fuels-reduction-guide-2023 - Flipbook - Page 6
Hand Thinning
Hand crews conduct work in areas where prescribed fire and mechanical
thinning aren’t practical, like neighborhoods, or where the terrain is too
steep for heavy equipment.
Fuels reduction projects are either
done using hand tools, known as
hand thinning or by using heavy
equipment, known as mechanical
thinning or a combination of both. In
the case of hand thinning, crews use
cutting, grubbing and scraping tools
like chainsaws, Pulaskis and Mcleods,
to cut through vegetation, trees and
understory brush. Mechanical thinning
is accomplished using equipment that
can remove fuel from the project site.
Once cut, crews or equipment drag
the vegetation to the roadside or to
a central location to be chipped or
burned. The chips will either be left
on site, removed to a biomass facility
or burned in an Air Curtain Burner
(see page 19).
Chainsaw—
Pulaski—
Mcleod—
Used for felling,
limbing and cutting
trees and brush.
features an axe on
one side for chopping
saplings and brush, and
a grubbing blade to
remove roots and small
stumps.
used for fireline
construction to scrape
and rake away
vegetation, leaving
only bare mineral soil.
6
