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How do fire dozers do it?

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D6c10K

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2008
Messages
681
Location
Iowa, USA
As much trouble I have, I don't know how fire dozers keep from burning up.
I've been pushing out fence lines for a neighbor and have put out manifold fires numerous times on my D6c. Mostly cedar, osage, and elm. We have dry windy conditions and the leaves fall like snow when you push out a tree.
I have side screens but have found it's more dangerous to use them because the dry leaves still get in and the doors are small enough it makes access to put out a fire difficult.
So far nothing has gotten out of hand. I keep a fire extinguisher, jugs of water, and a hand sprayer on the machine.
Are newer machines better protected?
How do you handle it?
 
D

dozr

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2013
Messages
272
Location
alabama
Occupation
excaving
been doing all my life going from clearing to dirt work in fall when leaves dry on d5b d6c 6b and old 5 is just hard to do never had problem on d5h machine. never had big problem till i switch from clearing to dirt must push it harder in dirt i think most fire dozers have fire supress on them or at lease a big can of down hill water thy can turn on
 
RangerJake72

RangerJake72

Member
Joined
May 16, 2011
Messages
19
Location
Galax, VA
Occupation
carpenter
I just ended 13 years service with the Florida Forest Service, all of our tractor-plows (dozers) were specially modified with belly pan fire sprinklers, a water hose for putting out hot spots on or in the tractor, fire retardant air and AC filters. Part of our training was on the maintenance of our equipment, to include regular cleaning of the belly pans, blowing out the AC and radiators and cleaning the filters after every fire, and sometimes during a break on a fire, if we could get back to our transport trucks. Prior to getting the fire retardent filters that was a common occurrence, of hot embers setting the air cleaner or AC on fire. Keeping the belly pans clean, and wetting them down on fires helped mitigate that issue as well
 
B

Birken Vogt

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Joined
Nov 30, 2003
Messages
5,323
Location
Grass Valley, Ca
Here in California they do not use any special fire suppression systems that I know of out of the ordinary. The serious contractors and the ones owned by the government do have sweeps with a flat plate welded across the top to keep brush off the hood and windshield. The exhaust comes up in a pipe like normal off the engine which fits loosely inside another pipe that is part of the sweeps/top plate. Radio antenna mounted upside down in this structure somewhere so it does not get wiped away.
 
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Bumpsteer

Bumpsteer

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2009
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1,342
Location
Front seat on the Struggle Bus
Occupation
Mechanical designer
The ones I've seen on the state auction site here are nothing special, usually 450 or 550 Deeres, full sweeps & screens, some are painted red, all have low hours.
Then again, our fires aren't very big.

Ed
 
B

Birken Vogt

Charter Member
Joined
Nov 30, 2003
Messages
5,323
Location
Grass Valley, Ca
The ones I mentioned above do have fire curtains and full glass with very well guarded air conditioning condenser. They do operate them right up on the fire line when necessary. They are normally very safe for the operator but of course that comes with its own set of hazards in case something should go wrong. Most of the injuries come with rollovers, some of them gruesome because of the incredible mountainsides they operate on here.
 
C

Check Break

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2012
Messages
469
Location
USA
D6c10K said:
As much trouble I have, I don't know how fire dozers keep from burning up.
I've been pushing out fence lines for a neighbor and have put out manifold fires numerous times on my D6c. Mostly cedar, osage, and elm. We have dry windy conditions and the leaves fall like snow when you push out a tree.
I have side screens but have found it's more dangerous to use them because the dry leaves still get in and the doors are small enough it makes access to put out a fire difficult.
So far nothing has gotten out of hand. I keep a fire extinguisher, jugs of water, and a hand sprayer on the machine.
Are newer machines better protected?
How do you handle it?
Click to expand...

I can't remember when a wildfire burned up a dozer. Most are destroyed sliding off rock. Everyone carries a fire extinguisher but I've never seen anyone use one. Are your engine enclosures CAT or aftermarket. CAT enclosures open wide and expose just about all of the engine bay. They do a good job keeping debris out of the belly pans, but by the end of a fire (if not sooner), the pans need to be cleaned, as does everything else, like the area around the fuel tank. If running an EROPS, there's a little less to clean. Preventive maintenance to avoid oil and fuel leaks is key, and if you arrive with them you will fail inspection at time of hire. Most hired equipment managers are reasonable and will give you time to repair a leak on the clock if it can be repaired the same day. Analogous to your fence lines, there's two types of attack, direct and indirect. Indirect is building secondary fire line where there's no fire. If you're going direct, you have one track in the black and the other in the green. Sometimes hard on the equipment, used to save real estate and improvements, works with grass fires, but not much use in heavy timber. Timber is mostly indirect. You lay it down and push it into the green. If you build a wide enough line and the wind cooperates, you stop the advance.

There's a firm in Oklahoma that builds a lot of aftermarket enclosures. They're not the same as OEM. Find someone who has a 10K with CAT enclosures and check them out. I believe you'll find they will keep the tinder off your manifold during your shift. At the end of the day, use a backpack blower to clean the engine compartment and pans. You shouldn't have to worry about fire working a fence row. I'd be more worried about rolling up wire around the sprocket.
 
D

D6c10K

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2008
Messages
681
Location
Iowa, USA
Check Break said:
I can't remember when a wildfire burned up a dozer. Most are destroyed sliding off rock. Everyone carries a fire extinguisher but I've never seen anyone use one. Are your engine enclosures CAT or aftermarket. CAT enclosures open wide and expose just about all of the engine bay. They do a good job keeping debris out of the belly pans, but by the end of a fire (if not sooner), the pans need to be cleaned, as does everything else, like the area around the fuel tank. If running an EROPS, there's a little less to clean. Preventive maintenance to avoid oil and fuel leaks is key, and if you arrive with them you will fail inspection at time of hire. Most hired equipment managers are reasonable and will give you time to repair a leak on the clock if it can be repaired the same day. Analogous to your fence lines, there's two types of attack, direct and indirect. Indirect is building secondary fire line where there's no fire. If you're going direct, you have one track in the black and the other in the green. Sometimes hard on the equipment, used to save real estate and improvements, works with grass fires, but not much use in heavy timber. Timber is mostly indirect. You lay it down and push it into the green. If you build a wide enough line and the wind cooperates, you stop the advance.

There's a firm in Oklahoma that builds a lot of aftermarket enclosures. They're not the same as OEM. Find someone who has a 10K with CAT enclosures and check them out. I believe you'll find they will keep the tinder off your manifold during your shift. At the end of the day, use a backpack blower to clean the engine compartment and pans. You shouldn't have to worry about fire working a fence row. I'd be more worried about rolling up wire around the sprocket.
Click to expand...

It's an open station 10k but the brush guard is not Cat. It's a Kenco so the side screens may be that too. The door on the left is small enough you can't remove the air filter....part of why I removed them.
I do remember seeing accessories in the book to seal up openings like the gap between hood and muffler and around lift cylinders.
Fence is barb over woven wire. All the barb has been removed and most of the woven, which is less of a problem.
 
C

Check Break

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2012
Messages
469
Location
USA
Sounds like that's the problem. CAT enclosures are a little more complicated to manufacture than the aftermarkets, which raised their price. Should be a lot cheaper now on the used market. CAT uses a baffle in front of the enclosure under the cross tube to seal up that hole. Otherwise, pretty much the entire side of the engine compartment is exposed when the door is opened. We use perforated metal in the hoods to promote cooling and cover areas like you describe. I believe we adopted a CAT pattern, but I don't remember for sure.
 
John C.

John C.

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Joined
Jun 11, 2007
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12,870
Location
Northwest
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Machinery & Equipment Appraiser
For fighting fires in the forests in Washington State the dozers are just standard units for the most part. The state has contracts for rental of private contractor machines that can be sourced when ever a need arises. I have fought fire on private land once with a dozer with OROPs and will happily let other people take on that job. I don't know of any dozers caught and burned in a forest fire. I do remember ag tractors trying to limit fires in wheat and grass fields pulling big disk sets that had gotten caught and burned with one or two lives lost. A dedicated design for a fire fighting rig would be a great idea. I can't see the state or the feds ever buying one though.
 
john chamorro

john chamorro

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2020
Messages
63
Location
San Antonio Valley Ca.
I've had my 5b on many fires. It's never had a problem collecting flammables. My avatar is from our last fire a few months ago. I keep the pans clear and the sides engine enclosures clean. During day to day work, I'm in heavy Chamise that sheds horribly. It will get in no matter what along with Oak leaves that collect on top and behind the exhaust manifold. When they start to smolder, a half bottle of drinking water usually douses it pretty quickly. If you keep it clean there's nothing to burn.
 
5

56wrench

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2016
Messages
2,119
Location
alberta
i use a wad of chicken wire wrapped around the exhaust pipe where it comes through the hood. it helps to keep leaves and small twigs from trickling down to the turbo. it seems to get the majority although the exhaust manifold area still needs to be cleaned as required.
 
D

D6c10K

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2008
Messages
681
Location
Iowa, USA
No manifold fires yesterday but I kept a close eye on it every time I pushed a tree that was dropping lots of leaves.
Shoved a couple of osage that dropped hedge balls all over. Sounded like a bushel of softballs being dumped on the brush guard.
 
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