Large Massachusetts Brush Fires Challenge Firefighters Amid Drought

WAKEFIELD, MA — Crews in Rockport saw wildfires in the area burn through wetlands and threaten more than 30 homes before being contained last week.

Smoke has also billowed from large fires in the nearby Lynn Woods Reservation in Lynn and the Breakheart Reservation in Saugus and Wakefield, as well as other locations in Marlborough, Natick, Braintree and Georgetown.

For first responders, it’s an atypical fire season posing plenty of challenges and dangers. The conditions, Department of Conservation and Recreation Chief Fire Warden Dave Celino told Patch, aren’t letting up.

“It’s been a busy few months,” Celino said on Friday.

Fires Push Past Fire Season

Massachusetts has a fire season. But it usually ends as the region moves into the summer. Green landscapes don’t typically provide the type of fuel fires need to ignite and ramp up, Celino said.

“When we're in drought conditions like this, our world changes,” he said.

Nearly 40% of Massachusetts, including much of the state’s Eastern portion, is in a level three “extreme drought” according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Celino said crews have seen the drought strain local ecosystems, forcing trees to drop their leaves weeks or even months before they otherwise would have. That, combined with dying and drying brush on the forest floor has left areas ripe to burn more intensely than typical.

As a measure of that intensity, flames have been burning between 15 and 20 inches into the ground, according to Celino.

These numbers, Celino said, are in stark contrast to more typical springtime fires that only burn the top inch or two of the forest floor.

Those shallow fires generally spare the lives of trees in the areas where they burn. These fires, Celino said, may not.

Firefighters Face Hazards

Be it Rockport, Saugus, Lynn or Marlborough, crews are facing dangerous conditions, Celino said.

While there had been no injuries this year for Department of Conservation and Recreation personnel as of Friday, Celino said he was aware of scattered injuries among municipal responders across the state.

Days into lengthy fire responses, he said, fatigue or stress-related injuries become more common, ranging from twisted ankles, to falls, to heat exhaustion. Hot burning fires are also taking down trees, making for especially hazardous situations.

“It’s long, physical, grueling work day after day,” Celino said.

Massachusetts’ brand of development in and around forested areas adds another dimension to the fire responses, Celino said, with crews suddenly seeing flames reach within striking distance of homes.

In one spot in Rockport, Celino said, recent fires threatened more than 30 homes.

“That fire burned aggressively and hot, right up against the neighborhood,” he said.

Crews were eventually able to beat back flames, sparing area homes.

Fires Likely To Smolder

Fires in Rockport challenged crews, persisting for more than a month while being fanned by changing weather conditions amid the region’s drought.

In at least one location, the fires burned through a wetland.

“When we see that kind of fire behavior here in the Northeast, that's pretty telling of how serious a drought condition you're in,” Celino said.

Entering the last full week of August, the Rockport fires are finally contained, still burning, but no longer expanding, according to Celino.

That has let personnel shift attention to other fires, with NBC Boston reporting on Saturday that the Breakheart Fire was the new "priority fire" for state and National Guard personnel. On Sunday, the National Guard was overhead in Saugus and Wakefield, dropping water from a helicopter to aid in the fire response.

Celino said an aggressive “mop up” strategy worked to contain the Rockport fires. A similar strategy could work in places like Breakheart and the Lynn Woods, he said.

Even so, Celino said flames will continue to burn within contained fires, likely making smoke a persistent part of the coming weeks for area community members.

“There's a lot of fuel in the ground,” Celino said. “Unless you’re addressing every square foot on the landscape, you're just not going to get into 100% out.”

Moving forward, Celino discussed success in state, local and federal partnerships through the National Guard. He said he would like to see more of that type of response.

“It's pretty obvious that that's what we need nationally,” he said.

At the local level, Celino said this summer season has made at least one truth abundantly clear —“This summer in Massachusetts shows that the Northeast and the state of Massachusetts is not a stranger to wildfire activity,” he said.

PHOTOS: Helicopters Fly Water-Drop Routes Over Breakheart Reservation Fires