The police and fire logs are full of typical incidences every day; medical calls and alarm activations to name a couple. Lately, we've noticed, and so have readers, that there are regularly "mulch fires" occurring, particularly in the Northborough Crossing area.
So we asked Fire Chief David Durgin, "Why all the mulch fires?"
"It has been extremely dry with a deficit of almost seven inches of rain," said Durgin. "The mulch receives direct exposure to the sun throughout the day. I believe that we are in a moderate drought condition designation. The forest fire danger is ranging from moderate to high."
Some of the fires, he added, appear to be spontaneous combustion due to the hot weather, and possibly the chemicals that are used to treat the mulch. A number of them, as well, can be contributed to careless disposal of smoking materials.
"I have discussed the problem with management," said Durgin, "and we have had a number of other mulch fires around town this summer, and one that caught the exterior of a home on fire. This is a common problem obviously heightened by the hot temperatures and lack of rain this year."