120 Dozers Against a Million Acre Wall of Fire

In the summer of 1988 the Forest Service faced an unstoppable million acre inferno in Yellowstone National Park and realized water drops were no longer enough. They needed bare mineral soil. This is the real construction documentary story of how Dozer Boss Bill Reynolds led a makeshift fleet of 120 heavy dozers directly into the fire line. Operators drove Caterpillar D8L and Komatsu D155A heavy equipment into 122 degree heat where volcanic ash choked massive V8 diesel engines and hydraulic temperatures reached the absolute breaking point. We explore the extreme earthmoving capability of these logging and mining tractors and the mechanics who kept them running in superheated vacuums. When a mega fire creates its own violent weather system you do not fight it with delicate instruments. You fight it with 335 horsepower and a massive semi U blade. Fleet 44 was pushed far beyond safe engineering limits cutting a 600 mile trench through burning lodgepole pine root systems and solid granite boulders on steep slopes. Discover what happens to heavy track pins and bushings when they are sanded away by abrasive ash and why these machines were the only hope to save the line. The iron absorbed the brutal punishment so the human crew did not have to. If you want to keep watching real heavy equipment content and operator stories subscribe to Bulldozer Geek USA. Let us know in the comments if you ran heavy iron like this. What machine did you operate and how many hours did you log. We want to hear from the professionals who actually know what this work requires. #bulldozer #heavyequipment #bulldozergeekusa #constructiondocumentary #machinestories #heavymachinery