For more than 25 years, the 1991 Oakland Hills Fire was the most destructive in California's modern history. In many ways, it changed the way fire crews and communities prepare for this type of disaster.

According to Cal Fire, the officially named "Tunnel Fire" burned 1,600 acres and destroyed 2,900 structures in the Berkeley and Oakland Hills. Twenty-five people died.

Archived video from KCRA reports shows firefighters outmatched as hot, dry winds turned what started as a grass fire into hundreds of structure fires.

"It was just something that we were not prepared for when we got here," said one firefighter.

Current California State Fire Marshal Chief Daniel Berlant says that some of that lack of preparedness came from a lack of coordination between city fire departments.

"When the

See Full Page