1 dead after South Berkeley house fire at Derby, MLK

A person who was trapped in a Berkeley house fire over the weekend died after being rescued by first responders, authorities report.

The Berkeley Fire Department was dispatched Saturday at about 5 p.m. to a residential fire, with one person trapped inside, at Derby Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way in South Berkeley.

Despite “zero visibility conditions,” BFD was able to find the patient rapidly in the room that was on fire, the department said.

Firefighters extricated the resident quickly, but the individual already had severe burns as well as other life-threatening medical conditions, BFD said.

Ultimately, the resident did not survive, authorities said.

In a prepared statement, BFD noted that the first fire crew to arrive “had recently been up staffed with an additional firefighter following a recommendation from a 2023 external analysis of fire department deployment and staffing.”

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“The additional staffing coupled with several years of intentional work within the organization to improve the effectiveness of its firefighting and search culture, resulted in an effective and efficient rescue,” BFD said.

This is the fourth Berkeley Fire rescue during a house fire this year.

This story will be updated if additional details become available.

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