Hasty Brook Fire

Memorial Day Weekend will stay in my memory forever. Lots happened but I'm hoping to share the lessons we learned about fire safety. Bonfires in the fire ring are a big part of our time up there. They are enjoyable on many levels but mostly they are a time for conversation for us. Art and I had a bonfire Saturday morning, burning some punky wood that he had cut a few summers ago. We had cut some trees last month to prepare the site for our garage and we wanted to burn up the older wood and stack the newly split wood to dry. We let the fire burn all the way down to ashes and decided to drive over to our nearest neighbors to visit for a bit. We did not douse the ashes with water. Mistake number one. While visiting we smelled smoke but really didn't think much of it. The neighbor pointed out the DNR (Minnesota Department of Natural Resources) fire spotter plane flying overhead. Feeling uneasy, we headed back. We were gone for less than an hour. As we drove up our long driveway the smoke was thick and we knew we were in trouble. We have a clearing with woods on three sides. The fire was on all three sides.

Art jumped out of the truck running toward the fire and I drove like a maniac back to the neighbors to ask for help. They followed me back with shovels and rakes. In the photo above you can see that we had piled more dry wood near the fire ring to burn later in the day. Mistake number two.

The area to the north of the fire ring is a thick stand of small aspen mixed with beaked hazelnuts. It's so thick you can't walk sideways between the growth. The fire was heavy in here. Luckily in this are it was primarily grass and leaf litter burning. This was the area that I was working. The neighbor told me to shovel the fire back into the black- meaning move the fire back to where it had all ready burned. At one point I felt panic as I realized that there was fire burning on all sides of me. I walked through the low flames and kept on shoveling. Fortunately I was wearing jeans and sturdy shoes. I was still scratched and bleeding when all was done.


The fire extended down the hill on all three sides beyond what we could originally see. The four of us just kept shoveling. We bring a 50 gallon water jug up there when we go but don't have a well so there is no source of running water. The creek is about 20 feet below our camp site and at least 50 feet away. There was absolutely no time to haul water from there. About 20 minutes into it, it seemed we had gotten most of the grass and brush fire out. Two DNR water trucks arrived with four fire fighters. Without any talk, they went to work to make sure they could contain the fire.

This picture above show the scariest part of the fire. There are two birch clusters here with a spruce tree behind them. When we drove up the birch trees on the left were burning at least 30 feet in the air. The red object in the photo is a big metal bell. The burning bark eventually burned itself out and thankfully the trees were healthy and green and the wood didn't burn. The fire fighters were very concerned about the high flames though as they can send off bits of fire to blow away and cause secondary fires. There were several large spruce trees in the burn area but luckily none caught fire.

The fire came within just a few feet of this downed spruce. This tree went down last fall in a wind storm. The way it fell, the top half is hanging about 15 feet above the ground at the creek level, making it very difficult to cut up. The wood and needles are dry and if it had caught fire it would have gone up like a roman candle.

Another area where we were fortunate that a spruce didn't burn. The ground drops off past where the burn shows and the fire continued down the hill.

Here you can see just how close the fire came to our camper. The fire fighters also spent a good deal of time chopping open a dirt pile containing the stumps and roots that the bulldozer guy pushed out of the way when he built our driveway and clearing a few years ago. The fire had gotten down under ground and peat and wood were burning deep in the pile. The fire fighters also cut down several birch snags that were burning on the inside. One in particular was white and untouched by flames on the outside but had burned on the rotting inside all the way up so that flames were shooting out of the top. They were actually able to push that snag over, bust it up and get the fire extinguished. Smoldering stumps were also a worry. Once all of the flames were out they poured many gallons of water on the smoldering stumps and that smoking dirt pile.

When the danger was over, one of the trucks left for a refill and another call. The smoke spotting plane was radioed and released. Two fire fighters stayed for quite a while checking and double-checking for hot spots. The crew chief, once he could relax a little, spent some time walking the perimeter of the fire, showing us what to look for so we could continue checking for smoke and heat. He said it was clear that the fire had originated in our fire ring and believed that the swirling winds had picked up glowing bits beneath the ashes and blew them to the nearby wood pile. He offered suggestions to prevent such a thing from happening again.

Never leave ashes unattended. Period. Douse the ashes with water.

~

Don't stack wood within 15 feet of a fire ring.

~

Don't leave old snags standing near a fire ring. We had just discussed these snags the evening before. They are bird magnets BUT there are lots of them in our woods so these will go.

~

Clear the ground around a fire ring of all organic material for at least 10 feet. We put ours in 3 years ago and the ground was sand and gravel then. Each year however, grasses and weeds seeded, grew and died. That was enough to burn. We need to pull anything that grows to keep the gravel bare.
~

Make sure to have at least some water handy- enough to put out the fire in the ring.

~

Have tools available to put out a small fire (shovels and/or rakes)

.

A few hours later a conservation officer arrived to look over the damage. He only issued us a warning because the fire had started in a fire ring. If the fire had started as a brush pile burn we would have been ticketed (felony) and it would have cost BIG $$. It's pretty likely that we will be charged the cost of the fire fighters' time and consumed resources. Fair enough. I am eternally grateful for their help. Art and I and the neighbors were able to contain most of the fire, but we wouldn't have been able to handle some of it. The fire crew came again Monday morning to feel for warmth. They will check it again today.

They estimated that only a little over a tenth of an acre burned. Small compared to the other fires they fought last weekend, but huge to my heart.

I know how very lucky we are.

But I get physically ill thinking about what could have happened. I will never relax around fire again.

I came away with cuts and scratches and a cough from the smoke. Art was wearing shorts and has a few decent burns and blisters on his legs and hands. Thankfully we were both wearing sturdy shoes but the soles are burned. No one was hurt, the camper didn't burn.

Feel free to scold me. We should have known better. But if one person can learn from our mistakes- I'll feel better.

~~~~~

Thank you to neighbors Mark and Rene who without hesitation ran to help us.

Thank you to the DNR for spotting the smoke, and for calling in help.

Thank you to the DNR fire fighters for doing your jobs so well, and for the kindness and reassurance you showed us afterwards.