A large fire broke out on Friday, Aug. 22, at around 9:45 p.m. at the intersection of West Grand and Wake avenues and smoke could be seen billowing from the site for much of the weekend.
Michael Hunt, a spokesperson for the Oakland Fire Department, said the fire consumed an abandoned railway trestle near the East Bay Municipal Utility District wastewater treatment plant in West Oakland. The fire prompted an AC alert for residents living within three miles of the fire to keep their windows and doors closed to reduce smoke exposure.
OFD Battalion Chief Ryan Meineke said that the railway trestle was made out of creosote-soaked heavy timber. Creosote, used as a wood preservative, can pose significant respiratory and neurological health effects when burned.
According to Meineke, one engine responded to the fire, and once the threat was assessed, a total of five engines arrived on the scene and worked together to extinguish the flames.
Oakland Fire Department crews finished clearing the remnants of a fire by 5 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 23., Hunt said.
The fire consumed an abandoned railway trestle near the East Bay Municipal Utility District wastewater treatment plant in West Oakland on Saturday, Aug. 22. Credit: courtesy of the Oakland Fire Department
The railway trestle was once part of the East Bay Electric Lines, a unit of the Southern Pacific Railroad that began operating in 1905 and served the cities of Berkeley, Albany, Emeryville, Oakland, Alameda, and San Leandro, competing with the Key System. The railway ceased operations in 1941, but the trestle was still in use as recently as 2005, according to the Emeryville Historical Society.
Another section of the trestle burned down in 2022 near the former Wood Street encampment.
Firefighter crews worked through the weekend to extinguish hot spots and disassemble a 500-foot span of burned trestle. A cause has not been determined.
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