It sure looks like it could be Eloise. Is the green healthy bit in the photo a shoot from below the graft union or just a lower vertical branch? If that healthy bit is from below the graft is it possible the graft has failed?
I would cut it out whether I was sure of it being fireblight or not because what do you have to lose?

It could be, I see dead tissue and needs to be cut well back, the sooner the better.

Looks more like a mechanical problem. Perhaps something bumped the branch and cracked it? Or a windstorm that did similar?

With fireblight, the tip growth is bent into the shape of a shepherd's crook and the affected leaves are black as if scorched. Might also see droplets of bacterial ooze.

See info at the link, below, about fireblight --
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7414.html

In any event, you would be wise to remove that dead part.

Here is a link that might be useful: fireblight at UC

Thank you Appleseed, Konrad and Jean. I will cut the dead branches later on this afternoon when it's cooler outdoors. Meanwhile I went and took a closer look, and photos. The green is all above the graft, and I did not see anything oozing or shepherd's crook. The branches that are dying are still green inside. But, I am sadden to find that I will most likely have to get rid of the entire tree. Towards the back of the trunk and the main branch where it branches out, the skin is black and easy to peel. Just got the tree last year, and it bore fruit this summer and they were delicious although small.

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Is that some wire I see around the trunk,..perhaps girdling it?

sure looks like wire

But the tree died below the "wire", at the base. If it was girdled by wire it would likely send out a riot of growth just beneath.

It's not like the fireblight I get here, which starts from the tips and goes downward into the wood with oozing as it approaches green wood and obvious canker. It looks as though something killed the cambium at the base of the tree- perhaps a fungal infection.

I would take the matter to a U.C. Davis pathologist before planting another tree. For about $30 you can have them scope it and report what can actually be seen. Use your county cooperative extension.

I didn't think you could grow yellow delicious in southern CA- supposed to need the chill hours of at least Z8. Maybe dying is a blessing.

It is wire that holds a name tag I made using a soda can. The wire is not tight on the trunk. Yesterday when I cut off the top dead section, the cambium on the part that was black was powdery brown. I've seen fb on a pear tree and this is a different color so perhaps harvestman is correct in that it fungal. Don't know if Yellow Delicious is supposed to grow in southern CA, but I bought it here at Costco and it was growing very well until now. The remainder of the tree will go out in the trash :-( Thanks all for your invaluable advice and information.

On the second last picture,..that nice healthy branch on the left,
it looks like the the rest is dead,..then pruning back to that branch
is what I would do,.. in no time, tree will make up for the loss if this problem the tree can overcome?

The question is more whether it can produce fruit there. I suggest you order your trees bare root from a west coast nursery, probably a smaller one so you can get advice on what will produce bountiful crops where you are.

Granny Smith, Fuji and Pink Lady would probably work (and produce apples far superior to what you are likely to buy) but there are two standard varieties whose names escape me that are especially bred for that climate- Oh yeah, one of them is Dorsett. When I lived there 30 years ago the only apple anyone one grew was called Beverly Hills.

Yes got fruit..

from above..
>>Just got the tree last year, and it bore fruit this summer and they were delicious although small.

It looks like some pathogen infected the trunk and that caused the top to die. Fireblight can directly strike the trunk so it could be that or some other pathogen. Usually fireblight damage looks almost black in a trunk strike, that looks a little lighter color but the pictures are hard to decipher.

Scott

harvestman, perhaps the other apple you are thinking of that grows well here is Anna, which I've had for several years and very productive. According to the 'label' that came with YD, it states that "this was specially selected for our Western U.S. climate" and requires 250 chill hours.

In googling diseases that affect apples, along with fb another possibility might be canker. Still haven't found enough info with good photos on that though. I cut off about 3-4 feet from the tree, and will see how it does before I get rid of it. Thanks all.