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Bay Area briefs
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Dumbarton Bridge weekend closure ending early

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The California Department of Transportation says the Dumbarton Bridge will reopen early after being closed the bridge for the entire Labor Day weekend.

KGO-TV reports that Caltrans said Monday that they will reopen the bridge before midnight, hours ahead of the scheduled 5 a.m. Tuesday reopening.

The bridge was closed late Friday so that crews could perform seismic retrofit work.

The work included replacing the expansion joint on the eastern side of the bridge across all six lanes of traffic.

Caltrans officials say the work done over the holiday weekend keeps the retrofit work on track to be completed by early 2013.

Vandals hit Oakland Hills firestorm monument again

OAKLAND  (AP) — A committee that oversees the monument honoring the victims of the 1991 Oakland Hills firestorm said the structure has been vandalized again.

Oakland Landscape Committee Chair Gordon Piper tells KCBS radio that someone cut off five metal bars from a sculpture in the Firestorm Memorial Garden sometime between late Saturday night and early Sunday morning.

The sculpture depicts burned trees and trees growing in the wake of the firestorm that killed 25 people and burned about 3,000 homes in the Oakland Hills more than two decades ago.

Piper said the vandalism is the third time that the hillside sculpture has been vandalized since 2010.

Piper said his committee hopes to raise about $5,000 in order to fund video surveillance to prevent future vandalism and to restore the broken sculpture.

SJ fireman who had heart attack is progressing

SAN JOSE  (AP) — Colleagues say a veteran San Jose firefighter who suffered a heart attack while battling a fire at a downtown cathedral remains in critical condition, is making progress.

San Jose fire spokeswoman Capt. Mary Gutierrez said Monday that doctors are pleased with the progress that Frank Ryan is making as the firefighter's family and friends remain at the hospital around the clock.

KTVU-TV reports that colleagues visiting Ryan at Regional Medical Center of San Jose say he is moving, but has not spoken yet.

Ryan collapsed last week while he was trying to contain a three-alarm blaze at St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Gutierrez says Ryan and his colleagues were working in what she termed "very hot, black-out conditions."

Ryan, who will turn 42-years-old next month, is a 15-year veteran of the department.