Fireline Report · History Desk
This Week in Fire History
The decisions, disasters, and innovations that still shape the modern fireline.
This week’s feature
This Week in Fire History: 1923 The Berkeley Fire became an early warning for modern WUI risk
Fireline Report · This Week in Fire History 1923 — The Berkeley Fire became an early warning for modern WUI risk Berkeley, California · Anniversary: 2026-09-17 Flames and smoke during the September 17, 1923 Berkeley Fire. Source. 1923 Berkeley Fire, frame from a Prelinger Archives newsreel; shared by Doc Searls, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedi
From the archive
Three WUI lessons that still hold
Berkeley Fire
Wind and embers carried fire from the hills into a dense city, leaving an early record of WUI exposure.
Oakland Hills Firestorm
A wind-driven urban-interface fire made evacuation, access, and structure ignition central operational concerns.
Camp Fire
Rapid wind-driven spread through the WUI showed how little time communities can have to evacuate.
Each weekly feature is based on cited source material. Archive notes provide context; the lead story carries the supporting record.