5-alarm Oakland Hills blaze now 50% contained

OAKLAND, Calif. — Crews battling the five-alarm fire in the Oakland Hills worked through the night, achieving 50% containment by late Saturday morning, CalFire officials said. They will remain on the scene all day, extinguishing smoldering spots and clearing trees and brush.

About 13 acres burned before crews stopped forward progress on the fire about 3:30 p.m. Friday. The flames broke out shortly before 1:30 p.m. in the area of Mountain Boulevard and Maynard Avenue, near Interstate 580.

Two structures were impacted by flames and dozens of homes along Maynard Avenue, Sanford Street, and Greenridge and Canyon Oaks Drive.

Evacuations were called along Altura Place, Campus Drive, Crystal Ridge Court and Rifle Lane, according to fire officials. Officials halted further evacuations about 9:30 p.m. but an evacuation order was still active for affected areas late Saturday morning, officials said.

PG&E crews are inspecting street by street, home by home, with the goal of allowing residents to return home by the end of the day, the Oakland Fire Department’s spokesman, Mike Hunt, said.

Oakland fire spokesperson Michael Hunt said about 200 firefighters battled the blaze, and Cal Fire sent in aircraft to drop fire retardant on the area. Crews from several other counties also provided assistance.

The fire came one day shy of the 33rd anniversary of the 1991 Oakland-Berkeley hills fire that killed 25 people, injured 150 others and destroyed more than 3,400 homes. It also came amid a red-flag warning for severe fire conditions that enveloped the entire Bay Area.

Delane Sims’ house at the corner of Maynard Avenue and Mountain Boulevard was significantly damaged. She was working at a nail salon in San Leandro when the fire started, but her husband was home and asleep when the flames reached their house. He managed to escape.

Roderick Spikes, 55, of Oakland, said he called 911 at 1:23 p.m. to report the fire. The Uber driver had just dropped someone off and was pulling onto I-580 when he spotted a kitchen-sized trash bag with flames shooting out of it.

Fire officials were not able to immediately confirm how or where exactly the fire started.

Mayor Sheng Thao, standing at the scene of the fire on Mountain Avenue, called the blaze a “stark reminder” of the need to be vigilant and to create defensible space to protect against the threat of wildfires.

“The damage could have been much worse than this,” Thao said, while commending the work of firefighters.

At a news conference Friday evening, Thao and Oakland fire Chief Damon Covington told seven evacuees they did not know when the residents would be allowed to return home. The fire at the time was 15% contained, and the city was providing dinner and housing accommodations.

Fire officials were not able to immediately confirm how or where exactly the fire started.

“The damage could have been much worse than this,” Thao said, while commending the work of firefighters.

Molly Kenefick said she received a call from a neighbor around 1:35 p.m. and looked outside to see the fire 20 feet from her property. The flame were climbing into the Eucalyptus trees and shooting 20 to 30 feet in the air.

“I understand this is a problem for Californians and West Coasters, and I’ve dreaded this,” she said. “But I’m just grateful to be alive.”

Kenefick said she owns a business that rents out goats and sheep to graze on properties and create defensible space. Those animals were elsewhere in Alameda County, she said, but they had already grazed on her property.

Amanda Davis said she heard a helicopter overhead, looked up and realized she had to leave her home. Davis, who evacuates livestock for people fleeing disasters in the state, worked to get her and others’ pets to safety.

“It’s easy to go into someone else’s life and do this,” she said. “Having it at my own house? Not OK.”

Susan Gong, 78, sat alone at the Burkhalter Elementary School cafeteria, where evacuees were taken. She had a single bag in her lap as she waited for her son Lester to pick her up.

“I feel bad my husband, (Lloyd), is not next to me,” said Gong, who lost her husband last year. She could see gray smoke from her home when a friend called and encouraged her to leave, but she was not sure it was necessary.

Then officers knocked on her door and took her to the school.

“I didn’t know what to do,” Gong said. “I just put on my shoes and left the house.”

Betsy and Phillip Wright were in good spirits while parked outside the elementary school despite having to evacuate their home above Keller Avenue for the first time. The Wrights said they were not scared because they did not see any dark smoke. Betsy mentioned that many residents in their neighborhood had “cracked down on brush and trees” over the years.

“I always thought our neighborhood was immune,” Phillip said.

The notice to leave came as a surprise. The couple has lived in their home for decades and were able to stay put through the big fire of 1991. Though unprepared, Betsy said the couple had the presence of mind to grab their prescriptions, passports and election ballots.

“All the neighbors were helping each other,” Betsy said. “Things like this have a tendency to bring the best out of people.”