Smoke May Be Visible From 2-Day Lamorinda Prescribed Burn

LAMORINDA, CA — Residents in certain parts of Lamorinda may see or smell smoke Tuesday and Wednesday during a two-day prescribed burn project by the Moraga-Orinda Fire District.

Should the weather and other conditions remain favorable, the agency was scheduled to conduct a two-day burn in the Bear Creek Road area of Orinda, just north of Sleepy Hollow. From around 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, firefighters planned to burn piled materials in the North Orinda Shaded Fuel Break.

During these times, some smoke may be visible to residents in the Sleepy Hollow and North Orinda neighborhoods, and to drivers on Bear Creek Road, the fire district said on its Facebook page.

The agency advised residents to close exterior doors and windows to prevent smoke from entering their homes.

"MOFD is coordinating the project with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to ensure the burn is conducted safely and with minimal smoke impacts to the community," the fire district said. "Safety is the number one priority. If burning conditions become unfavorable the project will be rescheduled."

The 1,429-acre North Orinda Shaded Fuel Break project was completed in 2019 and helps protect residents in the communities of Lafayette, Moraga and Orinda, collectively known as Lamorinda, from a wildfire approaching from open space to the north and northeast. This area receives seasonal Foehn winds in the fall, also known as Diablo winds, that were the dominant influence in several major nearby wildfires, including the 1991 Tunnel Fire in the Berkeley/Oakland Hills and the 1923 Berkeley Hills Fire. Foehn winds are hot, dry off-shore winds that have been a contributor to many of California’s most destructive fires and can drive mega-fires that exceed initial firefighting capacity.

The North Orinda Shaded Fuel Break project — along 19.3 miles of open space in the East Bay between the eastern portions of Tilden Regional Park and Pleasant Hill Road near Acalanes High School — reduces dangerous wildfire fuels in a deliberate manner designed to minimize environmental impacts on wildlife and protected plants.