My Evolution of Burning Fires

[WVH1977]

I started my burning career with burning sticks in the burn barrel behind the house. Then I graduated to using a rake and pitch fork in piles on the ground. After that I started drinking beer with music, friends and hot dogs while burning bigger piles with the rake, chainsaw, axe and pitchfork. Cleared about a 1/4 acre of brush and trees at my parents house burning and drinking everything in site. It took a lot of beer and late nights to clear that land!!

As I got older, I quit drinking, bought house, land and tractor. Started bigger fires and used the tractor bucket to clean up around the fire. Bought a grapple and started really burning piles of brush.

Finally, I have reached the pinnacle. I now use an excavator and tractor to move and burn even bigger piles of brush/stumps. Don't drink beer anymore though and have money in the pocket.

Also, as with everything else discussed on this site tractor and equipment related, the excavator and tractor are getting smaller everyday and I find my self wanting bigger tractors and excavators!!!! Maybe next thing will be a D9 Dozer!!! As lots of folks on here say, BUY ENOUGH TRACTOR!!!!

 

[Username Taken]

I find this interesting because I have a big burn pile I need to do something with. Tornado, trees, lots of wood to burn.

 

[Jstpssng]

Good story. When I was a kid the neighbors up the road had a huge boulder they wanted gone; it was so close to the house that we could barely squeeze between the two. Every night over the course of several years they would go out, build a big fire next to it and socialize. After a while the rock would get brittle and they would knock a piece off with a sledge hammer. Eventually they got it whittled down enough so that my father could hook onto the remnants with the Willys pickup and drag it off; giving them a place to build their garage.

Your excavator would have made that job go a lot quicker.

 

[MF RED in MT]

I know what you mean about burning progressing on the property.

I started by burning all of the tree branches in a 3' diameter fire ring, it took for ever but I enjoyed the process for a couple of years.

Then I built my brush forks for the MF tractor and had a big cleared area close to the road.

I would pile the branches with the tractor as high as the FEL would place them.

I would also pack the pile down with the bucket.

The burn pile is about 14' diameter and about 8' tall.

I start the fire using a "Big Max" 500,000 BTU propane torch and I think the flames can be seen from space...

Murdoch's – Hot Max - 500K BTU Propane Torch

Shop 500K BTU Propane Torch at Murdoch''s Ranch & Home Supply

www.murdochs.com

Now I only need to sit and watch the burn pile fire for about 2 hours.

KC

 

[dirttoys]

I started my burning career with burning sticks in the burn barrel behind the house. Then I graduated to using a rake and pitch fork in piles on the ground. After that I started drinking beer with music, friends and hot dogs while burning bigger piles with the rake, chainsaw, axe and pitchfork. Cleared about a 1/4 acre of brush and trees at my parents house burning and drinking everything in site. It took a lot of beer and late nights to clear that land!!

As I got older, I quit drinking, bought house, land and tractor. Started bigger fires and used the tractor bucket to clean up around the fire. Bought a grapple and started really burning piles of brush.

View attachment 765042

Finally, I have reached the pinnacle. I now use an excavator and tractor to move and burn even bigger piles of brush/stumps. Don't drink beer anymore though and have money in the pocket.

View attachment 765043View attachment 765044

Also, as with everything else discussed on this site tractor and equipment related, the excavator and tractor are getting smaller everyday and I find my self wanting bigger tractors and excavators!!!! Maybe next thing will be a D9 Dozer!!! As lots of folks on here say, BUY ENOUGH TRACTOR!!!!

Sounds like a blast, sorry the drinking didn't work out

Best,

ed

 

[CalG]

I've heated with wood stoves for more than 30 years. So anything larger than my wrist gets cut to length and split.

The little stuff goes through the chipper shredder. The wife likes the way the gardens look when mulched that way.

A burn is for evenings when friends are around.

 

[nyone]

You havnt had a big enough fire if you didnt load it with a machine and the fire dept show up.

2yrs ago I had a big enough fire. They showed up, I spread out the stumps I was burning and wet everything down. I didnt call them nor did I need them.

 

[WranglerX]

Here in Cali and just recently having a wild fire at my doorstep, I tend to keep fires relatively small (4 ft. diameter) and easy controllable.... Being a pyro is ok if you must, just not in my neighbor hood.... Also just complete portable water tank system with tank and pump and hose to move to site where fire is to help control fire so it does not get out of hand...

 

[GeneV]

See, if only you kept drinking, you coulda kept the jobs smaller, hence less need for bigger equipment. This is a cautionary tale, it seems.

 

[MF RED in MT]

Pryo, Hmm...?

My bi annual burning of slash from my trees and property has nothing to do with pleasure of starting/watching fire!

It is a chore that I've slashed my time invested in to a minimum.

All of us posting here have survived many stressful and life threatening experiences.

In Montana I live in a forested community that has a "fire wise" rating, and our only problem is with 1 neighbor, just a baseball throw away, the USFS.

They do not perform any clean up and have started many fires first listed as "prescribed burns".

Thanks for the advise, but California is at the top of 5 states i'll not even step into.

In Montana, our loggers have slash piles 10 times the size of mine and I wouldn't dare call any of them a pyro.

And F.Y.I., I do have hand tools, tractor, working water hose with good well pressure, and a 2" gas powered water pump (and year around creek with plenty of water near the burn pile) when burning.

My previous post was about reducing days of labor spent to burn to now only hours of labor to burn.

1 more thing: We had a wildfire a few years back at the front door and another wildfire at the back door at the same time, with smoke (mostly from CA) so thick you couldn't cut it, and I still have a cough from that smoke and we were evacuated for over 2 weeks.

KC

enough said, maybe too much...

 

[nyone]

Alot of the issue of fires getting away from someone is not waiting. Not waiting for the correct conditions. I wait for a wet day, rain in the forecast, next to no wind. Some areas never have a good time to burn, I believe those mostly have yearly forest fire issues.

To get rid of junk wood I have started to use a 275gal oil tank with the top cut off. Limits the need for conditions to be perfect. I still wont burn if theres a wind.

 

[orezok]

Good story. When I was a kid the neighbors up the road had a huge boulder they wanted gone; it was so close to the house that we could barely squeeze between the two. Every night over the course of several years they would go out, build a big fire next to it and socialize. After a while the rock would get brittle and they would knock a piece off with a sledge hammer. Eventually they got it whittled down enough so that my father could hook onto the remnants with the Willys pickup and drag it off; giving them a place to build their garage.

Your excavator would have made that job go a lot quicker.

There is a LARGE boulder known as Giant Rock out here in the desert. Supposedly it is the largest “boulder” in the US. Anyway, for years people built fires against an overhang area of the rock and this happened.

 

[5030]

I find this interesting because I have a big burn pile I need to do something with. Tornado, trees, lots of wood to burn.

Roast it...

 

[5030]

My burn piles kept getting larger and larger as well so I bought myself a PTO wood chipper. Big mistake, too much work chipping branches and then the issue of what to do with all the chips. Just so many flower beds to put them in so I sold it (for more than I paid for it) and went back to roasting. way more fun anyway.

 

[East30]

Love burn piles, great way to spend weekend time. Never been as large as the OP's post however. Been clearing and burning an area for our home for years. Finally built last year, and I miss it. Starting the process on another piece of land, and will start clearing other areas near the house, just to pretty it up. I have been thinking of a chipper as well, perhaps chipping all my trails in the woods and fields would be nice.

 

[Xfaxman]

Here is one of mine from November 2019:

 

[Wakey]

I’ve had many large burn piles on the last 2 properties. Some stacked by hand, some with machines. Those have been burned out in the middle of a large pasture.

My current pile is in the rear of the property, near a wooded area.

I’m not burning that one until it rains!

Here’s a few pics..

 

[Wakey]

Here’s a short video with a Beavis impression. I guess you could say I’m a cultured sophisticate AND a pyromaniac!

My fence lines do look nice now

 

[nyone]

A medium sized one. A few years ago I cleared a spot for a cabin, this is everything that wasn't firewood grade. I even dug up the stumps of about 10 trees and burn them also. The area is a nice mowable clearing in a mature hardwood forest now.

 

[kubota shifty]

It's getting harder and harder to have a burn pile in CA. Calfire charges over $100 for a burn permit besides a yearly tax of over $100 AND more fees in the property taxes. To burn you have to notify the fire dept. that morning and confirm it is a burn day. Here it is only green/wet in the winter so burning can't happen after April. My neighbors and I have piles so large they sometimes burn for multiple days.