So Im sitting in my office on Monday when I happen to glance out my window. I see a big cloud of smoke coming from the west. So I think to myself "self you should go check that out when you go to lunch". Well when I go to lunch I head over to where the smoke is coming from. My heart instantly sank and I got a sick feeling to my stomach. A land developer purchased 40 acres across the fence from my families property about 2 years ago and has been clearing it out to build a new subdivsion. Well last year he had cleared enough timber out to pave a street all the way around the property and a few connecting streets in between. When he cleared the property to make the roads he pushed out well over 50 very large ash and oak trees (each of them were at least 30-36 inches thick) and had them stacked neatly at one end of the property. I decided one day to stop and ask if I could cut the timber for firewood. I was told no that he was going to use them to build the mantle pieces for the new houses he was building. I said ok no big deal and went on about my business. When I drove by Monday he had hired a couple dozer operators and had completely cleared the entire 40 acres and every single tree on the place was now on fire. I have grown up running around in that timber and there were easily 250-300 VERY large Ash and Oak trees scattered through the place. It makes me sick to think that someone was so reckless and greedy that they would rather burn it all up than let someone come in and harvest the downed timber and put it to use. UGH! Sorry for the long post but thought I would share the heartache.
I just got sick to my stomach reading your post. All that wonderful and beautiful wood that someone could have used to do mill work or heat their homes, my goodness. Appears he had a change of heart or mind for using the wood, but how hard was it to put an ad out for the wood. He could have made a few bucks as well perhaps
Even if he needed it gone quickly so he could proceed with his building plans that would not have been a problem either. The property is less than a mile from my wood yard. I could have taken my tractor and trailers and had the majority of it cut into log length and hauled off within 3-4 days.
The problem is liability. Being a nice guy has burned a lot of people. In the big picture it's better to just get the trash gone in a cost effective manner. Letting a weekend warrior loose one's property doing potentially life threatening things for a minuscule if any financial reward is just not a prudent decision. And it's possible that the finance arrangements for the development includes bonding and insurance requirements.
Maybe he bid it out and got nothing but low-ball offers, or worse, it was going to cost him, so he burned it out of spite. I don't think you could have a fire of that size here due to air quality controls. You don't see too much burning around here any more because of it. You're not even supposed to burn leaves in the Spring but some people still do, just not for long. I've seen several acres chipped though, but it was mostly pine trees.
I am already licensed, Bonded and Insured lol. Pretty sure he did it out of spite. Word around about that guy is thats the kind of person he is.
Funny thing about them there kind of people is their lack of shame when they need/want something later on. I remember way too well unfortunately for them.
That sounds very strange to me. Here logging is big; constantly seeing timber lorries on the highway. Here you sell the timber when you are going to develop, especially oak and other hardwoods. The timber company could have cleared 40 acres in no time. That is some big money there. Then all you need to do is to hire a company to clear the stumps. The other thing is that I am surprised he could burn that amount of wood, that is a tremendous amount of smoke; pollution.
A new interstate has been built through my county. Some new terrain, and an existing 4 lane divided State highway was upgraded. That included clearing trees from whatever the prescribed distance is. The company brought in huge tree grinders to turn it all into chips. Wouldn't let neighbors get to the trees to make into firewood. They are working now in the county north of me. Likely the same story. That is a situation where on a Sunday, you skid a few to your property and cut away. The first time, the employees would say "you can't do that", or else would turn a blind eye to it, as long as you aren't a liability and doing when they have machinery moving about. Definitely hate to see that stuff happen.
Welcome to rural Oklahoma lol. He had about 9 piles going at once. No houses or businesses within 1/2 a mile.
Just to give an idea about what the property looked like after they created the roads through it. Now its all gone.
I wonder if a state permit is needed to burn that much timber? Would be interesting to see and if he didn't have the proper permit notify the authorities to just cause a bit of grief.
The fella that logged the property I ended up purchasing made a deal with a chipper operator to come in and chip the left over logs. After getting the contract, the chipper operator failed to follow through and didn’t chip the wood. The owner was stuck because the wood had been paid for and he couldn’t resell it. Sometimes it’s easier to give up a little profit to get the job done. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
We had a guy like that around here some yrs back. He did a lot of people wrong....spiteful. Found him expired in his car. Story goes that he was in too deep with the boys from the big city. Unfortunately you usually reap what you sow.
Which is why (I’ve said this before and people have gotten upset but I’ll say it again) I wouldn’t even ask. I would have just taken it. Played dumb
