Captain Parker was the "Division C" commander, in charge of operations at the Claremont Hotel on October 20, 1991. He is assigned to the Oakland Division of Training.

Sunday, October 20, will be remembered as the date of one of this nation's most costly fires; the worst fire involving loss of life and property since the Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906.

The magnitude and scope of what is simply referred to as the "Tunnel Fire" is far beyond the experience of any living American firefighter. Only those who fought the Chicago Fire last century or battled the Great Fire in San Francisco would be able to identify with this conflagration and firestorm... .

The origin of the fire was on a steep hillside in what some have called a box canyon above state Highway 24 near the entrance to the Caldecott Tunnel. This is a wooded area with heavy underbrush, narrow streets and steep terrain. The unusual weather conditions are described in FEMA's Hazard Mitigation Report as follows: "...an unusual east wind, at speeds in excess of 65 miles per hour, that raced down from the crest of the Oakland-Berkeley Hills. Coupled with record high temperatures well into the nineties, the hot, dry winds gusted and swirled through five years of drought-dry brush and groves of freeze-damaged Monterey pines and eucalyptus trees. All the conditions for a major disaster were present that morning of October 20, 1991."

More than 25 firefighters were on the scene overhauling hot spots from a fire the previous day. It is important to note that Saturday's fire had been well overhauled; hose lines were left in place surrounding the burn area, the fire area was checked by Oakland fire companies during the night, and fire crews had been on the scene hours before ignition on Sunday.

These are prudent and accepted firefighting methods.

Eyewitness accounts testify that a sole ember blew into a tree just outside the burn area, and the tree exploded into flame, and the resulting fire was quickly out of control -- raging around and over firefighters who were indeed fighting for their lives.

Rescue and evacuation efforts were made as firefighters were forced to fall back to defensible space.

A request for additional fire units and air drops were immediately called for. Soon, streets were clogged with residents trying to get out, sightseers and emergency personnel trying to get in.

The fire quickly established four fronts, west downhill toward state Highway 24 and the Rockridge District, north toward the Claremont Hotel, south toward Broadway Terrace and east toward Contra Costa County.

The Oakland fire department is divided into three battalions commanded by an assistant chief and two battalion chiefs.

Assistant Chief Donald Matthews assumed command as the operations chief, Battalion Chief James Riley was assigned as Division A commander and Battalion Chief Ronald Campos responded to the Oakland Fire Dispatch Center to coordinate recall, dispatch, finance and logistics functions. Assistant Chief John K. Baker responded from home and assumed the role of incident commander.

At about 11:45 a.m., Director of Fire Services P. Lamont Ewell arrived on scene at the command post and officially assumed command.

The Oakland fire department uses the Incident Command System (ICS) to manage all emergency incidents, as was the case with the "Tunnel Fire."

The system consists of an incident commander who directly supervises four functional groups: operations, planning, logistics and finance.

The operation and planning functions were conducted at the scene from the department's mobile command post, while logistics and finance functions were conducted from the dispatch center.

This was the basic structure of initial management of the "Tunnel Fire," and intact until late into the evening when the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF) provided an overhead management team to assist with the enormous task of managing such a large fire.

At this point, a joint command was established that consisted of Oakland, Berkeley, Piedmont and the Department of Forestry.

Oakland firefighters were assisting with evacuation efforts as they were forced to retreat from the advancing inferno. Division Chief Riley and Oakland Police Officer John Grubensky were killed while trying to help citizens escape the fire. Both Chief Riley and Officer Grubensky were found with the remains of those people they were trying to help.