Burn Piles

With the slight rise in temps last week, you could already spot property owners burning yard debris, although your nose probably got to their burn piles before your eyes did.

It’s unclear what Islanders hope to accomplish with this late-winter practice.  Is there some human urge to purge, an ancient need to purify by fire before heading into the fun times of spring?

Too deep?  Maybe the motive for burn piles is simple.  People want to get outside as soon as the weather warms a little, to get active and engaged—but not too engaged, since the object of this practice seems to be having fun disguised as work.  So folks concoct a faux-chore that’s simple but dramatic:  “clean” the yard, light a fire, and burn stuff up.  The resulting smoke pollution and risk of fire spreading to nearby structures or woods seem worth it to some.

You can do better.  Alternatives to burn piles exist.  An ecological way to handle winter yard debris is to disperse it in any woods or orphan spaces on your property.  The debris rots down quickly, supplies soil organisms with food, and adds humus to the earth.  This eco-friendly alternative to burning turns out to be easier work too.  No tending a smoky fire for hours, no dragging branches across an entire yard.

If you still need to mound your debris, that’s okay, so long as you don’t light up the result.  If done with a little thought, an easy assembly of branches can serve as a habitat pile—a place where small mammals, amphibians, and reptiles can hang out and sometimes become needed prey for raptors like owls and hawks.

If there’s too much debris for either of these options, you can take it all to the County transfer station and unload it there for a nominal fee.  Or hire someone for the job.

Still feeling the yearn to burn?  Be sure you understand how to do it legit.  First, check to make sure there isn’t a burn ban in effect because of wildfire risk or air-quality concerns.  Then get a burn permit from Fire & Rescue.

Follow your permit.  It will tell you how, when, and where to burn; how and what (and what not) to burn; and what you need to be doing while the fire is going, which is staying put next to it for the duration.  Keep in mind that burn-pile smoke doesn’t usually stay in your property’s airspace, so you’ll need to consider neighbors’ comfort and health concerns.

Seems like a lot of work and worry just so you can torch some random sticks and leaves.  Maybe we can all just remind ourselves that these organics will break down on their own anyway, and that this decaying process is just a slower form of . . . fire.