Forestry Newsletter

Fire Prevention News

Start your engines . . . but safely, please! Boats, motor bikes, go-carts and other warm-weather play equipment, as well as lawn mowers and similar tools for summer chores, are powered by gasoline engines that must be used carefully. Sadly, every summer many hundreds of Americans forget how serious gasoline is and suffer painful, disfiguring injuries – or are even killed – by their work and play equipment.

Young boys and men between the ages of 9 and 35 are most likely to be hurt in these accidents. The Nebraska Forest Service wants you to stay off that list!

Gasoline is a flammable liquid that sends off vapors that can explode without your even knowing they’re present. Gasoline vapors are invisible and are heavier than air, so they tend to float along the ground, often far from their source. If they find any heat source, the vapors explode. Since you can’t see them, you have no way to know where they go until it’s too late.

So remember these safety precautions.

! Never smoke while using gasoline engines, especially when fueling

! Shut down engines, motors and all pumps, fans and heating devices before fueling. Always let an engine cool down before refueling. Any source of heat can set off a dangerous fire or explosion.

! Always fuel engines outside. Inside the vapors will build up to a dangerous point, especially if you accidently spill even a few drops. Don’t fill a boat’s portable fuel tanks inside the boat. Take them ashore to fill and wipe off any spillage before taking them back onboard.

! After refueling, move the bike, cart or mower at least ten feet from where you filled it before you restart the engine. This helps ensure you’ve moved away from the vapors that escaped while you were filling the engine. If fueling a boat, run the bilge fans for a few moments to clear fumes from the area before starting the engine. This way the sparks created by starting the engine won’t trigger an explosion.

! Never use gasoline as a cleaner, solvent or charcoal lighter. It is explosive and you’ll get a lot worse than you bargained for. Use gasoline only for its intended purpose: as a fuel for gasoline engines.

! If you have a gasoline fire, don’t even try to fight it. Get everyone away from it and call the fire department immediately.

Flammable Liquids

The use of flammable liquids on the farm and ranch are a part of normal daily activities. These products range from gasoline, diesel fuel, oils and solvents to cattle dip. These liquids can be found almost anywhere on the farm and in almost any quantity. Most liquids of this type are stored in the shop and maintenance areas. Also found in these areas are most of the sources of ignition needed to cause problems. Extreme caution needs to be taken with these products. Several prevention tips to be followed are:

Flammable liquids should be stored in a designated area away from all sources of heat such as welders, grinders, heaters, electric motors and hot engines.

Flammable liquids should be stored in Underwriter Laboratories approved containers. Plastic milk jugs, pop bottles, glass gallon jars and coffee cans ARE NOT approved containers.

Use flammable liquids in well ventilated areas. Flammable liquids vapors can travel great distances to an ignition source.

Safe Fueling

Too often during the busy season on a farm or ranch, safe fueling practices are ignored in an effort to save a little time. The few seconds saved are insignificant when compared to the loss of expensive farm equipment or many weeks or months spent in a hospital burn ward due to carelessness. Good safety practice includes:

Q Never refuel equipment with the engine running. Always shut engine off.

Q Allow hot engines to cool 15 minutes before refueling.

Q Extinguish all open flames and smoking materials while refueling.

Q If fuel spills on an engine, wipe away any excess and allow the fumes to dissipate.

Most Fires Are Preventable! You Are the Key to Fire Prevention!

Keep matches and lighters up out of the reach of small children. Let children know that matches and lighters are tools for adults and are not toys. Make children aware of the dangers of playing with matches or lighters.

Teach your children abour fire prevention. Make it an everyday pay of their lives.

If you use a preservative on wooden decks or patio furniture, make sure you follow the directions for disposal of the cloths or rags you used. Some of them will ignite several days after they have been discarded.

Barbeque away from combustibles. Don't forget that houses and decks can be combustible. Use caution barbequing under a deck or overhang. Barbeques can stay hot for a long time after you are done cooking.

Store lighter fluid and gasoline-powered lawn equipment properly.

Protect Your Crops From Fire

The most serious cause of fire in crops comes from the equipment used in harvesting. Dry grass or plant material contacting hot exhaust system surfaces is one way equipment-use fires start. Dry grass will ignite after only two minutes of contact with surfaces heated to 500 degrees F. The exterior surfaces of all car and truck exhaust systems commonly reach temperatures of over 500 degrees F and many attain temperatures over 1000 degrees F. Dry grass ignites instantly upon contacting metal exhaust system parts (muffler, catalytic converters, and exhaust pipes) heated to 1000 degrees F.

Fires from hot exhaust surfaces can be prevented by precluding opportunities for dry grass or plant material to contact the exhaust system of vehicles. Parking or idling vehicles and machinery in fields of tall grass, grain, or stubble should be discouraged. Farmers should be informed that periodically cleaning grain and other plant material away from ledges around manifolds and exhaust pipes may save them from serious losses to fire.

Another way fires get started is from carbon deposits in the exhaust stacks of tractors and heavy machinery. Glowing particles, often saturated with fuel, occasionally find their way to receptive fuel and cause a fire. These hot particles can be trapped by a spark arrestor installed on the vehicle’s exhaust stacks. The arrestors are relatively inexpensive and could prevent some very expensive fires.

Often the vehicle or machine which starts a fire is destroyed or damaged. This adds to the cost and creates a dangerous situation for equipment operators.

Public Service Announcements

Searching for summer fire prevention messages? Look no farther! The following are sample PSA’s for your newspaper, radio & TV.

Through the Grapevine

If you convinced two people to do something about the wildfire problem, and the next day they convinced two people and so on, it would take less than a month to get everyone in the United States to take action.

Protect Your Home from Wildfire

Maintain a "defensible space around your home by clearing all flammable vegetation within 30 feet of structures.
Clean all needles and leaves from the roof, eaves, and gutters.
Trim tree limbs within 15 feet of your chimney and trim all dead limbs hanging over your house or garage
Cover your chimney outlet or vent with a vertical spark arrestor to 1/2" mesh screen.

Education is the Key

Teach and model the safe use of fire and cooking.

Explain the power and danger of fire: loss of life & property, burn injuries, out of control wildland fires.
Practice fire prevention at home as a family.

Remember: Children watch how you handle fire so set the right example to them!

Bob E. Vogltance
Fire Resource Manager
Nebraska Forest Service/Fire Control
491 South Colfax Street
West Point, NE 68788
(402) 372-5665

Windbreaks, Woodlands, and Trees

Value of Landscape Trees
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Numerous times during the growing season, this office gets called about the value of landscape trees for appraisal purposes. With each situation being different, the primary factors that play into deciding the value are: what kind of tree it is (ex., red oak would carry more value than a boxelder); what size is the tree (ex., larger trees provide more benefits than a small tree); the location in the landscape (ex., shade trees south and west of a house are more "valuable" than on the north side; and what condition the tree is in (ex., a vigorous healthy tree provides more benefits than a dead and dying tree). Using these factors, a competent appraiser can get a relative value for the tree. The following is an article by the National Arbor Day Foundation:

Funding assistance will be available for year 2000 through two other programs coordinated by the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum and the UNL-Nebraska Forest Service.

Further details are contained in an application package which can be obtained by writing or calling either David Mooter, Community Forester ( 8015 West Center Rd., Omaha, NE 68124 (402-444-7804) or Rachel Allison, District Forester Assistant ( Rt. 4, Box 46A, North Platte, NE 68101 (308-532-3611 (ext. 161)). Deadline for applications is September 24, 1999. Awards will be announced before the end of October 1999. Applications will be accepted until the funding is completely allocated.

Average heights and general comments for the plants in early 1999 are as follows:

Shrubs	Average height	Comments
skunkbush sumac	8 - 10 feet	very good thicket forming one of the best shrubs in the lsf, good seed production
silky dogwood	8 - 9 feet	from south Dakota, good seed production
autumn olive	8 - 9 feet	poor initial survival
nanking cherry	6-8 feet	excellent initial growth, 50% dead at this time
elder berry	5 -7 feet	very aggressive sucker sprouter, fair condition now
chokecherry	10 - 12 feet	very good growth and suckering
cotoneaster	6 - 7 feet	has not filled in well as a thicket, consistent height for hedge
caragana	8 - 10 feet	thin, upright habit
honeysuckle	9-11 feet	poor initial survival, good bush form
sandcherry	3 -4 feet	excellent initial growth, very bad snow damage
lilac	6 - 8 feet	very thick density
American plum	8 - 9 feet	excellent growth, root suckers out 10 feet
flowering almond (4 yr.old)	4 - 6 feet	some fruit in 1999
golden currant (4 yr. old)	4 - 5 feet	not very thick, thin crowns
pink winterberry euonymus (5 yr. old)	5 - 8 feet	fruit in three years
American cranberry (5 yr.old)	6 - 7 feet	one of the best shrubs in the lsf , prolific fruit at age 4
black chokeberry (5 yr. old)	7 - 8 feet	good red fall color, fruit at age 4
American hazelnut (5 yr. old)	6 - 8 feet	one of the best shrubs in the lsf, nuts at age 4, very good thicket forming
Broadleaf trees	Average height	Comments
N. red oak	15 - 17 feet	excellent form
bur oak	12 - 16 feet	good form, some nuts in 1999
black cherry	20 - 25 feet	fast growth, heavy fruit crop in 7 years, multiple stems
siberian birch	20 - 22 feet	excellent form and growth
Russian olive	18 - 22 feet	some dieback
green ash	20 - 22 feet	good form
Midwest crabapple	10 - 12 feet	good flowers, few fruit
hackberry	12 - 14 feet	good form
'blaze' amur maple	10 - 12 feet	good fall color
cottonwood	26 - 30 feet	tallest trees, good form
honeylocust	26-28 feet	some thorns
black walnut	18 - 22 feet	some wind damage due to fast growth
siberian elm	22 - 25 feet	very aggressive growth
silver maple	22 - 26 feet	aggressive, multiple stems
laurel willow	12 - 14 feet	very shiny leaf
golden willow	14 - 16 feet	good golden twig color
austree willow (3 yr. old)	12 - 14 feet	very upright, thin crown
sharpleaf willow	12 - 14 feet	multiple stems
manchurian apricot	10 - 12 feet	some fruit that aborted early
harbin pear	14 - 16 feet	excellent growth, very thick form
arnold hawthorn	6 - 8 feet	poor growth, bad leaf rust problem
osage orange (5 yr. old)	10 -12 feet	some dieback
white ash (4 yr. old)	8 - 9 feet	good form, thick leaves
Kentucky coffee tree (4 yr. old)	6 - 7 feet	good initial survival
white oak (4 yr. old)	7 - 8 feet	good growth
Conifers	Average height	Comments
ponderosa pine	12 - 14 feet	slowest initial grower of the pines
Austrian pine	12 - 14 feet	some snow damage in 1998
scotch pine	14 - 16 feet	good form and growth
jack pine	14 - 16 feet	fastest initial grower of pines
co. blue spruce	5 - 7 feet	slow initial growth, 10" in 1998
e. redcedar	8 - 12 feet	some cercospora disease started
r. mt. juniper	n/a	taken out in 1996 due to disease (cercospora)

Overall the lsf looks very good for 10 years of age and had 8 foot drifts stored in the windbreak in 1998. Walk through the planting the next time you are "in the neighborhood." The plants are labeled.

Steven D. Rasmussen
District/Extension Forester wpe151.jpg (2652 bytes)

Northeast Res. & Ext. Center
601 E. Benjamin Avenue, Suite 104
Norfolk, NE 68701-0812
Phone: (402) 370-4024
FAX: (402) 370-4010
E-mail: SRASMUSSEN2@unl.edu