1991 Oakland firestorm
Encyclopedia
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
, and southeastern Berkeley
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
on Sunday October 20, 1991, two years after the Loma Prieta earthquake
Loma Prieta earthquake
The Loma Prieta earthquake, also known as the Quake of '89 and the World Series Earthquake, was a major earthquake that struck the San Francisco Bay Area of California on October 17, 1989, at 5:04 p.m. local time...
. The fire has also been called the Oakland hills firestorm, the East Bay Hills Fire, and the Tunnel Fire (because of its origin above the west portal of the Caldecott Tunnel
Caldecott Tunnel
The Caldecott Tunnel is a three bore highway tunnel between Oakland, California and Contra Costa County, California. The east-west tunnel is signed as a part of State Route 24, which is also known as the William Byron Rumford...
) in Oakland. The fire ultimately killed 25 people and injured 150 others. The 1,520 acres (6.2 km²) destroyed included 3,354 single-family dwellings and 437 apartment and condominium units. The economic loss has been estimated at $1.5 billion.
Origins of the fire
The fire started on Saturday, October 19, from an incompletely extinguished grass fireWildfire
A wildfire is any uncontrolled fire in combustible vegetation that occurs in the countryside or a wilderness area. Other names such as brush fire, bushfire, forest fire, desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, squirrel fire, vegetation fire, veldfire, and wilkjjofire may be used to describe the same...
in the Berkeley Hills
Berkeley Hills
The Berkeley Hills are a range of the Pacific Coast Ranges that overlook the northeast side of the valley that surrounds San Francisco Bay. They were previously called the "Contra Costa Range/Hills" , but with the establishment of Berkeley and the University of California, the current usage was...
northeast of the intersection of California State Routes 24 and 13
State Route 13 (California)
State Route 13 is a state highway in California. It is a short loop in Alameda County currently built from Interstate 580 in Oakland to Interstate 80/Interstate 580 in Berkeley....
(0.5 mi (0.80467 km) north of the Caldecott Tunnel east portal). Firefighters fought the 5 acres (20,234.3 m²) fire on a steep hillside above 7151 Buckingham Blvd., and by Saturday night they thought everything was under control.
The fire re-ignited shortly before 11:00 am on Sunday, October 20. It re-started as a brush fire and rapidly spread southwest driven by wind gusts up to 65 mi (104.6 km) per hour. It quickly overwhelmed local and eventually regional firefighting resources. By 11:30 a.m., the fire had spread to the nearby Parkwoods Apartments located next to the Caldecott Tunnel. Shortly before noon the fire had been blown up to the top of Hiller Highlands to the west from where it began its sweep down into the Hiller Highlands development and the southern hills of Berkeley
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
. The fire tossed embers
Embers
Embers is a radio play by Samuel Beckett. It was written in English in 1957 and first broadcast on the BBC Third Programme on 24 June 1959. Donald McWhinnie directed Jack MacGowran – for whom the play was specially written – as “Henry”, Kathleen Michael as “Ada” and Patrick Magee as “Riding Master”...
from the burning houses and vegetation into the air as it went. These embers were swept away by the torrid winds only to float back to earth to start the blaze in new locations. Half an hour later, these embers enabled the fire to jump across both Highway 24
California State Route 24
State Route 24 in the U.S. state of California is a heavily-traveled east–west freeway in the eastern side of the San Francisco Bay Area of northern California that runs from the Interstate 580/Interstate 980 interchange in Oakland to the Interstate 680 junction in Walnut Creek...
, an eight-lane freeway, and Highway 13, a four-lane freeway, eventually igniting hundreds of houses in the Forest Park neighborhood on the northwest edge of the Montclair
Montclair, Oakland, California
Montclair is a neighborhood of Oakland, California. Montclair is located in the hills east of Piedmont in a valley formed by the Hayward Fault...
district and in the upper Rockridge Neighborhood
Rockridge, Oakland, California
Rockridge is a residential neighborhood and commercial district in Oakland, California. Rockridge is generally defined as the area east of Telegraph Avenue, south of the Berkeley city limits, west of the Oakland hills and north of the intersection of Pleasant Valley Avenue/51st Street and...
. The fire eventually touched the edge of Piedmont
Piedmont, California
Piedmont is a small, affluent city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is surrounded by the city of Oakland. The population was 10,667 at the 2010 census. Piedmont was incorporated in 1907 and was developed significantly in the 1920s and 1930s...
burning some municipal property, but the buildings and houses were spared.
The hot, dry northeasterly winds, dubbed by the media at this time as "Diablo wind
Diablo wind
Diablo wind is a name that has been occasionally used for the hot, dry offshore wind from the northeast that typically occurs in the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California during the spring and fall. The same wind pattern also affects other parts of California's coastal ranges...
s," periodically occur during the early fall season, similar to the Santa Ana winds in Southern California, and have been the cause of numerous devastating fires. The fire began generating its own wind, the defining characteristic of a firestorm
Firestorm
A firestorm is a conflagration which attains such intensity that it creates and sustains its own wind system. It is most commonly a natural phenomenon, created during some of the largest bushfires, forest fires, and wildfires...
. The self-generated winds interacted with the ambient wind to create erratic, dangerous gusts, which in turn helped produce numerous cyclonic swirls. All of these combined to help spread the fire, tossing embers in all directions. By mid-afternoon, the wind had slowed and shifted to the west, driving the fire to the southeast. At about 9 pm, the wind abruptly stopped, giving firefighters a chance to contain the fire.
Firefighting response and difficulties
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
state line, as far south as Bakersfield
Bakersfield, California
Bakersfield is a city near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley in Kern County, California. It is roughly equidistant between Fresno and Los Angeles, to the north and south respectively....
and as far east as the Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
state line were quickly mobilized and sent to the fire zone. The California Department of Forestry (CDF) dispatched several air tankers, which doused the fire with tons of fire retardant
Fire retardant
A fire retardant is a substance other than water that reduces flammability of fuels or delays their combustion. This typically refers to chemical retardants but may also include substances that work by physical action, such as cooling the fuels; examples of these include fire-fighting foams and...
all day long. The CDF established a base at the Naval Air Station in Alameda
Naval Air Station Alameda
Naval Air Station Alameda was a United States Navy Naval Air Station in Alameda, California, on San Francisco Bay.NAS Alameda had two runways: 07-25 and 13-31...
. Additionally, the Naval Air Station itself sent its own firefighting equipment and material to the scene of the fire. The next morning, before full control had been gained, satellite photographs, especially infrared
Infrared
Infrared light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength longer than that of visible light, measured from the nominal edge of visible red light at 0.74 micrometres , and extending conventionally to 300 µm...
(heat-sensing) photographs, were provided with the help of NASA Ames Research Center
NASA Ames Research Center
The Ames Research Center , is one of the United States of America's National Aeronautics and Space Administration 10 major field centers.The centre is located in Moffett Field in California's Silicon Valley, near the high-tech companies, entrepreneurial ventures, universities, and other...
's Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (DART) to aid firefighters in plotting the extent of the fire and spotting hidden hot spots.
If this fire was looked at in terms of alarm assignments, it was the equivalent of a 107-Alarm Fire
Multiple-alarm fire
One-alarm, two-alarm, three-alarm fires, or higher, are categories of fires indicating the level of response by local authorities, with an elevated number of alarms indicating increased commitment of resources. The term multiple-alarm is a quick way of indicating that a fire was severe and...
.
For a variety of reasons, the firefighting teams were initially overwhelmed by the firestorm. The winds were gusting at times in excess of 70 mi/h, creating erratic and extreme fire behavior. Flames took out power lines to seventeen pumping stations in the Oakland water system. Outside fire teams faced various equipment compatibility issues such as hydrants having the wrong size outlets for the hoses used by neighboring counties. Oakland was also not able to communicate with many mutual aid resources due to antiquated equipment and lack of access to statewide radio frequencies brought on by the budget restrictions in the preceding years. In some areas, firefighters simply ran out of water as there was no power to refill the emptied reservoirs. Additionally, many narrow, windy roads in the area were crowded with parked cars, including many in front of fire hydrants; this prevented fire trucks and ambulances from getting to certain areas and connecting fire hoses. Oakland had stopped enforcing the residential zoning
Zoning
Zoning is a device of land use planning used by local governments in most developed countries. The word is derived from the practice of designating permitted uses of land based on mapped zones which separate one set of land uses from another...
laws in the area, allowing many homeowners to illegally rent out rooms in their houses, and this led to an overwhelming number of parked cars.
However, the most important factor was the rapid spread of the wind-driven fire. Before most of the firefighting resources could be brought to the scene, the fire had established a large perimeter. At the fire's peak, it destroyed one home every 11 seconds. By the first hour, the fire had destroyed nearly 790 structures. In addition to the winds and the heat, an important factor in the rapid spread of the fire was that it started in an area that was at an interface between developed and undeveloped land. Many of the first dwellings to burn were surrounded by thick, dry vegetation
Vegetation
Vegetation is a general term for the plant life of a region; it refers to the ground cover provided by plants. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic characteristics. It is broader...
. In addition, the nearby undeveloped land had even more dry brush, along with several groves of non-native volatile eucalyptus
Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus is a diverse genus of flowering trees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Members of the genus dominate the tree flora of Australia...
trees.
The same conditions contributed to a major conflagration
Conflagration
A conflagration or a blaze is an uncontrolled burning that threatens human life, health, or property. A conflagration can be accidentally begun, naturally caused , or intentionally created . Arson can be accomplished for the purpose of sabotage or diversion, and also can be the consequence of...
in nearby Berkeley in 1923 (named the 1923 Berkeley Fire
1923 Berkeley Fire
The 1923 Berkeley Fire was a conflagration which consumed some 640 structures, including 584 homes in the densely-built neighborhoods north of the campus of the University of California in Berkeley, California on September 17, 1923....
) and a more limited conflagration in the same area in 1970.
As night descended, the firestorm threatened to destroy the historic Claremont Resort
Claremont Resort
The Claremont Hotel Club & Spa is a historic hotel at the foot of Claremont Canyon in the Berkeley Hills, providing the resort with scenic views of San Francisco Bay. The hotel building is entirely in Oakland, bordering Berkeley....
hotel where the media had gathered to report on the fire. Television crews trained their cameras on the dark hill immediately behind the hotel and millions watched as the fire slowly marched house by house towards the evacuated hotel. The fire was stopped shortly before it reached the hotel.
By 5:00pm the winds died down, giving firefighters a chance to get a handle on the blaze, though full containment would not be achieved until October 22. As many as 400 engine companies, 1500 personnel and 250 agencies worked to put out the fire.
By Wednesday October 23, at 8:00 am the fire was declared under control, almost 72 hours after it started.
Aftermath
Newly rebuilt homes have dramatically changed the architectural character of the affected region. Only one business was destroyed during the fire, the Bentley SchoolBentley School
Bentley School is a private co-educational college preparatory day school. The Bentley school's lower and middle school campus is located in the Oakland Hills and the high school campus is located in Lafayette, California.-History:...
on Hiller Drive.
Several nonprofit groups arose after the fire. One, the Hills Emergency Forum, was created by local fire agencies to build consensus on fire safety standards and codes, offer multi-jurisdictional training, and coordinate fuel reduction strategies, as well as other goals. At least two citizen groups also arose, the North Hills Phoenix Association and the Claremont Canyon Conservancy to participate in policy decisions and provide educational and stewardship services at the wildland–urban interface.
In response to issues about firefighting equipment during the disaster, Oakland city firefighters now carry more extensive wildland firefighting gear and fire shelters. Prior to and during this firestorm, when this was not standard equipment, firefighters were sometimes forced to don turn-outs
Bunker gear
Bunker Gear or "Turnout Gear" are terms used by many firefighters to refer to their system of outer protective clothing. "Bunker gear" and "turnout gear" can refer, depending on the context, to just the trousers and boots, and jacket, or the entire combination of personal protective equipment and...
which greatly hampered their ability to move quickly and stay cooler during a wildland fire.
Fire hydrants now have the industry standard 4½ and 2½ inch outlets throughout the city. The lack of a standard in 1991 caused numerous difficulties for various agencies who attempted to connect to non-standard hydrants, even though the 3 inches (76.2 mm) outlets previously used by Oakland were considerably more efficient. Water cistern
Cistern
A cistern is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by their waterproof linings...
s and a new hills fire station were added, and radio communications were improved. However, Berkeley firefighters still use different radio frequencies than Oakland, though they carry extra radios that allow them to communicate using the Oakland 800 megahertz system.
On June 12, 2008, a brush fire ignited in almost the exact location of the starting point of the 1991 fire, but owing to a rapid response as well as the preventative measures implemented after the 1991 disaster and the lack of significant winds, the fire was confined to 2 acres (8,093.7 m²) with no damage to any structures, and was extinguished within 90 minutes.
In popular culture
- This disaster was included as one of several different disaster scenarios in the 1993 video game SimCity 2000SimCity 2000SimCity 2000 is a simulation/city building video game and the second installment in the SimCity series. SimCity 2000 was first released by Maxis in 1994 for computers running Apple Macintosh Operating System...
. The game's designer Will Wright used his experience of rebuilding his life after his home was burned down due to the fire as basis for the concept of the best selling computer game in history, The SimsThe SimsThe Sims is a strategic life-simulation computer game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. Its development was led by game designer Will Wright, also known for developing SimCity...
. - The story of the Oakland fire is a major plot element of the children's book "Tikvah Means Hope", by Patricia PolaccoPatricia PolaccoPatricia Barber Polacco is the author and illustrator of numerous picture books for children.She struggled in school because she was unable to read until age 14 due to dyslexia; she found relief by expressing herself through art...
. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, 1994. ISBN 0-385-32059-0 - The 1993 TV movie Firestorm: 72 Hours in Oakland was based on the Oakland hills fire. It incorporated actual Oakland fire footage as well as audio from radio transmissions made by the fire crews on the scene.
- The book "Almost Home: America's Love-Hate Relationship with Community" contained a chapter of critical assessment of the social aftermath of the fire. It highlighted how the selfish and individualistic desires by some of the victims of the fire overwhelmed any preliminary voice of community togetherness, including fraudulent and greedy practices towards charity and insurance claims.
- The fire is a theme in author Maxine Hong KingstonMaxine Hong KingstonMaxine Hong Kingston is a Chinese American author and Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, where she graduated with a BA in English in 1962. Kingston has written three novels and several works of non-fiction about the experiences of Chinese immigrants living in the United...
's novel The Fifth Book of Peace. - Live footage of the fire was shown on the NFL on CBSNFL on CBSThe NFL on CBS is the brand name of the CBS television network's coverage of the National Football League's American Football Conference games, produced by CBS Sports.-Market coverage and television policies:...
telecast of the game between the Detroit LionsDetroit LionsThe Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League , and play their home games at Ford Field in Downtown Detroit.Originally based in Portsmouth, Ohio and...
and San Francisco 49ersSan Francisco 49ersThe San Francisco 49ers are a professional American football team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team was founded in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference and...
, played across the bay at Candlestick Park. As with the earthquake two years earlier, the blimp shots provided many people with first word of the disaster.
Additional sources
- NASA Ames Research Center - Disaster Assistance & Rescue Team (DART) response
- Museum of the City of SF - San Francisco Fire Department Responses to the Oakland Fire
- The East Bay Hills Fire - Multi-Agency Review of the October 1991 Fire in the Oakland/Berkeley Hills - California Office of Emergency Services, February 27, 1992
- The East Bay Hills Fire: Oakland-Berkeley, California, U.S. Fire Administration, Technical Report Series. USFA-TR-060, October 1991. FEMA.
External links
- NASA Aerial Photo of Fire
- http://www.hillsemergencyforum.org/
- http://www.nhphoenix.org/
- http://ccconservancy.homestead.com/home.html
- City of Oakland CORE Program
- Oakland Firestorm Mural
