to the hospital where he died. >> i'm very sorry for what happened. please, whoever knows who did this, bring them to justice, please. >> reporter: the murder happened just hours after a woman was stabbed to death inside her home on canyon ridge drive. police arrested an acquaintance at the scene. >> this killing just got to stop. it leaves people -- families broken. >> reporter: judy says she'll pray for the people who killed her nephew. the family says they will hold a vigil here outside their home at 7:00 tonight. tonight at 6:00 we'll take a look at what the city is doing to keep the streets safe during the summer. more details now on san jose's violent crime. as mentioned 17 homicides this year. that's a slight rise from this time last year when there were 16. comparatively, san francisco has seven homicides this year, oakland has 28. now to a developing story.

a two-week manhunt is over. authorities announced they arrested a former cal fire chief for stabbing his girlfriend to death. orville fleming was arrested in elk grove southeast of sacramento. fleming has been on the run since may 1st when the body of sarah douglas was found inside their home in sacramento. fleming is an avid outdoors man and had access to fire roads, trails and cal fire stations across the state. new at 5:00, a lot of fire concern in marin county. investigators believe an arsonist is to blame. this morning 11 fires were set on hillsides in novato, specifically the crossroads neighborhood. nbc bay area's mark matthews is in novato. >> reporter: briarwood, site of one of the fires, behind me it's a small fire but another one on the other side of this hill, and one beyond that, 11 within a mile. and two more fires set the day before.

all of the fires set in grass or brush, all of them thankfully never grew larger than this one on columbine. where crews are mapping the origin. a few blocks away on briarwood, arson investigators gathering evidence. 11 fires, some set within just minutes of each other. >> as firefighters, we're responding to one cat this morning. they rolled up on another one that hadn't been reported yet. >> reporter: police look at the blazenness of the crimes may have been sparked by a number of conditions. the hot, dry weather or pictures of the devastating fires in san diego county. it reminds residents of this area of a series of 60 arson fires set in early 2012. no one ever arrested. >> it's disconcerting. it's a worry. >> this is a very scary situation. >> reporter: arson investigators are concentrating on this side of briarwood. i am told between this series

and the two one years ago, the type of fire, the frequency, and the geographic location are all very similar. what investigators need is help. there are two dozen fire investigators and police out on the streets tonight patrolling this neighborhood. but they are begging residents to give them a call if anybody sees anything that is suspicious or out of the ordinary, even if it doesn't seem like something important, it may turn out to be. that same plea is said and felt in the east bay. walnut career firefighters are searching for an arsonist, someone intentionally setting five small fires in the past ten d days. most of the fires have broken out in the afternoon. but the latest one happened at 7:30 last night. a total of about three acres has burned so far. we continue to follow a developing story out of san diego county. crews are still fighting several destructive wildfires. you can see live pictures from

our chopper in southern california. today's headlines, two teenagers arrested for arson. they're accused of starting two smaller brush fires in the area. police say there's no evidence that links them to any of the larger fires, but they are investigating. flames have now charred more than 30 square miles. many homes, including an apartment complex, destroyed. people are fleeing their homes, grabbing just a few items on their way out. this cell phone video showing the danger and the immediacy of some of the evacuations. this driver escaping the flames in carlsbad. chief meteorologist jeff ranieri is tracking the conditions statewide. many bay area crews are there as well. but we begin with nebraska's miguel almaguer in san marcos. >> reporter: we are in san marcos at the cocos fire, the largest and most immediate threat. take a look at the destruction. more than $15 million in damage. at least 25 homes and structures

completely destroyed. we have video taken just a short time ago of this fire. it is a massive fire that has charred through more than 8,000 acres. thousands of firefighters have converged in this area to fight not just this blaze but five major fires burning tonight, burning at this hour. take a look at this cell phone  video we got a short time ago from nearby this area. it shows evacuees, thousands on the run from another area earlier this week. these fires are intense, they are fanned by hot santa ana winds. while this evening those winds have died down a bit there is still extreme danger in san diego county. there are many fires here. crews are attacking this blaze. not just on the ground but the marines are in the air. 22 helicopters doing all they can to douse hot spots as these flames march forward. coming up tonight on "nightly news," a full report live here from san diego. as miguel mentioned the

marines are on call now. and are on duty. this behind the scenes video shows how they're using military helicopters for water drops. dramatic how they're doing this. they're getting water from nearby reservoirs. the marines say this is a primary way for crews to attack the fire areas that are difficult to reach. the weather continues to be a major concern for firefighters. let's bring in chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. cooler temps helping, can we expect that to continue? >> certainly, this is great news for firefighters. we're done with santa ana winds. with all these fires burning to the north of san diego near rancho bernardo, escondido, camp pendleton. it's all about onshore wind, a cooling wind throughout saturday and sunday. temperatures from near 100 earlier this week down to 72, 76 for that range. humidity increasing. added moisture into the atmosphere. 20% to 35% is what the average is going to be and cooler wind

direction out of the southwest, 10 to 20 miles per hour. this trend better news for the firefighters the next two days. they still obviously have their hands very full, despite what that weather forecast is going to be this weekend. right now across the bay area, our humidity is increasing. temperatures are lowering. you can see right now 75 in foster city. very cool air across pacifica. coming up we are going to track in, try to find out more information on this fire near gilroy. i wanted to get these conditions up here real quick. temperatures right around 80. a light wind, 5 to 15 miles per hour, coming out of the west. humidity ranging 15 to about 35%. not the worst weather for a fire but it still is going to be a little bit difficult out there. >> all right, jeff, see you shortly. a high-tech demonstration today, a bay area lawmaker calling for airport security upgrades. this follows last month's stow-away case at san jose international. representative eric swalwell

pointed out how each airport in the bay area has thousands of acres to secure. he said fencing like this could be the answer. an example of existing technology and it's made in southern california. equipped with a microñhone and sensors it's compared to a spider web. >> tells you whether or not somebody is cutting the fence, climbing the fence, digging under the fence, or shooting over the fence such as you had in northern california last year. people shooting at transformers. >> he's referring to what happened last year in that vandalism attack on a south san jose substation. and that case remains unsolved. starting tomorrow, sfo will shut down two of its four runways for the summer. the closure is needed to finish a federally mandated safety project. the affected runways face northeast and handle most of the airport's departures. the work will cut the number of flights that can arrive during peak hours. it will also change flight paths, increasing air traffic over san bruno and daly city. $35 million the u.s.

department handed out the highest amouhigh est penalty for a cover-up over faulty ignition switches. they say it's less than 1% of the company's profits louisiana is year. gm admitted its ignition switches are flawed on 2.6 million chevy cobalts and similar models. the flaw can cause engines to shut down, power steering to quit, event air bags from deploying. the defect is responsible for 32 crashes and 13 deaths. safety experts are demanding lawmakers raise the penalty to $300 million. students at a san francisco catholic high school wore ties to school today after learning a classmate's senior portrait was omted from the year back because she wore a tuxedo. i'll have reaction from the girl and the school coming up. a social media hoax that shocked a southern california family. they're warning about a threat on facebook. i'm scott budman inside the

lab where a new plastic has been discovered. coming up inside the south bay tech giant. we'll talk to the researchers who made it happen. at 6:00, first he cheated death. >> after that accident, all bets were off. >> then vowed to prove everyone wrong. >> i didn't care if they said i wasn't smart. i was going to make it happen no matter what. >> how this impossible dream came true.

we're following a fire now in the santa cruz mountains burning near mt. madonna park on the border of santa cruise and santa clara counties. in the mountains west of gilroy. this fire so far has burned about five acres. you can see down below, it's some sort of structure down there. it's not necessarily a house or building. but to us it looks like some sort of greenhouse. we'll find out what that is, a

structure or a greenhouse type of building on fire. you see crews down below. they've been on-site for more than an hour. we'll find out what that structure is down below and the progress of this fire. once again this is west of gilroy in the santa cruz mountains on the border of santa clara and santa cruz county. we'll continue to follow this fire as it continues. new details on a yearbook controversy. a san francisco high school pulled a senior girl's portrait because she wore a tuxedo for the shoot. her classmates decided to show the school that was the wrong move. nbc bay area's jodi hernandez is live outside sacred heart in san francisco where she spoke with a student today. >> reporter: jessica urbina cried tears of joy today after nearly all of her classmates showed up to school here today wearing ties. tonight the school says it will make changes because of it. >> i've seen people with all the

ties. honestly, i've cried multiple times, overwhelmed with all the support. i want to thank everybody who's supporting me right now. >> reporter: that's the reaction of sacred heart senior jessica urbina after classmates wore ties to school to show they stand behind her. the show of support comes after students learned the girl's senior portrait was omitted from the yearbook because she wore a tuxedo. >> she hadn't be taken out of the yearbook, it's who she is, we can't deny that, we can't deny that, we don't have a right to deny that. >> reporter: the principal says while he's proud of students for speaking out, he says the senior portrait dress policy is clear. >> for males a tuxedo, shirt and tie, coat. for females it's in a drape. >> reporter: in a statement this afternoon "these events have spark adam pus-wide dialogue which will result in a revision

of policy." while it's unclear what that revision may be, students hope it's one that allows kids to be themselves. even in their senior picture. >> they ask us to be who he are, to help doing, so we're practicing what they preach to us. >> reporter: jessica tells me she has never felt more loved than right now. she said she did have a meeting scheduled with the school today, but again today the school announcing that they will make changes to their senior portrait dress policy because of how the students have reacted. we have relief for students at san jose state. campus leaders announced they'll be cancelling a fee hike. last months students protested plans to raise the student success fee. they say the money was being used for college sports instead of helping them graduate. a fee hike of $800 per semester

would have been the highest in the cal state system. in a news release yesterday, campus leaders announced the student success fee will not be raised. the bay area is known for inventing things but this is in a class by itself. >> a new kind of plastic has been discovered, created by a researcher at a silicon valley tech giant. our business and tech reporter scott budman tells us what makes this plastic so different. >> reporter: plastic is a part of our everyday lives, from our steering wheels to our shopping bags. but inside this lab at san jose's ibm almaden research facility, a new kind of plastic has been created. a chemist named jessica garcia said she stumbled on the new polymer, accidentally creating a brand new plastic. it's stronger than any before and it's recyclable. it's so new they're trying to think of things to do with it. >> definitely proud of my work, proud of the paper, and really

excited for the field to see it and to start having discussions with people about it. >> reporter: the combination of light weight, self-healing, and strength makes this plastic ideal for building things. because it's recyclable, it may someday be put into use for consumer products. so if one day plastic bags like these are once again welcome in bay area stores, well, you have a young scientist to thank. we want to update you on our breaking news in the south bay. a fire burning in the santa cruise mountains. five acres have burned so far. as you can see it's burning dangerously close to some sort of greenhouse. it started about 90 minutes ago. it's right on the border of santa cruz and santa clara counties west of gilroy near mt. madonna park. we saw a helicopter flying by presumably doing water drops to help put this fire out. again, five acres have burned so far in the santa cruz mountains just west of gilroy. no injuries reported.

there are some structures nearby. but at this point, firefighters, there you see the water drop going on, firefighters say no big structures like homes or outhouses are threatened but there is some greenhouse burning nearby. of course chief meteorologist jeff ranieri is following these conditions. cooler temps but people are still on high alert because of fire season getting an early start. >> drought, tinder-dry conditions, especially after one are 100-degree temperatures this week. this fire is to the west of gilroy at the mt. madonna park. at least five acres have been burned. temperatures right now averaging in the area of 78 to 83 degrees. the key thing right now is i have noted in the past five to ten minutes winds dusting as high as 25 miles per hour and humidity at about 15%. i do think the conditions will continue to improven to night as we'll see some added humidity to the atmosphere. but those firefighters are going to have to watch any potential embers very closely, again, wit all that dry brush around. speaking of the hot weather and

fire danger, it has been a wild weather week across the bay area. wednesday was the hottest with temperatures ranging 91 to 102. that broke records more than 80 years old. where are we today? we've got marine layer building up at the coastline. that has helped usher in major cooling across the bay as temperatures are anywhere 15 to 25 degrees constituter at this hour. even though we have that fire in gilroy, we are looking at overall our fire danger beginning to decrease as we head throughout this upcoming weekend. temperatures are cooler is as well. check out san francisco, 68 degrees right now with that cold, brisk wind moving in. you can see those cameras shaking as we're starting to get more of this onshore flow coming back a little bit more aggressively, especially in san francisco. that fog is beginning to bank up at the coast. winds coming out of the northwest at 10 to 20 miles per hour. it will be windy at the coast but it's not going to be hot. onshore cool, foggy winds

staying with us for the entire weekend. as we head throughout saturday and sunday, we've got this next cooler slice of air that's going to continue to move across the bay. i do think with that said, we will have some cloud cover to start tomorrow morning. mainry at the coastline. a few areas of low clouds. 11:00 a.m., it's going to be hard to shake cloud cover but i do think by 1:00, 3:00, we'll get sunny skies across the bay area. so that is going to mean for the forecast a wide mix of temple tours across the bay. half moon bay 64 with areas of fog. one of the coolest spots. walnut creek 81. and also sunny skies. no matter where you go you'll be able to find that perfect weather forecast with micro climates in full effect. the peninsula cooling down. 70 in san mateo. 78 palo alto. 60s in san francisco. take the jacket if you're headed there. you'll find across the north bay, east way, and strooi-valley

79 in napa, 73 in oakland. the 25-valley 81 and sunny skies expected in pleasanton. for the weekend, looks like saturday will be the warmest out of both days. by sunday even more additional cooling where we could only have low 70s expected across the south bay. still ahead, what's inside that giant orange locker? it showed up mysteriously today in san francisco. not just dogs. the people who have been sickened by tainted pet treats.

seven years of investigating tainted pet treats and still no answer. the fda says three people have also been sickened.

pet jerky treats, mostly imported from china, are linked to more than 1,000 dog deaths. owners of 5,000 more complain their pets got sick. for the first time, three people claim the meat made them sick, including two toddlers who ate them accidentally. in august of 2012, our investigative unit was the first to report the results of a necropsy performed on a morgan hill pet. the fda still can't identify a specific problem. a san diego family is warning people about a hoax on facebook. someone hacked this account, announcing this man and his wife had been killed in a gas leak inside of their home. relatives saw the post, panicked, and tried contacting other family members. they also tried reaching out to the couple but couldn't, making everyone believe that post was real. when relatives arrived at the couple's home they soon realized the post was a fake. >> i don't typically cry. and i just completely broke down. it was hard to handle my emotions.

>> still no word on who or why someone did this. have you seen this? in san francisco, amazon dropped off this giant orange locker at justin herman plaza leaving people scratching their heads. tours out it's an advertising stunt by amazon and nissan. one lucky person can win a nissan rogue suv, inside that locker, by tweeting #giantlocker and stopping by to get a code. if that code opens the locker the suv is yours. >> it's just sitting there waiting for someone. >> oh, yeah. so enticing. familiar face returning to "saturday night live." we'll fill you in next.

we'll be back in a half hour. at 6:00 we're in a dangerous fire season but there's one spot in the south bay that fire crews say they're keeping a close eye on. what's happening there that's captured their attention. we're following breaking news also in the south bay, a brush fire in the mountains west of gilroy in the santa cruise mountains. crews are battling it from the ground, water drops from helicopters, five acres have burned so far. it is burning dangerously close to some sort of greenhouse. lots of firefighters on the scene. they've been very tense this week. we'll bring you the latest tonight at 6:00. a programming note for you. giants take on the marlins on nbc bay area. coverage begins at 7:00 tonight. "dateline nbc" on tv 36 at 8:00. "grimm" on tv 36 at 9:00.

"h "hannibal" after the game at 10:00 on nbc bay area. it's been a season of change. on "saturday night live" a lot of new faces. on the eve of tomorrow night's season finale, an old friend is back in the spotlight. >> we can take the day off to frolic? >> totally! >> andy samberg is hosting, the berkeley native was a popular cast member from 2005 to 2012. since leaving, he's taken on the role of police detective in the tv series "brooklyn 99." he won a golden globe for it in january. catch "snl" tomorrow at 11:30 on nbc bay area. >> and also the forecast. thank goodness for the cool-down for firefighters. >> that is going to help them. onshore winds coming back. they'll have better conditions as we head throughout the next three to four hours. my biggest concern right now is the fact that we have had wind gusts as high as 25 miles per hour. so i'll continue to track that.

>> we'll be tracking this for you as well. see you at 6:00. on our broadcast here tonight, getting out alive, an incredible escape through walls of fire as neighborhoods go up in flames. tonight, an extraordinary view from the fire lines in southern california. paying the price for waiting too long to sound the alarm. tonight, the feds have levelled gm with a history-making penalty. d making a difference. how one of the biggest acts in country is putting money where their music is, helping to save a lot of young lives. "nightly news" begins now. >> from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with brian williams. good evening. in the state of california where the fires are given names, it's the blaze they call the cocoas fire that is tonight chewing up the most territory and getting the most attention amo