I'm glad that you got the dept. to help you out. many people think its just light it and sit back with a cold one but it sure is alot of work. those people are the ones that cause serious damage. not many of them out there thank goodness. It looks like you had a good time and maybe you learned something. I am no expert Ive just been on burn crews for 6 or 7 years now and know generally how to conduct a proper one. Ill have to scrounge around and see what I can find. I know we have lots of pictures just have to find some cool ones.
Prairie grass burn
- Thread starter lhfarm
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whitedogone
Gold Member
That stuff can really get going, can't it? We burn 20ac on one of our places and 4 ac on another. I do try to mow the edges the prior summer/fall. Also we use a drip torch to set a good fire line. After years of doing this we've found that leaf blowers are the most handy tool for putting out hot spots.
OP
lhfarm
Veteran Member
I hadn't done a burn because I couldn't get the local fire department there. I'd never burn without them. And I can't believe how much work it was. I was beat.
This crew had never done a prairie grass burn and were happy to get the experience. I know they will be happy to come again in a couple of years.
I'll remember the leaf blower tip. I did enjoy using the sprayer on the tractor. Hadn't used it in several years.
txdon
Super Star Member
After the Bastrop fires and all the following lawsuits the liability is too great. Besides the Big fire last year there was another one the year before. Our electric co-op had a line fall down. They paid dearly. On the fire last year, there is a mega million dollar lawsuit about the accidental starting of that fire. A tree fell on a high power line.
The insurance companies will go after anyone liable for being the cause of the fire. The victims, if they had no insurance, will have lawyers.
You are lucky that the VFD took on that liability for you.
Our VFD has no insurance for such actions and the individual firemen don't either.
I'm glad you had no surprise winds that are prevalent in Texas.
There are companies in Texas that specialize in control burns and they carry insurance and the cost is passed on to the landowner. Usually the land owner, because of the expense, will decides to burn on his own. Then we are called out when he looses it.
I wish there was a better solution.
Out here we need volunteers. Have you thought of joining the VFD.
The insurance companies will go after anyone liable for being the cause of the fire. The victims, if they had no insurance, will have lawyers.
You are lucky that the VFD took on that liability for you.
Our VFD has no insurance for such actions and the individual firemen don't either.
I'm glad you had no surprise winds that are prevalent in Texas.
There are companies in Texas that specialize in control burns and they carry insurance and the cost is passed on to the landowner. Usually the land owner, because of the expense, will decides to burn on his own. Then we are called out when he looses it.
I wish there was a better solution.
Out here we need volunteers. Have you thought of joining the VFD.
GGB
Gold Member
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I just recently heard about using leaf blowers. Supposedly some rural fire departments now carry them as part of their equipment to control the burn, by blowing away loose grasss and leaving the green which won't burn easily.
I've been mowing a 10' border to help, and just burned last weekend. It had been raining in our area earlier in the week and Saturday morning looked like a near perfect time to burn. I figured it might be a challenge to get the dead grass near the ground to burn.
Instead, it was the other way around-I couldn't get the taller stalks of weeds to burn, but the grass on the ground burned easily. I'm guessing the stalks had not dried enough to burn, so they are still standing. Looks like I'll be using my brush mower to clean it up. I'm hoping the weeds won't be as much of a problem next year, but we'll see. If I still have a lot of stalks next year, I may have to brush mow first.
The good news is that the buffer I've been mowing worked exactly as it should. I only had one place where the fire tried to burn into the border.
whitedogone
Gold Member
I really don't use the blowers to blow away loose grass much. If you get a line of fire getting out of the burn, you can just blow right at the base and snuff it out. You would think that it would just add air to the flame making it flare up, but it doesn't.
