Firefighters to Watch Oakland Hills Fire Overnight

Update, 8 a.m. Sunday: The Keller Fire that erupted Friday afternoon in the Oakland Hills burning two homes and up to 15 acres is now 50% contained, according to fire officials.

In a press conference early Saturday afternoon, Oakland Fire Chief Damon Covington said up to 200 firefighters worked overnight on the fire. On Saturday several crews from other fire departments were helping Oakland firefighters.

“We’re hopeful. The firefight is still going, and while it’s contained, it’s not extinguished,” said Covington, who emphasized the strong winds were still a concern. “We have a lot of work to do. I see us being out here definitely through tonight and until tomorrow, minimum, making sure we have the fire fully extinguished.”

Covington said that evacuation orders were still in place for many residents due to the strong gusts and the danger of flames rekindling. Eucalyptus trees, notorious for their flammability, were especially dangerous near the scene of the fire, in the Caballo Hills near the I-580.

“Our job right now is to get the hot spots extinguished so we don’t have to worry as much about the eucalyptus,” Covington said. “I know it’s a very trying time for everyone living in that community but we’ll get them back into their homes as soon as possible.”

The National Weather Service meanwhile says conditions should start to ease.

Agency meteorologist Rick Canepa said “Everything’s on track, we’re expecting the Red Flag Warning until 5 p.m. today then plan to let it expire. It’s mostly in the hills and mountaintops where there’s still some wind gusts.”

PG&E wrote in a statement on Saturday evening that approximately 1,300 customers are still without power — with most of the those people located in the Napa County area. The estimated time of restoration for all customers is Sunday at noon.

The utility has issued all-clears for high winds and is assessing damages, anticipating that power will be restored to all affected customers by Sunday noon. Five Bay Area counties are impacted by the outages, and PG&E says it will keep its Community Resource Centers open until all outages have been restored.

Original story, 3:25 p.m. Friday: Firefighters have stopped forward progress on a five-alarm fire that began Friday afternoon off Interstate 580 in the Oakland hills and spread into nearby homes amid strong, dry winds.

The fire has burned thirteen acres and damaged less than 10 structures, but no injuries have been reported, according to Oakland Fire Chief Damon Covington.

Residents were told to evacuate from their homes on Campus Drive and Crystal Ridge Court in the Caballo Hills neighborhood.

“It was more of an evacuation caution, because of the eucalyptus grove, because of the wind blowing, because of the red flag day, the fire was fast moving. And before we could get in front of it, we had to make evacuations,” Covington said.

Cars jammed up on I-580 near Keller Avenue, with a huge plume of thick, dark brown smoke visible billowing from around the neighborhoods.

Westbound traffic on I-580 was closed at Keller Avenue but is now open again, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Airplanes and helicopters buzzed low over eucalyptus and other trees as they dropped water and retardant on the fire.

Merritt College has closed its campus and canceled in-person classes until further notice.

Video posted online by the department showed firefighters dousing a smoldering home at Mountain Boulevard and Maynard Avenue as smoke rises from the hillside behind it.

More than 100 firefighters joined from throughout the region, including Marin, Berkeley and San Francisco.

It’s one of numerous fires to touch off this afternoon amid dry and windy conditions that have spurred red flag warnings across California.

Firefighters are also battling the Hay Fire in Solano County, a grass fire that quickly spread to at least 890 acres, according to Cal Fire.

With windy conditions expected to last through the night, the city of Berkeley is recommending that some residents of the hills stay on heightened alert and consider leaving, especially if they may have trouble evacuating quickly.

PG&E had shut off power to thousands of customers to avoid having downed trees or limbs fall on power lines and ignite a fire that would spread rapidly in the windy conditions.

The cause of Friday’s fires was not immediately clear.

KQED’s Riley Cooke, Christopher Alam, Attila Pelit and Ted Goldberg contributed to this developing story, which will be updated.