicago blackhawks and tampa bay lightning. join us after the game for an 8:00 p.m. of nbc bay area news. among the stories we're working on a popular trail in the south bay where someone might be trying to poison pets. that story right after our stanley cup finals coverage and our news cast. we're back here at 11:00 p.m. a breaking tradition on the eve of the nba finals. the oakland and cleveland mayor won't bet against each other. instead, they're challenging fans to raise at least $5,000 for local food banks. the fan base that raises the most money will be declared the winner. so the people will benefit. so no matter what happens on the court, the local people will be provided for. >> i like that. thanks for joining us here at 4:30. hockey is next. 8 championships, one home. nbc sports, championship season. the stanley cup, emblem matic of the hockey championship of the world. >> the series is over. enthusiasm, medlam and excitement and the reason for it all, the stanley cup. >> behind it. ♪ >> bobby