Like so many people, we’ve been watching the horrific images coming out of California and the Pacific Northwest in shock. While the annual fire seasons have become worse over the past several years, what we’re seeing now is absolutely tragic.
Tens of thousands of people are directly affected by the sweeping forest fires. Even as we edge closer to winter, there are still summer-like temperatures, strong winds, and some incredible challenges facing those fighting the flames. The demand for firefighting equipment, and experienced hands to pitch in, has pushed fire departments across the country to the absolute limit.
Just in the past few days, the Glass Fire in Napa and Sonoma have caused more evacuations, with hundreds of additional buildings now under threat from the flames. Cal Fire reports that the Glass Fire alone has claimed over roughly 60,000 acres and over 600 buildings, with 29,000 structures still at risk.
Throughout this summer, we noticed just how similar our Loamer and Slayer trail tools, designed to create singletrack mountain bike trails, look next to the implements used by firefighters in California, Oregon, and Washington. After doing some research, we redesigned some of our early prototypes to better suit the uses of firefighters and quickly pushed them into production.
The result is our four-piece firefighting line-up that also has been put to use on our local mountain bike trails, too. Each one offers slightly different strengths to suit the challenges of any terrain or soil composition. We’ve also ensured that all of our trail tools have replaceable handles, which we have in stock and ready to ship!
Check out the full firefighting tool line-up here.