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Maze freeway collapse puts spotlight on disaster preparedness in Emeryville

Bil Paul
The Emeryville Connection Staff
June 2007

You could’ve barbequed a pretty big hot dog in the intense freeway fire which lit up the early Sunday morning darkness on April 29 as 8,600 gallons of gasoline went up in flames just south of Emeryville. Only 100 yards from IKEA’s property, a tanker truck overturned on an elevated freeway connector, spilling its gasoline and igniting. The only human victim, fortunately, was the driver, who escaped the conflagration with some second-degree burns.

The cause of the accident has yet to be determined because the truck was so heavily torched in the blaze.

As 911 calls began to come in to authorities at 3:45 that morning, Emeryville had the nearest fire units, so Station One on Powell Street quickly responded with Captain John Arenz’s crew and fire engine 2441. They could easily see the fire from the station, and on the way to fight it – it was obviously within the maze of freeways and connectors to the west of the Bay Bridge – they called for assistance from the Oakland Fire Department and the California Highway Patrol.

Arenz and crew blocked traffic from entering the fire area – which turned out to be the elevated connector between I80 and I880 – and quickly determined that the fire was too big and intense to be extinguished with water. At a later point, according to Emeryville Fire Chief Stephen Cutright, foam was also considered for use, but the multi-level nature of the fire eliminated that possibility as well.

Oakland fire units arrived 10 minutes after Emeryville’s, and their battalion chief then took command of the situation.

The fire was left to burn itself out, which took approximately an hour. Unfortunately, the elevated freeway roadway which connects I80 with I580 was directly over the accident and roaring fire, and a series of steel girders holding up the structure began to glow red with heat, resulting in the failures of bolts fastening them to their supports. Soon, several sections fell down upon the lower connector, closing both roadways.

The Bay Area and Emeryville prepared for the worst because the maze of freeways and connectors in that area channels over 230,000 cars daily. The accident brought back memories of the closure of the Bay Bridge after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The prognosis of another traffic nightmare wasn’t borne out, though, when Caltrans declared the lower roadway still usable, and, with the help of state and national authorities, a contract was awarded on May 7 to repair the damaged upper connector, probably by the end of June. The company which received the contract, CC Myers of Rancho Cordova, successfully completed the reconstruction of the I-10 freeway following the 1994 Northridge earthquake in Los Angeles.

Traffic had to be re-routed during the days following the fire, and some of the traffic flowed through Emeryville’s surface streets. Emeryville Mayor Nora Davis says, “Initially there was an increase in traffic, especially at the I80-Powell Street interchange, but our police were well prepared. They had their people out there doing traffic control. As usual, their response was very swift and very professional, just as the fire department’s was. We came out of this in very good shape, given the nearness of the accident.”

IKEA store manager Michael O’Rourke tells of locals who came to look at the burned and fallen freeway connector the next day from his parking lot, and the impact of closed connectors on his store’s business. “Our customer flow has been down by about nine percent,” he says. “It’s really a yo-yo back and forth.” On some days, he says, customer traffic is normal. “The only consistent thing I see is that our business has picked up in the evening hours after 6 p.m.

“I’ve spoken to a lot of people in the store for a number of days recently to ask if they had difficulty getting here, how they got here and where they came from, and a majority of people were local, either from Berkeley or Oakland. But there were a couple people from San Francisco who came over and had no issues whatsoever. This whole specter of huge traffic congestion didn’t materialize.

“I’m very encouraged with the progress (Caltrans) has made … to get the whole (repair) thing moving in a very quick way.”

For Emeryville’s city government, the freeway fire was a small test of its disaster preparedness, and the fire and police departments came through with flying colors. But what about larger, more encompassing disasters?

Looking at the potential for those, Mayor Davis says that Emeryville can be especially vulnerable to earthquakes because a good portion of it is built on landfill, which can be prone to greater earth movement and liquefaction (as happened in the Marina district of San Francisco in the ’89 ‘quake). Also, trucks traveling on Freeway I80 and train cars parked on rail spurs in Emeryville carrying toxic materials or explosives pose a threat because large numbers of people live close by. “The city council and senior staff pay a lot of attention to preparedness, because we are extraordinarily vulnerable to these kinds of disasters,” Davis says. “We’ve built up a fund for these unexpected incidents, but you can only do so much.”

Mayor Davis points to Emeryville’s two fire stations as evidence of disaster preparedness. Considering the city’s small size, “They are probably double what we usually need, but we feel it’s appropriate,” she says.

The city also maintains a sophisticated Emergency Operations Center at Fire Station Two, equipped so the heads of all the city’s emergency services – including fire, police and public works – can work closely in tandem during a disaster. City maps line the walls and radios offer communications with local emergency responders, and county and state officials.

Emeryville City Manager Patrick O’Keeffe says various public buildings could be pressed into service as shelters in an emergency, including the recreation, senior and childcare centers; schools; and even part of city hall.

The citizens of Emeryville can get involved by taking CERT (Community Emergency Response Teams) training, which is orchestrated by Fire Department Captain Jason Beach. So far, approximately 60 residents have graduated from four previous classes, which offer training in basic first aid and firefighting, search and rescue, and how the city responds in emergencies. Fire Chief Cutright emphasizes that CERT-trained individuals constitute a neighborhood resource, where neighbors help neighbors while city emergency workers respond to larger problems.

Resident Monica Melger took CERT classes a year ago and says, “The training was valuable because now I know what to do and who to assist within my own community. The training takes away a lot of fear about what’s going to happen (during an emergency).”

The next CERT classes begin June 21 and run through August 11 at Fire Station Two at 6303 Hollis Street. Sessions are held every Thursday evening between 6:30 and 8:30 p.m., except for the last class on a Saturday. To learn more or sign up, contact Marcie Anderson at 596-3750.

Bil Paul is a writer for The Emeryville Connection. If you have a question or comment, please contact him at ecocnews@gmail.com.