In 97 we did a big perscribed burn with a torch. It was a massive cutblock overrun with some kind of weed they wanted to kill off. It took 5 hours of continous torching the get the whole thing lit up. Started with a hotspot in the middle and then ever increasing lines expanding out from the center.....had the perfect convective colum up through the middle, fire laying horizontal across the ground from the full 360 degrees sucking into the center. It was pretty amazing!
Anyway....torch was on a longline and it worked out real well. It just made sense to have it on a line for many of the reasons in the previous posts. We had heli fuel on board to last a few hours, but were going through a lot of torch fuel....so it made the "Pit stop" for more gel much faster. Didnt even land...we were in and out of staging in about 45 seconds, which was crucial for the torch team in the initial stages so they can steer the fire by adding more heat on the upwind side etc....
When we did land the machine is well clear of the ground crew, and away from the mix site. Far enough away from those accidental little spills and fires that seem to flash up when they are testing the torch or making adjustments...Also enables you to keep your heli fuel and torch fuel seperate, and of course less people working under the spinning blades.
It also enabled us to light up some areas that needed a bit more heat, but would have been a bit too hot to get to with the torch on the belly, along the edge of the cutblock for example.
Was the first time the torch team had used it on a line, and they loved it....
Another two cents worth for ya!
