They have a seasonal force of 54.
This is down from the early 1980s when they had, in addition to 16 Patrolmen, 53 fulltime firefighters who worked both on apparatus and towers as needed, plus 104 seasonal firefighters.
By Brian Lee TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
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Recent significant brush fires after record rainfalls have surprised some people, a state official said.
But all the ingredients, including the aftereffects of the December 2008 ice storm, are in place for such fires, said David Celino, the state’s chief forest fire warden in the state Department of Conservation and Recreation.
“It does take the public by surprise, especially when we have open burning through May 1,” Mr. Celino said. “People, coming off the rains with historical flooding, look at the idea of having a fire threat as not there, when in fact it’s easy to get escape fires with this kind of a weather pattern.”
Among the incidents was last week’s 350-acre brushfire on Tekoa Mountain in the western Massachusetts town of Russell. State officials put together a 20-person crew out of the DCR to contain it within two days, Mr. Celino said.
In Central Massachusetts, there was an estimated 55-acre brush fire in Dudley Tuesday. It was in a heavily wooded area between Hayden Pond and Corbin and Baker Pond roads near the Charlton and Oxford lines.
It took about six hours and firefighters from six surrounding towns and the DCR to extinguish the fire, according to Dudley Fire Capt. David J. Konieczny, whose department walked the area Wednesday to make sure it was completely out.
Earlier this month there was a six-acre brush fire on the south scenic face of Mount Pisgah Conservation Area Trail in Northboro.
According to Mr. Celino, in many cases the ice storm increased the volume of tree limbs and branches on the ground, particularly in central and northern Worcester County, into Hampshire and Franklin counties and central and northern Berkshire County at elevations higher than 1,000 feet.
A year later the fuels on the ground have cured in the affected areas, creating the problem, he said.
After a year of curing, and with the recent rains, the area has seen fine fuels such as leaf litter, sticks and twigs become main carriers for some fires, he said.
The rainfalls were followed by dry air from the Arctic region. The low humidity and dew points can essentially dry out in less than a day the light surface fuels, Mr. Celino said.
Add to it southerly warm and dry winds and it makes for high fire danger, he said.
Capt. Konieczny of Dudley said he was impressed that the fire was first seen from a DCR fire observation tower in Princeton, quite a distance from a tower in Charlton that was not staffed at the time.
Mr. Celino said there was good visibility that day.
“The Dudley fire was a great example of how we were able to make the best of what we have,” he said. “The towers were able to locate that fire and then we were able to put state resources on the fire to help get containment.”
However, staffing levels in the towers concern Northboro Fire Chief David M. Durgin, who said he believed it played a factor in the Mount Pisgah fire. He said fire towers in Princeton and Sudbury were not staffed at the time, so they couldn’t see it.
“That’s why the fire ended up being as large as it was, six acres, and no early notification,” he said.
In October, Chief Durgin wrote his local legislators stating his concern about potential DCR staffing levels as a result of budget cuts.
“It’s a case where the state is saving money, but the cities and towns, even if someone had been put in those two towers on overtime that day, it would have been cheaper than the ultimate costs of the number of towns I had to bring in mutual aid to extinguish that fire,” he said.
Mr. Celino said the tower program is his agency’s top priority.
“We know that it’s valuable to the fire service, getting early detection, and so even though we did go through part of a staff reduction plan, we realized that the tower program is a priority,” he said.
Its seasonal roster reflected that concern, as seasonal workers were brought in earlier than usual this year, he said.
There are more than 40 fire towers statewide. Most are staffed by seasonal workers, Mr. Celino said. The agency is employing 54 seasonal workers throughout the state through the first week of October.
During high fire danger days the state can staff about 22 towers, depending on what the shifts are, he said.
“If we can get anywhere from 17 to 22 of those towers up, and those are our key towers, they provide us pretty good coverage across the state,” Mr. Celino said.
The DCR has 13 district fire wardens and six patrolmen who work with towns during fire season, as well as with the seasonal workers, he said.
Last October, 15 patrolmen received layoff notices but only two were laid off. Six jobs were saved with federal stimulus money, and seven went elsewhere in the agency through bargaining rights, Mr. Celino said.
State Sen. Stephen M. Brewer, D-Barre, said his office has been in touch with the state office of Energy and Environmental Affairs and the DCR. They were told that the federal stimulus money that was allotted at the beginning of this season will last for two seasons to keep the towers manned.
“The challenge for the forest fire issue is what happens when the federal stimulus money goes away?” the senator said, adding he hoped that things would get better as the economy improves.
Because some forest fires along the Route 2 corridor are caused by train sparks, he said he would be “more than happy to go after the railroads” for liability.
“If Joe Six-Pack threw a cigarette they’d be going after him, that’s for sure,” Mr. Brewer said.
Patricia A. Correia, fire warden in northern Worcester County, was at a three-acre brush fire Wednesday at Bearsden Conservation Area in Athol. She said its cause was most likely the railroad that runs through the conservation area.
