Excavator Land Clearing and Fire Management: A Day of Burning Brush

Morning Operations and Fire Revival

• 🌧️ The day begins with operations in very wet conditions following significant rainfall, necessitating the revival of a smoldering fire.
• 🔥 The primary task is to get the existing fire going again and add more brush, making the process easier than starting from scratch.
• 🚜 The excavator is used to push dirt and manage the fire, with trees left standing temporarily as heat shields.

Managing Large Brush Piles

• 🪵 The focus shifts to piling and burning large amounts of brush, with careful consideration given to adding material incrementally to avoid overwhelming the fire.
• 💨 The wind direction is favorable for burning, but high winds are expected, requiring careful management to prevent issues.
• 🪓 Stumps are a recurring challenge, requiring significant effort to remove from the brush piles and the excavator's bucket.

Equipment and Material Handling

• 🏗️ The Volvo 350 excavator is used for its capacity to move larger amounts of brush per grapple full, despite the 220 model offering more finesse for smaller debris.
• 🪨 Rock is stockpiled for later use on the driveway, as the wet conditions make spreading it immediately impractical.
• 🚚 Multiple dump truck loads of brush are moved and added to the fires.

Fire Management and Site Cleanup

• 🔥 Two large burn piles are actively managed, with material transferred between them to ensure efficient burning.
• 🚧 Efforts are made to manage sediment runoff by placing brush across a silt fence outlet.
• 🪵 The burning process is challenging, especially with pine, which leaves behind a large volume of ashes and smoldering material.

Post-Burn Assessment and Future Plans

• 🪵 After significant burning, the remaining material is restacked and raked to facilitate further burning and ash management.
• 🚜 The excavator is used to break apart large ash piles and remove embedded stumps.
• 💨 Wind shifts are a concern, occasionally blowing ashes towards the house, requiring careful attention.
• 🏡 The day concludes with the fires managed, and plans to restack and burn remaining material the following day, aiming to let the site dry out.