It's fire season so time for some parparation

[orezok]

It's California fire season, which now lasts year round so I decided to do a little preventative action. I have 26 acres and I decided to cut some fire breaks on the south and west sides. The north and east have dirt roads which are about the same as the breaks I cut.

Most of the area is light and dried out sparse brush which is mostly dead or dormant since we have only had maybe 6" of rain in the last 3 years.

The light stuff I just tilled under and buried it. I did have about 10 creosote bushes which range to 10' high that I had to dig out with the loader. Most of the branches are less than 2" in diameter so I thought I would see if the tiller would grind them up also. Nope, just bogged down the tiller.

I thought about cutting them up and hauling them to the landfill, but my 30" lopper would not cut the branches even if I putt one handle on the ground and leaned on the other with all my weight. The largest branch I could cut was about 3/4". Man that stuff id hard.

I have a friend with a 5HP chipper that is supposed to take 3" wood - yeah right!

I borrowed it and tried to feed a 1" branch into it. It just chattered and finally ground off about a half inch of wood. Man that stuff is hard.

Not sure what I'm going to do with the rest.

 

[ace10]

Is that five star preparation? Or a curse word with five letters? Or what?

 

[orezok]

Is that five star preparation? Or a curse word with five letters? Or what?

Brain fart:laughing:

 

[dave1949]

Can you bury it whole? I suppose if it is that hard it doesn't squish well without a heavy machine.

You could rent a mini-ex for a few hours and dig a burial trench deep and long enough for the next several year's tree waste. Then cover up with dirt using your FEL as you fill it.

 

[orezok]

Can you bury it whole? I suppose if it is that hard it doesn't squish well without a heavy machine.

You could rent a mini-ex for a few hours and dig a burial trench deep and long enough for the next several year's tree waste. Then cover up with dirt using your FEL as you fill it.

I decided to just load it up on my equipment trailer and haul it to the dump. Loading was easy. First I raked it into linear piles and then I put the forks on the bucket and I could pick up large piles of it at one time. Of course I had to keep crushing it down on the trailer with the bucket to get it all on. Unloading at the dump, well that was a little harder. Took about an hour to pull it all off as everything was now entwined. Fortunately or landfill has a green waste area and I was the only one there so no hurry.

At the rate things grow out here in the desert, the firebreak will stay barren of any significant growth for at least 5 years. I've lived at this house for 8 years and this bush has grown less than a foot in that time. It's about 9' high. It's probably 30 to 40 years old now as it's about as big as they get.

 

[orezok]

OK, I decided to do some research on the Creosote bush. Here is what I found.

"Creosotebush is known to attain ages of several thousand years; some creosotebush clones may be the earth's oldest living organisms. The age of the largest clone in Johnson Valley, California, is estimated at 9,400 years. The average estimated longevity of creosotebush may be about 900 years."

Johnson Valley is only about 30 miles from me. I may have just killed some 1,000 year old bushes!

No wonder they are so **** hard!

 

[dave1949]

Who'd have thunk it? They must be fairly fire tolerant to live that long? They could flare-up and pass fire along and still recover maybe?

I know nothing about creosote, mesquite, tumbleweeds, and other favorites of the west. :laughing:

 

[orezok]

Who'd have thunk it? They must be fairly fire tolerant to live that long? They could flare-up and pass fire along and still recover maybe?

I know nothing about creosote, mesquite, tumbleweeds, and other favorites of the west. :laughing:

Doing some more online research, it appears that creosote can resprout after a light intensity fire. But, studies indicate that prior to mans occupation of the desert areas in the last 200 years, wild fires were relatively rare in the desert. What is increasing severe wildfires in addition to mans presents is air pollution. It promotes the growth of grasses which feed the spread of fires. Apparently the native population of creosote is sparse and did not support fire spread.

I cleared an area that was 35' by about 2,000' (about 1.5 ac) and it only had 15 or so bushes, but lots of low grasses.

 

[oosik]

I recently had a wildfire (Watermellon Hill Wildfire) come within 100 yds of my property. It was a frightening situation and may change my entire procedures towards fire protection. I have always maintained a 30 foot fire break on the upwind side of my property. During this wildfire I saw the wind driven front easily bridge 100 foot fire breaks. I doubt my fire break would have even caused the fire to pause.

My current inclination is - have good insurance, keep your most valued possessions in one location & stored ready for rapid removal, have a good plan for evacuation.

Had the wind direction altered only a few degrees, I would be still be looking at a pile of ash and cinders. From what I saw - during this wildfire incident - nothing short of stripping my entire property bare could have stopped its spread.

Glowing embers were being blown 1/4 mile ahead of the front and starting new fires.

This is not a happy realization but recent experiences have driven home many cold, hard facts.

 

[orezok]

I recently had a wildfire (Watermellon Hill Wildfire) come within 100 yds of my property. It was a frightening situation and may change my entire procedures towards fire protection. I have always maintained a 30 foot fire break on the upwind side of my property. During this wildfire I saw the wind driven front easily bridge 100 foot fire breaks. I doubt my fire break would have even caused the fire to pause.

My current inclination is - have good insurance, keep your most valued possessions in one location & stored ready for rapid removal, have a good plan for evacuation.

Had the wind direction altered only a few degrees, I would be still be looking at a pile of ash and cinders. From what I saw - during this wildfire incident - nothing short of stripping my entire property bare could have stopped its spread.

Glowing embers were being blown 1/4 mile ahead of the front and starting new fires.

This is not a happy realization but recent experiences have driven home many cold, hard facts.

Yeah, I know that a 35' break will not stop a wind driven fire, but it might work in a light wind situation. It also provides a pathway that fire crews might use for access. Recently I have found cigarette butts on the dirt road in front of my property. Some people are just complete idiots. The 35' cleared adjacent to the road will keep that butt from starting a fire.