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The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection issued a statewide air quality alert as smoke from the Canadian wildfires is expected to impact the region. The warning will be in effect from June 6 through June 7.
Smoke is expected to reach western parts of the state as early as Monday night and spread eastward throughout the day Tuesday. The levels are expected to be unhealthy for those who are sensitive, including people with heart or lung diseases such as asthma.
To stay healthy, MassDEP is recommending people in sensitive groups minimize time outside and rest often. They also recommend keeping treatments close by and monitoring for symptoms.
Canada is seeking help in tackling more than 160 wildfires in the Quebec province, including at least 114 that were deemed out of control Monday.
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Firefighters across Massachusetts are facing the “nearly impossible” task of extinguishing lithium-ion battery fires much more often, according to new state data showing that such blazes have spiked sharply in the past half-year.
The state Department of Fire Service created a checklist last October for local departments to use to track the number of fires caused by lithium-ion batteries, which power large devices like electric vehicles and smaller items like smartphones and e-cigarettes.
So far, the form has helped 38 cities and towns identify 50 lithium-ion battery fires in the past six months, more than double the annual average detected by a national fire data reporting system, State Fire Marshal Jon M. Davine said in a release Wednesday.
The Massachusetts Fire Incident Reporting System, a state-level tool that mirrors and feeds into a national reporting system, recorded an average of 19.4 lithium-ion battery fires per year from 2019 to 2023.
“The increase since last fall could be due to the growing number of consumer devices powered by these batteries, increased attention by local fire investigators, or other factors,” Davine said.
The State Police Fire & Explosion Investigation Unit immediately started using the form which is optional for local fire departments to gather information when responding to fires involving lithium-ion batteries – make and model of the device, purchase history, and whether it was charging at the time of the blaze.
Brockton Deputy Chief Kevin Galligan told the Herald that he believes the number of lithium-ion battery fires since October is more than double the figure the DFS has reported. Firefighters are still being educated about the form and about the kind of fire, he said.
In the past, firefighters blamed the device for the fire and not the battery, Galligan said.
“I’m personally to a point where almost every fire I go to now I’m assuming I’ll be dealing with lithium-ion batteries,” he said, “whether they’re the cause of the fire or they were involved in the fire. It’s almost as if we can’t get away from them at this point.”
Nine of the 50 fires that DFS reported involved battery-powered scooters, e-bikes, and hoverboards. Eight involved laptops and another eight involved cell phones, tablets, or similar devices. Power tools were involved in six fires.
“The device’s charging status could be determined in 41 of the 50 fires: surprisingly, 56% of these devices were not charging at the time of the incident,” according to officials.
Lithium-ion battery fires are “much more intense” than a fire caused by careless disposal of a cigarette or cooking, Galligan said. Smaller devices that use lithium-ion batteries like a drill or a laptop are relatively easy to extinguish, but it’s a different story for larger items like vehicles, he said.
“They’re nearly impossible to extinguish and you use thousands of gallons of water trying to cool the batteries to prevent it spreading from battery to battery,” Galligan said. “Once a battery is in thermal runaway, there’s nearly nothing you could do to stop that single cell. … The only thing we could do is try to cool the batteries around it to stop the spread.”
Even after the fire is extinguished, there is still more work for firefighters as they have to make sure all batteries are removed from the scene so they don’t cause a rekindle, Galligan said.
New York City has made national headlines, with the number of incidents there, soaring well over 200, injuring more than 100 people and killing 14. After a series of fires involving faulty e-bike batteries including a blaze that claimed four lives last June, officials announced they were receiving a $25 million emergency grant from the federal government to fund scores of charging stations citywide.
“It’s a significant challenge for the fire service,” Galligan said. “We are constantly coming up against whatever the next problem is, and it does require a lot of training and additional equipment to address this. But it’s something that we have to face because the lithium-ion batteries are not going away.”
MASSACHUSETTS — A change in sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean may be coming soon, which means a welcome change from the El Niño pattern that has been influencing weather across New England for months.
The National Weather Service is predicting a transition to an ENSO-neutral pattern — also called La Nada, or “nothing” — soon, which means normal sea surface temperatures across the central and east-central Pacific Ocean along the equator. La Nada patterns happen between a change from El Niño — the condition over the Pacific now that’s been in place since last June — and La Niña.
“In summary, a transition from El Niño to ENSO-neutral is likely by April-June 2024 (85% chance), with the odds of La Niña developing by June-August 2024 (60% chance),” the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center said in an April 11 forecast discussion.
So what does that mean for weather across Massachusetts this spring and into early summer? According to the Climate Prediction Center, the region should see normal precipitation levels, and the possibility of slightly warmer temperatures.
If La Niña does happen by the end of summer, conditions will likely remain about average for precipitation with slightly warmer temperatures. La Niña could boost hurricane season in the fall.
MORE: ‘Extremely Active’ 2024 Hurricane Season Predicted: What To Know In MA
Even with the risk of hurricanes, there’s reason to look forward to La Niña. Communities across Massachusetts were devastated by flash floods during back-to-back heavy rain events last summer influenced by El Niño. In July, Boston, Worcester (falling short of the 2021 record by just over an inch) and Providence recorded their second-wettest July months ever. During one event in July, about 3 inches of rain fell in an hour in the Boston area, flooding Fenway Park and canceling that day’s game.
But if La Niña persists into winter, that’s a recipe for cold temperatures and plenty of snow.
For as far back as I can remember, there have been tales of how the Kennedy clan of Massachusetts amassed enormous wealth trading in illicit liquor during Prohibition, which lasted from 1920 to 1933.
The Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, was allegedly paid for with money made through illegal bootlegging – but are the stories true, or are they larger-than-life legends?
David Roos writes for History.com that Kennedy patriarch Joseph P. Kennedy, in fact, “amassed great wealth partly by selling alcohol, but he also made savvy deals and sales that became extremely lucrative.”
“As it turns out, one of the greatest American political dynasties of the 20th century was funded only in part by alcohol,” Roos wrote.
According to the book The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy by biographer David Nasaw, only some of what you have heard is true.
“I tracked down every rumor I could find, and none of them panned out,” Nasaw wrote.
According to Nasaw’s book, rumors of Kennedy’s bootlegging ties only surfaced in the late 1960s and 1970s “when conspiracy theorists were looking for reasons why the mafia might have played a role in the assassination of JFK.”
JFK (John Fitzgerald Kennedy) was elected president in 1960 and assassinated in 1963. He was one of nine children of Joseph P. and Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald Kennedy.
Nasaw wrote that Richard M. Nixon, who lost to Kennedy in 1960, hired opposition researchers to investigate the Kennedy family during the election.
“They found all sorts of dirt on Joe Kennedy, but not that he was a bootlegger,” he wrote.
Kennedy served as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and was U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom.
Gallery Credit: Jolana Miller
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