Ten Years Later, Residents Reflect On the Oakland Hills Firestorm

Karen McClung was playing soccer in Castro Valley the day a firestorm swept through the Berkeley and Oakland hills and destroyed her home.

By the end of the day, all she owned was the soccer uniform on her back and the few photo albums her daughter managed to grab before fleeing the house.

Two days later, after seeing nothing but smoke and fire from a distance, McClung and her husband Bill were finally able to view the remnants of their home.

"It looked like the moon-it was all black and gray and burned," says McClung, a 33-year Berkeley resident. "I was horrified and desolate."

Ten years ago Saturday, a firestorm swept through the Berkeley and Oakland hills, sparked by a leftover ember from a small fire that had burned out.

With unusually high winds, low humidity and soaring temperatures, the ember set off an inferno that scorched more than 3,000 homes in Berkeley and Oakland and killed 25 people.

File/Marc Bernstein Ten years ago Saturday smoke plumes filled the sky as a massive fire swept through the Berkeley and Oakland hills destroying over 3,000 homes.

It all began around 11 a.m. on Oct. 20, 1991, near the Caldecott Tunnel on Highway 24.

Firefighters were "mopping up" an area where a small fire had been suppressed the day before, says David Orth, assistant fire chief with the Berkeley Fire Department. Crew members were patrolling the perimeter, looking for smoke and buried embers.

Forty mph winds fed a burning ember, which set the grass on fire, says Orth, who was on duty when he saw the column of smoke fill the sky.

The fire then roared downhill, gaining speed with each home it consumed.

The blaze caused millions of dollars in damage and prompted then-Gov. Pete Wilson to declare a state of emergency in Alameda County.

"It was a small fire in terms of area burned," Orth says. "But it was still the largest loss of homes in any fire in the country."

John Traugott, a retired UC Berkeley English professor and 40-year Berkeley resident, was running in the hills when he saw what he called a bright, orange "fireball" in the sky.

"I went in the house, had breakfast and waited to see what was going to happen," he says. "I tried to think of what I could take, but you can't take everything."

There was a lot of confusion, Traugott says, as people ran out into the street and cars exploded while the firestorm swept through the hills.

"As things burn up, you lose track of where you are. You don't know streets, for example," says Traugott, who forgot to take personal photos with him. "I found I was puzzled about which way to go. A lot of landmarks had been destroyed."

Traugott rebuilt his house seven years after the fire.

The hills are still in bad shape, some residents say. Ten years after the inferno, those who live in the area still believe the hills are ripe for another fire, particularly on hot, dry and windy days.

Before the firestorm, there were few fire stations in the hills, Orth says. Berkeley and Oakland voters passed bonds to improve fire stations, and the city governments briefly considered building a joint fire station.

Ultimately, Oakland constructed a fire station. Berkeley is still trying to relocate the hills fire station so firefighters can respond more quickly to fires in the hills.

"We're looking at taking one of our stations and trying to relocate up higher on the hill so that it has a better response to the area," Orth says. "It is hoped that the station will be jointly staffed on high hazard days."

The station would provide additional protection to the area with the help of Oakland Fire Department's firehouse, also located in the hills.

Orth says the project is moving through an Environmental Impact Report, which needs approval before building can proceed. Plans have been drawn, and the location has been selected, he says, but it may be a while before construction begins.

"It's been a long, drawn out project. This could go on for another few months to a year. It's just one step," he says.

But for now, without that improved fire station, the hills are still vulnerable to another firestorm.

"There are so many miles of hills and wildland, overgrowth and dead stuff. One little firehouse wouldn't help much with a big fire. Dry, brushy and windy fires are hard to stop," McClung says.

Orth says the department has since improved prevention programs, trained its firefighters in wildfire fighting and become less dependent on outside sources.

Fuel management, creation of defensible areas and changes in building codes have also been implemented, he says.

McClung now says that with the exception of pictures, artwork and stories made by her children, she did not lose as much as she thought 10 years ago.

"Unless it has sentimental value and is not replaceable, it's not that important-but I didn't feel that way for a while," McClung says. "What can you do? You can't have anything back, and you've got to live with it."

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