KQED61%

First Big Bay Area Wildfire Scare of the Season Makes No Movement Overnight 47%

By Samantha Kennedy26%

7/18/2026, 7:07:02 PM

BS Summary: This article contains 11 faulty reasoning types, including Optimism Bias, Anchoring Bias, and Status Quo Bias, with Anecdotal as the most egregious example at 20.9% saturation with 67 hits. Analysis detected 349 faulty-reasoning hits from 321 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 48.5% and a BS Rank of 47% (11,716 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 53.50% of the article peer group.

Firefighters are optimistic that a wildfire burning in unincorporated Contra Costa County since Friday afternoon won’t expand, after reporting no forward progress overnight. 
Evacuation warnings for the approximately 51-acre blaze, known as the Morgan Fire, near Mount Diablo have been lifted and containment is at 30%, according to Cal Fire. 
“We likely won’t reach 100% containment today, but we’re pretty confident that we’ll keep the fire within the footprint it is now at that 51 acres,” said Marcus Hernandez, unit chief for Cal Fire’s Santa Clara unit. 
The fire  which was estimated to be around 125 acres in its first hours, before being revised by Cal Fire to its current size thanks to “better mapping”  initially alarmed some residents, and deterred at least one from recreating on Mount Diablo this weekend. 
“Uh, yeah. 
Don’t go,” one person wrote in response to a social media user asking whether they should go hiking in the area. 
The incident was reported to the agency around 3:15 p.m. on Friday at Morgan Territory and Marsh Creek roads. 
By around 10 p.m. on Friday, forward progress had been stopped. 
The Contra Costa Community Warning System gave the “All clear” to those in evacuation warning zones at 6:50 a.m. 
Hernandez said that there will be 23 engines and two helicopters working to knock the fire down today, with resources also coming from Contra Costa and Sonoma county departments. 
Cal Fire reports that 242 personnel are battling the fire. 
There have been no reports of damaged structures, but Hernandez said that one firefighter was treated for a minor injury. 
That injury was first reported at 7:45 a.m. 
Saturday. 
Cal Fire is investigating the cause, with an officer from the agency collecting data at the site yesterday, according to Hernandez. 
Hernandez said that crews will continue working through the day to contain the fire. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 1.1%CalMatters: 1.9%Confirmation Bias0.0%This article: 14.3%Samantha Kennedy: 1.3%CalMatters: 0.9%Anchoring Bias14.3%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 2.7%CalMatters: 3.0%Availability Heuristic0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 0.9%CalMatters: 1.0%Representativeness Heuristic0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 0.3%CalMatters: 0.5%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 11.5%Samantha Kennedy: 1.1%CalMatters: 1.2%Overconfidence Bias11.5%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 4.3%CalMatters: 6.3%Framing Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 0.6%CalMatters: 1.0%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 14.3%Samantha Kennedy: 0.9%CalMatters: 0.7%Status Quo Bias14.3%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 0.0%CalMatters: 0.2%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 18.7%Samantha Kennedy: 4.2%CalMatters: 3.5%Optimism Bias18.7%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 1.3%CalMatters: 1.4%Pessimism Bias0.0%This article: 6.2%Samantha Kennedy: 6.7%CalMatters: 6.4%Negativity Bias6.2%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 1.2%CalMatters: 1.7%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 0.7%CalMatters: 0.7%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 0.2%CalMatters: 0.2%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 2.4%CalMatters: 1.7%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 0.4%CalMatters: 0.4%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 1.0%CalMatters: 2.7%Halo Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 0.0%CalMatters: 0.1%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 0.0%CalMatters: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 3.4%Samantha Kennedy: 1.3%CalMatters: 0.9%Recency Bias3.4%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 0.2%CalMatters: 0.3%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 0.0%CalMatters: 0.0%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 0.6%CalMatters: 0.6%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 0.0%CalMatters: 0.2%Straw Man0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 2.5%CalMatters: 3.1%Appeal to Authority0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 0.9%CalMatters: 1.1%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 1.3%CalMatters: 0.8%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 0.2%CalMatters: 0.1%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 3.5%CalMatters: 3.6%Hasty Generalization0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 0.2%CalMatters: 0.2%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 0.6%CalMatters: 0.7%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 4.7%CalMatters: 5.3%Appeal to Emotion0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 0.5%CalMatters: 0.6%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 2.5%CalMatters: 2.0%Post Hoc (False Cause)0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 0.1%CalMatters: 0.1%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 0.6%CalMatters: 0.3%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 0.0%CalMatters: 0.2%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 0.7%CalMatters: 0.2%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 20.9%Samantha Kennedy: 2.4%CalMatters: 3.1%Anecdotal20.9%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 0.0%CalMatters: 0.0%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 1.5%CalMatters: 1.2%Ambiguity (Equivocation)0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 0.0%CalMatters: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 0.1%CalMatters: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 0.0%CalMatters: 0.1%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 0.1%CalMatters: 0.1%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 0.3%CalMatters: 0.1%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.6%Samantha Kennedy: 1.1%CalMatters: 0.8%Unattributed Quote0.6%This article: 0.6%Samantha Kennedy: 1.1%CalMatters: 0.7%Quote-first Misdirection0.6%This article: 11.5%Samantha Kennedy: 1.7%CalMatters: 3.1%Biased Writer Voice11.5%This article: 6.5%Samantha Kennedy: 2.3%CalMatters: 1.9%Indoctrination6.5%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 1.4%CalMatters: 1.1%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 0.0%CalMatters: 0.1%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Kennedy: 0.2%CalMatters: 1.2%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

321 words analyzed.

Speakers

3speakers55%attributed speech144writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 13 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 23 words • 0.0% coverageCal Fire • 27 words • 0.0% coverageMarcus Hernandez • 37 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 46 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 2 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 21 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 19 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 11 words • 0.0% coverageContra Costa Community Warning System • 19 words • 0.0% coverageMarcus Hernandez • 29 words • 0.0% coverageCal Fire • 10 words • 0.0% coverageMarcus Hernandez • 20 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 8 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 1 words • 0.0% coverageMarcus Hernandez • 21 words • 0.0% coverageMarcus Hernandez • 14 words • 0.0% coverage
Selected voice

Marcus Hernandez

47%flagged-word coverage
121 attributed words68% of attributed speech72% writer coverage
0%17.5%35.0%Biased Writer Voice+30.6 ptsWriter: 0.0%Marcus Hernandez: 30.6%30.6%Indoctrination-14.6 ptsWriter: 14.6%Marcus Hernandez: 0.0%0.0%Unattributed Quote-1.4 ptsWriter: 1.4%Marcus Hernandez: 0.0%0.0%Quote-first Misdirection-1.4 ptsWriter: 1.4%Marcus Hernandez: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.