A fire started in the woods behind the Walmart on Highland Avenue on Sunday around 6 p.m., eventually spreading overnight toward Spring Pond in Peabody.
The Peabody and Salem Fire departments and the Massachusetts Forest Fire Control worked through the night to control the fires spreading throughout about 100 acres of wooded area by the strong winds.
District Fire Warden Andrew Regan was on scene near Spring Pond in Peabody, at the end of Sunset Drive, and said that he was called to the fire Sunday night and was there until around 2 a.m. Monday.
“We had it held but then there was a wind shift this morning, which caused the fire to jump the line,” he said.
By late Monday morning, Regan said the fire seemed to be contained, but predicted that they would stay there for the remainder of the day.
“That could change though,” he explained. “As soon as the wind shifts direction, that could change.”
A Peabody resident on scene, who declined to give his name, said that his parents saw smoke at approximately 10 p.m. Sunday before seeing the fire progress.
“It’s really windy and all you’re smelling is smoke,” he said.
He said that he rode his bike over Monday morning and it looked like the wind was just making everything worse.
Regan said that while no formal investigation has been done, his best guess was that an unattended campfire was the cause.
Firefighters were seen using water hoses and shovels on the affected areas of brush. Regan said that they were not using a lot of water, since it was difficult to get water hoses into the deep wooded areas where fires were spreading. Instead, crews utilized leaf blowers to form natural barriers of paths to force the fire to burn out on its own.
The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning to remain in effect for Massachusetts and Rhode Island until Monday night at 9 p.m., stating that the dry weather and strong winds would result in critical fire weather conditions.
A red flag warning means that critical fire weather conditions are occurring and that any fires that start may spread rapidly and become difficult to extinguish.
Allysha can be reached at [email protected]
