Firebreaks?

[Toiyabe]

This fire season is just about over, but now that I've got a tractor I'm trying to figure out how to use it to cut a firebreak.

I've got about 75 acres, the house is near the center, with about 2 acres around the house landscaped and fenced to keep the range cows out. I'd like to clear a 20' width of vegetation around the fence to help protect the house and trees from wildfires. The vegetation is mostly sagebrush (~1" stem diameter) with assorted weeds like cheatgrass and mustard in between. The ground is very rocky, lots of rocks in the basketball size range.

Has anyone out there dealt with a similar problem? I don't see how I could mow the stuff without grubbing out a lot of rocks. Maybe a heavy chain drag?

 

[beenthere]

Prepare the strip with a bulldozer or similar machine first. Then keep the strip 'cleared' with your tractor.
Can't think of another way, unless you can slowly move those rocks with your FEL or a back blade/box blade or similar attachment.

How about a picture of what you are faced with? Sure would help.

 

[HomeBrew2]

A dozer would be great.
I have heard of pulling RR track or I-beam, either a single piece or 2 pcs in a V formation, with the point forward. A mobile home tongue might work with added weight ...

 

[andrewj]

best quick road I ever made was to
1.mow
2. chisel plow
3. box blade

one big strip, which then became a darn nice road! took one afternoon. hardest part was changing implements.

 

[Farwell]

I am not sure how well sage brush will mow, if I remember correctly sage brush can be very thick and tough. If that is the case a dozer may be a better option.
Farwell

 

[bczoom]

Sounds like a dozer would be best if you want/need to remove the rocks.

If you just want to removel the weeds, can you just put some brush killer on them to kill then control burn or whack them down? This process may need to be repeated every few years.

 

[theboman]

This may sound stupid, but that's a part of being me.

Could you build either a gravel or rock road around they place? It's hard to burn rock/gravel.

 

[Farwell]

Having covered many fires while working for TV news in Northern California I saw that the most used equipment for fire breaks was a dozer. In your case, with the rock and If I understand your brush description, heavy brush, you may be better off hiring someone to doze the fire break and then use your tractor to maintain the break. You could probably do it with your tractor, depending on its size, but it would be quite time consuming, labor intensive and you may still have to hire a dozer before you are through. The dozer would do a good job of scraping off a few layers of soil and remove most of the sage roots slowing down re-growth.
Farwell

 

[Highbeam]

The dozer is used for firebreaks for a few reasons. It is big ant tall, hard to flip over, operator out of the smoke, and the tires don't burn. The dozer's fuel tank is big for long run times and the blade is wide enough to cut a firebreak in one pass. During a forest fire is not a time to try and make a tractor suffice, get the big boys out for pioneering work.

I would recommend getting the dozer out to make the firebreak just smooth enough to drive the tractor on and to brush mow for maintenance. Why not brush hog the dinky sage? 1" is small stuff.

 

[Toiyabe]

I've attached a photo of my fenceline. The brush itself is not so bad, worse comes to worse I can cut that by hand. What I'm concerned about is the grassey stuff. I did about half the fenceline with a weed-eater this year and that was no fun at all. This year was particularly bad for grass and weeds on account of the wet spring and there's fewer cows on the range

A bulldozer might get it to the point where I could mow it. I've also got a lot of diatomaceous earth on the property, maybe spread that stuff out around the fence - most plants don't grow well in it.

 

[Egon]

Before starting the firebreak have you gotten any advice from some of the regulatory agencies for your area as to the design of a fire break. Fire generated wind can carry hot embers a long way.

As others have stated a dozer or good heavy tractor and implements would be the way to get it black and ready for future maintenance.

Egon

 

[woodlot]

Hey, I know nothing about building a fire break, but..., some places around here are using irrigation type set-ups to create a wall-o-water to stop approaching wildfires. Its more for protecting buildings than trees. I don't know if thats an option for you? I just thought I'd offer it as an alternative.

 

[Toiyabe]

I've read a bunch of articles/brochures on the subject.

The basic idea they all spell out is for a firebreak, at least 30' wide to create a "defensible perimeter" against the direct threat, and then keep the interior of that perimeter "lean, green and clean" to help protect against indirect threats such as wind-blown embers.

I've got a lot of work to do both on the perimeter and the interior of the perimeter. I've only had the house for a year and a half and there's been more pressing things. I figure when the next big fire hits I'll be on my own - I've got a long driveway, a hill on one side of the property and a stream on another. If I was a firefighter, I'd be very worried about getting trapped while trying to save the house.

 

[Farwell]

Don't think a brush hog will do to well if those things sticking up out of the weeds are rocks. Roundup may work for you. It would probably kill most of the weeds and may work on sage with a couple applications. I still like the dozer idea the best especially if you have a lot of rocks. I thought you had a dense growth of sagebrush, if it wasn't for the rocks a brush hog could probably have done the job.
The next critical thing you need to check on is making your eves and roof fire proof. If you got wood shingles they gotta go.
Farwell

 

[Highbeam]

"I've also got a lot of diatomaceous earth on the property,"
Really? Dead plankton skeletons? We used to get the stuff in bags for pools. I believe it was for filtration since all the little skeletons were great at trapping floaters.

 

[cqaigy]

Another nice thing about a firebreak thats pretty clean of rocks and farely leve, is you can move vehicles around your line. I.E. if you do have a fire and somebody comes out to help protect your place, you can more easily move to where you need to be.

Having been on some of those firelines, it sure is nice if you don't have to hump a load of gear to the fire. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[Cityboyfarmer]

Have you contacted your state forestry comission? They might plow your break for you for a nominal fee. I have had the Ga. Forestry Service plow my breaks and help me do my controlled burns. It cost less than $100.00 each time. Might be worth looking into.

 

[Toiyabe]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Really? Dead plankton skeletons? )</font>

Yeah, freshwater diatom fossils. Pretty common in the area - there's a layer of it that runs under a large portion of this part of Nevada, but you've got to be at the right altitude to have it at the surface. There's a commercial mine about twenty miles to the south of me.

I've thought of bagging it up and selling it as "Uncle Pete's Old-fashioned Organic Kitty Litter" at the local farmer's market. Purely for grins and giggles, of course. It's a good absorbant and filter medium. The saltwater variety also is a good insecticide (cuts up the waxy coating on insects and they dehydrate), but it can cause resperatory problems in humans.

Thanks for all the input on this subject - looks like I'll end up hiring a dozer.

 

[NevadaSmith]

Welcome Neighbor! Your land is exactly like mine, and I live in your area. Having been a firefighter here, the general rule of thumb for your firebreak is 1.5 times the fuel height. By the looks of your picture, you do not need 30'. I cleared a 10' swatch around my property with my 25 hp Kioti (two blade widths)....same type of rocks. Some of them were pretty stuborn, and when I was done I had enough rocks to build a wall around my property if I wanted to! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

The sheet grass you have will burn like gas, and any flames will go by pretty fast....almost two fast to ignite anything else. The sage is nasty stuff when it burns though...and the above formula is based on the height of the flames when sage burns. Of course, being in Reno, you have NASTY winds and the embers will travel. You will also have "burning bunnies" that will spread the fire...so you'll almost never be 100% safe. I think a 10' break will give you what you need for normal stuff...and will also aid your local firefighters in triaging your home in the event you do get a burn nearby. Also...if you clear too much...you'll really really hate the blowing dirt...as its just like powder will permiate everything.

Good luck
NevadaSmith

 

[Toiyabe]

Thanks for the reply! I was hoping that someone from the area would chime in.

How do you keep the grass from growing back? Do you mow it, or just blade it again a few times a year?

In case you're wondering, I live in Palomino Valley (between Reno and Pyramid Lake).