Berkerley, CA Disastrous Forest Fires, Sep 1923

FIFTY BLOCKS ARE BURNED IN BERKELEY, CAL.

500 HOMES DESTROYED -- THREE STUDENTS REPORTED DEAD -- PROPERTY LOSS ESTIMATED AT $5,000,000.

San Francisco, Cal., Sept. 18. -- Fire, driven by a north wind, took a toll conservatively estimated at $14,000,000 in Central California in the last 24 hours.
Berkeley, seat of the California university, saw 50 blocks of her finest dwellings burn with a loss of $9,000,000.
In the Sonoma Valley approximately 100 summer homes and farm houses were swept away by forest fire.
The town of Markham, a small settlement in Sonoma county, was entirely wiped out.
Still another fire destroyed the Johannesburg resort in Napa county and burned a score of villages through the hills.

Berkeley, Calif., Sept. 18 -- Members of the reserve officers training camp connected with the University of California today patrolled the ruins of 50 blocks of the residential section of classic Berkeley, the cultural center of the Pacific coast.
The student soldiers, all armed, were guarding against looting which was reported to have been attempted in one or two instances before daylight following one of the most destructive fires California has experienced since the 1906 earthquake.
Fire which had been burning in the Berkeley Hills swept down into the residential section late yesterday. The fire was brought under control late last night. A summary of the damage today showed:
Fifty blocks of the finest residential section destroyed.
Five hundred homes destroyed, at least half of them worth more than $20,000 each.
Seventeen fraternity and sorority homes connected with the University of California burned.
It was in one of those houses that three students were reported to have lost their lives. The report is as yet unconfirmed.
Property damage amounts to $5,000,000.
The region swept by fire was about three-fourths of a mile wide along the north side of the University of California campus.
The Y.M.C.A. student organization and the Red Cross combined in the work of relieving the homeless. A register of refugees at 2 a.m. today showed 30 persons still unaccounted for, but listed as only missing.
Several students who had been confined in the University infirmary were badly injured and scores were treated for minor injuries.
The devastated district was practically levelled.
The fire fighters who stood off the brush fires up until midnight after the disaster to the residential district had occurred were called in early today but about 1000 are still on guard.

Moberly Evening Democrat Missouri 1923-09-18
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!