Clearing Land With Fire

by Jared Neibaur

Fire is a crucial and terrible discovery in the history of man. It is also a powerful tool on the modern homestead as long as it is used correctly and with respect. This lesson is taught to me each year about this time as I clean the property and use fire as I do so. I hope some of my mistakes and successes can help you. 

Safety safety safety.  There is something about the word safety that tends to get ignored when dealing with fire and that can be a deadly mistake. 

Before You Start the Fire

1. Know where you are planning on burning and what you plan to burn. Are you burning your tree prunings, or a pile of weeds, or a ditch bank?
2. Have water available as well as shovels, rakes and a fire swatter. (Fire swatters are hard to find but they are invaluable for putting out grass fires, I included a link to amazon at the right) 
   
3. Clear the area of dry grass or other flammable material before you start the fire. Don't allow the fire to have any fuel to get out of your control. 
4. If you are burning an area of weeds or dry grass along a ditch bank, scout it out before you start burning. When I burn my ditchbank, I have some trees and a neighbor's field along the ditch. I try to clear a path before I start the fire.  
5. Don't use gasoline! Just keep it away. 

First things first, before you think about burning know the law. Here in Idaho there are some very specific laws about burning and what to burn. (My blog post isn't meant to be a sole resource.  Do your own legal research.) If you live in city limits I don't think you can burn anything but propane. Out of the city limits, where I live, you can only burn things that grow or could be grown on your property or fuels meant for burning. Wood, weeds, leaves etc. You can't burn building materials, treated wood, garbage, carpet, engine oil and so on. There are also laws here that outline certain months when you cannot burn anything more than a grill or a contained campfire. There are a lot of people around that do burn anything and get away with it. I grew up that way. Just realize that the law is the law and there is a reason for it. If you get caught burning the wrong things they can charge fines. 

This is an example of a fire I burned a couple years ago. The fire leapt into some nearby dry grass.  (Notice the green between the big fire and the black area.) I wanted to clear the area so I let it burn, but it really could have been bad if I hadn't been watching.

Take a Look at the Weather

1. Don't burn on a windy day. Check the forecast to see if you will have any wind during your burning time. It is usually calmer in the morning.
2. You may have a hard time burning anything after a rain storm.
3. Remember that a large fire will create it's own wind that can rapidly increase it's heat and size.

Start to Finish

1. Its worth saying twice. Don't use gasoline. There are other, slower, effective ways to start a fire. Take some time, save your eyebrows, and even your life.
2. Attend to your fire. Keep an eye on it. Be ready to keep it in check.
3. Make sure it is completely out before you leave it. Where there is smoke there is fire. Where there is heat, there could be another fire. It is never fun to wake up to a fire at night. 

With that said, fire is an amazing tool. The picture above shows a pile of trees and branches that I bought with the land. That would have been a huge job to try to take it to a dump. With some preparation it only took the better part of a day to burn through this pile. I have a lot of dead trees to clean out of my little homestead and I have burned a lot for the last few springs. I hope this blog will help you in clearing your land. Remember to burn safe.