Ted's Burn

On Tuesday, March 25th the SFM PBA helped me successfully execute a 20-acre prescribed woodland burn on my property.  We tuned the ignition plan to accommodate winds from the northwest with anticipated gusts of up to 25 mph.  Ignition started on the north side with Team A advancing east and then south while Team B ignited the western side of the burn. To ensure that the eastern and southern edges were completely blackened before the wind-driven head fire advanced from the west, Team A always stayed one checkpoint ahead of Team B. The north, east and southern edges were all blackened before the steep gully on the Southwest side was ignited.

Apart from the northern food plot and the woods immediately northeast of it, the unit was completely burned. In those areas short green grass and a lack of continuous leaf litter prevented the fire from carrying. The lower food plot burned particularly well. Note: all vegetation in both fields will be killed with herbicides in advance of pollinator seeding this coming winter.

The very steeply south-sloping topography along the southern edge of the burn unit meant that embers could be more easily lifted by the northwest wind gusts and blown across the fire line. As a result, 5 spot-over fires ignited along that line. However, that line was constantly monitored, and, because everyone was well-trained, the fires were quickly extinguished. Cody Bowman was instrumental in calling out the largest spot-over and was impressed by how the team responded, with each person knowing what role to play. The largest spot-over was about 1500 square feet and the others were much smaller, giving a total of approximately 2000 square feet or 0.05 acres.

To sum up, the burn plan worked to perfection, and training of all members produced safe results! As in all burns, lessons were learned and suggestions put forth to improve future burns including these:

• Provide walkie-talkies to all burn participants to ensure quick communication and response when needed. Our PBA currently has 6 in its inventory, and we plan to purchase at least 6 more, based on an average of 8-12 participants on SFM PBA burns so far.

• When possible, especially on woodland burns, have 2 side by side UTV's available. These can haul leaf blowers, torch fuel and drinking water to burn teams and provide water sprayers in the event of a spot-over. With only one UTV the teams can be left without support if the spray water tanks have to be refilled.

• To ensure complete blackening of fire lines, each ignition team should have two drip torches with one leading and a second following up ensuring no live fuel is left in the blackened zone. The team should not advance to the next check point until the line is completely blackened up to that point.

• Purchase and provide an additional 50' of hose for each sprayer to extend its reach.

• Stage water buckets strategically along the burn road to refill backpack sprayers

• Test all equipment prior to the burn day to ensure proper operation. This was a lesson learned as both of our backpack sprayers malfunctioned during this burn.

• List one set of line points by numbers and the other by letters to avoid confusion when communicating over walkie talkies.

I really appreciate the professionalism of our SFM PBA members and the support that MDC and Quail/Pheasants Forever provides to all PBAs in Missouri!

Ted Michael