This may seem a little Captain Obvious, but if you’re smelling smoke today, that’s because there IS smoke. According to Wayland and Sudbury fire department pages, a large brush fire in the Desert Conservation (Marlborough) area is largely extinguished, but the smell of smoke lingers. Fourteen area communities sent help to battle the blaze. You can read more about it here.

What strikes fear into this Owl’s heart is that the fire started deep in the conservation forest. Weston has 2,000 acres of forest itself and fire danger is high this afternoon, and has been a healthy “moderate” for the last couple of weeks. Please be careful with your fire pits, flame-y items (please never smoke in the forest) and matches. I don’t care what the numbers say–it is dry dry dry out there. You can check the latest fire danger levels at localconditions.com