Oakland Fire Department Press Release Re: Oakland Wildfire
This afternoon at approximately 1:30 pm, Oakland Fire Dispatchers were notified of a vegetation fire just off I-580 near Keller Rd. Crews were immediately dispatched to the area where once on scene they confirmed a fast-moving fire was on two sides of the street having jumped from the side of the freeway into a yard at Maynard and Mountain Blvd.
The wind-driven fire quickly began to run up the hillside threatening other homes on Maynard and other surrounding streets, and extended to the vegetation above the neighborhood. Within 1 hr the incident had gone to a 4th and 5th alarm bringing invaluable mutual aid resources from throughout Alameda County, around the region, and CAL FIRE which provided critical air support.
Within several hours, and after evacuations of approximately 500 homes with the support of OPD, Fire crews had contained the incident and created a perimeter around the fire and stopped forward progress. Largely due to the strategic fire attack and tremendous multi-jurisdictional coordination, only two homes suffered damage from this fire – so far – and there are no reports of any injuries.
(As of 11:59 PM on Friday night)
This fire is not yet under control. 13 acres have burned. Fire crews will be on scene working aggressively to fully extinguish this fire for the next 24 hrs or more, likely thru Saturday evening, depending on conditions. Thank you to all the responding agencies for supporting us today. Your efforts alongside us so far has saved lives and entire neighborhoods. Media can expect updates at 8 AM on Saturday unless conditions change overnight.