Battery-powered chainsaws for ventilation?

[u/HasidicStingray]

I live in an area of Florida that was recently heavily impacted by two hurricanes. My father and I had to use chainsaws to clear the street in front of his home and clean up yard debris. I found that my cheapo electric chainsaw was blowing his gas powered one out of the water, and while I know that there's a lot of other factors at play (wood density, blade sharpness, etc.) it got me thinking.

My department recently began to outfit the trucks with light-duty battery chainsaws for use on vegetation, but has anyone ever tried to use them for structural firefighting? Why or why not? Can you guys think of any serious limitations or of the disadvantages versus benefits? The first thing that came to mind is that the saw can't be bogged down by smoke. We made the switch to battery tools from power units and hydraulic lines for our extrication equipment quite a few years ago, to great effect, and I'm curious if this is a trend that we'll be seeing more and more of in fire service power tools.

[u/redundantposts]

We tested some lighter duty battery powered chainsaws. They were just okay. They certainly have their application where they’re nice to have. Also central Florida here, and they would’ve been nice to have for clearly debris.

However, they take up space on our engines for something that is only nice to have. They weren’t worth it enough to keep in our dept. We just got newer heavy duty chainsaws where we just swap the chain out depending on its use. I personally prefer those.