Burning Brush

[4570Man]

That is what i am struggling with. If you have to go to all this to start a fire I am wondering how forest fires ever get started. All you need to do is put a match or a lighter up to some paper or dry grass or leaves and you have a fire. I light a brush pile about every month and never had an issue.

The climate has a huge amount to do with it. I could go out in the woods right now with a weed burner ( large propane torch ) and be unsuccessful in starting a forest fire. I have been out west in the summer, and I'm well aware of the fire danger there. A forest fire could easily be started with a single match.

 

[bamboozled]

I noodle up a log and then soak the shavings in diesel for 5-10 minutes in a 5 gallon gas can I cut the top off of while I noodle up some more shavings. Dump the first batch and light it up and soak the second batch, then toss it it in handfuls as necessary until the pile takes off.

 

[Creamer]

Yes I am bamboozled - what is "noodle up a log"?

 

[aczlan]

Yes I am bamboozled - what is "noodle up a log"?

Cut the log with the grain (ripping vs cutting across the grain), that makes long "noodle like" shavings.

Aaron Z

 

[Creamer]

thanks! I never heard that term before!

 

[bvahjen]

Well, I have to tell this story. I pulled about a dozen 30 to 40 foot spruce trees out with the excavator and piled them up. Called the fire Marshall to burn it and he said you have to wait until the snow flies. I was good with that since I live in a log home about 250 feet away. So, summer turns to fall, fall turns to winter and it finally snows. Me and my buddy go out to light the pile, thinking this will be a couple hours and we will be drinking beer. 18 hours later, we went to bed after (and I kid you not): 40 gallons of diesel, 20 gallons of gas, bales of hay, 6 fireplace logs and a few gallons of citronella oil. **** stuff was pretty much fire proof. Every time we would get a fire going (and we started 6 at a time), all it would do is burn a hole up to the sky and go out. We ended up starting a fire and hand feeding it for 18 hours. Now, I've been burning stuff for 50 years, but I would have been much better off burying this stuff. The next day I had a pile of smoking stumps that I had to get rid of and a massive black hole in the meadow I had to repair. Go figure, we just couldn't get this stuff to burn!

 

[Pilot]

Harbor Freight weed burner is the way to go.
Logger piled green slash really tight, just before rains started. 42 piles. Here in western Oregon it rains all winter and summer lasts just a few months. Burning season starts in late fall and lasts into early summer, depending on weather.
Those piles just wouldn't dry out. Spring & summer and those piles were asbestos.
At the end of summer, the state forestry people wouldn't let me burn. Finally they would let me burn 1-2 piles per day on selected burn days since I didn't have a crew. I tried the toilet paper soaked in diesel--no go. Sprayed diesel & gas mix on the piles. No go. Got a weed burner and got my 1-2 piles per day. It's a regular flame thrower & no danger to you like you get with gas.
Then in November we had a forecast of heavy rain for several days. As the rain started, I went out there with my weed burner & started lighting them off, lit the remaining 18 piles. Burned quite well & the job was done, done, done!

 

[jack707]

Why did you abestos? Cancer

 

[HillStreet]

Why did you abestos? Cancer

Hey Everybody,

I am the original poster and have an update. It rained here on Monday so I went to the FD to obtain a permit to burn. I bought some fire starters at a box store, you know, made of wax, light and forget. For as hard as it was raining, I just lit a fire starter and placed it within the pile and it lit right off.

As that first pile burnt down, I lit another, and wound up burning 6 piles in all that day. All went very well, I used the Kubota to tend the piles as they burned down. Four of the piles smoldered for a few days but no issue.

On Thursday morning, I noticed the fire department at the burn area, hoses deployed, putting out the smoldering ashes. I went out to meet the guy in charge to figure out what was going on. The chief told me that it was very clear that I tended the fires and that there was no issue with me--- just that somebody called and the smoldering had to be addressed. I was on my way to a doctor's appointment, but I let the firefighters use the Kubota to work the piles. I might say that my wife thought for sure that I was going to jail for the piles still burning. Could not be further from the truth, the FD was really cool, great firefighters and leadership. They stressed there was no fault with me, just answering the complaint. I gave them a donation and thanked them for their service. Job well done.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Harbor Freight weed burner is the way to go.
.
Then in November we had a forecast of heavy rain for several days. As the rain started, I went out there with my weed burner & started lighting them off, lit the remaining 18 piles. Burned quite well & the job was done, done, done!

That is what I do up here in Puget Sound. As my slash piles are next to the forest so do not want to get any thing else burning; I always burn when it has been raining for awhile and the surrounding areas good and wet. Can always get a permit then.. Weed burner and some times a leaf blower. Never fails. Once you get it started the top stuff dries out fast and the fire storm starts. I have had flames 30' in the air. If I have waste oil that is how I get rid of it. We are not supposed to burn stumps but I cheat. I have had stumps burn for a week. They do not smoke and fires are well back from the road. Heat, air, and fuel are they key elements of fire.

Ron