I need to burn a few acres of pines and there are a few dead ones from beetles. Do these trees need cut down, will the fire clime all the way to the top?

Depends. You can cut them down if you’re worried about it, or rake a few feet around them and they’ll likely not catch on fire.

Just an FYI, I’ve had burning snags ignite spot fires 300 yards over a line the day after we burned, so if in doubt, take it down.

This is the type of thing that wakes me up in a cold sweat. Most folks get more comfortable the more they burn their place, I just get more and more worried.

This is what I do but even when raked around trees can still catch embers and burn like a candle especially if the tree has been dead awhile.

I had a dead pine catch up last year close to a county rd that threw embers into an oak snag about 60 yards away on the opposite side of the county rd. If possible I prefer to take a leaf blower and burn out a catchers mit around snags close to the line if they catch up and I don’t have a way to take them down safely.