By Tony Hicks –
A Contra Costa Fire Protection District spokesperson said the district anticipates “several more days” of flooding marsh area near Bay Point and Pittsburg in an attempt to extinguish the Marsh Fire, which has burned since May.
Con Fire tweeted Sunday afternoon that approximately 20,000 gallons per minute are flowing on the site, thanks to the owner pumping water from the Delta and Contra Costa Water District diverting water at Mallard Slough.
The effort started Friday, after several days of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District extending an air quality advisory for wildfire smoke in the eastern part of the county, which is set to continue through Monday. The smoke has been impacting the areas of Pittsburg, Antioch, Oakley and Brentwood.
The stubborn fire, which has burned about 500 acres, is now mostly consuming peat,
a spongy material formed by the partial decomposition of organic matter, usually plant material found in wetlands. Con Fire officials said peat fires are very difficult to extinguish, though this one is nearly out of fuel. Peat can be found down to six feet below the surface.
The fire started May 28 near a Bay Point homeless encampment. It flared up more than a week ago and threatened PG&E lines and homes near Pittsburg, before firefighters got it back under control.
The BAAQMD air quality advisory is not a Spare the Air alert, the air district said, but people with sensitivities to smoke and other pollutants are advised to take precautions such staying indoors with the windows and doors closed and using re-circulated air in vehicles when driving.
Usually you need a total of 7,000 to 8,000 thousand gallons of water to put out a house fire. 20,000 gallons a minute for several days shows how hard it is to extinguish a peat fire.
Also, this is not the “Marsh Fire” which was a bit south of Brentwood.
This fire does not seem to have a name but is at https://goo.gl/maps/XUDHb87NgTBHc4MUA
What’s wrong at BAAQMD? They missed an opportunity to tell everyone they couldn’t have a fire in their fireplace.
Did they uncover a portal to Hell over there, or what?
Take your time… why rush?
We’ve only been choking to death since May.
If you really were the voice of reason as your claim, you would understand the difficulties in putting out this type of fire. You might also understand why fire department chooses the actions that they do …. It here again you make baseless statements.
Buzz off Parent…
I just got my PG&E bill ….$607.00
I couldn’t leave my windows open at night because of all the smoke & had to let my AC cool the house thru half the night.
The brainiacs fighting this fire (since May 28th) decided it was too tough to put out so they left it to burn till it runs out of fuel & the hell with the rest of us left to choke on the smoke… but now they finally think it’s important enough to do the job right and flood it like they should have done in the first place!
What statements did I make that were “baseless”?
Explain.
Parent sounds like she has a knot in her panties.
It wasn’t the fire departments call to make. They wanted to flood it early on but weren’t allowed to due to multiple regulatory agencies. After navigating all of them and getting the ok they did it, but it wasn’t something they could do themselves.
Nytemuvr – why wear panties …. =)
Dr Jelly
$607? Maybe you should get solar. My PG&E bill is less than 10% of that a month, and I run my AC as well. You should also consider closing your blinds and maybe getting some that are heat reflective. Double or Triple pane windows also help reduce your overall cost. For the price you are paying in PG&E, you probably can afford to do some of the above.
Baseless statements: ‘decided it was too tough’ – the decision was made based on the safety of the crews responding to the fire. How do you get a fire apparatus into the peat, or should the brave fire fighters walk through the swamp dragging the hose while wearing 50 lbs of gear?
‘flood it like htey should have done in the first place’: umm, as already pointed out to you, it was not their decision, it was a regulatory decision and they needed to get some ducks in a row.
It is common practice to let fires burn themselves out. This happens regularly with forest fires and even some structure fires. They must look at the full picture before they make their decisions.
‘choking to death’: sorry, that is a very over exaggerated statement. No one is choking to death. Yes, some with compromised respiratory illnesses may be harder impacted than others … but you are not choking to death. And anyways, if you need to go out; just wear a mask! hahhaahahhaaa
For a Doctor, you make many assumptions that are wrong.
@Parent
I will remember your comments (Quoted below) when the Fireplace police start to say the air is bad and people are chocking to death.
“choking to death’: sorry, that is a very over exaggerated statement. No one is choking to death. Yes, some with compromised respiratory illnesses may be harder impacted than others … but you are not choking to death. And anyways, if you need to go out; just wear a mask! hahhaahahhaaa
For a Doctor, you make many assumptions that are wrong.”
Too much red tape, not enough action…. but plenty of excuses.
Also, I don’t need any advice on insulating my home, I need decent air to breathe so I can open my windows at night. Your PG&E is less than $100 per month? You must live in an apartment.
“‘choking to death’: sorry, that is a very over exaggerated statement. No one is choking to death”.
Each day 11 Americans die from asthma.
There are more than 4,000 deaths due to asthma each year.
Well Parent, your comments aren’t baseless…..they’re just wrong.
Dr JF
No apartment for me. I upgraded to a solar panel system about 5 years ago for my ~2300sf home. All my lights are LED, we turn them off when not in use. Over the last ten years we have had to purchase all new appliances, all are energy efficient rated. Our windows were done about 15 years ago to double pane and they are all covered by good window shades. I work from home with my computers and multiple monitors all powered up and so does my better half. Attic insulation has been replaced and I added foam insulation into my sun facing walls. Last months bill was almost $50, and I still get a true up with MCE. So I do know something about conserving energy …
I like how you cherry pick the asthma deathes .. you probably should have gone with the all respiratory deaths on a daily basis if you wanted to make a real point.
But I stand by my statement, we are not choking to death here. An asthmatic person has ways to deal with this – I know as a good friend is asthmatic (like ER visit!). She carries her medicines, she carries a mask and wears it … so again as a ‘Dr’ … you aint right again!
Congratulations on your energy efficiency! That is remarkable.
Let me see if I have understood your advice…
Install solar panel system
Replace all lights with LED
Purchase all new energy efficient rated appliances
Replace all windows with double pane or better
Replace all window shades with hd shades
Replace attic insulation
Add foam insulation to sun facing walls
Is that it?
Care to tell me how much all that cost?
Do you think you will save enough to break even on your investment during your lifetime?
I might as well spend $70K on an electric car too so I can spend money on electricity instead of gas while I’m at it.
BTW- I have asthma, so does my kid. Asthma stats are easy to find on line (about 20 deaths per year in CCC) You can check on all respiratory deaths if you want to.
A day late and a dollar short. Hope the smoke hasn’t been too bad.
We are missing the point here. This fire was started by a homeless encampment. It’s time to round up the vagrants. They can’t be allowed to live like this. It’s not good for them and it is causing fires all over the county. Urban camping is a crime and it’s time to get these folks into shelters or jails if they can’t obey the law.
Aron* has it right. It’s pretty bad . When all these agencies have to say ok to put water in a marsh land. Little much don’t you think. They don’t run out and pump the water when there’s a delta surg.
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The article cites but does not name “the owner”.
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Bad journalism!
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