OAKLAND, Calif.—Blackened metal frames of torched cars lie upside down, charred skeletal support beams of burned buildings stand under the overcast sky, and a light haze of soot and dust permeate the air and powder all available surfaces.
What sounds like a war zone in a third-world country is instead a stretch of road near both one of the largest ports in the United States and one of the most famous bridges on the West Coast.
Overshadowed by the often traffic-congested Interstate 880 in the San Francisco Bay Area, homeless encampments fill a mile-long stretch of Wood Street in West Oakland. As the street’s homeless population has increased over the years, so has the number of fires….