Bulldozer Operators Risking Life To Save Lives

As wild fires again cause devastation, you can be assured that bulldozer operators are somewhere in the thick of things helping to slow down or prevent damage. Modern day bulldozer operators are a lot safer than those of years ago operating in sealed cabs with filtered airconditioning. They are still risking their lives – if they are caught in the midst of a wild fire, that cab will only offer minimal protection.

Bulldozer firefighters are often part of a firefighter team having undertaken the same firefighter training as their team mates. Others are only part time firefighters, spending most of their lives working as regular bulldozer operators. A recent article highlighted the importance of bulldozers to firefighting, with South Carolina adding ten new bulldozers to their team, with a further fourteen to be added next year.

Whether you’re a full time firefighter or a full time bulldozer operator, the training required to operate a bulldozer is the same. Three weeks of heavy equipment training will prepare you well for a role as a bulldozer operator. Once you have the basic skills down pat, on-the-job practice is what will help an operator hone their skills. Firefighting bulldozer operators will require further training from a fire department before they can work in wild fire situations.

If you are looking for an interesting and sometimes exciting career as a heavy equipment operator, then consider becoming a bulldozer operator. Of course, if you’re smart, you’ll learn as much as possible about a range of heavy equipment, and that’s where a heavy equipment training program through ATS is perfect – we train you to operate that range of equipment, allowing you to then specialize once you have that broad experience.