A Nature Lover's Career--A Decades Long Journey!
Part 5
Springtime at AES meant shifting gears from chainsaw work to prescribed “burn season.” This was the most hectic and intense time of the year! As soon as the snow melted, usually in March, we transitioned from brush clearing to full steam ahead with prescribed burning of prairies, woodlands, and dry wetlands. Burn season was always at the mercy of the weather and mother nature.
Favorable burn conditions were required to meet the management “prescriptions” written for each site we managed. Generally speaking, that meant using the 60:40 rule. We’d conduct burns when the air temperature is less than 60F and the relative humidity is greater than 40%. Wind was a big factor as well. We’d never burn on a day with “light and variable” winds. Those conditions would lead to unpredictable fire behavior.
In order to safely manage a burn, a steady wind of at least 5-10 mph was crucial to give fire the push it needed and blow the flames in the right direction. When you work for a company that has sites (both big and small) that need to be burned all over the Midwest and clients who are demanding, then sometimes that meant pushing the envelope. Occasionally, we’d burn a site when conditions weren’t ideal. Sometimes, things would go perfectly well; other times, not so much.
A few memorable fires we lit in the densely populated suburbs ended up being a spectacle of intense flames and smoke clouds that brought highway traffic to a halt and homeowners calling 911, perhaps thinking it was a fire apocalypse. One time, we even had a FOX news helicopter flying overhead filming one of our “apocalyptic fires” after we lit up a dry wetland, full of cattails. The resulting flames from the burning cattails were 20-30 feet high producing smoke that looked as black and dense as an oil refinery fire.
It didn’t help that the surrounding neighborhood was full of million-dollar homes with cedar shake roofing. This specific even was not a good look for our company nor was it the kind of media attention we wanted. We cause such a stir that the fire department swooped in and forced us to distinguish the fire immediately. Contrary to what many people thought, we weren’t crazy, amateur pyros trying to create havoc. My crew and I were professionally trained, certified, and highly skilled pyro-ecologists just trying to do our jobs.
After that fiasco, AES decided to shy away from signing any burn contracts (at least during my tenure working there) that involved burning densely vegetated areas in close proximity to million-dollar McMansions. My burn crew longed for burning small prairies out in the boondocks, far away from the complex and anxiety inducing burns of the urban interface.
Our spring burn season usually began at our farthest south locations. Those sites in Indiana and Illinois where the snow had melted were usually our 1st burns of the season. We’d get as many burns done as possible in that region and then work our way back north with the receding snow cover. What made the burn season especially difficult was not knowing when we’d return home to our loved ones. We’d usually make it back home on weekends to restore and recharge our weary bodies, catch up with family and on sleep, and do our laundry.
By Monday mornings, we’d be back at it and ready to roll. Depending on the weather and the number of burn contracts we had, this crazy schedule could go on for weeks or perhaps even a couple months. It was always exciting and an adrenaline rush but sometimes it felt like and endurance test.
Burning is not a glamorous job by and stretch of the imagination. Plus, there’s the obvious, working with fire is a dangerous job. Conducting prescribed fires meant constantly being exposed to intense heat, breathing in all that smoke took a toll on our heath. By the end of the burn season most of us were dealing with a hacking cough and some kind of sinus issues. Most of the years by early to mid-May, the burn season would come to an end. We were all grateful to have endured another burn season without any significant incidents but ready to transition into a less hectic, less risky part of our jobs, the summer work season.
To be continued…..
Submitted by: Scott Rebholz
