Malden Fire Department Notes Uptick In Brush Fires

MALDEN, MA — Malden fire personnel have seen a nearly fivefold increase in the number of fires involving vegetation, brush and/or other natural landscaping materials this summer compared to fires a year ago, according to Fire Chief William Sullivan.

Far from the only area community facing these issues, Malden is noting at times lengthy operations in the large wooded areas of the Middlesex Fells Reservation, among other locations, Sullivan said.

“This has been an extremely dry spring and early summer with significant drought conditions being reported in our area,” Sullivan told Patch this week. “This lack of rainfall has allowed wooded areas to dry out to the point that it doesn't take much for a fire to start and spread quickly.”

The Malden Fire Department responded to 29 such fire incidents between May 1 and Wednesday afternoon, according to Sullivan. In comparison, he said, department records showed just six responses in the same span in 2021 and seven in 2020.

While these vegetation, brush and/or landscaping fires have taken place in multiple locations around Malden, Sullivan said the incidents in the Fells, which includes portions of Malden, Medford, Melrose, Stoneham and Winchester, have been particularly taxing, requiring more resources.

Certain fires, Sullivan said, have then required extra help from Melrose, Medford and Stoneham crews in addition to state Department of Conservation and Recreation resources.

“At these incidents, we are all working together to confine and extinguish the fire in a coordinated effort,” Sullivan said.

In Stoneham, Fire Chief Matthew Grafton said his firefighters have seen flames and embers boring deep into layers of debris on forest floors.

Grafton estimated at least six fire responses to the Fells from his department in the week between July 20 and July 27. One blaze in Stoneham on Tuesday morning took between three and four hours to extinguish, he said, drawing on more than 5,000 gallons of water.

“There’s never fires in there, so, it’s not burning,” Grafton said, referencing the ample amount of kindling left available when fires have ignited this summer.

In some cases, Grafton said, firefighters have left a scene only to see embers rekindle. As such, he said, Stoneham crews have repeatedly returned to at least two problem areas in their slice of the Fells in recent days and weeks.

State officials warned last week that overall fire activity had increased across Eastern Massachusetts.

With drought conditions lingering, Sullivan said residents should keep certain safety measures in mind, additionally calling on community members who smoke outside to fully extinguish materials in a metal container filled with sand or water.

Grafton said that no one should be lighting any sort of fire inside a forested area like the Fells. Anyone who does see smoke, he said, should call 9-1-1 and provide as much information as possible to help crews quickly locate a fire.

“Everyone should be very careful and cautious,” Grafton said.