Fire burning in Oakland Hills
OAKLAND, Calif. - A fire in the Oakland Hills has burned around twenty acres Wednesday afternoon and officials say it is 20% contained.
Firefighters say that containment is expected to jump in the morning when they are flying again and accurately map their progress.
The fire in the East Bay hills has caused University of California at Berkeley police to recommend that employees evacuate from the Lawrence Hall of Science and two other nearby facilities.
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UC police advised people to leave the Hall of Science, which is located at 1 Centennial Drive, as well as the Space Sciences Laboratory at 7 Gauss Way and the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute at 17 Gauss Way, which are both near Centennial Drive.
In addition, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at 1 Cyclotron Road, which is also off Centennial Road, advised its employees to leave work early because of the fire, lab spokesman Jon Weiner said.
Moraga-Orinda Fire District Fire Chief Stephen Healy and UC Berkeley police said the fire, which was reported at about 1:05 p.m. today, is in the area of Grizzly Peak Boulevard and South Park Drive, while Oakland
Fire Battalion Chief Melinda Drayton said the fire is in the area of Grizzly Peak Boulevard and Fish Ranch Road in Oakland.
Healy said in a briefing at the scene around 4 p.m. that the fire is no longer growing in size and is partially contained, but crews are having trouble putting out flames within the boundary of the blaze because of large trees and bushes adding fuel to the fire.
Drayton said no structures are in danger and no one has been injured.
Healy said firefighters from Oakland, Berkeley, the East Bay Regional Park District, Cal Fire, Moraga-Orinda and El Cerrito are battling the fire.
University of California at Berkeley police said a number of roads east of the main campus have been closed due to the fire.
UC police said Grizzly Peak Boulevard is closed between Centennial Drive and South Park Drive and other roads in the area may be closed as needed.
They advised the public to avoid the area to allow crews to respond to the fire.
UC police also said the university's Botanical Garden at 200 Centennial Drive has closed for the day.
UC police said earlier today that power to the university's campus would have to be shut down because PG&E would require that transformers be shut down.
But UC police spokeswoman Sgt. Sabrina Reich said at 4 p.m. that at this point power doesn't have to be shut down after all.