Con Fire begins flooding area to extinguish long-burning peat fire

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CA (July 16, 2022) —Con Fire, along with Contra Costa Water District and some outside vendors began implementing a plan to flood the Marsh fire that has continued to smolder for more than 6 weeks.

The original fire began the early afternoon of May 28 in a homeless encampment near Suisun and Solano Avenues in Bay Point. It originally burned approximately 200 acres. This completely destroyed the homeless encampment.

The fire occurred in a largely inaccessible area with no structures or inhabitants and created a lingering and stubborn fire. The fire burned into large amounts of peat in the area throughout the ensuing weeks. Since then, it consumed additional vegetation and intermittently produced noticeable smoke, depending on weather conditions.

To end the ongoing smoke hazard, crews began flooding the entire area on Friday. They hope that this will finally put an end to it.

Crews working with the property owner plan to bring more pumps online to increase flow. It will likely require millions of gallons of water, and up to a week, to mitigate the smoke.

Before it was contained, the fire consumed approximately 500 acres as of July 11. Peat fires are notoriously stubborn. Often, fire fighters must leave them, for lack of alternatives, to burn themselves out.