Berkeley Hills Under Red Flag Warning This Weekend

BERKELEY, CA — The Berkeley Hills are is among the Bay Area locations that will be under the first red flag warning of the fire season.

The National Weather Service issued the warning, which will be in place from 11 p.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Monday. The North and East Bay hills are included in the red flag warning, as are the East Bay valleys and the eastern half of Santa Clara County.

Any fire will spready rapidly, especially in grass and brush, the weather service said.

The warning was issued after officials determined that an offshore wind would develop this weekend, with fuels at near record dry levels following a dry winter, the weather service said. The winds will hit the Napa County hills first before spreading to the East Bay overnight and into early Saturday.

Warm and dry conditions are forecast Saturday and Sunday. The pattern will continue to dry out grasses, the weather service said.

Statewide, officials are bracing for the worst this summer.

All of California is extremely dry and 92.9 percent of the state is in a severe drought according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Wildfires in 2020 torched a record-breaking 4.2 million acres, or an estimated 4 percent of the state's land, The Associated Press reports.

Some 10,488 structures were damaged or destroyed and at least 31 were killed in 2020, which was described as the year of the "megafire."

Read the red flag warning here.