Panoramic Way Brush Fire Reaches a Home Above UC Berkeley Before Crews Stop It

A brush fire on Panoramic Hill, in the 1000 block of Panoramic Way on the Oakland-Berkeley border above the UC Berkeley campus, spread to the roof of a home on Tuesday, Oct. 20, before firefighters stopped it. No injuries were reported and no evacuations were ordered, according to the Oakland Fire Department and the City of Berkeley.

Why it matters: Panoramic Hill is a steep, wooded neighborhood with narrow streets, and the fire came days before the region's first expected rain since May.

What happened

The fire was reported at about 11:45 a.m. near homes in the 1000 block of Panoramic Way, NBC Bay Area and KTVU reported. Oakland Fire Department spokesperson Michael Hunt told NBC Bay Area that flames burned through vegetation on the hillside and then spread to the roof of a home along Panoramic Way.

Forward progress was stopped by about 1:15 p.m., according to the Oakland Fire Department. The City of Berkeley said the fire was declared under control as of 2 p.m., and that crews would stay on scene.

KTVU reported that two homes were threatened in total, and that one house was partially damaged before firefighters halted the fire. Berkeley described the blaze as a slow-moving fire of 2 to 3 acres at the top of Panoramic Hill in Oakland, with one structure in Oakland threatened.

Who responded

• Roughly 75 to 80 firefighters, Hunt said.
• Crews from Oakland, Berkeley, East Bay Regional Parks, Cal Fire and Alameda County, according to the City of Berkeley.
• An East Bay Regional Park District helicopter made water drops from the air.

Fire officials told KTVU that the fire spread at a slow rate, which let crews set up defensive lines quickly.

Evacuations and shelter in place

No evacuation orders were issued. NBC Bay Area reported that residents on Panoramic Way were asked to shelter in place for a time. Once the fire was under control, Berkeley told people elsewhere they could resume normal activities, but asked everyone to keep avoiding the immediate area and not to call 911 unless they have an emergency.

Berkeley also pointed residents to Alameda County's emergency alert sign-up at bit.ly/acalert-signup and to its live evacuation-zone map at protect.genasys.com, which shows real-time protective actions by neighborhood.

What we don't know yet

The cause of the fire is under investigation, and officials had not released an estimate of the damage to the home as of Tuesday afternoon. This story will be updated if fire officials share more.

The Berkeley and Oakland hills were under a PG&E power shutoff for fire weather just last week; see our earlier story on the Oct. 15 shutoff around Grizzly Peak and UC Berkeley. Rain is in the forecast for midweek: here's how much the Bay Area could get Wednesday and Thursday.