Fireline Equipment

Cobra HS (Sequoia NF) Hold a Mcleod (left) and Pulaski (right).

Image: Alexis West

Starving a fire on the line

When firefighters head out in the early morning or evening for their 12 hour shift on the line, they bring with them the tools of the trade. Some of these tried and true tools have been used for decades. Most are used to starve a fire.

A fire needs three things to start and to continue burning: heat, oxygen, and fuel. Firefighters on the ground use tools to starve the fire by depriving it of burnable materials. They create a swath or line of bare dirt by removing grass, brush, trees and fallen leaves and pine needles. When fire on the ground reaches the unbroken line of bare dirt called “mineral soil”, it is deprived of fuel and goes out.

One of the most versatile tools for constructing firebreaks is named for US Forest Service Ranger Ed Pulaski, who developed, improved, popularized, and some say, invented the tool almost one hundred years ago. When forestry started as a profession, foresters used common tools such as the shovel, rake and hoe for firefighting. To make the use and transportation of tools by horseback easier, Pulaski was one of those who began to experiment with ways to combine and improve the tools. The pulaski is a combination ax and mattock mounted on one handle. This versatile tool can both dig soil for trenches and chop wood.

Another popular firefighting tool is also named for a US Forest Service Ranger. Malcolm McLeod of the Sierra National Forest designed a heavy duty hoe or cutting tool and rake combination in 1905. Today firefighters still use the McLeod to cut through compacted vegetation on the ground and clearing loose surface materials.

Commonly known tools are also used by firefighters to starve a fire. They use shovels to clear the ground of burnable materials. Axes and chain saws are used to cut brush, limbs or trees in order to construct a containment line that is free of vegetation.

Using hand tools to manually remove flammable materials is one technique of removing fuel in the path of the oncoming fire. To strengthen this line of bare soil and prevent the fire from jumping the line, firefighters sometimes burn the vegetation that remains between the line and the advancing fire. This consumes the fuel ahead of the approaching fire and helps to secure the constructed line. This intentionally set fire does not burn as hot as a wildfire and so is lighter on the land.

When burning operations are carried out, firefighters often use a driptorch to ignite fires. A driptorch consists of a fuel canister usually filled with a mixture of gasoline and diesel. The canister has a handle and a wick from which flaming fuel is dropped to the ground.

In different weather conditions firefighters sometimes use another method to begin the burning operations. A fusee is a type of pyrotechnic flare that produces intense heat to start the firing process.

After an area has burned, firefighters begin a process called “mop up”. This involves extinguishing or removing burning material near control lines. A tool they use in this process is the backpack pump. This portable sprayer with a hand pump is used to apply water to remaining embers and hot spots. Firefighters mix in the water to be sure the burned area has cooled.

Firefighters on the line have many tools in their arsenal to fit the job at hand. Some are commonly known, and other specialized tools have a long history of evolution and improvement. Armed with a variety of tools, training and experience, firefighters are well equipped to starve a fire on the line.

Backhauling: CCC Crews Prepare Hose for Boise Fire Cache

Hose from plumbing fireline is backhauled and returned for cleaning and winding.

CCC crews at the Station Fire prepped hundreds of miles of hose.

Images: Alexis West

Operation Backhaul

Firefighters out on the line often require additional equipment or supplies to do their work. An army of people works to support the firefighters by ordering, tracking and transporting to them everything from drinking water to generators. And what goes into the fire area must come out! While the fire is active and when it starts to wind down, the materials no longer needed must be transported back out of the fire area. This process is called backhauling.

A common item that is backhauled is 100-foot long fire hose. During the peak of activity on the Station Fire, over 13 miles of hose per day were delivered to firefighters on the line. After firefighters use the hose, it is backhauled, pressure tested for leaks, washed, dried, and rolled up.

Other items often backhauled are communication radios, repeaters, generators, packs, portable tanks, pumps, hose fittings, nozzles, ice chests, empty fuel canisters, lights to illuminate night operations, and garbage. Any broken or damaged equipment that is repairable is sent to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, where employees repair it for reuse.

Whatever firefighters can’t backhaul in their fire engines is transported from the fire site in stakesided trucks and pickup trucks. Sometimes firefighters and equipment are delivered by helicopter to remote locations, and the backhaul operation must be carried out by helicopter.

Interview: Just out of Chileo Flat Spike Camp

Santa Fe Hotshot construct line in Division V. Image: Burt Skalter

Interview with Hotshot Back from the Chileo Spike Camp.

He shares that his crew has been out for 37 days, so far. On the Station Fire, they’ve been working night shift, which means they sleep in the day. During the days it’s hot and noisy with helicopters flying in and out. “ You maybe get about three hours really good sleep.” They’re sleeping in the black, in the safety zone that’s been burned out with no vegetation left. He makes a point that he is not complaining. “It ‘s what we do.” A hotshot for three seasons, he is adamant that no one can do this work if they don’t love it. “You have to really like it or you’d just be really miserable.”

What makes it work? He says his crew is his second family when he’s away from his wife and new baby.His crew really trusts each other; they become more than a collection of 20 personalities. In this line of work, he insists, “ there is no room to not get along.” The crew have team building activities like scavenger hunts. They work on puzzles together. At their home base they have sporting events and stay connected.

The being away is a stress on some of his family, he says, but mostly they understand why he’s gone most of the summer. His crew is demobilizing for a couple days of R&R, rest and relaxation. Then they’sll be back. For More.