A fire broke out Friday in the Oakland Hills near Keller Ave, causing Merritt College to temporarily shut down and evacuate students and staff.
Peralta Community College District community members received an email giving the “all clear” to return to the area at 9:50 p.m. Friday. According to the email, Merritt College will be “open as usual” Saturday.
At time of publication, the Keller Fire’s spread is contained, but the fire is not yet extinguished.
Update 9) Fire crews will be on scene working aggressively to fully extinguish this fire for the next 24 hrs or more, depending on conditions. Thank you to all the responding agencies for supporting us today. Media can expect updates at 8AM unless conditions change overnight. pic.twitter.com/iVPhBtfZ77
— Oakland Fire Department (CA) (@OaklandFireCA) October 19, 2024
The Oakland Fire Department wrote on X that the “fast moving” fire’s progress was stopped at 3:57 p.m. after burning 13 acres of land. According to the fire department, the brush fire burned two residential homes near the intersection of Mountain Avenue and Maynard Avenue.
The perimeter of the fire stayed about one mile from Merritt campus, according to Merritt College President David Johnson. No students were harmed and no campus buildings were damaged, he added.
Peralta students and employees received email and phone alerts about the closure from Peralta’s RAVE emergency alert system around 2:30 p.m. All in-person classes at Merritt College were canceled Friday, but online courses continued as normal.
A women’s soccer match between Merritt and Woodland College was also canceled due to the evacuation.
After receiving an alert from the fire department, Johnson said he and Merritt College Facilities Coordinator Tara Marrero, along with members of Marina Security and the Oakland Police Department, worked together to ensure students were fully evacuated from classrooms and common areas. Johnson estimated that “less than 200” students were on campus at the time.
Transportation from campus was not provided for evacuating students.
Access to Campus Drive toward Keller Ave was restricted as a part of the evacuation proceedings. All westbound lanes of I-580 were closed off past Keller Ave, according to California Highway Patrol.
Residents of surrounding neighborhoods also received evacuation notices from city emergency services.
Four zones were given the order to evacuate:
- OKL-E176: Ridgemont/Caballo Hills – Campus Dr, Stoneridge Ct, Crystal Ridge Ct.
- OKL-E177: Sequoyah – Keller Ave, Campus Dr, Canyon Oaks Dr.
- OKL-E203: Caballo Hills – Keller Ave, Mountain Blvd
- OKL-E204: Sequoyah – Keller Ave, Mountain Blvd.
At time of publication, fire crews are still “on scene” working to fully extinguish the Keller Fire. Only evacuation orders for OKL-E204 have been lifted.
Though the fire did not ultimately pose a danger to Merritt students and employees, Johnson said the evacuation was called “out of an abundance of caution.” The East Bay has been under a “red flag alert,” indicating high wildfire risk, since Oct. 17.
