Fire devastates homes in Oakland Hills, Calif.
A 13-acre vegetation fire damaged several homes outside of Oakland, local firefighters said Friday. There are no known causes for the fire, but portions of Interstate 580 had to be shut as crews were fighting the blaze.
Large parts of the Golden State experienced a heightened fire danger at the end of the week and over the weekend because of what are referred to as diablo winds. PG&E, the largest utility provider in the Golden State, turned off the power supply for tens of thousands of customers this week in a bid to contain the fire threat.
OAKLAND, Calif. — A five-alarm fire in the East Bay just east of Oakland forced hundreds to evacuate Friday afternoon as dozens of agencies rushed to fight and contain flames sweeping through six structures.
The Oakland Fire Department said it believed its crews had halted the forward progress of the Keller Fire, which destroyed about 13-15 acres and burned two homes, as of Friday evening. Still, the fire was only 35 percent contained, and crews were expected to aggressively attack the fire throughout Saturday.
The firefighters said they believe the fire started in the median of nearby Interstate 580 before spreading fast, which triggered dozens of crews to mobilize by air and land to contain the blaze.
By the time we arrived on scene, it had jumped from the front of a house across to a grove of eucalyptus behind the house, Oakland Fire Chief Damon Covington told FOX 2 Bay Area. We right away called in a 2nd, 3rd and 4th alarm.
Resources for the incident are coming in from around the Bay Area, including Cal Fire air resources. We’re in pretty good shape. We still have a lot of work to do
Photos and videos taken in one of the affected areas recorded smoke billowing from at least one house as firefighters rushed to tackle all hotspots.
Residents weren’t reported injured, and neighboring jurisdictions had “done an excellent job of responding to this fire,” Chief Martin said.
Fires at their peak shut down parts of I-580, but the freeway reopened.
Still in shock:
Delane Sims said her family home caught fire. The fire blew out the front window of her home.
Sims said that her husband is a sleep at home tonight when the fire reached it.
“I think I’m still in shock, but most of all, I’m just incredibly grateful to God that my husband’s life was spared,” Bay Area. “My husband called me and said, ‘Our house is burning.’ He heard an explosion.”
She said it was the heat from the approaching flames that blew out their front window.
“And that’s what woke him up so he could get out of the house with just the clothes on his back,” Sims said. “Had that not happened, I don’t know what would have happened. That’s why I am just extremely grateful that my husband got out of there.”
A grass fire on Oct. 19 spread out of control quickly, killing at least 25 people and leaving many others injured in the hills north of Oakland. Estimation of damages during that time reached nearly $1.5 billion, while the inferno ranked as one of this nation’s most costly fires.
Those after-action reports, filed in the aftermath of the fire, concluded that accessible water was a significant factor in the failure of firefighting efforts.
Conditions are less conducive to wildfires Friday than they were more than three decades ago, but big chunks of the state remain vulnerable to fire weather alerts.
The power outages are part of the company’s Public Safety Power Shutoff program, designed to reduce the risk of electrical equipment firing fires.
In Southern California, the so-called “Santa Ana winds” were also expected to affect parts of that region.
In addition to the Keller Fire, CAL FIRE reported responding to significant blazes in both Solano and Riverside counties, but neither had prompted widespread evacuations.