Meteorologists say there’s no relief in sight for conditions that prompted a fire alert for most of Massachusetts on Thursday.
“A lot of warm temperatures and about three periods where we would get showers and thunder, but as far as a lengthy, soaking rain — none of that is in sight at this point,” said National Weather Service meteorologist William Babcock when asked what Hampshire County residents can expect in the coming week.
High temperatures in the 90s or high-80s are forecast for the next five days.
Without any drought-relieving weather in store, conditions — high temperatures, and lack of rain and humidity — are ripe for fire, state-level fire officials told the Gazette.
“We usually don’t see these conditions at the end of June like we did this year,” said David Celino, the state’s chief fire warden with the Department of Conservation and Recreation.
He said the agency is in daily contact with the National Weather Service and the elevated fire threat is expected to continue. Winds that are forecast also raise the fire danger to high or very high in some spots in the state, he said.
“We have a very rich organic layer. The material there is fuel that once it’s dried out it can actually burn,” he said. “The message to the public is that we want folks to be aware of these conditions. Fires are going to start fairly easily.”
Celino said fire officials have also been monitoring brush fire patterns across the state, including recent six-acre fires in Framingham and Leominster and a three-acre fire in Chicopee that took several days to get fully under control.
State fire officials are asking people to be extremely careful putting out their cigarettes, barbecue grills and campfires, said Jennifer Mieth, a spokeswoman for the state fire marshal’s office.
She said the public should also be careful when using all-terrain vehicles, because sparks can start a brush fire in dry, wooded areas.
“Fire officials across the state are very, very concerned,” Mieth said of the potential for brush fires.
She said some brush fires can travel underground across root systems and pop up unexpectedly as well.
“It’s so dry that it can travel eight to 12 inches underground,” she said.
Water restrictions remain in effect throughout the area. Mandatory restrictions are in place for residents of Northampton, Easthampton and Ware.
Hadley joined others on Thursday by issuing a voluntary “odds and evens” ban, requesting residents with even-number addresses to restrict their outdoor water use to even-number dates and those with odd-number addresses to odd-number days. Town officials also ask residents to refrain from filling their swimming pools until drought conditions subside.
“We’ve pretty consistently been going over the limit of what would be constituted a maximum for the (water-filtration) plant,” said Molly Keegan, chairwoman of the Hadley Select Board, said Thursday. “If it doesn’t drop significantly it may indeed have to become mandatory.”
Hatfield, Belchertown, Southampton, and Whately also have voluntary bans in place.
Amanda Drane can be contacted at adrane@gazettenet.com. Dan Crowley can be contacted at dcrowley@gazettenet.com.