By Lincoln Fire Chief Brian J. Young
Unfortunately, due to lack of precipitation and high temperatures, we did not allow open burning last week. The state does not allow open burning after May 1 so we are nearing the deadline. We are optimistic that we will get some rain early this week and conditions will improve before the end of the burning season.
The district has already had a lot of brush fires recently, but we also want to do our best to allow residents to use the spring window to burn. To clarify the decision-making process, I wanted to share our criteria for good burning conditions.
There are two considerations we look at: fire weather and air quality. Fire weather is a combination of humidity, wind, and temperature. We have two different scales for this, the Haines index (1-6), and the state fire danger scale (1-5 Smokey the Bear sign) put out by DCR. When a high Haines index combines with high wind, we do not allow burning.
The second factor, air quality, is given to us by the Massachusetts DEP. Although the local towns can decide if burning is allowed during marginally poor fire weather, we cannot allow burning when the DEP issues a poor air quality alert.
One of the most dangerous conditions is high wind. Wind will not only increase the size of the fire but also push it to unburnt dry sources. Last week in Weston, windblown embers from a house fire sparked a brush fire that moved almost 200 feet downwind before fire crews could contain it. The wind is not always consistent throughout the day, so a day that predicts gusts of over 20 mph will be dangerous for outside burning.
Red flag warnings may be issued by the state, a red flag warning means that critical fire weather conditions are either occurring now or will shortly. Any fires that start may spread rapidly and become difficult to extinguish.
I am optimistic we will have good conditions this week, but we often have poor fire weather in April due to dead vegetation and high winds. Please remember in the future that February and March are the safest months to burn.
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