The Pulaski is a special hand tool used in fighting fires, particularly

wildfires A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identif ...

, which combines an

axe An axe ( sometimes ax in American English; see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood, to harvest timber, as a weapon, and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol. The axe has ma ...

and an

adze An adze (; alternative spelling: adz) is an ancient and versatile cutting tool similar to an axe but with the cutting edge perpendicular to the handle rather than parallel. Adzes have been used since the Stone Age. They are used for smoothing ...

in one head. Similar to a cutter mattock, it has a rigid handle of wood, plastic, or fiberglass. The Pulaski is used for constructing

firebreak A firebreak or double track (also called a fire line, fuel break, fireroad and firetrail in Australia) is a gap in vegetation or other combustible material that acts as a barrier to slow or stop the progress of a bushfire or wildfire. A firebre ...

s, able to both dig soil and chop wood. It is also well adapted for

trail A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or small road usually passing through a natural area. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a path or footpath is the preferred term for a pedestrian or hiking trail. ...

construction, and can be used for gardening and other outdoor work for general excavation and digging holes in root-bound or hard soil. The axe blade of the Pulaski is the primary cutting edge, while the adze blade is secondary; this is the opposite of the cutter mattock, in which the adze blade is the larger of the two. The invention of the Pulaski is credited to

Ed Pulaski Edward Crockett Pulaski (February 9, 1866 – February 2, 1931) was a U.S. Forest Service ranger based in Wallace, Idaho. Pulaski traveled west and worked as a miner, railroad worker, and ranch foreman before joining the forest service in 1908. H ...

, an assistant

ranger A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

with the

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...

in 1911. Similar tools were introduced in 1876 by the Collins Tool Company. A tool that serves the same purpose was used in the Alps for over 300 years for

planting trees Tree-planting is the process of transplanting tree seedlings, generally for forestry, land reclamation, or landscaping purpose. It differs from the transplantation of larger trees in arboriculture, and from the lower cost but slower and less re ...

( Wiedehopfhaue) or the dolabra in ancient Rome. Pulaski was famous for taking action to save the lives of a crew of 45 firefighters during the disastrous August 1910 wildfires in Idaho. His invention (or reinvention) of his namesake tool may have been a result of the disaster, as he saw the need for better firefighting tools. Pulaski further refined the tool by 1913, and it came into use in the Rocky Mountain region. In 1920 the Forest Service began contracting for the tool to be commercially manufactured but its use remained regional for some years. The tool became a national standard in the 1930s. An initialed ("E.P.") tool, which purportedly belonged to Pulaski himself, is part of the collection of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

at the Wallace District Mining Museum in

Wallace, Idaho Wallace, Idaho is a city in and the county seat of Shoshone County, Idaho, in the Silver Valley mining district of the Idaho Panhandle. Founded in 1884, Wallace sits alongside the South Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River (and Interstate 90), app ...

. Aside from a knife, the only tool that was issued to the participants in the American

reality series Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

Naked and Afraid ''Naked and Afraid'' is an American reality series that airs on the Discovery Channel. Each episode chronicles the lives of two survivalists who meet for the first time naked and are given the task of surviving a stay in the wilderness for 21 ...

'' aired March 24, 2019 on the Discovery Channel show was a Pulaski.

References

External links

* {{Firefighting Firefighter tools Forestry tools Mechanical hand tools Wildfire suppression equipment

See also

References

External links