Safe to burn?

gr8fzy1

Hi everyone! I have a moderately important question to ask you.
About 15 years ago, a house behind ours burned down and was demolished. The fire and smoke mortally damaged several trees that separated our yard from theirs. They were all Sumac; possibly either Staghorn or Shining. It last had leaves on it about 12 years ago, so I can't compare from memory, but I remember looking it up as a teen and finding out that it WASN'T Poison Sumac.

Last year we had a large windstorm, and the trees, now more than a decade dead, fell down in our yard. Since we are renters, we were unable to do anything about them before, and after the storm the land lord cut the pieces into large chunks but left them in our yard. We are going camping in a few months, and are wondering if it is safe to burn wood from a Sumac tree. Although it wasn't Poison Sumac, and it has been dead for 12 years, we wanna be sure it's alright. Money is tight right now, and burning the trunk segments, some of which are over 2 feet tall and 10 inches thick, will save us between 70-100 dollars on firewood.

Please help! The arborday Forums appear to be down, so you are my last line of info!

Eric Frei

You are safe to go.
Source: Poison Ivy, Oak, & Sumac - Fast Facts - (www.poisonivy.us)

Anyway I doubt it was the poison variety to begin with.

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gr8fzy1

Thank you a lot! Some other people send me a few links in my email, and I've identified it as Staghorn Sumac. Thanks for the go verdict, it helps a LOT!