Swampscott Says: Residents’ Thoughts on the Fires

An orange sky from the fires. || Joey Blood

This is a contribution from a Swampscott High School student, as part of the Swampscott Tides Big Blue Student News selection.

Story and photos by Joseph Blood.

Swampscott’s skies have transformed from blue to a yellowish-orange hue because of the wildfires in both Canada and Minnesota.

As of Wednesday, more than 830 wildfires were burning across Canada, along with about a dozen in northern Minnesota near the Canadian border. Some of the largest fires are burning in west-central Ontario, and many remain uncontained, forcing mandatory evacuations.

Residents have taken to looking up, noticing the changes, and garnering different responses to the climate.

Haze along the shoreline seen from the Harbor camera || Courtesy Photo

The Swampscott Tides asked local residents their thoughts on the fires.

Cynthia Nussle

The fires freaked me out. I can only imagine what the people near them must be going through. If it’s this bad here, making the sky all yellow, it must be really bad over there.

Maya Abutaleb

If you open TikTok, a popular post you may see is people stating the sky is yellow or orange. Some making jokes, some feeling horrified. Yet none have stated in depth the effect this will have.

I think it could be very harmful to animals, wildlife, nature, people, and the overall living conditions

I honestly didn’t know what to think. I realized that the way people are talking about the situation makes it seem like some light issue. Though, realistically, this may be a serious problem.

James Hallion

My friend Thomas said the sky was getting infected by this ugly color of golden brown

Paul Varvounis

When I woke up, it was crazy to me that the sky looked how it looked. I have no clue how, but I’m fairly afraid of how this could affect the climate both here and in Canada.

Angelina Nussle

Seeing the sky was insane to me. I had absolutely no idea what was going on. I was shocked when I saw the news of all the wildfires. It’s crazy how all of that can affect us here.

Linette McAskill

When I woke up this morning people were saying the sky was yellow, I had to check for myself, and it was the most bizarre thing. I never could’ve expected to wake up to a yellow sky.