Using the Prescribed Burn Plan

This plan is meant as a template to help others who want to write a plan for their own use. Both this Burn Plan and the “Daily Weather Record” can be used in planning your own Burn(s). The weather sheet has space for 4 morning’s values, but one can use the bottom of the sheet for an afternoon set of values as well. Getting the timing of one’s wind regime is a real help, and the Beaufort Wind Scale makes it easy and accurate enough for our purposes. Grasslands without trees, not so much.

Close Up Consulting – Frog Face Farm – Prescribed Burn Plan (Draft)

Topography: This 7-acre parcel is located between elevations 2150’ and 2250’ between the east and west forks of the Chowchilla River which drains the foothills’ western slope of California’s Sierra Nevada mountains in Mariposa County.

Burn Site Access: Burn Site Access: The property is accessible from State Highway 49, South of Mariposa. I have deleted the directions from this on-line version that I am posting to our website, so that we don’t have un-invited, unknown visitors arriving unexpectedly. Since we don’t have any plant sales, our sources of income here include Site Analyses, Environmental Planning and Design, Contracts for services with land/home-owners and donations that support our community service and education activities.

While driving in, notice, on the left, four increasingly large piles of mixed chaparral-live oak fuels left over from when the site was first developed, before our purchase, about 2006. These large piles of bulldozed, well-dried fuels to the southwest of our fire truck and personal, access and exit could potentially close our driveway if a wildfire, driven by our normal afternoon’s southwest winds, ignited any of those piles. Four burns are planned for four separate days to eliminate these four large piles. A second objective is to allow the fire to expand beyond the perimeter of the wood piles and to creep through the dried, weed-eaten plants that now lie on the ground, dried, un-mixed with air, where, under calm morning conditions, fire presents little threat to spreading. Experience with several 4’ X 4’ burns around our property has demonstrated this approach is responsible and safe. Part of this second objective is to determine if this low level of heating of the surface of the soil helps to destroy the seeds of the Italian Thistle which is considered a noxious invasive plant. We are seeking information that addresses the effects of prescribed or “Cultural Burns” on invasive plants like Italian Thistle and others.

Continuing a short distance westward, you will come to a fork in the driveway where signs will direct burn crew members where to park. Fire trucks, if any, should take the left (southern) fork. For fire truckers, fire-fighters can stay to the left (south) of the house, to drive completely around the west end of the house. Thus, fire trucks can defend the homesite from all sides. However, there should be no need for anyone to encircle the house on our prescribed burn days.

Wind Considerations

This site has a very typical and fairly predictable daily mountain-valley pattern: At dawn, the nightly airflow is still gently downslope (from the east). After sunrise, the mountain slope warms, and the down-flow of air typically ceases until the land is heated enough to reverse the flow up-slope. The transition from mountain-breeze to valley-breeze usually occurs between 8:00 – 10:00 a.m. It is during this period of relative stillness that we plan to ignite our fires. Experience with several 4’ X 4’ burn piles has shown that the fires’ heat drives the smoke aloft when the air is relatively calm, where it is dispersed without harm or annoyance.

Burn Site #4

The fourth and last chaparral-live oak piles is of particular concern because of its size (25’ X 20’ X 6’) and its proximity, (60’) downslope and south of our well site and pump-house. If a wildfire ignited that pile, driven by our daily southwest winds, surely our plastic 2,500 gallon tank would melt, and the pump-house might be toasted as well. Since we are planning to place another, 2,500 gallon tank there, we want to ensure, as much as possible, that a wildfire won’t melt our water tanks.

Burn Crew:   
6 people, 4 to attend to hoses, 2 for various tasks and back up.

Parking:
Burn Crew will be directed to park near the well house.
Guests will park out on Quail Run Rd. and will walk into the Observation Site just beyond the pumphouse where there is shade and a swing for children of all ages.
A toilet is located in the trailer under the awning, just west of the Observation Site.

Neighbor Call List:
Be sure to have spoken with your neighbors about your plans for the burn, so that they understand your intentions and won’t call CalFire or other authorities.

Beaufort Scale
(Useful for gauging windspeed)

Beaufort Number	Description Wind Speed	Wind Speed	Land Conditions
0	Calm	< 1 mph	Smoke rises vertically.
1	Light Air	1-3 mph	Direction by smoke drift.
2	Light Breeze	4-7 mph	Wind felt on face. Leaves rustle.
3	Gentle Breeze	8-12 mph	Leaves & twigs in constant motion.
4	Moderate Breeze	13-18 mph	Raises dust and loose paper. Small branches move.
5	Fresh Breeze	19-24 mph	Small trees in leaf begin to sway.
6	Strong Breeze	25-31 mph	Large branches in motion. Whistling in phone lines.
7	High Wind	32-38 mph	Whole trees in motion Inconvenient to walk against wind.

Using the Prescribed Burn Plan

This plan is meant as a template to help others who want to write a plan for their own use. Both this Burn Plan and the “Daily Weather Record” can be used in planning your own Burn(s). The weather sheet has space for 4 morning’s values, but one can use the bottom of the sheet for an afternoon set of values as well. Getting the timing of one’s wind regime is a real help, and the Beaufort Wind Scale makes it easy and accurate enough for our purposes. Grasslands without trees, not so much.