Farmers burn their fields to get rid of existing vegetation and promote new vegetation growth. Because they are intended to enhance the field's health, these burns are frequently called "prescribed burns."
What tools are required by farmers for a burn?
Farmers must remove any burnable material from the field's margins to control the fire, which typically calls for a lawnmower or other heavy gear. You can treat the burn using a few short, specialized pieces of equipment.
A drip torch drips a mixture of gasoline and diesel fuel and is typically used to extinguish flames. A flapper resembling a mud flap with a long rake handle attached may put out small fires. The flapper doesn't need much skill to operate a drip torch.
What circumstances are ideal for a burn?
A farmer wants to burn in "Goldilocks" circumstances, meaning every aspect must be proper. The fire can readily escape if the wind is sufficiently strong. With wind, the fire may behave correctly. The field may burn out of control if it is too dry, but it may not burn at all if it is too moist.
The field's plants must be at the proper stage of development for the fire to be beneficial. Temperature and soil moisture are additional factors that affect burn intensity. Wind direction can also affect these factors. The ideal conditions for a burn might only exist for a few hours out of the year.
What keeps it from spiraling out of control?
Checking the weather is a crucial initial step because if the conditions are poor, the fire can quickly spiral out of control. A burn boss should be qualified and experienced enough to recognize harmful burn situations.
Even when the conditions are ideal, a fireline is still left on the field's margins by cutting the grass short, watering it down, or plowing it up before the burn. The crew will gently burn the field's margins inside this strip to increase the area that cannot be burned. The firelines must be sufficiently broad and open for the flames on the inside to be unable to spread across them. Fires can only be contained in the end; they can't be controlled.