Breakheart Reservation Fires Burn Through 5th Day In Saugus

SAUGUS, MA — Firefighters continued to battle flames in the woods of the Breakheart Reservation in Saugus and Wakefield on Saturday, slogging through another day of fire as smoke hung a thick haze over much of the region.

Five days into what has now grown into a series of large fires at Breakheart, area crews redoubled warnings while noting a local fire response network stretched thin by recent activity.

“Please remember, we are seeing extremely dry conditions which allow small fires to spread and grow quickly,” the Rowley Fire Department wrote in a post to social media on Saturday.

Rowley crews were in Saugus alongside Saugus Firefighters, Department of Conservation and Recreation personnel and crews from a number of other area departments.

Topsfield firefighters were at the Breakheart Reservation on Friday. On Saturday, they were back in the area to provide mutual aid for a house fire in North Reading.

“Typically Topsfield firefighters wouldn’t respond to a fire to assist (North Reading Fire Department) until the 4th alarm,” the department said. “However with the region’s resources spread as thin as they are and have been recently, Topsfield was moved up substantially.”

Area firefighters have been kept busy in recent days in particular, with fires at the Breakheart Reservation coinciding a similar large-scale fires at the nearby Lynn Woods Reservation.

These come as crews have finally contained a more than month-long fire in Rockport that prompted Gov. Charlie Baker to deploy the National Guard last week.

The Breakheart fires started on Tuesday and are being considered “suspicious” according to fire officials. They had burned at least 25 acres as of Thursday night, with officials expecting the burn area to grow in the coming days.

The reservation reopened intermittently in recent days before the Department of Conservation and Recreation announced that it would remain closed through the end of the day on Sunday.

Crews on Saturday were seen set up in multiple locations around the reservation, with a contingent of firefighters operating off Main Street in Saugus near the Saugus/Wakefield line.

The Boxford Fire Department detailed its Saturday contributions in a social media post, explaining that crews had helped pull water to the Breakheart fire line from one of the reservation’s lakes.

“The fire burned deep and hot,” Boxford firefighters wrote. “Several trees had to be dropped as they burned up the core and (through) the base.”

Departments on Saturday acknowledged lingering fire conditions and persistent smoke from both the Lynn Woods and Breakheart reservations.

Motorists and residents, meanwhile, saw smoke drifting for miles in several directions, hanging particularly heavy in portions of Wakefield and Saugus along Route 1 and the Lynn Fells Parkway on Saturday afternoon.

A warning remained on a mobile sign in Saugus sharing some of that information.

“Caution,” the sign said. “Smoke on parkway due to wildfire.”