Burning April 21, 2016: East Side of McDowell Creek

Ron back-burns around the star-deck.

Everyone on the east side of McDowell Creek (south of I-70) burned last Thursday, April 21, 2016.  

The day was scarily windy, which sped things up--but the ground was helpfully damp, which slowed things down.   

The first thing Ron & I had to do was back- burn around our star-gazing deck and our little cabin.   

We couldn't let the fire go until we saw the plumes from our neighbors' land.   What if they ran into difficulties & decided not to burn?   They wouldn't be too happy if we burned their land anyway.

Ron had mowed around the cabin,
making the back-burn easier.

We stopped the fire
before it got into
the ravine.   

There was a lot of thatch, as half of our pasture hadn't burned for 4 years and the other half hadn't burned for 2.

There was quite a fuel load.
Smoke to the south was our
sign to start burning the tall grass.

 I showed Ron this
lovely Prairie Violet
(Viola pedatifida)in the path of the fire.
  He hosed it down  so
  it wouldn't burn.
What a sweet guy! 

Flames raced through the pasture!  

Our next job was to start a backfire in the woods to climb up the hill and join the fire that would be coming down from the pasture.

The video shows the windy, smoky pasture and ends with the beginning of the backfire in the woods.