At the burning

Not much has remained of the settlement of Kołonice in Bieszczady region: a roadsight leading deeper into the forest, and barely visible concrete remains of what used to be school, houses and two hotels for workers, all deep in the heart of the forest. It is within those thickets, where charcoal has been burnt over the last 20 years. It is one of the last, if not The last in the Bieszczady region, Charcoal Burning facilities, where a Woman is a Charcoal burner. Not long ago, there were also Mary, Zuzia and Ira together with Karolek, but their facilities are no longer operational. Renata has been in this business for some years, excluding certain breaks. In the past, she worked shifts with other ‘Burners’, and when there was nothing left to do, she came back home for a day or two. All of this has changed when she met Julek – a Charcoal burner for 30 years. Even though Julek is no longer professionally active, his experience and contacts are priceless, especially when extra pairs of hands are needed or if it is time to open furnaces. Unfortunately an experienced burner is a rarity nowadays. The old slowly die out, and there are no people eager to take their places. The work is hard, salaries are not impressive. Retorts (that’s the name for iron furnaces, used for charcoal burning) have replaced charcoal piles of the past. A standard retort has a volume of 13 cubic meters, which has to be filled till the roof with wood, the so-called meters (one-meter long logs of Beech or Hornbeam wood) or wood offerings (which are usually wastes from lumber mills), then skillfully lighted on, so that the fire could evenly consume it’s ‘fuel’, close the steel doors and burn the charcoal for about 24 hours. After that, the retorts have to be suppressed, which takes another 24 hours. Once the retort is no longer ‘burning’, it can be emptied. When the retort is well filled and burnt, a good ‘Burner’ can produce about 1,5 tonnes of charcoal, which is then packed into sacks. All of this work is manual, with coal dust present everywhere. With burning on the way, Renata and Julek live according to rythm of day and burning retorts. Employee container is their home, a nearby stream is their water supply, electricity is not needed, and gas tanks from kitchen are replaced when new supplies of wood for retorts arrive. The nearest settlement is about two kilometers away through the forest, and and the nearest shop is about 5 kilometers away. From time to time Julek will go shopping to the city by motorcycle. Rarely a Forest Guard patrol will pay a visit, and during summer season, tourists looking for mushrooms will make an appearance. Workers, employed by Renata when retorts are working at their highest capacity, bring news of the outside world. Usually they are friends, who seek out a part-time job. Life goes on in it’s own, un-rushed pace.

Bieszczady 2019