Burn Pile near catastrophe

[n8wrl]

Our neighbor across the street took a lot of trees down behind his house. Couldn't really see all that was going on from that far away. But one night we noticed an odd orange glow thru our drapes. Opened them up and he was burning an enormous pile behind his house. Flames at least twice as tall as his house illuminating our yard. I don't think it was that far from his house. Scary.

 

[escavader]

This post is exactly why i
#1 bought a chipper for my tractor
#2 compost leaves and grass etc,and use in the garden
#3 haul every thing else to the landfill,and let the town burn it,or find a hole and bury it.
ALAN

 

[dknarnd]

I am planning to burn our barn that fell in many years ago. It was rather large and a little of it is still half standing so I have someone coming in with an excavator to crush it down into a pile for me. This winter if we get a heavy snowfall I plan on burning it but I'm going to talk to the local fire department first. We don't need a permit but we have to inform the local authorities that we are burning.

 

[turnkey4099]

I am planning to burn our barn that fell in many years ago. It was rather large and a little of it is still half standing so I have someone coming in with an excavator to crush it down into a pile for me. This winter if we get a heavy snowfall I plan on burning it but I'm going to talk to the local fire department first. We don't need a permit but we have to inform the local authorities that we are burning.

We are not required to do so but I do everytime I light off a pile. Much better to tell them you are doing a controlled burn than to have the FD show up in the middle of it because somebody reported it. Last year when I headed out with snow on the ground to get rid of 5 or 6 big piles I called dispatch and advised them. "Why are you telling us? Will someone complain" "Yes there is one" That wasn't why I called though, it was just courtiesy and to keep the volunteers from being called out needlessly.

Harry K

 

[Billy_S]

This post is exactly why i
#3 haul every thing else to the landfill,and let the town burn it,or find a hole and bury it.
ALAN

What fun is that?

 

[patrick_g]

I burned a pile in my back yard last week. Flames went up close to 40 feet. Have another large pile there now with lots of large logs in it awaiting proper conditions.

Around here there are burn seminars for teaching proper approach for cojntrolled burns of pasture. Been twice and will go again. Always pick up more info not recognized before. Typically we help each other burn with at least two tractors with spray rigs and a couple outriders on 4 wheelers with radios to alert spray rigs to problems or potential problems. They 3-4 guys with drip torches and varioius equipment in trucks ready at hand. You need shovels, rakes, flappers, back pack sprayers and such.

We develop and publish a burn plan in advance and are wary of the wind, RH, fuel load, and such factors. There are even some burn associations starting up as a co-op type arrangement.

Burning a field or large brush piles isn't rocket science but there is a lot more to doing it safely than meets the eye of the typical redneck.

In Oklahoma you are liable for any damages so it is good to keep smoke plumes off of public roads and not let a neighbor suffer a loss.

I have helped burn a cumulative total of several hundred acres with no mishap (so far.)

A neighbor burned 30 acres of one of my pastures and 10 or so of the next owner east of me because he burned his trash during the state governor's statewide burn ban and had aerosol cans in the trash. He ran around like a chicken with its head cut off till the fire had a great start and then finally called the VFD. A buddy of his who was visiting him at the time drove away instead of helping. This guy was a real scofflaw and of course would totally ignore THE SAFETY POLICE cause he like so many other ignorant ba-----s think they are special and not subject to the laws of physics and statistics.

Pat

 

[SPYDERLK]

Pat, when I was a kid my dad started a grass fire in the center of a field one morning. I was just lying in bed and watching sorta incuriously. The fire was difficult to get going, then it was great for a few minutes, then it became obvious that the perimeter was too big and Dad knew he was in trouble. I leapt from the bedroom window straight into the seat of the tractor - - yeah, right. Uninjured, I bump started the tractor, engaged the bushog and tore around the fire line with the mower discharging inward toward the center of the field. By the second lap the fire was out. The fire dept arrived somewhere in the middle of this and watched. They saw we had handled it but still fined Dad.
This ploy is effective on groundfire even in the woods if there arent too many big trees in the way. You need good mobility and no fuel leaks. In such conditions it is an extremely effective basic self contained fire control tool.
Larry

 

[RobertN]

Check the local laws, Some places can not burn after dark.

Definitely check you local regs. Out here, a burn pile is 4'x4' with 10' clearance all around. 4'x4' is a pretty small pile! If you light off a big burn pile around here, better have not only a burn permit, but a permit for the big pile...

Better call the "burn" number before burning. Some days it seems like a perfect burn day, but it is regulated not only by the general weather, but the smog/air resource board too... There may be hour restrictions too.

No trash, lumber, etc in the pile. Burning is yard waste only(limbs, branches, leaves)... A neighbor got nailed on that one. Burned construction waste that stunk up the neighborhood. Air Resource Board came out. Big fine!

now some serious advise

Have someone meet the FD at the ROAD.
be aware that fire trucks weigh alot, we will leave ruts in your yard.
Fire trucks and septic tanks dont mix well please let us know where they are.
bridges and narrow treelined drive ways should be made to fit a fire truck.
If you have a dry hydrant in your pond let us know, If you dont then check and see how much it would reduce your insurance.

sorry for the rant I ran on 4 of these last weekend.

A lot of rural properties are poorly marked. Give good location info when you make the call. Then have someone flag the Engine down. It is a bummer to come in Code-3, then have to back track becausde you passed a poorly marked drive or private road. If you can't find it on a rainy foggy night, chances are we'll have a hard time too, 'cause we're reading maps, listening to dispatch, setting up Tac channels, the Engine is loud to begin with, lights, sirens, horns...

Make sure you can drive a big rig in your driveway. I have been on some calls, where the peoples mini-truck or compact car fit right down this tunnel of trees. Tears the engines and medic units up! The branches just tear at the lights, antenna's, ladders etc.

It sucks to have to move a patient, or drag hoseline because you can not make access over a tiny little bridge. Sometimes the Engine, and even Medic Unit has to stop because that bridge that the owners pickup can cross is too small or lite built to get an emergency vehicle over.

 

[Richard]

Sorry to hear about your close call.

My father in law sold the timber on the farm several years ago, the timber dudes created several large slash piles. The picture has been posted here before.

One summer day a couple years ago, I burned a 'pit' out. This was an old rock quarry so it was mainly rock, about 5' deep. My goal was to burn the fluff in there to better expose the rocks so I could gain access to them. Within 30 seconds from ignition, I was trying to put fire out, within 90 seconds from ignition, I was running off to call the volunteer FD (love them guys)

They came out and put the fire out. (all this was BEFORE the attached picture)

WHILE they were out here, they saw the other large piles of slash that we had, so they took their bulldozer and dug a fireline around this monster pile. You can see my industrial backhoe behind the pile as a perspective.

Point I'm trying to make is, this fire was started with a fire permit in hand, AFTER the firefighters came out and essentially prepped the fire for me by knocking some stuff down and digging the fire break (from the first fire).

I lit it off, fire burned all day and most of the night (side question: how do you burn only "during the day" if it keeps burning? )

Later in the day, my father in law & I looked over to another side of the hill and saw smoke.

As the wind had been blowing that direction ALL day, we just thought it was the accumulation of smoke... at this point though, the winds had changed and that area STILL had smoke... I got a nervous feeling & walked up the hill to have a look see...

Seems several more acres lit off on the BACK side of the hill, where some embers from my 'legal' fire had gone UP in the heat column, over the hill and landed where there was more fuel on the back side.

I quickly called the fire department again, guy answered.. I said "are you one of the guys that was out on Coytee road last weekend????"

"yes"

"Well, I need you again...................."

While they were there, I went home and loaded up two large coolers of every kind of drink I had.... they woofed them down I'd tried putting that first fire out, so I had a clue as to how they felt with these large ones.

Every year, we get a $75 bill from the local volunteer fire department to be a member. If we have need of their services, it's essentiall free. If we do NOT join and have need of their services, it's like $2,000 / hour for the first 2 hours and even more than that for more hours as I recall..

I usually send them $100 with my bill as a small (very?) token of my appreciation on what they've done for me.

Truth be told, what I'd LOVE to do is order some tasty bbq ribs from some favorite places (Montgomery Inn - Home of the World's Greatest Ribs) and let them have a banquet "on me"

 

[firemanpat2910]

RobertN its funny that all the way across the country, you have the same issues that we do. I look at the driveways,trees,culverts and bridges every time I go to any of my friends houses. If there is any doubt I offer to help them clear the drive.