Dozens of brush fires are continuing to cause problems across Massachusetts. And the flames from those fires are creating widespread haze.
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Dozens of brush fires are continuing to wreak havoc across Massachusetts. And those unyielding flames are still creating widespread haze in parts of the state.
We’re told crews will be back out on Traders Way on Wednesday morning to continue fighting the brush fire in Salem Woods. It's the second active wildfire in Salem this week.
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This one is about 7 acres and sparked Tuesday. The other one is much larger – about 170 acres burned – between Spring Lake and Highland Avenue on the south side of Salem by Walmart. The good news is that one is about 95% contained.
Smoke from both fires made for "very unhealthy" air quality indexes in several Salem neighborhoods on Tuesday, leading Salem High to dismiss students early and an elementary school on that campus to move students to another school away from the smoke.
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Salem’s mayor says with Haunted Happenings ramping up to Halloween on Thursday, his office is in constant contact with organizers. But so far, events are not being canceled.
They’re just urging people to be smart about it and avoid as much exposure to the wildfire smoke as possible.
“A lot of the events in Salem – the haunted houses, the balls, those kinds of attractions are indoors, the museums and so forth," Salem Mayor Dominick Pangallo said. "But there’s a lot of outdoor activity as well, not only trick or treating, but also people watching, walking tours that happen around town, so if you are out and about and the smoke is troublesome to you, you may want to have a high quality mask with you just to be able to protect yourself.”
The rain overnight likely won’t extinguish these fires completely, but it should hopefully help a little, and firefighters here will take any break they can get.
The state Department of Conservation and Recreation has also put a temporary ban on all open flame and charcoal fires at state parks to try to reduce the risk for additional fires.
