Before the Marshall Fire in Boulder County, Colorado, the Camp Fire in Paradise, California, or the Lahaina Fire on Maui — there was Oakland's devastating Tunnel Fire.
On Oct. 20, 1991, a firestorm burned through the Oakland Hills in the San Francisco Bay Area, killing 25 people and destroying over 3,000 structures, most of which were homes.
“It was as hot as an incinerator. It was melting ‘fireproof’ safes,” said Elizabeth Stage, who has lived in Oakland since 1979 and serves as the president of the Oakland Firesafe Council.
Her house in the Hills was just barely spared from the blaze.
“The house next to mine was fine. The next house over was completely blackened and charred,” she said.
At the time, the Tunnel Fire was the most expensive fire in U.S. history, costing close to $4 billion in today’s dollars.
It foreshadowed the kind of wildfire tragedies that would become all too common in the 21st century, including in Lahaina.
According to after-action reports from the Tunnel Fire, budget cuts had caused officials to reduce vegetation management efforts, even though years of drought had created especially dangerous conditions for fire.
On Oct. 19, firefighters responded to a grass fire in the Oakland Hills in one of the steepest parts of the canyon. The winds were quiet that day, and within two hours, firefighters declared the fire was contained.
They stayed on scene for another five and a half hours before leaving for the night, believing the fire to be out.
But the following morning, the winds kicked up, sparking several hotspots. Embers landed on nearby dry brush, and quickly grew into a massive blaze that spread out of control.
Michael Hunt, a spokesperson for the Oakland Fire Department, said the Tunnel Fire fundamentally shaped the way the department operates today.
“The work we do year-round is driven by what occurred in 1991,” Hunt said.
OFD inspects over 20,000 public and private parcels in the city for fire hazards. They work with individual homeowners to ensure that vegetation near homes is reduced, a strategy called defensible space.
They even deploy a massive herd of grazing goats into the hills to reduce low-lying fuels.
When there is a fire, the incident commander has discretion to call a fire watch, meaning units will stay on the scene until they’re confident a fire is fully out.
“The amount of time that we'll have fire watch deployed for could be at a minimum of six hours, or it could be at a maximum of two or three days,” Hunt said.
Hunt added that cooperation is key to their efforts. Volunteer groups in Oakland raise awareness of fire risks and often spearhead vegetation management in public spaces like parks.
Together, officials and the public work to keep Oakland safe. And even three decades after the Tunnel fire, that work is never done.
“This is not something that we check off three boxes and we feel like, 'Okay, great, that's never going to happen again,’” Hunt said. “The response and ongoing work to prevent the next one is a day-to-day mission.”
