Update, 8:25 a.m.: Oakland Fire Department is responding to a vegetation fire near Gravatt Drive in the hills near the south Berkeley border. Two Berkeley engines were called out to help but were subsequently canceled, according to Berkeley Interim Deputy Fire Chief Avery Webb.
Original story: Even though the air smells smoky this morning and there is a red flag warning up for the hills, there had been no reported fires in Berkeley as of around 8:30 a.m. today.
Berkeley Interim Deputy Fire Chief Avery Webb told Berkeleyside that the smell is coming from smoke drifting down from the fires in wine country.
Wildfires, fed by hot weather and strong winds, burned 200 acres in Sonoma and Napa counties on Wednesday.
Berkeleyside readers reported smelling smoke in the Tilden area and on the Oakland border near Tunnel Road.
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