Page 42 - Moving the Earth_ The Workbook of Excavation

LAND CLEARING AND CONTROLS

1.42 THE WORK

FIGURE 1.33 A good fire tender.

them. At such a time there might not be experienced fire-fighting personnel available to direct the
work. A brief outline of fire-fighting techniques is therefore considered appropriate.
Hand Tools. Where the material burning is largely grass and associated weeds, or thin brush,
fire can be beaten out. Household brooms, occasionally dipped in water if possible, are very effec-
tive. Shovels or leafy bushes or branches can be used with good effect. Each blow should be
directed so that flying sparks are knocked toward the burned area.
The fire may also be starved by scraping away the vegetation just beyond the flames. This may
be done with shovels, hoes, rakes, grub axes, or almost any piece of metal. A special type of fire-
fighting tool, shaped like a heavy rake and fitted with sickle bar teeth instead of tines, is quite
effective. Bushes may be cut with axes, machetes, bush hooks, or pruners.
Extinguishers. Backpack fire extinguishers, which consist of a water tank carried like a knap-
sack, a flexible hose, a hand pump, and a nozzle, are important pieces of equipment. See Fig. 1.34. If
the grass is low or thin, spraying in the path of the fire may stop it. If the fire is strong and moving
rapidly, the water may be most effectively used for putting out smoldering spots behind the beaters.
Addition of a wetting agent—a small quantity of almost any detergent will do if regular com-
pounds are not available—increases the effectiveness of the water by enabling it to soak through
vegetable litter and punky wood.

Pumps. If streams or ponds are available, the contractor’s pumps, particularly the light cen-
trifugal type, are very valuable. A welder or machinist can usually make adapters quite quickly
that will permit fire hose to be attached to the pump outlet. The high pressures used in regular fire
pumps will probably not be developed, but sufficient pressure will be available for wetting down
firebreaks or making direct attacks on anything short of a crown fire.