Calaveras, CA– More than three dozen personnel with CAL FIRE Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit completed recent chainsaw certification training as part of a two-week series of classes led by the unit’s “B” faller cadre.
The cadre conducted four recertification courses and two initial certification classes, with 22 fallers renewing their credentials and 14 personnel earning certification for the first time. B fallers are trained to fell and buck trees up to 24 inches in diameter, typically working on fuels reduction projects and in fire-damaged areas to thin overcrowded forests and remove hazardous trees. The training also serves as a pathway to identify candidates for advanced “C” faller certification, which allows crews to handle larger or more dangerous trees.
Following the first week of instruction, crews encountered a real-world test. Recently, while escorting trainees out of Calaveras Big Trees State Park, the cadre discovered a lightning-caused fire in a remote area of the North Fork of the Stanislaus River canyon. Under cadre supervision, trainees joined four CAL FIRE engines and a hand crew to access the fire. Crews contained the blaze to less than a quarter acre and felled a roughly 40-inch diameter tree that had been weakened by fire.
