Dropping A Snag With Fire In It

I had the pleasure of participating in a prescribed burn way down south in Union County this week, and I got to drop several trees.  This snag had fire in it and had to be dropped, bucked, and the burning pieces rolled down the hill on the black side of the line.  It was definitely weakened by rot, so sizing up included assessing where it would go if the hinge failed; which it did.  You can see the tree drop down when the hinge collapses, trapping the saw.  The backstrap let go and the tree fell where its weight carried it.  It's not a problem if you have it all sized up ahead of time, and you know where you need to be if it happens. I stayed out of the way when the tree dropped off the tall stump, and the photographer was safe behind a large tree that provided cover if things went bad.



Note the firefighter digging out the fire in the stump as the tree is bucked up. Everyone on a fire is good about taking care of problems.