r/Bushcraft • u/Ok_Grand8313 • 1d ago
Root fire risk?
I saw folks having a fire near my camp. There was about 3 inches of snow on the ground surrounding their burn but they had dug down to soil for their pit. After they left I dug through and under their coals to check for burning roots and went till the soil was cold. is that enough to make sure a root fire wasn't started?
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u/Masseyrati80 1d ago
Yes. You acted based on a worry about terrain fire, which is the responsible thing to do.
In general, winter time in snowy areas removes worries about terrain fire. Any fire that tries to spread, ends up dousing itself with water, by melting snow around it.
It's one further step away from wet conditions: in wet conditions, wood has to have its moisture turned to steam to be relieved of extra water. During frosty times, you need another physical phase change, that from frozen to water. The heat energy required for both to happen is immense, and the snow kind of works as a sprinkler system if some material gets too hot.
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u/Rabid-Wendigo 1d ago
You sound like you have low key anxiety.
There’s 3 inches of snow, ain’t nothing catching fire
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u/mrlunes 1d ago
I am curious though. If it wasn’t winter, how do you avoid starting a root fire?
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u/octahexxer 1d ago
You have to dig out the roots of the entire woods...and remove all the leaves...and trees...infact just camp on the ocean...but dig out the roots of all sea plants first..and any flammable fish
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u/WeekSecret3391 1d ago
Root fire is the number 2 cause of wildfire, don't take this too lightly please.
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u/DeafHeretic 1d ago
I have personally seen root fires popup months after a slash pile burn, or burning a stump. Quite common issue during fire season.
That said, once the winter rains/snows start, it is unlikely that a simple small campfire would cause an issue.
Slash piles are generally very large and burn very hot for a long time, which is usually what causes the roots/etc. underground to catch on fire. It took me months to completely extinguish the underground burning that resulted from the burning of the slash piles on my property.
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u/Steakfrie 1d ago
Really? Please show your source. My findings -
According to Google -
"The statement "root fires are the number 2 cause of wildfires" is not accurate; while root fires can occur, they are generally not considered a significant contributor to wildfires and are not typically listed among the top causes"
International Fire and Safety Journal - Eleven common causes for wildfires.
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u/Yukon-Jon 1d ago
We also have a lot of people in here talking "omg root fire" and not even knowing where the OP is. They could be somewhere that there is 0.0% chance of a root fire.
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u/Steakfrie 1d ago
I've seen enough root fire warnings that I hope it's not going to be the next trend in fear mongering for the hypervigilant. It's almost as bad as the few that believe hatchets should be banned.
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u/Any-Wall2929 1d ago
Living in the UK where everything is usually pretty wet, stove on a raised stand.
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u/YardFudge 1d ago
Was there a drought in summer and fall? Was the ground moisture low?
Root fires can only exist when there’s dry fuel to burn
Some areas this is standard. Some areas the ground is always saturated
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u/Yukon-Jon 1d ago
Holy common sense. People in here acting like root fires are going to pop up in a swamp.
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u/_AlexSupertramp_ 1d ago
Nothing is really impossible and it's good that you are cognizant of it. In some places, what they did is illegal regardless of season. Everyone should practice dead-and-out. It is pretty unlikely in the Winter though, frozen soil holds a ton of moisture and so do the roots. In the Summer it can be an issue, but more so in softwood forests of the mountains and Canada where the ground is more hollow with thin layers of duff on top of rocky jagged geological features. These forests simply don't product enough decaying matter like hardwoods do, so they dry out much quicker.
The Forest Service or Park Service digging these pits usually do a pretty good job of digging down far enough to remove roots. Assuming you were in a designated camping area at least.
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u/Tough-Juggernaut-822 1d ago
For those that are "throwing cold water on the fire" he's not wrong for doing what he did. It all depends on the terrain and type of trees in the area.
Root fires can and do destroy a lot of our woodland play areas, they can smolder and reignite, days/weeks/ months later depending on terrain and climate. I've seen the aftermath of a fire that wasn't extinguished correctly after a few weeks, this is in Ireland near a high water table bog, the moisture content of the ground would say it's not going to burn but eight guys digging the best part of 2.5meters down chasing hot/smoking roots will tell a different story, a nice large area was damaged and a good 50 trees suffered enough root damage that they all died within a few years.
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u/BlackFanNextToMe 1d ago
Snow is insulator, you can have, in theory root fire, if one is using termite or smth bjt no need to stress in this situation