The San Francisco Examiner from San Francisco, California • 20

A-20 Saturday. October 26, 1991 SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER jffPl l- it lit THE AFTERMATH FIRE from A-l SSv -2 they fear. They also began to install 200-foot-long silt fences made of black fabric and to clear the banks of a creek below Vicente to ensure it could handle run-off. On Alvarado Road, they put down sandbags and more silt fences. On Tunnel Road, they cleared storm drains.

Oakland crews cleaned debris and silt from streets, storm drains, culverts, inlets and creek bed around Highway 13, the Warren Freeway. Owners of damaged vehicles on public and private property were given until Nov. 8 to haul them away. Sand bags were made available to people free of charge with proof of residency in a fire-damaged neighborhood. They can be picked up at 7101 Edgewater, 3455 Ettie St and 5921 Shepherd Canyon Rd.

Oakland City Manager Gardner urged non-residents to stay away, allowing those who are affected to return to their property without hindrance. He said police would limit access this weekend. Fire victims seeking homes to rent while they rebuild have found that some landlords are waiving security deposits and knocking down rents as a kindness, according to the Oakland Chamber of Commerce. But there were also reports of price gouging. Mayor Harris said he would not tolerate "profiteering from the misery of others" and threatened to impose an emergency rent control ordinance as well as one exacting penalties for gouging.

"I hope none are necessary," the mayor said, "but it's a threat we're ready to carry out" Dr. Louis Sullivan, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, toured the East Bay hills Friday and said he was "overwhelmed by the massive destruction of homes." Sullivan said he had described the scene to White House Chief of Staff John Sununu, and intends to tell President Bush about the "massive destruction of whole areas of housing." said electricity and gas had been restored by Friday night to all homes in the burn area. A thousand workers swarmed the hills Thursday and Friday in the utility's trademark blue step vans. The utility opened a one-stop community office at 2437 Claremont Ave.

Friday for anyone in the fire area who has a problem or question about utility service or bills. While the fire's death toll remained 24 Friday, the Alameda County Coroner's Office raised from 10 to 14 the victims identified. The four whose identities were confirmed Friday were: Robert Emery Cox, 64, and Terrill Du- EXAMINfcHMAHK COSTANI1M Work crews in the Berkeley Hills erect erosion control barriers Friday anticipating weekend rains. Fire area's new fear: Mudslides high trees per burnt acre. Other developments Friday.

A law enforcement source said that two workers constructing an illegal cabin near the fire's point of origin off Buckingham Boulevard had been cleared of suspicions that they lost control of a debris fire last Saturday, starting a grass fire that firefighters contained but that later rekindled into Sunday's inferno. Nonetheless, Assistant Oakland Fire Chief Alford Nero said, "There is no way this fire wasn't somehow connected to a person or persons." Oakland City Manager Henry Gardner backed off his earlier property damage estimate of $5 billion. He said the correct figure is more like $1.5 billion to $2 billion still the costliest fire in U.S. history. "The numbers were all put out in the heat of the moment," Gardner explained.

"We tripled the numbers when we should not have." The Red Cross's latest survey showed 3,354 houses, townhouses and apartment units destroyed 219 more than reported Thursday. The death toll remained 24, with 148 injuries. Acres incinerated: 1,776. The Federal Emergency Management Agency set up shop at 5354 Claremont Ave. and was to begin taking applications Saturday from fire victims not fully covered by insurance.

The Red Cross opened two Family Service Centers where people can get vouchers for food, clothing and lodging as well as other assistance. The centers are at Heller Lounge on the university campus and at Ellen Driscoll Auditorium, 325 Highland Piedmont Terry Roberts, the Oakland public works director, said it would take two weeks to complete Oakland's erosion control plan, beginning with the helicopter seeding Saturday. Some areas, where fire and mop-up crews tromped and loosened the soil, may be covered with hydroseed, a gluey mixture of seed, fertilizer and mulch that helps keep soil in place. Al Cerna, a plant expert With the Alameda County Resource Conservation District, said some areas in the hills are so unstable that slides could occur even without rain. Cerna said some rain would be welcomed just enough to reduce the danger of flare-ups or new wildfires.

Ideally, he said, there would be "about a quarter of an inch of moderate, easy, mist" this weekend. In Berkeley on Friday public works crews assisted by the East Bay Conservation Corps and a private contractor began stabilizing bare slopes above the Claremont Hotel. On Vicente Road, crews undertook a trenching operation, digging run-off gullies for the heavy rain help im rekasildioi: scape, to retain human scale, variety and craftsmanship. "We have lost the past Let's not lose the future," he said, pleading that homeowners find designers with sensitivity before rebuilding. The three expect to use the forum to display examples of "do's" and "don'ts." Among "don'ts" or features they fear would destroy neighborhood quality they cite motel-style, look-alike architecture; pseu-do Hansel and Gretel-style facades, and houses whose most prominent street-front features are their garage doors.

To illustrate what they mean by sensitivity, they intend to show samples of quality materials; inviting entryways; becomingly detailed walls, roofs, windows and porches; and attractive driveway and garage door treatments. "We're not just idealists. We know what we're doing," Doerr said, noting that most members of the coalition hold professional degrees and all have had professional architectural experience. For information about the coalition's services, telephone (510) 704-8143 or write the coalition at 1938 Channing Way, Berkeley. after fire exchanging "miss yous" with teachers, the boys started a football game on the black-topped recess area.

"Hey, kids! Are you supposed to be playing football?" shouted the principal in mock anger. "We play football," shouted one of the participants, "when we get nervous." "They are pushing it," said Lay-ton-Dixon. "I'm delighted." were saying, 'Here are my Ward said almost all of the amateur statisticians put the estimate of damages between $1.2 billion and $2.5 billion. "What set off the alarm signals for me was the story about the Chicago Fire ($1.8 billion) and the "06 Fire ($5.07 billion)," he said. "All of a sudden the Oakland Fire was even with Chicago, then San Francisco the biggest fire in the country.

I just couldn't believe it" Ward said he also was "astounded" by the passive complacency with which the press accepted the $5 billion figure. "I think it would be healthier if we all believed city officials were lying to us, even in the middle of a disaster," ie said. UG grad students urge fire victims to avoid tract look By Gerald D. Adams EXAMINER URBAN PLANNING WRITER Fearful that owners will hastily replace their burned-out houses with "placeless tract homes" and "streets of garage doors," a group of University of California graduate architecture students has launched a campaign for "aesthetic Their Coalition for Quality Rebuilding, consisting of master of architecture students at Berkeley, has organized a free design-counseling service, according to co-founders Thomas Doerr, Peter Keely and Gabriella Judd. The group has scheduled a community forum on design sensitivity for 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 13 at Auditorium 112, Wurster Hall, near the campus' College Avenue entrance. "Our objective is quality architecture," said Doerr, noting that the group is trying to persuade those rebuilding their homes to be concerned with the natural land and hugs "It's a risk you take living in a beautiful neighborhood," she surmised. Her family will rebuild its home. "We intend to die here," Abrams said.

"But not in a fire hopefully of old age." Many adults at the school feared the children would avoid the playground because it now looks out on devastation. But kids are resilient, and after mate covers insured damage to homes, apartments, vehicles and personal and commercial property. Despite this, city officials on Thursday adjusted the figure yet again upward to $5.2 billion before admitting a mistake had been made. A radio reporter who questioned the sky-high damage estimates on his radio program said Friday he suspects they were inflated for a reason. Listeners figure it lower "I think they were pumped up to put additional pressure on state and federal officials in order to bring in aid money," said KGO radio reporter Bernie Ward.

"I mused about this on my program and I got a ton of faxes from people, a couple of them had taken out their calculators, and all of them Akrt I. it. M.I..J.I, Pont 58, both of 7080 Kenilworth Berkeley, Phillip Loggins, 51, of 6822 Charing Cross and Paul Tyrrell, 61, of 6937 Bristol Oakland. Three people were still listed as missing, Oakland police said late Friday night. Lance Williams of the Examiner staff and Examiner wire services contributed to this report.

I Hi, 1 Ji Jul. V. 4 Cr Gret Hid i u.ir...... If. nn Looking north from burned-out Taurus homes that survived the fire.

Students Hillcrest School escaped the flames, although 59 pupils lost their homes By Gregory Lewis OF THE EXAMINER STAFF OAKLAND Jessica Dachner, 7, was holding three stuffed animals almost as big as she was. "I'm going to give them to kids who lost their houses," she said. Two were from her own collection. She bought the other one with money from her piggy bank. "My mom told me I should give presents to people who lost their things in the fire," she explained.

Jessica was among students, parents, teachers and staff at Hillcrest School who gathered at the invitation of Principal Annie Lay-ton-Dixon to share hugs, homemade goodies, resources and support on Friday. The school remains closed until Monday. Forty-six Hillcrest families, including 59 of the school's 236 pupils, lost their homes in the East Bay hills fire earlier this week. Hillcrest School, in the Upper Rockridge section of Oakland, was spared the flames that left many of t. tlVfcMli EXAMINERKM KOMEMCH Avenue, one can see a group of share toys the homes on nearby Hermosa Avenue shells of ash and rubble.

Parents gathered here informally, talking, hugging and offering help. "It's reassuring seeing faces you know," said Bonnie Abrams, who lost her home on Romany Road. She had come around to a philosophical view of the events that left her family homeless. DAMAGES from A-l Damage estimate revised downward the $5.2 billion price tag. That would also mean $500,000 for each apartment and another $500,000 to repair each damaged house.

Bay Area housing prices are high, insurance claims specialist Jim Welsh said Friday, but they are not that high. "We contacted major insurers and independent adjusters in your area, and having determined the number of units involved came up with a reasonable average for amount of insurance," said Welsh, claims consultant for American Insurance Services Group in New Jersey. "We put the figure at $1.2 billion." 1 if' 1 ft r. Second-grader Jessica Dachner brings stuffed animals to Hillcrest fyhool Friday for classmates whose homes burned. If Welsh said the preliminary esti.