The Prairie Burn

Spring, 2005

A prairie burn begins with a "burn plan."  A DNR agent comes out and walks the fields to be burned and writes a burn plan for each field.  All burns must take place before May 15 so as not to interfere with the breeding/nesting periods of birds.  Conditions must be just right before a burn can begin.  Temperature, wind speed and direction, and humidity all important factors which are taken into consideration.  Also the lay of the land -- fields on steeper hillsides had to be burned "from the top down and against the wind."  Because we didn't know what to expect, we were very cautious.  We had a lot of helpers around the perimeter with rakes and shovels to keep the fire contained. The first field (about 22 acres) took about 7 hours to burn.  After that we learned how to set backfires which were very efficient and speeded things up quite a bit.  

Click on each picture for an enlargement!

watertank (73761 bytes)
Filling the water tank to take to the fields.  Our 4-wheeler sprayer was refilled from this tank.  Any flames that burst out of the contained area were sprayed with water.  The perimeter was also soaked down prior to the burn.

harrow (70809 bytes)
Hooking up the harrow. 

The harrows were dragged over the burning edges of the fields to smother the flames and contain the fire.  There were 2 harrows -- one behind the tractor, one behind a second 4-wheeler.

firebreak (64907 bytes)

Fields were prepared with a firebreak (mowed area) around the perimeter. Although the firebreak was wet to begin with, it did dry out over time and from the heat of the flames.   Helpers were stationed along the firebreak to stomp and beat out any tongues of fire that tried to cross.

before pic (61504 bytes)

A "before" picture.  

The prairie grass in April is dry, long, thick, and tall.

fire begins (58631 bytes)

The first  burn began 
around 5 p.m..

burning along the firebreak (61583 bytes)

Burning well along the firebreak.  Once the flames moved away from the firebreak and the edges were out, you could take a breather and just watch before moving down the line to the next section.

flames (48353 bytes)

It was an awesome 
thing to see.  The fire gained strength as it moved to the middle of the prairie.

tall flames (41628 bytes)

The flames grew quite tall at times.

spraying the flames (52776 bytes)

Spraying with the 
4-wheeler helped keep 
the big fire under control.  The 4-wheelers and cell phones were invaluable in getting more help or the sprayer to problem spots.

fire glow (31487 bytes)

After dark, the glow from our fire could be seen from miles away. 

sightseers (41278 bytes)

There were plenty of "sight-seers."

almost done (46048 bytes)

The last of the fire was finally put out around midnight.

After the Burn

after pic (77639 bytes)

The next morning.

burned trees (64512 bytes)

Some of our trees were accidentally burned up, but they had good, strong and deep roots, and all came back over the summer.

1 week later (126173 bytes)

Less than 1 week later, the new grass is already growing back!

3 mo later (125730 bytes)

July, '05 -- Three months after the burn, the prairie is lusher and more beautiful than ever!