The State - News from April 18, 1988

A woman died, a man vanished and a firefighter was injured during a “firestorm” that broke out in a tinder-dry Oakland flophouse and threatened an entire block of aging Victorian-style buildings before it was stopped. Fire officials said three buildings were damaged and the loss was estimated at $400,000. The buildings included a three-story house that had been converted into an apartment building and two houses that had been occupied by squatters. Half the city’s firefighting force was called out to battle the blaze. Officials were trying to unravel “conflicting stories” about the identity of the dead woman. A man who was living in one of the buildings was reported missing.