Ridgemont is a neighborhood in
Oakland, California
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
, next to
Merritt College along Campus Drive, the main thoroughfare at the ridgeline. First developed in the 1970s and 1980s, the
neighborhood (one of the last undeveloped parcels in the city of Oakland at the time) began as a subdivision of large, pre-designed, fairly uniform, redwood suburban-style homes. As the Ridgemont subdivision grew, new construction brought to it large estates, both subdivision planned and individual architect-designed. These, the largest homes of the neighborhood, were placed on the neighborhood crest and nearby highest points of the hillsides to take advantage of three-bridge views of the Bay. A newer subdivision,"Monte Vista Homes," on the lower slopes below the Ridgemont subdivision, commenced in 2005 as Desilva, a real estate developer, began building on slopes of the defunct Leona quarry (also known as the Alma
pyrite
The mineral pyrite (), or iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula Fe S2 (iron (II) disulfide). Pyrite is the most abundant sulfide mineral.
Pyrite's metallic luster and pale brass-yellow hue giv ...
mine). In preparation for the new subdivision, the development team subcontracted land restoration teams so that the former
quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envir ...
underwent extensive land recovery ––including the replanting of fire-resistant, native plants for soil retention and beautification––prior to homes construction. But the quarry's outlines – the massive carving out of the hillside over decades – is still visible from as far away as
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
.
A
wildfire
A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identi ...
consumed about twenty acres in the district on September 26, 2017, directly threatening numerous
ridgeline
A ridge or a mountain ridge is a geographical feature consisting of a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest for an extended distance. The sides of the ridge slope away from the narrow top on either side. The line ...
estates, before Oakland Fire Department crews, aided by an air tanker and helicopters which drew water from nearby
San Leandro Reservoir, quickly extinguished the blaze. No structures were burned.
Neighborhoods in Oakland, California
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