A rapidly advancing wildfire in Northern California damaged at least 10 structures in the Oakland Hills on Friday, prompting evacuation orders as it grew to 13 acres (4 hectares).
There are no immediate injuries. Crews were called to the area around 1:30 p.m. to set the vegetation on fire. Within 30 minutes, the fire had spread and firefighters had to rush to the scene. Around 2:30 p.m., more than 80 firefighters, along with government employees, participated in controlling the fire. The Oakland Fire Department said.
It was unclear whether the burned buildings were homes or to what extent they were damaged. The fire broke out near Highway 580, which connects the Bay Area to central California, snarling traffic as people tried to leave the area and sending smoke over the city of 440,000.
Several California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection planes dropped fire retardant and state highway officials said they closed westbound 580 because of the fire.
Smoke was visible at a distance of 3 to 5 km (2 to 3 miles). Fire trucks and ambulances struggled to navigate the jam in the westbound lanes of the freeway, their sirens blaring, forcing vehicles out of the way as they raced toward the fire. The traffic jams frustrated some drivers, who left the freeway on exit ramps, while others drove on the shoulder of the freeway. Side streets were also heavily blocked.
The fire was burning in the Oakland Hills, where a fire in 1991 destroyed nearly 3,000 homes and killed 25 people.
It comes as forecasters issued fire danger warnings from the Central Coast through the San Francisco Bay Area and into northern Shasta County, away from the Oregon border, through Saturday.
About 16,000 customers were without power Friday after Pacific Gas and Electric shut down 19 counties in the northern and central regions of the state. A large “Diablo wind,” known for its hot, dry winds in the fall, was forecast to bring sustained winds of 35 mph to many areas, increasing the risk of power lines fueling wildfires. According to the National Weather Service (NWS), wind gusts of up to 104 km/h (65 mph) are possible at the summit. Strong winds are expected to persist through the weekend.
Oakland Fire Department spokesman Michael Hunt told The Associated Press that firefighters were expected to evacuate a large portion of the Oakland Hills as the fire spread Friday afternoon.
The fire started as a vegetation fire near the highway and grew upward, Hunt said. At least eight structures have already been damaged.
He said “hundreds of residents” were being evacuated, but he did not have an exact number.
“It's a large area, probably three miles, that can probably be evacuated,” he said.
An elementary school was set up nearby as a temporary shelter for evacuees.
A total of about 20,000 customers could temporarily lose power over the next two days, PG&E said in a statement Friday.
“The duration and extent of power outages will depend on the weather in each area, and not all customers will be affected for the entire period,” the utility said.
The cause of the Oakland fire was not immediately known. The fire department ordered residents to evacuate two streets, Campus Drive and Crystal Ridge Court, on Friday.
“This is going to end up being the biggest wind event of the year so far,” said Brayden Murdock, a meteorologist with the NWS Bay Area office. “We want to tell people to be careful.”
Specific power outages are also possible in Southern California, where another severe weather event, the Santa Ana winds, is expected on Friday and Saturday.
The Santa Anas are dry, warm, and energetic northeasterly winds that blow from the interior of Southern California toward the coast and littoral, moving in the opposite direction to the normal ocean currents that bring moist air from the Pacific to the region.
The National Weather Service issued red flag warnings for the valleys and mountains of Los Angeles County, parts of the Inland Empire and the San Bernardino Mountains.
Winds around greater Los Angeles will not be as strong as in the north, with gusts of 25 to 40 mph (40 to 64 km/h) in the mountains and foothills, said Mike Wofford, a meteorologist with the Los Angeles area office. NWS Angels.
Strong winds were reported in the Santa Monica and San Gabriel Mountains, with isolated gusts of 45 to 55 mph (72 to 88 km/h) to 60 mph (96 km/h) on Friday.
“The wetlands are drying and we have wind. “If we had a spark, it could spread very quickly due to the current conditions,” Wofford said.
