Outdoor burning laws

[/pine]

In my county...they just did away with permitting for burns...previously all you had to do was call and you'd get a free permit (telephone #)... if someone reported the burn and there was no permit the party would be fined...
Now the county relies on the forestry service to issue daily advisories on wind and humidity etc. and red flags poor burning days...days with poor smoke dispersion can get flagged also...
All fires out by 8:00 PM

 

[jyoutz]

Personally, I wouldn't get too complacent about not being "out West" when it comes to fire danger. There have been some biggies in the Midwest and East coast. The 1825 Mirimachi fire in Maine is estimated at 3 million acres, Michigan fire of 1871 is estimated at 2.5 million acres, the 1.2 million acre 1871 Peshtigo fire in Wisconsin was also pretty bad, as was the 1881 Michigan "Thumb" fire of around a million acres. By all accounts those fires rivaled western confirm fires for intensity and rapid spread. There is a hypothesis that the 1871 fires might have been caused by meteorites, but high winds certainly exacerbated the situation.

As a kid, we burned bottom land with a couple of people and some rakes. In hindsight, the lack of a pump or tractor to disc the fire under seems idiotic. Live and learn. Certainly different times.

All the best,

Peter

All of those are well documented conflagrations, and yes they were large and focused in conifer forests in the northern Great Lakes and Acadian region of Maine. Most of these fires occurred in logging slash that wasn’t treated after the cutting was done. The eastern US landscape isn’t conducive to this scale of fires today (in most places), because the forests have been fragmented by conversions to farm fields and other land uses that break up the blocks of timberlands into smaller land units. But high severity fires are a possibility anywhere that forests are dominated by conifer species.

 

[2manyrocks]

Not good if you happen to be the landowner whose valuable forest timber gets burned because some nitwit let a fire get out.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

People are not very good at figuring out when to burn. Look at Colorado and Oregon last year. Dry, windy, and people are still dumb enough to light fires that got out of control.

You would think they would be smart enough, but there’s a lot of really dumb people. In my area you see people burning on dry, windy days with burn ban in place.

 

[ponytug]

All of those are well documented conflagrations, and yes they were large and focused in conifer forests in the northern Great Lakes and Acadian region of Maine. Most of these fires occurred in logging slash that wasn’t treated after the cutting was done. The eastern US landscape isn’t conducive to this scale of fires today (in most places), because the forests have been fragmented by conversions to farm fields and other land uses that break up the blocks of timberlands into smaller land units. But high severity fires are a possibility anywhere that forests are dominated by conifer species.

I agree that the landscape is different, and logging practices are much different. I'm a little less convinced that the differences are significant with regards to fire risks. The fires in suburbs in Denver, Co, and Santa Rosa, CA changed my thinking about the risk of wind driven fires in non-forested areas. But that may just be me...

All the best,

Peter

 

[jyoutz]

I agree that the landscape is different, and logging practices are much different. I'm a little less convinced that the differences are significant with regards to fire risks. The fires in suburbs in Denver, Co, and Santa Rosa, CA changed my thinking about the risk of wind driven fires in non-forested areas. But that may just be me...

All the best,

Peter

No doubt that wind driven fires are a risk anywhere that dry grass and brush exists. In the grasslands surrounding my house and buildings, I always keep at least 5 acres mowed short. Even wind driven fires don’t really carry in short mowed vegetation, no matter how dry it is.

 

[Torvy]

Sounds like wind is the real problem. They should just require wind permits or make winds over 5 mph illegal.

 

[2manyrocks]

That would effectively outlaw 99% of DC windbags.

 

[RidgeTopWVA]

That would effectively outlaw 99% of DC windbags.

Washington D.C should have windmills around ithe perimiter of the city with all of the windbags they could generate enough electric for the east coast.

 

[kenmac]

Got 4 old tires to burn tomorrow. Someone here told me the fire chief don't approve of tire burning.
My reply back was, I didn't ask for his approval !