Are you sure it's FB? Anything showing in the tips, flagging tips?

That could be FB on the trunks but could also be something else, like winter injury. If there are no flagging, blackened branch tips I'd be thinking about what else it might be. Because if that's FB you whole tree is toast.

If you see disease only on the trunks, I am not sure it is fireblight. I have only seen fireblight on pears, not on apples, and am not an expert. But I was under the impression that the first sign is the 'burnt' look on leaves and smaller shoots or branches.

Looks like southwest injury aka sunscald.
If the shoots attached on the tree are not black and curled, I doubt its fireblight.

There are branches that have the typical shepherd's crook. When I first noticed this on the trunk of the Suntan I thought it may be Southwest damage, but this is on the Northeast. The thing is that the branches that are affected aren't damaged all the way down to the trunk but the trunk is showing signs of oozing and discoloration. Maybe I have a couple of things going on.

Southwest or winter injury probably won't be ozzing. It's usually loose dead bark. So with shepherd's crocks and ozzing, it's probably FB.

In looking at it again I think that the Suntan has SW disease but the Roxbury Russet and my Opalescent have FB.

I can remove the branches without much affect but should I wait till dormancy to cut into the trunk?

I don't cut into trunks for fireblight, I just put super thick tar on them. I think tree-kote is the brand I use. There is mixed opinion on whether you should do anything with fireblight on trunks, I did nothing for years but after this bizarre winter outbreak I started painting the trunk fireblight wounds to avoid that.

This year is my first year with almost no fireblight, in spite of plenty of ripe conditions. I removed all the susceptible varieties and that did the trick.

Scott

Update: My Roxbury Russet appears to have bit the dust. My Bramley's Seedling looks pretty bad too but I think I can salvage it. (a new shoot has come up just above the graft so I might just hack it off above that). Even my Red Clapp's Favorite pear hasn't been struck with anything.

I took scion from these trees a couple of months ago and they were alive then, so this is a mystery to me.

I bought a couple more trees from Cummin's and it looks like I can replace the RR, but will it be a problem to plant a new tree where the RR was? I got Hawaii and Pomme Gris.

I purchased Bonide Copper Fungicide. I guess I should have been spraying last year too but I have never had issues before. Will this be enough?

I'm in a quandary about whether I should try Roxbury Russet and Bramley's Seedling again, or if I should just let natural selection take over. Any thoughts? (Sorry, my thoughts are quite disjointed)

You can plant over the old tree. If a tree has been there for many years it is more of an issue but a young tree can be replaced without much problem.

I would be laying down a delayed dormant copper - spray at tight cluster or thereabouts. It makes a good dent in the FB. I finally got my FB under control by removing the late bloomers and quince. Bramley and Roxbury are not highly sensitive, mine are still going well and trees on all sides have been struck down.

Scott

Thanks, Scott. What brand do you use?