Wednesday is the fire’s 31st anniversary. We produced a podcast looking back at the historic blaze that forever changed how the East Bay looks at wildfires.
Oakland-Berkeley Firestorm
Posted inCommunity
First Person: I worked 36 straight hours at the Alta Bates burn center during the Oakland-Berkeley Firestorm
Thomas Appleton writes about how Alta Bates staff treated dozens of burned patients while watching the fire approach the hospital.
Posted inCommunity
The Oakland-Berkeley Firestorm incinerated my house 30 years ago
When Gary and I moved from Ithaca, New York, back to the Bay Area in 1990 and looked for a house, the threat of fire never crossed my mind.
Posted inCity
Insurance firms drop Berkeley Hills homeowners, citing wildfire risk
Some Berkeley residents are among the thousands across the state receiving non-renewal letters from insurers burdened by wildfires claims.
Posted inCommunity
North Bay tragedy prompts memories, insights from 1991 firestorm survivors
Victims of the devastating East Bay fire share unhappy memories as well as advice for those affected by the North Bay fires.
Posted inArts
25 years after the Oakland/Berkeley firestorm, Risa Nye pens memoir
The book, “There Was A Fire Here,” about the tragedy and how Nye and her family coped with their losses, has been described as a “searing memoir.”
Posted inCommunity
As drought raises fire risk, Berkeley focuses on safety
Firefighters have been conducting wildfire response exercises in the community (file photo). Photo: Emilie Raguso How long does it take to evacuate a block of Berkeley homes threatened by an encroaching fire? Ten minutes, 30 minutes, more? That was a question posed by Lt. Andrew Rateaver, Area 2 Commander with the Berkeley Police Department, at a community […]
Posted inFire
Reminder: Share your Firestorm memories at BAM
Oakland Fire #104-91, 1991, one of the images by Richard Misrach on show at BAM/PFA © Richard Misrach 1991 As part of a series of public events supporting its current exhibition by Berkeley photographer Richard Misrach, the Berkeley Art Museum is inviting the local community to gather at the museum this Sunday afternoon to share […]
Posted inFire
Get prepared for an emergency: Here’s how
Houses have been rebuilt, vegetation has grown back, and life is back to normal since the Firestorm, but being prepared for another is paramount Twenty years after the Oakland-Berkeley fire ripped through the East Bay hills, killing 25 people and destroying close to 4,000 houses and apartments, houses have been rebuilt, trees and shrubs have […]
Posted inFire
A fire more destructive to Berkeley than 1991 Firestorm
On the day we remember a catastrophic fire that affected many people’s lives locally, it may also pay to recall another fire which happened 68 years before.
Posted inFire
Loss assessment: Building anew after devastation
The winds stopped before pushing the fire into our canyon — and that was all it took to separate us from the others.
Posted inFire
Twenty years after a catastrophe, recollections — Part 3
Berkeleyside invited readers to submit their stories about the 1991 Oakland-Berkeley Firestorm. Here we publish the third of three selections. ………………………….. By Peter Jenny: In 1991, I was living on 45th street in North Oakland, between Broadway and Telegraph. My neighbor and I were going to have a yard sale October 20th, and I went out […]
