Wildfire Protection

[Lady Tonka]

Thanks to both RobertN and Branchchipper for all that great information! I appreciate your expertise and advice, especially in light of the fact that my pigheaded Dad refused to apply for burn permits when I was growing up on the farm and probably only escaped burning down our 110 acres and home with lighting all those burn piles because it was so wet in that area of western Oregon.

I've always had a very healthy respect for outside fires even when I'm just using a burn barrel.

 

[RobertN]

Let's clarify some terms:

a burn pile is cut material, piled and burned per local rules.
It is a form of "controlled burning" in that there is someone there with water, hand, tools, etc (again per local rules), and thus not a "hostile fire."

At least locally here, it is yard trimmings only. I have had the opportunity to extinguish, and pull apart "burn piles" with tires, plastic, insulation etc... Stinky nasty stuff!

Alternatives?
Washington state (and many others) uses Fire Wise funds and state corrections fire crews to do no-burn fuels reduction in conjunction with the feds, local fire districts and even city FDs.
This is done at NO COST to the homeowner.

Here in my county, if you cut the brush and stack it properly, the Fire Safe program will have a crew chip it for free. No Con crew though...

Finally, water tender; this is not an east vs. west thing, any more than wearing seat belts on every trip is. It is standard terminology for the English-speaking world, just like the terms above.
There are also helicopter tenders, fuel tenders, etc, etc.
Yet, I continue to hear folks east of the Mississippi insist that those big pavement queens are "tankers" as if they are trying to fight some sort of government intrusion into their lives by keeping outdated slang.(????)

Worse yet, those of us out west have puzzled for decades about the ongoing firefighter deaths back east as a result of not wearing seat belts while responding... Totally senseless and utterly avoidable.
Are the two connected?

Different districts and different regions, different SOP's? I know I get to drive the Tender

Sadly though, there are way too many reports of accidents with firefighters not buckled in. Easily preventable. The park brake does not come off our apparatus, unless everyone is buckled in. I wish it were that way everywhere. LODD are awful, especially when some can be easily prevented.

 

[RobertN]

More info

http://www.fire.ca.gov/communications/communications_firesafety_100feet.php

 

[aczlan]

Sadly though, there are way too many reports of accidents with firefighters not buckled in. Easily preventable. The park brake does not come off our apparatus, unless everyone is buckled in. I wish it were that way everywhere. LODD are awful, especially when some can be easily prevented.

Ayep. If I am driving, we dont move (if driving onroad) until everyone is buckled in.

Aaron Z

 

[tnmike]

When I was still working for the power company a man built a huge home across from Chimney Rock in western north carolina. They home was fully automated and could be remotely controlled by phone or computer. We buried an underground primary cable to the house for about two miles. The house had a 30 kw diesel genset in the basement one of whose purposes was fire control. It was in a specially designed sound proofed room in the basement with the exhaust ported to the outside. The house was an adirondack style home and had poplar bark siding. At one point I would estimate there were one hundred men working on the house. The owner had a five acre pond built that fed a sprinkler system that surrounded the house and grounds. He had a helicopter pad as well so money was no object.

 

[dmccarty]

Dan, are controlled burns (also known as burn piles in my neck of the woods) allowed during certain times of the year where you are, especially if you can demonstrate how removing the underbrush protects your home from wildfire?

I was curious and found this, which I'm sure you're familiar with: NCFS - Online Burning Permit System

Perhaps some TBN firefighters can weigh in on how to actually CONTROL a burn in the underbrush if a permit is granted. Bye-bye chiggers and ticks!

A controlled burn in NC is not a burn pile. I have burned a few large piles after waiting for wet weather and pulling a permit. What we really need done is a controlled burn, well, the NC legal term is a prescribed burn. In NC a landowner, without the prescribed burn certification, on less than 50 acres can do the burn if they follow the rules. When I read up on this years ago the class to get the proper certification was not very time consuming. I might take the class for grins and giggles but I would hire someone to do the work. Foresters usually carry the certification and offer the service.

A few months ago I ran across a NC Forest Service web page that had various rates for prescribed burns. It seems the NCFS charges $15 an acre for a burn with a minimum charge of $350. They have a reasonable charge rate for equipment as well. It looks like if they have to use manual labor to construct a fire break the cost is the actual cost to build and is not listed. In any case, the rates are reasonable. I suspect I would have to clearly blaze our property lines which is easy on two sides. The other two sides would require a survey and I expect the survey cost wold be as much as the burn.

NC statutes specify how the burns are to be done, and as long as the rules are followed, one is immune from civil action.

We really need to reduce the fuel load in our forest but we had so many trees down from Fran and the waste from logging had me concerned about a prescribed burn. Enough time has past and much of the downed trees have rotted or been cleared up. One of the interesting charges was $25 to protect cavity trees used by Red-cockaded wood peckers. We have had a breeding pair on our place for decades. I have been "chasing" the birds for a picture for that long with no success. :laughing: They are very skittish and fly off at the least movement. It would be worth $25 to FIND the cavity tree. I have looked and looked but have never found the tree. It might be on neighboring property.

Even at these rates, I doubt we will get a burn done any time soon.

Later,
Dan

 

[Randy44]

As my entire state of Utah seems to be on fire, I think people should read this post to keep their homes safe. Be responsible and prevent fires.