Trees part 2

[Stretch]

In the part one of trees I wrote about the mechanical way of getting rid of trees well there is a much faster way of getting rid of them. It is faster but not necessarily the most predictable way.. On Friday a friend of mine called on me to help him with a project. He was needing my help with a Prescribed burn.. While fire (yes I know it is a four letter word...) is a much cheaper way to get rid of trees it can be a little unpredictable at times. I looked at the weather seveal times and we decided to start after dinner on friday as the wind would be in the right direction and at a good speed to do just what we needed to make a successful burn. Our idea was to pick out two 50 acre paddocks out of the 300+ acres of the pasture and burn them off.
Things started off nicely

Looking south all is well for now.

Looking east all is well for now..

Looking Southeast all is well for now..

Fire moving right along...

Wait a minute who called the guy's in the yellow suits...?? We did... :roll:

Couple shots of the night and the fire burning itself out...

The wind wouldn't settle down to blow out of the southeast like it was suppose to and was gusting way more than it was suppose to and carried the fire across the black into the area we didn't want it to go.
Well after a couple hours of work we got things back under control and finally got to go home. We talked on the way home an decided another 4whlr and a couple more people would've really made a big difference and likely avoided the aggrivation that was caused. We have burned litterally thousands of acres of "grass" and have been real fortunate and haven't had any trouble like this. Overall nothing was really hurt, a few fence posts and our pride but that will all mend. Like most things you do it over and over and you get a little ahead of yourself and think you got things under control and what do ya know you get proved wrong.... I hope to get back to the pasture soon and see how the trees look and shoot a few more pictures of it to share as well...

 

[Jassy]

Fires are an awesome force...Even in a prescribed burn I worry, especially when our "refuge persons" decide to burn on a more than windy day.. :x Glad all worked out for you and no major damage was had...Thanks

 

[IL Rancher]

We need to do a little burning here but either it has been to windy or too wet so we haven't been able to burn off the ground we need too.. Don't do muhc pasture burns, always paranoid they are going to get away from us.

 

[jigs]

those hills around Fairbury would be a real bear to try and control a fire in!!

next time call me, I will bring the beer! :wink:

 

[Turkey Track Bar]

Stretch, your pictures still strike fear in my heart after our wicked fire season last summer. We are already in the moderate to severe fire warnings

Glad you got 'er under control and no lives were lost. If you do get some rain, you're have the greenest country around :mrgreen:

Cheers---

TTB :wink:

 

[Stretch]

Jassy
Fires are an awesome force...Even in a prescribed burn I worry, especially when our "refuge persons" decide to burn on a more than windy day..

Turkey Track Bar Stretch, your pictures still strike fear in my heart after our wicked fire season last summer. We are already in the moderate to severe fire warnings

Well to be honest with you guy's I hesitated about posting them as I know all to well what kind of mess you have had to deal with up your way. I am a captain on the local RFD and am a Red Card holder for the national call up list. I pay a lot of attention to the Wildfire sites during the warm season. I will share these thoughts with you though, here a big pasture is 2-300 acres and most are 80-160 acres. Which means that there are roads and crop fields and such to break up a running fire. Now that isn't to say that we can't have a cornstalk fire or the like but it really makes you feel better when you know in your mind that you have a natural fire break that if you can get things anchored to you have a strong chance to get things under control. Believe it or not we use a lot of fire to fight fire with here. We pick a point like a road and start a back burn to take the fuel away and make it black ahead of a running fire to stop it. Sounds crazy I know but it works here due to the type of terrain we have to work with. From what I know about fighting fires in the great wide open spaces they line up trucks and spray on the run and basically chase it down to beat it. Here that wouldn't work very well as most of the time if you can drive for a 100 yds you have went a ways with a truck. Most of the time you pull hose for a ways to get things handled and then grab a shovel or a McLeod ( a hoe/rake like tool) to dig a line to put out the fire. Up and down some real sharp hills. One the other day at our deal dropped about a 100ft and I couldn't even ride a 4whlr down it it was so steep, so down it went the hand crew to scratch a line down it. I hope that I am not scaring anyone to bad but I enjoy sharing my experiences with others in the hope that someone can learn something to help them down the road. Fire isn't a bad thing just a thing to be respected and used with great care...