Slash and awe

Do not try this at home!

Unless there's a slash pile in back of your house with plenty of space all around.

For those unfamiliar with logging jargon, a slash pile consists of woodsy debris left over from the felling of major trees.

We had 15 major trees removed from our property last fall. The logger trimmed the branches and piled them neatly about 100 yards from our house. The logs themselves were hauled to a mill to be cut into usable pieces of construction lumber. We were generously compensated for that.

After seasoning for six months, the pile of 'slash' was ready to burn. This has to be done because slash piles attract fire triggers like trailer parks attract tornadoes.

This was my first slash pile burn, and I approached it with not a little trepidation. I did not want to be fingered on the nightly news as the guy who set the entire Pacific Northwest ablaze through inept controlled burning.

I went to Home Depot and bought a propane torch, had my propane tank filled, and lugged them down the hill to the sacrificial slash. Gingerly I touched the torch flame to a few outlying branches and twigs. They caught fire, sputtered, and went out. A nice nook of really dry material lurked about half way down the pile and when I touched flame to that ... BOOM, off she went. Within seconds this is what I got:

Fortunately, the day was calm. There was no wind to carry errant embers to neighboring trees. Thus my fears of being featured on the nightly news were put to rest.