Great Barrington Mass area Butternut Fire "may not be fully extinguished until winter"

[Ear Drum]

Some news coverage of a large wildfire in Western Massachusetts. It is just north of, and quite close to, the Appalachian Trail.


Nov 19 - "Crews to return to fight Butternut Fire in the morning; fire may not be fully extinguished until winter"

GREAT BARRINGTON — The slow-moving wildfire that burned about 100 acres of a remote, forested area on East Mountain as of Tuesday afternoon might not be fully extinguished until winter, given the difficult terrain where it’s burning, a supply of fuel on the forest floor and weeks of drought conditions, officials said.

The Butternut Fire, as it has been named by authorities, required a full morning and afternoon of hard work on Tuesday. The strategy was containment — attacking on foot and by air, with water carried by helicopter, to slow the spread.

Full story and photos:
https://www.berkshireeagle.com/brea...cle_39ee860c-a671-11ef-a97a-3b0fcd9655ab.html



Nov 20 - "Great Barrington wildfire is 'zero percent' contained. 'This one's going to be tough,' fire officials say"

GREAT BARRINGTON — The wildfire in Great Barrington has expanded to an estimated 1,146 acres, with flames now reaching into neighboring Sheffield.

The Butternut Fire, as it has been named by authorities, is zero percent contained, said Lee Fire Chief Ryan Brown during a Wednesday afternoon press conference.

Fire burns through trees on mountain
The Butternut Fire seen from Home Road in Sheffield. The Butternut Fire is "zero percent contained," fire officials said Wednesday afternoon.

“In New England, we see our fires get to containment pretty quickly. This one’s going to be tough,” said Dave Celino, chief fire warden of the commonwealth.

Full story and photos:
https://www.berkshireeagle.com/news...cle_6a170f30-a760-11ef-b224-bb56a27432d8.html

 

[TomK]

Past couple of days, the odor of smoke from this fire has been very noticible here in NW CT. I am told it is noticeable as far south as Long Island Sound.

Today, I didn't notice it as much. don't know if that's due to getting used to it, or because today's rain has cleaned the air a bit, or that the rain helped put a damper on the fire, or if it is simply due to a shift in the wind direction...

TomK

 

[BillyGr]

Past couple of days, the odor of smoke from this fire has been very noticible here in NW CT. I am told it is noticeable as far south as Long Island Sound.

Today, I didn't notice it as much. don't know if that's due to getting used to it, or because today's rain has cleaned the air a bit, or that the rain helped put a damper on the fire, or if it is simply due to a shift in the wind direction...

TomK

Very likely at least a couple of those. Would suspect that the steady rain is cutting down the fire itself, and certainly washing the smoke out of the air. Wind may have changed as well if there was a storm front arriving.

Can't say it was noticeable further south in the state (such as the Danbury area), but that was Tue when it started and early Wed AM, so it may have gotten more noticeable later yesterday (as it certainly was the closer you got to the fire, certainly at least from the Kent area north).

 

[hikeritz]

The Tom Leonard AT shelter is in there. Hopefully a) the shelter isn't damaged by the fire and b) the fire wasn't started by someone camping there. I stayed there a few years ago, and it's a nice area.

 

[Ear Drum]

An update as of Nov 26 2024 --

Appalachian Mountain Club Western Massachusetts Chapter

Great Barrington fire update: the fire is out but there are still areas that are smoldering. Authorities are asking folks to stay away from the area for now. The Chapter's AT Volunteer Coordinator, Cosmo Catalano, and the AT Chair Russ Skelton, went to check on the Tom Leonard Shelter recently. Here is Cosmo's report.

"It was a November day like we used to have: cold, windy, damp and cloudy. Russ and I made a minor repair to the Tom Leonard bear box, reviewed potential hazard trees at the site, then headed trail south to the fire area. We arrived at the edge of the burn and a fire line about a mile south of the shelter. 42.16509, -73.31708

Since the local Incident Commander (IC) has asked people to stay away, we did not enter the burn area. As you can see from the photo, at least at this location, the fire only involved the ground cover, trees and larger shrubs are generally unaffected. We even noted some young beech tree's dead leaves were not even scorched, even though they were a foot above the ground. You may be able to see a white blaze on the small tree in the center of the photo.

This location likely does not represent all conditions elsewhere in the fire area or the Trail. Media video shot from the other side of the mountain clearly shows whole trees involved. We did see a couple of spots at the edge of the burn today where larger, previously downed trunks/branches were still smoldering. There are also likely still places where the fire is underground in roots and deeper duff, this can flare up unexpectedly and restart a small blaze.

The fire department has asked that people still avoid the area, and residents on Home Roa are reportedly not happy to see folks driving by to "take a look". From the fire maps we've received from APPA, the fire area is quite close to Brush Hill Rd/Home Rd, and it looks like most of the Trail to the overlook areas above the road was involved. This might improve some of the limited views for a few seasons, and we should see a nice crop of blueberries this summer.

The NPS-dispatched engine crew from Delaware Water Gap has reported they have cleared the Trail of fallen trees and it appears to be in good shape. Since we have no pressing need to get the Trail open for large numbers of hikers, let's wait until we get clearance to enter the burn area, rather than jumping in to see what needs fixing (if anything)."

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18gVJk6yE6/

with two photos at the link