Pile Burn Cooperatives (PBCs) are groups of landowners and land managers who share knowledge, resources, tools, and time to use prescribed fire on their land for forest health management and wildfire mitigation. The Ember Alliance’s goal is to support PBCs in northern Colorado.  

In Colorado there is a significant gap between individuals who feel comfortable building slash piles on their properties, and those who feel comfortable burning them. This has resulted in a large backlog of unburned piles on private lands across the state. Some organizations and fire departments conduct pile burning on private lands. However, there is not nearly enough capacity to burn all the piles that have been built, and that will continue being built to restore Colorado’s forests to a healthy and fire- resilient state. The solution to this problem is for private landowners, with the support of their local fire departments, to self-organize to burn their own piles. In other words, the solution is the formation of Pile Burn Cooperatives in Colorado. 

The largest barriers to autonomous pile burning in Colorado include lack of expertise, and liability concerns (CFRI, 2008). Landowners need access to training to gain the knowledge, experience, and confidence to build and burn their own piles. The Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control (DFPC) offers a Certified Burn Program for landowners that want to learn to burn their own piles. However, the demand for training far exceeds the number of trainings that are provided. The Ember Alliance has tried to address this gap by providing additional trainings over the past two years, in the form of Pile Build and Burn Workshops but, these workshops do not provide the liability protection that the Certified Burn Program can. Landowners need access to both types of trainings to become competent and confident pile burners.  

Forming a PBC involves meeting people who live near you with similar land management goals. You can connect with neighbors nearby and talk about goals and techniques. You can post on social medias such as Facebook and Nextdoor to find interested people. You can reach out to the local fire department to find contact information for other neighbors.  

Questions to ask as you are forming a local PBC: 

• What is our definition of “local”?  
• What are the shared goals within our membership?  
• What tools, knowledge, and resources do we have?  
• What tools, knowledge, and resources to we need to be successful?  
• What types of funding might we have access to?  
• Who has the capacity for leadership in the group?  
• What are the expectations for sharing and receiving within the group?  
• How will we maintain up-to-date knowledge of current burning information and best practices?  
• What agencies can/should we build relationships and work with?  
• Connect with residents in the state that are interested in forming a local PBC: Join the Northern Colorado PBC Connection Facebook group here! 

Connect with residents in the state that are interested in forming a local PBC: Join the Northern Colorado PBC Connection Facebook group here! 

TEA is currently supporting the creation of pile burning-focused PBCs. PBCs that conduct broadcast burning have different needs and requirements that we are not able to assist. 

Pile burning is an effective tool to mitigate wildfire risk in the wildland urban interface. The Ember Alliance partners with local Fire Protection Districts to put on pile building workshops in communities that interested in using pile burning as a wildfire mitigation strategy. These workshops are full-day events that take place on private property, and contain an educational component, as well as a hands-on pile building component. These workshops a great way to connect landowners who are interested in organizing at the community level to mitigate their shared risk. If you think your community would be a good fit for a pile build workshop, reach out to Kristin Leger.

Private landowners gathered in a circle as Ben Pfohl, a Supervisory Forester for the Colorado State Forest Service, discusses landscape-scale forest restoration.

Landowners building a slash pile at the Pile Build Workshop in Coal Creek Canyon on November 13, 2021.

HOW TO BUILD GOOD SLASH BURN PILES

Construction

Well-built hand piles are critical to getting good consumption of all the material when burnt.

Basic theory:

• Allow for good air flow, but not too much air flow;
• Build the pile to shed moisture so that the interior fuels stay dry;
• It’s just a big campfire, you need small fuels to light larger fuels;
• If it wouldn’t burn well in your woodstove, it’s likely not to burn well in a pile either.

Key Tips:

• Build a pyramid shape. Tall and narrow generally gets much better consumption than wide and flat.
• Having a good bed of fine fuels and needles at the bottom and center of the pile is very helpful. Think thermodynamics, heat rises through the center of the pile drying and burning the fuel above.
• Orienting branches so that the butt end is pointing up (and is the top of the teepee) and the needles are on the bottom of the pile sheds snow and allows the fine fuels to pre-heat the larger fuels.
• You must have fine fuels. A pile of big branches is hard to ignite. If piling dead wood, try and insert some green needled branches in the center of the pile.
• Piles with a lot of “holes” that allow snow to get deep into the center of the pile will not burn well.
• If you just can’t get fine fuels, putting a “round” on end in the pile, so that it can be soaked with slash mix (mix will soak into end grain, it will drip off bark) and burn like a wick is very helpful.
• A pile of GREEN needled branches will generally create, on its own, a good density pile. It will have enough fuel to fuel contact for good conduction of heat while still allowing good airflow for consumption. A pile of dead branches that got stomped on several times will burn very poorly and require a lot of chunking.
• Most Counties in Colorado prohibit any material greater than 6 inches in diameter being burned. Don’t put logs/the trunk of the tree in piles. It won’t burn well and will cause lots of smoke and smoldering.
• Don’t put raked needles or other materials in that will compact and mat down.
• Don’t put any thing in your pile other than woody biomass from the forest.

Placement

Bad pile placement kills the trees you want to retain when the piles are burned. Put piles in the wrong place and we might as well just clear cut the unit.

• Assume any pile will create a flame 2 to 3 times it’s own height. E.G. A pile that is ten feet tall can create a 30 foot long flame.
• Now imagine that flame being bent over by the wind. This creates the need for the pile to generally be at least 15 to 20 feet away from the closest retain tree.
• These distances need to be even greater if piles are on steep slopes.
• On steep slope also assume material will want to roll down hill. Try and place bigger logs parallel to the slope and not perpendicular. For skiers this is put the logs in line with the fall line and not across the fall line so that they don’t roll.
• Don’t build piles on top of stumps. Stumps will smolder for days and cause major safety concerns.
• Don’t build piles on top of a “bed” other branches, this will cause the pile to creep out when burned.

CSFS HIZ Mitigation Guide

Northern Colorado PBC Facebook Group

Prescribed Fire Go/No-Go Checklist

Burn Back Better – Prescribed Fire on Private Lands

NCU PBA Resources Info Page

Colorado Pile Burning Basics Video

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment – Outdoor Burning

Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control

California PBA Hub

Fireside Chat