By Brian Anderson
Valley Times

May 04, 2001

OAKLAND — Smiling widely, Serenia Vavaitamana sat quietly Thursday jotting down notes about her harried morning. On a cot at a Red Cross shelter, Vavaitamana wanted to make sure to remember something that truly was unforgettable — the survival of her family.

There were no heroes or knights in armor. No grand tales to tell, only appreciation.

"We’re thankful our lives were saved," she said, laughing. "We’ve never seen anything like this before."

Vavaitamana was a beacon of light among dimmed souls who lost something or almost everything in an early morning firestorm that gripped West Oakland in a blazing devastation not seen here in a decade.

Like a tornado, the flames from a seething six-alarm fire at a construction site on Grand Avenue at Isabella Street spun south, hitting one defenseless home only to skip one next door. Wind-driven fire brands — some the size of footballs — burned into decks and shake-roofed Victorians, igniting 12 houses over four city blocks.

"It was raining fire," said Mark Salomon, whose rented house about a block from the flash point was dotted with dozens of quarter-size char marks. "It was like a wall of fire. The whole thing was really very scary." Salomon counted himself among the lucky ones Thursday. The damage to his house, which he shares with four carpenters, could be repaired.

While still standing, many of the torched houses were left in unlivable conditions and were quickly condemned as unsafe. For about 70 people from 14 houses, homelessness was a reality that Red Cross volunteers made attempts to ease at a temporary shelter in Oakland, said agency spokeswoman Maria De Los Angeles Corral.

Injuries were minor and relatively rare, a shocking reality given the time and unpredictability of the blaze, said Oakland fire Capt. Vicky Evans-Robinson.

One firefighter, who was not identified, dislocated his shoulder and fractured a hip after falling about 15 feet from a rooftop he was working on, Evans-Robinson said. He was stable and resting at Highland Hospital, Thursday afternoon.

Four residents were also hurt, she said. Two suffered from smoke inhalation, one sprained her ankle and another had unknown injuries. All were treated at the scene and released.

"We were very fortunate," Evans-Robinson said.

The cause of the fire was under investigation, said Oakland police Lt. Brian Thiem, who along with officials from Alameda County and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms will examine the scene. It was "way too early" to tell how it started, Thiem said.

Initial reports of the fire came in about 1 a.m. as flames shot skyward from the wood frame of what was to be a three-story apartment and retail complex when construction was completed. Wind gusts pushing out of the north at speeds reaching 45 mph swatted around intense heat that melted decorative street signs and blew out power.

"You didn’t even have to step outside the door to feel it," said Claire McCoy, whose house about 15 yards north of the fire was not damaged. "It was like an explosion."

Some of the 300 firefighters called to the scene canvassed neighborhood streets, scanning rooftops amid wind-fueled blasts of flaming debris in hopes of quickly spotting the next outburst.

"It was really ripping," said one firefighter standing in front of a partially gutted house on 22nd Street.

The charred remains of the main fire spilled into Grand Avenue where they continued to smolder throughout the day. Firefighters dumped water on the steaming mess as wind gusts carried the stench of smoke for blocks around.

Units from Pleasanton, Moraga, Berkeley and other East Bay cities covered areas of Oakland left without fire protection after the city sent 250 of its 479 total firefighting force to the scene, Evans-Robinson said.

"This was a big fire," she said. "We used all of the resources we had."

The massive call to arms for firefighters in Oakland was one of the biggest in city history, Evans-Robinson added. Still, it paled in comparison to the battle waged in the Oakland and Berkeley hills in 1991 when a wildfire obliterated the area and claimed the lives of 25 people.

For Vavaitamana, Thursday’s inferno was certainly a big event in her life.

"It was a scary sight," she said. "I am happy we are alive."

OAKLAND — A fire that roared across blocks of a West Oakland neighborhood last week, leaving about 70 people homeless and causing more than $4 million in damage was deliberately started, fire officials said Wednesday.

Investigators poring over the charred remains of what was to be an apartment and retail complex ruled out accidental and natural causes, officials with the Oakland Fire Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said. While the news narrowed the search for a cause of the devastating fire, the determination does not mean it was arson.

"It could be recklessness, it could be carelessness," said Oakland fire Capt. Vicky Evans-Robinson. "It wasn’t accidental, but it doesn’t speak to the intent."

An example, said ATF spokeswoman Marti McKee, might be a fire that is started by a homeless person trying to keep warm.

"At this point we don’t know if it was malicious," McKee said.

A suspect has not been identified, she added.

Officials declined to specify what type of device it was or whether gasoline or other flammables were used.

A dog trained to help fire investigators locate such accelerants has been used in the continuing investigation, McKee said. Pieces from the fire were sent to a local ATF lab where they are being analyzed, she said.

The blaze began early Thursday at a construction site on Grand Avenue. Howling winds carried embers to about a dozen neighboring houses, which caught fire and sent dozens of people scrambling into the night.

All have since found temporary housing in hotels or with family and friends, a Red Cross spokeswoman said.