How does the Department of Forestry fight wildfires?
The Department of Forestry maintains a network of fire fighting personnel and equipment ready to respond to wildfires across Virginia. In mountainous western Virginia, crews fight fire using hand tools, such as fire rakes, shovels, and the Pulaski (a combination of an axe and mattock). In Central and Eastern Virginia, bulldozers can often construct firebreaks, plowed lines two to ten feet wide down to mineral soil to prevent the fire from spreading. Where wildfires are accessible by roads or fields, water is sprayed on fires from engines. On larger, more difficult to control wildfires, helicopters equipped with buckets are used to drop water directly on the fire. Air tankers that use retardants to slow the spread of the fire are also used.
