Well, they are. At dominion energy, were completely transforming our power grid and the way we think of energy. To move from what if to whats next. Dominion energy. Right now deputies in Charles County are trying to figure out what caused a crash and explosion that left three people dead. Chopper 4 getting new video whats left of the vehicle. Ravages a virginia antique store, youll hear from customers why this loss is so great. And im storm team4 meteorologist chuck bell, a little sunshine out now, but the cold today is here to stay. Ill give you the ten day forecast news4 midday starts right now. News4 midday starts now. Good morning. And welcome to news4 midday. Im pat lawson. We begin with that horrific Early Morning car crash that killed three people in la plata, happened on hawthorne road. Charles county Mercedes Benz crashed into a tree. A passer by tried to help and pulled the driver out moments before the car exploded. Tragically two were trapped inside. The driver of la plata died at the hospital. Look for updates in the nbc washington app. We are also following a developing story out of Prince George count a man dead after Early Morning shooting. This happened on flag owe parkway near paw a tan in the high itsville area. News4 derrick ward is live now to take a look at what happened. What do we know about what happened there, derrick . Reporter well, all we know for sure is one man is dead, rest still under investigation. All happened in this house you see behind me here. It was about 2 15 this morning when police first responded. And before dawn they towed a vehicle away. Take a look at video from morning. Police say they got report of gunfire. When they got here found adult male outside taken to the hospital where pronounced dead and someone inside this house shot that person from inside the house. Now the other circumstances are still under investigation. We do know that there is it a broken window up on the second floor of the house. It appears to it be broken from the inside. Whether thats related to ts incident is part of the investigative process. Police say that they are talking to several witnesses and they have a lot of information, a lot of evidence to go through, consult with the u. S. Attorneys office before anything in the way of charges or anything like that are brought. But again the scene is clear, but you you can see the tape remains the walkway to this house where someone died early this morning. Live in high itsville derrick ward back to you. Thank you, derrick. We are learning more about the death of a young girl before christmas. Fridayht county. They say a Family Member accidentally shot the 11yearold girl. There were adults but no word when or if any charges will be filed in this case. New maryland state law now requires that apartments and homes have ten year sealed smoke alarms installed by the new year. And this next story proves how important they can become. Take a look at this. This may have saved someone lives in maryland overnight. Police say they were sleeping when the alarm went off. They were able to get out of the house in time. Investigators think the fire started in live room. It did about three to four hundred in damage. Meanwhile massive fire overnight. Flames through a warehouse with antiques more than two dozen dealers destroying near new news4 aimee cho joins us live. Reporter pat, seeing whats left of the store is heartbreaking. One of antiques are piles of rubble. But outside all this devastation you can still see a single christmas wreath out front perfectly untouched. Through a cold christmas night flames destroying this antique store. Covered by bows of tape. Through all the damage you can see remnants of what once was. Im speechless. I really am. It was a beautiful place. A lot of artifacts. The aftermath is a hard thing to deal with. Reporter all morning long people dropping by to see the loss for themselves. Some taking pictures where they had once come. There, and the owners lost their livelihood. They had other things that no one else had. Reporter a store with once preverdict memories is now a memory itself. Its a shame at christmas. No one needs this. Its terrible. But it doesnt look like there is going to be much to be salvaged from what i see from the outside. But lets hope there are still some things that are there. Reporter the cause of the fire is still unknown. Firefighters say this is old building with a lot of wood. Thats part of why the damage spread so quickly. Live in alexander, aimee cho, news4. Thanks, aimee. Such a shame. Well, as people head back to work, we are dealing with a blast of cold weather. Meteorologist chuck bell joins us now. This final week of the year will be a cold one. Yeah, even though 2017 is warmest year on record, it is going to come to end on frigid note. The cold air is here to stay for quite an extended period of time. 34 now at National Airport but a light wind out of the northwest has the lynde back down into the upper 20s. Current temperatures still mostly hovering near the 30 degree mark. 35 quantico. 33 in fredericks berg. If planning out your day, the high today is 37 at National Airport. Right around 2 30 around as late as 3 00 this afternoon. Few more clouds coming in over the early night hours with temperatures upper teens and lower 20s by the time you get wednesday morning started. This is just the beginning. Its going to stay real cold through new years eve. Extended forecast coming up. Thank you. Despite the cold, no snow in our area fo that was not the case in northwest. Severe Winter Weather caused major problems for holiday travelers. Nbc ron allen has the story. Reporter blanket of the snow and White Christmas from chicago to boston. First in 14 years. The storm perhaps nearly causing a disaster, a jet blue plane sliding off ha taxy way after landing boston airport late monday. Flight 50 from savannah safely taken to the terminal. No injuries reported at this time. Earlier on Christmas Logan closing runways and groupeding flights because of zero visibility. Winter storm even pounding the region with reports of thunder snow in northeast and rare blizzard warnings in maine and new hampshire. The roads are a little rough. I dont remember the last time we had a reporter some of the roughest conditions along the coast, winds up to 65mileperhour on cape cod on the islands. As many as 6,000 homes left without power. In parts of pennsylvania thats familiar winter wallop, drifting snow covering the roads, reducing visibility, making driving treacherous. With some vehicles sliding off the roads. I hope people are where they are supposed to be. Less people on the road the better. That was ron allen reporting. This morning too lou den county sheriffs are recovering after being shot by a suspect. Accusing two shots of capital murder. This happened Christmas Eve as deputies were responding to domestic call. They say Douglas Johnson junior pulled a gun tas theye those deputies are expected to be okay. There is a gofundme page for the deputies. We have a link to that on the nbc washington app. In Virginia Election officials getting ready for a rare ending to a highly contested house race. How they are planning to break a tie tomorrow. And what its going to mean for the balance of pour what if more of the energy we used came from Renewable Resources . What if the electric grid could detect, fix and even prevent Power Outages . What if our grid were less vulnerable and more secure . What if all these what ifs became a reality . Well, they are. Transforming our power grid and the way we think of energy. To move from what if to whats next. Dominion energy. President trump is spending the holidays in florida while he might not be making miss public appearances, he is tweeting this morning about his legislative victory. Talked about getting rid of the mandate in the tax reform bill. Now he says theyll be plans to craft a new health care bill. Nbc Edward Lawrence has a look whats next during the president s second year in office. Reporter President Trump maralago in florida gets back to business. He set a side harsh stuff on twitter. On behalf of our trump family, god bless you, god bless america. Reporter still the president not backing off the fbi this weekend pushing the idea that the clintons gave fbi deputy campai campaign contributions. We need to know our Civil Servants are doing the honorable thing. Reporter the president also announcing United Nations cutback. Reduced by 280 million. Comes days after a u. N. Resolution condemning president s decision to recognize jerusalem as israels capitol. And this warning. When we make generous contributions to the u. N. , we also have a legitimate expectation that our goodwill is recognized and respected. Reporter the white house will also have to sell their new tax plan, signed into law to the american people. Democrats say it will amount to a tax increase for the middle class. The president says workers will see fewer taxes taken out of their paychecks starting in february. When the president and congress return to washington, there will be a number of issues they have to developing an infrastructure rebuilding plan. Now back to you. Well, tomorrow, we find out whether republicans or democrats will control Virginia House of delegates. This is all because of that tie in the 94th district. Virginia elections board, the state board will meet tomorrow to draw a name, literally pull a name out of a hot. Between republican david yancy and democrat shelly simonds. Well have updates here on nbc news4. Everyone is talking about Meghan Markle at the annual church service. She showed off and kate, Queen Elizabeth acknowledged her by welcoming new members of the ral 60th anniversary. So the big day as come and gone, and no doubt you have a gift you dont need, gifts wind up in a drawer or garage to be for every forgotten. Chris has more on your christmas clutter. Reporter as joyful as opening christmas presents can be, there is also the reality some of it is going to end up like the other staff. Cluttering your already cluttered household. I stress out. I mean, you look around your house and you see all this stuff, and you are like what am i going to do with it. Im not handling it very well right now. I think im add to go the clutter. Reporter adding to the clutter, especially around christmas, has become a real concern. We are really drowning in stuff. Its getting to be more than ha problem. Reporter thats where people founder and ceo of declutter fly. And says the holidays are a perfect time to take stock and get rid of household clutter beginning with old christmas decorations. There has been a couple christmass that this stuff hasnt been put out to deck or rate, purge it. Look, if the lights dont work but you think youll fix them and you havent, you are not going to. Let it go. Reporter she says for the stuff thats still useful, Keep Charities in mind. Its so much easier for them to give that stuff away knowing that its going to go to a great home. Reporter however you do it, make this the year you declutter your home to declutter your life. Chris clack en, nbc news. And as you heard in that report, donating your old Unwanted Gifts is a great way to declutter. News4 stopped by the goodwill in arlington this morning and learned that donating helps community. Especially around the holidays, we know that the jobs that are created, that the people we are supporting, all of that money gets to help people with new careers help them open savings account and presents under the trees. No better time to have a meaningful part of goodwill. Reporter you can also get a Tax Deduction if you donate. So be sure to ask for a receipt so you can file that with your taxes. Today marks the first day of kwanzaa, the week long celebration first started as african culture more than 50 years ago. Each day a different principal is honored. Today is about unity and will include everything from dancing and music to a large feast through new years eve. Coming up largest fire in history, battling for weeks, a loo k the Massive Wildfire in Southern California now called the thomas fire has become the largest in the states history. Officials say its destroyed more than 280,000 acres. And more than 1,000 structures and buildings have been leveled. Firefighters didnt get a brake over the holiday. They are still fight to go contain the fire that could take another two weeks to completely contain. Did you hear it . You probably did over the weekend. Powerful winds whipping through the Washington Area. Take a look at how strong some of the guchlsts were. Winds were so forceful caused a tree to fall on eden wood court. Damaged the gas meter causing a gas leak. No one was home at the time and that family wont be able to come home this week. Well, we have not only, we got a break from the winds, but now the cold is really settling in on us. Yes. And the cold is here to stay. So if you were hoping for something, left turn, no doubt about it, windy weather yesterday around here. And this cold this is going no where fast. A significant change in the weather pattern around here is open the and going no where. Every day for the next two weeks will be colder than average. And not just by a little bit. 34 in washington. Northwest winds has the whipped chill down 27 degrees. And similar story elsewhere around the region. Generally upper 20s to 30 in the shenandoah valley. Low to mid30s around the city. But keep the wind chills in the upper 20s the rest of the afternoon. Hourly planner, not much of a rise in temperatures, should make 37 for high in downtown, 33 in gaithersburg, closer to 40 down towards charlottesville. But thats quite a bit below our average which is now 44 degrees. You can also stay ahead of our weather with our free nbc app chuck bell. This is not a trend that anyone is going to like except for sky snowers. Great snow making weather for resorts and with temperatures this cold anything they make will stick around. We may have a little clans for some natural snow coming our way closer to the weekend. The polar jet is down to our south. That means we are going to stay on the cold side for most of the next 7 to 14 days. Ill show you that weekend forecast and the snow chances coming along with it. Thank you. And with frigid weather settling in on us, you may be wondering about your heating bill. Well, a pennsylvania woman sure knows what its like to experience sticker shock. Her name is marry cham. She tells the news she went online to check electric bill and stunned at the amount she owed. More than 284 billion. Yes, billion. Company, and finally figured out what the problem was. A decimal point was accidentally put in the wrong spot. The bill was actually 284. 46. Much to her relief. Holiday returns can sure be a hassle. What to know before you head back to the store that can make the process a little easier for u. Yo youre watching news4 midday. You can call it a holiday tradition, rush to return the Unwanted Gifts the day after christmas. Nbc jolene kent has a to do list for you before you head to the mall. Reporter with the retail rush behind us, and gifts exchanged. This is the best Christmas Ever. Reporter retailers are also giving thanks for strong Consumer Spending this year. Retail sales jumped more than 4 over last year. Online shopping spiking 24 over the holiday season. People have gonl out e out i droves and spent a lot of money this season. Reporter almost two thirds of americans made a return last holiday season. But before you take back your Unwanted Gifts, retail experts recommend for electronics, pe leave tags intact. And dont use the gift. Hang onto receipts. Many retailers wont allow exchanges or returns without them. Check store return policies before taking an item back. Some have limited return windows or only offer store credit. And make sure to bring your i. D. For extra hand free apps, shop a phi will keep tabs on all your online orders, completes with map based location tracking. And paribus watches for any reduction in price after you buy. Detects a price drop, it will file a claim with the retailer to get your money back. Also automatically requests money back if your shipment arrives late. The growth in ecommerce has been so rapid, giv packages shipped, we estimate 60 million will be late. In stores to respond go to the fact that some more people are buying online are making these guarantees and do have policies in place to protect you. Reporter still have items on your wish list, do not fear some of the best deals are yet to come. This week and next are the best time to buy clothing or cash in your gift cards. And wait until january or the weekend before the super bowl for the best price on a tv. More chances to find that perfect gift long after santa is gone. Jolene kent, nbc news, washington. And we know christmas is barely ov barely over, but you may want to spend extra time taking down the tree. Trees cause hundreds of fires. You probably remember this fire back in january of 2015 p annapolis couple and four of their grandchildren died when their tree ignited home. Now the sister of to remind others how to keep their holidays safe. I dont want to see this happen to anyone else. Three rules are water your tree every day, unplug overnight, because there is still current running through, even if it is off. And also to dispose of it within 30 days of getting it or by january 1, whichever comes first. Good tips. She says keeping an overly dry tree is like inviting a forest fire into your house. Another important reminder, check your homes sprinklers. Back in october angie goff showed us how big a difference they can make if fire does break out. And we have posted plenty of tips on the nbc washington app just search holdy safety. This time of yeear you migh be concerned about eating too much and exercising too little. News4 justin finch says you can enjoy it you will a, enjoy the season