Firefighters doused trash that caught fire as it spilled as a freight train derailed in Philadelphia Wednesday morning.

No injuries were reported as the boxcar and three other cars went off the tracks near 32nd and W Thompson streets in the city's Brewerytown neighborhood around 7:30 a.m., the Philadelphia Fire Department and CSX said.

Firefighters could be seen dousing debris that tipped along a curve in the tracks. It was not a hazmat situation, the fire department said.

CSX later determined the steam seen coming from the spilled construction debris was not actually smoke from a fire.

The train with two locomotives and 99 cars carrying a "variety of freight, including construction materials, lubricating oil and construction debris" from Baltimore, Maryland to Selkirk, New York when the four cars went off the track, CSX spokesman Rob Doolittle said.

No commuter trains use the tracks, SEPTA said.

CSX brought in contractors and additional personnel to work on a plan to re-rail to cars, clean the debris and repair any damage to the tracks, Doolittle said.

The exact cause of the derailment remained under investigation.

"CSX appreciates the quick assistance of the Philadelphia emergency services personnel in responding to this incident this morning," Doolittle said.

An 87-year-old woman says she faces eviction because her grandson visits her New Jersey apartment daily to bring her food and get her mail.

Rose Dimaria, who was recently treated for breast cancer and suffers from an irregular heartbeat, has lived in a Lodi Public Housing Authority home for 67 years. That's why she said she was confused when she received an eviction threat in the mail claiming she violated her lease by letting an 'unauthorized visitor' — her grandson, 40-year-old Gregory Ciccione — come too frequently.

"He brings me coffee every morning, and a roll or a doughnut," Dimaria said. "It’s nice to have company – I don’t understand what is wrong with that."

According to a letter sent to police by the housing authority administrators, Ciccione has previously served 3 years for mail fraud with his former business.

Ciccione admitted to his crime but insists he hasn’t tampered with his grandmother’s mail.

"Taking care of an elder should not be something that I am forced to stop doing or be bullied into not doing because of past history," he said.

Instead, Ciccione said he felt the letter was an elaborate scheme to spite him, not his grandmother.

"It’s absolutely directed at me,” he told News 4. "There’s outside family members who I no longer interact with, and it’s been a tumultuous several years between my divorce and who took sides over several cases. In their attack on me, it’s affecting my grandmother."

The Lodi Public Housing Authority says its priority is the health, safety, and well-being of all tenants.

Dimaria will have a hearing before any action is taken.

Georgia fashion designer Mychael Knight, who was a finalist on the popular TV competition show "Project Runway," died Tuesday at age 39.

Knight died outside Atlanta surrounded by family and friends, said friend Jerris Madison, the editor and photographer of Obvious Magazine, a fashion, lifestyle and cultural publication.

An official cause of death has not been released, but Knight had extensively shared his five-year struggles with irritable bowel syndrome, writing in now-deleted Facebook posts that he suffered chronic abdominal pain, a "leaky gut," extreme fatigue and exhaustion.

"He was innovative, unapologetic, kind and giving," Madison said of Knight. "He made sure that anybody who was in his core circle, his family, his friends, didn't have to want for anything. He was just an amazing man."

Knight appeared on Season 3 of "Project Runway," which aired on Bravo, finishing fourth that year. He returned for "Project Runway All-Stars," finishing eighth on the show that now airs on the Lifetime network.

"We are saddened to hear about the passing of a member of the Project Runway family," said Lifetime spokeswoman Dee Perez in a statement. "It's a loss of a great talent and we wish his family peace and solace during this difficult time."

Knight spent his childhood in Montgomery, Alabama, but graduated from Washingtonville Senior High School in Washingtonville, New York, in 1996. Later that same year, he began his freshman year of college at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia. In 2001, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in apparel design and merchandising.

After completing his undergraduate studies, Knight broke into the fashion industry in Atlanta by working as an intern at Wilbourn Exclusives in 2001 before becoming a fashion stylist in the music industry in 2002.

In 2006, Knight became a contestant for "Project Runway," and went on to win that season's fan favorite award. The next year, he introduced his label, Mychael Knight, on BET's "Rip the Runway" and he designed a line of custom tees for the Starbucks Corp.

In 2008, Knight launched Kitty & Dick, his lingerie label for men and women, and his unisex fragrance, MajK.

Madison said "Project Runway" definitely helped expand Knight's brand, which caught the eye of celebrities like Toni Braxton, Sheri Shepard and Eva Marcille, who ultimately became his clients.

"His name was still on people's minds," Madison said. "The industry is very competitive, but he continued to do it his way."

Madison said Knight, who had been living in Los Angeles, was always sharp and chic in his personal style and that carried over into his collections.

"He died doing what he loved," Madison said. "And you can see that in his final collection presented (last month) at New York Fashion Week. It was amazing. The industry has lost a true innovator. Mychael was just getting to that point where people were saying 'Hey, I remember this guy.' He was about to be huge and really wanted to capitalize on affordable sportswear for women of all sizes."

In addition to his parents, Michael Sr. and Pamela Knight, Knight is survived by two sisters.

"Mychael meant everything to us and we loved him dearly. He was generous and so full of life. This is how we choose to remember his legacy," the family said in a statement.

Funeral arrangements were pending.

A Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino security guard and building engineer, who were the first people to encounter Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock, recount their harrowing experience on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" Wednesday.

Jesus Campos and Stephen Schuck were both working at Mandalay Bay the evening of Oct. 1 when shots rang out from the 32nd floor of the resort onto a crowd attending the a country music festival. Campos was notified about a door that was left open on the 32nd floor. He was eventually shot in the leg by Paddock, but managed to radio for help.

"As I was walking down [the hallway] I heard rapid fire," an emotional Campos told DeGeneres. "I felt a burning sensation, I want to go lift my pant leg up and I saw the blood."

Schuck, the buildings engineer, also went to investigate a door was left open and eventually stumbled across a wounded Campos.

Campos said he’s still recovering from the harrowing ordeal that left 58 people dead and hundreds injured. 

“I am doing better each day,” an emotional Campos told DeGeneres. “ Slowly, but surely just healing physically and mentally.”

DeGeneres presented Campos with season tickets for the Raiders once they moved to Las Vegas and Schuck with a trip to meet his favorite team, the Indianapolis Colts, as well as a VIP ticket to a game. Shutterfly also presented Campos with a $25,000 check that is to be donated to a GoFundMe page for victims of the shooting in his name.

Olympic gymnast and gold medalist McKayla Maroney said on Twitter overnight that she was sexually assaulted for years by former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar. 

Nassar, a former doctor at Michigan State University and for the USA Gymnastics team, has been accused of sexual abuse by more than 100 women. He also pleaded guilty to child pornography charges earlier this year and is awaiting sentencing on Nov. 27 in federal court in Michigan.

In a letter posted to her Twitter account early Wednesday, Maroney said she was "molested" by Nassar for years, starting when she was 13 years old. 

"Dr. Nassar told me that I was receiving 'medically necessary treatment that he had been performing on patients for over 30 years,’” she wrote. "It started when I was 13 years old, at one of my first National Team training camps, in Texas, and it didn't end until I left the sport."

"It seemed whenever and wherever this man could find the chance, I was 'treated,'" she added.  

She also detailed a specific incident when she was abused by Nassar after a flight to Tokyo.

"He'd given me a sleeping pill for the flight, and the next thing I know, I was all alone with him in his hotel room getting a 'treatment,'"  she wrote. "I thought I was going to die that night."

Maroney also said in her letter that the flood of social media posts from women speaking out against sexual assault inspired her to go public. 

She ended by encouraging victims to speak out and hold people in power accountable. 

"Our silence has given the wrong people power for too long, and it's time to take our power back. And remember, it's never too late to speak up," she wrote. 

Nassar has not responded to the allegation. 

Maroney became an internet meme during the 2012 Olympics when she gave a seemingly sourpuss expression as she was awarded a silver medal for vault.

She later showed the same grin in a photograph with President Barack Obama when she visited the White House after the competition. 

A pair of crashes, almost 30 miles apart in two different counties, slowed traffic along busy Interstate 95 in Pennsylvania Wednesday morning.

A pickup truck hauling a trailer, a car and a tractor-trailer crashed in the northbound lanes near the Route 413 (Bristol) Exit in Bucks County shortly after 6:30 a.m. All lanes were blocked for more than an hour, causing at least a 5-mile backup.

The force of the Bristol crash left the pickup truck with front-end damage and its trailer on top of the sedan.

Two people suffered minor injuries in the crash.

A short time earlier, a car overturned and blocked the northbound ramp of I-95 to the Platt Bridge, near the Philadelphia Airport. No word yet if anyone was hurt in the wreck.

NBC10 First Alert Traffic reporter Jessica Boyington reported that traffic was moving again by 8:30 a.m. at both scenes. Expect continues delays in Bristol as the wreck remained on the side of the highway.

A Florida congresswoman said she overheard President Donald Trump tell the widow of a Miami Gardens native killed in an ambush while on patrol in Niger that her husband "must've known what he signed up for." 

U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., called the comment about Sgt. La David T. Johnson's death insensitive, but Trump said Wednesday that Wilson fabricated what he said, and that he has proof. The president did not immediately offer it up.

Wilson fired back that she had her own proof, and her account was reportedly confirmed by Johnson's mother.

The disagreement comes after Trump, asked in a news conference why he'd taken so long to discuss four U.S. soldiers killed in West Africa, boasted that he likes to call the families of fallen soldiers, unlike Barack Obama and other presidents. Obama did call some Gold Star families and made extensive outreach to many. His former aides reacted angrily to Trump's comments. Former President George W. Bush often met privately with families of service members killed in action and wrote letters.

The Associated Press also spoke with families of two fallen soldiers who said Trump didn't call or write a letter of condolence, despite Trump saying Tuesday, "I think I've called every family of someone who's died."

Johnson, 25, was one of four U.S. Special Forces soldiers killed in Niger by Islamist militants on Oct. 4. The casket carrying his body reached South Florida on Tuesday.

Wilson, who represents the Miami Gardens district, told NBC6 she overheard Trump's comment on speakerphone while riding with Myeshia Johnson, the late soldier's pregnant widow.

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"Sarcastically, he said: 'But, you know, he must've known what he signed up for,'" Wilson said. "How could you say that to a grieving widow? ... I couldn't believe, and he said it more than once. This man has no feelings for anyone. This is a young woman with child."

"Everyone knows when you go to war, you could possibly not come back alive, but you don't remind a grieving widow of that. That's so insensitive," Wilson added.

Trump took to Twitter Wednesday morning, saying, "Democrat Congresswoman totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof). Sad!"

It wasn't immediately clear what proof he had. The president has previously implied he had tapes of conversations with James Comey, the FBI director he fired, only to reveal after weeks that he did not.

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A White House official earlier told NBC: "The President’s conversations with the families of American heroes who have made the ultimate sacrifice are private."

Asked about the tweet on CNN, Wilson said, "I have proof, too. This man is a sick man. He's cold-hearted and he feels no pity." She also didn't immediately provide her proof.

But Johnson's mother confirmed Wilson's account to The Washington Post on Wednesday, adding, "President Trump did disrespect my son and my daughter and also me and my husband." She did not elaborate.

Johnson's body reached the Miami International Airport for a brief ceremony before a funeral procession took the flag-draped casket to a funeral home in Hollywood.

When she heard Trump's comment, Wilson said Myeshia did not react.

"She didn't say anything. She simply listened to what he was saying," Wilson said. 

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A GoFundMe page was created Monday in Myeshia Johnson's name to benefit her and the sergeant's kids' college funds. As of Tuesday night, it had more than $120,000.

A West Philadelphia high school was put on lockdown for about an hour Wednesday morning after a teacher reported hearing a gunshot and a student possibly saw a gunman run out of the building, Philadelphia police said.

Officers searched Overbrook High School after the reports came in around 9:20 a.m. but they found no evidence of a shooting, police said.

A teacher claimed to hear a gunshot and the student claimed to see a classmate running from the school on Lancaster Avenue with a firearm, police said.

"She heard a loud bang, and that's how it was described to me," police Capt. John Sanford said.

Police set up a staging area near the school as detectives searched for whether gunshots were actually fired. 

"One of the key things is making sure we get the accurate information," Sanford said.

The lockdown was lifted around 10:20 a.m. after police found no ballistics evidence of gunfire.

No injuries were reported.

Sanford said that the department will always err on the side of caution in cases like this.

The Philadelphia School District didn't immediately reply to requests for comment.

Dozens of people in Allentown are disappointed and disgusted with the lack of hurricane relief in Puerto Rico. The group is headed to Washington D.C. Wednesday to rally for more help. NBC10's Randy Gyllennhaal has more about their trip and cause.

The death toll from Northern California's destructive wildfires rose to 42 Wednesday after the remains of another person were found in Sonoma County.

Spokeswoman Misti Harris said the county is working on identifying its 23rd victim. 

Others killed in the fire include eight in Mendocino County, six in Napa County and four in Yuba County. A water tender driver was also killed after the truck they were driving overturned on a winding and steep mountain road in Napa County.

Of the 1,969 missing persons reports in Sonoma County, a total of 53 people remain missing as of Tuesday, Sonoma County Sheriff Rob Giordano said. Authorities say they are conducting targeted searches for victims and the work is slow-going.

However, a spokesman for the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office says he doesn't expect the death toll to go much higher.

Sgt. Spencer Crum said Wednesday that the ``number of dead people we're finding has really slowed down'' and that many people listed as missing have been located safely.

Half of the 53 missing person reports are for homeless people, and Crum doesn't believe they perished in fires because they did not live in areas hardest hit by fire. He said many missing person reports are made by people who haven't seen the individual in years but thinks that person was last in Sonoma County.

Napa County reported Tuesday that eight people remained on its missing person list.

The wind-whipped fires that started Oct. 8 swept through parts of seven counties, destroying 5,700 homes and businesses, and becoming the deadliest and most destructive series of blazes in California history.

Containment numbers for the Tubbs, Pocket, Nuns and Oakmont fires, which ignited last week and swiftly ripped through neighborhoods and businesses, have been steadily improving over the past several days, according to Cal Fire. 

Light rain forecast in Northern California is expected to help firefighters battling the remains of wildfires that have burned for more than a week in wine country.

National Weather Service meteorologist Ryan Walbrun said about a tenth of an inch of rain is expected Thursday night.

He said it won't be enough to drench fires, but the precipitation combined with moist winds should help.

Daniel Berlant, spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, says crews did controlled burns to wipe out fuel needed by wildfires to spread.

Tens of thousands of evacuees are returning to their homes, although more than 30,000 were evacuated as of Tuesday morning. That number is down considerably from Saturday when an estimated 100,000 people had been forced out of their homes.

As of Wednesday, the Atlas Fire has burned 51,064 acres in Napa and Solano counties and is 83 percent contained; the Tubbs Fire has scorched 36,432 acres in Napa County and is 91 percent contained; the Nuns Fire, which includes the Partrick, Adobe, Norbbom, Pressley and Oakmont fires, has burned 54,423 acres in Sonoma and Napa counties and is 80 percent contained; and the Pocket Fire has burned 12,430 acres in Sonoma County and is 63 percent contained.

Farther north, the Sulphur Fire in Lake County has torched 2,207 acres and is 92 percent contained, and the Redwood Valley Fire in Mendocino County has charred 35,800 acres and is 70 percent contained.

Cal Fire hopes to fully contain the rash of wildfires by Friday.

The progress comes as firefighters elsewhere are working to gain control of a 271-acre fire that erupted late Monday in a heavily-forested area of the Santa Cruz Mountains. 

The hunt is on for the person who shot a teenager along Highland Boulevard in New Castle, Delaware overnight. NBC10's Matt DeLucia has more details on the shooting.

Days after a deadly wildfire ravaged Sonoma County, a family sitting at an In-and-Out Burger in Rohnert Park, California, recognized their home from the footage of burned-out buildings playing on a laptop.

They had just returned from a visit to their house in Santa Rosa’s Coffey Park neighborhood, a square-mile of middle-class homes and friendly neighbors, which was among the hardest hit in the wildfires that broke out last Sunday. Their two-story house is completely destroyed. They watched NBC Bay Area's footage while eating dinner.

The family was emotional as they looked at the charred remains of their home.

Monica, a caregiver in Santa Rosa, is a renter who has lived with her family in the house since 2007. She immigrated to the United States from Guanajuato, Mexico, when she was 16 years old has been here for the last 24 years. NBC Bay Area is not using her last name because she is undocumented.

Speaking in Spanish, Monica described the harrowing way her family of eight –her mother, brother, husband and son, as well as her sister, brother-in-law and their kids– escaped the flames.

They lost pretty much everything.

Monica's friend, who was in a wheelchair, died in the fire. The family is currently staying at a shelter in Petaluma. They have no renter’s insurance, and Monica is currently without a job. They have no idea what will happen next.

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Here are some excerpts from our interview with Monica (translated from Spanish), her son and her nephew. [[451478933, C]]

NBC: How did you find out about the fire?
Monica: We fell asleep at 10 p.m. on Sunday and it started to smell like smoke, but we thought the neighbors were cooking barbeque. The windows were a little open and at 1:30 a.m. they came knocking at our door and started yelling at us to leave because the fire was near. My mom got up and opened the door and the smoke just came pouring into the house and we couldn’t see anything.

All the kids ran outside and we didn’t get a chance to grab anything except for simple things on the way out like a sweater. My kids left without shoes, clothes, nothing. My mother began to desperately yell because I wouldn’t come out of the house and I was on the second floor. I was the last one to get out.

We just got into our cars and left, but we returned to save the dogs. My mom kept asking me to save the birds, but I couldn’t. It was too late. My brother couldn’t save his motorcycle. Everything burned in the fire.

NBC: What happened next?
Monica: We left and I didn’t imagine that my house would burn. I left with hope that my house wouldn’t burn down. We waited in a Safeway parking lot, until an officer told us we couldn’t stay there. We then left for a shelter in Petaluma, and that’s where my mom started feeling bad because of her asthma. With all the smoke my mom was really affected, and she didn’t get a chance to grab her medicine.

We stayed at the shelter until Monday night and decided to take my mother to a family member's home in Hayward. We’ve been staying there since Monday night and we’re looking for help since 22 people are staying there right now.[[450795243, C]]

NBC: Were you able to save anything in the fire?
Monica: We lost everything. We didn’t get a chance to grab anything. I feel so grateful to God that at least he kept us alive. I had just bought my kids a new Apple computer, because they’re teenagers who need it for school projects and it’s gone in the fire. The material things don’t bother me as much, but the memories of so many years that I had of my kids, photos, everything, it’s gone. The material stuff can always be replaced, but not our lives.

NBC: Do you have renter’s insurance?
Monica: We didn’t have renter’s insurance. No one ever offered renter’s insurance to us and I didn’t know I needed it. Now that this happened they told me that I didn’t have insurance so they’re not going to pay for anything that I had in my home. It affected us a lot, but I thank God for keeping us alive and that we’re all united and we need to keep pushing forward.

NBC: Do you know where you’re going next?
Monica: Right now I don’t have work, I’m a caregiver, and the people I take care of were evacuated because of the fires. My husband’s the only one working right now. The Santa Rosa Red Cross helped us a lot, they gave us food and clothing. They also helped us fill out paperwork for a home. I’m really thankful for all the help.

We’re on the waitlist for a home. They have given us three rooms for now. We’re not sure for how long we’ll be able to stay in Petaluma – could be one week or even two. But it has affected us greatly. We want to think this was just a nightmare, but this was a horrible disaster.

NBC: Have you gone back to Coffey Park?
Monica: I haven’t been able to return to my home. I don’t have the courage. Just by looking at the photos and videos that my brother sent me it feels horrible. It feels like your heart is falling to pieces. It’s a huge sadness. I had the hope that my house wouldn’t burn down and it’s ended. Our sacrifice of many years ended in an instant.[[450844063, C]]

NBC: What’s next?
Monica: We’re from Guanajuato, Mexico. I’m neither a citizen nor a resident. My kids are the only ones who are citizens. But my mom, my husband and I are not. I couldn’t apply for DACA for a year, but it's cost me a lot. I came when I was 16, so I’ve been here 24 years. I graduated from Monte High School in Los Angeles, and then Rio Ondo College and later Santa Rosa College for a nursing degree. I’ve made my whole life here. It’s very difficult. But with faith in God he’ll help us push forward for our kids - they’re the future.

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Excerpts of our interview with Monica’s son, Bradley, 15, and nephew, Kenny, 16.

NBC: What happened that night?
Kenny: So that night it was around 2 a.m., the neighbors came knocking at our door to tell us the fire was close to Coffey Park. I woke up and ran upstairs to wake Bradley up. He thought it was time to go to school, and I was like, ‘No, there’s was a fire outside,’ and he said, ‘Oh really.’

Bradley: I grabbed a shirt, some pants and a sweater, and ran out.

Kenny: I went downstairs to grab my dog and we ran to the car. When we opened the door a strong breeze of wind with smoke came into the house and slammed the door against the wall. My aunt couldn’t even see anything on the floor because the smoke was covering the whole house, so we closed the door. We ran to the car and waited for my aunt as she gathered important papers that we needed. It was a scary moment, we just didn’t know what was going to happen. We didn’t even think it would be that terrible, most of our neighborhood burned down and we didn’t think that would happen.

NBC: Where did you go next?
Kenny: After we took off we didn't know where to go, we went to Petaluma because over here in Rohnert Park you could smell the smoke and see ashes. So we thought it would be better to go further south. When we got to Petaluma, a woman told us there was a shelter and they provided a lot for us: water, blankets and food. And that’s what we did that day, we stayed at the shelter.

NBC: Have you gone back to Coffey Park?
Kenny: We actually went back the next day to go see the house and my stomach just dropped when I saw the house. It was just burned to the ground … Everything was just gone. We went back to see if anything survived and everything was burned down. We couldn’t find anything. [[451350883, C]]

Stuff was still on fire and everything was still hot. We had to go back the next day. We lost everything. I didn’t even grab my phone. I didn’t even think about my phone at that moment, I grabbed my dog and got out. But everyone got out safely.

NBC: What did you have in your room?
Bradley: I had my XBox, my TV and my bed.

NBC: Do you know if your neighbors and friends are safe?
Kenny: One of my aunt’s friends died in the fire. She was in a wheelchair, she couldn’t get out the house.

Bradley: One of my friends, his house actually survived, we take him to school every morning and he was one of the lucky ones. It was like 12 houses out of 500 that got burned survived. It was kind of cool - there was this one man who actually put the fire out on his house, and he stopped the fire from reaching other houses.

We ran into a family at In-N-out who recognized their house from the photos on our laptop. Their house is destroyed https://t.co/nQHxwsYm0k

— Riya Bhattacharjee (@loislane28) October 13, 2017

More than a quarter of all Americans suffer from sleep Apnea and many do not know they have it. The disorder restricts airflow, interrupting your sleep. NBC10's Jessica Boyington shares her sleep secrets.

Monica Brinkerhoff was crushed.

At last sight Monday, flames were licking the Santa Rosa house she shared with her wife, Sam Brinkerhoff. But when the family returned to Coffey Park two days later, only a smoldering husk remained amid an apocalyptic scene.

“I think I needed closure,” Monica Brinkerhoff said. “I honestly started crying after I got through the shock of seeing the house. I wasn’t mentally prepared for it, and I was really defeated at that moment.”

Just then, Sam Brinkerhoff discovered a severely singed jewelry box under debris and ash.

Inside was the pair's engagement rings, burned and blackened but still intact. The women, who are expecting their first child, could even make out the heart engravings on one of the bands while a diamond shone on the other.

"The fireproof safe didn't make it, none of the paperwork made it, but the rings did," Sam Brinkerhoff said. "Just for a moment, in the middle of all that devastation, there was a little bit of hope."

Monica Brinkerhoff, who is six months pregnant, was overjoyed. The moment provided temporary relief from the anxiety and worry she had been feeling since the fire broke out, sending the couple and their dogs fleeing. 

"We get really emotional when we think about everything we lost," she said. "We bought the house for the baby. We had five years of trying to conceive where we accumulated everything — we had the crib, we had clothes, we had the changing table, we had everything," Monica Brinkerhoff said.

"Now it's gone."

And rebuilding will be a struggle. The pair ran Caring Home Care, a business that provides assistance to seniors in Sonoma County, out of their home. 

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help ease the burden. Friends and clients have been rallying around the couple, flooding the page with donations. 

"Every day they selflessly help those in need who can no longer care for themselves," wrote Gemma McKenney, a friend who created the GoFundMe for the couple. "Even this morning after they received the news they had lost their home, their main concern was their clients and making sure they were all evacuated."

Firestorms raged across a broad swath of the North Bay late Sunday, engulfing trees, homes, and cars and leaving only devastation in its wake. The blazes scorched more than 200,000 acres, claimed at least 41 lives and reduced roughly 3,000 homes and business to rubble.

The Tubbs Fire, which obliterated the Brinkerhoff's home, has scorched 36,432 acres in Napa and Sonoma counties. Firefighters were still working to snuff it out by the following Tuesday. 

Thinking back to the night the blazes sparked, the Brinkerhoffs said they had been so focused on escaping their Coffey Park neighborhood as it went up in flames that they didn't think about gathering important possessions.

"I had 10 minutes to get out," Sam Brinkerhoff said. "I didn't even grab my wallet."

Other than their rings, the only thing that is still recognizable is an oversized jar in which Sam and Monica Brinkerhoff collected coins. Now it is melted and mangled, but they're holding onto the keepsake anyway. 

Whenever sadness creeps in, Monica Brinkerhoff reminds herself that the outcome could have been much worse. As it stands, her wife and their pets are safe, and so are their tokens of commitment that symbolize their eight-year relationship.

The women say they want to return to Coffey Park when it is rebuilt in the years to come. Until then, they will be staying in a temporary rental. 

"It gives us peace knowing that our baby is going to have a stable home and that we won't be moving around," Monica Brinkerhoff said. "And we've had such strong support from the community. People have been so generous. We don't feel alone in this, and that means a lot."

Many people might not think to look for their next house on Amazon.

But thanks in part to the growing popularity of small space-living, Amazon now sells a prefabricated tiny house by MODS International, Today.com reported. 

The 320-square-foot residence is made out of a shipping container and boasts one bedroom, one bathroom, a living room and a kitchenette. It also includes appliances, heat, air-conditioning, insulation and even french doors. 

You'll need a solid concrete slab or Sonotube footings for the foundation and access to utilities. The unit will set you back $36,000 plus shipping. 

A Delaware County, Pennsylvania, businessman was convicted Wednesday of applying for asylum in the United States under false pretenses while fleeing a civil war in the African country of Liberia.

Mohammed Jabateh, 50, who had been accused of taking part in atrocities during the 1990s in Liberia under the nickname "Jungle Jabbah," was found guilty on two counts of filing false immigration documents and two counts of perjury. Each count comes with up to five years in prison and deportation.

Jungle Jabbah was a feared commander in one of two warring military factions in the late 1980s and 1990s.

The now 50-year-old owner of a shipping company, who lives in Lansdowne, went on trial at the federal courthouse in Philadelphia on Oct. 2. Federal prosecutors did not directly charge him with war crimes.

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In his new life since coming to America in 1998, seeking asylum, some in greater Philadelphia's close-knit Liberian community told NBC10 that they know Jabateh as a hard-working businessman. They had no idea that he was a man that prosecutors linked directly to the bloody war that left 200,000 dead and many thousands more maimed, raped and displaced.

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The backdrop for such violence was a country divided by both military coups and ethnic hatred.

"Chaos is too kind a word," said Maghan Keita, professor of history at Villanova University.

He said very few Liberians escaped the war either as an aggressor or victim. Battlefields didn't exist and the brutality played on in villages and towns.

“The main target becomes the coercion of civilian populations, as opposed to engagement with other combatants who are as heavily armed as you are," Keita said.

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Jabateh has been jailed since his arrest in April 2016.

Among those American Liberians who have known Jabateh since his arrival in the U.S. in 1998 is a cousin and fellow businessman named Voffee Jabateh, who called Mohammed Jabateh "a pillar" of the local community.

John Prall, another Liberian who escaped to southeastern Pennsylvania, told NBC10 prior to the trial that he would be watching closely. He said he hopes the trial marks a start, not an end, to the pursuit of justice for victims of his native country's civil war.

Prall said he believes there are more than one former warlord living in his community.

"There are so many here," he said. "There are so many."

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A man shot at a Wilmington, Delaware used car lot is the sixth victim in a two-state shooting spree that has left three people dead, authorities in Delaware said.

State police in Delaware and Maryland, along with federal agents, are conducting a manhunt for Radee Labeeb Prince, a 37-year-old man who has lived in Wilmington from time to time.

Prince shot five of his co-workers at Advanced Granite Solutions located in an Edgewood, Maryland office park early Wednesday, Maryland authorities said. Edgewood is about 25 miles north of Baltimore.

Three people died inside the office, the Harford County Sheriff's Office said. Two others are hospitalized at a nearby trauma center in critical condition.

Barak Caba, owner of the granite company that designs and installs stone countertops, told the Associated Press that Prince worked there as a machine operator for the past four months. He was scheduled to work Wednesday.

"He is a danger to anyone he encounters," Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said. "The investigation has to pan out, but my suspicion is that if he could have shot more individuals, this incident would result in a greater loss of life."

Prince fled the Emmorton Business Park in a black 2008 GMC Acadia with Delaware license plate PC-64273 immediately after the killings and sped 51 miles north to Wilmington.

Once there, he stopped at the 28th Street Auto Sales and Service along 2800 block of Governor Printz Boulevard. Wilmington police believe Prince shot a man at the car lot before fleeing once again.

Witnesses at the scene said a man was shot three times. He's been hospitalized, but his condition is not known.

Delaware authorities believe Prince is still driving the GMC Acadia. He is considered armed and dangerous. Anyone who spots him is asked to call 911 immediately. The FBI is also accepting calls at 800-CALL-FBI.

The Brandywine School District put schools on a "soft lockdown" — meaning they are keeping students and staff inside — as the search for Prince carries on Wednesday. The Red Clay School District also put its schools on lockdown and canceled all evening activities.

Prince's SUV is registered to a home along the 500 block of Kiamensi Road in Wilmington.

Margaret Melton, a woman who resides at the home, told NBC10 that Prince does not officially live at the Wilmington address. "He lives in Maryland," Melton said. She has known Prince since he was in the fourth grade, she said.

"He lived here on and off, when he had issues," Melton said. She did not go into details about what issues he had.

Prince, according to court records in Washington state, lived in the Seattle area for a few years earlier this decade. The online records indicated he had court cases for unspecified proceedings between 2012 and 2014.

He apparently was back on the East Coast by 2015, as court records in Cecil County, Maryland, show he was in court on illegal firearm possession charges. Those charges apparently were dropped.

A motive for the shooting remains unclear, but court documents cited by The Baltimore Sun claim Prince has had run-ins with co-workers in the past.

Prince was fired from a job in February after he allegedly punched a co-worker in the face and threatened other staffers, the Sun reported citing court documents. 

The assaulted co-worker later asked a Maryland judge for a restraining order against Prince. The request was denied because a burden of proof was not met, Maryland court records show.

This a developing story. Check back for updates.

Diwali, the "Festival of Lights" celebrated in India and across South Asia to mark the Hindu new year and which this year falls on Oct. 19, is increasingly celebrated in the United States.

Cities such as New York, Chicago, San Diego, San Antonio and others host celebrations of the festival, often featuring performances from dancers and artists and even Bollywood stars, lighting of traditional oil lamps called diyas, and fireworks.

The growing popularity comes as estimates say there are more than 2.2 million Hindus of Indian origin living in the U.S., according to the Hindu American Association.

"On this actual Diwali Day, many people wear new clothes and go to temples to offer prayers for global prosperity, exchange gifts and entertain neighbors," Murugappa Madhavan, founder and executive director of the San Diego Indian American Society, told NBC. 

Diwali has great significance in the Hindu culture, symbolizing victory over evil and the triumph of knowledge over ignorance, Madhavan said.

The festival, which falls between October and November each year, runs for five days and is usually celebrated on the third day. This year it lands on Oct. 19, but celebrations take place throughout the fall. Several U.S. cities are planning or have already hosted Diwali celebrations. 

The city-sponsored Diwali festival in San Antonio, Texas, says it draws more than 15,000 people each year. The free event, DiwaliSA, will be held on Nov. 4 this year and features fireworks, Indian cuisine, diya floats and other entertainment.

In New York City, a Diwali celebration in Times Square on Oct. 8 saw Bollywood stars giving free concerts, shopping, dancing and other cultural performances, as well as food and drinks from all over South Asia.

The Rubin Museum in New York City will host “24 Hours of Sacred Sound,” a 24-hour celebration of Indian classical music starting on Oct. 21 at 10 a.m. Visitors can peruse the galleries, participate in meditation and sunrise prayer, and even sleep beneath the artwork. 

For a more active celebration, New Yorkers can head to Queens on Oct. 29 for a dance party with DJ Rekha, a London-born DJ who has been credited with bringing bhangra music to the U.S. A classical dancer will also teach “traditional Kathak dance moves and bhangra folk dances mixed with hip-hop,” according to the website. Cooking workshops, henna painting, Indian handicrafts, and Indian food will also be part of the celebration.

In Chicago, The Federation of Indian Association Chicago rang in the holiday on Oct. 1 with a live Bollywood concert, fashion shows and shopping, bringing more than 3,500 people from the area, said Sunil Shah, founder and president of the Federation of Indian Associations Chicago. Bollywood celebrity Richa Sharma was one of the featured singers.

"In such stressful and turbulent times with so much violence and conflict going on around the world, this festival of Diwali conveys the message of brotherhood and unity," Shah told NBC.

On the West Coast, Seattle will put on “Diwali: Lights of India” on Oct. 21, an indoor festival showcasing artists, Indian dance lessons, face painting, puppetry shows, and of course, Indian cuisine.

Los Angeles will host its own Festival of Lights at City National Plaza on Oct. 19, kicking off at 10 a.m. with a vendor fair and a special performance at noon.

San Diego celebrated its 10th annual Festival of Lights celebration on Oct. 14 in historic Balboa Park, attended by nearly 10,000 people, according to Madhavan of the San Diego Indian American Society.

The festivities began with the opening of 54 large brass lamps representing many faiths, regions and eras. Throughout the day there was dancing, music and drama, and the evening ended with the lighting and procession of 1,008 lights.

"This is one way we share our culture with our brothers and sisters... and use the knowledge to contribute to the society that we are a part of," Madhavan said.

In 2016, the United Nations headquarters in New York City commemorated Diwali for the first time. Some other places holding events to observe the holiday include Chantilly, Va., Irving, Calif. and Jersey City, N.J.

At the White House, President Trump lit a diya lamp Tuesday to mark the occasion in the company of Indian American members of his administration. Former president George W. Bush started the custom of observing Diwali at the White House, but the first president to attend the ceremony and light a lamp was Barack Obama. The lighting of the lamps on Diwali, light cutting through darkness, represents good prevailing over evil.

In the Hindu religion there are several explanations for the origin of Diwali. For some, it celebrates the return of Lord Rama, an incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu, to his kingdom after 13 years of unjust exile, Madhavan wrote on the San Diego Indian American Society's website. Others say that Diwali represents the god Krishna killing the demon Narakaasura or that it marks the fall of the demon king Bali, killed by Vishnu.

A crowdfunding campaign honoring the late Philando Castile has raised enough money to pay off lunch debts at public schools across St. Paul, Minnesota, for one year. 

Philando Feeds the Children had raised more than $80,000 by Wednesday afternoon. The original goal of $5,000 is now set to $100,000, and will continue to rise. Campaign organizer and Metropolitan State University psychology professor Pam Fergus hopes to make the fund a permanent fixture, NBCNews.com. 

"Mr. Phil will feed his kids for as long as we can raise the money," Fergus wrote on the campaign's homepage.

Castile was known as "Mr. Phil" to the students of J.J. Hill Montessori School, where he worked as a nutrition services supervisor before being fatally shot by a police officer in 2016. 

The fund was established in remembrance of Castile, who would regularly use his own money to pay for the lunches of students in need.

The world's largest earthquake drill will take place on Thursday, with millions set to practice what to do if a massive quake hits — a scenario experts say could likely happen in Southern California in the next several decades.

The "Great Shakeout," an annual earthquake drill that started in Southern California in 2008, will happen on Oct. 19 at 10:19 a.m. local time around the world. Nearly 20 million people will practice what to do if a quake strikes, with more than 10.2 million of them in California, NBC News reported.

"I think we've seen with recent disasters in the past couple of months — these big hurricanes and the Mexico earthquakes in September, and the wildfires that are still happening in California — the need to be prepared is so important," said Jason Ballmann, a spokesman for the Southern California Earthquake Center.

The center collaborated with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and other partners to create the earthquake drill based on a magnitude 7.8 scenario earthquake on the San Andreas fault in Southern California.