Hazard Reduction Fires
Last Tuesday on a KTK thread I mentioned that I would be having a "bonfire" the next day and I was encouraged to take photos and diary the event.
* [new] Take pictures. We'll all celebrate. (12+ / 0-)
by HappyinNM on Tue Jan 13, 2015 at 05:47:13 PM PST
I said I would and did take the photos, but I really had to think about a diary. This burn was essential but I could see how it could be controversial. My comments and diaries are generally non-controversial but once I got into a vitriolic argument regarding burns with someone (now bojo'd, ha!) which was as hot as my bonfire.
With a large wooded farm there is a constant accumulation of brush, dry weeds, branches from fallen trees, prunings, and residue from my personal firewood operation. By the end of any year I have piles all over totaling many cubic yards. What shall be done with them? I could leave them in place, which would eventually bury the entire farm in brush. I could hire a chipper team. Here's how that goes: three guys on hourly pay haul a huge commercial chipper towed by a large exhaust-spewing diesel truck to each pile, leaving tire ruts, and chip the piles with the chipper running for hours, spewing gasoline exhaust. Or I could and do follow the third option, burning.
There are rigorous rules and procedures to be followed. Your burn must be inspected by the local fire agency. A form is filled out with burn details and sent with $100 to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. Then you must call an 800 number to determine if it's an "open burn" day. Often weeks go by before it is, and then you hope your piles are dry enough. "Rained yesterday? Too bad". Then you must call your county agency and leave your name, number, and location. Then wait till 10:00 AM and hope it hasn't become too windy. Ahh, now I can start.
My main point here is that with a carefully constructed and totally dry pile, the stuff is turned to ashes in short order with virtually no smoke. And every place where I have had burns in the past has rich fertilized soil with grass twice as tall as in other areas.
Here's the first of four piles. The base is probably 100 square feet and the pile about 8 feet high.
Close up.
I started it with a couple sheets of newspaper and a lighter. It caught right away.
Of course I'm very careful about where my piles are located; no trees overhead, etc. When it catches you have to stand back 50 feet. This phase always brings to mind the brave firefighters who deal with the California wildfires. I always have a hose right next to the pile just in case, and for dousing the ashes at the end of the day.
As the first fire was almost out, Louie came to make sure I was doing everything right.
Fire number two starting with number three in the background. I did three that day leaving one to go, the largest of them all. Next burn day, I hope.
End of the day, not much left. I always make sure to soak the ashes before nightfall. The pile steams for a few minutes, then is dead. I return an hour later to feel the ashes as a final check.
I'm ready for a heated discussion, but keep in mind, if you disagree with my system, well, you're wrong.
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