The West Virginia Division of Forestry’s Dozer Academy gives equipment operators an opportunity to learn how to safely operate dozers across different types of terrain.
The training was sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic Fire Compact, a regional partnership focused on supporting wildfire preparedness and response across the Mid-Atlantic.
The academy includes hands-on training on an obstacle course featuring switchbacks, steep hills and a barrel-pushing exercise. Operators must maneuver a barrel in a circle while working to avoid digging the dozer blade into the soil.
The training also brings operators from multiple states together to share knowledge and experience. One participant from Ohio said the course provides experience that can be taken back to help train newer equipment operators in his state.
Multistate training is also an opportunity for operators to build relationships with others who may work alongside them during wildfire assignments. Participants noted that operators from several states worked together on fire assignments in Minnesota this summer.
Wildfires occur in West Virginia every year, and the Dozer Academy helps operators build the skills needed to be prepared if they are called on to suppress a wildfire.
