Tumbleweeds ‘as deep as the roof.’ Kennewick has a hot new solution for them

Kennewick residents will have a new way to deal with invasions of tumbleweeds that fill their lawns and pile up alongside their homes this spring.

The city of Kennewick has had a mobile tumbleweed burner built that residents can check out when it is not in use by city staff.

It will be available to individuals and organizations, such as homeowner associations, but at least initially may not be available to businesses.

The burner is mounted on a small trailer that can be hauled with a passenger car.

Those who check it out for up to 72 hours will get a demonstration on how to safely use it by loading a burn box with tumbleweeds and then attaching a weed burner torch to the burn box to incinerate the weeds, repeating as many times as needed.

The tumbleweed burner will give residents another way to deal with the weeds that blow into the city, said Cary Roe, the city public works director, at the Tuesday night Kennewick City Council workshop.

Spring is often the worst with strong winds blowing tumbleweeds into the city from the south and the west, but Eastern Washington’s fall wind storms also create tumbleweed problems, he said.

“I’ve seen numerous houses as deep as the roof so you can’t even get in the front door,” he said. “Some of those folks don’t have the ability to remove them, so they are a challenge.”

The tumbleweed burner will also allow staff to get rid of tumbleweeds on city property more efficiently.

Staff will not have to pickup the tumbleweeds, put them in a truck, do their best to compact them, haul them to a transfer station and unload them before returning for another load, Roe said.

The city spent about $10,000 on the tumbleweed burner, most of that for having the burn box fabricated.

Loaning out the tumbleweed burner will start as a pilot project and details are still being worked out, such as how to enforce requirements that equipment such as a rake and ash pails are returned with the trailer and refilling the propane tank.

Users would be required to sign a waiver.

This story was originally published March 15, 2023 at 5:00 AM.