A photo of the burned area taken from along Upper Panoramic Way. Credit: Citizen reporter

A fire ignited at 11:45 a.m. in the hills along the Oakland-Berkeley border near the 1000 block of Panoramic Way, roughly halfway between the Claremont Resort and Club and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Officials said it was under control a little less than three hours later.

By 12:20 p.m., the blaze had damaged at least one residential home and spread to a half-acre in size, according to the Oakland Fire Department. Berkeley police said the fire was 2-3 acres in size and advised people to avoid the area.

Firefighters from Berkeley, Oakland, East Bay Regional Parks, Cal Fire, and Alameda County were on scene trying to contain the flames. Authorities described the fire as having a slow rate of speed. 

“They appear to be making good progress,” Oakland Fire Department spokesperson Michael Hunt said shortly after noon.

Smoke from the fire was visible from Rockridge. Courtesy: MM MM

By 1:15 p.m., Hunt said crews had stopped the forward progress of the fire. At 2:35 p.m. Berkeley police said the fire was “under control” in an electronic alert.

An East Bay Regional Parks District helicopter made water drops onto the fire, Berkeley officials said.

Residents in the East Bay spotted the flames and smoke from miles around.

The location of today’s fire is not far from where the catastrophic Oakland hills firestorm erupted exactly 35 years ago today, killing 25 people, injuring 150, and causing $1.5 billion in damage.

But the wind is blowing in a different direction than it did during the 1991 firestorm, and there were no evacuations underway as of early Tuesday afternoon, according to UC Berkeley and Berkeley Fire Department Officials. Nevertheless city and university officials asked people to avoid the area.

In an electronic “WarnMe” alert around 1 p.m. university officials said that there were road closures at Stadium Rim Way and Centennial Drive and also at Prospect Street and Channing Way, both intersections that feed traffic into the Panoramic Hill neighborhood.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified the agency providing air support.

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