Fyre bugs delight

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begreen

Mooderator
Staff member
Hearth Supporter
Nov 18, 2005
107,114
South Puget Sound, WA
Finally got the burn piles ignited and burnt down. There was a hellacious burn for about 15 minutes. Now an hour later, just a small fire, ready for marshmallows. Porno for pyros. I wreak of smoke.

[Hearth.com] Fyre bugs delight [Hearth.com] Fyre bugs delight
 
Hi All-
Just a word of warning about burning brush piles that some of you may not be aware of. This past weekend a very good friend of mine was burning a brush pile in his backyard, the morning was overcast and raining lightly on/off so he added some gasoline to prime it. He then had to tend to something else for a short period of time. During that time the sun came out and the temperature spiked, according to the fire marshall, the gasoline vaporized and formed an explosive cloud around the brush pile so when he touched it off it blew up in his face. He got second degree burns from his armpit down on his right arm, his neck and left hand, first degree burns on his face. Scary stuff, please be careful!!!
 
Whoa - as a dude that has been burned (completely different circumstance), I feel for your friend. I NEVER use straight gas for starting fires. I just don't do it.
 
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Good warning. Same here Jags, I wouldn't ever consider using gasoline as an accelerant. Used motor oil is about as volatile as I would try.
 
Charcoal lighter fluid works quite well. The cheapest big bottle of generic stuff will light a bunch of fires for a couple of bucks.
 
Super Cedars work great too.
 
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a buddy of mine was burned badly recently too. They were drinking, burning some brush in a pile and someone had an old TV they wanted rid of. Well a couple of guys got together to pitch the TV in the fire, and he ended up going into the fire with it. Had to have skin grafts done to his hand and forearm......not pretty at all.

A) it isn't a good idea to be stumbling drunk near a bonfire
B) don't burn your trash in said barnfire (plastics, matresses, TV's, etc.)
 
alcohol or gasoline in direct contact with the fire = bad. I like use motor oil. Flammable, but only slowly so. And it is free.
 
Just about every Spring someone up this way gets a trip to the ER . . . or a LifeFlight ride to Boston's Burn Unit . . . when they decide to use gasoline on a brush fire . . . the problem . . . as mentioned is that folks forget that the invisible vapors can ignite and you can be a fair distance away when you light up that match or lighter and suddenly find the gas vapor ignited.

My secret arsonist tip: cardboard boxes. Get enough of them and you can get green wood to burn on a rainy day.
 
I try to dry out the burn piles before igniting. That makes them much easier to start and there's much less smoke when burning. I also try to burn on a low wind day. These piles went up quickly with just a couple cardboard boxes and some newspaper doused with about 1/2cup of old oil.
 
I too use a propane 500,000 btu weed burner for most fires. Otherwise, I have had very dependable and predictable performance from diesel fuel. No fumes to flash, burns clean, and is available.
 
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