Cape Fire Risk?

Could the Cape burn like California? We visit the Orleans Fire Department for more insight.

Could Cape Cod burn like California?

17 January 2024 - ORLEANS, MA - Could the Cape burn like California? The devastating LA fires have people looking close to home in a new way and we visit with Orleans Fire Chef Geof Deering to learn what could happen here.

Possible not probable

While watching home turn in cinders in seconds and eyeing the pitch pines of Cape Cod, one can't help but nervously ask ... could this happen here?"

"To me it's beyond comprehension" said Olreans Fire Chief Geof Deering, describing his reaction to the multiple fires that roared across Los Angeles, wiping out urban and suburban neighborhoods and licking the Pacific Ocean. 

But while we saw many large fires this fall in Massachusetts, Deering said our region's dynamics differ from the West Coast. "Possible sure, but probably unlikely," he said in assessing the likelihood of watching our Cape Cod dunes burn.

Don't complain about the rain!

The Cape does carry a fire risk, but we also have one thing in our favor: wet soggy weather. Wind played a significant factor in the spread of the California fires, but our routine intense winds pack a different profile.

"One of the biggest differences is our weather," said Deering. "When we have 70 and 80 mile an hour winds many of the times here on Cape Cod there is also wind-driven rain."

Risk factors?

That doesn't mean the Cape is fire safe, though. Indeed, the increase in homes in and close by wooded areas, the build up of woody debris, and the on-going state-wide drought means the Cape can't ignore burn risks.

Last fall, as wildfires popped up across Massachusetts, the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries shared that 45% of Massachusetts homes were in or near areas of wildfire risk.  And in the fire-filled month of October alone the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services reported 196 brush fires - soaring about the typically average of 15 and nearly 4,000 acres in the state burned in 2024.

Prevent and prepare!

Deering say this region focuses on preparing and - most importantly - preventing. Departments watch weather, and ensure that response skills, training and equipment are ready but the deepest work lies in taking action that prevent large scale fire. On that cape that means removing overgrowth and trimming dead trees that could burn, spark, and transmit fire.  Local fire department working with both local conservation departments and the state conservation department to take on measures like controlled burns to remove and manage the debris.