Michigan's Forest Fire Experiment
Station
Founded in 1929 the Forest Fire
Experiment Station
(FFES) is a research and development
center that
studies wildfire ecology and
suppression tactics and
develops specialized equipment to
suppress them.
For the last 79 years the FFES has
followed its
mandate and has become a nationally
recognized
center for wildfire suppression
equipment
development. FFES functions include
research
and design, prototype
manufacturing,
and publication of information
related
to the products
developed.
The two main types of suppression
equipment developed
by FFES and used throughout the state
are the fireline
plows and the various sizes of
engines
with off-road
capability.
Early Plow
Plowing a firebreak around a fire was
fires test by
FFES using horse drawn agricultural
plows. These plows
were not strong enough for the
untilled ground in the
forest so the blacksmiths working at
FFES at the time
re-enforced them with
iron.
Present day plow
Later the horses were replaced with
crawler tractors
and all wheel drive trucks and the
plow evolved into
an integral part of the unit it was
mounted on.
Through the years the FFES has
refined the plow
to match the capability of new
equipment as it was
available and to adapt to
advancements
in manufacturing
capability.
1400 Gallon 6x6 Engine
The wildland fire engines developed
at FFES are
specially design for off road
operation. Since the
1940’s when the needs of the military
forced
advancements in off road capability
FFES has been
adapting all wheel drive truck
chassis for wildfire
suppression. FFES has worked
with every thing from
a utility all terrain vehicle (UTV)
to
a five ton 6x6 military
chassis.
UTV with Water Handling
Package
There
is no need to poke around the
buildings
for this cache ;)
