Here’s where Caltrans is concerned about Bay Area under-freeway storage after L.A.’s I-10 fire

Stacks of wooden pallets, vehicles, trailers, storage bins, appliances, RVs and equipment all crowd the Interstate 580 underpass in West Oakland, corralled by a tall black metal gate. A sign declares “State Property, No dumping, No Parking, No Trespassing.” Another advertises “Yard space for rent! Trucks, RVs, buses, large equipment and more.”

The site near Emeryville is among more than a dozen Bay Area under-freeway spaces that the California Department of Transportation flagged for immediate reinspection after a similarly crammed storage area under Interstate 10 in Los Angeles erupted in flames Nov. 11.

That massive blaze, believed to be arson, ignited on an adjacent storage yard. The flames, so intense they spread to the roadway above, closed the vital artery that carries more than 300,000 daily drivers for eight days and put a spotlight on Caltrans’ program of leasing storage space on right-of-way land under and alongside state highways.

And it isn’t just Caltrans casting a wary eye under 580. Jessica Dizio, whose West Oakland home is a stone’s throw from the 580 storage site, worries something or someone could set it ablaze and threaten her whole neighborhood. It’s illegal activity nearby that raises the threat — Oakland has seen repeated fires in and around homeless encampments often located alongside elevated highways.

“Definitely it’s a concern,” Dizio said. “I just worry that it’s more and more frequent, and very close to my home. But I feel nobody’s doing anything in terms of safety.”

Following a statewide review, Caltrans said in a Nov. 22 report to the governor that the leased areas that burned under I-10 “are outliers, and relatively few sites present confirmed safety or fire concerns.”

Caltrans said it has 601 active leases, nearly half of them in the Bay Area, under what it calls the Airspace program, which rents the space to raise money for transportation programs — $34.6 million a year currently. Most leases are for cell phone towers, but the space also can be used for parking lots, retail, storage, parks and other purposes. Such leases are common across the country.

Caltrans inspects the sites once a year and prohibits storage of hazardous or flammable material on highway land. The department’s initial review after the I-10 fire flagged 38 leases statewide — or 6% — with identified risks or that warrant further inspection, based on recent inspections, characteristics of the site, known uses and proximity to critical infrastructure.

Thirteen of those 38 leases are in the Bay Area, though two are held by the same tenant for a total of 11 parcels. Five of those 11 sites are in Oakland — the storage area under I-580 and four others under I-880. Five others are in San Francisco — three under I-280 and two under Highway 101. One is under I-580 in Richmond.

Caltrans spokesman Matt Rocco said that all Bay Area lease sites have been inspected in the last week and are current on their rent — unlike Apex Development, Inc., the lease-holder for the space in Southern California that burned. Apex had stopped paying in 2020 and was in a protracted battle over fire hazards and other lease violations with Caltrans, which initiated legal action against the company in September.

Two Bay Area sites warranted additional evaluation by the fire marshal “to ensure safety.” One of those is under the 280 freeway in San Francisco, and the other is the storage area under the 580 freeway in West Oakland, near the Emeryville border.

That West Oakland site storing everything from trailers to storage bins is leased to Bernardini Enterprises, which provides trucking, hauling and debris removal. Joseph Bernardini said the fire marshal inspected the site this week but he hasn’t been told yet whether there were any concerns to address. But he said the city has an ongoing problem with drug users living in nearby encampments and starting fires, including near his main business yard across town.

“This is Oakland, there’s encampments all over the place and there’s fires all day long,” Bernardini said. “They only do something when the whole freeway burns down. Hopefully, they’ll make some changes.”

Significant fires have erupted near the other Oakland I-880 freeway locations in recent years, including more than one blaze in a sprawling encampment on Wood Street that was recently cleared out.

The city last year reported spending $80,000 over the course of a year responding to fires at that encampment on Caltrans property, and nearly as much responding to fires along freeways that weren’t related to homeless camps.

Oakland and Caltrans officials in recent years have traded barbs over encampments and fires. City leaders have accused the transportation department of failing to maintain its freeway property, and Caltrans has countered that it does regular vegetation management and works with local governments to appropriately shelter homeless people.

The recently inspected Caltrans site under 880 at Wood Street is leased to Ponderosa Tree Service, an arborist company that declined to comment. Currently, the site appears to be a staging area for the construction of an affordable housing complex.

Another site under 880 near Jack London Square is leased to the adjacent Van Matre Lumber company, which uses it for extra storage, with plywood and two-by-fours stacked neatly under the freeway. The fenced yard isn’t near encampments or vegetation. The company declined to comment.

Other sites under 880 at Brush and Castro streets are leased to Oaktown Parking and Natural Logistics. Sandra Jimenez of Natural Logistics, a trucking company, said they keep their vehicles under the freeway. Caltrans pointed out a few things for them to change about their storage, she said, adding she’s mostly concerned about fires started by homeless people living near the area. Just last year a fire in a  sidewalk homeless encampment spread to an Oakland Police Department parking lot under the freeway a few blocks away, destroying two 15-passenger transport vans and damaging another.

“The city I guess does what they can,” Jimenez said.

Joe Herdman, warehouse manager at the Oaklandish clothing company near one of those leased storage spaces under 880, said it’s not nearly as bad as adjacent private property and city streets where he’s seen drug users living in RVs and tents, illegal chop shops and flagrant refuse dumping. There have been frequent fires, and he feels the city should do more to enforce its codes and laws with property owners.

“The mayor has got to do something,” Herdman said, looking out at a refuse-strewn lot near the freeway. “It comes from the top.”

Mayor Sheng Thao’s office noted the city’s recent closure of the Wood Street encampment, including the removal of 800 tons of hazardous debris. In her state of the city speech last month, Thao said Oakland is committed to a compassionate approach toward homelessness that helps unhoused residents into safe shelters while promoting clean, safe and accessible public spaces for all to use.

But that may not be enough for residents like Dizio, who’s in her third year at her home near 580 and is thinking of moving out. It’s not necessarily over the stuff stored underneath the freeway, though she worries about fire risk, but because of what she sees as a lack of enforcement of basic safety laws in the city.

“The government is not doing anything; from trash to gunshots there’s no enforcement of the law,” Dizio said. “It’s like the Wild West.”