Burning, Clearing and Chainsaws

[Chris-PA]

When we moved in here 13 years ago there was a little pine woods that I liked a lot. It smelled good in there, and I tried to keep it clear of undergrowth. But the Halloween storm of 2011 and Hurricane Sandy in 2012, plus the relentless onslaught of vines and invasives just destroyed it. The very dry late summers we've had recently didn't help either. So today I decided to make a start at clearing it off.


I should have taken a before picture - this was after the big burn off and I have 3 piles I'm feeding with junk. You could hardly see through here before hand.

I almost lost this one, and I'm seriously thinking I can't really do burns like this any more. That's mostly thanks to the Japanese stiltgrass that grows everywhere around here now. It likes shade so it's along all the fence lines and into the woods. This time of year it is thick and dry from last season, and if the slightest spark gets into it it's an instaferno. Naturally that happened, and just about the time the main burn was winding down it jumped to a thick patch of stiltgrass across the fire break - I went to grab a drink of water from my canteen and saw it go. It was all I could do to get it back under control - used all the water buckets I had lined up and finally beat it out with the shovel. I got it stopped at a large deer trail, and was thanking the creatures for their help.

The ported Earthquake got the tap today and worked great. The loop of TriLink lo pro did too - the extra chrome (compared to Oregon) held up very well to the ashes and charcoal it was cutting, and the ramped drive links kept it from throwing any chains in the brush and vines. Man does cutting burned junk make a saw dirty! The air filtration was flawless - the centrifugal system kept the air box pretty clean, and the air filter kept all of it out of the carb.



There is still a lot of wood to get out of there, and several dead pines still to be cut down. But it's a huge improvement.

 

[Mad Professor]

Doing the burn while you still have some snow cover will help prevent brush fires

 

[benp]

I agree on torching it in the winter. That is common up here.

Could you of asked the DNR/Forestry Service to do a controlled burn just for the fact of having the resources on hand if something went haywire?

Anyways, looks good. Glad things didn't go sideways on you. Controlled burns are very beneficial.

 

[Chris-PA]

Snow cover wasn't real prevalent around here this winter, and today was one of those windows of opportunity were things were dry enough while I had the time. I missed it last year, and tomorrow is supposed to rain. I could get the local fire company up, but again that takes some planning.

I've been burning things off for many years - my dad taught me how. Still, it's always a risk and adventure, but this one was as close as I have come to losing one as I ever care to get. I had a similar problem with the stiltgrass burning back into the woods a couple of years ago too - the edge kept expanding while it got back into stone and rock, and it got to be very slow going tamping it out as well as exhausting trying to cover the whole periphery. Just too much fuel to control. And a year later you couldn't tell I even did it.

 

[user 122190]

Could you of asked the DNR/Forestry Service to do a controlled burn just for the fact of having the resources on hand if something went haywire?

I don't trust those people. They start fires and drive off, and a decent size slash fire can burn for days. Still winds, damp conditions, rain in the forecast and a fire extinguisher on hand works for me. I usually have to burn 3 or 4 times a year.

 

[alderman]

Too much fuel load out here in PNW to burn like that. Would be a lot easier that way.
It looks like you have a great place to hang out when you get cabin fever.

A pic of part of the wood lot before the brush starts growing.

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