Firefighters made headway Saturday in a San Francisco Bay Area fire that threatened houses and forced residents to escape as dry, windy conditions across California increased the risk of wildfires.
The Keller Fire in the Oakland Hills started on Friday afternoon and damaged at least two residences. The fire had burnt around 15 acres and was 50% contained as of Saturday morning, according to Cal Fire. The Associated Press reported that approximately 500 individuals had been forced to evacuate.
Part of Interstate 580, which travels through the Bay Area, was temporarily closed near the fire but reopened later.Firefighters remained on the scene overnight and intended to stay until Saturday, Oakland Fire Chief Damon Covington said in a morning briefing.
“The elevated temperatures and the heavy winds are what we’re watching out for,” he told me.
The fire, which was fuelled by strong winds and dry conditions, is thought to have spread from a grass inferno along I-580 to the residences before igniting eucalyptus trees, Covington explained. The source of the fire is still being investigated, but it drew comparisons to Oakland’s 1991 firestorm, which killed 25 people and damaged thousands of homes in the Berkeley and Oakland hills, just north of Friday’s fire.
Covington stated that the conditions at the time were identical to those of the Friday fire. However, he added that equipment had just been sent to patrol the hills, and Bay Area firefighters were prepared before Friday’s flames escalated out of control.
“We had pre-prepared for days like this,”
Red flag warning issued in Bay Area, Central Coast
California is battling numerous fires, and the National Weather Service has issued a “red flag warning” for dry and windy conditions in the Bay Area and Central Coast to the south until Saturday afternoon.
This includes winds of at least 25 mph with gusts up to 50 mph. The National Weather Service cautioned Saturday morning that isolated gusts might be considerably greater in higher hills and peaks. With breezes, humidity could drop to single digits and temperatures in the high 70s.
As of Saturday, the Shoe Fire in Northern California’s Shasta-Trinity National Forest had burned approximately 4,400 acres and was just 8% contained. The human-caused fire, which began on October 9, has been assisted by strong winds and dry weather, according to
On Friday night, Pacific Gas & Electric Company announced that it had cut off electricity to around 17,500 customers in 21 counties and three tribes as part of a “Public Safety Power Shutoff” to protect electrical lines from causing wildfires.
In a Saturday morning update, PG&E stated that it has issued “all-clears” for almost half of the affected counties due to improving conditions. This enables technicians to examine the damage and restore electricity when it is safe to do so. PG&E expects other affected areas to be clean by late Saturday.
Earlier this week, officials warned that “Diablo winds” will sweep throughout Northern California, potentially creating ideal conditions for flames. The dry wind blows from the inland to the Pacific Coast, usually in the autumn.
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