A fire that scorched 15 acres in the Oakland Hills, rekindling memories of a deadly, historic blaze in 1991, has now been successfully contained, and residents who were evacuated are allowed to return home, authorities said late Sunday.
Michael Hunt, a spokesman for the Oakland Fire Department, said Sunday evening that operations to control the Keller Fire operation have been “successful” and evacuation orders in the area were lifted as of 8 p.m. Sunday.
All residents who evacuated from 43 homes are allowed to return to the area and their homes, he said.
PG&E continues to work on restoring power to some areas. To see PG&E’s website for those updates, go here: https://pgealerts.alerts.pge.com/outage-tools/outage-map/
Oakland Fire crews planned to remain on the scene overnight and into Monday. The Oakland Police Department planned to will continue to actively patrol the area as residents returned home.
The city-operated shelter at Ira Jinkins Community Center was scheduled to close at 8 p.m. Sunday, Hunt said. Community members are advised that the smell of smoke in the Keller fire area is likely to continue for the next several days, he added, and does not necessarily indicate ongoing fire. Residents are encouraged to remain vigilant and report fires via 911, but do not need to panic if they smell lingering smoke odors, Oakland Fire officials said.
From the initial 200 firefighters from the Oakland Fire Department and Cal Fire, about 50 remained on the scene to extinguish the remaining hot spots, officials said early Sunday afternoon. By mid-day Sunday, CalFire, which had provided aerial firefighting help, said the blaze was 85% contained.
Youth from nearby Sequoyah Community Church brought cake and water for fire crews as they worked in the afternoon clearing trees and debris.
Around 500 residents were evacuated from Altura Place, Campus Drive, Crystal Ridge Court, and Rifle Lane.
No injuries were reported in the fire.
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The fire erupted just one day before the 33rd anniversary of the devastating 1991 Oakland Hills Firestorm, which killed 25 people, injured 150, and destroyed more than 3,400 homes.
Friday’s fire broke out amid a red flag warning for extreme fire danger across the Bay Area. The blaze began shortly before 1:30 p.m. Friday near Mountain Boulevard and Maynard Avenue, close to Interstate 580. About 15 acres burned and two homes were damaged before crews stopped forward progress on the fire about 3:30 p.m. Friday.
The red flag warning expired Saturday afternoon. According to National Weather Service meteorologist Rick Canepa, no fire warnings are expected in the next couple of days, with onshore winds, mild temperatures, and slightly higher humidity improving conditions for extinguishing the remaining hot spots. Officials said, however, that critically dry conditions are expected to continue until early in the week.
Staff writer Sierra Lopez contributed to this report.
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