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Updated: Downtown Berkeley Fire Still Burning as Another Fire Starts

Bay City News
Sunday November 22, 2020 - 10:22:00 PM
University Avenue Fire Still Burning at 9 p.m. on Sunday
Tom Hunt
University Avenue Fire Still Burning at 9 p.m. on Sunday

Two homes were damaged and five people displaced by a fire early Sunday morning the Berkeley firefighters said appears to have started in a recreation vehicle parked in a driveway, Berkeley's fire chief said.

Berkeley Fire Department firefighters were called about 4:35 a.m. Sunday to the 900 block of Delaware Street, about two blocks north of University Avenue, Berkeley Fire Department Chief Dave Brannigan said.

A fire in the RV spread to the houses on either side of where it was parked, Brannigan said. The fire was under control about a half-hour after firefighters arrived, Brannigan said.

No firefighters or occupants of the houses or RV were injured, but the houses were damaged to the extent that five people were displaced, from the RV and both houses. The cause of the fire remained under investigation Sunday night.

Berkeley firefighters early Sunday morning were still battling a six-alarm fire at a multi-story apartment building under construction in the 2000 block of University Avenue in downtown Berkeley. Nearly 100 firefighters, including many from other departments, were fighting that fire when the Delaware Street fire was reported.

The University Avenue fire was still glowing at 9 p.m. on Sunday night.

"It's unusual to get two large fires like that going at the same time," Brannigan said.

It demanded more mutual aid from outside departments be called, he said.