Is this how you light a brush pile???

[tommu56]

Oh, and on a related note, did I read in one of your posts a while ago that your are a firefighter?

I ran with Linfield almost 20 years about 13 or 14 as chief engineer.
Who do you run with?

Ever been on the Hay Ride of Horrors?

 

[CompactTractorFan]

I ran with Linfield almost 20 years about 13 or 14 as chief engineer.
Who do you run with?

Ever been on the Hay Ride of Horrors?

Well, I don't run with anyone yet...I'm applying to become a junior firefighter...I've never been on the hay ride of horrors...

 

[Pilot]

Had to be liquid fuel on that pile before he hit it with a torch. I have lit many piles with propane torches and they just don't go up that fast. And at the end of the clip there is a 55 gallon drum on what looks like a trailer, so I'll bet they sprayed it before lighting.

It wasn't gasoline or it would have gone "whump!" and he wouldn't be walking around like that any more. I write from experience. I used gas once or twice, just a small amount and the fumes are heavier than air and flow downhill. I had a flame shoot out around my boots when I lit that off. No harm, but a real learning experience.

A mixture of 30% gas and 70% diesel works OK and is a lot safer.

 

[JDgreen227]

Had to be liquid fuel on that pile before he hit it with a torch. I have lit many piles with propane torches and they just don't go up that fast. And at the end of the clip there is a 55 gallon drum on what looks like a trailer, so I'll bet they sprayed it before lighting.

It wasn't gasoline or it would have gone "whump!" and he wouldn't be walking around like that any more. I write from experience. I used gas once or twice, just a small amount and the fumes are heavier than air and flow downhill. I had a flame shoot out around my boots when I lit that off. No harm, but a real learning experience.

A mixture of 30% gas and 70% diesel works OK and is a lot safer.

I posted pics of my brush pile fire in "Barn Razing", the pile was 36 feet long. What we used to start it was I put a copy paper size box of old newspapers around the base in six different places around the pile, soaked the papers well with old motor oil, and lit them one at a time with a propane torch.

 

[955er]

Looked like the pile was full of dry grass and/or dry pine or spruce trees. Those torches are real handy for burning grass in the wild prairies around here. Lots of acres will be going up in smoke within the next couple weeks.

Agreed. I burn a lot of dead, dry pine. It goes up fast.

 

[studor]

That pile definitely had an "accelerant" -- vegetation just will not "catch like that even with the propane torch and if conditions were that dry it would be a dumb thing to do to light the burn pile
I use my torch all of the time in the winter without accelerants and and it works just fine -- interesting video

 

[eepete]

I only burn if it's raining. I use used hydraulic oil. You splash/spray it on the dry wood, then put a tarp over that area the night before the burn. On the day of the burn, re-apply and light it. Some newspapers, hay, or cardboard with oil on them work. If you've got the Christmas tree from the year before, put that on the bottom of the pile and give it some oil.

It may be obvious, but give a pile time to dry out- at least 6 months. Before you burn (but after you've put the Christmas tree in there) try to compact it down with the FEL a bit.

The oil soaks into the wood and give you a longer, slower burn than diesel. You can also toss the hydraulic oil on to areas that need a little help.

I never use gasoline or used motor oil.

Pete

 

[JDgreen227]

I only burn if it's raining. I use used hydraulic oil. You splash/spray it on the dry wood, then put a tarp over that area the night before the burn. On the day of the burn, re-apply and light it. Some newspapers, hay, or cardboard with oil on them work. If you've got the Christmas tree from the year before, put that on the bottom of the pile and give it some oil.

It may be obvious, but give a pile time to dry out- at least 6 months. Before you burn (but after you've put the Christmas tree in there) try to compact it down with the FEL a bit.

The oil soaks into the wood and give you a longer, slower burn than diesel. You can also toss the hydraulic oil on to areas that need a little help.

I never use gasoline or used motor oil.

Pete

Diesel fuel is $4 a gallon here. My used motor oil is FREE. Everybody got that?

 

[TracTrac]

I only burn if it's raining. I use used hydraulic oil. You splash/spray it on the dry wood, then put a tarp over that area the night before the burn. On the day of the burn, re-apply and light it. Some newspapers, hay, or cardboard with oil on them work. If you've got the Christmas tree from the year before, put that on the bottom of the pile and give it some oil.

It may be obvious, but give a pile time to dry out- at least 6 months. Before you burn (but after you've put the Christmas tree in there) try to compact it down with the FEL a bit.

The oil soaks into the wood and give you a longer, slower burn than diesel. You can also toss the hydraulic oil on to areas that need a little help.

I never use gasoline or used motor oil.

Pete

Great info!
I'm also a VFD. Wife and I burn brush once or twice per year. The piles are 10' high and 20' diameter. People who handle lots of brush know that it compresses when you pile it up. Our brush piles are also from what we gather from spring cleaning/pruning.
What I do. To prevent fire from spreading we burn between summer showers. A weather front blowing through can mean disaster. Add one quart of diesel to the middle of the pile. I then devised a tool for giving the fire some help. I take an almost empty 5 gallon propane tank with a regulator. Place the fuel supply inside (copper tube) a 5-7' long 1" pipe. Place that 1" pipe inside (not threaded) of a 20' long 2" pipe. I use aluminum pipe because its light and easy to manuver. This gives you plenty of distance for safety reasons. Sometimes placing a support (old bucket) in the middle is necessary to support the long pipe. Allow the end of the 20' pipe to rest on the bottom of the burn pile. Now comes the fun part. Have a small fire (usually burning paper) at the end of the large pipe. Turn on the propane,,,just a tad at first. When it catches turn it up a little more. The diesel should be ignited by now. After 3-5 minutes, even starting with a wet pile every thing should be well on its way to burning. Turn off propane valve and place tank 1,000,000,000 feet from fire. When you turn off the propane you will get a small "backfire" from where the pipes connect. That happens within 3-5 seconds. Not loud or anything, its just a poof sound.
If the fire is stubborn to get going but has developed some hot spots, crank up a gasoline leaf blower. Without the hotspots the blower is no good.
On a safety note, Keep the gasoline away from a fire. Remember, gasoline is NOT flammable, but those vapors will kill you.

 

[JDgreen227]

Great info!
I'm also a VFD. Wife and I burn brush once or twice per year. The piles are 10' high and 20' diameter. People who handle lots of brush know that it compresses when you pile it up. Our brush piles are also from what we gather from spring cleaning/pruning.
What I do. To prevent fire from spreading we burn between summer showers. A weather front blowing through can mean disaster. Add one quart of diesel to the middle of the pile. I then devised a tool for giving the fire some help. I take an almost empty 5 gallon propane tank with a regulator. Place the fuel supply inside (copper tube) a 5-7' long 1" pipe. Place that 1" pipe inside (not threaded) of a 20' long 2" pipe. I use aluminum pipe because its light and easy to manuver. This gives you plenty of distance for safety reasons. Sometimes placing a support (old bucket) in the middle is necessary to support the long pipe. Allow the end of the 20' pipe to rest on the bottom of the burn pile. Now comes the fun part. Have a small fire (usually burning paper) at the end of the large pipe. Turn on the propane,,,just a tad at first. When it catches turn it up a little more. The diesel should be ignited by now. After 3-5 minutes, even starting with a wet pile every thing should be well on its way to burning. Turn off propane valve and place tank 1,000,000,000 feet from fire. When you turn off the propane you will get a small "backfire" from where the pipes connect. That happens within 3-5 seconds. Not loud or anything, its just a poof sound.
If the fire is stubborn to get going but has developed some hot spots, crank up a gasoline leaf blower. Without the hotspots the blower is no good.
On a safety note, Keep the gasoline away from a fire. Remember, gasoline is NOT flammable, but those vapors will kill you.

Place the propane tank a BILLION FEET away from the fire....that's a long drive, because odds are, my neighbor 500 feet away has several of them stored somewhere, including what's in the bottles on the front of his travel trailer....