Around here there is fire and then there is Forest Fire.  Once the summer has ended and the no-burn ban has been lifted, we start burning.  Not just fires in the fireplace, but huge bonfires.  Not the kind in Louisiana to attract Papa Noel.  Not the kind to roast wieners or marshmallows.  The kind that we hope will help our forest and home survive a Forest Fire. 

We attempt to clean up forest debris - debris we created by falling trees for firewood and cutting off limbs, debris Mother Nature created as older tree limbs fall naturally, debris created by a phenomenal snow event.   All of this debris is Forest Fire Fuel. 

The problem is there is so much debris generated each year, we can never keep up.  But this year we got serious.  Snowmagedden pushed us beyond our ability to overlook all that debris covering the forest floor.

It has taken us weeks and weeks, but we have made a major dent in the debris on the ground.  Here is a map (for those of you who have been here) to see exactly where we have been working.



Burn pile #1
 10/13/19
 
In 2008, our woodshed blew down.  When we cleaned it up, we had a huge pile of lumber that we neatly stacked in one location.  Over the years since then, we would pull out lumber for some project and at other times we would add to the pile.  It has slowly grown over the past 11 years and become a lot less neat.

It had reached the point that most of the wood was totally rotten.  The pile was haphazardly arranged and had a few scorpions living in there.

The photo is what it looked like in 2008.  It was not until we started the fire that we realized we had not taken before pictures.

 
You can see the jumbled pile behind the fire.


After
 
After
After
 
Really after


Not only do you remove fuel from the ground, but you limb low hanging limbs.  They are referred to as ladder fuel.  They can transport a ground fire up into the branches of the trees.  Changing it from a nice "ground" fire into a catastrophic "crown" fire.  So lots of low hanging limbs were cut and tossed into the fire. 

This process will be repeated at every burn site.

Burn pile #2
 10/21/19
 
Piles to be burned surround the fire location.
A small forest of new trees has to be eliminated.
 
Shove wads of newspaper into the pile.  Soak with diesel.
 
Then you set it off and get back.
 
That is a slash pile burn.
 
Forest of small trees all removed.
Faithful companion puts up with fire fallout.
 
Not only are the piles all gone, but so are the low hanging limbs.
That fire is done.

Burn pile #3
 10/27/19
 
 
This is our normal location for burns -- the lower meadow.
 All year long we haul stuff to be burned to this location. 

 
Dry pile, ready and waiting.
 
 
That is the outhouse toilet seat atop the burn pile.
  
Faithful companion enjoying the sunshine - it is cold in the shade.
 
Years worth of bark, a byproduct of splitting big rounds, is hauled down.

  
Sometimes it is so beautiful.
 
Last tree top waiting to be tossed onto the fire.

  Burn pile #4
Second day in the same location, but an entirely new fire
10/28/19
 
The close stuff has already been burned.
We have to haul new fuel from a short distance away.
All this hauling is easy using a tractor.  We generally do it by hand. 
 
There is some hand work, even with the tractor.

  
There is always hand work at the fire.
 
Those rounds have been sitting near the burn pile for years and years.  Finally we toss them all around the inferno.
 
Before
After
 
Before

  
After
 
Before
  
After
Could barely see this stump in the before photo.
 
Dang!  Those stumps are still there. Next year.....
 
 Burn pile #5
 11/10/19
 Now we move out of the dog's territory!
 
Planned long ago to burn here - thus the tarp.
Piles all along the tractor road.
 
Limbs everywhere.

  
There is no end to them.
 
We are serious about fires.
 
You can see how clean the woods are around there now.
Very little stuff along the tractor trail.
 
After

  
After
 
After

  
This fire is done.
 
 Burn pile #6
 11/16/19
 
Before
All those cedar tops are from Snowmagedden.

  
After
Just a few trunks remain.
 
Before
Original pile was too close to the tree and had to be manually moved.

  
After
 
Before

  
After
 
You never get cold working a slash pile burn.
 
 Burn pile #7
 11/17/19
 Same location as #6
 
With very little effort we started day 2's fire using yesterday's coals.
No tractor to haul limbs from deeper in the woods.
 
After all the limbs had been removed.
Hard to tell the difference, everything was buried under salal and maple leaves.
After a years-old pile of sticks had been removed.
 
Drug some LONG sticks to put on the fire.
It will all burn eventually.
This pathway had been almost impassable because of limbs.
 
Tossing in the ends of limbs that had already partially burned.
 
The work here is over.
 
 Burn pile #8
 12/03/19

Sometimes it gets a little overwhelming!
First we had to chain saw that log so it wouldn't be in the fire.

Before
After

Before
After

Before
Working on the limbs.
Some things require a little more effort than others.

After

Cedar tops knocked down by Snowmagedden

A lot of cedar tops!
Right side of the trail is where all those cedar tops were.

Those piles of limbs will be chipped this summer.
After the fire.
That stump must be 50 years old.  Looks like it will be around for a while.
Its roots smoked for days and days.
 
 Burn pile #9
 12/09/19

Before
Before

After
Again, the limbs left will be chipped this summer.

Before
After

Before
After
 
Turning the ash pile over the morning after the burn.
We could have restarted a fire easily with a little fuel -- but we were done with burning!
 

  


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