CBS News
Fire burns hillside homes in Oakland amid day of high winds; residents evacuated
A fast-moving vegetation fire broke out Friday afternoon in the hills of Oakland, California, burning homes on a day of critical fire conditions in the Bay Area’s upper elevations.
The Oakland Fire Department said the fire was burning in the area of Interstate Highway 580, Mountain Boulevard and Keller Avenue. At least four structures in the area of Mountain Boulevard and Maynard Avenue were fully involved, according to the Fire Department.
The fire was initially reported at about 1:30 p.m. and by 1:50 p.m. it had gone to three alarms. A fourth alarm was called at about 2:15 p.m. During that time, winds in the area were measured at around 11 mph with gusts up to 22 mph.
KPIX
Residents of the Caballo Hills neighborhood north of Highway 580 were being evacuated, according to the Fire Department. The evacuations were in effect along Campus Drive east of Stoneridge Court and all homes on Crystal Ridge Court. Residents on Altura Place and Rifle Lane were also being evacuated.
A map of the evacuation zones can be found here. An evacuation center was set up at Burckhalter Elementary School.
Over 80 firefighters were on the scene as of 2:30 p.m. Cal Fire air support and ground units were also battling the fire, which had burned eight acres as of 3 p.m.
As of 2:20 p.m., CHP issued a severe traffic alert due to the fire burning along I-580 and closed all westbound lanes. Firefighters were seen putting out a spot fire next to the shoulder of westbound Highway 580 possibly started by embers of the fire.
Motorists were urged to use alternate routes to avoid the area. By 3:30 p.m. one westbound lane had reopened. There was no estimated time to fully reopen the roadway.
The Bay Area was under a Wind Advisory with gusts expected to reach 50-65 mph in higher elevations. The National Weather Service issued a Red Flag Warning for most of the Bay Area and Central Coast because of the critically dry conditions.
There was no immediate word on the cause of the fire.
The fire is burning close to the area of a catastrophic firestorm nearly 33 years ago to the day. On Oct. 19, 1991, a smoldering grass fire that was not completely extinguished reignited and burned out of control in the Oakland and Berkeley hills for days, killing 25 people, injuring 150 others, and burning more than 3,000 homes.
This is a breaking news update. More information to be added as available.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters says workers at seven Amazon facilities will begin a strike Thursday morning in an effort by the union to pressure the e-commerce giant for a labor agreement during a key shopping period.
The Teamsters say the workers, who authorized walkouts in the past few days, are joining the picket line after Amazon ignored a Dec. 15 deadline the union set for contract negotiations. Amazon says it doesn’t expect any impact on its operations during what the union calls the largest strike against the company in U.S. history.
The Teamsters say they represent nearly 10,000 workers at 10 Amazon facilities, a small portion of the 1.5 million people Amazon employs in its warehouses and corporate offices.
Amazon is ranked No. 2 on the Fortune 500 list of the nation’s largest companies.
At a warehouse in the New York City borough of Staten Island, thousands of workers who voted for the Amazon Labor Union in 2022 and have since affiliated with the Teamsters. At the other facilities, employees – including many delivery drivers – have unionized with them by demonstrating majority support but without holding government-administered elections.
The strikes happening Thursday are taking place at an Amazon warehouse in San Francisco and six delivery stations in southern California, New York City, Atlanta and the Chicago suburb of Skokie, Illinois, according to the union’s announcement. Amazon workers at the other facilities are “prepared to join” them, the union said.
“Amazon is pushing its workers closer to the picket line by failing to show them the respect they have earned,” Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien said in a statement.
“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed. We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it,” he said.
The Seattle-based online retailer has been seeking to re-do the election that led to the union victory at the warehouse on Staten Island, which the Teamsters now represent. In the process, the company has filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Board.
Meanwhile, Amazon says the delivery drivers, which the Teamsters have organized for more than a year, aren’t its employees. Under its business model, the drivers work for third-party businesses, called Delivery Service Partners, who drop off millions of packages to customers everyday.
“For more than a year now, the Teamsters have continued to intentionally mislead the public – claiming that they represent ‘thousands of Amazon employees and drivers’. They don’t, and this is another attempt to push a false narrative,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in a statement. “The truth is that the Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated, and attempted to coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers to join them, which is illegal and is the subject of multiple pending unfair labor practice charges against the union.“
The Teamsters have argued Amazon essentially controls everything the drivers do and should be classified as an employer.
Some U.S. labor regulators have sided with the union in filings made before the NLRB. In September, Amazon boosted pay for the drivers amid the growing pressure.
NEW YORK — The Teamsters union is launching a strike against Amazon at numerous locations across the country, including in Maspeth, Queens.
The Teamsters are calling it the largest strike against Amazon in United States history, and it’s set to begin at 6 a.m. Thursday. In addition to New York City, workers will be joining picket lines in Atlanta, Southern California, San Francisco and Illinois.
In a video announcement released Wednesday night, workers voiced their frustrations.
“Us being strike ready means we’re fed up, and Amazon is clearly ignoring us and we want to be heard,” one worker says in the video.
“It’s really exciting. We’re taking steps for ourselves to win better conditions, better benefits, better wages,” another worker in the video says.
The union says it represents about 10,000 Amazon employees and that Amazon ignored a deadline to come to the table and negotiate. The $2 trillion company doesn’t pay employees enough to make ends meet, the union asserts.
At the height of the holiday season, many are wondering what this means for packages currently in transit.
Teamsters President Sean O’Brien said, “If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed.”
Amazon says Teamsters are misleading the public
An Amazon spokesperson says the Teamsters are misleading the public and do not represent any Amazon employees, despite any claims.
“The truth is that the Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated, and attempted to coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers to join them, which is illegal and is the subject of multiple pending unfair labor practice charges against the union,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
An Amazon representative says the company doesn’t expect operations to be impacted.
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.