The Challenge
As demonstrated by the 2022 fire season, prolonged periods of severe drought, combined with multiple high-heat days with low dewpoints, increases the likelihood and intensity of wildfires—a pattern that is predicted to continue under climate change. The proposed wildfire management facility improvements will improve response times for initial attack of wildland fires threatening structures.
Project Scope
The goal of this project is to undertake a modernization of wildfire facilities and infrastructure used to support local fire departments with wildfire suppression and wildfire risk mitigation (prescribed fire). This project will include the study, design and construction of a Wildfire Management Operations Facility at Hopkinton State Forest, Wildfire Management Operations Facility at Douglas State Forest, and a comprehensive facility climate resiliency needs assessment. The existing Hopkinton facility was destroyed by snow loads in 2013 and they currently work out of temporary facility. The existing Douglas facility is incompatible with the growing need for wildfire support services and lacks basic sanitary facilities. Design of the Hopkinton facility will create a standard plan set for Douglas and additional future facility replacements. Climate smart building materials including local engineered hemlock cross laminated timber, glue-laminated timber and thermally modified wood developed by EEA, UMass, UNH, UMaine and the USFS will be used to demonstrate building with long lived wood products in support of the Massachusetts Clean Energy and Climate Plan.
This project started in FY24 and continued in FY25. In FY25, the following specific actions took place:
- Completed DCAMM Certified Studies for Hopkinton and Douglas. These were submitted to
DCAMM in October 2024 and finally approved in June 2025. This approval and delegation allows
us to move forward into design. - Began enabling work for new water and septic services for both sites. This includes preliminary
test pits for soil absorption capabilities as well as meeting with DEP on appropriate sizing of the
systems. - Completed analysis on alternate site for Douglas Facility on nearby DCR land including survey,
wetland flagging and test pits.
In addition to the above work, and as approved by EEA’s Climate Resilience Team, ResilientMass funding also supported procurement of specialized wildfire response equipment to expand capacity in rural areas of the state. DCR was able to procure specialized mulching equipment critical to creating fire roads and fire breaks for prescribed burns and to facilitate wildfire response, as well as specialized mowers and mower attachments for new and existing ventrac machines that allow for angled, hill side mowing or over guard rails. Increased wildfire activity is forcing DCR staff to stay up to date on the latest and most effective techniques and equipment to effectively combat more intense wildfires and protect biodiversity in grassland habitats. Procurement of specialized equipment in support of DCR Fire Bureau to access difficult areas to combat wildfires will allow staff to target sensitive fire-prone ecosystems and intervene effectively when needed.
Metrics and Results
This project is not yet complete. FY25 advanced preliminary work needed to move to the design and permitting phase in future fiscal years. While there was no FY26 ResilientMass funding for this project, we are prepared to enter Design for this project as soon as funding becomes available.
Metrics that this project could be able to report once completed from the ResilientMA Metrics include:
- % of new state facility construction projects that consider projected flooding, heat, drought,
wildfire, and wind risks throughout the project's lifespan. - $ of state funding for state facility resilience improvements
Best Practices and Lessons Learned
Best practices include finding ways to advance the project in a meaningful way when facing unforeseeable delays that fall out of your control, pushing deadlines for milestones outside of your projected timeline.
Further Action
In FY26, this project was not funded by ResilientMass.
DCR will continue some of the enabling work for water and sewer with existing funds including archeological impacts/testing and test pits, and permitting.
We are prepared to enter Design for this project as soon as funding becomes available.
Design is estimated to cost approximately $450,000 and will take 6-8 months to complete.
Construction cost is currently estimated at $4.4 million/per building.
In the interim we will discuss any grant opportunities with DOER for decarbonized facilities and see if forestry can provide any capital funds to start design process.