Prescribed Burning in 2026

California State Parks will conduct pile burning operations in the winter months and continue the rotation of grassland burns in the Mitchell Canyon area.

Pile burning operations are planned for winter and grassland prescribed fire for the fall.
When individual burns are scheduled, details will be posted here and on our Facebook page.
To be added to the email list for day of burn notifications contact fire.diablorange@parks.ca.gov
All burning depends on weather and air quality conditions. If weather or vegetation conditions are not favorable for burning and smoke dispersal, the department will reschedule the treatment.

Winter 2026 Plans

California State Parks is planning to conduct pile burning operations in the Knobcone Point Road and Blackhawk Ridge Road area of Mount Diablo State Park on one or more days between January 15 and March 15. News release

No trail closures are planned, but the public is advised to use extreme caution while near prescribed fire operations due to fire personnel and equipment in the area.

What is a prescribed fire?

Prescribed fire is planned and includes a written scientific prescription for each burn. The prescription considers weather, available resources, safety, and ability to meet burn objectives or goals. A burn plan must be completed, and each prescribed fire must meet all the conditions identified in the checklist before ignition.

At Mount Diablo we do both broadcast burns that burn targeted plots of land and pile burn operations that burn excess vegetation that has been gathered into piles.

Which areas are being burned and when?

Knobcone Point Road and Blackhawk Ridge Road area

Winter (January-March 2026) State Parks plans to conduct pile burning operations at Mount Diablo State Park. The pile burns are intended to reduce encroaching woody vegetation, promote native plant diversity, and improve wildlife habitat including for sensitive species such as Alameda whipsnake, California red-legged frog, California tiger salamander, Mount Diablo manzanita, and Contra Costa manzanita.

Mitchell Canyon area

Fall (September-November 2026) State Parks plans to conduct prescribed burning in the grasslands on the north side of the mountain near the Mitchell Canyon Entrance in the . The treatment area in the Mitchell Canyon area is divided into 10 plots (shown in the map below) totaling 242 acres. The 242 acres are not all be burned at once. Plots were first burned in spring 2024 and are now on rotation to be burned at a regular fire return interval (usually between 2-5 years) and monitored to ensure we are meeting our burn objectives.

What to expect

Will there be park closures?

Specific park entrances, roads, and trails may be temporarily closed on burn days for visitor safety. Details of closures for scheduled burns will be posted here.

All areas will reopen after burning has been completed.

How will we limit smoke impact on local communities?

State Parks is required to develop a smoke management plan that is reviewed by the Bay Area Air Quality District who ensures compliance with the Clean Air Act. The goals of the plan are to reduce smoke emissions from the fire, promote rapid smoke dispersion, and only allow burning in weather conditions that do not impact smoke sensitive communities such as burning on days when the wind is blowing smoke away from neighborhoods. Personnel onsite will be monitoring weather conditions and smoke dispersion throughout the entire burn to ensure we are seeing the desired smoke behavior. However, even with these measures in place, smoke will still be visible. We ask that on burn days you do not report the smoke you observe from this area.

Meet the Crew

Prescribed burns are conducted by trained fire personnel. The crew of a prescribed fire at Mount Diablo State Park consists of California State Park staff and other local fire agencies. Crew positions include:

Burn Boss – is the incident commander who oversees every detail of the prescribed fire. They write plans, organize every aspect, communicate, write the prescription, and lead all personnel.
Firing Boss – works for the Burn Boss and oversees the prescribed fire ignition. They manage the ignitions crew and apply fire to the ground.
Holding Boss – works for the Burn Boss and leads the holding crew. The holding crew is responsible for keeping the fire within the planned prescribed fire unit

What are the objectives of the Mitchell Canyon grassland prescribed burns?

The objectives of the burns are to manage for invasive species, promote native biodiversity, reduce dry accumulated grasses and thatch that can increase wildfire intensity and spread, promote nutrient cycling in the soil, enhance wildlife habitat, control tree and shrub encroachment into grasslands, and restore the natural fire regime.

Spring: These burns help manage invasive plants by burning the base of target species which kills them and prevents them from making viable seed.

Fall: Since fire historically occurred naturally in the hot, dry summer and fall months, these prescribed fires restore a more natural fire regime. They also promote fire-adapted native plants that have already germinated and seeded in the spring.

What are the objectives of pile burns?

Pile burning involves burning vegetation that has been cut and moved into piles. The selection of vegetation for removal and subsequent burning takes into account the health of the local plant communities, a diversity of plant species and age classes, and the role that fire has played historically in maintaining California’s landscape.

The objectives of these burns are to reduce encroaching woody vegetation, enhance habitats, reduce wildfire risk, improve wildlife habitat, promote native plant diversity, and restore the natural fire regime. Pile burns also prepare an area for broadcast burns and are part of our effort to create shaded fuel breaks for wildfire protection. By removing lower vegetation in this way, future fires will stay closer to the ground.

Prescribed Burn History

Spring 2024 Update

During the spring burn window, prescribed burns were completed at Mount Diablo State Park on May14 and 15, and they went very well. Crews were able to complete three plots totaling 45 acres over two days.

Fall 2024 Update

The fall prescribed burns at Mitchell Canyon took place on November 18 and 19. Over the two days 104 acres were successfully burned.

Spring 2025 Update (May 16)

California State Parks had planned prescribed burns in the Mitchell Canyon Area of Mount Diablo State Park one or more days between May 12 and May 30. These burns would have covered two plots totalling up to 44 acres. Due to unfavorable weather conditions during the first week of the planned burn window and also forecast for the next week, safety protocols required that we cancel this year's spring season prescribed fire.

Prescribed Fire at Mount Diablo