Flames took over an abandoned CVS in Oakland’s Uptown, where squatters had made their home in the basement, according to a Friday afternoon report. Bystanders watched as the Oakland Fire Department deployed approximately 20 firefighters to tackle the blaze ignited at the empty storefront at 30th and Broadway.
Officials were swift to the scene, squelching the fire within a mere 15 minutes, and it was evident that the location, proverbial for its stillness since its shut down over a year ago, had uninvited guests who may have sparked the inferno, though the Oakland Fire Department is still ferreting out the definitive cause, witnesses reported seeing firefighters removing wooden pallets and debris scorched by the flames. The fire is suspected to have started in the building's rear basement area, per the Oakland Fire Department.
Approximately 20 firefighters contained a fire within 15 mins in the rear basement area of the former CVS retail location at 30th & Broadway. Fire is under investigation but it appears individuals had broken into the building and were illegally occupying it prior to the fire. https://t.co/jaXcQvPqvj pic.twitter.com/2LUnb1NAgv
— Oakland Fire Department (CA) (@OaklandFireCA) April 5, 2024
In an upheaval of Uptown's retail landscape, the former CVS property at 2964 Broadway became another hollow shell after shutting its doors on January 9, 2023. Oakland has watched as the Walgreens at 3400 Telegraph Ave. followed suit, and even the Target at 2650 Broadway succumbed to the area's climb in retail crime, closing down last November, as disclosed in a report by Mercury News.
Thankfully, as the fire department informed local outlets, there were no injuries reported from the incident, the Oakland Fire spokesperson Michael Hunt assured the community, but the aftermath leaves a community grappling with the consequences of its retail stores' exodus driven by security challenges and now, the shadowed spaces they leave behind have found new if illicit, inhabitants.
