Oakland Hills Fire of 1991
After firefighters snuffed out a 5-acre blaze on a steep hillside northeast of the Caldecott Tunnel’s west portal, around 11:00 AM on Sunday, October 20th, 1991, a fierce Diablo wind had picked up in the Berkeley Hills and nearby Oakland Hills.
Similar to Santa Ana winds that sometimes terrorize Southern California, the Diablo winds re-sparked Saturday’s fire, quickly spreading the flames in gusting winds up to 70 miles per hour.
Within thirty minutes, the restocked the fire had crossed both Highway 24, an eight-lane freeway, and Highway 13, a four-lane freeway, eventually igniting hundreds of houses in the Forest Park neighborhood. By the end of the first hour, the escalating firestorm had destroyed nearly 790 structures, wiping out homes at a rate of one every 11 seconds.
Firestorm in the Bay Area
Local firefighters became quickly overwhelmed by the high winds, steep terrain and rapid spread of the fire, and once firefighters had been called in from as far north as the Oregon border and south as far as Bakersfield, outside fire teams faced various equipment compatibility issues such as hydrants having the wrong size outlets for the hoses used by neighboring counties.
To make matters worse, flames took out power lines to seventeen pumping stations in the Oakland water system, leaving the job of fire suppression largely up to air tankers and helicopters. In addition to the winds and high heat, an important factor in the rapid spread of the fire was that it started in a remote area between developed and undeveloped land, thick with dry vegetation that set fire at the first touch of a flying ember.
As nightfall descended, the firestorm threatened to destroy the historic Claremont Resort Hotel, where the media at first gathered to report on the fire until the approaching fire forced them to evacuate. Television crews trained their cameras on the dark hill immediately behind the hotel as millions of viewers watched as the fire marched house to house toward the now evacuated hotel.
Oakland Hills Fire Fatalities and Buildings Burnt
When the Diablo Winds finally diminished around sunset, the fire was stopped shortly before it reached the landmark hotel. All told, the Oakland Firestorm of 1991 killed 25 people and injured 150 more.
It burned 1,520 acres and destroyed 2,843 single-family homes and 437 apartment and condo units. Estimated losses stood at more than $1.5 billion, nearly twice that amount in today’s inflated currency.