Fire on Mt. Diablo in the East Bay Area. **Update with current photos**

[bluesbassman]

Last edited Mon Sep 9, 2013, 06:44 PM - Edit history (2)

Update: Over 1500 acres now. More at link below.

I'm about 20 miles due south of the mountain, and took these photos about 30 mins ago. They're saying only about 10% contained at this time.

Here's a link to more info at SF Gate: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Mt-Diablo-fire-burns-residents-nervous-flee-4797249.php

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. My dear bluesbassman!

Wow, these are spectacular pictures. And scary too...

You did a great job!

Stay safe, please...

[bluesbassman]

2. Thanks Peggy. I know some folks who have been affected.

Everybody has been evacuated safely to the library in Clayton. Just praying CalFire can get a handle on it quickly.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. That is my hope too...

Everything is so dry...

[Control-Z]

4. So Cal was considerably cooler today.

I'm hoping that wasn't just my local area and that the weather continues on a cooling trend up there as well.

Amazing pics! But please, please, stay safe.

[alittlelark]

5. Heard that alert this afternoon...

...at 1st I thought it was Diablo Nuclear Plant they were discussing!! Amazing that a 'grass fire' can cause such havoc.

[bluesbassman]

6. No, the DCPP is down near San Luis Opispo, right on the coast between Avila Beach and Los Osos.

A wildfire would be pretty serious there, but earthquakes are even more scary. Damn thing was built right on the San Andreas fault line and there's a second a couple miles off shore.

There's a lot of trees on and around Mt. Diablo. Primarily oak and pine. The big flares you see in the photos are trees.

[Mr.Bill]

7. My grandson lives in Oakley, not far from there.

I'll call him in the morning to see how close it is to him. We haven't heard anything, so I assume he's okay.

[bluesbassman]

8. He's about 5-7 miles from the fire. Should be safe, just a lot of smoke and ash as the wind blows.

My best to him.

[Mr.Bill]

9. Thanks. n/t

[Hekate]

10. Best of luck to you from the Central Coast

[bluesbassman]

11. Thanks Hekate!

[Gormy Cuss]

12. I'm due west side of the mountain, less than 10 miles from the fire.

The plume was impressive when only a couple of hundred acres had burned. This morning the cloud of smoke covered the whole summit region and I could see that the fire had moved closer to the summit.

Today's going to be another nasty, hot day for those firefighters.

[bluesbassman]

13. Try to stay indoors as much as you can. Can see lot's of smoke over your direction.

[Gormy Cuss]

14. It's a good thing that it's not windy. A lot of particulate matter is staying up in the atmosphere

Last edited Mon Sep 9, 2013, 01:24 PM - Edit history (1)

and there's very little smoke odor here but yeah, not a good day to be outside.

[bluesbassman]

15. Just walked outside for a look, totally clear skies but Diablo is completely obscured.

I guess the low wind is something of a blessing in fighting the fire, but the communities surrounding the mountain are breathing hard.

[Xithras]

16. Diablo burns with some regularity.

I seem to recall a ranger explaining at an interpretive center that there have been over 100 documented fires on the mountain since recordkeeping began in the late 1800s, including a pair of fires in the 1930's that burned both sides of the mountain from base to peak. He explained that the winds and canyons made fires on the mountain move quickly when lit, but the natural ecology of the mountain typically allows it to bounce back quickly. Burned areas tend to recover in only a few years. It's not like a forest fire where the trees are decimated and it takes decades to recover.

[bluesbassman]

17. The upper elevations are chaparral with a lot of scrub pine...

and that will bounce back quickly. It's down at the lower elevations that the knobcone pines get pretty tall and there are lots of coast live oak, bigleaf maple, California laurel, maul oak, blue oak and buckeye that are threatened.

[Xithras]

18. I know. I've hiked most of Diablo over the years.

Thing is, even the lower elevations have a grassy underlayer, and that's what tends to burn. The fires on Diablo are usually fast moving, low level grass fires that simply burn under most trees without igniting them. They may burn out the occasional dead or dying tree, but it's rare for them to do any sort of long term damage to the tree cover.

The houses that now ring its base are another story altogether.

Then again, some areas of the park are seriously out of balance because of human interference, and have decades worth of unburned overgrowth built up. Instead of letting these areas burn naturally, we put the fires out, which just increases the intensity of the next fire. If this one hits some of those tinderbox areas of the park, it could certainly do some damage to the trees. In the long term however, it's beneficial to the park to let it burn and clear those areas out.

[Gormy Cuss]

19. CalFire now reporting the fire has burned 3000 acres

and the worst of the smoke and ash is heading south (San Ramon/Dublin areas.)

[bluesbassman]

20. Photos at 3:00pm Monday, 9/9

This view is from the hills above the city of Dublin and is looking over the city of San Ramon.


View of the plume as it heads south toward Livermore and the Altamont Grade.


Appears to be a Cal Fire tanker in the upper righthand section of the shot.


As the fire has spread, flames can be seen in the manzanita near the base of the mountain.