Cordless tools for a fire department?
Q: Can cordless tools take the place of gas-powered equipment for use by the volunteer fire team I lead?
I’m fire chief and our officers want to move away from gasoline tools to battery powered equivalents because of less maintenance and no worries about bad gas and hard starting. We’re looking at replacing chainsaws, cut-off saws and the powerful drills we use to run ice augers and hole saws. It would be nice to have everything the same so we can use the same batteries. Do you have any cordless tool recommendations for us?
A: I have a lot of experience with the kind of large, high-end cordless tools you’re talking about, and many of them are marketed as replacements for gas-powered equivalents. However, in my experience, this is gilding the lily for some applications and some users. Today’s biggest cordless chainsaws and drills and hole saws are impressive but it’s not unusual for me to find me missing the power and run time of a gas equivalent. That’s when I reach for my gas tools again. For a fire team, the issue of run time is especially important. For example, I have some very heavy-duty cordless tools in my shop, including cordless chainsaws from two different leading manufacturers. Even with the biggest batteries in place, run time might only be 15 or 20 minutes of hard use. And though I can swap in another battery that’s charged and get working again, that fresh pack will only last 15 or 20 minutes of hard use, too. These batteries can cost $300-plus each, so $1,000 worth of batteries might only give you 45 minutes of run time on one tool. Even if the first battery was diligently put on the charger as soon as it was discharged (not always easy when you’re battling an actual fire), it still would not be fully charged by the time you’ve run down the other two batteries. As for power, the largest battery-powered chainsaws I’ve tested have about the same power as my smallest 25cc gas-powered chainsaw. Like I said, this is pretty impressive for battery tools but, with lives at stake, I think you might want to look at keeping gas-powered stuff around in some cases.
Here’s an idea: How about trying some cordless tools and see how they work in your application? I wouldn’t get rid of any gas-powered equipment just yet, but choose one or two tools, then try them out while the gas options are still on your truck.
One thing to remember is that any of the cordless tools would work fine for a few cuts during a fire team practice. The real test is how they stand up in the heat of battle, when the tools and situations are bearing down with full weight and urgency of lives and property at stake, sometimes for hours on end. The best cordless tools have an automatic shut-down featured that stops the tool from working if it gets too hot. How this performs during an actual fire is another thing you’ll need to assess by trial.
What one tool would you most like to be free of gas with? Let me know and I can direct you to the very best cordless versions available right now. In my experience, a top-of-the-line cordless reciprocating saw fitted with the best metal cutting blade offers a faster way to cut into wrecked cars than the hydraulic jaws of life that have been used successfully for this work for decades. The beauty of the reciprocating saw is that it’s much lighter, more portable and easier to get operating than the jaws of life.