kevin_standlee (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kevin_standlee) wrote2023-05-14 06:03 pm
kevin_standlee) wrote2023-05-14 06:03 pm
Burn Day
Today the conditions were finally just right for burning the pile of debris we have accumulated in a pile in the East Lot for most of a year. It was nice and still but not too hot, and so just after dawn this morning, Lisa and I went to work to try and burn the brush.
I took this picture yesterday after we strung the hose out from the faucet. We have a spray nozzle on the hose. In accordance with our burn permit, which limits the size of burn piles, we would burn the material from the large pile in a smaller pile in the foreground. You can see the ghost of previous burns in the dirt.
We created a small pile and Lisa set it alight.
The small propane torch was very effective at getting the dried brush and tumbleweeds started. We were wearing masks against the smoke and pollen in the air. Having all of these masks against COVID is handy when doing this sort of work, too.
Using our rake and pitchfork, we slowly debris from the big pile to the burn pile for the next hour or so.
Eventually, the amount of burnable debris was reduced to ashes.
This is what's left of the debris pile. What is left here is too damp to burn, having sat at the bottom of the pile all winter getting soaked.
You wouldn't know it, but Lisa is behind this cloud of smoke and steam. Although there were no visible flames, when she turned the hose on the burn pile, it gave off this cloud, showing just how hot the pile still was.
Lisa kept spraying, and I kept stirring the coals with the heavy rake. Periodically I would test the temperature with my hand. If it was still warm, we'd repeat the soak-and-stir routine.
Eventually, we got it to a pile of muddy coals with no apparent heat.
Here's the completed burn at left and the base of the brush pile at right. There's more to clean up later, but we put away the tools for now.
We left the hose out front in case of an unexpected flare up, although we've never had one from any of our previous burns that we've handled the same way. This afternoon, a thunderstorm rolled through and dropped heavy rain for a few minutes to re-soak the whole area. I'm glad we did the burning today before the brush pile got all wet again.
So that's our annual brush burn done. The annual burn permit (good from mid-October through the end of May) is good for unlimited burns and costs $20. We typically end up only doing one burn, however, because by the time we accumulate enough to want to do a burn, it starts raining or snowing, making it hard to do an effective burn. It only takes a few hours each year to do this cleanup, and the pile of coals mostly fades away after a few weeks. But this is the first time that we've done the burning after we bought the property next door, so it feels more satisfying, somehow.
I took this picture yesterday after we strung the hose out from the faucet. We have a spray nozzle on the hose. In accordance with our burn permit, which limits the size of burn piles, we would burn the material from the large pile in a smaller pile in the foreground. You can see the ghost of previous burns in the dirt.
We created a small pile and Lisa set it alight.
The small propane torch was very effective at getting the dried brush and tumbleweeds started. We were wearing masks against the smoke and pollen in the air. Having all of these masks against COVID is handy when doing this sort of work, too.
Using our rake and pitchfork, we slowly debris from the big pile to the burn pile for the next hour or so.
Eventually, the amount of burnable debris was reduced to ashes.
This is what's left of the debris pile. What is left here is too damp to burn, having sat at the bottom of the pile all winter getting soaked.
You wouldn't know it, but Lisa is behind this cloud of smoke and steam. Although there were no visible flames, when she turned the hose on the burn pile, it gave off this cloud, showing just how hot the pile still was.
Lisa kept spraying, and I kept stirring the coals with the heavy rake. Periodically I would test the temperature with my hand. If it was still warm, we'd repeat the soak-and-stir routine.
Eventually, we got it to a pile of muddy coals with no apparent heat.
Here's the completed burn at left and the base of the brush pile at right. There's more to clean up later, but we put away the tools for now.
We left the hose out front in case of an unexpected flare up, although we've never had one from any of our previous burns that we've handled the same way. This afternoon, a thunderstorm rolled through and dropped heavy rain for a few minutes to re-soak the whole area. I'm glad we did the burning today before the brush pile got all wet again.
So that's our annual brush burn done. The annual burn permit (good from mid-October through the end of May) is good for unlimited burns and costs $20. We typically end up only doing one burn, however, because by the time we accumulate enough to want to do a burn, it starts raining or snowing, making it hard to do an effective burn. It only takes a few hours each year to do this cleanup, and the pile of coals mostly fades away after a few weeks. But this is the first time that we've done the burning after we bought the property next door, so it feels more satisfying, somehow.