Gil Dong

Berkeley Fire Department’s long-serving fire chief, Gil Dong, announced his retirement Sept. 12 at a Berkeley City Council meeting.

A fire which broke out at the intersection of Grizzly Peak Boulevard and Fish Ranch Road in the Berkeley Hills yesterday is currently 50 percent contained, according to Oakland Fire Department Battalion Chief Melinda Drayton.

Twenty-five years ago, the Oakland-Berkeley Hills fire took 25 lives, injured 150 and left 5,000 without homes, causing an estimated $1.5 billion in property damage.

The North Berkeley BART station was shut down Tuesday afternoon after a northbound train struck and killed an individual near the station.

Interim Fire Chief Avery Webb retired from his position Tuesday after 30 years of serving the city of Berkeley.

Interim City Manager Dee Williams-Ridley has filled her own shoes by appointing Berkeley Fire Chief Gil Dong to the role of interim deputy city manager, which Dong began Saturday.

Due to a report of a person under a BART train at 4:26 p.m., the North Berkeley BART station was closed for more than an hour, according to transit officials.

A one-alarm fire Tuesday afternoon destroyed the residence of a man who had been living in a shipping container on Virginia Street, with no injuries reported.

An explosion on the UC Berkeley campus near California Hall has injured a number of people, prompting officials to declare a state of emergency and order an evacuation of the campus around 6:40 p.m. Monday evening.