posted on Dec, 1 2016 @ 07:21 PM
A wild fire, or bush fire as you say down under, is a prepper scenario I have been giving consideration for a number of years now. There is much to
consider and there are a few programs around here that deal with that subject. Right now, although I live in a swamp, it's a hardwood swamp with
plenty of fuel and enough high ground to disregard it as fire proof for sure. Like TNMockingbird said, a swamp can catch fire too.
People around here, more often then not, will burn leaves in the fall and spring, rather than move the leaves into the woods somewhere to naturally
decay. Both spring and fall here are often dry and fire prone seasons with burn restrictions that are mostly ignored.
Just yesterday I was helping a friend tear down an old mobile home over in the nearest town. The lot was not only overgrown and littered with leaves,
but in an old growth Jack Pine stand with what I'd say were the largest and oldest trees of this kind I've ever seen and many of them were standing
dead at this point. These "scrub pines" are prone to wildfires and even require fire during their life cycle.
Of course my friend was burning as much of the materials as he could, but his burn pile was right next to the trees and he never even cleared any
leaves away from the burn area. Add to that was the wind blowing straight toward the tree line. I left before the fire had burned down, but I had put
out some leaves and even had to pull away some left over wood framing for a shed that used to be right where he started his fire as the heat was so
intense that had started to catch fire as well.
It is these type of irresponsible (and illegal) fires that could potentially touch off a serious wildfire in my local area. This has me concerned esp.
due to the fact I have many piles of dried tree tops on my property from a logging operation here a year ago. I've been clearing the area around my
house first, but with 40 acres, even if it is mostly swamp, my risk of fire danger has increased exponentially do to the now dried tree tops.
Thank you so much for bringing up this important subject and for the link you provided. I'm having a look at that link right now and will incorporate
as much as I can to my preps.