Local
Berkeley Hills fire reaches roof of former wedding venue
A vegetation fire near UC Berkeley spread to the roof of the closed Skyfall Estate before crews stopped its advance Tuesday afternoon. No injuries were reported, and residents were told to shelter in place rather than evacuate.
A vegetation fire in the Berkeley Hills spread to the roof of a shuttered estate that once hosted weddings, damaging the property as firefighters brought the blaze under control Tuesday afternoon.
The fire was reported about 11:45 a.m. near the 1000 block of Panoramic Way, above the UC Berkeley campus. It grew to an estimated 2 to 3 acres and moved slowly uphill before crews stopped its forward progress around 1:10 p.m., according to fire officials.
Flames reached the roof of Skyfall Estate at 1001 Panoramic Way, Oakland fire officials said. The venue is permanently closed. About 75 firefighters from Oakland and Berkeley fire departments, the East Bay Regional Park District, Cal Fire and Alameda County responded. The park district also made a water drop by helicopter.
No evacuation orders were issued. Residents on Panoramic Way were asked to shelter in place while crews worked on the steep hillside. No injuries had been reported, and the cause of the fire was not immediately known.
UC Berkeley said the fire was above campus and did not affect university property or operations.
The site lies near the Berkeley-Oakland border in an area identified by Berkeley as having elevated wildfire and evacuation risk because of its proximity to wildlands and limited evacuation routes. The fire occurred on the 35th anniversary of the 1991 Oakland Hills firestorm, which killed 25 people and destroyed more than 3,000 homes.