[jellero]

why would these morons do a "controlled" burn during windstorms? on a hot, extremely dry time of year.
i answered my own question with the word moron. i think it was sunday i burned some garden debris, in a barrel, early in the day, with a garden hose right there along with me and a rake. we have been having bad winds in colorado for some time, man it's spring and it is windy in spring in colorado. if it isn't windy at 8:00, it will be by 10:00. these people are suppose to be pros, they technically are pros as this is their job but this was just stupid. j

[bmiller]

The burn was several days prior.
Things can smolder for months.
Controlled burns have prevented many fires from becoming much larger.

Controlled burns are good.

Monday morning quarterbacking is not.


Shit happens.
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[Hacksaw]

Controlled burns are a lot like avalanche control work.

Once you start them (i.e. light the dry brush or light the bomb) you have no idea of how big a result you may get.

So obviously, doing this kind of "control work" needs to be done VERY carefuly and under the right conditions.
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"Its all fun and games until someone gets hurt, then its a sport."





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[skifreeK]

I put up some comments about this on the Dust thread over on the Happy Site the other day. Heard a blurb on 9 News that it was the driest in 130 years for this time of year on the front range. Haven't seen anything else to back that up.

It's dry over here on the west side and getting drier, still a lot of ditch and field burning going on. The local crew has rolled out on a few with good results so far. This is starting to look and feel a bit like '76-'77.

We've had smolders in duff take off a week or more after the last lightning events. So yeah, once the fire gets in the roots and deep in the duff there's no way of knowing for sure it's all out.

[bmiller]

[jellero]

it was the wrong time to light any kind of fire and they should have known better. i am not talking about all controlled burns all the time. the fact that smoldering pockets can ignite when the wind comes up for days later is another good point. they shouldn't have done it, period, because it is windy almost every day this time of year and it was/is extraordinarily dry. it wasn't like they had to do this right away, it will eventually rain and the wind will calm down, THEN do the burn. j

[bmiller]

[skifreeK]

[jw]

amazing how many days things can ignite or re-ignite when high winds and dry conditions are added... this is just the start.. could be a gnarly summer in the west even if there are no controlled burns. This will hopefully open some eyes amongst the various public land agencies for the upcoming fire seasons.
Sad for the homeowners for sure.
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[skifreeK]

Does anyone have any experience with these sort of home foam units? There's a number on the market, this link is just one example.

http://consumerfireproducts.com/?page_id=5

Back in '95 when I started mixing slurry at the tanker base, we had a training week at fire school up in Leadville. At one point, they had us step outside the school building. A guy pulled up on an atv a small flatbed trailer. Using a SCBA tank for air pressure, and about 20 gallons of water, he reeled off some hose and lathered the two story side of the building with foam in a couple of minutes. It was a demonstration for quick response, small, portable foam units for urban interface issues. Made a real impression on me, though I've never gone any further with it here at home. Our plan is: stay safe, let it burn, rebuild....though of course we very much prefer it never come to that.

Always thought there might be an way to design these foam units to be automated and preset during fire season. No one should ever loose their life or be injured saving a thing, imho. If a person could retreat to safety and perhaps have a radio or other automated trigger for a foam unit perhaps more buildings in urban interface areas could be protected with risking fewer people?

Thoughts, experience? Should insurance companies be encouraging these sort of systems?

[bmiller]

Don't know much about those systems but they have been around for a long time. What's the shelf life of the foam?

Defensable space and non combustable exterior finishes are pretty effective.
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[hutguy]

[jellero]

i don't know the exact timeline either but it is march. can't remember more than 1-2 days all month that it hasn't been windy. i've made my point, that it showed poor judgement to do the burn at that time and which day is immaterial. bmiller, are you saying it was a good idea? not sure what your point is. j

[bmiller]

I'm saying controlled burns in general are a very good idea.

I'm not sure what the point of this thread was.
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[skifreeK]