The Wooden Nutmeg

Figthing forest fires is simple.  Laborious, hot, smokey, dusty.  But simple — separate the fire from the fuel, or cool the fire so it no longer burns.  And do so in a way you don’t get yourself injured by falling, having something hit you, or getting burned.

While the hand tools used today to control forest fires are simple, the tools — if they even deserve the name tool — from back in 1908 were downright primitive.

Wardens may destroy fences, plow land, or, in an emergency, set back fires to
check any fire. (Back fires should only be started at a road, brook, or other
natural barrier.) Ground fires can usually be put out by beating with wet sacks,
cedar boughs, or similiar implements.  Much effective work can be done throwing
loose earth on the advancing flames. Of course, near brooks and ponds, water is
the best fire extinguisher. By raking leaves and dead matter away from advancing
fire it can often be stopped for lack of material to burn. Plowing one or two
furrows ahead of a fire will often stop it, unless the wind is very strong.
(From Connecticut's 1908 edition of "Instructions to Fire Wardens",
included in Connecticut Forestry Pamphlets Volume III)

Bureaucracy being the same in all ages, of the 24 pages of the pamphlet that paragraph was the only directions given about how to put out a forest fire.  The rest dealt with organizational issues, like how to submit bills and complete time cards.

I’m comfortable assuming cedar boughs haven’t been used in many years in Connecticut, although back when I was in college I came across a grass fire threatening to extend to a chicken coop which I beat out with my nomex fire coat.

Generally there are four hand tools now used in Connecticut — a backpack pump commonly called an “Indian Tank” after a brand name used by the D. B. Smith Company that popularized that tool, the Council Tool forestry rake, and either bamboo brooms or the collapsible metal rake designed by Roscommon Equipment Center.  All those tools, and organizations, are worth their own future posts so I won’t go into much detail here on them.

A six man hand crew that has a little bit of training, discipline, and is in decent shape can fight a surprisingly large fire with these simple tools. Two firefighters carrying Indian Tanks, followed by two carrying rakes, followed by two carrying brooms work together to knock down the flames directly and construct a fire line.

On most fires in Connecticut a direct attack is used, where the actions of firefighters directly extinguish the flames. Normally this is also in conjunction with an aggressive effort to get a crew to the part of the fire being driven by the wind (the “head”) while other teams secure the flanks. This combination minimizes the size of the area the fire, and is usually the appropriate strategy and tactics given our typical resources, terrain, vegetation, and weather.

Working from the “black” (the burned area of the fire so the heat and smoke is being blown away from the team) the lead Indian Tank works quickly to knock the flames down as fast as he can.  The second Indian Tank will follow him, spritzing small flames left in the wake of the first firefighter.

Following the Indian Tanks are the firefighters with Council Tool fire rakes who cut light brush and pull the sticks and the bulk of leaves back into the burned area.  Properly maintained they cut well since the triangular teeth are actually cutting sections for sickle bar mowers. The rakers start their pull from just outside the fire area, bringing any embers hiding under the leaves along with a little bit unburned materials into the black.  Sometimes thick brush or large logs will make them have to build a fire line entirely away from the black, a situation that requires extra policing later on. Behind the rakers are sweepers using bamboo brooms or collapsible metal rakes to sweep a clean line clear down to dirt that’s a foot or two wide.

On the rare large fires where the crew will be working far from the trucks or known water supplies, it’s a good idea to have them hike in all wearing Indian Tanks, as well as an axe and shovel. The extra tanks and tools can then be left in a tool depot near where the crew goes to work.

For contrast with this typical or traditional Connecticut hand crew, this is a description of a Pennsylvania hand crew employing their typical tactic on larger fires of an indirect attack where they build a fire line then light a backburn, using a similar set of tools:

The forest fire crew constructs a control line, by hand, making a barrier around
the fire to check its growth. Construction of a control line should always begin
on a safe anchor point such as a road, power line, lake, stream, or rock slide
or any other natural or man made structure which provides a hard stop against
fire. The crew is led by the Trail Blazer who clears the initial path for the
control line. He uses a Sanvik brush knife or brush hook to clear small
underbrush and low hanging tree branches. He is followed by a team of rakemen
who use fire rakes to remove the surface fuels down to mineral soil. There are
normally 10 or more rakemen on a crew. The most common method used by the
rakemen is the One Lick. In this method each rakeman takes one lick with his
rake and then moves on. Each rakeman behind him does the same making the line
deeper and wider as they go. They are followed by a sweeper who uses a fire
broom to remove any excess leaves, twigs, and other small fuels from the line
and from around trees near the line. Following this, the torch man "burns out"
the fuels which lie between the control line and the fire. He is followed by one
or more crewmen with backpack tanks who are charged with controlling the
burn-out. In this way, a control line can be constructed in nearly any place at
any time.
(From Pennsylvania Forest Fire Warden Association's District 17 website,
retrieved 24 March 2009)

While an indirect attack by building a control line away from the fire and backfiring is still rare in Connecticut, some of their tools are migrating into our area.  For the last couple years the Connecticut DEP has offered backpack leaf blowers on their purchasing schedule to local departments — these machines are popular in Pennsylvania for taking the place of the sweepers.  It will be interesting to see how Connecticut tactics change over the next few years as we continue to trade ideas with other states.