what could be more appropriate for a classroom dealing with a power outage than a lesson on making a light bulb? that's what shana shelley's fourth grade class at williams elementary school did today as it dealt with the pg&e shutoff. in fact, the k-5 school even turned the lawn into a classroom. >> it's actually not that bad because we can work outside and can get some more fresh air. >> reporter: williams and its 657 students were 1 of 4 san jose ufied sls to conduct power. graystone elementary, brett hart middle school and leland high also carried on in the dark. one of the biggest concerns caused by the outage is fire alarms didn't work so at each school a district operations officer was assigned to roam the campus as a walking fire alarm. >> i'm doing a lot. making sure everything, no fires, no smoke detection, and making sure everything's okay. >> reporter: getting back to basics without electronics also had its benefits. >> we have great teachers on staff. so instructions have been

adapted so we're not relying on laptop computers, projection systems, or the internet. >> i think the biggest advantage would be having, like, no electronics because, like, we can finally, like, get out, like, and interact with other people. >> reporter: yes, talking with parents and teachers, we all agree we didn't expect students to be quite so happy asbout beig away from their devices. again, in the past 20 minutes we've seen some of the power is being restored so coming up at 6:00 we'll show you the surprisingly mixed reaction we're getting about things going back to the way they were. live in san jose, robert handa, nbc bay area news. >> okay. roberting thank you. now where you are the bay area's biggest city is fighting back. san jose mayor sam licardo in our studios today saying pg&e cannot dictate the lives of millions of people. and within the past hour the mayor demanding compensation from pg&e. >> we have certainly spoken to the governor's office about large public costs.

i have, myself, we're going to continue to press that issue and expect that there will be some compensation from pg&e for the considerable public cost resulting from these power shutdowns. >> the mayor says the shutoffs have already cost san jose a half a million dollars in overtime costs for city workers. at one point, earlier today, there were 68 traffic signals without power in san jose, alone. at this hour, it's down to just four. janelle? >> yeah, power is coming back on as we speak, raj, but this is the pg&e outage map right now. you can get it on their website. and it's showing you where the outages are. you can see there are sporadic outages around the bay area. red area, a lot of people still have their power out. large portions of sonoma, napa county have power out. east bay, over here in the berkeley area still the piedmont area, parts of skyline high still without power. also, moraga. we're getting word from a viewer in lafayette the power just came

back on down there in the lafayette area. then if we go down to the south bay we're going to show you, if i can move this map a little bit, here we go, san jo, another large area. mostly the ever green neighborhood without power now. and parts of the los gatos mostly in the hills near lexington reservoir. those residents still without power. good news, we're getting calls the power is going back up in lafayette and the orinda area, also in san jose so that is good news. we also want to take look at the power outages but county at the peak. at the height. you can see the most in sonoma county, about 66,000 customers. contra costa county also had a high amount with 351,000. santa clara, 3,800 customers without power at the height. alarming sight near sfo. we mentioned the fire in the hills above brisbane and south san francisco. ac take a look here, see fire

retardant being dropped. it burned dangerousically those a lot of homes. this is driven by the wind. see the smoke going in that direction. nbc bay area's scott budman is in brisbane. fire crews are still on site. scott? >> reporter: yeah, raj, behind me a partially charred san bruno mountain where today the quick work of firefighters kept that fire to just about 11 acres but even that was enough to make some neighbors nervous. shortly after the fire broke t oout around 11:00 firefighting helicopters started to drop water working to protect nearby homes on the hill. >> i live, like, at the bottom of the hill. >> reporter: nadya is one of many who benefited from the quick response. >> they were all i think trying to figure out how to go about it then all of a sudden, they just headed up there and started dumping the chemicals from the helicopter. >> reporter: fast enough to keep homes in the clear. >> the nextdoor app, we saw

there was voluntary evacuations, just random streets, close to the fire. and then, you know, we were standing out there for about 30 minutes. >> there was no evacuations, just an evacuation warning was issued that people may have to evacuate and we did have our brisbane police department, other law enforcement, here as well, on the ready if we did have to do that. >> reporter: good news for those who live nearby. >> it seems like they're getting it contained. >> reporter: with everyone's minds on fire prevention. >> and the wind is working in our favor. the wind is blowing up the hill. >> reporter: no cause yet for the fire. at this point crews say they'll stay on scene for a while this evening in case of any flare-ups. live in brisbane, scott budman, nbc bay area news. close call for many people in moraga as well. 2:00 a.m., fire crews went door to door evacuating people. power had already been cut off a few hours earlier. this was right near the st. mary's campus. tonight, thankfully, the flames are out, but neighbors want to know how this started. we're going to take you live to

moraga where they actually are getting power restored at this hour. we'll take you live to moraga in about ten minutes from now. let's go outside as we mentioned, windy conditions are winding down. chief meteorologist jeff ranieri is here with more on the look outside. and, jeff, has this red flag warning expired? >> yes, we are looking at this expiring throughout the bay area here as we continue throughout this hour. so we're on a downward side of this wind event and the fire danger overnight especially when a lot of us were trying to sleep, that's when it really was the highest. mt. st. helena up to 77 miles an hour. mt. diablo 75 mile per hour gusts. oakland hills 52. not as much in the lower elevations as expected. 24 mile per hour gusts here in fremont. so, through tonight, i wanted to show you 7:00 p.m., winds only 5 to about 13 miles per hour. as this event is starting to finish. so, tonight, i only see gusts up to about 20 miles per hour. but now the wind moves down toward southern california.

coming up in about 15 minutes we'll take a look at the southern california wildfire threat and also a detailed look at our warmer temperatures over the next couple days. again, i'll see you in about 15 minutes. >> okay, jeff. you just mentioned southern california, here it is. this is a statewide event. there sapphiis a fire down thert now. our chopper in the riverside, area of moreno valley. this is a live picture. there was a lot of flame and smoke. l helicopter taking an aerial view now. lot of smoke and flames, burned 400 acres already. firefighters say the high winds are fanning the fire. you can see from a short while ago those dense flames and smoke in the riverside county area. in southern california. this is ongoing. >> okay. let's go back to the power outages and governor gavin newsom is speaking right now. let's listen in. >> questions, give you an update. i know pg&e will be providing an

update, i believe at 6:00 tonight as well. we just got off the phone with bill johnson, the current ceo of pg&e. and i have been up and down this state, oakland two days ago, i had a chance to go down to san diego. was in l.a. today and merced, terlock, now here with you. assessing not only the situation here in northern california but assessing what invariably will be conditions that will take shape in the next 48 hours in southern california. southern california's not immune to the kind of conversations most of us here in the northern part of the state have experienced. let me just make something crystal clear from the top. this is amplified some of the earlier comments in oakland, san diego, and los angeles. it's decisions that were not made that have led to this moment in pg&e's history and the state of california as it relates to our major industrial

utility. it is not conditions. this is not, from my perspective, a climate change story as much as a story about greed and mismanagement over the course of decades. negle neglect. a desire to advance not public safety but profits. over the course of years and years and years, the kind of hardening of the grid was not done. those were decisions that were made by pacific gas and electric. chose not to modernize their grid over many, many years. led to their own demise, led to bankruptcy, a series of events that culminated literally weeks before i had the privilege of being sworn in as the governor of the state of california . you may recall i did not take the oath of office but took over as acting governor of the state of california. the day after my election as lieutenant governor in that position, governor brown was out of office. when we were receiving word

about a fire in northern rn. later comnly referred to as the camp fire. learned more hourser about a fire in southern california. the woolsey fire. it led to a sense of deep urgency, this now the second year, last year and the year prior, record number of devastating forest fires, brush fires, fires that as we know, did not know at the time, were directly caused by nlect a decisions by major industrial utility. camp fire, substantively, that example. we, as a consequence of that, led an effort that culminated here with an hour-long presentation, detailed presentation, of how we were lang out and scoping not just the problem but framing a strategy of solutions. we laid out a framework on environmental commitments we

re making. we put together a wildfire mitigation strategy. we talked in terms of how we can get our largest utility out of bankruptcy and do it with a sense of urgency. and i made it clear to the legislature, we couldn't wait until after this summer. we needed to get it done. i don't think without exception there's a person in this room that did not write or produce a tv episode, said that was likely not going to happen. we got it done and we got it done because we recognized the moment we are in. no one is naive about this moment. in every way, shape, or form, we want to do everything in our power to shape this moment in a much more enlightened way. what has occurred in the last 48 hours is unacceptable. what has occurred in the last 48 hours is kids staying home from school. you know, parents who can't

bathe their kids. folks that come home from work, can't even find a way to get into their garage. you've got people that can't even access water or medical supplies. we're seeing a scale and scope of something that no state in the 21 century should experience. what's happened is unacceptable. and it's happened because of neglect. it's happened because of decisions that were deferred, layed, or not made by the largest investor, utility, in the state of california and one of the largest in the nation. so, we are doing everything in our power to get through this moment and so i want to talk briefly about that. we, as you know, and you'll learn more from pg&e later this evening, we are now moving from turning off the lights to turning on the lights. pg&e is now in that mode of assessment. they are now looking to turn

back the lights but requires them to inspect thousands of miles of line before they do that. we are supplementing those efforts -- >> you're listening live to mayor gavin newsom near sacramento. a live news conference really trying to stay ahead of this story and take control of the narrative. this is a delicate time for the governor, as you remember, back in 2001, governor gray davis took a lot of criticism for the pg&e issues so governor newsom saying this is not a climate story, this is a story about greed and mismanagement taking direct shots at pg&e. >> yeah, he called it unacceptable and says there was neglect on parts of utilities. well, we're going to stick to our power outage coverage when we continue. we're going to be live in moraga with that close call that forced dozens of people to evacuate in the middle of the night during the outages. we're also following other big headlines this evening. the threat that caused dozens of squad cars to swarm a high

school in san jose. ahead for us, frustration and anxiety as the plug is pulled on millions of california power customers. have officials gone too far? also how an sd card found on the street helped unravel a murder mystery. on "nbc nightly news."

tense moments this afternoon, police showing up in force at a high school in the south bay. reports of a female student pulling a gun on a male student. officers arrested the 16-year-old girl. this was at delmar high school in the willow glen neighborhood this afternoon of san jose.

school fishes say the incident actually took place yesterday off campus. when police arrived today, they put the school on lockdown until they arrested that female student. they say she did not have the gun on her today. neighbors in upscale contra costa county community are scratching their heads tonight after a fire broke out in an area where the power had already been off for hours. they don't know what the cause is. this is what it looks like now. you can see the flames are out, but the whole hillside is charred and you can see the fire came dangerously close to those homes at the bottom. nbc bay area is live in moraga where everyone has the question, how did the fire start? anoushah? >> reporter: janelle, that's right, most of the community is without power right now. from where we're standing you can see part of that hillside there that burned early this morning. yeah, everybody's wondering here, what started this thing?

pg&e cut power to thousands of people in the bay area as a safety precaution. when they found out the weather this week would cause high fire danger. when the electricity was turned off in the sanders ranch neighborhood in moraga, a brush fire broke out, anyway, in the middle of the night. >> knowing that the power's off eliminates one of the potential threats and risks to the firefighters that are working the fires in terms of working in and around energized power lines. >> reporter: firefighters knocked down the flames quickly, but the fire did burn 40 acres in the hills and people who live here had to evacuate. >> we were awakened probably about 2:00, 2:30, people knocking on doors, you know, pounding on doors to get the word out. our next-door neighbor was waking us up. >> reporter: the big question now for the families in this neighborhood is, how did this fire start when there was to power? >> yeah, i'm really surprised. >> i mean, it almost has to be manmade because it was no weather. >> reporter: power officials are still looking into the cause of

the fire. we've learned that they are investigating it together with the police department. reporting life in moraga, anoushah rasta, nbc bay area news. >> thank you. where she is the power is being turned back on. you're familiar with the area. what's happening now? >> we're in the downward side of the event. great news. couldn't be greater to see the wind gusts calm on down. we'll take you to the microclimate forecast. yes, there was a wide contrast in what kind of wind you experienced. you can see some of the top wind gusts in case you missed it, mt. st. helena, 77 mile per hour top gust. it should be said, several hours overnight we had winds sustained 50 to 60 miles per hour so the fire danger was certainly very real. especially in a lot of those heavily-wooded hills once you end up above 1,000 feet to 2,000 feet. mt. diablo, 75 mile per hour gust. san jose only 21. we really didn't expect it to be that gusty down at the lower elevations.

so, as we hit 7:00 p.m. tonight, winds only 5 to 13 miles per hour. so, as you can see, things will be changing. now, while we are done with this wind event, i really wanted to show you where that wind is going to be heading and now it is a southern california issue. they have already had wildfire breakout this afternoon. you can seen this expected wind map the red magenta colors correlates with the key of 40 to 50-plus mile per hour wind gusts not only for l.a. but the san diego area with a red flag fire warning until 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. if you have friends or family in southern california, maybe you want to give them a call and just talk with them about it, make sure they're ready to go in case any kind of fires do break out. of course, we'll have coverage online and also on nbcbayarea.com if any developments come here from southern california. now, back here at home we do have high pressure moving in. that's gong to keep the rain track away. warm our temperatures up over the next couple days. i don't think you'll notice a difference tomorrow morning. we'll stay on the cool side.

lots of low to mid 50s. mostly clear skies. chilliest temperature here in the north bay at 49 degrees. might lead a light jacket. not too much fog i san francisco and 51. by the afternoon, a 5 to about 7 degree warmup. that will put us back into the 80s tomorrow. downtown san jose, 84. right here for contra costa, alameda counties, 86 in concord. 83 martinez. 81 for hayward. peninsula, 85 in palo alto. san mateo even up to 80. san francisco going to 79 here in the mission. and 75 in the marina. this will be perfect if you're heading out to s.f. for fleet week. friday, saturday, sunday, air shows from noon to 4:00 p.m. we'll be in the 70s if you're headed to any of that. and right here through the north bay, 84 in sonoma. 86 in santa rosa. so the wind definitely is calming down as we head through the next several days. dry weather into next wednesday and we'll keep an eye on some showers passing to the north by next thursday's forecast. inland valleys, i have you at 84 saturday, 79 on sunday. and we'll also look at some

showers passing to the north by thursday. i'm not sold on the chance of rain just yet, but we'll see what the next couple of days holds. if we have to make any adjustments, we'll let you know about that. >> okay, jeff. the lights are slowly starting to come back on in sonoma county. we're going to take you there live next. tomorrow on "california live" get ready for takeoff. flying full speed into fleet week in the bay. and we're all over the state with a special "california live" salute to the military. it's all happening on "california live." >> tomorrow morning at 11:30 on nbc bay area. d ignited a public health crisis." other news outlets report- juul took $12.8 billion from big tobacco. markets e-cigarettes with kid friendly flavors and uses nicotine to addict them. 5 million kids use e-cigarettes. juul is "following big tobacco's playbook." and now, juul is pushing prop c to overturn e-cigarette protections. vote no on juul. no on big tobacco. no on prop c.

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this is great news. after more than 40 hours in the dark the power is is coming back on in sonoma county. >> it's happening right now. nbc bay area's tim daley is in petaluma for us for a lot of small businesses are taking a financial hit. >> reporter: restaurant owner kathleen stafford tries to keep busy straightening chairs and sweeping floors because there's nothing else to do. the power's been out since just after midnight tuesday. >> to be in such little control

for your livelihood is frightening. we don't know. is it going to come on at noon y? obviously not. now we're hearing 5:00 p.m. and then we're also hearing it could take three to four to five days to repower. >> reporter: kathleen and her partners held on as long as possible with blocks of ice to keep food and drink chilled. but a second full day without power was too much to overcome. her business isn't just closed. it's suffering. >> it could be upwards of $12,000 in loss of revenue and then who knows about the spoilage issue. i mean, it's really -- it's devastating. >> reporter: it's even more aggravating that just to the north in petaluma, another shopping district hasn't lost power. restaurants here are doing just fine. kathleen understands the need for fire safety after the north bay firestorm two years ago, but what's happening this week, she doesn't understand. >> i don't know what a better way is, but it certainly can't be this. it can't be this.

>> reporter: as it sometimes happens in television, that story was put together an hour ago. about 45 minutes ago, look what happened. the lights came back on in this part of petaluma. pongo's is back in business but not until tomorrow. it's too late for tonight. it's another night of lost revenue. reporting live in petaluma, tim daly for nbc news. we'll have more news right after this. tv just keeps getting better. how you watch it does too. this is xfinity x1. featuring the emmy award-winning voice remote. streaming services without changing passwords and input. live sports - with real-time stats and scores. access to the most 4k content. and your movies and shows to go. the best tv experience is the best tv value.

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check it out. the blue angels are back in the bay area. here they are practicing over the marina green in san francisco this afternoon. a group of highly skilled navy pilots is here for fleet week. okay. they're going to perform and practice, they're actually practicing tomorrow all day and then you can see their show, the air show, saturday and sunday. not a bad seat along the embarcadero in san francisco. >> one of the best weeks of the year for if us. tonight at 6:00, the power is being restored across the bay area. the questions and frustration with pg&e, we will hear from the ceo of pg&e, bill johnson, live coming up on our 6:00 newscast. before we go, one last check, the winds have died down, which is good news. >> yes, we're only going to see winds 10 to 20 miles per hour. we're out of the worgs st of. . tomorrow, 85 degrees.

notice the morning temperatures. we start off on the cool side. 40s to 50s. thanks for joining us at 5:00. as a reminder, lester holt joins us next with "nightly news." breaking news tonight.3 the bombshell new arrests, two associates of president trump's personal attorney, rudy giuliani, charged with an illegal campaign donation to a pro-trump super pac. both playing key roles in giuliani's mission to dig up dirt on joe biden in ukraine the arrests at the airport as the two tried to leave the country. tonight, the president's new denial and a breaking headline the new trump cabinet member subpoenaed in the impeachment inquiry. also breaking, the assault on u.s. allies in syria, escalating after president trump withdrew u.s. troops tens of thousands fleeing now. the new warning imprisoned isis fighters may have already escaped. our richard engel is inside syria tonight. triple weather threat,