SOUTHINGTON, Conn. — Burning bans remain in effect across Connecticut this weekend, as the state is under a red flag warning.
These dry conditions are having serious effects on leaves in the state.
“It’s extremely dusty, it’s not helping; we need a little bit of rain to get the leaves to be wet so that it doesn’t create so much dust,” Guy Milo, one of the crew leaders at Southington Highway Parks said, when asked about the weather conditions.
That dust is accumulating on roads, sidewalks and even cars. It's all because of dry conditions.
Southington’s collection trucks are picking up leaves from the side of the road, sending them through chutes.
However, that cleanup is still leaving a fine layer of debris on the roads. So, the highway department found a solution.
“Obviously, it’s been dryer then it ever has been, and we’ve installed a new tarp on top to try and eliminate some of that,” Brandon Petito, Southington assistant superintendent of Highway Parks. said.
The tarp keeps the leaves in the truck and off the roads – not to mention, keeping them from being blown away and fueling bigger problems, with Connecticut’s heightened brush fire risk.
“We’ve been running them all week; we started running them about a week ago to get a jump on it. We knew we had a bit of a problem and were hoping to have some rain and obviously we weren’t that lucky,” Petito said.
“We’re still not perfect, we’ve really improved on our process, and I just want to thank the residents. They’ve done a great job; they’ve been very understanding,” Southington Town Manager Alex Ricciardone said.
Connecticut will need at least two to three inches of soaking rain to really fix this problem.
Homeowners say they are doing all that they can to keep things from getting worse.
“They’re so dry, God forbid anything lights up,” Anthony Rinaldo said. “Dust flies as soon as you use a leaf blower or even mowing at this time of the year. But so what do you do? I’m trying to be safe, trying to get the leaves away from the house.”
DEEP is keeping residents aware of what not to do in order to prevent fires during this dry spell.
- People should avoid using lawn mowers, chainsaws or other machinery that could spark dry grass or leaves. That goes for parking vehicles on dry grass too.
- Smokers should throw out cigarette butts safely, in fire-safe containers and, overall, people should avoid any open flames.
With these dry conditions, there is still a red flag warning and a risk for brush fires. Town officials are asking homeowners to wet their leaves as it makes it easier to pick up.
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Kaye Paddyfote is a multimedia journalist for FOX61 News. She can be reached at kpaddyfote@fox61.com. Follow her on X, Facebook and Instagram.
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