OAKLAND FIRESTORM

Oakland Firestorm of 1991

Oakland Firestorm of 1991

Introduction

The topic under study is about the 1991 firestorm of Oakland. On Sunday October, 20, 1991, in southern Berkeley and California, large urban fire occurred on the hillsides of northern Oakland. The fire that took place also known as the firestorm of Oakland hills, fire of the east bay hills and the fire of tunnel. The casualties caused by the fire included 25 people who were killed and 150 people injured. A massive piece of land was destroyed of around 1520 acres. This destroyed land includes 3354 dwellings of one family and 437 apartments. The loss in monetary terms was around $ 1.5 billion. This essay includes the discussion about the responsibilities and difficulties of the fire department, the way fire started and spread, lessons learned from the Oakland fire and the safety measures that were taken (shley, 2007).

The Oakland Firestorm of 1991

On Sunday, October 20, 1991, a massive fire started in Oakland at around 10:50 approximately. There was an aid of extremely high on ground type winds which caused the minor blown into a large urban fire. This all happened within few minutes fire captured the dry grass and trees. For people of the surrounding areas, it was an implausible scenario. The fire, which emerged from the grass and trees, soon captured the houses and the people there, were helpless to save their houses (shley, 2007).

The time when the fire started, there were only three dispatchers who got the emergency calls from people for help. However, people reported that their link with firefighters broke down. Despite several complaints, firefighters were unable to answer for some time. According to one observer, there was no support for around one and a half hour after the fire started. According to people, if there was an immediate air support, the fire, which became uncontrollable, could be of less severity. Another major issue that occurred was that the fire soon started to enter the city of Oakland. This city was Berkley, whose residents reported about the entrance of fire.

For fighting with fire, almost 400 fire units and around 2000 firefighters took part. For air support, the total number of aircrafts used was 25. The fire, which captured nearly 3,500 acres of land, came under control on Wednesday, 23 October. There were several aftermaths of the fire. It caused the burning of land of thousands of acres. A huge number of people went homeless due to the burning of their houses, apart from these, a number of people died and injured, as well (Bullock, 2009).

The official figures that were received from the Red Cross reported that more than 3300 houses were burnt. The estimated loss in monetary terms, as reported by Red Cross, was around 1.5 to 2 billion. These were the direct losses which caused due to burning there were indirect losses, as well. These additional expenses include utility activities, removal of debris, cost of firefighting and other indirect ...