Help me start a FIRE !

[Hoosier_Daddy]

Gary D,

I have scar tissue this day on the back of my left hand because of a fire from gas soaked rags when I was painting my Bike parts when I was a kid and decided to dispose of the rags in a burn barrel.

My Mother, the nurse, pealed the skin off my hand under cold water. Geez, 40 some years ago.

I survived that but respect the "leaping power of gas" from a fire.

Use diesel. Road Flares are cool.. Or as we called them because Dad brought them home from the Railroad, "Railroad Flares".

Tom

 

[TOMLESCOEQUIP]

Please don't use gas !! I have a nice very old (86) year old man who since retiring goes around to the local shops and recycles metals & batteries for something to do. This friend has been around garages and cars all his life and was a former driver on the stock car circuit (dirt and asphalt) in the 40's thru the 60's. One day he saw me prime a carburator by dumping a small amount of gas from a open tin can and told me this story...........One of his friends he used to race with was using a can of gas to prime the carb on a engine newly installed in his stock car outside his backyard garage. Another friend was hitting the starter button while this man poured gas from the can into the carb. The engine started, then backfired thru the carb with a large fireball that set the open can of gas ablaze in his hands........without hesitation, the man threw the flaming can into the backyard not realizing his 4 year old son was standing there watching daddys race car........The boy was severely burned over most of his body and died as a result of the burns..........Bill saw this happen over 40 years ago and it still haunts him to this day........I guess the moral of this story is that things can happen fast and you can't back up time to fix them. Find another way to burn your brush pile ( a discarded steel belted radial perhaps under the pile, They light with just one match by the way) but PLEASE DON"T USE GAS !! TOM

 

[Junkman]

I am a retired EMS person. I had done it for more than 15 years and every summer or fall, without fail we would have some poor sole that used gasoline in one way or another that would go bad in a very big way and was burned badly. I have seen many people that have been burned and it is not a pretty sight. Ask anyone that has experience a burn and they will tell you of the pain and agony that they went through. I just can't accept any statement about how to "safely" use gasoline. The only way to safely use gasoline is to burn it in an engine!!! Some of you might have been lucky and not gotten hurt, but I have seen the charcoal lighter cans explode in peoples hands when they used it on an open flame. You have no way of knowing who might be reading this post and if it goes bad for them. You people that have put in a disclaimer about using gasoline, it isn't going to do much for their pain and suffering when the accident happens. EVERYONE, PLEASE DON'T USE GASOLINE!!!!!! No matter how you do it, it is very dangerous and you never know how dangerous until it goes bad for you. My only wish beyond this is that the Moderator moves this entire thread to the Safety Forum for all to see.... Here is a site from the State of OK that gives some statistics of brush burning injuries for a two year period.... web page

 

[Mrwurm]

Lots of good information has been dispensed. Ultimately, each person will decide for themselves. I don't plan on using gas or diesel.

 

[BB_TX]

If it is not in your way, and it is not an eyesore, and you want a good clean burn down to nothing but ashes, wait until spring. After 3-4 months, it will dry enough that burning will be much much easier. Yes you can burn green wood, but it takes a lot of heat to get it going and keep it going. Without using diesel or some other accelerant, you will need about as much dry wood as your have green wood to completely burn it.
I burn several piles a year. If it is dry, I just use dry grass or maybe a little paper to get the small twigs going. If it is slightly green, I find as much dry stuff as I can and maybe use a cup or so of diesel. You can pour the diesel on and hold a match to it. It will not suddenly flame up. It just slowly lights and starts to burn. Please don't use gasoline.

 

[Hambone]

Good info there Junkman.
Burns are bad.
My dad was hospitalized from Jan 12th to May 28th,1994 for burns, not related to burning brush, but, makes me think everytime I get ready to do something.

 

[Bob_In_MN]

Hey Jerry,

As mentioned a number of times, diesel is much safer than gas. I too have a relative who spent some time in a burn unit due to starting a fire with gas. Fortunately no permanent damage.

You mentioned the need for a burning permit, but that they are hard to come by.

In MN its a gross misdemeanor (sp?) to burn without a permit. You can't just pay a fine either--you have to go to court. Don't ask me how I know /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Bob

 

[Junkman]

at one time, the CT Oil Dealers Association ran an advertisement countering the claims of safety of the natural gas associations ad campaign........ it simply said "You can't MATCH oil!" The safest heating source available.............. you can throw a match into a pail of oil and it will not ignite.....

 

[8NTX]

I will never use gasoline, but diesel has worked well for me and acts safely enough. I first take a duraflame log and cut it into about 3 pieces with my ax. Place in 3 locations throughout the pile (usually one close to each end and one in the middle), with piles of twigs and newspaper stuffed between each piece and the pile. Spray some diesel on the pile, then light each piece of the log. Results in a fairly complete burn, depending on how wet the pile is. Since my place is heavily wooded, I usually wait until after a rainshower before I burn, to control any spreading.

 

[enbloc]

I'll chime in with my own gasoline warning. I once put it in the same light as some of you folks here. They weren't as careful as I was... yeah right. Nobody got hurt so this won't phase some of you - but I had some bad gas in a chain saw once. We had just started a fire on the brush pile, it was not really going yet. I went to the far side of the brush pile about 12 ft away to dump my gas. I dumped the gas, put the lid back on and turned to walk away from the fire when WHOOSH I was enveloped in fire. I didn't catch, I wasn't injured, but I have a new found respect for gasoline and other volatile flammables.

Diesel OTOH - will put out your delicate fire if you just try to drown your baby fire in accelerant. White gas / coleman gas is also _very_ volatile too. My brother used it once thinking it was safer than gasoline (and this a few months after we went camping and he saw my arm engulfed in flame trying to start the campfire.)

The purpose of any accelerant is principally to bring more oxygen to the fire - through the use of drafts created by the fire. The heat is really secondary, though helpful. Supercharging your fire is much safer and easier to control than turbo charging - use the leaf blower. You can run the leaf blower a long time for the amount of fuel you'd use getting a fire started.

I too got me one of them Harbor Freight torches for burning driveway weeds but I was dissapointed to find it uses the 20lb cylinders rather than 1lb. Still haven't found me an adapter or bought a spare tank, and I refuse to threaten my burgers for the sake of a couple weeds in the driveway.

 

[YanmarFever]

Jerry
Have you considered buying or renting a chipper?
Here in Oregon we get a 35 percent rebate on our taxes on the purchase of a chipper.
Ernie <><

 

[Mrwurm]

A chipper would sit idle for many years just like my chainsaw. The chainsaw sat for ten years since I used it last.

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

Napalm....... Kind of hard to confine though.

 

[Koby]

I agree with the suggestion to wait 'till spring. Your pile will be so dry, it will be a pleasure to burn. Burning green wood can be tedious. My first brush fire was green wood, even had snow in the pile. After an hour or so with no fire, I got impatient and poured some gas on the pile. I then lit the brush with a gas soaked rag on the end of a 10' stick....WHOOSH! All I saw was flames. After pulling myself out of the snow, I realized that I was lucky to be uninjured, and the darn pile still wasn't on fire!! Gas is way too volatile, and will flame out before it has a chance to light green wood. Now, I try to wait until the brush has dried some, and I have never used gas since. I have used diesel in the pump up sprayer with good results. It burns much slower giving the wood a chance to catch, and doesn't flash like gas. I still prefer a dry brush pile though; it burns quickly and completely without the need for accelerant. As previously stated, burning dry material (scrap lumber) AND the Duraflame should work, diesel will help.

 

[Gatorboy]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I don't plan on using gas or diesel. )</font>

I get the impression you think gas and diesel behave the same way. They do not.

Do you ever use charcoal lighter fluid? If you do, and feel that is safe enough, then you should not ignore your good oily friend diesel. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[EastTexFrank]

Some of you guys scare the bejezzus out of me. That's OK, some of my neighbours scare me to death too with their burning methods. One of the best things I ever did was when I had the water well drilled, I had the backhoe operator dig me a 12'x4'x7' deep pit that I use for burning. When I get it full, I cram some paper in one end, soak it in about a cup of diesel and light it with a rolled up paper torch. It's never failed to light and it burns from one end of the pit to the other in a controlled fashion without ending up in a conflagration. I've had two or three neighbours start grass fires by burning during the dry Texas summer. One managed to burn up his whole peach orchard. So the only words of advice I have are:
1. Keep the fire small
2. Be aware of combustable sources around where you are burning
3. Have a hose close by to control it
4. Never, ever use gasoline to start it
5. Be aware that leaves and such, when they burn will be caught in the updraft and burning embers will be carried a long, long way from the fire
6. Burn early in the morning if you can when the grass is still wet and there is very little or no wind.
I have to burn 4/5 times a year and it still makes me nervous. One of the things that I learned at all the fire fighting courses that I had to attend in 25 years in the oilfield is that it's a lot easier to start a fire than to put it out. Please be careful. I'd hate to read of another burning tragedy.

 

[NIXON]

I learned at an early age the power of gasoline ! We lived in Va . Just outside of DC . At that time it was customary to burn your leaves in the steet against the curb . I gathered all the leaves from the back yard and put them along the curb in a long pile ,and poured Gas on them . Then I figured " what the heck , I'll rake the front yard too " . I added these leaves to the pile ,tossed in a match and went to the house to get a drink of water . As I came up to the front door my dad was looking out the storm door . I'll never forget the WOOSH sound , the orange glow in the glass door ,or the look on my Dad's face !!! I turned to see that the pile of leaves is no longer on the ground ! It is now raining FIRE !!! As luck would have the neighbors yards hadn't been raked . So Dad and I got to spend the better part of an hour putting out fires .
It's pure DUMB luck no real damage was done and no one was hurt ! To this day if I use anything to help a fire along it sure isn't GAS ! John

 

[NoTrespassing]

Well I realize it's too late for this fire but here is a tip for all you rookie tree fellers....get it?

Out of the pages of Rural Living Handbook from the editors of Mother Earth News.

Leaf-cure summer cut deciduous trees.
You can hasten the drying of wood from trees felled during the high moisture months (May through September) by leaving the trees whole for four to twelve weeks. The foliage will draw moisture through the trunk and out the leaves (a process called transpiration). When the leaves wither and turn brown, the tree will have lost as much as half its moisture and is ready to be cut, split and stacked as usual.

The chapter also has a nice breakdown of wood types and their relative fuel value as well as how easily each type splits.

Kevin

 

[turnkey4099]

The real problem of burning green wood is getting the fire started -under- the fuel. I usually can find at least one spot that I can work my way in a couple of feet, crumple some paper and then sprinkle diesel on the fuel above that. Torch it off and if it is stubborn, feed it with small thin (preferably dry) stuff till it is going well.
I just burned two piles yesterday. One was huge and the only start place I could find was on the downwind side. The other small pile torched off fine but the big one was really stubborn, 1/2 hour playing with it, feed it more paper, bags of leaves etc. ran of out my small can of diesel. It finally blow torched for me and slowly ate its way back to the middle. It took a lot longer than usual. Next time 'more power (diesel)'.
I still have 5 more piles to go.

I never burn until there is either snow on the ground or after a heavy rain.

I also used to use gas a few times. WRONG MOVE. It gives and instant hot fire and instant out along with the danger. Diesel is the way to go but I hate the mess and smell.

Harry K

 

[Wal]

Boondox,

Out of all the replys to the original post, I can hardly believe that you are the only one that has mentioned using kerosene /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif It works very well, is relatively cheap, and won't explode in your face /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif One of my favorite "tricks" is to put some of my ever plentiful cedar brush on the bottom of the pile first, then the less combustible junk on top of that. I have also used the leaf blower and fireplace starter log to good effect.