Russell's Burn

Today the SFM-PBA completed our first burn executed with only PBA members and PBA equipment. We were very aware of the possibility of gusts today and changed our plan of attack accordingly. We burned 11 acres with a >97% burn coverage in just about 4 hours. The reason it took this long is because we backfired the area using EW strips advancing into a NNW wind with steady speeds of 5-7mph and occasional gusts to 11mph. In order to minimize the risk of gusts blowing embers across our eastern fire line we kept the length of active fire along the eastern edge very short.

The biggest excitement of the day was when the dead end of a 6-inch diameter oak limb 15-20 off the ground burst into flames. The limb was inside the burn unit but adjacent to our vulnerable eastern edge. Our water spray unit was able to reach the branch and extinguish the fire but if it had been 5 feet higher, it could have been a different story.  It was a serious reminder that all it takes is one chance ember on the right spot to take off.

Chris Hill led the team burning the eastern edge and set the pace of the burn. Scott Mier had the worst job of the day protecting the eastern ridge from swirling leaf debris, which meant being in the smoke most of the day. Dan Stokes and Shelly Bishop took turns running east-west strips off the east line to advance the fire just behind Chris. It was Dan who spotted the fire in the tree.

Jeff Roderick led the team up the rugged brushy western creek edge. Christine Evans and Travis Toon helped with ignition and monitoring. Getting the grass to burn was easy but getting fire to carry in the rugged woody areas required persistence. The fact that we achieved >95% burn coverage in that area is testament to their efforts.

John Stokes ran equipment and fuel up and down the burn as required and mopped up embers with the UTV mounted sprayer.

Everything ran so smoothly that I was able to use the tank sprayer to mop up the wooded area after the fire had passed. Between Scott and John's mop up efforts and mine things were in very good shape by the time we finished the fire at the northern boundary. I went back down after our late lunch and found a few additional smoldering limbs that were easily extinguished. A final check just before dark showed no sign of any fire activity.

During my mop up I did manage to create one of the day's peculiarities. There was a burning tree stump about 5 feet tall and 16 inches in diameter on the top of a steep bank next to the creek. I sprayed the stump but saw the fire was in the ground, so I pushed the stump over and it fell into the creek where it floated out into the middle and got stuck on a submerged rock. I went down to the creek and sprayed it until I was sure it was out and moved on. When I got up to the north end of the fire Dan and Christine came over and said, "Strangely, from the bridge you can see a

burning log floating in the middle of the creek!" Sure enough, when I went back down there, the stump I had pushed into the creek was burning along its entire length! Fortunately, I was able to pull it back to shore and extinguish it properly the second time! A reminder that you have to work hard to extinguish those burning stumps. Throwing them in the creek is not enough!

What impressed me most about today was the way everyone automatically worked as a team in order to perfectly execute the burn.

Thank you to Wes Buchheit and Julie Norris for all of the effort they put into getting our PBA started and the training opportunities that they have provided to which prepared us for this success.

Regards,

Russell Myers