This would be great for mop-up in the west. Not so much in the field of fireline cutting. They typically use much bigger dozens in the western states for cutting fireline.
It’s funny how different suppression strategies vary from state to state. These fire lines would not work out west here. I’ve fought fire in Florida and West Virginia and I loved being able to rely on these plows to do the heavy work. Out here in California, these plows wouldn’t do anything other than help us plant next years crops.
A fire- break may be 2 to 15 feet wide. A firebreak should be two to three times as wide as the height of the nearest surface vegetation (fuel), such as grass and shrubs (Fig- ure 13a). Firebreaks may require annual maintenance (removal of invading vegetation).
Handcrews *routinely* stop fires with scratch lines to mineral earth much narrower than that. Lines must be tended until the fire burns to the line, but a line gives you something to defend. Shovel or mcleod makes quick work of hypothetical embers. Would a D8 make a stronger line? Well, yeah. But you don't just cut a line and then just ignore it and cross your fingers.
The plow or harrow is step 1 used for establishing your break by cutting and chopping roots and vegetation. The v blade comes next to push and roll bare the dirt over and widening the break and covering chopped vegetation.
Dear Mark why are the dozer blades so small as I figured the blade were made to move debris down and out of the way Also why are your equipment made with a work speed and a transport speed to get out of a dangerous area as these are fitted for a special job not making a freeway .next question mark with the Weird weather we're having why are water run off sent to dredged retention ponds that can be used yes with the fire water will everaporate but look at phoniex la Vegas and say the rain instead of the sewers but piping to these areas even if they over flow .last mike that have dozer with these stone rakes and tractor 6 ft back racks why are we either run those mulchers and pulvise those needles to small pieces less chance on catching fire you are the bravest men and need different to handle those area to keep you out of harms way
No it's not pointless. The idea here is economics. The land owner has pre-existing fire breaks that were constructed some years ago, probably by this very same dozer. The land owner paid around $125.00 an hour plus a $60.00 delivery fee for every day the dozer was on site. Normally a GFC (Georgia Forestry Commission) TPOP (Tractor Plow Operator) will pull a harrow as fast as they can which has two benefits. 1) To insure that the fuel is completely turned under and 2) reduce the amount of time charged to the landowner. You can't blade this fire break as fast as you can if you harrow it. Furthermore the tactics of fighting wildfire are vastly different between the West Coast and the Southeast. You definitely have to blade your firebreaks in Oregon and California because of the rock and terrain, I know because I'm out there every year as a HEQB. But this video was made in South Georgia where the terrain is all flat and the trees are planted in rows, wide enough to get a bulldozer through. For instance did you notice the v blade on the front of the tractor. That dozer would never work even in North Georgia and even less in Oregon and California. However it is ideally suited for its area, the lower coastal plain.
