Newton often has issues with high water tables and flooding. But this month, the opposite is cause for concern.
New England is in the midst of a drought. And it’s especially dry in much of eastern Massachusetts, including Newton, which the state has put under a “significant drought” alert.
“Normally Boston has about 3-to-4 inches of rain per month, and we’ve only had a couple inches of rain over the last three months,” Boston University Professor and Newton resident Richard Primack said.
Yards and parks around Newton show how bad the drought has become.
“My wife has a well for her garden, and we can see that the water table is very low,” Primack continued. “The vernal ponds, which have water in them some of the time, are all dry. The streams are really low. A lot of streams aren’t running.”
The lack of rain has also created a hazard for wildfire season.
“We saw the effects of this, the premature falling of leaves on a lot of trees in August rather than in September this year, so the leaves fell early,” Primack explained. “But also, a very peculiar feature this year is that there’s a lot of accumulation of leaves on the ground, and they’re very dry.”
With rain every couple of days (as is typical in New England), fallen autumn leaves get wet and mushy. Without rain, the leaves dry out and create layers of flammable danger.
“If a fire starts, it’s going to burn faster and more intensely and be harder to control than in past years,” Primack said.
Primack suggests residents take extra time to rake all the leaves from their yards so that if a fire breaks out, there’s less chance of it impacting homes.
Protecting Newton
The city is monitoring the drought and urging residents to take extra precautions to avoid brush fires.
“Months without meaningful rainfall, abundant dead leaves and vegetation, bright sunshine, and gusty winds make the current and expected weather conditions ripe for wildfires,” Newton Fire Chief Greg Gentile said.
Massachusetts has already seen a spike in wildfire activity this year. Last month, Newton had poor air quality as smoke drifted in from two separate fires on the North Shore.
“Statewide, fires in October rose 1,200% above the historical average, and the 133 fires reported in the first week of November represent more than six times the average for the entire month,” Gentile said.
Firefighters have extinguished 22 brush fires in Newton in just the past month alone, with two resulting in property damage, Gentile noted.
“The cause of almost all of these fires in Massachusetts has been human activity and can be prevented by limiting outdoor activity that involves open flames, sparks and embers, hot engines or gasoline from power equipment, and other ignition sources,” Gentile said.
Gentile is asking everyone in Newton to follow basic precautions to avoid starting brush fires:
Dispose of cigarettes in designated containers and not on the ground, especially in grassy or wooded areas.
Open burning (including bonfires and brush burning) is not allowed in Newton or surrounding communities.
Anyone who sees any fire hazards or witnesses unsafe burning practices should notify local authorities.