Firefighters battle 'diablo wind' to extinguish Oakland fire that burned 2 homes

LOS ANGELES -- Crews continue to battle strong winds while they work to extinguish a brush fire in Oakland that ignited Friday afternoon, burning two homes and forcing 500 evacuations before it was contained.

The firefight will continue through the evening and at least Sunday morning, fire chief Damon Covington said in an update Saturday afternoon. It took more than 100 firefighters to stop the progress of the flames.

Calls arrived around 1:30 p.m. on Friday reporting a fire in front of a home in the Oakland hills. As crews arrived, the inferno quickly grew, with winds ranging from calm breezes to 40 mph (64 kph) gusts during red-flag conditions.

The fire burned two homes and damaged several others, while forcing hundreds to evacuate. It also closed down the westbound lanes of Interstate 580, but traffic was moving again by Friday night. While some evacuation orders have been lifted, many residents won't be able to return to their homes until the fire is “stabilized and really under control,” Covington said.

Fire crews are also working to remove eucalyptus trees that may pose a danger to homes, as the tree's bark and oils make it prone to fire.

Authorities issued red-flag warnings for fire danger until Saturday across a large swath of the state, from the central coast through the Bay Area and into northern Shasta County, not far from the Oregon border.

“The winds are troublesome, but we've been battling the winds since we got here,” Covington said. “They're incremental, they come and they go. But when they come, they're heavy, so we want to make sure we don't allow for a rekindle.”

A California utility shut off power in 19 counties in the northern and central part of the state as a major “ diablo wind ” — notorious in autumn for its hot, dry gusts — spiked the risk of wildfire.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

The blaze in the Oakland Hills burned a day before the Oct. 19 anniversary of a 1991 fire that destroyed nearly 3,000 homes and killed 25 people.

During a diablo wind, the air is so dry that relative humidity levels plunge, drying out vegetation and making it ready to burn. The name — “diablo” is Spanish for “devil” — is informally applied to a hot wind that blows near the San Francisco region from the interior toward the coast as high pressure builds over the West. The strong winds are expected to last through part of the weekend.