Where There’s Smoke

Where There’s Smoke

Lingering impressions of the 1991 Oakland-Berkeley Hills Fire.

On an unusually warm October day in 1991, a firestorm—a blaze so intense that it creates its own wind—swept through the hills of Oakland and Berkeley, killing or injuring dozens of residents and destroying upwards of 3,000 homes. We commemorate the 20th anniversary of the disaster with photographs and reflections.

“We Californians are not a people who venerate ruins. Our cultural trajectory is to mourn, rebuild and engage the future.” Raphael Shevelev, from his exhibition “Vulcan’s Craft” at Mills College Art Museum 1992.

Risa Nye recalls losing her home and countless keepsakes that linked her to the past.

Dale Westbrook recounts how the fire restored a flagging sense of connection to her community.

Carol Dorf explores the legacy of the fire through two poems, Through a Certain Declivity of Fires, and The Purpose of Harmony.

Steve Sanchez, a member of a religious cult at the time of the fire, shares a startling story about what the conflagration meant to him.

Karen Klaber, founder and publisher of The Monthly, recalls losing everything in the blaze, and her mother’s surprising words of wisdom.

Ted Vorster explains how recreating a garden from memory lessened a fire victim’s pain.

Mary Montali revisits a night of televised terror and her family’s indecision.

 

 

Events and Exhibits

A chimney survives. Photo by Andreas Jones.

The Phoenix Firestorm Project. Berkeley photographer Margaretta K. Mitchell’s DVD is a visual documentary, with music by John Adams, of the destruction by fire of Mitchell’s 1925 “storybook” home, and the landmark’s laborious re-creation. (See p. 14 for a dramatic photo of Mitchell’s home as the fire approaches.) For information about the Phoenix Firestorm Project or to arrange
a screening: (510) 655-4920 or margarettamitchell.com.

Remembering and Rebuilding: A Commemoration of the Oakland-Berkeley Firestorm. An exhibit at the Oakland History Room featuring newspaper accounts, fire department reports, personal narratives of survivors, and before-and-after photographs of the burn area. Through Nov. 30 at Oakland Main Library, 125 14th St., Oakland. For info: (510) 238-3222 or oaklandlibrary.org/Seasonal/Sections/oakhr.html.

1991: Oakland-Berkeley Fire Aftermath, Photographs by Richard Misrach. Simultaneous exhibits in two venues showcase large-format firestorm photographs by the renowned Bay Area photographer, with differing companion installations. On display Oct. 15-Feb. 12 at the Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St., Oakland, (510) 318-8400 or museumca.org; and Oct. 12-Feb. 5 at the Berkeley Art

An ambulance drives through an area that has been strangely colored with flame retardant. Photo by Karen Klaber.

Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way, (510) 642-0808 or bampfa@berkeley.edu. The exhibits are the subject of our Critics Choice – Art review this month—see opposite page. Richard Misrach: Gallery Talk. Wednesday, Oct. 12, noon, at Berkeley Art Museum.

Louise Mozingo and Richard Walker in Conversation. Sunday, Oct. 30, 3 p.m. U.C. Berkeley professors Mozingo (landscape architecture and environmental planning) and Walker (geography) consider the social-historical, economic, ecological, and environmental contexts of the 1991 Oakland-Berkeley fire. At Berkeley Art Museum

Faces of the East Bay