Replies

1. 
   JoanM | Mar 19, 2005 04:55am | #1

   Stan

   Cool that you can just pop up for a look anytime you like. 

   The farmer must be anticipating planting but it is still winter in Illinois, is it not?  No real sign of snow, but must still be frost in the ground?? 

   How many people need to be on hand I wonder to monitor such an controlled burn?  Any idea?

   Here in atlantic Canada we are still  experiencing snow, but it is warmer than a month ago.  

   J.

1. 
   StanFoster | Mar 19, 2005 05:35am | #2

   There is no frost at all.    There were just two guys wathching the fire.  They usually just burn out by themselves.

2. 
   JohnT8 | Mar 19, 2005 06:00am | #3

   Joan, the last couple winters have been VERY mild in central Illinois.  It was probably in the 50's today (and sunny).   During a bad winter, it can get -40 with windchills, and can stay cold for months...but this last couple winters we had very few days where it stayed below freezing.  Freakishly warm really.  :)

   I often joke that there is usually only about 2 weeks out of the year when its really comfortable.  The rest of the time its too cold or too hot ;)

   I haven't seen too many entire field burns, but I can remember as a kid we'd burn the ditches in the early spring.  As Stan mentioned, they typically burned themselves out.  You just had to make sure it didn't spread somewhere it wasn't supposed to.  Typically a shovel and a bucket of water was all you needed.  Its amazing how effective burning is.  A couple weeks later, the new grass grows in like a golf course green.

   Although... when I saw Stan's photos, I had this mental picture in my head of a gyro swooping in to dump a couple hundred gallons of water on the burning field.  ha ha, gyro fire fighters!  jt8

   Opportunity doesn't knock. You knock, opportunity answers. -- American Proverb

2. 
   BossHog | Mar 19, 2005 04:22pm | #4

   Doesn't look to me like they're burning a whole field - Just the weeds on the end of it.

   I'm surprised they didn't have any eqipment out there just in case it got away from them.

   Ever thought about putting out brush fires with your copter? You could fill up some 5 gallon buckets with water and fly to the fire...

   (-:

   If I had a hidden agenda, I'd probably lose it.