Prescribed Fire at Mount Diablo

Prescribed Burning in 2024

California State Parks will be performing a series of prescribed burns on ten plots of land, totaling approximately 242 acres within the Mitchell Canyon area at Mount Diablo State Park.

The burns will take place intermittently from May until December 2024.
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.

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.

Which areas are being burned and when?

State Parks plans to conduct prescribed burning in the grasslands adjacent to the Mitchell Canyon Visitor Center. The treatment area in the Mitchell Canyon area is divided into 10 plots (shown in the map below) totaling 242 acres. The 242 acres will not all be burned at once. Plots will either be burned in the spring (May-June) or fall (September-November). Plots that aren’t burned this spring will be burned in Fall or the following year. After that, the plots will be on rotation to be burned at a regular fire return interval (between 2-5 years) and monitored to ensure we are meeting our burn objectives.

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 Plans

California State Parks with support from local fire agencies, is planning its next prescribed burns in the Mitchell Canyon area of the Mount Diablo State Park one or more days between October 28 and December 13, 2024. These burns will cover five plots totalling up to 104 acres.

What to expect

Will there be park closures?

For the 2024 fall season burns, the Regency entrance in the northern area of the park will be temporarily closed on burn days for visitor safety. In addition, the following trails will be closed during burn operations: Bruce Lee Road, Water Tower Road, Murchio Road, Oak Road, Coulter Pine Trail, Back Creek Road, and Regency Trail.

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.