OAKLAND, Calif. – The Latest on a (all times local):
5:15 a.m.
Fire officials in the San Francisco Bay Area say crews have mostly surrounded multiple blazes that sent people fleeing homes in the hills east of Oakland.
The East Bay Times reports embers flew through the air, and two houses were destroyed and three others were damaged after the fire broke out late Monday.
Oakland Fire Battalion Chief Melinda Drayton says some evacuees are returning home early Tuesday as crews mop up smoldering fires on hillsides.
The cause is under investigation, but the newspaper says dispatchers initially received word of a single fire at a two-story house under construction.
At one point flames could be seen several miles away on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
There are no reports of injuries.
___
1:15 a.m.
Authorities say evacuations are under way in Northern California after a house fire spread to surrounding homes.
The East Bay Times reports the fires began late Monday with a single fire at a two-story house under construction in the hills east of Oakland.
Firefighters with the Oakland Fire Department were battling blazes as embers rained down on million-dollar homes in the surrounding streets.
No word was immediately available on any injuries.
Some Oakland firefighters were in Southern California, helping battle the fifth-largest wildfire in state history.
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
