Wayland Firefighters Battle Five-Acre Brush Fire Overnight

WAYLAND, MA - No one was injured Wednesday night in a five-acre brush fire that burned near the Pod Meadow Conservation Area in Wayland.

The Wayland Fire Department responded with both on-duty and off-duty firefighters after a passing police officer noticed flames off Old Connecticut Path and Hawthorne Road at about 1:30 a.m. Thursday.

Wayland Fire Chief David Houghton said in a statement that crews arrived on the scene near the Pod Meadow Conservation area to find a "large wooded area burning towards houses and down a large hill into town-owned property referred to as Pod Meadow." The fire ultimately came within about 100 feet of a structure, Houghton said.

Incident Commander Capt. James Gemelli responded to the size of the blaze by calling in off-duty Wayland firefighters and requesting mutaul aid from Sudbury Fire, for their brush truck, and Framingham Fire for an engine to cover fire headquarters.

Firefighters were able to contain the fire within about an hour, but spent about four hours battling the blaze over difficult terrain consisting of a large hills and multiple downed trees. Crews cleared the scene at 5:58 a.m., and a small team will return Thursday morning to ensure no hot spots have reignited.

Houghton said it is rare to see brush fire of this size at this time of year but the lack of rain and snow this winter have created unusually dry conditions. Furhtermore, Houghton said, there were no burn permits issued for the day in that neighborhood and the area is town-owned land anyway. For those reasons, the fire is considered suspicious.

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