Burning Wood at Night.

[Mrsig]

I had to cut down & remove tons of white & water oak trees that was too close to the house. Tree company's wonted a fortune to remove or mulch it so last night was the second night of burning. I start about 0800 work till 1400 than to hot to keep going. Then start again at 1800 till I get tired. At this rate I should have it done in 3 weeks I hope. My green house will be going in this spot. Glad I put the LED light bars on.

 

[Frankenkubota]

here's some nite time burning.

55 acre prescribed burn last year.....waste of time and money.

 

[Smokeydog]

I use to burn. Logs and stumps took days. Farm is in two counties with vast differences in what is allowed and permitted. Preferred a pit over open burning the big stuff. Reflects and holds more heat. Lot of time checking the fire even thru the night, worrying about wind, pushing together,

Now with the hassles of burning take the trees and wood waste to a gully to rot. House size pile takes a few years. Things rot fast here. Always adding to it.

 

[MoKelly]

I am much smaller in scale than you guys.

I burn 3-5 times a year depending upon necessity - with 2 or 3 piles going at the same time.

Here was the ending of my last burn.

MoKelly

 

[Richard]

This isn't recent.... but it was fun (and I've posted this before)

Top picture shows backhoe in background to get some scale. I had TWO of these piles and lit them both off 'around' 5:00 P.M. when I got home from work.

Chose that specific time because it was the earliest I could get home, it was a Friday so I had all weekend I could tend to them.

Got my fire permit, had my phone with me (old flip phone at the time so no entertainment value to keep me occupied at all) and I had the backhoe with me.

Lit both piles off.

Somewhere (and I forget the specific of the story now so if you've read this it may not match perfectly to the first time I mentioned this)

None the less, somewhere around 2:30, 3:00 A.M. in the middle of the night, I see a flashlight bouncing through the woods. Hmmm... wife? Nope (no way), neighbor? Nope, trespasser? Well yes, to a degree.....BUT, it was a Deputy Sheriff.

"Hi officer"
"What are you doing here?", he asks
"burning?" (as if it's not painfully obvious if one has a sense of vision or smell or hearing)
"We've received a couple complaints from across the lake.... some people over there reported that they thought the woods over here were on fire.....we've been trying to find this fire for the last two hours" (flames were sky high early on and now were not the huge flames, just burning)

"uh uh, just me"

"How are you planning on putting this out???" (remember, I had TWO of these monster piles) But the TONE of his question was essentially "how are you planning on putting this out, PUNK???" His tone struck me as totally inappropriate however, I understand he might have been frustrated if indeed, they'd been searching for this for a while and he felt exasperated and relieved at the same time.

"well.... I've got my burn permit, I've got my phone and if something gets away from me, I've got my backhoe to be first on scene"

To which he had no comeback.....

"You know (punk) that you're required to be with your fire as long as it's burning, don't you?"

"Well... it's 3:00 in the morning, and I'm here, aren't I??" (I almost think that ticked him off a bit but admit, I don't know)

"Have a good night" and he turned and walked away.

I gave it about 30 more minutes and I went home (down road about 1/4 mile) and went to bed exhausted)

I've got the remains of a fire I started yesterday in the field "next" to the house. A dry pond so a natural depression unless it pours rain. Collect brush there, fallen trees, cut branches etc.... This has been a slow season so far (or I've been lazy cleaning things up) I think I've only had two fires there. Maybe 30x30 in size (I'll drag a whole tree or a delimbed tree to pile so it can get long)

Need to go out and collect it upon itself so the scatters can reignite and burn down some more today.

 

[MoKelly]

This isn't recent.... but it was fun (and I've posted this before)

Top picture shows backhoe in background to get some scale. I had TWO of these piles and lit them both off 'around' 5:00 P.M. when I got home from work.

Chose that specific time because it was the earliest I could get home, it was a Friday so I had all weekend I could tend to them.

Got my fire permit, had my phone with me (old flip phone at the time so no entertainment value to keep me occupied at all) and I had the backhoe with me.

Lit both piles off.

Somewhere (and I forget the specific of the story now so if you've read this it may not match perfectly to the first time I mentioned this)

None the less, somewhere around 2:30, 3:00 A.M. in the middle of the night, I see a flashlight bouncing through the woods. Hmmm... wife? Nope (no way), neighbor? Nope, trespasser? Well yes, to a degree.....BUT, it was a Deputy Sheriff.

"Hi officer"
"What are you doing here?", he asks
"burning?" (as if it's not painfully obvious if one has a sense of vision or smell or hearing)
"We've received a couple complaints from across the lake.... some people over there reported that they thought the woods over here were on fire.....we've been trying to find this fire for the last two hours" (flames were sky high early on and now were not the huge flames, just burning)

"uh uh, just me"

"How are you planning on putting this out???" (remember, I had TWO of these monster piles) But the TONE of his question was essentially "how are you planning on putting this out, PUNK???" His tone struck me as totally inappropriate however, I understand he might have been frustrated if indeed, they'd been searching for this for a while and he felt exasperated and relieved at the same time.

"well.... I've got my burn permit, I've got my phone and if something gets away from me, I've got my backhoe to be first on scene"

To which he had no comeback.....

"You know (punk) that you're required to be with your fire as long as it's burning, don't you?"

"Well... it's 3:00 in the morning, and I'm here, aren't I??" (I almost think that ticked him off a bit but admit, I don't know)

"Have a good night" and he turned and walked away.

I gave it about 30 more minutes and I went home (down road about 1/4 mile) and went to bed exhausted)


View attachment 706208


I've got the remains of a fire I started yesterday in the field "next" to the house. A dry pond so a natural depression unless it pours rain. Collect brush there, fallen trees, cut branches etc.... This has been a slow season so far (or I've been lazy cleaning things up) I think I've only had two fires there. Maybe 30x30 in size (I'll drag a whole tree or a delimbed tree to pile so it can get long)

Need to go out and collect it upon itself so the scatters can reignite and burn down some more today.

Great story.

We don’t need a burn permit where the farm is —- yet.

MoKelly

 

[oosik]

I have a large pile of pine trees, logs - Pine Bark beetle. About three years accumulation. I wait until there is snow on the ground. I'm still waiting.

 

[Clintock]

Just a small fire where I’m building a pasture.

 

[cqaigy2]

I used to like to burn, was a regular pyro, invite the family over, do some hot dogs, etc. Then after the cooking and get together started to peter out, load wood on the fire and get it burning fast and smokeless. That was my self imposed goal, smokeless the better. But now i just pile it up and it rots away. I'll cut up the stuff that will fit in the stove.

 

[grsthegreat]

I used to burn on my 20 treed acres, but was always afraid it would get away from me. I too used a pit to burn in to help control it. About 12 years ago I got a pto chipper. That and a dump trailer ended my burning forever.
chipping takes more time, but I feel more comfortable that Im not going to turn my place into cinders.

 

[bigtiller]

I quit burning also. I am surrounded with corn/soybeans and one floating ember could effect someone's livelihood. Now all the storm damage goes through the 6" woodland mills chipper and the big stuff goes behind the barn for creature comfort.

 

[4570Man]

The fire danger is pretty low here. I burn stuff all the time.

 

[Diggin It]

I burned one year after a light snowfall. Ground was cold enough to be frozen instead of muddy, and I had enough small stuff mixed in that it got going pretty easy.

'Bout a zero chance of spreading.

 

[the old grind]

I'm afraid of big fires.

 

[ruffdog]

If only there was a way to harness the energy given off by one of our big fires. We could have free heat all winter just from one brush pile!

 

[Frankenkubota]

I had my 55 acres burned by a private forestry guy last year. It was one of the coolest things i ever saw. It was almost $5K all in.

Later, a landscape guy looked down his nose at me and said, you know the home owner can do that himself, legally and free!

He told me a land owner can do their own prescribed burns in this county. Might need a permit, i will never know!

That's hard to believe, looked pretty dangerous to me.

 

[Panik]

I had my 55 acres burned by a private forestry guy last year. It was one of the coolest things i ever saw. It was almost $5K all in.

Later, a landscape guy looked down his nose at me and said, you know the home owner can do that himself, legally and free!

He told me a land owner can do their own prescribed burns in this county. Might need a permit, i will never know!

That's hard to believe, looked pretty dangerous to me.

The landscape guy probably isn't wrong for your state......but there can be a lot to account for in doing a prescribed burn correctly and safely. I work with a prescribed fire team in the winters doing burns for state DNR + Forestry and USFS - anything from 60acres on up to several thousand acres with aerial ignition.

One of these years I would like to burn the ~7 acres of woods on my property - all of it heavily sloped. I probably have the knowledge to pull off the prep and actual burn, but you better believe if it ever comes to pass I am going to call in a couple favors from friends with more experience than I to make sure it happens in a safe and productive manner.

 

[deezler]

If only there was a way to harness the energy given off by one of our big fires. We could have free heat all winter just from one brush pile!

Lol, good point. I can think of a way though.... anything over 2" diameter, cut into firewood lengths, and burn it in your woodstove instead. I see a lot of wood go up in bonfires and have the thought, "gee, that could have been heat in my house instead".

 

[4570Man]

Lol, good point. I can think of a way though.... anything over 2" diameter, cut into firewood lengths, and burn it in your woodstove instead. I see a lot of wood go up in bonfires and have the thought, "gee, that could have been heat in my house instead".

That’s too much work. If it’s not bigger than 6” I’m burning it. I’m about to rake up every bit of this and burn it.

 

[hunt4570]

I burn a lot of small to medium piles, brush/branches/cut offs from my sawmill, no permit needed just give them a call. Had 38 acres of woods burned a couple years ago, forest service did it, about $650.