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<\/p>\nShifting winds sent smoke from a planned wildfire intervention effort into San Francisco and western Contra Costa County.<\/p>\n
Sep 25, 2026<\/p>\n
Updated 3:32 pm PT<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Smoke from a prescribed burn on Angel Island lingers along the coast of Point Richmond the afternoon Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. Further burns have been put on hold for the remainder of the year due to air quality concerns. Smoke from a prescribed burn on Angel Island obscured views of the state park from Richmond on Wednesday. \u00a0(Brian Krans\/KQED)<\/p>\n
After a controlled burn on Angel Island<\/a> this week sent smoke into residential areas across the Bay Area \u2014 and pushed air quality along the Richmond coast above 400 on the Air Quality Index \u2014 regulators said they\u2019re now considering changing how permits are issued for future prescribed fires.<\/p>\n The saga began with a planned burn of 260 acres of the state park on Sept. 8. That attempt, however, was called off the following day, after discussions with the Bay Area Air District and complaints about smoke.<\/p>\n In planning a second attempt on Sept. 23 with California State Parks and Cal Fire, Andrea Polidori, deputy executive officer of science with the Bay Area Air District, said his staff reviewed weather conditions, multiple forecasts and lessons learned the first time.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOur meteorologists looked at conditions that are expected to minimize smoke impact in the community,\u201d Polidori said. \u201cThe forecast on that day indicated conditions favorable for smoke to rise and disperse into the atmosphere.\u201d<\/p>\n Instead, the prescribed burn on Angel Island had to be called off early for a second time, after smoke from the fires dramatically impacted air quality for residents nearby.\u00a0<\/p>\n Wednesday began as an atypically windless early fall morning on the Bay, which was remarkably still. Fire crews started burning at 10 a.m<\/a>.<\/p>\n But the wind shifted by the early afternoon, sending plumes of smoke to San Francisco and West Contra Costa County \u2014 the latter of which already has high rates of asthma<\/a> due to chronic air pollution from the fossil fuel and other industries.\u00a0<\/p>\n Smoke lingered over west Contra Costa County until the early evening hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n Gioia said he plans<\/a> to bring up the controlled burn permit review process at the air district\u2019s Oct. 7 board meeting<\/a> in San Francisco.\u00a0<\/p>\n Prescribed burns are an important part of forest management because they prevent larger, uncontrolled wildfires from being more destructive.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fire experts say controlled burns can only be safely done during small windows of time, while taking into consideration factors like weather conditions and predicted smoke movement, among other things.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ryan Forbes, a spokesperson for the State Parks Department, said that though the wind shifting pushed the smoke into residential areas, it was still a better scenario than if the smoke came from a wildfire because firefighters were already on the ground and had much greater control of when the fire started and ended.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t want to diminish in any way the impacts that can happen, particularly to those in sensitive groups, and that\u2019s another big reason \u2026 to do it as a prescribed burn,\u201d he said. \u201cIt makes it able for people to hopefully plan around this and try and mitigate those smoke impacts to themselves, as opposed with a wildfire, where we\u2019re not going to get much notice.\u201d<\/p>\n Forbes said that crews were able to burn 147 of the 260 acres they planned.<\/p>\n That could help lessen damage from a future wildfire, which requires fire equipment and personnel from off the island, which Forbes said is no simple task.<\/p>\n \u201cThe thing with Angel Island that makes that so scary is there\u2019s really only one landing craft in the Bay capable of moving fire trucks onto the island,\u201d Forbes said. \u201cIn the event that we have to respond to a fire on the island, getting resources over to stop it is a very potentially concerning task because you can only move so quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n Polidori apologized for any impact the smoke had on the community.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAs public servants, our role and our duty is to protect the health of the community that we serve,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is definitely an opportunity for us to go back, reassess the process, reassess the situation, and really try to do better next time.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_3685-KQED.jpg\")
Smoke from a prescribed burn on Angel Island lingers along the coast of Point Richmond on the afternoon of Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. Further burns have been put on hold for the remainder of the year due to air quality concerns.\u00a0(Brian Krans\/KQED)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_3684-KQED.jpg\")
Smoke from a prescribed burn on Angel Island lingers along the coast of Point Richmond on the afternoon of Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. Further burns have been put on hold for the remainder of the year due to air quality concerns.\u00a0(Brian Krans\/KQED)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/AngelIslandPrescribedBurn-KQED_4.jpg\")
Fire crews start a prescribed burn on Angel Island on Sept. 8. State Parks burned 62 acres but did not finish, following discussions with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District on the island.\u00a0(Courtesy of Cal Fire)<\/p>\n