Brutus & Weenie roast

Richard · Apr 18, 2001

OK, all you fire fans...

Last weekend went to clean up some of the piles of brush that the loggers have left. I had Brutus out to help, in the top photo you can see Brutus on other side of pile to give a perspective of the size of pile/fire. You can see it was a pretty large pile, certainly the largest I have ever torched. Best part is there were two, side by side!!! And I got to light them both off at same time.

Last Thursday we had LOTS of rain. Friday morning we had even MORE thunderstorms so everything was pretty darned soaked and I figured about as "safe" as it would ever be. I already had my burning permits from the Dept. of Forestry. Somewhere around 12:00, sun broke out and I thought I would try to start these at about 2:00.

LONG day short, I got them started and they were the most docile, “behaved” fires I have ever seen/had. The lower picture was taken somewhere around 2:00 AM Saturday MORNING. I had no idea this would take so long, but there was so much moisture in the piles they burnt very slowly, hence the aforementioned docility.

Somewhere around 2:00 a.m., I was getting VERY tired. All of the sudden lights in my face, lights in the distance...Sheriff showed up. Seems someone across the lake called in a fire. (glad to know they are watching actually). Though he didn’t seem to have an “attitude” per se, he was sort of “challenging”. He said what’s up, that the fire had been called in and if I was ok. I assured him all was fine. He asked how I was planning on putting the fire OUT and if I was planning on staying ALL NIGHT. I guess the look on my face indicated I had NO intentions of putting it out. So I calmly yet firmly told him that Thursday/Friday we had had LOTS and LOTS of rain, the Dept. of Forestry had been out to bulldoze a fire break around both fires, I had my cell phone with me, BRUTUS with me (I DO think that impressed him) AND though I didn’t have it on my person, I DID have a fire permit at home and lastly, that I indeed WAS planning on staying with the fire “until it was out”. (Mentally chuckling that HIS and MY definition of fire being OUT were probably different) He actually seemed impressed and at loss of words and just stood there. Finally he said Well, I guess I’ll just phone it in as a controlled fire and left. Probably 20 minutes after he left, I went home to bed. It was clear that nothing was going to accidentally catch on fire since everything was so soaked from the rain.

Today (Wednesday) both are still smoking from some of the covered embers. Sunday I did another pile that was by my house.

I’m about over toasted marshmallows and weenies.....................

Richard

bpence · Apr 18, 2001

Cool.

I've torched a few big brush piles through the years, but nothing the size of what those pictures show. Kind of makes you feel like you're clearing the wilderness, doesn't it?

Bob Pence

Jag · Apr 18, 2001

Very good pictures of your and Brutus' work... It got me to thinking, around here no permit needed. And no one would come out to check on it, well maybe they would if it was that big... About the only time for concern around here is during the summer... You will see fire or smoke around early spring and late fall.. I have got to piles two do now. I keep mine much smaller and burn a couple of piles at a time. Would hate to try a large one by myself, have seen to many bad things happen. A lot of people will burn off fields, and I have seen what looks like very little grass burn like gasoline...

Richard · Apr 18, 2001

To clarify, I (nor Brutus) had any part of creating the piles. We did clean up the area a bit, but the piles were created by the loggers and their clean up crew which I must say, did a decent job.

That said, it DID look like the world was on fire for several hours.

Richard · Apr 18, 2001

Here (Knoxville, TN area) you need a burning permit from say, September to maybe May. I don't know exact months, just that essentially 1/2 year you need one. If your burning and DON'T have one, I guess they can maybe throw you into the fire!!

I have always lit my fires using patience, small wood etc... I then started to use propane torch. I do NOT like the idea of using any chemicals or gasoline since I'm on a well. I knew these fires were VERY wet if not indeed soaked so I took some Kerosene. I used about 5 gallons per pile to FINALLY get them even "started". They never never never got to a roaring blaze that I had last year (during dry spell when 6 fire trucks had to come out and rescue my hiney)

I just knew they would light up the STATE and I barely got the woods lighted up. As much as I'm fascenated by fire, I was rather pleased at their mild temperment because I would have had flames probably 70/100 feet in the air had it been a hot fire. As it was, I guestimate the flames at the peak were only 40 feet or so (using nearby trees as yardsticks). Last years fire was made to clear out a 20 by 20 hole that had some large rocks in it. I cleared around the pit, lit the match. Within 30 seconds I was trying to put the fire out. Within 5 minutes I was exhausted, realizing it was REALLY dangerous and ran for help. That's when the 6 fire trucks and bulldozer came to ahem....help. /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

The Dozer dude (who prepped these recent fires BEFORE hand) stayed at other fire. He prepped another pile (also last year) that ALSO got out of hand the follwoing week and again, I had 6 fire trucks and him on dozer out to help.

He was a champ and stayed to the bitter end. I ended up sending him some very tasty bbq ribs from one of my favorites in Cincinnati as kind of a thank you. He called me to thank ME for the goodies and said he had never had dinner delivered to him by UPS before.

RobS · Apr 18, 2001

That's some pile/fire Richard! I've got a small pile going that pales in comparison, but I'll take your advice and wait until after some decent rains to burn.

A friend of mine planned to burn a pile last summer and scheduled a bonfire party to celebrate the occasion. He had pulled a permit and done some clearing around the pile. We showed up a little early for the party to help and when we got there he was covered in sweat, dirt and ash. We'd had a really dry summer and in spite of clearing the area his fire spread in the humus soil at and below ground level. He called the fire dept. and by the time they arrived he had it under control, but if he hadn't gotten the permit he would have been in deep doo doo.

To salvage the party, my wife and I went home and borrowed a portable fire pit from our neighbors. After a shower, some beers and a couple of hours my friend was laughing a little bit about it all.

So, how were the weenies /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif