We all love burning with that smelly drip torch. There is some instinctual need to light up a pile and stare into the flames. Nothing beats sitting around a campfire, cooking food and feeling the radiant heat of the fire, while your back freezes.
Every fall the drip torches come out and are filled with your own special blend of gas, diesel and secret sauce with a couple km of roads full of piles to burn. Sometimes those are the best days in the bush; for one, there is a built road and second, the blowdown is all in the pile instead of something to crawl over.
Every fall and early winter piles light up all over the province in a bid to reduce fuel loading on cutblocks. Sometimes it doesn’t quite work out as planned and there is an overachievement. In this case, don’t be an overachiever!
As we see far more extreme fires and are coming out of a multi-year drought cycle, it is imperative that you check the piles you burned last fall. Make sure they are out! Once we start to get some heat off the sun and the nights warm up, your piles might decide they aren’t quite as extinguished as originally thought.
If your piles light up and the BC Wildfire Service moves in to extinguish, the Wildfire Act allows the government to bill you for the cost of extinguishing the fire, repair any damage and/or value of the lost timber. That is not a bill you want to receive.
Your first line of defense is always: “I did my best.” To show this, you need to record and document. Here are some things to document:
- Check your piles this spring and record your field assessment. Take some pictures. Keep your documentation on file.
- If your area enters a summer with a high fire hazard, you will want to check those piles throughout the summer, especially ones that are near an area with a heavy fuel load or you think you smell smoldering!
- If you have piles to burn, but couldn’t due to drought or venting restrictions, note that as well. If a fire burns over your piles, you can be held liable for adding fuel to the fire as you didn’t abate your fuel.
- Photographs are evidence. Take a photo using Avenza (free) and put notes in with the photo. Then you have a location as well as date and time. Whenever you are on your woodlot and drive past a debris pile that was burned last year, take a photo. Well, maybe not every time if you are on your woodlot all the time.
Fuel Hazard Abatement Assessments
And that brings up the Fuel Hazard Abatement Assessment requirements. This is where one piece of legislation goes left and another goes right and woodlots are left in the middle without a good solution.
If you are audited by the Forest Practices Board, they will request a copy of your Fuel Hazard Abatement Forms. The existing forms, however, don’t necessarily align with the Wildfire Act. I’d suggest you fill them out as a means of assessing what you need to do and keep them on file in the event of a Forest Practices Board Audit.
The BC Wildfire Service offers information on why and when you need to assess for fuel abate, but no form on how to tally your debris to identify the Inherent Fire Hazard Rating. Until your harvest is complete, you need to reassess your fuel hazard as per the chart in the Fire Hazard Assessment and Abatement Q&A document updated in January 2024. For your convenience, the link is below.
As well as the Hazard Abatement site with more information:
This site doesn’t include a form, but BCTS has a nice little Fire Hazard Assessment Field Form, and it will give you something to help you assess your risk and keep on file for a Forest Practices Board Audit. There are two versions I found online. One is a bit more encompassing, including consequences to access risk. There are links in the form to maps and a guide.
Tips and Tricks
Once you light up a pile, there is always a risk of spread, but there are some things you can do to reduce your risk.
- Don’t put your pile on top of a large stump, especially those large old growth stumps. They have deep roots that smolder through the winter, lighting up in the summer to cause you grief. Pile your debris away from those large stumps.
- If you bury stumps (and other debris) in your right of way, don’t put a pile on the buried debris. This is the same concept as above; the debris begins to burn and smolders under the soil for months.
- You are required to have a fire guard around your piles prior to burning (yes this is new). Snow can be considered a fire guard as is dirt or rock. This is Policy 9.12-Open Fire. Here is the link: policy_912_open_fire.pdf (gov.bc.ca)
Further Training
As there were updates to the Open Burning policy last year there was some training through Forest Professionals BC. They have a video and presentation slides on their website that you can watch.
https://www.fpbc.ca/webinar-recordings/fire-hazard-assessment-and-abatement-roadmap-for-the-future/
Your Pile Is Out, Isn’t It?
How can you tell if your pile is out? Unless you have specialized scanning equipment or dig into with an excavator to be sure, you are using an educated assessment. Some tools would be:
- Get out that shovel and dig into the ash a bit.
- Use your sniffer. Do you smell smoke?
- Flanges! Stick your fingers in the ash, preferably ones that aren’t heat hardened by cooking. I am always grabbing things out of the frying pan with my fingers so cold trailing isn’t my job. Seriously though, cold trail. Use your hands to feel for residual heat by holding your hand over the ash, if it’s cool, dig a bit and test again. Don’t burn yourself.
- Look at the remains of the pile. Are there stumps or large logs poking out the ash or ground? They can still be burning deep underground. These piles would be high risk for relighting.
- Rinse and Repeat. When it gets hot out and fire risk goes to extreme, go out and reassess.
- Take photos and notes!