Slow Burn

A crowd of good folks got together today to do a prescribed burn on the Trail of Tear Forest in Union County Illinois.  The weather forecast sounded marginal for a burn, but if it was right, we would have a good burn, just a little slow because of high humidity.

 It started out OK, just a little slow going downhill. The ignitors ran double lines and flanking lines and they got it going pretty well...

...but very smokey. Wind out of the north kicked in after about an hour, and that made breathing a bit easier.

 The lead ignitor gets to breathe clean air! We had one big snag that got fire in it, but we were able to rake it all down and didn't have to drop it. The only cutting I had to do was for a few logs next to the line that caught. Soon after the wind kicked up the rain came, and the fire went down quick, before the center was done.  Oh Well, the line will be safer the next time with the fuel reduction accomplished today.

It was a fine, low stress burn, and there were no problems or injuries. Spring fire season is just about over, and there hasn't been much good weather for burning. The ride back down to our trucks was very enjoyable.