{"id":9596,"date":"2023-07-19T13:38:34","date_gmt":"2023-07-19T20:38:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/?p=9596"},"modified":"2026-01-08T10:41:59","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T18:41:59","slug":"heavy-equipment-on-the-fireline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/heavy-equipment-on-the-fireline\/","title":{"rendered":"Heavy equipment on the fireline"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/786\/2023\/07\/Feller-buncher-2-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9601\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/786\/2023\/07\/Feller-buncher-2-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/786\/2023\/07\/Feller-buncher-2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/786\/2023\/07\/Feller-buncher-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/786\/2023\/07\/Feller-buncher-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/786\/2023\/07\/Feller-buncher-2.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Feller buncher working in the VanJam Zone on July 17, 2023. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>So far this wildfire season, more than 1.4 million hectares of land have burned in B.C. The record-breaking scale of this season\u2019s area burnt so far is primarily the result of some very large fires burning in the Prince George Fire Centre in B.C.\u2019s northeast. For example, in the Vanderhoof Fort St. James (VanJam) area, heavy equipment and operational partnerships have been imperative to the success of response so far this fire season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Commonly used across logging, mining and farming industries, heavy equipment is an integral part of firefighting operations throughout British Columbia and the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"767\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/786\/2023\/07\/Tire-chains-1024x767.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9602\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/786\/2023\/07\/Tire-chains-1024x767.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/786\/2023\/07\/Tire-chains-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/786\/2023\/07\/Tire-chains-768x575.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/786\/2023\/07\/Tire-chains-1536x1151.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/786\/2023\/07\/Tire-chains.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Skidder working in the VanJan Zone on July 17, 2023.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Each year, the BC Wildfire Service engages independent contractors, which includes First Nation groups, small businesses, and major licensees, from across the province to provide a range of heavy equipment likely to be required in response to wildfire emergencies. These include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Dozers<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Excavators<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Feller buncher<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Skidders<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Water tenders<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In this video hear from Equipment Branch Directors Bruce Raby and Shane Derhousoff explain how BC Wildfire utilise heavy equipment strike teams in response to the ongoing wildfire emergency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Heavy equipment operations on the fire line\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ndiPz8dn2HY?start=4&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Hear from quipment Branch Directors Bruce Raby and Shane Derhousoff.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Operating side-by-side with BC Wildfire firefighters, heavy equipment is primarily engaged to build guards that support or make use of existing fuel breaks, including roads and natural features (such as rivers), to minimise additional damage to the natural environment. The regional knowledge and expertise brought by local contractors and First Nations helps BCWS crews to make informed choices about how to create the most effective guard while making the smallest impact possible to ecosystems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Heavy equipment is set up to run both day and night in support of BC Wildfire crews. Guards are created in such a way that they can be used by fire crews to implement <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/direct-vs-indirect-attack-explained\/\">direct or indirect fire attack strategies<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Learn more about <a href=\"https:\/\/www2.gov.bc.ca\/gov\/content\/safety\/wildfire-status\/wildfire-response\/wildfire-personnel-and-response-tools\/heavy-equipment\">how BCWS works with heavy equipment<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So far this wildfire season, more than 1.4 million hectares of land have burned in B.C. The record-breaking scale of this season\u2019s area burnt so far is primarily the result of some very large fires burning in the Prince George Fire Centre in B.C.\u2019s northeast. For example, in the Vanderhoof Fort St. James (VanJam) area, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/heavy-equipment-on-the-fireline\/\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3973,"featured_media":9602,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[57],"class_list":["post-9596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-learning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3973"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9596"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9612,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9596\/revisions\/9612"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}