News

Car fire in Berkeley causes dramatic smoke, no injuries

July 19, 2012 10:58 am by Tracey Taylor

The aftermath of this morning’s car fire on Derby St. A VW sedan parked in front of the burned car was also damaged. Photo: Sandy Friedland

Firefighters were called at around 9:50am this morning to attend to a car fire at Redwood Gardens on Derby Street in south Berkeley. Citizen reporter Sandy Friedland was on the scene and said the smoke caused by the blaze was dramatic.

Crews from Berkeley and Oakland went to tackle the fire that erupted in a BMW parked near trees and vegetation at around 9:45am on Thursday morning. According to Friedland, a VW sedan parked in front of the BMW that burned also caught fire. Firefighters were hosing down the pavement at around 10:30am.

The owner of BMW, who did not want to give his name, said he was loading clothes into the passenger side of the car, when fire erupted on the driver’s side and “the seat melted”, Friedland reported. “The car was not running. No one was burned, thank goodness,” she said.

The blaze erupted at about 9:45am on Thursday morning. Photo: Sandy Friedland

The BMW on fire caused dramatic amounts of smoke to erupt in the south Berkeley neighborhood. Photo: Sandy Friedland

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6 Comments

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  • bgal4

    Redwood Gardens on Derby St is up near campus, that is southside Berkeley, far from south Berkeley.

    Southside and south Berkeley are miles apart in geography, culture and climate. 

  • An amused observer

    How come no one has blamed Mayor Bates for this yet? 

  • Berkeleywalker

    Huh?  The car was less than a mile from Berkeley’s southern border with Oakland. Exactly where is South Berkeley if not, well, the southern side of Berkeley?

  • iicisco

    Not the best and detailed example but it should do. http://goo.gl/maps/IUTo

  • serkes

    Neighborhood boundaries can be fuzzy … here’s my take on them

    https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=210508868686407177026.00047029e332ced6deced&msa=0&ll=37.873634,-122.265043&spn=0.060435,0.081882

    What do people consider the boundary to be between Elmwood & Claremont?

    Ira

    PS

    I’d put Redwood Gardens firmly in Claremont Neighborhood

    https://plus.google.com/106339023218682206463/about?gl=us&hl=en

  • bgal4

    South of campus is southside, next toward the border is  Elmwood, realtors are even calling the hood east of Berkeley Bowl lower Elmwood. South Berkeley is west of MKLway, the old red line boundary, which reflect the demographics of south Berkeley home owners.