Thieves hit memorial to Calif. victims of fire

Thieves hit memorial to Calif. victims of fire:

Thieves hit memorial to Calif. victims of fire

Lt. Mike Yoell, commander of the theft section, said a dollar estimate of the loss would be hard to make but could easily be several thousand dollars.

By Harry Harris
Inside Bay Area (California)
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All Rights Reserved

OAKLAND, Calif. — Thieves have targeted the Oakland Firestorm Memorial Garden, which commemorates one of the city's most tragic episodes — the deadly East Bay hills fire of October 1991 — taking aluminum plaques bearing the names of the 25 people killed in the blaze.

Two bronze "trees" that were part of the memorial, located at Tunnel Road and Hiller Drive, also were stolen and another was badly damaged.

The theft just recently was discovered, and police had not received a crime report as of Friday.

But they have already assigned an investigator and done some preliminary work.

He said the memorial was either the target of vandals or of thieves who stole the metal objects to sell them.

He said police are leaning toward the theft-for-profit theory, especially since the theft of valuable metals all over the area, including cemeteries and even of freeway guardrails, has been on the rise.

Yoell agreed with others there is no way to estimate the emotional loss of those who survived the fire and built the memorial to honor those who died.

Among the plaques were those bearing the names of Oakland Fire Batallion Chief James Riley and Oakland Police Officer John Grubensky. Both were killed trying to lead others to safety.

Grubensky was in the same squad as Yoell at the time and was working his day off when he died trying to lead a family out of the burning hills.

"This does hit closer to us," Yoell said.

The fire began October 20, 1991, killing the 25 people, destroying more than 3,000 houses and causing $1.5 billion in damages. It was at the time the worst urban wildfire in California history.

The memorial was dedicated in 1994, with most of the labor and materials donated.

"The (fire) area looked like it had been bombed. We wanted something to welcome people back and memorialize the victims," said Gordon Piper, a resident whose home burned in the fire and who pushed the project forward as chairman of the North Hills Landscape Committee.

Piper, who tends to the garden, said he discovered the theft Wednesday after he returned from a weeklong trip.

He first noticed that several of the custom-made bars on the sculpture were "bent to heck." One was broken, he discovered.

That's when Piper turned around and saw plaques had been pried off the cement walls.

"My mouth fell open," he said.

The entire project cost about $100,000, Piper estimated.

He said will cost about

$5,000 to replace the plaques and the bars, which were made to prevent such an attempted heist.

The thieves have no regard for what the memorial meant to residents like him, Piper said.

His home burned to the ground and he was left with nothing more than the pair of work overalls he was wearing, he recalled.

Donations to replace the plaques and bars can be sent to the North Hills Landscape Committee, c/o 33 Hiller Drive, Oakland, 94618.

The donations will be deposited in the committee's account with the Friends of Oakland Parks and Recreation.

For more information, e-mail Robert Bruce rbruce@pacific.net .

Yoell said police would like to talk to anyone who may have any of the items, sold them, or were approached by anyone trying to sell them.

Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are offering up to

$5,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest of the suspects. Anyone with information can call police at 238-3951 or Crime Stoppers at 238-6946.