# How to burn trees in winter?



## Rosemary (Jul 16, 2018)

Okay so I have a character burning down a section of forest during winter. How would he go about burning the trees? would spreading gasoline around the trees help? plus how long would It take for this fire to become big?


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## Darkkin (Jul 16, 2018)

Light a match.  Fire + Fuel+ Air = Burn.  Add an accelerant and what do you think will happen?  Iron being transmutated into gold?  Basic physics and chemistry at work.  Weather, snow cover, inherent ground moisture, types of trees, ground cover, terrain, region of fire, period of the piece, resources available...I can keep going.  You have no context. 

 Google arson.  This is basic background reading and research.  That will get you basic numbers.  Or call the fire department's nonemergency number.  Set up an interview with a firefighter.  They know how it works, their lives depend on it.  Also check with resources like the National Park Service or similar organisations in your region.

A google search on arson and forest fires:  5,890,000...hits.


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## 0ismyname (Jul 20, 2018)

Depends on whether or not there's snow. If there isn't, it's a standard, run-of-the-mill affair, but if not, you'd want a steady source of heat, preferably hot enough to counteract the snow.


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## Underd0g (Jul 20, 2018)

Dry fuel and wind are huge factors. Wet fuel would be good for a controlled burn. 
Gasoline would help start the fire but wouldn't determine how hot it burned.


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## Underd0g (Jul 20, 2018)

Oh yeah, and if you wrote in some brush and dead wood.


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## Ralph Rotten (Jul 21, 2018)

To actually burn down the trees would require the right balance of materials.
See, very often fires burn the ground cover, singe the trees and keep on going.


If you want to burn the trees AND ground, then there needs to be a significant amount of grounded wood.  See, the pine needles and little stuff burn fast but do a poor job of igniting the trees.  But if there is lots of fallen lumber, good 'n dry, covering the ground, then the fire will have enough staying power to burn down the trees too.  Dead trees that are still standing will increase the fire (dead trees have dead bark, and that burns crazy fast & hot.)
All it takes is a careless match right before monsoon season, and it all goes up.  Some years the mountains are so dry that I don't even use tinder to start a fire, I just show it a picture of Syd Charise in that green dress and it bursts into flames. 

My friends and I actually go looking for these kinds of areas, camp in them, and do our damnest to get rid of all that grounded wood.  We consider it our duty as outdoorsmen.  The only problem is that every year we have to trudge farther and farther into the wilderness to find heavy woodfall areas.


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## RobbieO (Sep 24, 2018)

Live standing timber would be extremely difficult to burn, especially in winter when the leaves are down.  Live wood is very wet with sap/pitch on the inside and if there is any snow it will effectively wet the groundfall when it melts.  Your character is going to make lots of smoke though!


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## Dluuni (Nov 2, 2018)

What kind of forest? Evergreen can catch easily, depending on the situation. If you can find a dead evergreen tree, the dry needles are like kindling. That burns -a- tree. Spreading the fire requires wind and flammable stuff up top to burn in the air and come back down on other trees as ash. The snow cover is relevant too; in Alaska, recently there hasn't been consistent snow cover through the winter.


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## Olly Buckle (Nov 2, 2018)

Ralph Rotten said:


> To actually burn down the trees would require the right balance of materials.
> See, very often fires burn the ground cover, singe the trees and keep on going.
> 
> 
> ...



Years ago we lived in a coach next to a small wood and I used to burn dead wood and clear it out. Then someone pointed out to me that there is a whole eco system in English woods that actually depends on the dead wood lying on the ground, some beetle lava spend several years in it before pupating. Of course I have no idea about the ecology of California woodland. I know in some parts of Australia deliberate fires are started to burn off undergrowth before it accumulates to the level where it will light tree trunks, historically this was done by native people driving game, They had been doing it long enough to be part of the ecology, but yes, it demonstrates the need for undergrowth to catch the trees. People clearing land for agriculture do not always cut all the trees, just enough to get that base hot, then leave them for a while to dry before lighting it.


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## Bloggsworth (Nov 2, 2018)

Gas/petrol is not the thing to start a large fire with as it flashes off to quickly, paraffin or diesel would be better as the flame travels more slowly.


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## Goldwriter (Nov 2, 2018)

Have you tried fire.


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