North Shore Fire Bans Rescinded In Some Towns Despite 'Extreme' Drought

DANVERS, MA — Some North Shore cities and towns began to ease outdoor fire restrictions on Monday amid the cooler temperatures, higher relative humidity and recent rain.

Both Danvers and Middleton on Monday said the "extreme risk of outdoor fires spreading and growing quickly has declined significantly" and thus "the use of outdoor fire pits, fireplaces and chimineas is now allowed."

"Residents are reminded to continue using caution and common sense with any fire," the departments said.

Open burning season for brush in Danvers runs from Jan. 15 through May 1.

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The Peabody Fire Department posted a message on Saturday, however, saying: "It is still not safe to burn outdoors."

"While we did get minimal rain Thursday, it was not nearly what is needed to soak the ground, fallen foliage and debris from six weeks without rain," Peabody FD said. "Peabody Firefighters had two runs yesterday for illegal outside burning. Not only is it still dangerous to do so in these conditions, but it is illegal to burn without a permit outside of the legal time frame."

Peabody FD said the rain comes as "a welcome relief for those tired and worn-out firefighters."

"Please don't add to the workload of suppressing these fires."

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Two chances for rain in the coming days are expected to help ongoing drought conditions and further decrease brush fire dangers.

The North Shore remains under "extreme drought conditions," according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, which updates its drought status each Thursday.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)