ATV's Starting Wildfires

[swedishpimple]

This will not be a problem for a few weeks, but I have been around two wildfires caused by ATV's. One burned about 50 acres the other just burned around the machine and on the muffler.

Has anybody else started a fire with their quad???

The DNR Firefighters told me it was quite common.

[knoppers]

I can't even think its possible. unless there is some supped up quad that shoots flames out its exhuast.

yes the pipe gets hot, but start a fire, no friggin' way!

heres a test, you smokers, get your quad good and warmed up, and try to ignite your cigarette off the pipe. I am betting that you can't.

its all about irrosponsible people throwing out cig buts and other things.

[Big-Al]

Trust me, they have and they will.

[SomethingFishy*]

Mental note: pack small fire extinguisher in rear storage box.

[loosegoose]

I'm a firefighter and we were paged out to a slough fire last fall that was hundreds of acres in size. This fire was started by someone on an ATV making trails through the cat tails for deer hunting. He got stuck and managed to start the slough on fire trying to get unstuck. The fire endangered two residences and a large corn field but all were saved. So YES this can and does happen.

[anyfishwilldo]

Is it the ATV starting the fires, or the operators, IE tossing a cig out or something of the sort.

[Big-Al]

Material (often peat) building up on the exhaust and igniting and falling off is probably the most common and hot carbon being blown out of the exhaust is probably next.

Cigarettes do start wildfires, but not as commonly as most people would like to believe.

[knoppers]

come to think about it, I did have some peat on my exhaust a couple years ago, that started to smolter on the pipe. I do believe that exhaust can start grass fires. I stand corrected, thanks big-al.

[Dave S]

I don't doubt for a second that peat can easily ignite, especially on an exhaust/machine that someone has buried in a slough and is bumping the rev limiter trying to get the machine out.

On the same note, if this machine is being revved out that much, what are the odds the machine is properly tuned to operate in those conditions or at that rpm level. If it was during the daytime, the ATV could very well have been throwing flames from the exhaust without the operator knowing it.

Case in point: I had a Suzuki 230 Quadsport that I put an aftermarket exhaust on. We took the machine to a relatives gravel pit for a test run shortly after it got dark. I was shocked to see a 6 inch flame coming out of the exhaust that wasn't visible during the day.

[JohnMickish]

People that change out the exhaust pipes and/or remove the spark arrester. I would guess this would be the cause of the fires. That and smokers tossing out their butts.

[swedishpimple]

The fires I was involved with were due to small amounts of very dry debris on the stock muffler of a 2002 Sportsman 500 H.O.. It was dry windy day in April and 50 acres went up just like that. I was on the machine and had only been riding for about 5 minutes. After running the dog and parking the machine I turned around to see the fire building behind me.

The other time the debris ignited while the machine was parked, but it did not start a grass fire.

When it is really dry and windy it does not take much.

[BobT]

It would be interesting to know what the point of ignition is on dry grass and then what temperature a muffler typically acheives.

Bob