SLASH BURNING

 In my early days with the Forest Service on the Orleans Ranger District of the Six Rivers National Forest from 1971-77, we would spend two weeks every fall broadcast burning slash on all the steep clear cut units logged that year.    This involved all District personnel, except the clerical staff.  

One unit that stands out in my memory was on the Catsup Timber Sale.  It was an 80 acre clear cut unit with all the hardwood trees cut and left on the ground.   This sale was sold prior to the requirement for the timber purchaser to yard unutilized material (YUM) greater than 8 inches in diameter and 10 feet in length.  This would reduce the heat to prevent the soils from being damaged.   Strip burning was the prescribed method on most clear cut units where machine piling of slash was not possible due to the steep slopes.  This involved a person walking across the top of the unit 20 feet or so below the upper fire line, which usually was a road.   The next person would follow another 20 or 30 feet below the first person and try to stay 40 to 50 feet behind the upper person as not have fire threaten that person above.  It was very important to keep an eye on where that upper person was.  Because of the width of this unit we were required to carry two drip torches, each with two gallons of fuel to get us across the unit and weighing about 20 pounds each when full.   Some where in the line up I was number 5 or 6 downhill going side hill on 40% to 50% slope with slash and hardwood trees 10 feet to 15 feet above the ground making it tough to climb through, especially juggling the two drip torches   It was difficult at times to see the person above me since he was battling the slash and hardwoods also, and at times not visible.   When I was finally able to see where that person above me was at, to my shock he was behind me 30 or 40 feet.    I stopped to let him get ahead of me as the fires from my torch were racing toward him.    Luckily he made it without being scorch.   When the upper portion of the unit was burning a person at the bottom of the unit, about 1200 feet below the road set fires along the bottom as he walked the three foot wide hand fire line that had been constructed during that summer by the Brush Disposal (BD) crew.   About 10 people were scattered around the unit on the fire lines with hand tools patrolling for any spot fires that may have started beyond the fire lines.   When the burning operation was completed two people along with a pumper truck with a two-way radio remained on the unit throughout the night in case of any escaped fire.     These were long days working into the nights and included weekends as long as the fall rains did not arrive.   For tree planting obligations so many acres had to be burned since the District had ordered thousands of seedlings from the nursery to be planted by contractors that winter.    All this hard work paid off with much over time.    Except for a few close calls nobody was injured.