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chapter 15 Postburn Mop-up The main objective of postburn mop-up is to prevent the residual firefromignitingoutsidethefirebreak;thesecondarypurposeisto reduce or eliminate postburn smoke problems. Most of the larger spotfires I have encountered on prescribed burns are caused by improper mop-up after the burn.These fires can restart anywhere from a few hours after the burn to a dayor two later. Because of the risk of spotfires and postburn smoke problems, mop-up is one of the most crucial phases of prescribed burning and should not be taken lightly. There is nothing more aggravating than having to come back to a burn unit and put out an escaped fire because the fire was not mopped up properly. It also looks bad for the fire boss or prescribed fire program, because many times the crew is already gone when the fire does escape and someone else has to report it. Mop-up should begin with the ignition phase and continue until the fire boss declares that the fire is out. The initial phase starts with personnel monitoring the perimeter during ignition. This involves either walking or driving the perimeter looking for problem areas. These potential problems could include burning logs, snags, brush piles, unburned fuels, cow chips, or smoldering mulch piles. If any such problem areas are encountered, they should be monitored or dealt with promptly. If you have enough personnel on the burn, assign a couple of people to follow the ignition crew and begin mop-up along the edges. Preliminary mop-up should begin along the edge of the burn unit and at the hottest spots or areas that can cause the most problems along the edge. Mopup should then progressively work inward until an area has been secured at a safe or designated distance along the edge of the entire burn unit. The distance that should be mopped up back from the edge will vary. Some factors that help determine mop-up distance are agency policy, fuel type, fuel load adjacent to burn unit, current weather conditions, and forecasted weather conditions. In most grass fuels, mopping up only 5 to 10 feet (1.5 to 3.0 m) inside the perimeter may be sufficient because the main residual fire problems associated with grass fuels are mulch piles and cow chips. In burn units with shrubs and trees, any brush piles, downed woody debris, or standing snags may require mopping up 20 to 200 feet (6.1 to 60.1 m) back inside the burn unit. Each burn unit is different and will require its own specific mop-up plan. In some areas where residual smoke is a major problem, cleaning up areas emitting smoke is an important concern. This may involve wetting down a few Every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean: nevertheless it shall be purified with the water of separation: and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make go through the water. —Numbers 31:23 Postburn Mop-up  169 logs or cutting down a snag. But in areas where any smoke is a problem, you may need to complete a 100% mop-up following a prescribed burn. A 100% mop-up means that nothing will be left burning, smoldering, or smoking inside the entire burn unit. For example, while in Florida, I assisted with a burn at a local state park.The park policy was for 100% mop-up following all burns; interstate highways ran along two sides of the park, and homes were built right next to the boundary fence. Most burn units in the park were small, averaging only 10 acres (4 ha) each. The unit we burned was 8 acres (3.24 ha), but on that small piece of ground we used 6,000 gallons (22,713 L) of water to mop up after the burn was completed. It took us thirty minutes to burn the unit and three hours to mop up. I figured out quickly why the burn units were so small and that 100% mopup was not enjoyable but necessary. Weather is an important factor on mop-up operations. Always plan ahead by checking the weather forecast for the day of the burn, as well as for that evening, that night, and the day after the burn. You can then make the proper mop-up decisions concerning the distances that smoldering material should be cleared from the edge and whether or not personnel will...

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