The hills are burning!

Current Events, Dec 8, 2008

In October 1991, a grass fire smoldered in the Oakland hills east of San Francisco. Firefighters thought they had the flames under control,. California had been extremely dry, though. Shortly before noon on October 20, a gust of wind snatched a hot ember and swept it into a tree. The tree ignited. Within an hour, a nearby apartment complex was in frames. Soon the Oakland hills were a raging inferno. "It's taking out houses--pop, pop, pop," resident Tracey Prevo told a reporter. The fire blazed a mile-wide path through hillside neighborhoods [see the satellite image below). Twenty-five people died, and more than 3,000 homes burned in one of California's most destructive wildfires.

Today, the eucalyptus trees and pines that once covered the hills are gone. People rebuilt their homes, many of them bigger than before but also more fire resistant. Some have the roofs and more metal on them than wood. Firefighters are also better prepared, says Yeda Altes of the Oakland Fire Prevention Bureau. "'Lessons learned' is the motto," she says.

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