A large fire ravaged an encampment in Oakland on Friday, leaving ten people displaced.
At roughly 6:20 p.m., officials responded to reports of a fire at 16th Ave. and East 12th St.
High winds caught the blaze, starting fires around the location. These mini fires included vegetation growing on nearby BART train tracks, temporarily halting the rapid train service.
“Crews were doing double duty,” an Oakland Fire Department spokesperson told the San Francisco Chronicle. “They were fighting the encampment fire — which was already quite large, — and then having to relocate during the incident and peel off and have other crews go address the spot fires 50 to 60 yards away.”
BART sent a notice out via Twitter warning travelers that there was a “10-minute delay between Lake Merritt and Fruitvale in the Dublin / Pleasanton, Berryessa, Richmond and Daly City directions,” later calling this hold-up a “major delay.”
25 Oakland firefighters had contained the blaze by 7 p.m., but officials continued to monitor the scene, ensuring that the spot fires were not a prominent danger.
Officials cautioned residents and businesses that they would “likely experience poor air quality for the next few hours.”
No injuries or deaths were reported. The ten people displaced by the fire are being helped by The Red Cross.
The cause of the fire is still unknown.
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