Mold Remediation in Salem, OR

SALEM - Brush fires in Salem and other parts of northeastern Massachusetts continued to burn Monday, with smoke being detected as far south as Boston.

In Salem, about 130 acres have burned in the brush fires, which started Saturday. The fires have been spreading as tourists converge on Salem for Halloween events downtown this week.

The fires have not had any impact on the festivities, but the drifting smoke from the North Shore could be smelled miles away.

Brush fire smoke smell

The National Weather Service in Boston asked followers on social media in southern New England Monday morning, "Waking up to the smell of smoke this morning, SNE?"

"A surface inversion is keeping this smoke trapped near the ground, but the smoke should "mix out" later this morning," the agency said.

The National Weather Service warned that the combination of "recent dry weather and very dry ground will continue to make conditions favorable for wildfire development today."

"During the night & early this morning, fire companies in our area have responded to several "odor of smoke" calls due to the smoke from the brush fires in the North Shore area, Salem, Saugus, Lynn, Peabody, etc.," the Cambridge Fire Department tweeted Monday morning.

Cambridge and Boston are about 20 miles south of Salem.

Salem, Peabody, Lynn brush fires

Salem Fire Chief Alan Dionne said the flames have been very difficult to put out because the terrain between Salem, Peabody and Lynn is very secluded and rocky.

Several local and state agencies are now using helicopter water drops and drones to identify the heavy burn areas and put out flames.

"It's a lot of acreage and getting to it is the hardest part," Dionne told WBZ-TV Sunday. "It's just one of those fires that's going to smolder for a long time. And when it smolders overnight and then it gets fresh air and a breeze in the morning and especially if there's a wind change, then it could flare up again."

Dionne said the bulk of what they're going to see Monday from the brush fires will be "deep into the woods."

Middleton brush fire

No one has been hurt and there are no reports of any homes or business being damaged in the fires, which are also an issue in Middleton, which is about 10 miles northwest of Salem.

The Middleton Fire department said about 50 acres of land has been burned there.

"Both incidents will require lengthy, heavily committed, multi agency operations to be placed under under control," Northeast Massachusetts Emergency Alerts said in a statement on Facebook.

Brush fires were reported as far south as Rehoboth on Sunday. A firefighter there was brought to the hospital because of the heat, but is expected to be okay, according to WPRI-TV.

Penny Kmitt

Penny Kmitt is a reporter for WBZ-TV's morning news. She joined the station in December 2023 from CBS-affiliate WTKR in Norfolk, Virginia.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. —

The Liberian Organization of the Piedmont will hold its inaugural International Liberation Gala, "Champions of Freedom," on Sept. 28.

Learn about it in the clip above.

It will happen at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28, at the M.C. Benton Convention Center on West Fifth Street in Winston-Salem.

There will be a very special guest: His Excellency Joseph Nyuma Boakai Sr., president of the Republic of Liberia, West Africa.

The gala will be Boakai’s third visit to the United States after being sworn in this year as the 26^th president of Liberia. He was vice president from 2006-2018 under Liberia’s first female president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

Other dignitaries of Liberia expected to attend the gala are the mayor of Monrovia, John-Charuk Siafa; the Minister of Education, Dr. Jarso Maley Jallah; and the chairman of the Liberian National Investment Commission, Jeff B. Blibo.

The International Liberation Gala commemorates the release of enslaved Africans from Salem, North Carolina, their return to Liberia, and the present-day collaboration between the two cities.

Freed slaves from Winston-Salem were among the first settlers of Liberia. The connection between Salem, North Carolina, and Liberia began in 1836 when Moravian physician Dr. Frederick Henry Schumann facilitated the return of his 17 freed slaves plus six others back to Liberia as part of the American Colonization Society’s program to resettle free Black people in Africa.

After the end of the American Civil War, the Moravian Church established the former Schumann’s Plantation as a neighborhood for freedmen, named "Liberia," which became the historic Happy Hill community in Winston-Salem.

The gala intends to raise awareness about this history as well as to raise funds to support the construction of LOP’s student housing project in the Happy Hill community — the first African American neighborhood in Winston-Salem. The student housing project will be officially announced as part of the gala weekend. The project, once complete, will provide housing to international Liberian students who have been awarded scholarships to attend area universities and community colleges but lack residential support.

A major initiative of the LOP is to sponsor students from Liberia to further their education at U.S. colleges and universities in order to foster capacity building in Liberia. More than seven Liberian students have received the benefit of an American education at Wake Forest University and Livingstone College in Salisbury. The LOP is also collaborating with Winston-Salem State University, Forsyth Technical Community College, Salem College, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and Carolina University.

The program will include dinner, music, cultural presentations and remarks, followed by dancing. Tickets to the gala are $100 per person and can be purchased at www.intlliberationgala.org or www.LOPNC.org. Ticket sales end Sept. 19. Attire is black tie or cultural.