Brush and debris pile burning in cold weather?

[Bill G]

False. They have heat, burn slow and consistent, and allow for air-flow

We will have to disagree on that. Paper does not burn slow. Now take a 12 slot carton and fill it with sawdust and wax you have a bit of a slower burn.

I use the tried, true and proven methods.

By the way I would not burn brush in a guys yard

 

[ZinTrees]

By the way I would not burn brush in a guys yard

well, atleast where I live we HAVE to burn it on the property that it was cut from, so we all burn it in the guys yard, its illegal to remove it from the poperty

 

[HumBurner]

well, atleast where I live we HAVE to burn it on the property that it was cut from, so we all burn it in the guys yard, its illegal to remove it from the poperty

Yea, our whole area is wildland-urban-interface.

Many of our grasses and flowers, among other things, need fire to germinate or thrive.

 

[HumBurner]

Today:

 

[Bill G]

well, atleast where I live we HAVE to burn it on the property that it was cut from, so we all burn it in the guys yard, its illegal to remove it from the poperty

So tree services do not have chippers there EH?

 

[ZinTrees]

So tree services do not have chippers there EH?

We do, however we cannot burn it off the property, can be chipped and hauled but not burnt

 

[Bill G]

We do, however we cannot burn it off the property, can be chipped and hauled but not burnt

Not what you said above.

 

[HumBurner]

So tree services do not have chippers there EH?

Chipping is inefficient under many conditions, compared to burning, but there's a time and a place for everything. We sometimes don't have work once the burn ban goes into effect. We hate stacking and staging, but sometimes that's also a necessity. As much as I hate/love chippers, they've kept us doing fuel reduction and paid.

 

[Bill G]

Chipping is inefficient under many conditions, compared to burning, but there's a time and a place for everything. We sometimes don't have work once the burn ban goes into effect. We hate stacking and staging, but sometimes that's also a necessity. As much as I hate/love chippers, they've kept us doing fuel reduction and paid.

I am a firm believer in burning but not in town
and /or near homes or structures. That is how homes are burnt and neighbors are pissed.

Ole @ZinTrees was trying to claim all brush most be burned on site and I have never in my life heard of that. EVER

 

[ZinTrees]

Ole @ZinTrees was trying to claim all brush most be burned on site and I have never in my life heard of that. EVER

uhh no dumbass, go check again, maybe the last 10 pages you didn't read might clear some stuff up for you

 

[HumBurner]

I am a firm believer in burning but not in town
and /or near homes or structures. That is how homes are burnt and neighbors are pissed.

I can totally respect where you're coming from. I would never encourage someone to do something with fire they weren't comfortable with. Years of experience and you get more comfortable doing things. Vigilance and awareness to ever-changing conditions for the specific location are vital. The wind may be blowing one way at one pile, and a completely different direction 50' away at another pile.

Around here, this is our reality. It's all forest, meadow, or a mixture of both. We're largely living in a post-logging environment, which has changed the landscape and how it had developed previously for thousands of years.

Then people built wooden homes out of highly combustible and ember-receptive materials. In the woods. And then don't maintain their combustible brush (and/or plant plants with highly volatile oils/leaves RIGHT UP AGAINST their houses), which then becomes trees that threaten to crush and/or light-aflame their homes.


So, we do what we do to make it safer for the inhabitants and more like the forest before it was logged.

If we have to shut down burning because conditions change, we do. But we had enough humidity and fog to get away with burning until the fourth of July last year.

 

[Bill G]

uhh no dumbass, go check again, maybe the last 10 pages you didn't read might clear some stuff up for you

well, atleast where I live we HAVE to burn it on the property that it was cut from, so we all burn it in the guys yard, its illegal to remove it from the poperty

 

[Bill G]

I can totally respect where you're coming from. I would never encourage someone to do something with fire they weren't comfortable with. Years of experience and you get more comfortable doing things. Vigilance and awareness to ever-changing conditions for the specific location are vital. The wind may be blowing one way at one pile, and a completely different direction 50' away at another pile.

Around here, this is our reality. It's all forest, meadow, or a mixture of both. We're largely living in a post-logging environment, which has changed the landscape and how it had developed previously for thousands of years.

Then people built wooden homes out of highly combustible and ember-receptive materials. In the woods. And then don't maintain their combustible brush (and/or plant plants with highly volatile oils/leaves RIGHT UP AGAINST their houses), which then becomes trees that threaten to crush and/or light-aflame their homes.


So, we do what we do to make it safer for the inhabitants and more like the forest before it was logged.

If we have to shut down burning because conditions change, we do. But we had enough humidity and fog to get away with burning until the fourth of July last year.

We can burn year round with the use of common sense. With that being said there is always a few fires that get out off control. Those are due to poor planning and not being vigilant. They volunteer fire department comes out .....if they can find them. I have never known anyone to have a dozer pile get out of control but by nature those are tough to get out of control. They are in large open areas where the ground is mostly bare anyway. You have an excavator there to stoke the pile and shift it if necessary. A couple years ago I was burning brush piles along a neighbors line fence. I had been burning most of the day and now it was dark. He saw the flames and just had to come take a look. It was human nature. Last spring I was burning a road ditch near him. It was later in the spring when green grass was starting to come in so it was smoky. I had a day when the wind was right and taking the smoke to the south. (he is on the north). Well just as I had it the smokiest out comes his Sister in law to come home in here fancy car. She had to drive about 1/4 mile through the smoke and the goofy gal had her windows down. I bet that was a stinking ride home

 

[ATpro]

The wind may be blowing one way at one pile, and a completely different direction 50' away at another pile.

Fire can also create it's on tunnel wind and change direction against the prevailing wind. You see this all the time with prescribe fires and wildfires.

The way we prepare for this we start pre-burns and burn lines diagonal across corners, progress around the perimeter for a burn back before we head fire.
Often we will drop fire lines across the area to be burned if it's a big area, it helps control the momentum of the fire, You can actually steer a fire this way. You have to read the lay of the land so you put your fire lines in so you get a complete burn.
A big fire will create an updraft and depending on the lay of the land, the fuel load present, and how hot the fire gets the fire will create it on wind direction. Sometimes you can predict the wind change by the terrain, hot head fire on higher ground, it will pull air from lower ground because of the updraft of the head fire on higher ground.

 

[ATpro]

I had a day when the wind was right and taking the smoke to the south. (he is on the north). Well just as I had it the smokiest out comes his Sister in law to come home in here fancy car. She had to drive about 1/4 mile through the smoke and the goofy gal had her windows down.

Yep, smoke control had to be addressed in our burn plan, if we though it was going to be a problem we had to provide flagmen on the road to control traffic.

 

[Bill G]

Many years ago the volunteer fire department wanted to do a night rescue training session on a house that was scheduled to be burned. We had a 70 acre field of beans right next to it. It was a dry Fall and we had started cutting that field but had not gotten to that side yet. I took the kids and we went over and sat in the field watching them. I said boys watch this show because am betting they are going get field fire training also. They did an outstanding job and did not let the field burn. I was amazed at how many times they lit the house on fire and then appeared to have it almost put out then have it come back. They got some real good training in that night.

1993 was our big Mississippi flood year. Just west of the State Park was small housing addition with probably 15-20 homes in it. Some were from the early 1970's but most were modern (for the times 80's ish) One was a huge beautiful home with a cathedral ceiling nice big stone fireplace. They were close to the river but not close enough to normally be flooded. Well 1993 changed that and they got flooded. When the smoke cleared in late 1993 the rumor was FEMA bought all the homeowners out and forced them to leave. One ranch-style home was moved to the top of the hill. The rest were given to our local fire department to be burned. They got a lot of useful training tha next summer

 

[Seachaser]

Took this one several months to burn.
It would flame up even after a hard rain. Pine stumps.

 

[Bill G]

Why several months?

 

[ATpro]

Why several months?

When we burned windrows sometimes it could take weeks for the fires to go completely go out. When wind rowed, stumps and other debris would get covered up with dirt which cut oxygen off and created a slow burn. If spotted we would take the machine with the root rake on it and shake the pile to induce oxygen and shake the dirt out.

 

[TNTreeHugger]

When we burned windrows sometimes it could take weeks for the fires to go completely go out. When wind rowed, stumps and other debris would get covered up with dirt which cut oxygen off and created a slow burn. If spotted we would take the machine with the root rake on it and shake the pile to induce oxygen and shake the dirt out.

Similar to what I did to keep my year-old huge damp leaf pile burning - took 4 days for it to burn down completely.