SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — There won’t be any more fires on Angel Island this year — at least, none set intentionally. Cal Fire has called off all prescribed burning on the island after its latest operation sent smoke across the bay and into neighborhoods. The prescribed burn would have helped prevent wildfires and care for the Angel Island ecosystem. It was cut short hours after it started on Sept. 8, when communities like Richmond and North Berkeley saw large amounts of smoke. Despite the impact, crews decided to resume work on Sept. 23 and were met with a similar outcome. This time, smoke blew into San Francisco as well. Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia, who is also a board member for the Bay Area Air District, believes the incidents demonstrate a systemic flaw in the prescribed burn approval process.
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“The Air District’s meteorologist reviews weather patterns and makes a final determination on whether the burn will go forward,” said Gioia. “[On Sept. 23] they made a decision that winds would not blow the fire towards populated areas. They were wrong and all of us were negatively impacted…The system failed twice.”
Gioia said he would work to figure out exactly what went wrong and how to fix it in the future.
As far as this particular operation at Angel Island, the method of burning may have contributed to the volume of smoke. Although prescribed pile burns are common on Angel Island, this was the island’s first “broadcast burn” since the 1990s. During broadcast burns, crews ignite an area of land instead of individual piles of vegetation. The strategy can help clear larger areas and bulkier pieces of vegetation that may be difficult to gather. This project aimed to clear 260 acres of pine needles, coastal scrub and other vegetation that had been accumulating for decades.
Even if split into multiple, smaller operations, broadcast burns generally produce more total smoke and higher emissions of fine particles than pile burns. They also require vegetation to be dry enough to carry a flame, according to Parks officials…