Normal Life Beckons 2 Years After Oakland Fire : 25 People Died, Nearly 3,000 Dwellings Burned in $1.5-Billion Firestorm

On the day Barbara McFadden moved into her rebuilt Oakland Hills home, birds sang, the sun shone and wisps of cotton wool fog drifted above the sparkling waters of San Francisco Bay.

But what really caught her eye were the slender redwood columns outlining her back yard.

“Did you see my fence? It’s gorgeous,” she said excitedly as she waited for the moving truck to rumble up the narrow street.

The usual tribulations of moving day somewhat dimmed the joy of returning to her lovingly reconstructed home after two years of fire-imposed exile.

But she still was happy to be back.

“It’s just wonderful. Wonderful. I am really thrilled,” she said. “Up until now, I have just dealt with all the nightmares.”

The nightmare began Oct. 21, 1991, the day wildfire raced through the wooded canyons in the hills above Oakland and Berkeley. By the time the flames were extinguished, 25 people were dead and nearly 3,000 dwellings had been damaged or destroyed. Damage was estimated at $1.5 billion.

Two years later, permits have been issued to rebuild more than half the homes burned down, and about 420 have been finished.

A $50-million bond issue was passed by voters in June, 1992, to boost emergency preparedness, and a special tax district was approved in April to raise $1.9 million a year for fire-prevention programs in the hills.

Hillside roads still are narrow and winding, but city officials have funds to widen two of the worst, where dangerous traffic jams built up in the flight from the 1991 fire. The city is considering parking restrictions to improve traffic flow.

The cause of the fire--or rather that of the Oct. 20 grass fire that rekindled into the conflagration--never was determined.

Could it happen again?

Fire Capt. Don Parker says the answer is no, at least for the already burned areas, where the drought-parched brush that fueled the wildfire is just a scorched memory.

But the same can’t be said for the miles of hills surrounding the San Francisco Bay that didn’t burn.

Of 25,000 parcels of land inspected in the hills this summer, 6,000 remain in violation of brush-management policies, Parker said. The city plans to slap a lien on property that is not brought into compliance.

While the larger battles continue, the immediate project, rebuilding the burned-out hills, is expected to be three-fourths completed by next June, said Maura Smith, assistant to the city manager.

For her part, Barbara McFadden worries about the bigger houses that have been built on some of the burned-out sites.

“In another disaster, instead of having one car coming out of these hills per household, we’ll be having two or three,” she said.

From the beginning, the McFaddens knew they would be back, although they didn’t know just how much trouble would be involved.

First, there were the myriad inconveniences of trying to reconstruct legal and financial records. Next came mountains of paperwork as they waded through insurance claims and the permit process.

A month after the fire, the McFaddens thought they’d be back in their house within 12 months. A year later, they knew better.

Last month, it finally happened, with the move back to the comfortable English-style Tudor, rebuilt almost exactly the way it was.

Inside the house, except for the smell of paint and the gleam of freshly finished hardwood floors, Barbara McFadden can almost imagine nothing has changed. But a glance through the window breaks the spell.

Hills that once lay silent under the discreet cover of spreading trees now resound with the thumps, buzzes and whines of construction. Some lots remain barren patches of grass, while others sport yellow-timbered houses in various states of undress.

The hills weren’t the only things to change.

“We’re different people now than we were two years ago,” said her husband, Chuck McFadden. “We’re technically a lot more sophisticated about insurance and building, but beyond that, we’re tougher and more resilient than we were two years ago. I think that’s probably true of everyone who went through the fire.”