kevin_standlee (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kevin_standlee) wrote2024-04-29 11:01 am
kevin_standlee) wrote2024-04-29 11:01 am
Burn Day
Sunday had ideal conditions for burning the brush pile that has been accumulating since late last spring. The temperatures were cool but not cold. It was dry and there was almost no wind, although very light breezes that helped with the fire and with dispersing the smoke were present. So early Sunday morning, Lisa and I went to work on burning brush. For those of you who have been following me for years, this is pretty much a repeat of the past few years' burns.
Here's the brush pile. We cannot burn this in place, because it is too large. Our residential burn permit limits the size of burn piles. It also prohibits using burn barrels, which is a pity because when done correctly, they burn very hot and leave little residue. But apparently most people just take a barrel and don't prepare it properly: If we could use a barrel, we would put it up on cinder blocks or a metal grate and cut holes around the base to provide the fire with lots of air.
A few meters from the brush pile is the patch of bare ground where we've done past burns.
Burning is permitted during the permit period (which runs through the end of May) from dawn until noon, and fires must be fully extinguished by 2 PM. As the sun rose over Fernley, Lisa broke out the hose (with a sprayer head attached), rake, pitchfork, and other tools and we set to work.
We built a small pile on the burn site and Lisa used a propane torch to get the fire going.
A tumbleweed makes a good starter, but you have to move quickly to add more fuel to the first, because it burns very fast.
After a few minutes, we had a decent fire going. We then spent the next couple of hours bringing brush from the pile to the fire.
At the left is the burn area with what was left of the brush. At right, you can see that most of the pile is gone. The greenery that grew up around the pile cannot be burned because it's too wet. We'll have to trim it and put it into the new year's pile for disposal next year.
Although most of the fire was gone, the remains were still hot. We of course never left the first unattended.
Lisa started the process of dousing the fire by spraying it with the hose. Both she and I were wearing N95 masks to reduce the amount of smoke, dust, and pollen we inhaled.
Periodically, I would take the rake and stir the coals to bring up dry and hot areas, and then Lisa would spray it some more. After a while, the fire was thoroughly drowned, with the ashes wet and cold to the touch with my bare hand. I paid attention during fire safety briefings and US Forest Service PSAs on the radio. Smokey Bear is your friend. And wildfires are not.
This is one of the better times to do these controlled burns. There's a fair bit of new green growth around here, but being green, it's hard to set alight. Even the brush from the pile that has been setting around for moths needed some encouragement to get burning.
So the brush pile area was clear. Except that we were about to start building it back up again straight away. More about that tomorrow.
Here's the brush pile. We cannot burn this in place, because it is too large. Our residential burn permit limits the size of burn piles. It also prohibits using burn barrels, which is a pity because when done correctly, they burn very hot and leave little residue. But apparently most people just take a barrel and don't prepare it properly: If we could use a barrel, we would put it up on cinder blocks or a metal grate and cut holes around the base to provide the fire with lots of air.
A few meters from the brush pile is the patch of bare ground where we've done past burns.
Burning is permitted during the permit period (which runs through the end of May) from dawn until noon, and fires must be fully extinguished by 2 PM. As the sun rose over Fernley, Lisa broke out the hose (with a sprayer head attached), rake, pitchfork, and other tools and we set to work.
We built a small pile on the burn site and Lisa used a propane torch to get the fire going.
A tumbleweed makes a good starter, but you have to move quickly to add more fuel to the first, because it burns very fast.
After a few minutes, we had a decent fire going. We then spent the next couple of hours bringing brush from the pile to the fire.
At the left is the burn area with what was left of the brush. At right, you can see that most of the pile is gone. The greenery that grew up around the pile cannot be burned because it's too wet. We'll have to trim it and put it into the new year's pile for disposal next year.
Although most of the fire was gone, the remains were still hot. We of course never left the first unattended.
Lisa started the process of dousing the fire by spraying it with the hose. Both she and I were wearing N95 masks to reduce the amount of smoke, dust, and pollen we inhaled.
Periodically, I would take the rake and stir the coals to bring up dry and hot areas, and then Lisa would spray it some more. After a while, the fire was thoroughly drowned, with the ashes wet and cold to the touch with my bare hand. I paid attention during fire safety briefings and US Forest Service PSAs on the radio. Smokey Bear is your friend. And wildfires are not.
This is one of the better times to do these controlled burns. There's a fair bit of new green growth around here, but being green, it's hard to set alight. Even the brush from the pile that has been setting around for moths needed some encouragement to get burning.
So the brush pile area was clear. Except that we were about to start building it back up again straight away. More about that tomorrow.