It is somewhat late in the game for me to write two wildfires that burned last month in Killington Vermont and the Clarksburg State Forest in Massachusetts. Both of these wildfires, which I will get to in a minute, were going on at about the same time that New Jersey had two back to back wildfires (May 16th to 18th). I do believe that I was aware of both of these wildfires from Mike Archers Wildfire News of the Day newsletter. Because I care about both Vermont and Massachusetts, I regret that I did not write about these two wildfires before now. I suppose that you can say better late than never. I was reminded about both of these wildfires thanks to a timely report from Vermont Public Radio that arrived in my e-mail last Friday, May 28th.
The report from Vermont Public Radio (VPR) on May 28th summarized a wildfire in the Killington area of Vermont that started on or about May 15th, brought under some degree of control a couple days later only to rekindle on or about May 20th (see this May 20th report from WCAX) burning around 30 to 40 acres in steep and difficult to access to terrain. The Killington Fire was finally contained on May 23rd (Rutland Herald). I do not have intimate knowledge of wildfires in Vermont, but having spent summer vacations in Vermont for much of my adult life and writing this blog for 13 years now, I know that most wildfires in Vermont are a few acres at most and contained within a day. So a wildfire like the one that burned 30 to 40 acres in Killington is unusual. While I have only done one or two day hikes in the Killington area about 15 years ago, having driven the roads in and around Killington and seen the mountains, I can attest to the steep terrain. Portions of Vermont (and Massachusetts) were under drought warnings at the time these fires burned with drought conditions in Vermont extending back to May 2020.
The VPR May 28th Report referred to a 900 acre wildfire that burned in northwestern Massachusetts in the Clarksburg State Forest in the Berkshires. This wildfire, dubbed the East Mountain Fire was the worse fire that Massachusetts has seen in over 20 years. See these reports from WAMC, and The Berkshire Eagle. According to Spectrum News 1, National Guard helicopters with buckets flew the fire in support of the firefighters on the ground. According to a report from WWLP, the fire was first reported on Friday, May 14th. According to the report from WAMC, on May 26th the fire was at 95 percent containment, burning in remote and difficult to access terrain.
Kudos to all the firefighters on the ground and in the air who worked on both of these wildfires.
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