Burn Day
In Shasta County, you can find out whether it is a “burn day” precisely at 9:15 am. If it is too hot, or too windy, or too dry, then forget about it. But if conditions are right — especially during the winter — the Shasta County Resource Management website will tell you: “Today is a permissive-burn day for all types of burning.” Because the Ranch is at over 2,000 feet of elevation, we can burn from 10 am to 12 midnight.
Most burns require a permit. Inside certain city limits, you need a permit. Burning material associated with commercial or residential development, you need a permit. Agricultural burning, you need a permit. Prescribed burning, you definitely need a permit.
Today was a big burn; today was blackberry burn day. Permit definitely required.
We had been preparing for this burn for the last couple of months. With some help from some local friends, we had been ripping blackberries off the hillside and putting them in piles, as well as creating fire breaks for separation from areas that we did not want to burn.
We had done some simple residential burns before, but this was not a burn we were going to do ourselves. So we hired Tom Wesley and the Mountaineers Fire Crew. From Tom’s website:
Mountaineers Fire Crew, INC is an independent company which maintains a wildland firefighting hand crew available on a nationwide basis for fire suppression and all hazard incidents as well as performing pre- and post- suppression work. We also provide defensible space and fuel reduction services to businesses and landowners. Owner Tom Wesley has over thirty years of experience in wildland and urban interface firefighting, all hazard incidents, and prescribed burning. We ensure that the crew consistently operates in a safe and efficient manner, providing optimal service to all customers, whether government entities or private citizens.
The Mountaineers came out with two water trucks and five guys. Armed with drip torches, pitchforks, and rakes, they set all of our blackberry burn piles alight.
When they had the big burn piles along the ditch line going, they started on the blackberry patch in place on the hillside.
They pulled extra water from Childs Ditch when they needed it.
By the end of the day, a few acres worth of blackberries were up in smoke.
Tomorrow, we burn some more.
— KLM