A four-alarm fire early Friday gutted a partially constructed 7-story Oakland building, displacing nearly 100 people who live nearby.
A caller reported seeing smoke from the structure on the 2400 block of Valdez Street around 4:30 a.m., according to Interim Fire Chief Darin White.
The now-destroyed building, which had been under construction for about six months, is the Alta Waverly on the corner of 23rd and Valdez streets. Upon completion next spring, the mixed-use development by Wood Partners was expected to feature 196 homes and up to 31,500 square feet of retail space.
Instead, flames have reduced the Alta Waverly to a charred skeleton that is unstable and missing chunks of scaffolding. Plumes of smoke not only blanketed the area, but were also visible from as far as the South Bay. The National Weather Service of the Bay Area said a satellite detected temperatures as high as 1,145 degrees Fahrenheit from the Oakland fire.
The first fire engine was on scene within five minutes of the initial call and crews were forced to go on the defense immediately. In all, more than 80 firefighters battled the blistering flames with the assistance of more than two dozen fire apparatus, White said.
"We had zero injuries," he said with a smile.
But the danger has not passed.
The task of extinguishing the fire, which was at 85 percent containment by 8:20 a.m., was made riskier as parts of the building collapsed around fire crews, while the heat made a scorched construction crane swing, White said.
Radiant heat was felt for several blocks around the fire. That, combined with the threat of the careening crane prompted road closures and roughly 100 evacuations, according to White. Those who have been uprooted have been given shelter at the Cathedral of Christ the Light at 2121 Harrison Street.
White was unable to specify when people will be allowed to return to their homes, citing ongoing concerns about the integrity of the crane. The evacuation order cannot be lifted until the crane, which could collapse, has been deconstructed and removed, he said. The Alameda County Sheriff's Office plans to send a drone into the scorched building to help the crane operator and Cal/OSHA determine the best way to dismantle it.
"I was scared," Mout Khamphou told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Khamphou said she was sitting in her car getting ready to go to work when she saw smoke coming from the building next door.
She drove away, thinking the fire wasn't bad, but called her husband who was still at home to warn him.
"I called my husband and I said, 'I saw the fire start. You have to be careful and get ready to get out.' He called me and said, 'Oh honey, the fire started getting worse and he asked where my passport and papers are. Our apartment won't be safe anymore.' I was crying a lot, I worried.''
She said she turned around and drove back to her neighborhood and found flames shooting from the building. Other evacuees told NBC Bay Area that when they went to close windows to prevent smoke from entering their homes, the glass was hot.
According to White, it is too early to know what caused the fire because firefighters are still monitoring hot spots. It is only after structural engineers and Cal/OSHA have deemed the building safe that arson investigators can comb through the wreckage.
A construction worker was of the opinion that someone may not have wanted more buildings along Auto Row, which is a hub for new developments. But that theory has not been confirmed by officials.
City councilwoman Lynette Gibson McElhaney said Oakland leaders will not take Friday's fire lightly.
"We are concerned," she said. "We will look at what the investigation will reveal in terms of whether this was human error or foul play. But I think we all have to be concerned when several hundred units of housing are taken off the market in the middle of an unprecedent housing crisis."
The developer reportedly had a roving security patrol at Alta Waverly, but White was not sure if there was any security footage from the scene.
Wood Partners issued a statement Friday, in which the company's CEO Joe Keough said, "Our deepest concern goes out to those impacted by this unfortunate event. We are grateful that no injuries were sustained and we are working closely with local fire officials and investigators to identify the cause of the fire."
Fire officials told NBC Bay Area that their efforts to contain the blaze ensured that it didn't reach four homes to the east of the construction site.
The Alameda County Fire Department sent mutual aid to man Oakland's fire stations, while the city's fire department focused on the fire that quickly escalated from two to three and then four alarms.
Fires have plagued Oakland in recent months.
Last October, a five-alarm fire erupted at an apartment site under construction near Lake Merritt, which is under two miles from Friday's fire.
A three-alarm fire then claimed 36 lives during a December 2016 concert at the Ghost Ship warehouse, and a four-alarm fire in a West Oakland residential building killed four people in March.
NBC Bay Area's Bob Redell and Pete Suratos and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Photo Credit: NBC Bay Area
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