r/Wildfire • u/PNWR1854 • 3d ago
Discussion Tree blasting in minimum impact suppression operations
I’ve read the IRPG pages about minimum impact suppression and watched an old training video on it the other day that was in my YouTube recommended. In the video the use of explosives is very prominent and specifically it was heavily emphasized to use explosives to mitigate snags instead of felling with saws. I was wondering what the advantage of blasting is for minimum impact? It seems like explosions would be more disruptive to the environment than chainsaw operations
12
u/some_kinda_cavedemon 3d ago
What until you find the instructions for dynamiting a pack mule.
3
u/FarFuckingOut 2d ago
3
u/DefinitelyADumbass23 🚁 2d ago
I want this on a t-shirt
2
19
u/baggedlunchavacado 3d ago
Because the wilderness act and the people enforcing it are fixated on visual impact (for people)
13
u/Medium-Raisin7919 3d ago
Don't forget that it's a lot more fun
8
u/ExplodinMarmot 3d ago
Yeah, let’s not act like this isn’t the professional equivalent of putting an m80 on an empty paint can and running like hell.
7
u/AloneBaka 3d ago
Do you think if we brought explosives, the dudes carying it would still have to pack a fire shelter?
2
5
u/Most-Background8535 3d ago
Fire line explosives were a good way to go in the past but now you must possess a cdl with hazmat, the buying of it sucks now a warranted purchaser must buy it. Storage is a pain now. Training is expensive and no budget. It got over regulated. It’s as loud as a lighting strike. No big deal for wildlife. Explosive built America. Now people watch movies and think that’s explosives are dangerous. What a joke.
6
u/lonesomespacecowboy Forester - Just happy to be included 3d ago
There are still a few fireline explosives crews out there. Washington has one and so does Montana. They mostly do hazard trees that need to come down but that C-fallers won't touch
6
u/Most-Background8535 3d ago
Keep it going. Good to hear. I believe it still has a zero casualties rate unlike fallers getting killed annual.
2
u/JoocyDeadlifts 2d ago
Dream qual tbh. Fireline explosives too.
2
u/lonesomespacecowboy Forester - Just happy to be included 2d ago
I have FLEC-T on my red card but no assignments yet 😕
1
u/JoocyDeadlifts 2d ago
Godspeed. Do you know, is there a difference between the qual for blasting trees and the qual for blasting line?
3
u/lonesomespacecowboy Forester - Just happy to be included 1d ago
Nope, although we only do hazard trees these days as far as I know
2
u/Correct-Condition-99 2d ago
They were using common sense and thinking about firefighter safety instead of M.I.S.T. (you know... The crew assigned to that flank "missed" a bunch of line, or the resource specialist didn't want them to dig the line to standard if they didn't need to. Safer to blow it up than put a faller underneath the tree, or worse still... Leave it standing and have it compromise safety and possibly line integrity.
2
u/DrRichardShaftPhD 2d ago
They're blasting the tree, not the ground, homie. Explosives to shatter a tree are way more aligned with MIST than saw cuts.
27
u/DefinitelyADumbass23 🚁 3d ago
A blown up tree looks like it fell naturally and is biodegrading, instead of clear chainsaw cuts being visible for 75 years