CAL Fire Bulldozer Crews Train at Camp Pendleton

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Camp Pendleton, a United States Marine Corps base in San Diego County, California, serves as the ideal location for CAL Fire's bulldozer training.  Bulldozer crews from all parts of the state come to the rocky mountainous terrain to practice the land clearing maneuvers that they use during wildfires.

"They run it like it's a regular fire, and this is to keep them in that focus and in that mode, because as we always say, we train like we play and we play like we train, " says CAL Fire Battalion Chief Mark Ostrander.

One of the key components of the bulldozer training is to practice communication, which is critical for keeping the dozers from running into each other or falling off the mountain.  Ostrander says that it is easy to roll a bulldozer if an operator does not know what they are doing, which could lead to serious injury or death.  All of CAL Fire's bulldozer operators are highly trained and come from either the fire service or a construction background, and during wildfires they work grueling twelve hours shifts.

To ensure the operators' safety, each bulldozer is equipped with special equipment.  Chief Ostrander explains, "Inside the dozers they have radios and fire curtains.  They have GPS, a special lighting package, and the cabs are enclosed so that if they get overrun by fire they can drop the curtains down and survive within it."

To most effectively clear the mountainous terrain, CAL Fire's bulldozer operators usually drive up the rocky landscape and then push the brush and debris downhill.  The highest grade that they will climb is 75 degrees.  Anything greater could be disastrous.  Mike Howard, a CAL Fire Heavy Equipment Operator who spent years working his way through the ranks of the Fire Department, says that despite the danger involved with his job, he enjoys it and has never experienced a moment where he thought he would get himself into trouble.

In addition to performing wildland firefighting maneuvers, the CAL Fire teams use this training to practice rehabbing previously bulldozed areas to ensure that they do not become mudslide areas.

Related Video

To watch a video about CAL Fire's annual wildfire training on the Viejas Indian Reservation, click here.

To watch a video about CAL Fire's aerial firefighting training with the United States Marine Corps and U.S. Navy, click here.


Author:Deanne Goodman - FDNNTV.com