OAKLAND — A fire swept through a homeless camp in East Oakland early Tuesday morning, leaving some of those sleeping there without a place to go and burning some small living structures and vehicles, fire officials said.
The blaze at the camp in the 1700 block of East 12th Street started around 6:20 a.m., and initially was reported as an RV fire, fire spokesman Michael Hunt said in a statement. It was under control at 6:56 a.m., he said.
The homeless camp stretches several blocks, and Hunt said about 20 people living there were displaced. The Red Cross was working with them.
Firefighters received reports that people were inside tents and other wooden living structures, but Battalion Chief Ryan Meineke said a search of the camp by firefighters showed that everybody got away from the flames. Nobody was believed to be injured, he said.
The fire also burned several vehicles, including an RV and a van.
One of the vans belonged to Lavar Brown, 43, who said he has been living in it at the camp.
“I smelled it. I seen it, and I got out,” he said of the fire. “It was a lot of glowing and a lot of smoke.”
The street where the camp is located runs parallel to BART tracks, and the agency said the fire caused a 20-minute delay on the Berryesa line in all directions and a 10-minute delay at Lake Merritt in the Dublin/Pleasanton direction.
Fire investigators have not yet determined what caused the blaze.
Tuesday morning’s fire was the most recent major blaze at the camp in the past two years. Twice in October that year, fires broke out. Another fire there happened in May 2019.