how big will my fire be?

[75Camaro4x4]

I've got roughly 60-80 pines down, all of them over 60ft tall, and 10"-30" thick. They have been cut down in a period of 3 months, and I really need them gone. Planning on having a large bonfire in the middle of the yard. Nothing nearby to light. Reckon I'd beable to get all of them burned in 1 night? Could I just stack them like Jenga and let them all go at once?

[John Mc]

Sounds like quite a bonfire. Make sure you notify your local fire warden or fire department, so when your conflagration lights up the night, they don't assume the whole neighborhood is on fire.

I'm not sure you'll get them all in one night. Those are some pretty big logs, and a lot of them.

[NWP]

How much distance between the pile and the closest flammable thing you don't want to burn?

[Jeff]

A fire that size will create enough heat to float and ship out very large burning embers. You better be miles from anything flammable.

[thecfarm]

Before I had a OWB I was clearing a grown up pasture. I would have about 20 white pine trees about a foot across in the burn pile. It would burn in a day,but I would be left with a pile of coals that would take about 5-6-7 days to "burn" down. I would have a pile of coals about 5-6 feet high and whatever around. Most of the wood would burn,but the coals would be the problem after the burn. And they would be some good size coals too. I would stir them up with the loader to get the pile of coals to burn. My pile would look tiny compared to yours. I would say the coals would burn for a week,easy.
I did one burn in the summer.  :   We,my Father and me had burned many,many BRUSH piles. BIG diffeance between brush and good size trees. It was a rainy day when I got the permit,5-6 days later,not so wet. I never did that again. I'm in snow country and just waited for the snow. Yes,it would still burn for still 5-6-7  days,but no way for it to go any ways with snow on the ground.

[75Camaro4x4]

I am 30ft from anything flammable, I am assuming that is too close?

Can I keep a couple water hoses close by?

If the coals stay hot for a week or 2 thats fine with me.

Thanks everyone for the responses.

[LittleJohn]

I am 30ft from anything flammable, I am assuming that is too close?
Can I keep a couple water hoses close by?

30' IS NOT ENOUGH...
WE had a small pile (3 pickup loads of dried cedar slabs) that we put on the edge of a gravel pit (100' to the first tree), and we still burned grass out a good 50' before we could even start to think about knocking down the flames with shovels.

2nd calling fire department, hell invite them over for a controlled burn

P.S. On second thought, maybe several smaller fires woudl be better SAFER, or find someone close with a OWB and offer free firewood  ;D

[beenthere]

75
You'll likely have to start a fire and add to it as it burns down. And keep stirring the fire to keep it from just burning out the center, especially with green logs of any size.

What equipment do you have to make a burn pile?

[r.man]

No market for the trees? It would be a lot easier if all you had to burn was the brush.

[75Camaro4x4]

Beenthere, 6 guys with chainsaws lol. Not much. And the only reason they are willing to hep cut it all up and stack is because my neighbour just turned 21, and they want to get 100+ people together for a large bonfire. Was going to cut the smaller ones into 6ft sections, and the bigger ones into 3 ft sections.

R-man, None that I am aware of. Alot have been cut for 3 months, I didnt think they were any use after that? I've already been told by Beenthere to upload pictures into the free pine thread, as it will help.

LittleJohn, I'm sure there are going to be members of the volunteer fire department there. I will make arrangements. And Ill probably wont try to burn them all in one night, I'll be adding to it as the night, or the following days, go on. I need to talk with the fire department and with the police to make sure Im not breaking any local laws. Definitely going about this the legal way, I don't want fines.

Jeff, point noted. I will not burn them all at once. A widespread fire would be bad. Very bad.

[75Camaro4x4]

R.man, I already had a huge brush pile. A nieghbour came over bored and burned it while i was gone. I was told the flames were well above the local powerlines.

[LeeB]

Down three months at this time of year is not long at all. They will still be plenty sound. Sure would be a waste to just burn them. Especially the larger ones.

[75Camaro4x4]

What if they have blue on the ends? But when you cut the end off, the blue goes away? I've called over 30 local numbers, and they all said for the amount of lumber, its not worth their time.

[NWP]

I am 30ft from anything flammable, I am assuming that is too close?

Can I keep a couple water hoses close by?

If the coals stay hot for a week or 2 thats fine with me.

Thanks everyone for the responses.

A common sense response from anyone appears as if it would go unheeded so I won't waste my time. I'll pay attention to this years Darwin awards if you video it.

[75Camaro4x4]

NWP, I'll post it just for you.

Actually, I didn't think the floating ashes would be hot enough to actually light anything on fire. We have been getting alot of rain recently, and everywhere is pretty wet. But, I will resist the temptation of burning all at once, and just add logs as the night goes on.

[ruren]

I'll offer my thoughts as a firefighter. I see a few pretty serious concerns with the numbers you mentioned. If you light it all off as a big pile it sounds like you're talking as much or more fuel than a house fire. The radiant heat from a fire that size could set something 30 feet away on fire, we worry about that at structure fires. It also would be pretty painful to party close to. Burning a big pile of pine is going to throw off a lot of flaming brands  as someone mentioned.  A couple of garden hoses won't be worth anything to tame a fire that size, it would be serious work to control it with a fire truck. Cut it to manageable sizes you can add as the fire burns down, burn an amount you can keep under control and be safe.

[JohnW]

Interesting.  You'd be able to get a lot of charcoal out of it.  The real stuff.

[Jeff]

I'm thinking pine charcoal isn't something you would want to cook over is it?

[LeeB]

I'm thinking I remember reading that Kingsford is predominately pine.

[JohnW]

Pine makes good charcoal.  Actually, charcoal by itself, is not fabulous for cooking, since it's got all the stuff burned out of it that you would like to get from a wood fire when cooking.  Sounds like some kind of fire is likely to take place, and it could be a great opportunity for experimenting with charcoal.

[Jeff]

We were always taught as far back as I can remember to avoid cooking over a pine fire due to all the resins they contain. They didn't say you couldn't, just to avoid it and use a deciduous wood.

[beenthere]

I'm thinking I remember reading that Kingsford is predominately pine.

Best I could find

Kingsford briquets begin as sawdust and chips from mixed woods from timber mills in the Missouri countryside. Kingsford claims their mills don't make treated lumber and they are inspected by Kingsford quality control people to make sure there is not too much softwood.

[75Camaro4x4]

A log chipper (I am absolutely terrible with names) got in contact with me last night, and said he would come look at all of the logs today. We will see. I was going to burn the all because there was no interest, and now there appears to be interest.

The best part, he said he would have came and cut them down himself with his crew. That I didn't have to spend months and a large sum of money to get them down lol... you live and you learn. At least I'm pretty good at climbing and cutting down trees now lol, may be usefull in the future.

[Holmes]

I am curious to what $ he will offer for chips.  Or is he doing you the favor

[75Camaro4x4]

I just wanted them gone. I made a post that said anyone who would come remove them and the 17 trees still standing can have all the pine for free. I'm sure they are going to make some money off that lol. But, they are also cutting up my firewood that my poulan didn't really have the power to cut through. And they are using their equipment to move my mobile home back onto the lot.

At least there is enough brush to still have a decent fire lol.

[Holmes]

If you are happy with the end result, then that is the way it should be.