Firefighters perform controlled burn

By P.J. GLISSON

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Wakefield — Members of the Wakefield Volunteer Fire Department made short work of a controlled burn of brush on Wednesday evening.

According to Fire Chief Lou Boetto and Assistant Chief Mike Singleton, the brush dates back to a severe storm that hit the region in the summer of 2016.

According to reports at that time, straight-line winds of about 90 mph destroyed countless trees and power lines and ripped the roof from the former ice rink on M-28 next to Sunday Lake.

As city workers and other residents cleaned up the mess, the resulting brush eventually formed a massive, elongated pile in the open lot across from the Cemetery Road ball fields.

Boetto said the men’s intent on Wednesday was not to burn the entire pile at once, as that could result in a “scary” situation.

Instead, firefighters had removed in advance some of the brush from the main pile and created four nearby smaller piles of brush that could be monitored more easily.

The two chiefs said members had tried to burn some of the brush during winter months, but had no success in that season.

At 5 p.m., just before the fires were lit, Rob Lane ran water from the hydrant next to the ball fields. “We do that to get the rust and everything out, so it doesn’t go into the pump and clog it up,” he said.

Mike Yon, Jim Tarro and others then applied accelerant to one pile of brush at a time, after which it easily burst into flames upon lighting. Yon said the recommended accelerant for such operations is two-thirds diesel and one-third gasoline.

Singleton’s son Trenten, 5, was not allowed anywhere near the fires, but he was delighted to be part of the preparations, trailing his dad while skipping excitedly.

Also present were Mayor Dale White, who said his role was “strictly observational,” and City Manager Rob Brown, who kidded that it was his job to supply marshmallows.

When the Daily Globe checked back at 6:45 p.m., Boetto was still supervising the burn, which had deteriorated to four, small, smoldering piles of grey ash.

“It went fast,” he said, adding that city workers might continue burning brush throughout the week.