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Smoke billows up from Massachusetts brush fires on Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024 looking north across Boston Harbor from Nantasket Beach. --Michael P. Norton/SHNS
Chris Lisinski | SHNS
Bay Staters should conserve water and avoid burning anything outdoors amid an "unprecedented" wildfire season that likely will not abate until significant rain -- or seasonal frost -- arrives, officials said Tuesday.
Warning of growing risks to fatigued firefighters, fire safety leaders and the Healey administration called on every household to play a role in ensuring crews have the resources they need and preventing new blazes from erupting.
"Now is not the time to burn leaves. Now is not the time to go outside and light a fire out back and sit around one of our stoves. It's just not that time," Healey said at a press conference in Middleton, which has had a wildfire burning for days. "My ask to the public is that you do everything you can to minimize the risks, to protect our communities, to conserve water, and to support our firefighters."
Healey did not announce any statewide limits on water use, but many communities have local restrictions in place during a drought deemed "critical" -- the second-highest level of severity -- in large areas. The Department of Conservation and Recreation previously banned open flames and charcoal fires in state parks.
Still, she sought to emphasize that everyone can play a role in helping first responders.
"It's really important that people do things like run their dishwasher less frequently. Make sure you're running your washing machine only at full capacity. Take shorter showers. I'm going to tell my kids: take shorter showers. Fix plumbing leaks immediately," Healey said. "This is important because we've got to conserve water because it's being used right now to fight these fires. And finally, most importantly, no outdoor fires while these conditions continue."
Three Massachusetts firefighters have been injured recently while battling the blazes, Healey said, and a volunteer forest ranger in New York died over the weekend responding to a fire about 35 miles northwest of New York City.
David Celino, DCR's chief fire warden, said all of the wildfires in Massachusetts "are human-caused" because no lightning systems have been in the area in October or November. He cautioned that with current dry and windy conditions, there's "no doubt" a campfire or burning debris will spread.
Celino added that his biggest concern is maintaining firefighter safety as crews spend long stretches battling blazes.
"Every day, every operational period that we go -- and we go long operational periods into the night -- every day that we go through, the fatigue factor starts to increase. When fatigue factor increases, decision-making starts to become a challenge," Celino said.
Massachusetts has logged a massive increase in wildland fires this fall. The latest data count 212 fires in October, which Healey described as a 1,200 percent increase over October 2023, and another 261 fires in the first 12 days of November.
That's a combined total of 473 fires burning 1,537 acres since Oct. 1 -- nearly as much area affected in a six-week span as the 1,676 acres that burned in wildfires across all of 2023.
In an average year, Massachusetts experiences about 15 brush fires in October and 20 more in November, a spokesperson for the state Department of Fire Services said.
Celino said a dry spell began around late August, and paltry rainfall since then created conditions in which fire can spread easily.
Officials say rainfall across Massachusetts was "well below average" in October, and some parts of the state recorded "their lowest rainfall ever."
"We have about 13 or 14 fires out there that went beyond that containment, and they're going to stay active now until we get a season-ending event that brings a lot of precipitation, or snow, or finally, frost in the ground," Celino said. "These fires are not going to go out."
State Fire Marshal Jon Davine urged residents to use caution not just with outdoor fires, but also anything that could create sparks or embers like power equipment. He said anyone who notices smoke or flames nearby should call 911 immediately.
"Any fire will spread quickly and will become very difficult to control," Davine said. "The fire will burn wide and it will burn deep into the ground."
