Moraga, CA – Firefighters from the Moraga-Orinda Fire District (MOFD) are conducting a prescribed burn today, January 13, in the open space behind St. Mary’s College practice fields. The burn, which is part of the Tunnel/East Bay Hills Shaded Fuel Break project, is scheduled to run from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., depending on air quality conditions.
The project is designed to reduce wildfire hazards, maintain the shaded fuel break, and improve conditions for native plants and wildlife. MOFD is coordinating the burn with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to ensure safety and minimize impacts on the community.
Residents in nearby areas, including Bollinger Canyon and St. Mary’s College, may see or smell smoke during the burn. Officials advise residents to close exterior doors and windows to prevent smoke from entering their homes.
Weather conditions are being closely monitored. If conditions become unfavorable, the burn will be stopped and rescheduled. Safety remains a top priority for MOFD.
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Your article is well timed and certainly should point people toward the excellent and lengthy Chronicle piece.
However, looking at the state map of “at risk” areas, most of Orinda and Moraga are, in fact, outside of the high risk zones. The higher risk areas defined on the map, in red, are largely in the Oakland Hills (scene of the devastating fire in 1991) and to the north, principally on East Bay Municipal Utility District property. The latter area is grossly underserviced by EBMUD: they need to remove massive numbers of dead and dying trees around the San Pablo Reservoir right in the middle of the high risk area defined on the state map.
The open areas south of Moraga’s most densely occupied region (which again, are not in the red or yellow high risk zones) are largely ranch lands or sparsely-occupied hillsides as in Canyon.
The high risk areas actually in Orinda and south of the EBMUD watershed surrounding the San Pablo Reservoir consist primarily of a strip along the north and northwest sides of the city. This area has repeatedly been addressed by MOFD which has taken a very proactive role in reducing the fire risk in this area to lower the risk of any fire spreading to the areas of central Orinda, including its small downtown area, already defined as lower risk. In fact, MOFD has obtained funding from the state to mitigate risk from a fire along north Orinda, which would be at risk to spread by winds from the north-north-east.
On the subject of exit routes: perhaps you mean Moraga Way rather than Moraga Road as the greater potential bottleneck.
Moraga Way is the major means of the populous southern half of Orinda (south of SR 24) and most of Moraga. Just look at the traffic any school day just after 8 a.m.
Thank you for the article; Lamorinda is becoming more “firewise” with each day watching the fires in the Los Angeles area.
Jim Landau
Orinda, CA
Yes we meant Moraga Way! Will update that