Page 43 - Moving the Earth_ The Workbook of Excavation

LAND CLEARING AND CONTROLS

LAND CLEARING AND CONTROLS 1.43

FIGURE 1.34 Backpack extinguisher.

Sprayers. Tree-spraying outfits make good fire fighters. These usually consist of a tank holding
from 200 to 500 gallons; a high-pressure pump driven by a small gasoline engine, or by the power
takeoff of a towing tractor, or a carrying truck; a reel of hose; and a nozzle. Those having an
engine are generally mounted on a wagon chassis that can be towed by almost any motor vehicle. If
the pump is tractor-driven, adaptation to most wheel tractors can be made quickly. The handiest
models are those mounted on a motor truck.
Such equipment can generally be rented or borrowed in almost any area. The volume of water
delivered through the nozzle is small, but pressure is high and results are usually excellent.
Dozers. A bulldozer can put out a grass fire by starting behind the fire and straddling its line, as
in Fig. 1.35. It may be able to scrape off the grass without cutting much into the ground. If this is
not practical, it can skim off the sod until the load is heavy, then swing it into the burned area, or
raise the blade and spread the sod over the next few feet of flames, smothering them. An angle
dozer can sidecast the sod into the burned area, and a hand beater, or extinguisher, should follow
to put out any spots that are missed.

Method of Attack. Windblown fires should not be attacked directly at the front, as this procedure
is both dangerous and ineffective. A new fire running before a wind will assume a shape similar