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Berkeley Residents and Officials Practice Wildfire Evacuation for the First Time

"We have a history of wildland fires burning through Berkeley," said Berkeley Fire Chief Dave Brannigan. "So we know it'll happen again."
Sonja Hutson
Berkeley Fire Chief Dave Brannigan heads out a fire station to participate in a wildfire evacuation drill on Sunday, August 4, 2019.  (Sonja Hutson/KQED)

In the wake of one of the worst fire seasons in California history in 2018, Berkeley held its first wildfire evacuation drill Sunday to help residents and firefighters prepare.

“We have a history of wildland fires burning through Berkeley,” said Berkeley Fire Chief Dave Brannigan. “1923 and 1991 were both devastating fires.”

In 1923, a wildfire in Berkeley destroyed more than 500 buildings, but did not kill anyone. In 1991, a wildfire swept through the Berkeley and Oakland hills, burning thousands of structures and killing 25 people. The 1991 fire is the third deadliest wildfire in recorded California history.

“So we know it’ll happen again,” Brannigan said. “And given the extreme fire behavior that we’ve seen in California we now recognize that the most important thing to do in the early hours is to get people out. So we feel we need to do these drills to help the public be prepared to do that.”

Berkeley firefighters and police officers gathered at a fire station on Sunday to go over the plan for the Claremont area drill. Emergency officials sent out alerts to residents in the area through an opt-in system called AC Alert.

According to Brannigan, in a real emergency officials would send alerts to all phones in the evacuation area though automated calls to landlines and send alerts to cell phones via the same technology used for sending Amber Alerts.

The Berkeley Police Department tested specialized speakers to broadcast emergency messages for the first time during a wildfire evacuation drill on Sunday, August 4, 2019. (Sonja Hutson/KQED)

The Berkeley Police Department also tested mobile loudspeakers mounted onto police vehicles for the first time.

Berkeley Police Sergeant Darrin Rafferty drove around a white pickup truck with a specialized speaker attached to the back that is designed to keep the sound clear over long distances.

“I’m just positioning the speaker so we can get the best spread of distance, spread of sound, trying to address as many homes in the hills as possible with our messaging here,” Rafferty said during one stop.

California Wildfires

The city is interested in installing permanent speakers, according to Brannigan, but currently lacks the funding.

Sunday’s drill was also designed for firefighters to practice the early steps in combating a wildfire. They focused on creating Temporary Refuge Areas, or TRAs, which is becoming a more common tactic. Firefighters put a group of residents in an area that is not particularly flammable, like a parking lot or a concrete building, and defend that area from the fire until it’s safe for the residents to leave.

“As people are unable to get out of the actual path of the fire, we can find areas that we can defend and then move them on quickly,” Brannigan said.

Some residents who participated wound up at a mock evacuation center in San Pablo Park, where they gave feedback and shared concerns.

Gwendy Donaker was one of them. She says she received the alert and was able to get her family out quickly. But in a real fire, she says, she’s concerned about relying on phone alerts because she doesn’t sleep next to her cellphone. She’s also worried about traffic congestion during an evacuation.

“If a lot of vehicles are trying to get out at the same time, what would happen?” Donaker asked.

Berkeley has two more drills planned for later this month, and Fire Chief Brannigan says they’ll be looking at ways to make alerts more accessible before then.

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