Oct. 23 -- A massive fire early Tuesday in West Oakland destroyed multiple buildings in the latest incident of an East Bay housing development going up in flames.
Crews arrived to West Grand Avenue and Filbert Street after receiving reports at 1:59 a.m. that a three-story complex was on fire, said Nick Luby, a deputy fire chief with the Oakland Fire Department.
“It’s just a big pile of kindling,” Luby said of the construction site. “Small timber, it just grows quite quickly.”
A total of six structures in different phases of construction were burned in the blaze. Four of the buildings that were in the early stages of construction were completely lost, Luby said. A firefighter who suffered a leg injury while battling the blaze was taken to the hospital and listed in stable condition.
“The smoke is our biggest challenge right now,” Luby said. “Daylight will give us a whole new perspective.”
Nearly 30 residents in homes surrounding the building were immediately evacuated and Pacific Gas & Electric Co. shut off power in the area due to the threat of flames reaching power lines and transformers, Luby said.
Two thousand people were without power early Tuesday, Luby said, and crews were working to restore electricity.
One of the nearby homes on the 3600 block of Isabella Street also caught fire due to flying embers, Luby said.
The blaze at the home was quickly contained.
Jessica Molina, 20, was evacuated from her home on Isabella Street just before 7 a.m. with her mom and two 11-year-old brothers.
Molina was first awakened about 2 a.m. to a woman’s screams outside her home warning neighbors of a fire.
“When I woke up, I was just like, ‘Whoa, what happened,’” Molina said, clutching her black Maltese-mix dog, Snickers. “Hearing that in the middle of the night was kind of scary, especially for the little ones and my dog.”
Several homes near Molina’s started to burn from flying embers. Firefighters responded and Molina said she went back inside her home at about 4 a.m.
Just after falling asleep, she again awoke to another report of a fire next door to her house, she said. Firefighters barged into a nearby abandoned building as smoke rose from the roof. Residents gathered outside, and Molina and others covered themselves with Red Cross Blankets.
Cindy Davis, 57, stood outside her home on Isablla Street and sipped a cup of coffee. Davis had been awake since 2 a.m., when her friend banged on her door and told her there was a fire behind her home.
“I came outside and the whole sky was raining fire,” Davis said.
Davis started waking up her neighbors as they all grabbed hoses and started hosing down their roofs, backyards and the street as embers continued falling.
“The corner of my roof caught fire from the falling debris,” Davis said. “To see fire coming out of the sky like that, it was unbelievable.”
Nearly an hour after the conflagration was reported, another building at a construction site caught fire nearly 10 blocks away on the 3600 block of Peralta Street, Luby said.
The blaze was out as soon as crews arrived on scene.
However, Luby said, the fire appeared to be suspicious and an investigator was called to the scene.
A total of 90 firefighters responded to the blaze at West Grand Avenue and Filbert Street. No injuries were reported.
The cause of the fire is under investigation and federal investigators have not been notified yet, Luby said.
The blaze damaged buildings at 2310 Myrtle Street and 2210 Filbert Street. West Grand Avenue was expected to remain closed throughout the morning so crews could access the fire.
Twenty-two condos were expected to be ready by a December move-in date, and a total of 126 units were expected to be completed within a year and a half, according to the website for developer City Ventures.
Housing developers in the East bay have ramped up security came after a series of arsons and unexplained blazesover the last several years.
A security team was stationed at the City Ventures site at all times and up to 15 security cameras were live-streaming when the fire occurred, officials said.
The Jobs and Housing Coalition, a lobbying group of Oakland developers and businesses, said in July that members have quadrupled their spending on security since the blazes that occurred at developments in Oakland, Emeryville and Concord.
Construction sites were equipped with video cameras, fencing, alarms, bright lights and 24-hour security guards. Some developers have also started using fire-retardant products, the coalition said.
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