54 NEBRASKAland • DECEMBER 2015
drops so low that fires become flashy.
Burning this time of year is more
relaxed. I can actually sleep the night
before a fire."
A Summer Burn
Last year, Pawnee County landowner
John Hill left 30 acres of his tallgrass
pasture un-grazed to build fuels for a
late-summer burn. Like Christen, his
goal was not only to hit encroaching
woody plants, but also to create a wide,
burned-out break for a larger fire the
coming winter.
At mid-morning on Aug. 21, Pfeiffer
and seven others gathered to assist Hill
with the effort. When the burn started
the sky was overcast, the humidity
was about 65 percent and the wind
was feeble. The initial backfire's less
than foot-tall flames burned into the
wind at a glacial pace. Around 11
a.m., however, the wind picked up and
the sun popped out from behind the
clouds, dropping the humidity to about
50 percent and the fire burned with
more intensity. When lit, the headfire,
pushed by the wind, moved more
quickly, meeting the backfire within
20 minutes and ending the burn. While
the crew ate lunch, hawks circled high
above searching for an easy meal of
fire-displaced rodents.
Although the fire was far from
a raging inferno, its impacts were
deceptively destructive. While
relatively few of the pasture's three- to
10-foot tall cedars were consumed by
flames, many had their foliage slowly
sizzled by the prolonged heat rising
from below. In a matter of hours, they
would fade from green to a death-
defining copper-orange in color. Steam
audibly whistling from the heated,
sap-filled stems of deciduous shrubs
signaled their demise.
In southeastern Nebraska, August and
September are the months most suitable
for summer burning. "In June and July
the grass generally contains too much
moisture to burn," said Pfeiffer. "Fire
behavior in grasslands is all about fuel
The burn crew enjoys the warmth of a still burning brush pile after Rod Christen's December burn.
Krista Lang sets the headfire during Christen's burn.
