Okay, my secret to burning three wooded lot worth of wet leaves in 45 seconds.
Simple
Have a wife who has never used gasoline to burn anything. She is super intelligent, hard working, works well with people, has no temper, and is knowledgeable about many things. Except gasoline, not very knowledgeable about gasoline.
This was right after we bought our house in 1978. Plan was to put a couple cups of gas in this huge pile of damp leaves, pour a LONG trail away, put up can and walk around to get the fumes out of my clothes (long story on that), drop a match, and watch leaves burn.
Didn't work out that way.
I explained the process to my young wife and waked up on top of the pile of leaves pouring about a cup or so of gas in the middle. Turned around and she was trying to strike a match with me still on top of this huge pile that we had worked for hours building. Yelled at her to quit and she did. So I poured a little more gas and used the rake to cover it with the slightly damp leaves. Looked over my shoulder and she was striking a match again. Ran back and took the matches away from her. Went back to the leaf pile mouthing at her the whole time and poured more gas on the pile. Now this was thirty years or more ago but I still remember thinking that the once full gas can felt kinda light. Raked the big, huge, humongous pile of leave some more and smelled gas. Poured the last of the five gallons back toward the house to make a path for the flames to follow. By this time it was dark as I handed the matches to my wife and before I could get three steps away she had one lit and dropped it.
It was not good!!
I still remember running backwards and seeing her arms spread outline against the bright yellow flames as the entire pile of wet leaves blew up probably thirty feet into the air. I am not exaggerating, it shook windows all over the neighborhood. That was the first time I saw neighbors peeking out of their windows, afraid to come out.
Within a minute there wasn't much remaining of that pile of leaves. Just a few embers spiraling around and dropping on the ground. Wife turned around and walked up to me and said, "WOW"! Handed me the gas can and the matches and went into the house blinking her eyes very fast.
The next year I bought mulching blades for the mower.
RSKY