ring of fire

Third day in and I'm on the fire line. The goal today was to do a management burn to help slow down scrub oak and pitch pine in about 17 acres of field.

After a brief demonstration and trial of the fire shelters (the shiny metallic bags that reflect heat so the fire can pass by us and one can survive under the shelter, in an emergency), we began burning operations

To do this, we employed fire. Using a fusee (a hand torch that drips ludicrously hot phosphorus) I started the test burns (yes, me :D). After those looked OK, we used drip torches (a special device that dispenses a 4:1 gasoline:diesel mix through a burning section) to light the rest of the fires.

So, how do we do this safely? Control lines, areas that won't burn. We used the sand roads for two of the edges of our triangle. We would burn next to the road, let the fire spread a bit, then put out the edge near the road, creating a burned break that the main fire can't get past, since it's already burned. We continue burning ahead in sections, keeping in front of the main fire.

Due to the smoke staying low to the ground and spreading out far, we had to shut down around lunchtime and reassess the situation. It was determined that with a lower area to burn, it would be fine enough to continue the fire operation, so we lit the field up once again.

After the control lines met, the main fire was allowed to finish burning while we mopped up the edges, making sure the fire could no longer advance. After a debriefing, we went through and looked for hotspots that were still smoking (mainly large smoldering branches) and put them out.

Also, I wore fire gear. Today's picture is of the equipment trailer, as I didn't have my camera out with me on the line.