Fire! fire!

[turnkey4099]

Not sure about your locale, but where I'm at they simply ask that you call the county Sheriff's office and notify them. That stops the "cell phone heros" in their tracks. We don't need a permit (as long as there isn't a burn ban, and in most cases during a ban, you can't burn at all.) Our ban expired (drought conditions here) on Friday so I called and burned on Sunday. Had a huge pile ready to go!

Yep. Having been a county dispatcher we appreciated calls such as that. After I retired from that, I call in anytime I have a brush pile to burn or even if my truck will be down in the barrow ditch doing something. I tell them to ignore all "fire calls" unless I myself call it in...that has happened, burning grassy ditch got out of hand.

Harry K

 

[creekbend]

Burn permits are required in our County. They are easy to obtain, if there are no current restrictions such as drought and the permit is free. I burn my burnpile once of twice a year.

 

[WayneB]

We just had a young lad 21 killed burning a wood pile. He throw gas onto the fire to get it going and sure enough it exploded catching the gas can and him on fire.
Would like to think we would all be smart enough not to do that, but with that said I have done it before when I was younger, like this past December.

 

[daugen]

Yep. Having been a county dispatcher we appreciated calls such as that. After I retired from that, I call in anytime I have a brush pile to burn or even if my truck will be down in the barrow ditch doing something. I tell them to ignore all "fire calls" unless I myself call it in...that has happened, burning grassy ditch got out of hand.

Harry K

"calling it in" is always a good idea. Otherwise, once someone calls 911, most fire companies have running rules where the fire must be put out, to avoid liability if it starts back up later.
I've done this myself, drenching some poor guy's burn pile when if all he had done was make one call, and he never would have had a problem. Some local townships one can burn, we sure could growing up here, but
now we have suburbanites who exclaim "how dare they send that toxic smoke our way!"

In order to burn in our township, one needs both a permit, and some kind of farm waiver. The reg makes some inane reference to burning feed bags and other necessary farm burning. Ok, likely old wording.
I talked to the fire marshall and he said he was willing to drive up to the farm and consider a waiver, but by that time, I had made a nice hidden pile in the woods and had cleaned up the mess myself.
And since 98% of our locals seem to be on the phone while they are driving, if these ninnies see smoke, they get button happy. Uh, how about driving up closer and seeing what you are calling in?

People burn in dangerous conditions; many seem clueless. They put their fireplace ashes out on their wooden decks in paper bags and wonder why their house burns down. Sigh.
Talk about the need for an ounce of prevention.

 

[kiotiken]

You're lucky. Around here, you have to get a permit to burn. They used to be free, so I used to get one, it was only a matter of signing a piece of paper at the local city office once and calling the fire dept. when you started and finished burning. That seemed reasonable enough to me. When they started charging $20 a year for a permit (maybe more now), I stopped getting them. You're only allowed something like a 4' diameter fire so any fire I have would break the permit anyway, and out of principle, I'm not giving them a dime for a permit.

Had the fire dept. showed up at my house, it would have cost a pretty penny, even if they were mostly volunteers (we have both). A hefty fine and some made up costs for their time.

 

[dave1949]

This is the burn permit system we went to a year or two ago:
Burning Permit.com

Since Maine and Missouri are the only choices, the idea doesn't seem to be catching on. I have no idea what the fee (to the town) for using this may be, but it puts a lot of info within easy reach to a lot of people, and the fire chief doesn't have to explain the rules 100 times a year.

I don't know about charging anything beyond a nominal fee (how much is "nominal" up to these days?), but I would call it a courtesy to inform the FD, or get a permit if that is the local procedure, when burning.

In our area, almost all of the fire depts. are volunteer. If a call goes to dispatch, we drop whatever we are doing or get up in the middle of the night and respond. If we don't, and it turns out to be a real fire, or one that gets out of control, well then people will wonder why we didn't check it out, because after all, that's why they paid for fire trucks.

I don't get the attitude that someone is so puffed up with their own self-importance, that it doesn't matter how others--who are dedicated to saving lives and property basically for free--are affected by their personal choices. Some people need to grow up. End of that little rant. If you don't want to hear it, that's what the ignore button is for.

 

[dmccarty]

I have not burned in awhile so the regulations may have changed but at the time, if you lived on the property, you did not need a burn permit. Since the house was not built I would get a burn permit which at first was kinda a PITA because I had to go to the farm store to get the permit. No fee as it should be. Then they put the permits on line so it was real easy. I was very particular about burning so I would pull permits and often not use them because the wind picked up, the ground was not wet enough, etc.

For one burn I dug a trench but not as large as yours. It worked but I had been building the burn pile for weeks and of course it had rained so there was water in the hole but the pile still burned.

We had some land cleared over the summer and I will burn off the tops and burn up the stumps as best I can. Hopefully, I can get the trees cut into logs to get the pile stacked. I am undecided if I should build a fire trench again. Toying with the idea of stacking the stumps, dirt out, stump in, and piling the wood inside. I will have to wait until next winter to burn.

Later,
Dan

 

[daugen]

I don't get the attitude that someone is so puffed up with their own self-importance

this is so common it's sad. I drive a S Mercedes or a 7 series BMW and therefore I don't have to
use my turn signals. I can yack on my phone all day and wonder why all those people are honking at me at lights.
Rude sods.... And if I want to burn in my field, I am much too busy to call in, the rules don't apply to me.


I find the indifference and arrogance disheartening.

btw, no offense to anyone who owns these cars, really. But I think the BMW drivers are the worst; they have the "ultimate driving machine"
and they don't know how to drive. End of my rant too.

I was a volunteer fireman for a relatively short ten years. I have friends who are in their seventies still active firemen, active in their own way.
And there are many stories regarding "uncontrolled burns" which is what your perfectly safe, tended with a hose, brush pile becomes when some well meaning
yoyo calls in just because they see smoke somewhere. Maybe it was their first time out of the city...

 

[Gary Fowler]

Here all you have to do is call in and let them know you will be burning some brush piles so they know not to respond to "smoke" calls. We have been burning at least 2 or 3 times a year but have just about got the brush under control. I have 2 piles drying out now that I will likely burn next summer.
One thing that we have been told is that if you don't pay your "fireman fund dues" yearly that they wont try to put out a fire at your home if it occurs. Therefore I quit paying my dues. Every fire I have seen guts a home in just a few minutes to the point of having the tear it down and start over anyway. A friends boat caught fire and spread to his house and it burned practically to the ground. The volunteer fire dept. was just across the street. He had to pay to get the remains cleaned up which was just a few walls and some flooring. I live at least 4 miles from the fire station and the closest hydrant is about 600 feet from my house. I would just as soon let it burn to the foundation as have them watering everything down making a mess to have to clean up. That is why I have fire insurance and smoke detectors. If its small enough for me to put out with a hose, then I will put it out, if not let it burn to the ground.

 

[daugen]

One thing that we have been told is that if you don't pay your "fireman fund dues" yearly that they wont try to put out a fire at your home if it occurs.

Most of us who have ever held an inch and a half get a little nauseous when we hear of this. Where does service to the community come in?
This does happen in certain areas, areas I bet that are not well funded by county or state funds.
Sticker on the front window or door or we watch it burn.
Not on my watch.