It has been plagued by forest fires across the region for a week. A trifecta of extensively dried brush/debris, falling humidity and gusty winds have combined to create a particularly dangerous situation today. Earlier this week, a firefighter sadly died battling a large fire on Lamentation Mountain in Connecticut, and the past 24 hours have brought smaller wildfires to our local communities.

The first red flag warning issued this year by the NWS Boston/Norton is now in effect for all of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The NWS office in New York also involved the state of Connecticut in issuing the red flag warning, after the warning was issued for CT earlier this week.

Since 2006, there have only been three other red flag warnings issued by the NWS office in the fall season, with the most recent coming in 2020. On the other hand, NWS New York has already issued more than no red flag warnings in the fall season . 20 years. Red flag warnings are most common in Southern New England in the spring, as shown in the frequency charts below.

Although some have seen more or less, rainfall in October at TF Green is less than an inch and dries out by the end of September. As leaves fall and vegetation dies before the cold season, parched ground conditions have become highly conducive to igniting and spreading wildfires.

If you’ve ever started a campfire before, you probably know that stoking the fire causes the fire to spread and consume more fuel. Unfortunately, gusty winds can have the same effect on forest fires. Fires can spread far and quickly when there is a lot of wind and the humidity is low, something we also experience today.

Moral of the story: DO NOT BURN outside today. While winds will die down, extremely low humidity and more of the same dried brush will keep fire danger high into the early work week.

The International Association of Fire Chiefs offers a great handout to keep on hand during times of high fire risk.