Seen from miles away. One week before christmas at least 30 people are now without place to stay. Their decorations and almost all their belongings completely destroyed. Take a look hide me. Fire investigators remain outside the building five hours after the fire first started. We are being kept on the property. Off the in this video you can see the flames shooting higher into the air at the Carriage Hill apartments in hillcrest heights. The fire started just before 7 00 this morning on curtis drive. When firefighters first arrived all three floors of the garden style apartments were on fire. At one point the flames were in theg 20 to 30 feet air through the roof and firefighters were told to get out immediately. All of this happening as families were scrambling to wake up and get out of the building. They were bringing on the doors thing theres a fire its time for us to getut and called my sister to let her know the building was on fire. There was people screaming and the fire truck started coming. Everybody was trying to get out the buildings. Down. E debris falling five people were treated for smoke inhalation. Two were taken to the hospital. One firefighter suffered a minor injury that was able to get back to work. The assistant fire chief telling us this could have been so much worse. 11 units were destroyed. 19 adults and 11 kids are now about a place to stay. The fire marshal is on scene trying to figure out how the fire started. Investigators telling me the cause of this fire remains undetermined. Thats the very latest. Im ryan hughes. Adriana federal Authorities Say the amtrak train that derailed in Washington State was doing 80 in a 30 mile per hour three people were killed and another two dozen were hurt. Maggie rulli is near the crash site with the latest. Acquirer tunable morning commute shattered. Emergency. Is everybody ok . Im still figuring that out. There was a lot of metal and a lot of screeching and a lot of being thrown around. 501he debut ride of amtrak tragically cut short. 13 of its train cars derailing. Many crashing onto the interstate below. People were flying. Its almost like being inside a drier machine. Shook completely to the other the otherne side and then back. The train was traveling at speeds of 80 miles or hour in a 30 the speed just moments before everything derailed. I could see that someone had been catapulted from the train onto the ground. This eagle scout spring into action. There were injured people walking all over the place in shock and i was like dude, somebody needs to like, be a leader. Even when people were pinned under the train i grabbed the dudes hand and was rubbing his back and was just talking to him. Authorities are questioning why positive train control wasnt activated. It can slow down the train if it is moving too fast. Officials say it was installed on these tracks but for some reason it wasnt in use. New developments from Washington State. We have the latest on air and on the free abc 7 news app. Fall. Feeling more like spring. It is awesome out there right now. Brilliant sunshine and the sun is going to stick around for the rest of this afternoon. Looking over at national harbor. A Beautiful Day toward old town alexandria. Temperatures are really nice. 55 degrees. A little bit cooler at Reagan National. The bit milder at dulles. We will see temperatures continue to increase through the afternoon hours. Satellite radar shows clouds to the west of us. Moving through the day today highs will approach 60 degrees would not be surprised lower 60s south and west of town. I say get out there and take advantage right now. A cold front is on the way plus we are looking ahead to christmas weekend. More on that in just a few minutes. Adriana a grand jury indicted james fields. It includes one count of firstdegree murder could find prosecutors say he drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters. Four other people involved in the violence that day were also indicted. Republicans are on the brink of sinning President Trump their first bona fide legislative accomplishment. Both chambers of congress are poised to pass their tax reform plan today. Kenneth moton explains what this means for you going forward. On capitolbill day hill. We know this is going to help people. We know this is going to grow our economy and help the people struggling in this country. And give President Trump his first major legislative win. He tweeted this morning, biggest tax reform ever passed. Fact checkers reminded is not the biggest tax cut in the nations history. Decade 70 the middle class will see a tax hike. 76 of the wealthiest lake trump and his family a tax cut. Ivanka for the president its a hook up for the president. The Corporate Tax rate will be permanently slashed from 35 to 21 . For the rich the rate lowered for more than 39 to 37 . This will set america on a trajectory towards more opportunity and greater prosperity. Protesters on capitol hill urged congress not to pass the bill. Isnt tax reform. This is and help for the middle class. Its a scam. Its fraud. And it will have dangerous longlasting consequences for the american people. It appears the republicans have the votes. The tax set to pass bill this afternoon. The bill could be on the president de b arrested a man for sexually assaulting a 12yearold boy. Investigators say this man, a registered sex offender, contacted the boy on social media and then picked him up from frederick. They drove to Silver Spring where he sexually assaulted the boy. He was arrested a short time later. A mother demanding answers after an Elementary School let her threeyearold daughter leave with a stranger. Suzanne kennedy has more on the major mixup. As students and faculty get closer to the christmas break the talk is what happened last week at this northwest Washington School involving a threeyearold girl. Last friday Authorities Say the child was allowed to leave after school care with a total stranger. Authorities thought the man who took the girl was the students uncle. The 3yearolds mother called police when she realized what happened. The child was returned safe and unharmed. This has parents concerned. That is your worst nightmare. You never want to go somewhere where you believe your child is supposed to be and they arent there. That is definitely a nightmare. It was bad judgment. It was just really bad. Someone who was here should have known that wasnt the parent. The School System says they are committed to making sure that students are safe and secure but some parents we talked to say this incident clearly underscores the fact that the standard isnt being upheld. Coming up on abc 7 news , a Holiday Shopping nightmare. Fists flying everywhere and a child in the middle of this melee at the mall. Plus the grinch thrown in jail by a fiveyearold. More on his 911 call that saved christmas. First heres a check of traffic. Eri c its a mostly quiet ride today. Roadwork on southbound colesville road into downtown Silver Spring past dale drive. The right lane is blocked. That turns into two right lane speed definitely a very slow spot here with traffic slowing down in the intersection. Down by spring street it shifts to the left side right in the center of the roadway. Northbound is also affected. Midday is always a hassle down here as a result. Things are looking pretty good at connecticut avenue. To 270. Shady grove road. Butooks pretty good southbound just beyond this point in the local lanes between falls road and Montrose Road down to one lane per roadwork and that will really slow things down as you try to head towards rockville. That is going to be a tough stretch as well. We are still in good shape at 7 locks rd toward the American Legion bridge. Shape asd be in good you head down this way. Thats all from adrianna a chaotic scene out of mall in fort myers, florida. Several women involved in a massive melee as people are shopping for the holidays. You can see a woman kick another woman in the face. Then the two of them get into it. She runs off and leaves her kid. Luckily that child was not hurt. No word on what started that. A new warning about battery dangers. And Apartment Building caught fire after a lithium battery inside a toy caught fire in indiana. Tips tos has avoid holiday nightmare. We have seen it before. Lithiumion batteries bursting into flames. Say avestigators lithiumion battery inside a childrens toy is to blame for the fire in this indianapolis Apartment Building sunday. No one was hurt but Officials Say the fire that displaced four families and caused 100,000 in damage was sparked when the battery overheated. Igniting this pile of toys being stored in the buildings furnace room. We think it got inadvertently turned on and just overheated her. Say thats what ignited flames at this pennsylvania home leaving a threeyearold girl dead. And the lithium ion battery inside a camera overheated. Smoke coming from this backpack causing panic at the orlando airport. The battery can hold so much Electrical Energy it gets hot and catches fire on its own or flammablet and a object within the toy maker the plastic or Something Else will catch on fire. When storing toys or electronics make sure to keep them away from heat source or combustibles like clothing or paper and make sure the room is well ventilated. One of the things people dont like to do is read instructions. Its very important products like these that the parent read instructionsd the and any tips included about where to store them and how to store them safely. Adrianna now to the mysterious death of a billionaire couple found hanging inside their mansion. Ofice are calling the death Barry Sherman and his wife suspicious saying they were both strangled. They were one of the worlds wealthiest couples thanks to their pharmaceutical empire. Now their community is in shock after a Real Estate Agent found them hanging from the railing inside their 7 million toronto home. Police are going to draw a circle around both of them. Theyre going to look at their personal and professional and social lives. There is no sign of forced entry. The shermans were wellconnected in canadian politics. Justin trudeau tweeted his condolences after their death. For all those who leave reviews after staying at hotels you will want to Pay Attention to the next story. A womans is a hotel in indiana charged her card 350 for writing a bad review. Needed a getaway so they booked a trip to stay at an abby brown inn. Ae says her room smelled like sewer, the air conditioner didnt work and she found hair in her bed. After writing a negative review she got a 350 charge from the hotel and a letter from an attorney threatening legal action. The Indiana AttorneyGenerals Office filed back fired back with a lawsuit against management. Time is running out to get the special package delivered by christmas. Today is the deadline for Fedex Express saver and u. S. Postal first class. Tomorrow is the deadline for and u. S. Ay delivery postal priority mail. You can drop your package at the post office friday, pay a 12 surcharge and still get your by christmas. Red are you worried that the grinch would steal christmas . A mississippi boy he called 911. What are you going to do if he calls if he tries to steal your christmas . Police in the small town let 5yearold arrest the grinch, put him in jail and save christmas. Put your hands behind your back. Adrianna after deciding the grinch had served his time, they let him go. No doubt his heart grew three sizes that day. Steve todays the day that if you are contemplating going out to lunch or shopping outdoors today is the day to do it. Weve got sunshine, mild temperatures. A little bit breezy. Temperatures right now 57 degrees at dulles. We should top off around the 60 degree mark out there. Reagan National Maybe just a little bit cooler. Already at the 60 degree mark in fredericksburg. Lets widen the view. The pool of cooler air off to the north and west. This is on the other side of the cold front later on tonight. Very little fanfare. Its going to stay dry out there. The wind will change direction and allow the cooler air to arrive by this time tomorrow. Clouds well to the north and south of us. Not much around the immediate metro area. Are going to need the sunglasses with 100 certainty. To around 60 degrees. A few added clouds by the middle afternoon. It will stay dry for the metro area and tonight. Daytime highs around 60. Winds are going to increase as the cold front moves closer. Wind gusts upwards of 25 miles per hour. Tonight a cold front moves through. To 45 for your overnight lows. Waking up tomorrow morning for your wednesday hitting closer and closer to the Holiday Weekend upper 30s to lower 40s. Jacket absolutely. Hat and scarves probably not so much for tomorrow morning. Colder air is on the way. Futurecast looks like this tomorrow morning. Sunshine toward the afternoon. Upper 40s for a daytime high and your weekend outlook 60 degrees right now. Thats what we are forecasting on saturday. Colder for the day on sunday and closer to Christmas Day even colder yet. Upper 40s. Cant rule out a chance for a few showers. We will be in the 30s by the end of next week. Hard to believe we are going to ring in the new year were back adrianna meryl streep is responding to criticism of her response to the Harvey Weinstein scandal. Specifically being called a hypocrite. This morning Actress Meryl Streep is defending herself after being slammed by rose mcgowan on twitter. The actress who accused Harvey Weinstein of raping her wrote in a now deleted tweet over the weekend that streep had happily worked for the pagan monster. She also virtual turf plan to join an army of actresses wearing black this award season as silent protest. Mcgowan i despise your hypocrisy. Responded saying, i wasnt liberally silent. I didnt know. I dont tacitly approve of rape. I didnt know this was happening. To let herid, i want know i did not know about his crimes. Not in the 90s when he attacked her or through subsequent decades when he proceeded to attack others. She worked on several films distributed by weinstein. Globe foron a golden iron lady and praised weinstein. I just want to thank my agent and god, Harvey Weinstein. The punisher. Old testament i guess. She later spoke out against him in october, calling his behavior inexcusable and the women who spoke up she didnt know about his financial settlements with actresses and colleagues or his inappropriate colder said acts. In her new statement she adds i dont know where harvey lives nor has he ever been to my house. I have only been to his office once. Not a filmmaker. He was primarily a marketer of films made by other people. Not every actor who made films that he distributed new he abused women. She also says she is sorry miguel and caesar as an adversary, writing we are both standing in defiance of the same implacable foe. Adrianna stick with us. Its a gorgeous day outside. Steve is back with another check of the forecast. Adrianna winter is officially around the corner but not today. Very springlike out there. Nice sunshine. Mild temperatures around 60 for a high. 10 degrees cooler tomorrow. We welcome winter on thursday and its going to feel more like it. Cooler Christmas Day and the end of next week. Adrianna cu on the other s youre watching abc seven news at noon. On your side. Dozenna more than two people left homeless right before the holidays. This after a fire apartment complex in hillcrest heights. The images are just breathtaking. Ryan hughes has more on the search for what started the fire. This inferno was raging. The smoke could be seen from miles away. One week before christmas at least 30 people are without a home to go back to. Their decorations and belongings almost completely destroyed. This is still an active scene five hours after the fire first started. Investigators remain on scene. I want to take you to some cell phone video. You can see the flames shooting high into the air. This happened at the Carriage Hill apartments in hillcrest heights. It started just before 7 00 this morning on curtis drive. All three floors of the apartments were on fire. The flames were shooting 20 to 30 feet into the air. Firefighters were out of the building immediately. All of this happening as families scramble to get out safely. On the door banging saying at the fire. Its time for his to get out. I called my sister to let her know the building was on fire. She came and got us. There was people screaming. Everybody was trying to get out the buildings. You could see debris falling down. Five people were treated for smoke inhalation and two were taken to the hospital. One firefighter suffered a minor injury but was able to get back to work. The assistant fire chief telling us this could have been so much worse. 11 units were damaged in this fire. 19 adults and 11 kids are now displaced. The fire marshal currently trying to figure out how the fire started. Investigators telling us the fire is undetermined. New information about the massive house fire in burke. Fire was likely started by an electrical problem with an overhead light. Luckily no one was hurt in that house fire. The deadly train do real men in Washington State. We now know the train was traveling much faster than it should have been in the area where it derailed. Clayton sandell has details. It was supposed to be a triumphant day but in an instant 501 on an inaugural route turned into a nightmare. Investigators are on the scene trying to determine what caused the passenger train to hurdle off an overpass. It was going abou