continued from Part 1 At 5 p.m., Chief Postel placed Division 2 Assistant Chief Musante and his aide on standby for dispatch to the Claremont Hotel, along with relief firefighters.
The air temperature recorded at the Oakland Museum was 87 degrees F
at 5 p.m.
About 5 p.m., hose bundles were hand-carried along Alvarado Rd. to
a hydrant at Gravatt Dr. by firefighters and citizen-volunteers, but it too
was dry. Apparatus could not be brought this far along Alvarado Rd.
because of downed power lines, poles and trees as well as excessive fire,
heat, wind and firebrands.
Chief officers O'Sullivan of Hayward and Tabacco met with
Assistant Chief Hickey. They felt that a secure water supply was absolutely
necessary to hold the firefront which was then roughly 2,000 airline-feet
from the Claremont Hotel
"I got up at the top of Alvarado Rd.," said Assistant Chief Hickey,
and there was a building fully involved. I said to myself, `If this were in
the City, I would pull a second or third [alarm].' Then I looked down the
street and there were 7 or 8 other buildings in the same condition."
"We had lines there," he said, "but the fire jumped the street and got
into the trees and we knocked that down. Then I saw that was a fire up to
the north of us that was heading for the eucalyptus grove behind the
Claremont Hotel."
An air tanker and two water-bearing helicopters were dropping
strikes about one-half mile or so north of the officers.
Assistant Chief Hickey contacted Battalion Chief Roybal at the
Claremont command post on the Department radio to order air strikes at
their location to slow the firefront while the five-inch hose lead was
extended. The chief officers felt that CDF helicopter water and air tanker
chemical retardant strikes would give them sufficient time to get the hose
laid, and to establish a new fire line.
Gary L. Cates, Chief of Department
of Berkeley, arrived at the hotel and conferred with Oakland Capt. Parker and
Assistant Chief Hickey about felling the two
large eucalyptus groves which stood between the hotel and the head of the
conflagration.
This would have been a last-ditch move because falling trees would
destroy power lines that supplied electricity to the Claremont Hotel. Loss
of electricity would have meant loss of the pumps which supplied water to
wet foliage around the building. The trees were not felled.
Fifteen minutes after the call for CDF air support, one air tanker
chemical retardant and two helicopter water strikes hit the firefront near
Alvarado Rd. and Gravatt Dr. The single chemical strike hit directly at
Assistant Chief Hickey's location. These tanker and helicopter strikes
slowed the advancing firefront long enough to allow crews to finish the
hoselay and allow for the positioning of companies along the fire line.
Homes and structures along both sides of Alvarado Rd. between
Claremont Ave. and Siler Pl. were fully involved in fire, and other homes
and structures along the northeast side of the street between Siler Pl. and
Gravatt Dr. were also consumed.
Lieutenant Scullion and his crew from San Francisco Engine 6
"It was getting dark from the smoke," said Chief's Aide Bryant, "and
we were advancing lines up the hillsides to try to keep the fire from
coming down to the roadway. It was steep and got pretty muddy because
of all the water we were pumping, and that made the hill hard to climb.
"At about this time I got the portable Department radio wet and it
went dead. The fire was high in the trees, and houses away from us were
fully involved. I saw a few trees just explode; it gets your attention when
they go, and you know its not a dream
The conflagration swept across Alvarado Rd. from the northeast to
the southwest, and it was decided by the chief officers to take a stand here
and attack the firefront. This strategy was developed to keep the fire from
swinging across, then running down the southwest side of the hill along
Alvarado Rd. from Siler Pl. to the Claremont Hotel and on to the city of
Berkeley.
Battalion Chief Cercos had been assigned to relieve Battalion Chief
Tabacco at 8 p.m. "There was enough fire for everyone," Battalion Chief
Cercos said, and Battalion Chief Tabacco remained on the fire line until
midnight.
As companies fought the conflagration uphill, the five-inch lead was
extended by Hayward Engine 2 from Pleasanton Engine 61.
Lieutenant Lee of Engine 7
On the orders of Hayward Battalion Chief O' Sullivan, Berkeley Lt.
Richard J. Schmidt and a lieutenant from the Lawrence Berkeley
Laboratory fire department began to move the Berkeley relief engine up
Alvarado Rd. "The streets were congested with electric wires, fire
equipment, firemen and telephone poles; we knew that we would have to
run out if we couldn't stop it," Lt. Schmidt wrote.
The Berkeley relief apparatus was staged at 845 Alvarado Rd. where
a portable hydrant from the Hayward apparatus was dropped.
The relay engines in order were: Fremont Engine 1053 at the
hydrant at the foot of Eucalyptus Path, Union City Engine 1, Pleasanton
Engine 61, Hayward Engine 2 and Berkeley Relief Engine 14.
"They did a great job
At 9:18 p.m., Battalion Chief Tabacco reported by Department radio
that the conflagration jumped Alvarado Rd. near the intersection of a
narrow lane identified only as "20-foot Dr." on maps of the area.
Rising and erratic fire-driven winds in excess of 65 mph preheated
structures and foliage, and temperatures approached 2,000 degrees F. Large
homes and large trees exploded in flame, and they would then generate
firebrands which were picked up by the fierce, hot winds
In some places aluminum engine blocks and parts of burning
automobiles melted and ran into the gutter. Battalion Chief Cercos said,
"The trees would simply explode. I'd never seen anything like that
before." Some officers reported seeing fire devils and devilkins in the
area.
Pleasanton Capt. Molkenburhr saw an automobile explode from
radiant heat while working in the Alvarado Rd. area.
Battalion Chief Cercos ordered 30 firefighters, in full protective
clothing, brought up from the San Francisco command post to the firefront
to relieve firefighters and citizen-volunteers who had been on the lines for
almost eight hours.
Sometime around 10 p.m., three three-inch leads were led from the
Hayward street manifold and extended farther up the hill to about 901
Alvarado Rd. near Robinson Dr.
"Initially," said Battalion Chief Cercos, "there were heavy fire
conditions with two homes involved in the 900 block
Battalion Chief Cercos also said at times the conflagration's firefront
almost overran firefighters along Alvarado Rd. Four two-and-one-half-
inch hand lines and three one-and-one-half-inch lines with straight tips
were also extended from the Berkeley engine to stop the fire in the 700 and
800 blocks of Alvarado Rd.
The battalion chief officers began to establish a fire defense
perimeter along Alvarado Rd. They deployed personnel from the various
departments and citizen-volunteers, and prepared to cut a fuelbreak.
Three-inch lines from the portable hydrant were swung around and
attached to two Gorter pipes that Battalion Chief Tabacco special-called
from the San Francisco command post. Master streams from these pipes
helped knock down the fire in the 900 block. Four two- and three one-
and-one-half-inch lines were also extended from the Berkeley relief engine.
Battalion Chief Cercos ordered chain saws carried from the
Claremont command post up the hill in readiness to fell large trees and
utility poles so hose lines could be extended down the canyon wall, to
protect the remaining structures in the 900 block of Alvarado Rd.
The fire attempted to sweep up from the canyon floor. Firefighters
from San Francisco, Hayward, Union City, San Leandro, Pleasanton,
Fremont, Castro Valley, Novato, Berkeley, CDF and citizen-volunteers
The large line attack held, and the upward sweep of the conflagration
was stopped before it could destroy those homes and those left on both
sides of the 600 block, as well as the remaining structures in the 700 and
800 blocks of Alvarado Rd.
At 10 p.m., command of Division C was transferred by Oakland
Capt. Parker to Assistant Chief Hickey. The Oakland captain then returned
to the main Oakland command post at Tunnel Rd. and state Highway 24 to
assist with overall operations.
By 11 p.m. chief officers Musante, Hickey, Cercos and Tabacco felt
that the firefront had been stopped and that the Claremont Hotel and the
city of Berkeley were no longer in imminent danger.
As fire conditions in Oakland improved, Chief Postel began to
demobilize San Francisco operations at 11:45 p.m., and most of it's
functions passed to Assistant Chief Shaughnessy, the senior chief officer on
duty in San Francisco.
Battalion Chief Cercos relieved Battalion Chief Tabacco at midnight.
Mutual aid crews worked in the area for the next two hours, putting
out hot spots and flying brands that were burning in pine trees. "The two
houses on Amito were checked at least three other times by me," wrote
Berkeley Lt. Schmidt, "and at least twice by San Francisco firemen. That
fire was completely out by 0200 hours."
At about 2:30 a.m., winds again picked up and firefighters saw the
firefront sweeping back up the hill at them from Claremont Ave. "The San
Francisco fire chief [Battalion Chief Cercos] stated he wanted four three-
inch lines set up to protect the remaining houses on Alvarado," wrote
Berkeley Lt. Schmidt. A fifth line was wyed to provide two hand lines for
structure protection.
"The first three-inch line was set up in the carport of 845 Alvarado
Rd., he wrote, "and the third and fourth lines were tied to two eucalyptus
[trees] ... 50 to 70 feet up from 845 Alvarado; we stayed there for about 4
hours. Meanwhile CDF, San Francisco, Hayward and Marin fought the
fire downhill. CDF eventually backfired into the fire and stopped it."
The Alvarado Rd. flank was the first of the conflagration to be
contained.
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