help a city girl burn brush!

[Scooby074]

Too funny and scary.

I had a bud try the gasoline throw. He failed, we almost blew up, and we had to follow the trail of blaze attempting to extinguish it before a forest fire started.

He never told me it was gas. I never thought someone would try that.

When we returned to the house, we used the local Marine Corp base as an alibi. That did not work either, maybe it was my red face and his singed clothing?

I laughed when i pictured that.

Not sure how bad his arm is .. but

A gentile toss works wonders.. also i dont throw any gas on if there's any significant flame. Id say it would be a litre max i put in the jug. Ive seen people dump gas straight from the weep hole of a 5gal jug! right on the pile!!! Thats nuts. Just a miracle that the flame didn't follow the gas back

I should add that tires are technically illegal here as well. Ive heard stories of Lands and Forrest checking out fires that put out too much black smoke looking for burning tires. So far, ive been lucky. Its HARD to beat tires for starting a wet pile of wood.

 

[aczlan]

My recipe when I want to start a bonfire is:
1-3 Gallons of used Motor Oil (usually Mobile 1) or ATF
1-2 Bales of mulch hay (normally moldy stuff, or hay that got rained on)
1 Propane torch
Spread the hay out in patties, dump the oil on the hay and light it with the torch.

I can and do start fires with tinder, kindling, etc when we take the Scouts on campouts (I can even do it with flint and steel given some time), but around the farm, I take the easiest safe way.


Aaron Z

 

[Carl in CT]

I burn small to medium brush piles a few times a year. In my town I have to get a permit which is good for 3-6 months depending on how much I am willing to shoot the breeze with the fire marshal when he comes out (lol, he's a good guy).

I mentioned to him that I used a little citronella oil to start my last fire, which he was OK with, not so much my wife when she went looking for it for the teaky torches. It's not the best but it's pretty safe, easy to store and relatively cheap at a discount store. He said to use charcoal lighter fluid like we all used before the days of gas grills. I got a couple of bottles and that works well, one big bottle has lasted several burn days. Again, not too expensive at the right stores and easy and safe to use and store.

On a side note, I thought misty or rainy days were good for burning, he said no because the smoke lingers too much. Not a burn risk thing but in an area with neighbors, some with asthma, lingering smoke is a bad thing. Of course I have a hose, rake and shovel on the scene at all times, as well as my bucket loader (at a safe distance).

 

[boggen]

*cringes some* i have called 911 more times than i care to admit. a couple times yes it was me. but majority of time, it was neighbors that there fires got out of control.

i have learned NEVER start a fire while it is raining or just after it is raining here in central, IL during these times there are normally major wind shift and sudden high wind gusts to low wind gusts. ya it might be calm for a couple hours. but after you get all setup and ready, those hours are up. and just about when you get to the biggest burn of the entire thing. the wind kicks up. and fire starts going across old corn fields or been fields last year crop. ((95% dirt rest is stalk from beans or corn) and fire still leaps and quickly grows across a field.

i have learned to keep "not a garden hose" but a hand pump spot sprayer say 1 to 2 gallon version handy. also a "small bristle push broom handy. the push broom can help you smoother out lawn grass and taller weed areas. by just wiggling it down on the area. without much energy used.

a garden hose can only reach so far. and if you are that close to a house or shed. then most likely the shed and/or house could catch fire or get extremely hot. just from the radiant heat coming off the fire a person could easly get 2nd degree burns just from radiant heat coming off the fire let alone actual flames on you.

i honestly try to not use accelrants. don't get me wrong. i will use them every now and then. on larger brush piles. but for me. say general yard work around the farm house and sheds. i get a few limbs here and there. that are normally small enough i can break up into pieces with my hands or across my leg. and with that i do have a dedicated burn barrel out by the sheds and then a out door fire ring on one of the lakes.

=================

but when it comes to "large brush piles" when i say large i mean cutting down trees for fire wood. and you have all them little twigs for the upper half of tree that holds all the leaves. this pile can quickly get rather big.

along with if you have pasture areas and wooded areas. and you have a tractor to help maintain things. you can quickly obtain a bunch of "bushes" and other brush. that turns out to be a rather large pile.

you also have folks doing ditch burning and pasture burning. when they do this. generally it is to help remove all the large weeds. and make it so the spring time growth of grass. comes in fuller and greener. (more likely a forestry program controlled burn) wooded areas and pastures simply obtain a lot of dead stuff over the years. and if you do not keep things cleaned up an maintained non stop ((most folks would need to be at this like a full time job)) that if you do not do control burns every couple years or so. when something does happen that starts a fire in the pasture or wooded area. you can end up with a much larger / hotter / much faster out of controlled burn. due to so much extra richer amount of stuff that can burn.

================
any hoots getting back on track of large burn piles. folks tend to use an accellerant. due to most things are still "green" what i mean by that. is if you go out to a tree right now and snap a twig off. you will most likely get some juices flowing out of were you snapped the twig off. green / wet stuff just does not burn. and can mean not a very hot fire, that takes a long time to burn. and then need for multi re burns of various twigs. and using a metal rake to move everything back into a new pile. and to folks. they will use an accellerant to get a much hotter fire quicker and faster within the burn pile. so the length of time it burns is shorter and more likely to burn majorty of entire pile. exception perhaps outside rim of small twigs.

most folks don't like letting a large pile set there for a year to dry out. due to it invites critters (coons, possum, skunks, coyotes, road side drop off of cats and dogs, rats, mice, snakes, etc...) so getting rid of the pile is a higher concern. and quicker the job gets done. the better. and the mind set no longer is about saftey. but use the easiest available accelerant on hand and what will do the job the quickest. but can be deadlier ((gasoline))

 

[boatyard]

I have only used gasoline once, the first time that I did a burn, 15 years ago, .

Rainy day, pour gas on pile, long trail away from the pile, move can aside, drop match, hear big whompf, watch pile rise a bit, pick self up off my butt, notice smoldering and no actual fire.


I think that Riptides method is perfect. I have never failed to burn several large piles of brush every spring with the basic Boy Scout method on a grand scale. My piles are usually a bit big for the marshmallows.

Riptides
["I burn a lot.

I don't use accelerants, I use a nice box of old twigs, tiny chips of wood and pine cones. I usually set the box on the middle of the brush pile. I use my tractor to close up the pile around it.

I call the local fire department to let them know I am burning.

I have water handy.

I have the equipment nearby.

I have a multiple buddy system.

I usually burn after a rain.

I make sure the pile has a nice creep area around it, so I cut the brush beforehand.

I have marshmallows, chocolate and gramm crackers available.

I don't use the blower.

Sometimes beer is available. Sometime potatoes and corn are available."]

 

[RobertN]

A real Scouter would have a Dutch oven with a blackberry cobbler going

Byron's Dutch Oven Recipes - Blackberry Cobbler

I think that Riptides method is perfect. I have never failed to burn several large piles of brush every spring with the basic Boy Scout method on a grand scale. My piles are usually a bit big for the marshmallows.

Riptides
["I burn a lot. I have marshmallows, chocolate and gramm crackers available.

 

[nickel plate]

I live in an area without a newspaper to subscribe to so annually when it's time and legal to burn slash, I fuel up the truck at our local stop 'n' rob, grab a healthy handful of the free classifides just outside the door, take them home and wrap several copies up real tight and secure with a couple loops of tie wire. With several of those made up, dunk them in a solution of old gasoline and old motor oil for a few minutes, place them in and about the slash pile, use some of that same paper also wired but onto a long stick and short soaked in the same inferno solution, light the torch stick and walk around the pile lighting off the wired paper bundles. By tight wiring the papers they go off more as a high powered candle other than a high powered explosion.

 

[tungularafishcamp]

Many years ago I had cut down a few trees and one cold snowy rainy dec morning, I poured some mixed gas from a skiff can into the brush pile and lit it off. Like many times before it burned nice at first but things were just too cold and wet to really get it started. About the time the fire fizzeled out totally as I was nearby on another project, my wife called me in for lunch. @ an hour later I came back out and of course the fire was stone cold when I felt with my hands. Just to be safe I poured some gas into a bucket and threw it right into the pile where it had been burning, nothing so I get a bit more gas into the bucket again and throw it around the pile elsewhere. Now remember it is 34 degrees and spitting rain and snow and the fire is plumb out so I take the kicker can and pour the rest of it straight over the pile, and WOOSH up goes the pile, kicker can and me all in flames, after tossing the can and a little roll in the mud, I vowed to never use gas to start a fire again. Got lucky that time!!

 

[wildwillie]

I can't believe some folks use gas, or even diesel. Every body I know will use a weed burner. Much cheaper and easier and a whole lot safer.

 

[dmccarty]

Talk to your city/county fire marshal as the local state Forestry service. If they do not have rules in place I would be shocked. They may or may not have safety materials written up. It certainly is a GREAT idea.

Check with the county/state extension service as well. If they do not have safety materials they should. If you create the materials I would bet they would LOVE to help distribute the document.

Other people who might help distribute the material would be the scouts, Future Farmers of America, the Farm Bureau, state extension, local fire marshals, Forest Service, Timber Associations, etc.

In NC, if you have land, but do not live on it, you have to get a permit to burn. Tis easy to do over the Internet. The Forest Service has the rules/regulations on burning on the permit. Having a link to a safety document or adding said information to the permit would be a good thing.

In NC one can only "legally" use Diesel to start the fire. Diesel is better than gas but used motor oil would STICK to the wood and not get on the ground but I think NC bans the use of used motor oil.

I used to be a certified boating safety instructor and one of the facts I was taught was that if a cup of gasoline evaporates in the bilge of a boat, and finds a spark, the resulting explosion is the same as a 1/4 stick of dynamite. That would turn a fun day of boating into a not fun day.

Now that I said that.......

I was starting a burn pile one day. The pile was about 32 feet long, 12 feet tall and about 12 feet wide. I had my permit. :laughing: I had waited until we had had lots of rain. This was good to help prevent the fire from getting out of control but it made it hard to start the fire.

I was using old fuel poured on news paper. I could NOT get the fire to stay burning. The only thing I had left was some old gas. I know better. So I am careful.

The burn pile was on a hill. Which was VERY important. My truck and I was UPHILL from the pile. I put more newspaper in the wood pile to soak up the gas. I poured more gas into the pile. Then I ran uphill. UPHILL from the fire I lit a piece of newspaper and threw it into the fire. Then I ran. UPHILL. :thumbsup:

This was during the winter. So the temperature was very low and the gas would not have gone to vapor as quickly as it would during the summer.

Of course the gas had vaporized or the story would not be interesting. As the flaming wad of paper flew to the wood pile, I saw gas vapor leaving the pile and heading down hill. When the flaming paper wad hit the wood pile, it found some gas vapor which then exploded.

Made a very nice, loud BOOM! Sticks flew from the fire. There was a bit of a mushroom cloud. :laughing: A rather large flash of flaming gas vapor. A small bit of grass caught on fire which was interesting to watch to see how far and fast it would burn. But it was contained in my cleared area around the fire. :thumbsup:

Now I knew what I did was dangerous but I did mitigate the dangers. There was a gallon or two of gas in that pile so there was quite a big boom when a cup of evaporated gas equals 1/4 stick of dynamite.

To THROW gas on a lit fire is INSANE. My wife's grandparents burned their garbage all of their life. The grandma almost killed herself when she threw a bunch of gas on the garbage pile which was on fire. She was danged lucky she did not get burned alive. After that little incident she stopped burning.

Later,
Dan