Prairie grass burn

[lhfarm]

I planted prairie grass in an old hay field several years ago, but have never been able to do a spring burn. The field boarders the yard on one side and is surrounded by woods on the remaining sides. I would never attempt a burn without the aid of the fire department and over the years, time (I was only here on the weekends) and weather prevented us from having an opportunity to get together.

Last week, I called the fire department and they agreed to send a brush truck and crew out on Saturday, weather permitting. I would have my tractor with a 50 gallon sprayer (the tractor part of the project). They would instruct me in doing a controlled burn.

Saturday's weather was perfect. We have had several days of rain, but the day was sunny, with calm winds and high humidity. The crew of 3 arrived at 9 as promised, with a brush truck and a brush ATV.

I used a propane torch to start the fire as directed. With no wind and very wet ground, the fire burned slowly at first. The fire crew assured me that this was perfectly fine. The field is divided in two by a walking path and we started burning the second section. Winds of 5 to 8 MPH had been forecast and about half way through the burn, a breeze developed. The fire took off and looked more like the videos I had seen.

The crew was well prepared for this and used the truck and ATV water tanks to contain the fire along the breaks. The burn lasted about 2 hours and couldn't have been conducted in a safer or more professional manner. I plan to make a healthy donation to station.

 

[lhfarm]

I didn't have time to take many pictures, but here are a few more. The ATV and truck in action and the burn coming to and end at the last corner.

 

[lhfarm]

Final shots of the clean up. The tractor did come into play twice. The brush truck got stuck in a very wet spot and I pulled him out. This came at the very end of the burn. In the afternoon, I spotted one smoldering spot and used the sprayer hose to cool it.

When I drove the field in the afternoon I was amazed at how clean the burn had been. Eleven years of thatch had just disappeared. I'm expecting to see a beautiful summer crop of new grass.

I can't say enough about the crew and I'd give myself a pat on the back for the preparation I had done. I do need to double the width of one fire break, but otherwise I'm ready to do it again next year!

 

[brin]

Barry...Don't ya just love it when a plan comes together...Nice Job...I sure wish I could get our local fire dept. to come out and stand by for me to do a burn on a couple of my pastures...no such luck here though and I have board fencing and the pastures are surrounded by woods ...and I would never be able to get a permit in our area...Sure looks nice now..

 

[CompactTractorFan]

Great job! :thumbsup:

 

[treman]

Looks good. I may suggest that you burn every other year as if you try and burn every year you may not have sufficient fuel to carry a good fire. It looks great though and I am sure your pleased with the results, I know i would be from the looks of it you got a nearly complete burn.

Did you perform a back burn and create a black line surrounding the perimeter or simply light the head fire and let it slowly walk across the field? I ask because it seems as though your stating high humidity and recent rains would indicate that you waited for it to be rather wet. If you properly circle the area with a black line(50-75') you can simply light a head fire with a light 5-8mph breeze and it will rip across and give not only a cleaner burn but also will take substantially less time. Just curious as we are in the middle of our burn season at work. we have a couple hundred acres down and about 3-400 left to go if the wind and weather permits, otherwise we will have to wait for the fall.

Looks good and I'm glad it went off without a hitch. other than the stuck truck but thats to be expected from time to time.

 

[Longhorntractor]

That is wonderful. We are in Bastrop County Texas and mother nature involuntarily gave our pasture a real good burning last summer. The volunteer fire department did a great job containing the fire and no structures were lost. The grass is growing back real green do far.

 

[lhfarm]

Looks good. I may suggest that you burn every other year as if you try and burn every year you may not have sufficient fuel to carry a good fire. It looks great though and I am sure your pleased with the results, I know i would be from the looks of it you got a nearly complete burn.

Did you perform a back burn and create a black line surrounding the perimeter or simply light the head fire and let it slowly walk across the field? I ask because it seems as though your stating high humidity and recent rains would indicate that you waited for it to be rather wet. If you properly circle the area with a black line(50-75') you can simply light a head fire with a light 5-8mph breeze and it will rip across and give not only a cleaner burn but also will take substantially less time. Just curious as we are in the middle of our burn season at work. we have a couple hundred acres down and about 3-400 left to go if the wind and weather permits, otherwise we will have to wait for the fall.

Looks good and I'm glad it went off without a hitch. other than the stuck truck but that's to be expected from time to time.

I took my direction from the fire crew. They did have me back burn at the edges. I asked how many burns they had done and it was clear this was their first prairie grass burn. They were just using good training.

We have had a very strange winter. No snow, but lots of rain and warm temperatures. I kept waiting for drier conditions, but it just didn't happen. We actually had more rain last night and there is standing water in the field today.

I can't imagine the kind of work you are doing! My little spot beat me up. It would be great to see some pictures.

 

[lhfarm]

Barry...Don't ya just love it when a plan comes together...Nice Job...I sure wish I could get our local fire dept. to come out and stand by for me to do a burn on a couple of my pastures...no such luck here though and I have board fencing and the pastures are surrounded by woods ...and I would never be able to get a permit in our area...Sure looks nice now..

In the past, I hadn't been able to get the department out for a burn. There was always some reason. When I called this year, I really expected the same. But it was a new chief and he was happy to get some training in and even happier when I said I'd make a donation to cover fuel, etc. So I'd keep calling.

As I stated, I'd done a good job of preparing the area. Maybe if you ask for advise on how to conduct a safe burn, you could at least get the idea started. But I understand the frustration.

 

[treman]

I'm glad that you got the dept. to help you out. many people think its just light it and sit back with a cold one but it sure is alot of work. those people are the ones that cause serious damage. not many of them out there thank goodness. It looks like you had a good time and maybe you learned something. I am no expert Ive just been on burn crews for 6 or 7 years now and know generally how to conduct a proper one. Ill have to scrounge around and see what I can find. I know we have lots of pictures just have to find some cool ones.

 

[whitedogone]

That stuff can really get going, can't it? We burn 20ac on one of our places and 4 ac on another. I do try to mow the edges the prior summer/fall. Also we use a drip torch to set a good fire line. After years of doing this we've found that leaf blowers are the most handy tool for putting out hot spots.

 

[lhfarm]

I'm glad that you got the dept. to help you out. many people think its just light it and sit back with a cold one but it sure is alot of work. those people are the ones that cause serious damage. not many of them out there thank goodness. It looks like you had a good time and maybe you learned something. I am no expert Ive just been on burn crews for 6 or 7 years now and know generally how to conduct a proper one. Ill have to scrounge around and see what I can find. I know we have lots of pictures just have to find some cool ones.

I hadn't done a burn because I couldn't get the local fire department there. I'd never burn without them. And I can't believe how much work it was. I was beat.

This crew had never done a prairie grass burn and were happy to get the experience. I know they will be happy to come again in a couple of years.

That stuff can really get going, can't it? We burn 20ac on one of our places and 4 ac on another. I do try to mow the edges the prior summer/fall. Also we use a drip torch to set a good fire line. After years of doing this we've found that leaf blowers are the most handy tool for putting out hot spots.

I'll remember the leaf blower tip. I did enjoy using the sprayer on the tractor. Hadn't used it in several years.

 

[txdon]

After the Bastrop fires and all the following lawsuits the liability is too great. Besides the Big fire last year there was another one the year before. Our electric co-op had a line fall down. They paid dearly. On the fire last year, there is a mega million dollar lawsuit about the accidental starting of that fire. A tree fell on a high power line.

The insurance companies will go after anyone liable for being the cause of the fire. The victims, if they had no insurance, will have lawyers.

You are lucky that the VFD took on that liability for you.

Our VFD has no insurance for such actions and the individual firemen don't either.

I'm glad you had no surprise winds that are prevalent in Texas.

There are companies in Texas that specialize in control burns and they carry insurance and the cost is passed on to the landowner. Usually the land owner, because of the expense, will decides to burn on his own. Then we are called out when he looses it.

I wish there was a better solution.

Out here we need volunteers. Have you thought of joining the VFD.

 

[GGB]

That stuff can really get going, can't it? We burn 20ac on one of our places and 4 ac on another. I do try to mow the edges the prior summer/fall. Also we use a drip torch to set a good fire line. After years of doing this we've found that leaf blowers are the most handy tool for putting out hot spots.

I just recently heard about using leaf blowers. Supposedly some rural fire departments now carry them as part of their equipment to control the burn, by blowing away loose grasss and leaving the green which won't burn easily.

I've been mowing a 10' border to help, and just burned last weekend. It had been raining in our area earlier in the week and Saturday morning looked like a near perfect time to burn. I figured it might be a challenge to get the dead grass near the ground to burn.

Instead, it was the other way around-I couldn't get the taller stalks of weeds to burn, but the grass on the ground burned easily. I'm guessing the stalks had not dried enough to burn, so they are still standing. Looks like I'll be using my brush mower to clean it up. I'm hoping the weeds won't be as much of a problem next year, but we'll see. If I still have a lot of stalks next year, I may have to brush mow first.

The good news is that the buffer I've been mowing worked exactly as it should. I only had one place where the fire tried to burn into the border.

 

[whitedogone]

I really don't use the blowers to blow away loose grass much. If you get a line of fire getting out of the burn, you can just blow right at the base and snuff it out. You would think that it would just add air to the flame making it flare up, but it doesn't.