help a city girl burn brush!

[dahlsteinm]

I know this is going to sound crazy, but I need everyones help!
I am a Registered Nurse and I work in the Burn ICU. Over the past four years our number of burns that have been throwing gas on brush piles is astounding. Unforunately the majority of these burns spend 3-4 months in our ICU (and leave with a bill of over $1 million dollars IF they survive and I place a HUGE emphasis on IF...because they typically do not!)

We are initiating a campaign to educate especially farmers on safe burning practices. Here is the problem: I am a city girl! I have never burned a brush pile in my life! We know this is something that has to be done we just want it to be done safely. So here are a few questions:

1. How do you safely burn a brush pile?
2. Do any communites have alternatives to disposing of brush piles besides burning?
3. I just read about people using leaf blowers? Some how this does not seem like a safe practice!
4. Are there tools made to safely burn a bursh pile? i.e. long non-flammable sticks to lite a fire?

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. This is a HUGE problem and you would be assisting me in saving many lives each year!

 

[mikim]

Compost service. Hire people to come pickup the brush and chip it at their facility for compost. I would suspect that people that throw gas on a brush fire also have never burned brush before. There isn't any "safe" way to do it. It is a dangerous activity and the best you can do is to take as many precautions as possible....those are many and varied. here are a few of mine: wait for rain and burn in the rain, have a water hose close and at the ready, scrape an area around the pile down to dirt as a fire break -- 15 - 20 ft wide is pretty good. Starting? I use fire starter bricks. they start easily and slow (slow is good)

 

[tungularafishcamp]

Start the fire with diesel instead of gas.

 

[silvertramp]

Used motor oil works well instead of gasoline.

 

[rekees4300]

Start the fire with diesel instead of gas.

Using gasoline is the number one no-no! Kerosene is also a good alternative. Do the burn after a rain and on a windless day to prevent spreading. Personally I don't burn brush piles anymore, just let them rot. No fire risk that way and rabbits. etc like the piles as homes.

 

[smstonypoint]

We are initiating a campaign to educate especially farmers on safe burning practices. Here is the problem: I am a city girl! I have never burned a brush pile in my life! We know this is something that has to be done we just want it to be done safely.
Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. This is a HUGE problem and you would be assisting me in saving many lives each year!

There are resources on the web that provide tips for outdoor burning safety (e.g., http://www.longviewfire.org/LongViewFDOpenBurningSafety.pdf).

Do you have any partners in your educational campaign? If not, I suggest that you partner with experts on outdoor burning safety and local outdoor burning regulations (e.g., fire marshals and county/state forest rangers). They can speak with authority to your target audience(s).

Good luck in your campaign.

Steve

 

[Alan L.]

Start it with diesel, kerosene, or used motor oil, and put all of it you are going to use in the fire before you start it, then don't throw any more on the fire. NEVER use gasoline to start a fire.

 

[dahlsteinm]

I actually just got off the phone leaving a message with the fire marshall. I am also working with the Trauma Coordinator at the facility in which I work...all she does is education the problem is she lacks burn knowledge. So, hopefully we will be a great team, I really appreciate all of your input!

 

[arrow]

The same thing I use for starting wood stove fires works great for brush. Either a small bag of potato chips or Diamond Strike a Fire fire starter sticks. I never have to use any liquid petroleum products with these two fire starters. I also wait at least a year to burn the pile. I never burn w/o a permit and always have a water source available.

 

[tcartwri]

Kerosene will also flash back in your face. Diesel is the only safe fuel to use.

If you put a lot of Gasoline on a pile, the fumes will actually flow out along the ground and envelope your feet and legs. That and the flash back are deadly.

edit; Excuse me, I should have specified Coleman type fuel instead of Kerosene. However Coleman fuel is typically what you will have in your garage or shed. It is very explosive in open air.