Fire destroys large barn at the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center

A large barn on the the property of the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center went up in flames on Tuesday night. Though the flames could be seen for miles, the fire was contained to the barn and didn’t damage any of the other buildings on the site.

No one was injured, but the inhabitants of the OAEC community were, according to a post on the group’s Facebook page, “safe albeit devastated.”

The barn was built by the Farallones Institute staff in the 70s as part of a timber framing workshop. The timbers were recycled from an old Oakland pier. It later was transformed by OAEC into a woodshop/multi-use space with work tables and shop tools that could be moved out of the way to make room for a dance party. 

“It was a hub of creativity for our community that held so many fond memories and will be dearly missed,” the post said. 

The cause is under investigation. 

“Thankfully our amazing Occidental Volunteer Fire Department got there in five minutes and prevented the fire from getting out of control and burning down the rest of the Center and it environs,” the post said.