We’ve seen the devastation from wildfires here in northern Michigan — and across the country.
With hot temperatures and dry conditions, it doesn’t take long for them to spready quickly.
In May 2022, 2,700 acres of land in Montmorency and Cheboygan counties burned, now known as the Blue Lakes fire.
The Michigan DNR Wildland Fire Crews were some of the first on scene to contain the wildfire.
And for crews using their equipment to help battle the flames, that all starts back here in Roscommon at the DNR Forest Fire Experiment Station.
“This facility was built in 1929. And since then we’ve done development, all kinds of different equipment that we’ve developed here to fight fire,” said DNR Forest Fire Experiment Station Engineering Manager Dave Stockoski.
That includes equipment like brush guards and fire line plows that were originally invented in the 50s, and it’s not just for the DNR.
“There’s a small portion of our funding that is federally portioned to us where we support design activities that help out your local VFDs, and then we support the forest service and other agencies across the country with fire equipment designs,” Stockoski said.
It all starts at the beginning of the process – the designing.
“I make blueprints and do designs for the equipment and I try to keep it as simple as possible so they can be built anywhere by simple means,” said DNR Forest Fire Experiment Station Drafting Technician Christopher Piper. “Currently we are working on a 2022 F550. I have right here a frame mock-up from ford and the front end just that we get positioning of where the vehicle is in model space and from there, I put together the bumpers and the brush guarding and the bed here, and then I put all that on paper and we put it into the shop and they make it and see if it works or not.”
Like all engineering, it’s a process of trial and error.
“Some of this, as many new things have gone, materials are lighters, things like plastics and those things,” said DNR Forest Fire Experiment Station Engineering Specialist Kevin Jaskowski. “So for fuel economy and that kind of stuff, these trucks get designed in different ways for all different uses.”
Sometimes taking up to a year to finish one project.
“Our design is important,” said Stockoski. “We’re supporting these guys and that’s the ultimate goal of our place.”
And everything is hand made
“We buy everything from sheet steel that we can bend up into metal water tanks from a couple hundred gallons all the way up to thousands of gallons and then buy the fire pumps and equip all that apparatus on the trucks or the tractor plows or dozers for the state,” said Jaskowski.
But this small group of people take pride in what they do on a day to day basis.
“The goal of this place is to one-protect the state. The states assets, the people of the state, and most importantly the design work we do here is to protect our firefighters,” Stockoski said.
“I love designing. I like doing it and coming up with new ideas. It’s probably the most fun part,” said Piper. “It’s very satisfying to see something go from my mind into something that they’ve made.”
“The whole reason we’re here protecting the forest and protecting people and their houses, and that too, is kind of a good objective to have in your job,” Jaskowski said.
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