Oakland Hills. Paradise. Maui. Here.
1991
The Oakland-Berkeley Hills Fire: An Overview
More than 25 firefighters were on the scene overhauling hot spots from a fire [Saturday]. 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.
“All the conditions for a major disaster were present that morning.”
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.
2018 – 2023
The chilling similarities between the Maui and Paradise fires.
A fire with so much loss and destruction shouldn’t have precedent, but recent history has proven otherwise. Just [six] years ago in California, on a wind-whipped November morning, toppled electrical lines sparked the beginnings of what was the deadliest wildfire in modern US history before Lahaina: the Camp Fire.
“We didn’t have any warning,” former Paradise resident David Harris told CNN.
“By the time the smoke and flames arrived in Lahaina, it was already too late to escape.”
“Other western states are still denying the problem in many cases, not at the state level, but at the community level, people are denying the problem.”
2019
Fire In Vallejo Jumps Across Carquinez Strait To Crockett.
Sometime before 11 a.m., a grass fire apparently sparked by an ember blown across the strait broke out in Crockett, and residents south of Pomona Avenue and east of I-80 were put under a mandatory evacuation order.
“The fire that started in Vallejo and jumped the bay is running alongside I-80.”
As disasters grow more intense and catastrophic, it is clear there will never be enough professional emergency responders to meet the need, says Stephen E. Flynn, founding director of Northeastern’s Global Resilience Institute.
“In any major disaster, the first responders are almost always your friends, your neighbors, people who may be strangers, who are nearest you.” link