This story by Clare Shanahan was first published in the Valley News on Oct. 6, 2025.
HANOVER — High fire danger in the Upper Valley has prompted Dartmouth College to alter its plans for the annual homecoming bonfire while fire crews remain on high alert.
The college announced Friday that instead of a homecoming weekend bonfire, there will be an “interactive light and laser show set to a soundtrack performed by Dartmouth student DJs.”
First-year students will also be given light-up wristbands that are aligned with the soundtrack, according to the announcement.
“While the bonfire itself cannot take place, the essence of the tradition — community, class unity, and celebration — remains central to our planning,” EJ Kiefer, executive director of conferences and events at Dartmouth and a member of the homecoming bonfire committee, said in a news release.
The massive Friday night bonfire is traditionally a highlight of Dartmouth’s homecoming weekend, but this year, outdoor fires big and small are prohibited in New Hampshire and Vermont amid extreme drought and unusually high fire danger.
Both states have banned all outdoor burning until further notice.
Fire crews were on especially high alert Monday as dry air and breezy conditions further elevated the fire danger, according to a special weather statement from the National Weather Service office that covers all of New Hampshire. The risk was expected to lessen as humidity rose and winds died down Monday evening.
In the Upper Valley, fire crews in Grafton and Springfield, N.H., responded to a report of smoke Saturday and found an illegal bonfire in Grafton, according to a post from the Springfield Fire Department.
Outside of the Upper Valley, brush fires took a more dangerous route.
A firefighting helicopter stationed at the Lebanon Municipal Airport was dispatched Saturday to assist crews battling a fire on Brownell Mountain in Williston throughout the weekend. The fire covered about one acre when a crew from Williston Fire Department responded Saturday afternoon, according to a Facebook post from the department.
Crews sought the assistance of the helicopter because steep terrain and “waning daylight” made the fire difficult to access on foot.
The drought continues to have other impacts as well.
Due to unusually low lake levels, the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, which manages dams across the state, has been drawing water down from Grafton Pond in Grafton through Crystal Lake in Enfield, and into Mascoma Lake, which serves as the drinking water supply for Lebanon.
As of last week, the department had to stop drawing water out of Grafton Pond because “there really wasn’t much more water to give,” while Crystal Lake and Mascoma Lake have returned to near-normal levels, NH DES Dam Bureau Chief Engineer Corey Clark said Monday.
“Our hope is that we have a normal winter and we can refill those lakes back to the normal recreational levels next spring,” Clark said.
