Brush fire in hills above UC Berkeley damages vacant estate
BERKELEY, Calif. (KGO) -- A brush fire that broke out Tuesday on the border of Berkeley and Oakland raised concerns among fire officials and residents, but a rapid, multi-agency response prevented it from becoming a larger disaster in the hills above UC Berkeley's Memorial Stadium.
The fire ignited before noon in the 1000 block of Panoramic Way and burned approximately 1.5 acres. Authorities said no evacuation orders were needed, and crews were able to keep the blaze from spreading despite difficult terrain.
Firefighters said the incident carried the potential to become much more serious.
"This had the potential to really take off and be a really large-scale event," said Oakland Fire Department Chief Damon Covington. "The multi jurisdiction response between Berkeley, Oakland and CAL FIRE East Bay regional. They all got on scene about the same time."
The fire occurred one day after the 35th anniversary of the 1991 Oakland Hills Firestorm, adding to the anxiety for some longtime residents.
"I was driving across town and looked up and saw the smoke," said Oakland Hills resident Sue Noyes. "Having lived through the '91 fires, it always gives uses bit of concern."
The blaze prompted a response from about 75 firefighters representing multiple agencies. Crews battled flames in steep, hard-to-access areas above Memorial Stadium.
"These are narrow roads. Very tight, windy roads," said Oakland Fire Department spokesperson Michael Hunt.
Fire officials said weather conditions ultimately worked in their favor.
"Slow moving on an upslope. The wind pretty favorable for us today. The heat. Not so bad," Hunt said.
A helicopter conducted water drops to slow the fire's progress. Officials credited coordinated planning and improvements made since the 1991 firestorm for helping contain the blaze.
"A lot of the things we saw in the 1991 Oakland Hills fire were not apparent today," Covington said. "So really just the great job of the firefighters holding it to one building, keeping it to an acre-and-half, and not letting it get it to way from us and turning it into something large scale."
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Hunt said agencies have worked for decades to improve interoperability and mutual aid responses.
"Means making sure we have radios functions properly together, hydrants are able to connect to hose lines, the way they are supposed to," Hunt said. "But really, it's just building relationships to ensure that our incident commanders, our battalion chiefs, fire chiefs and incident commandments all able to work well with each other."
Residents expressed gratitude for the response.
"It's pretty incredible they were able to put it out," said Oakland Hills resident Jennifer Fang.
Noyes also praised the firefighters' efforts.
"The response from Cal Fire, Alameda, from Oakland was incredible," she said. "And so heartwarming. We actually got a little bit emotional seeing this wonderful response in our community services here. Our local fire department showed up for us today. It means a lot to us."
Although the fire was contained, crews remained on scene Tuesday conducting mop-up operations and monitoring for hot spots.
"We're going thru the scene right now doing mop up and searching for any hidden signs of fire because the fire can get into the root of the vegetation and it can smolder for a while," said Oakland Battalion Chief Anthony Sanders. "We have thermal imaging cameras that we use and drones that we use and these are all things that came up post 1991."
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
