Oakland Hills, Oakland, California
13
MENTIONS
9
EPISODES
5
PODCASTS
Search complete. 13 mentions across 9 episodes found for "Oakland Hills, Oakland, California".
Oct 19, 2026
Steve ScottHOST
35 years ago today...
Steve ScottHOST
A firestorm ripped through the Oakland Hills, destroying hundreds of homes, killing more than two dozen people.
Steve ScottHOST
As KCBS's Matt Bigler tells us live from the East Bay this morning, emergency officials are touting their safety improvements over the past 35 years.
Steve ScottHOST
Matt?
Matt BiglerCORRESPONDENT
Steve, the 1991 Oakland Hills firestorm, officially known as the Tunnel Fire, destroyed over 2,800 homes and over 400 apartments and condos.
Matt BiglerCORRESPONDENT
At the height of the burn, one structure every 11 seconds was burning.
Matt BiglerCORRESPONDENT
That's just hard to imagine, Steve.
Karina NovaHOST
PG&E modeled what would have happened if the power line had been on and ignited a fire, finding that 20 buildings could have been damaged.
Kristen SzeHOST
The same weather conditions that prompted today's shutoffs were there in 1991 during the infamous and devastating Oakland Hills firestorm.
Kristen SzeHOST
That wildfire killed 25 people and destroyed 3,000 homes in the Oakland and Berkeley Hills.
Kristen SzeHOST
Next Tuesday is the 35th anniversary of the firestorm, still one of the most destructive fires in California history.
Drew TumaCORRESPONDENT
And while they wait on that, they're frustrated at the thought of not having power while neighbors who live just behind them, yet still outside the shutoff zone, will have their lights on.
Drew TumaCORRESPONDENT
Still, the Berkeley Firesafe Council says memories of the 1991 Oakland firestorm are on the minds of many in Berkeley and the Oakland Hills.
speaker_3SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
There's a extremely high awareness of the catastrophic fire danger in Berkeley and Oakland.
speaker_3SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
I would venture to say that the majority of citizens in these two cities know-
23 MINS LATER
Nancy ChenHOST
ABC7 Eyewitness News reporter Zach Fuentes is live at UC Berkeley, one of the areas that could be impacted, Zach, starting tomorrow.
Zach FuentesCORRESPONDENT
Yeah, that's right.
Zach FuentesCORRESPONDENT
And these potential power shutoffs are coming to areas of the East Bay, where the 1991 Oakland Hills fire storm still on the minds of so many.
Zach FuentesCORRESPONDENT
And the Berkeley Firesafe Council tells us that there is an extremely high awareness because of that of just how catastrophic the fire danger could be in Berkeley and Oakland.
Steve ScottHOST
Parts of the Bay Area could go dark starting tonight as PG&E warns of potential public safety power shutoffs due to dangerous fire weather.
Steve ScottHOST
KCBS's Matt Bigler joins us live this morning from the Oakland Hills.
Steve ScottHOST
Matt, good morning.
Matt BiglerCORRESPONDENT
Good morning, Steve.
Matt BiglerCORRESPONDENT
PG&E says the outages could start tonight and last through Saturday.
Matt BiglerCORRESPONDENT
If you'd like to know if your home is affected, go to PG&E's website and enter your address.
Matt BiglerCORRESPONDENT
Live in the Oakland Hills, Matt Bigler, KCBS.
Steve ScottHOST
And it's time for yet another reminder of just how historic this El Nino could be.
Cristina MoraSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
So one of the clearest places that this comes out is when we started asking about, like, uh, racial inequalities, right? Um, Californians are not blind.
Cristina MoraSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
They see that the inequality, the unequal patterns around them have a color, right? They see that, uh, whether they are in the Bay Area and look at certain parts of Richmond or Oakland versus what that looks like in terms of the Berkeley Hills or the Oakland Hills.
Cristina MoraSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
So they know that they have a color, right? And when you ask them about, um, how is California in terms of sort of racial politics and racial understandings, they'll say, "Well, you know, we've got a ways to go, but at least we're not Texas," [laughs] or if we're...
Cristina MoraSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
"At least we're not Louisiana," or, "At least we're not some red state," or oftentimes the South, right?
Cristina MoraGUEST
So one of the clearest places that this comes out is when we started asking about, like, uh, racial inequalities, right? Um, Californians are not blind.
Cristina MoraGUEST
They see that the inequality, the unequal patterns around them have a color, right? They see that, uh, whether they are in the Bay Area and look at certain parts of Richmond or Oakland versus what that looks like in terms of the Berkeley Hills or the Oakland Hills.
Cristina MoraGUEST
So they know that they have a color, right? And when you ask them about, um, how is California in terms of sort of racial politics and racial understandings, they'll say, "Well, you know, we've got a ways to go, but at least we're not Texas," [laughs] or if we're, "At least we're not Louisiana," or, "At least we're not some red state," or oftentimes the South, right?
Hanif AbuHOST
Mm-hmm.
Jay ComellaGUEST
Yeah.
Jay ComellaGUEST
Um, and the, uh, big, uh, Oakland Hills fire in '91 was, uh, happened when I was on my first vacation, and I found out about it in a pub in Dublin, Ireland, drinking Guinness, but just thinking about these Vietnam guys, um, I had just bought a house in the Oakland Hills and the fire stopped about a quarter mile from my house.
Jay ComellaGUEST
If it had crested one more hillsu- hilltop, it would've taken my house.
Jay ComellaGUEST
But anyways, guys I ended up working with kind of made their stand where they did and ended up, you know, keeping, keeping it from cresting that hilltop and taking my house.
Deborah GordonHOST
it's a type of sweat lodge.
Deborah GordonHOST
That's interesting that you just said Temazcal when the lake in the Berkeley Hills or Oakland Hills is called Lake Temazcal.
Deborah GordonHOST
But evidently, maybe it really was Temazcal.
Deborah GordonHOST
Maybe.
1 more episode mentions Oakland Hills, Oakland, California.
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