Another Use...

[farmer2b]

Another use for the new 4600. Used it last weekend to make firebreaks to help stop a major grassfire. Neighbors with tractors also helped, along with area firemen. Started in a pasture behind me (someone with a welder wasn't thinking right) and stopped within 25 yards of my neighbors house which is under construction, and about the same distance from my barn which is behind my house. What a close call. We are thankful and lucky. If any of my neighbors or our firemen read this - THANKS!

Just sharing....

P.S. Donate to your local volunteer fire departments!

 

[Bird]

Give us more details. How did you make the firebreak and what did you use; plows, box blade, front end loader?

Bird

 

[farmer2b]

Details aren't really very sexy. The loader and cutter were already attached to the tractor. First, I simply lowered the blade as far as possible and cut a few swaths outside the fire (my neighbor was doing the same thing). This helped slow the fire down as it moved from very long grass and weeds into the very short stuff. and the ground was somewhat scuffed as well. The firemen were also there working on the perimeter of the fire, so I picked locations where they weren't focusing and tried to use my fel to scrape the ground in front of where the fire was spreading. Although this did help, it was harder to do and not as effective since the fire spread pretty quickly. (I'm not trying to sound like a hero, actually I nearly lost the tractor in the fire due to a stupid mistake - please don't ask for details on that one).

I had called my neighbor before I went outside to let him know about the fire. He loaded up his power washer and brought it to the house under construction next door, where he hooked into their spicket and started spraying the perimeter of the fire as it was speading in that direction (the fire was very close to this house). He was a big reason that this was more of a learning experience rather than a tragedy.

This was a big team effort, with neighbors and the fire department working hard. I'm thankful everything turned out okay. As far as the tractor work, it wasn't scientific, just more reactionary.

By the way, I saw smoke today and tracked it down - another grass fire several miles from where I lived being battled by the same volunteer fireman - again close to some houses. Someone was burning a trash pile - in the wind no less. How do we get people to be aware of the dangers of grass fires? It is so dry right now and any spark is very dangerous.

Thanks for your interest.

 

[Bird]

I was curious as to how you did it because I leave my front end loader and box blade on the tractor a good part of the time and figure I may need it someday for fire fighting purposes, even though the only time I've actually seen anything used, it was a dozer on one of the fires I was fighting when I was on the volunteer fire department here. I guess I've wondered whether I could do any good with my tractor in that situation. Our "burn ban" as instituted last week by the county commissioners and I was surprised that they waited as late as they did to do it. Lots of grass fires around the area already.

Bird

 

[Harv]

<font color=blue>I've wondered whether I could do any good with my tractor </font color=blue>

I did some experimenting on this very issue recently. Like you, Bird, I usually have my loader and box blade on the tractor, so that is what I would probably respond to an emergency with. About 6 weeks ago, I set out to create a new fire break between the road (most common place for fires to start) and some structures on the property.

I made two passes with the box blade tilted for a fairly agressive cut, but much to my dismay, the blade just slid over the tall, dried grass as it pushed it over. The net result looked more like I ran a comb through it, rather than removing any significant amount of fire fuel. /w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif

So then I lowered the 5 rippers and hit it again. Of course, with the rippers down, I had to go quite slowly (a scary scenario if I imagined a grass fire headed my way), but at least I was successfully breaking up the hard soil and the grass therein. After several passes that way, I again raised the rippers and used the blade once more. This time I scooped up load after load of dried grass and loose soil, which I proceeded to dump at the end of each run.

By the time I had cleared a 30-foot swath over the 75-yard stretch, I had put several hours on the meter. /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif My conclusion? Better to take care the firebreaks before an actual fire approaches. /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

Should I have tried the FEL? Well... I hate to run willy-nilly through a field of tall grass with my bucket down, especially since such areas on my proprty are not completely flat, and the half-buried boulders seem to know how to sneak up and stop me in my tracks. In an emergency, I might go for it anyway, but it's not clear to me just how effective that would be.

 

[Bird]

Harv, I've thought about it a good deal and have serious doubts that I could do enough good to amount to anything after a fire gets going.

Bird

 

[ccatfish]

As odd as it sounds, I have some pretty good memories of grass fires. Years ago I used to spend the summers with my grandfather in far north central texas, not far from OK. Before I was a teenager, when a fire arose any where within sight he would take off and leave me at the farm, not to return until sometime late at night.

About the time I hit 14-15, he started inviting me along. It was a sight to see what must have been 300-400 farmers, volunteer fireman and others fighting these huge fires that could be miles long. I was usually relegated to shovel duty, but the equipment that would show up ranged from large farm tractors with discs and chisel plows, to road graders, dozers, water trucks and more.

Things really got interesting once the fire was out, with major league beer drinking excercises lasting into the wee hours. No wonder there were so many volunteers. I wasn't to tell grandma too many details. I miss those days.

 

[Bird]

Ccatfish, I, too, have some (not so fond) memories of fighting grass fires at Healdton, OK, when I was 11-15 years old; mostly with wet "tow sacks" (burlap bags to folks in other parts of the country/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif). Twice we fought them all night (first time I learned about sore muscles from over exertion). And one time the volunteer firemen showed up, I opened the gate into the pasture, the driver roared through the gate, hit a little sand, stalled the engine, and could not get it restarted. I passed out tow sacks at the barn and we fought fire frantically to save our house AND the fire truck. As soon as the danger was past, the fire truck started just fine. I think panic was the only thing that kept the driver from restarting it when it stalled./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Bird

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I remember fighting a wheat fire one time at my uncle's place. I was just a little boy and was in charge of the water. We did not have enough hose to get out there so I was filling buckets and hosing down bedspreads for the grown ups. The whole extended family was there at a feed or something. Thank God. One of the first sheets that got grabbed was a brand new bedspread. Everybody was beating or shoveling or just doing what they could. Some got their boots and pants charred a litttle from stomping. I don't think that more than an acre was lost but it was sure scary. One thing about fighting grass fires is to approach it on the grass that has already been burned. That way the fire hopefully cannot get ahead of your equipment and burn you.

p.s. I was sitting out on the porch with that very same uncle one year after he was a little older and could not see so good and a pickup truck went by on the dirt road towing a trailer. It stalled out about a quarter mile away and caught fire. So I says to my uncle "Hey Uncle Fred, I think that pickup is on fire!" So he says "Oh, Come on now! " (which was his favorite expression). We sit there for a while and I am saying over and over again that the pickup is on fire. After a little bit of time goes by he says "I think that pickup is on fire!"

I was fit to be tied. Anyhoo, we get some buckets of water and sprint down there in the pickup only to find that the fire is out and all is OK. The fuel line to the carb had worn through and spilled gas under the hood but mostly onto the ground where it burned without hurting their pickup. They fixed the fuel line and were on their way. The funny thing is that their trailer they were towing was a spray rig full of water with its own engine and everything. They could not get it started.

 

[Jag]

For people who have never seen this type of fire, they can not beleive what it is like... When 14-15 I got home on the school bus just in to time to watch a field fire... The fire had started about 6 miles west of our place. It burned to a state highway about 2 miles west of our house, and fire fighters thought they could hold it there... But it jumped the road and started on towards the house.. Dad was down the field somewhere and mom was using the garden hose to wet the west side of house and roof down. Also the grass around the gas tank. I got out out the tow sacks and had them wetted down. The tree line west of the house was a half mile away with an old sage grass field up to the house. Mom kept pouring on the water while I watched the fire burn through the trees. When it came and caught the field on fire with about a 15 mph wind, there was a 40 wall of flame that crossed that half mile in about 5-6 seconds. The heat was intense but it was like a blast and over... Dozers and tractors ran all night long on the mountian to the east of the house and I worked till about 3 that next morning putting out hot spots with a group of men... That wall of flame was something you do not forget....