Salem students released as heavy smoke, poor air quality impact schools
SALEM - As brush fires in Salem burned for the third day, the smoke was so thick that city officials released high school students early and relocated students at Horace Mann Elementary School to another school.
Heavy smoke impacts schools
"The smoke this morning was just incredible, and it was just laying down on the city," Fire Chief Alan Dionne said.
"It's not that we're worried about the fire itself; it's the smoke," Salem Superintendent Steve Zrike said."But these two schools are the closest to it."
Salem High School junior Victor Nunez said school officials made the right decision. "It was a very smart decision because if we stayed in that school trapped in all that it smoke it could've caused some damage to us."
Nunez and a friend said smoke filtered into the school and lay heavy in classrooms, bathrooms and hallways.
Getting brush fires under control
Assets were called in from all over the state, including tanker trucks, brush trucks and command vehicles. Airwings were busy attacking the brush fires from above to assist firefighters on the ground making more than 20 water drops.
"It afforded us the opportunity to get in there and start mopping up the hotspots, and that's what we are doing now," Chief Dionne said.
Tough terrain and thick leaves are making the brush fires harder to fight. Dionne said the woods are rocky and have few trails, making them difficult to access and the area hasn't had a fire in about 10 years.
"There's a lot of wood on the ground. There's a lot of fallen trees and so forth," Dionne said, "So the fuel load is enormous.".
Salem resident Carol Womack is staying inside keeping her windows closed as firefighters battle brush fires behind her house.
"Last night was very bad," Womack said. "With everything going on - with the fires and stuff - it's bad."