View source for 1923 Berkeley, California, fire

{{short description|Conflagration that consumed 640 structures}}
{{Use American English|date=May 2025}}
{{more citations needed|date = February 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox wildfire
| image      = 1923 Berkeley Fire.jpg
| caption    = A frame from a newsreel documenting the fire
| location   = [[Berkeley, California]], U.S.
| reference  = <ref name="Council Minutes" />
| cost       = Estimated at $10,000,000
| date       = September 17, 1923
| time       = 
| timezone   =
| acres      = Unknown
| cause      = Undetermined
| landuse    = 
| buildings  = 640
| injuries   = Unknown
| fatalities = 0
| perps      = 
| motive     = 
}}
The '''1923 Berkeley, California, fire''' was a [[conflagration]] that consumed some 640 structures, including 584 houses in the densely built neighborhoods north of the campus of the [[University of California]] in [[Berkeley, California]], on September 17, 1923.

==Course==
Although the exact cause was never determined, the fire began in the undeveloped [[chaparral]] and [[grassland]]s of [[Wildcat Canyon]], just east of the ridgeline of the [[Berkeley Hills]], and was propelled over the ridge and southwestward just south of [[Codornices Creek]] by a strong, gusty, and intensely dry [[Diablo wind|northeasterly wind]]. The fire quickly blew up as it swept through the [[La Loma Park]] and [[Northside, Berkeley, California|Northside]] neighborhoods of Berkeley, overwhelming the capabilities of the Berkeley Fire Department to stop it.  The house at 125 Shasta Road was the first to be destroyed in the fire.  A number of UC students fought the advance of the fire as it approached the north edge of the University of California campus, at Hearst Avenue. The other edge of the fire was fought by firefighters as it advanced on [[downtown Berkeley]] along the east side of [[Shattuck Avenue]] north of University Avenue. Firefighters were rushed in from neighboring [[Oakland, California|Oakland]], and [[San Francisco]] sent firefighters by [[Ferries of San Francisco Bay|ferry]] across the bay.[[File:Intersection of Scenic Ave and Virginia St right after the fire.jpg|left|thumb|363x363px|Intersection of Scenic Ave. and Virginia St. right after the fire]]Firefighting efforts were hampered by the inadequacy of water mains in northern Berkeley, where rapid development after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake had outgrown the water supply in the fire area. Firefighters trying to fight the fire connected to hydrants in the area that hissed dry.  An additional problem was the predominance of cedar shake (rough shingle) roofs.  However, according to Audrey Boyd in ''The Berkeley Fire,'' "rivers of water could have been poured into that blaze without deterring it." The strong and dry wind lifted burning shakes off burning houses and quickly spread the fire. The fire was halted only when the northeasterly winds died down and were replaced by the cool, humid afternoon sea breeze. The fire lines were established at Hearst and Shattuck Avenues, where larger water mains delivered a reliable water supply for firefighting.

The total loss was estimated at $10,000,000 by the National Board of Fire Underwriters.

==Aftermath==
Building styles in North Berkeley changed dramatically after the 1923 fire, with stucco and tile roof homes largely, but not entirely, replacing the wood-sided and cedar-shaked construction styles popularized by the [[Hillside Club|Berkeley Hillside Club]] before the fire.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2019-03-26|title=September 17, 1923: The Day That Berkeley Burned|url=https://alumni.berkeley.edu/california-magazine/spring-2019/september-17-1923-day-berkeley-burned|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127214159/https://alumni.berkeley.edu/california-magazine/spring-2019/september-17-1923-day-berkeley-burned|archive-date=2020-11-27|access-date=2021-01-19|website=Cal Alumni Association}}</ref>

As a belated result of the fire, the City of Berkeley constructed a fire station in the hills at 2931 Shasta Road (at Queens Road) just below Grizzly Peak Blvd, in 1948.<ref name="Council Minutes">City Council Minutes, Aug.26, 1947</ref> In the early 2000s, this station was replaced and relocated to a nearby site just above Grizzly Peak Blvd. at 3000 Shasta Road,<ref>[http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/Fire/Home/Fire_Stations_and_Fire_Districts.aspx Berkeley Fire Department Stations]</ref> on the interface between the residential area and [[Tilden Regional Park]], very close to the putative origin of the 1923 fire.

==See also==
{{Portal|San Francisco Bay Area|1920s}}
* [[Oakland firestorm of 1991]]

==References==
===Citations===
{{reflist}}

===Bibliography===
* ''Report on the Berkeley, California Conflagration of September 17, 1923'', [[National Board of Fire Underwriters]]' Committee on Fire Prevention and Engineering Standards.
* ''[https://www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org/sites/default/files/files/inline/bplhstrm_979.467_st76_the_story_of_the_berkeley_fire.pdf The Story of the Berkeley Fire]'', unknown date, unknown author. 
* ''[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=ucbk.ark:/28722/h2fn8r&view=1up&seq=7 The Berkeley Fire]'', Aubrey Boyd.

==External links==
* [https://archive.org/details/Berkeley1923 Archived footage of the 1923 fire]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060927112022/http://www.sfmuseum.org/oakfire/berkeley.html Response of San Francisco Fire Department (SF Virtual Museum)]
* [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1974/09/23/wildfire-berkeley-1923 "Wildfire: Berkeley, 1923". ''The New Yorker''.]
* [https://www.dailycal.org/2017/10/15/trailing-blazes-back-revisiting-the-1923-berkeley-fire "Trailing blazes back: Revisiting the 1923 Berkeley Fire". ''The Daily Californian''. 2017-10-15.]

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{{California wildfires}}
{{Berkeley, California}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berkeley fire}}
[[Category:1923 fires in the United States]]
[[Category:1920s wildfires]]
[[Category:20th-century wildfires in the United States]]
[[Category:Fires in California]]
[[Category:Berkeley Hills]]
[[Category:20th century in Berkeley, California]]
[[Category:Urban fires in the United States|Berkeley Fire, 1923]]
[[Category:1923 in California]]
[[Category:1923 natural disasters in the United States]]
[[Category:September 1923 in the United States]]
[[Category:Wildfires in Alameda County, California]]