Six Rivers National Forest Air Curtain Burner Presentation

Nancy Curran of Six Rivers NF presents the benefits of air curtain burners and identifies pros and cons of different styles of air curtain burners for the Trinity County Fire Safe Council. The Six Rivers NF started to utilize an air curtain burner in 2019, which was previously utilized to address the beetle kill in the Sierra Mountain Range. An air curtain creates a secondary burn chamber in which the particles rising in the smoke are trapped under the air curtain and cycled through to re-burn. The air curtain burners result in a very clean burn and produce biochar which can be sold as a agricultural amendment. Air curtain burners can reduce up to 80% of greenhouse gas and particulate matter emissions. These systems are one tool which allows land managers to continue burning outside the traditional burn windows which are becoming shorter due to the hotter and dryer trend. This air curtain burner was loaned to the Six Rivers NF through a partnership with the CAL FIRE Humboldt-Del Norte Unit.