Jane Tyska
East Bay Times
OAKLAND, Calif. — A granite bench on Hiller Drive now bears the name of fallen Oakland Fire Battalion Chief James M. Riley Jr.
The bench was dedicated during a ceremony at Oakland’s Firestorm Memorial Garden on Thursday. In attendance were Riley’s wife Christine, new Oakland Fire Chief Reginald D. Freeman and Councilmember Dan Kalb, along with firefighters and members of the North Hills Community Association Garden Committee.
https://twitter.com/OaklandFireCA/status/1398123113469014025
After a large vehicle crashed into the garden and destroyed the memorial drinking fountain, the committee decided to install the bench with an inscription to Chief Riley’s memory. It was was paid for by the Oakland Firefighters Union Local 55.
Riley, 49, a 25-year department veteran with two children, was found dead with a resident on Norfolk Drive after he tried to help them flee the conflagration on Oct. 20, 1991. Both perished as the monstrous blaze became a firestorm, generating its own super-heated weather. The fire killed 25 people and destroyed 3,229 structures, doing more than $3 billion worth of damage in an area that encompassed three square miles.
The 30th anniversary will be remembered this year with an event at Lake Temescal.
https://twitter.com/EastBayTimes/status/1398032598669070341
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(c)2021 the Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, Calif.)