The Swellesley Report

More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.

Burn, baby, burn in Wellesley

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Once again, with the blessing of the Wellesley Fire Department and the Massachusetts Board of Fire Prevention, I collected a couple of helpers and set a corner of my yard afire. Without the almost pagan ritual of our annual burn, I just don’t know what I would do with that pile of thorny rose vines, tree branches, my old Palm Sunday palms, the Christmas tree, hedge clippings, and other woody debris that I’ve collected throughout the year. There’s the RDF yard waste area, of course, but I always seem to collect more yard waste on a weekly basis than I can cram into my car next to the recycling and the trash.

It’s easy to get an Open Air Burning Permit in Wellesley. You just have to follow a few common-sense rules. The Wellesley Fire Department requires that a garden hose be available at the site of the burning. Nobody wants to see the peony beds go up in flames accidentally, or worse yet, the woods.

 

Items allowed for burning are brush, cane, driftwood and forestry debris. No hay, leaves or stumps may be burned. The burn must be at a location greater than 75 feet from any dwelling. This rule is probably the most challenging for Wellesley residents, given the close proximity of homes to one another in many neighborhoods.

 

Permission to burn must be obtained each day that you wish to burn. Weather conditions are taken into consideration when determining if burning will be allowed each day, and burn hours are between 10am and 4pm.

 

That’s all there is to it. You sign your agreement to the rules, which must be done at the Wellesley fire station at 457 Worcester St., and you’re given a number. On the day you want to burn, you call the Fire Department, identify yourself by your permit number, and you will receive permission, or not. The OK is not a given. There are a few weather particulars that can stand in your way. If the cloud cover is too low, you’ll get a no. If it’s windy, it’s a big no. If it’s been dry lately, that’s another no. I really cut it close this year, doing my burn on the last possible day.

 

When the conditions are right, and the labor is willing, there’s nothing to match a good old-fashioned backyard burn. Here are my helpers, keeping in constant attendance, per regulations. They’ve just thrown on the Christmas tree. Once you’ve seen a Christmas tree go up in flames in your backyard, you’ll wonder why you ever had that potential fireball in your home.

 

If I tend my burn properly, I’m not left with a pile of ash to dispose of. It’s a matter of spreading the debris out with an iron rake as I go. Photo credit (accusation?), Bob Brown.

 

That’s that. The grass seed has been set out and in another month, God willin and the river don’t rise, this unsightly patch will be green again.

 

We aren’t the only pyromaniacs in town. According to a fire department representative, this year 37 households in town applied for a permit and 47 requests to burn were granted. 
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Comments

  1. You forgot to mention that the period allowed by the state is Jan 15 to May 1. I assume you took these pictures before May 2.

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