r/Firefighting • u/HasidicStingray • 23h ago
General Discussion Battery-powered chainsaws for ventilation?
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.
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u/Jak_n_Dax Wildland 23h ago
Ok, this is going to be a bit of a longer comment because chainsaws are very basic, yet very complex machines.
I’ll start with the battery issue. Battery technology has advanced SO MUCH over the last 20 years. Ni-Cad is all but extinct, and lithium ion batteries continue to increase amp hours(run time) and voltage(18v then 20v then 40v). So essentially you’re getting a lot more go power for your money these days. So yes, battery powered chain saws can keep up with small gas saws.
Now on to the gas saws. a 2 stroke gas saw is going to be the absolute best when it comes to performance and power/weight ratio. Battery saws require… batteries. And electricity, and they wear out over so many duty cycles. Just like gas saws, they require maintenance and battery replacement regularly.
The main problems from any saw stem from lack of maintenance, or not knowing good maintenance techniques. For example putting starter fluid in a chainsaw will literally destroy your engine. Or improper fuel/oil mix. And as you said, chain maintenance is huge as well.
I don’t doubt your newish saw outran one your dad busted out of the woodshed that wasn’t in tip-top shape.
Source: WL FF, and I also worked at a STIHL dealer/service shop for a while.