A tractor and graders help stop the Bradberry Fire in Colorado

Above: Two graders on the Bradberry Fire work in tandem, parallel to the fire’s edge. Screencap from KUSA video.

A grass fire southeast of Denver in Elbert County burned about 300 acres before firefighters and other locals stopped the spread Monday afternoon.

We are writing about it because it was interesting watching portions of a video shot by KUSA. It’s almost 25 minutes long, but if you skip around you’ll see not only shots of the fire spreading, but also:

6:20–An engine crew implements a strategic pause.

13:12–Two graders are nose-to-nose. At first it looked like they were battling, like two bighorn sheep, but apparently one got stuck, high-centered, and the other was pushing it free. If the grader had been operating alone — well, that’s how equipment and sometimes equipment drivers get hurt. For example, earlier this year in northwest Oklahoma.

20:20–A farm tractor appears to be building fireline.

23:15–After a grader operator dismounts to cut a wire fence, the two graders begin operating in tandem parallel to the fire’s edge.

Bradberry Fire
After a grader become stuck on the Bradberry Fire, a second one pushes it free. Screencap from KUSA video.

If you click full-screen at bottom-right in the video below, it will be easier to skip around.

Road grader is overrun by a wildfire in Oklahoma; reporters shoot video and save the operator

In case you missed it in Tuesday’s article about the wildfires in northwest Oklahoma, a road grader operator had a VERY, VERY close call trying to put in a control line around a fire. Here’s what we wrote yesterday:

grader overrun by fire
Screen shot from News9 video of road grader being overrun by wildfire in Oklahoma.

I just watched a replay on NEWS9.com of a road grader that had been putting in fire line get stuck as it tried to go up a slope to get on a road. The operator spent several seconds trying to get the machinery unstuck as the fire bore down. The flames were actually impinging on the grader as the operator jumped out the door and ran over to a reporter’s vehicle and got inside. By then the flames were pouring over the hood of that vehicle as the reporter quickly backed away, as if he was driving away from a tornado, he said. Apparently the grader operator was not injured.

Below is the video of the grader burnover.

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