What you're looking at is a relatively rare sight in urban areas of the United States: a controlled burn incinerator, often used for disposing of agricultural waste or, in this case, possibly for maintaining an open space or disposing of specific types of brush. The visible rust suggests it’s been in use for a while, and its robust construction speaks to the intense heat it's designed to withstand. These large, cylindrical structures are essentially specialized furnaces. Unlike typical garbage incinerators that burn a wide variety of waste, these are designed for specific materials, often plant matter, to prevent large-scale uncontrolled fires. While you might expect to see something like this in a rural setting, its presence near the Bill Osborne Model Airplane field in Alameda suggests a specific function. Given the field's location on what was once an active naval air station, it's possible this incinerator was used for disposing of certain types of materials from the former base, for managing vegetation in the surrounding open areas, or perhaps even for disposing of specific waste generated by the model airplane field itself, though that's less common. The fence and the industrial look further imply it's part of a managed facility rather than a casual setup.