The East Bay Regional Park District has extended its closure of nearly a dozen parks in the East Bay hills due to increased fire danger and expected wind gusts of up to 70 miles per hour.
The park district closed 11 parks over the weekend due to the wind event, which caused sustained winds between 21 and 45 mph in higher elevations Sunday through early Monday morning. The closure will now extend through 8 a.m. Wednesday, following the National Weather Service's extension of a Red Flag Warning for the area.
"Those high winds, especially in the ridge lines in the hills, can cause falling branches - which can hurt people - and it also increases fire danger, significantly,” East Bay Regional Parks District's Dave Mason told KCBS Radio.
The closures impact parks including Anthony Chabot, Claremont Canyon, Huckleberry, Lake Chabot, Leona Canyon, Redwood, Roberts, Sibley, Tilden, Wildcat Canyon, and Kennedy Grove.
"We’ll be placing signage at all of our seating areas and entrance points," Mason said. "If we see folks in the parks, they’ll either be warned and educated to the closure, and then they need to leave."
The Red Flag Warning continues through Tuesday afternoon.
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