Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Fire at the farm

I went out to my car at five a.m. sunday to discover a large fire burning two hundred yards from the house. The wind was high and we havent had rain this month at all, the driest march since 1925. I called 911 and the fire department arrived about fifteen minutes later to put it out. I did my best to keep it from spreading while waiting for them to arrive because I was worried it would reach the woods before they got there. The fire was burning where I had burned a pile of brush six weeks ago. This was the fire from six weeks ago. We then started piling brush up again to burn in the same place which is where the new fire was sunday morning. The difference now was the ground was very dry instead of snow on the ground. My question is do you think the old fire could have smoldered for six weeks and then reignited the brush pile due to the very high winds we had saturday night?

If a fire laid dormant and ignited after 6 weeks, that's incredible. Lesson learned beyond your farm. Wow.

Very sorry about the fire James. Hope it didn't cause too much damage to your property. It can be devastating.

James,

We have had fires smolder for weeks at a time. It may not smoke but when you go turn it over it will start up again.

The burnt timber piles that we created during clearing the land for the LNP pond were smoldering for weeks to months later. It IS amazing.

Glad to hear it didn't get to the homestead.

Lesson learned.

We had a pile on fire for 4 months it was a old barn that we piled up after a tornado took it down.

I also had a fire that got into a layer of cow manure 18inches thick in a corral one time. It would be fine for 2 weeks and then flare up on a hot windy day. I would put a lawn sprinkler on it for 24 hrs or so and that would shut it down for a couple weeks until the next hot windy day. This went on all darn summer. I am thinking of installing underground sprinklers for watering lawn and to protect the yard from a fire using my lake water.

It is amazing how long those hot embers can lie under some dirt or ash and flair up when exposed with a little wind. We watched some Forest Service fire fighters running there hands through the dirt in search of them when in NM one time and the place we were going had just burned. They said it was not to bad on the hands once you got used to it and it sure beat explaining why a fire restarted after they left. The forest duff would burn like blair's manure, smoldering for weeks before flairing up. I have not burned any really big piles in a while, but the smaller ones I watch until they burn out and rake them open while putting them out with water. We used the tractor's FEL with a tooth bar pointed down on the old family ranch to do the same.

After my place burned a month ago, I went back 2 weeks later and saw smoke coming from an old mesquite that was still smoldering. I have seen old piles like that burn for a month.

Lesson learned! It could have been a lot worse if we hadnt been there

Look at the bright side. A lesson learned with no loss. plus you now have potash you can add to the lake if its needed.

Ewest, what can you use potash for around the pond?

Most compound fertilisers will contain three elements essential for growth, NPK which stands for Nitrogen (N) Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K). These elements help plants grow in different ways and an understanding of this will help you when choosing the correct fertiliser for a plant or for a stage in the development of a plant.

The term potash has more than one meaning. In a narrow sense, it refers to the salt potassium carbonate (K2CO3). In a broader sense, it is a generic term for various water-soluble potassium salts that may be mined or manufactured.

Potash contains high amounts of essential plant nutrients; therefore it is mostly used as an agricultural fertilizer.

Chemically, potash consists of potassium carbonate, but also might contain potassium oxide or potassium chloride, depending on how pure you consider the mixture. Usually, potash takes the form of powdery salts. Modern methods of extraction almost all rely upon deposits mined from ores, like sylvanite.

Historically, the manufacture and trade of potash traces an interesting period in the New World's economy. As one of the largest cash crops of the late 1700s and early 1800s, potash established strong trade routes through upstate New York, Canadian provinces, and overseas to Russia and England. At a time when land covered in hardwood forests was more valuable as farmland, settlers felled hundreds of thousands of acres of trees. Not only did this create lumber for building, but also they found a way to extract even more money by creating potash.

James, haven't you been under the same burn ban we have been in?

Yes Dave I did not start the fire but think it started from smoldering embers from about eight weeks ago when we had six inches of snow on the ground. Six weeks ago there was not a burn ban and almost zero fire danger. Before I ever start a fire I always check with the sheriff for any bans.

My neighbor told me yesterday that Montague Co. has lifted the burn-ban in the last day or two. That scares the stuff out of me because that drizzle sure didn't change anything...du

I'm not about to start a fire. way too dry.

That dang fire reignited Friday but not nearly so large because almost all of the fuel had been burned out but I still had to put about fifty gallons of water on it to put it out. I bought a pump today and am going to flood it tomorrow after church.

While thinking in terms of jail time, you're now playing defense.