Compartment Burn

View of the main fire

After spending an evening burning spots that had been cleared to prevent the spread of the pine bark beetle, we were warmed up (haha) to do a full compartment burn the next night.  The property is divided into compartments, each 200-300 acres.  Each compartment is defined by firebreak boundaries, either bulldozed roads, or natural waterways.  The man-made breaks are placed based on the geography, either where the bulldozer was able to go, or ideally so the geography around the break can help control the fire.

The compartment we burned is roughly a triangle, with a public road on one side, a bulldozed road on the next, and a creek forming the third boundary.  For this compartment, the creek and the public road were givens, so the man-made boundary was bulldozed from the road down towards the base of the hill to where it meets the creek.  This made a good firebreak, because fire tends to burn up, so it is unlikely that a wildfire will spread down the hill vigorously enough to jump the break, and when setting the fire, it can be set along the uphill side of the break and can then burn up the hill.

Ronnie and Tulio filling one of the water packs

Based on wind conditions, the plan was made prior to the burn to burn a break along the bulldozer road, and then set the main fire along the public road and let it burn down along the creek to the break.  The bulk of the crew was planned to go along the main road, with just a few guys going down the bulldozer road to burn the break.  However, when we got out there, the wind had shifted slightly, and because the bulldozer road was less cleared than the main road had had some dry grass growing in it, the decision was made to split the crew more evenly, with half going to one side and half to the other.

The whole crew, minus G, Jerry, and Tom, prior to the burn

Tom and I went with Tulio, Angel, and Arsenio to the bottom of the bulldozer road near the creek, while Salomon, Jose, Ronnie, and Myron went to the point where the main road and the creek meet to start the big burn.  When we got to the bottom of the bulldozer road and started trying to light the fire for the break, we had trouble getting it going because there was absolutely no wind down in the valley, and the tiger bush and grass were somewhat moist...no surprise considering we were in a creek valley in the evening.  Tulio and Angel chopped a path through the tiger bush a little higher up the hill and started lighting up there, while Tom continued to try to light up along the road.  Arsenio and I stood back and watched to make sure the small fires didn't spread into the road, and didn't really have to do much since at that point we were having trouble getting the fire to burn at all, and having it spread in a direction we didn't want wasn't really an issue.

As Tulio, Angel, and Tom moved up the hill lighting the fires, they were easier to start.  Arsenio and I drove the truck up out of the valley, and continued to watch the progress to make sure the fire didn't go the wrong way across the road.  For a long time it did exactly what it was supposed to do, burning 30 to 50 feet into the bush away from the bulldozer road and creating a line that the fire coming from the other direction wouldn't be able to cross.

Tom using the drip torch along the bulldozer road

We were about halfway up the hill, before the road starts to flatten out, when Tulio and Angel came jogging back to the truck to grab the water backpacks for Angel and Arsenio.  The wind had shifted slightly, and the bush was dryer, and suddenly the back burn was moving forward and trying to cross the bulldozer road.  I was dispatched with the truck to retrieve Ronnie and Myron from the other side, where we could see the fire they had set along the road burning quite well, and coming towards us.

The fire lighting crew along the main road

G had arrived on the scene with his friend Jerry, and G was directing the efforts for getting the burn going on that end.  He said they had burned far enough towards the point where we were heading, and since the triangle was narrowing at that spot, they left the fire they had started, which had burned well in from the main road, and G, Jerry, Salomon, and Jose moved to the intersection of the main road and the bulldozer road and started burning down towards us so the break would be wide enough all the way along the bulldozer line by the time the main fire reached it.  I dropped Ronnie and Myron off to work with Angel and Arsenio to keep the bulldozer break clear, and Tom and Tulio continued to set the fire to form the break, moving towards the top of the bulldozer road.

Jerry using the drip torch along the main road

Despite having to work a little harder than expected to form the break and keep it from jumping the bulldozer road before the main fire reached it, everything went well and G declared it a textbook burn.  The fire stayed within its boundaries, it stayed within the range it was supposed to as far as flame height and heat, everything burned well, and nobody was hurt.  The only bummer is that it was almost too easy, and Tom and I feel that we still have a bit to learn since we are going to need to be faced with a bit of adversity and misbehaving fire before we can really figure out how this works, and we need to know how to deal with wildfires since they do happen up here, and Mother Nature doesn't always cooperate with planning for where to start the fires and wind conditions.

The view from the truck as I shuttled people and equipment

The burned break in the foreground, with the main fire coming towards us from the main road