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AWARDS WE HAVE
WON!
The fascinating story of the burning of the Charlotte
Street area of New York’s South Bronx during the late 1960s and 70s
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CONTROLLED
BURNING!
Burning is a way of
maintaining your property or prairie. The benefits of controlled
burning include:
 | weed and tree sapling
control
| clean up of dead
vegetation from previous year's growth
| Fire is necessary for
some of the annual wildflowers to bloom.
| Warms ground soil and
may increase growth. |
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Warning!!!
The term controlled
burn means exactly what it
sounds like. Controlled burns can be very dangerous to people
and property if you do not know what you are doing. Also keep in
mind that it is also not recommended to burn near evergreen
trees or other plants in the landscape that are extremely flammable. |
Local burning regulations
| You may legally burn:
Grassland, pastures, croplands and the like for rangeland management
Brush piles
Construction wood scraps
County ordinance does not establish a permit system for burning, but it
DOES require calling the Pottawatomie County Sheriff Department at 785-457-3353 prior to starting any prescribed burning. This allows them to know which fires are
intendted when they receive well-intentioned cell phone calls from folks reporting that something is on fire, and avoids dispatching costly resources to a prescribed burn that does not need help.
| You may not legally burn:
Household or commercial trash
Any heavy smoke producing items (trash, tires, plastics, etc)
You SHOULD NOT burn anywhere the smoke may create a traffic hazard by obscuring visibility on a roadway
anywhere that threatens the property of another.
Any time the rangeland fire danger index is High, very high, or extreme,
see:
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/product.php?site=top&product=RFDTOP&format=ci
for the current rating each day, or listen to NOAA weather
radio
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| Remember, if your fire gets away from you, you could be civilly liable for damages caused to the property of others, and in extreme cases could even face criminal charges.
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Fire Department Burning Assistance
BTFD is not able to assist individual property owners with conducting prescribed burns. In the past we did a few times, but issues of liability and the concern about using County resources for the benefit of some individuals when we could not meet all the requests
we received lead to an end to that practice. We will at times burn public property (such as State Park or Corps of Engineers land) for
training and/or public safety benefits. However, we are happy to provide technical advice to anyone who is unfamiliar with proper burning. If you are conducting a burn, and for any reason the fire gets out of your control, immediately call 911. Even if you think you will be able to catch up, it is better to call and get help coming than to wait until it is even worse. Other than situations of gross negligence, or burning during the rare outright burn bans, you will not be penalized for calling. |
Tips
to Remember When Burning
| Contact your local
fire department and find out about any regulations or information
you may need.
| Always conduct
controlled burns during early morning or mid evening. There
are 3 reasons for this: Lower air temperature, less wind, and
higher humidity.
| Never burn an area
that is too big for you to handle.
| Start with a well-defined area that is manageable with the amount of people and equipment you have available. Monitor weather closely, including the rangeland fire danger index. If the fire danger is high or above, pick a different day. Pay particular attention to what the weather will do in the next few hours. Many out-of-control "controlled" burns occur when wind shifts during the middle of a fire that was previously well contained. |
| Get plenty of help, have tools and equipment on hand to maintain control, and make sure you have a means to summon help if the fire gets out of hand, or if anyone gets hurt. |
| Make sure the area to burn has a safe fire break around it. This may include roads,
creek beds, plowed ground, short green mowed grass (like a lawn), and even rock outcroppings. Fire tends to burn very rapidly and fiercely uphill or when driven by the wind, and can jump even serious fire breaks when wind-driven up hills. |
| Always
back burn
(against the wind) so it moves slowly, and when possible burn from high areas to low areas. This allows a slow fire that can be managed easily. Once that fire progresses far enough to provide a large firebreak where the fuel is all consumed, it may then be safe to start on the lower areas that are upwind, so the wind-driven fire blows up to the smaller fire where the fuel is spent, and goes out. |
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Fire Breaks
The use of fire breaks
(fire lines) when conducting controlled burns is necessary when
burning near residential/commercial zones. Fire breaks can be a
strip of turf grass, paved roads, a tilled strip of field, or a water
filled ditch. |
Back Burning
This is the technique
of controlled burning that should be used when burning your
property. Back burning means burning against the wind.
Wind gives fire more oxygen which enables it to burn much more
rapidly, wind almost always dictates the fire's direction of movement.
Back burning keeps the wind from accelerating the flames to
uncontrollable levels. At the same time all potential fuel
behind the flame front has been spent, so there isn't any potential
for the fire to spread in the direction of the prevailing wind.
Note: If you
want the fire to burn more slowly, mow the area first. |
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| Protecting your property
Many residents in rural or suburban areas burn land surrounding their property as a defense against wildfires, or negligent fires started near their property. A safer defense is to have a mowed, watered lawn. Green lawn grass that is kept reasonably groomed will usually stop a fire, and even a wind-driven fire will not cross a lawn with enough energy to threaten a house or propane tank. Keep highly flammable shrubs and trees, such as most evergreens, away from houses and decks. Do not pile firewood piles or other flammable items around your house. Use non-combustible roofing materials and siding, not wood shingles. Keep a garden hose, nozzle, and sprinkler available. If a fire threatens, turning on lawn sprinklers will protect houses in the types of areas we deal with - they won't help much out west, but in northeastern Kansas, these simple steps will provide a great deal of protection against wildfires. |
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