4-alarm fire at Economy Lumber: Oakland station owner estimates millions of dollars in damage; plans to rebuild

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) — Fire investigators are still working to understand what caused an Oakland lumber yard to catch fire Sunday night and continue burning through the night.

This happened at Economy Lumber near the corner of the Coliseum and High Streets.

“It spread so fast that by the time the firefighters arrived, the fire had already spread to the top of the roof,” said Sam Jebrial, a neighbor.

Flanked by a gas station on one side and a railroad track on the other, Oakland firefighters quickly raised a four-alarm alarm for this sawmill fire, bringing more than 100 firefighters to the scene. places.

“The fuel load here was huge, like any sawmill fire, so the crews on scene immediately started sounding the alarm,” said Lionel Jarreau, Oakland Fire Battalion Chief.

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Monday morning, excavators were brought in to demolish one of the lumberyard buildings.

“It's not stable, it's too dangerous, we can't send crews there, we had a floor collapse on the second floor, so right now the excavator is demolishing the building so we “We can access some of the hot spots,” says Jarreau.

John Bacon, president of Economy Lumber, had a front-row seat.

“It was just too dangerous to go in and put out the fires,” Bacon said.

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Bacon, seen sifting through the rubble of the business his family has owned for more than 40 years, pulling out what he could.

He estimates the losses at several million dollars.

“I could be depressed, I mean I'm sad, I just took my 35 year old bike out of my office, I saw it by chance when the building was collapsing and he got it back For me it's sad,” he said.

Bacon says his business will be closed for the week while they reassess the next steps before beginning the rebuilding process.

“We had to make do with this building, so we're going to build something that's going to be more of what we actually need,” he said.

He says that of the four locations his family owns, none of their lumber yards have ever caught fire. It's the only place without automatic fire extinguishers.

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Sam Jebrial, manager of the nearby gas station, says it was only a month and a half ago that he helped put out a fire in an encampment just outside the rail yard.

“I grabbed a few buckets of water, fell on it and I don't know, this time I didn't see anyone, but it's possible because they light fires all the time,” Jebrial said .

Fire officials say the cause of the fire is still under investigation.