Keller Fire in Oakland hills, 85% contained as some are allowed to their homes

OAKLAND, Calif. - Firefighters in the Oakland hills made progress fighting the Keller Fire on Saturday and were able to lift some of the mandatory evacuations facing nearby residents. 

"We’ll be able to get people who live on Campus Drive back in their homes this evening," said Oakland Fire Chief Damon Covington, adding that he hoped to lift all mandatory evacuations by sometime Sunday.

The fire, which ballooned to 15 acres, started Friday afternoon on a median of Interstate 580, jumping the highway and damaging two homes.

"We’ve had crews on the hill all day, felling trees, cutting back the brush," said Covington, who added that crews were also focused on attacking hot spots. "From here it looks pretty good, but when you get inside of the canopy, there’s still a lot of smoke, a lot of trapped smoke, a lot of hot spots."

Hundreds were evacuated as the flames spread. Firefighters were able to stop the forward progress of the fire by late Friday afternoon. Nearby residents, Tina Stimpson and her husband Todd, said they went to sleep Friday night, anxious about overnight winds, and woke up to a different scene.

"It looks like they’ve pretty much knocked it out, and they’re keeping an eye on the hot spots now," said Todd Stimpson.

Firefighters say they plan to push ahead on the hillside with containment work on Sunday.

"We still have a lot of work to do. We’ll still be here through the night, through tomorrow."

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, and Oakland Fire says it is reviewing city camera footage to pinpoint what started it.