At around 10:30 p.m. on Aug. 23 in Concord, a fire broke out on Mount Diablo High School’s newly reconstructed football field, damaging the school’s logo and postponing the team’s first home games.

The event has shaken the Mount Diablo High community. 

“We’re devastated for the students because it was a brand new field,” said Theresa Brandt, public information officer for the Mount Diablo Unified School District.

“The football team was supposed to have their opening game on it, actually, they [were] supposed to play their first few games on it, and [then] they had to play at Concord High.”

The team was scheduled to play its third game at College Park High School.

Mount Diablo’s vice principal, Liz Mangelsdorf, said the exact damages on the field ranged from one side of the 35-yard line to the other side of the 40-yard line. The whole area was blocked off following the fire. 

As of mid-September, the source of the fire remained unknown.

“The Concord Police Department has been investigating that, [and] I have not heard anything,” said Mangelsdorf. “They have not found who did it. They have video of the [likely] five people walking onto the field, but that’s all that we have. They are not really identifiable.” 

Following the fire, the Mount Diablo field was closed off, with only its track open for use. Multiple school sports programs, such as physical education, women’s flag football and cross country had to find new places to practice and hold games moving forward. 

Initially, the school decided to use its grass field next to the football field as an alternative, but that brought a whole new set of problems.

“We’re already on a crunched field as it is with the JV flag team,” said the school’s head football coach and athletic director, Fetuao Mua. “Now that everybody has to be on the grass field, it’s just such an inconvenience.”

For example, “I’m trying to figure out spacing with lines, there are no line markers on the grass, so the team is just out there guessing, you know, what is seven yards, nine yards, what’s 12 yards, rather than having lines out there for us.” 

Mua also said the team had to practice twice with the sprinklers on, which created a muddy surface to play on. 

In response, other schools around the district have generously offered their fields to the Mount Diablo team, such as College Park High and Concord High.

Rather than dampening the team’s hopes, however, the fire seems to have actually had the opposite effect, bringing the school and the community closer together and building morale in a time of challenge.

“We are very fortunate to have the team that we have,” said Mua. “Our kids are good enough that you could put us on a plane, and we could play anywhere in the country.”

According to Brandt, the MDUSD Governing Board went through a process of review before approving Mount Diablo High School’s synthetic turf repair. 

The job is estimated to reach nearly $350,000 in total fiscal impact from the field’s damage. Repairs to the field were set to begin around Sept. 15, in order for the field to be ready to use by Sept. 22.

Insurance covered only part of the cost, said Brandt. “We are self-insured,” she said, so “there is a $250,000 deductible set into place and insurance will help pay for the rest of the cost of repairs.” 

It was also further said that the high school field is under a 12-year warranty system. On top of that, the school is going to have to make special orders for a new logo, to be replaced at a later date.

The district plans to replace the logo later this year and finalize field repairs by the end of September, according to Mangelsdorf. In the meantime, her message to students was clear.

“We’re all here to support our students and our student athletes, and the district is here to support our students and student athletes, and we will still come together as a school and celebrate our first home game, hopefully at the end of September,” Mangelsdorf said. 

In addition, the school’s homecoming game has been moved back from Oct. 19 to the night of Halloween, Oct. 31, when the Red Devils will take on Ignacio Valley.