Residents In East Bay Hills Dread Fire Danger Amid Rising Temperatures, Dry Winds
OAKLAND (KCBS) — The Bay Area is about to be rolled over by an October heat wave and blown dry by the infamous Diablo winds creating the conditions for extreme fire danger. That has many in the East Bay hills nervous as some residents say they have been waiting for federal money for years to remove combustible eucalyptus trees in the area.
Fallen leaves, dry brush, three years of drought and now comes the dreaded October forecast—temperatures in the 90s and hot, dry northeast winds. It's the last thing Jon Kaufman with the Claremont Canyon Conservancy, along the Berkeley-Oakland border, wants to hear.
"The Diablo winds—which we're about to have again this year—if there's a fire, the eucalyptus trees will catch on fire and spread the fire and we know from experience that it travels a long distance; it jumped Highway 24," he said.
Kaufman lives in the Canyon, much of which went up in flames during the 1991 firestorm.
His group and a who's who of local officials sent a letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, asking why it still hasn't released the millions of dollars needed to cut down the trees for a project that started in 2005. The land is owned by UC, East Bay Regional Parks and the city of Oakland.
"It's very scary and that's why we're getting a little impatient with FEMA because they're taking far too long. It should not take nine years from the day a grant is written until the funds are realesed," Kauffman said.
Kaufman said he just hopes this heat wave will pass without a major blaze.
In the meantime, UC is posting "no smoking" signs and trying to clear as much brush as possible.