ThePulaski is a specialty hand tool used in fighting fires, particularlywildfires,[1]which combines anaxe and anadze in one head. Similar to acutter mattock, it has a rigid handle of wood, plastic, or fiberglass. The Pulaski was developed for constructingfirebreaks, able to both dig soil and chop wood. It is also well adapted fortrail construction, and can be used forgardening and other outdoor work for general excavation and digging holes in root-bound or hard soil.
The invention of the Pulaski is credited toEd Pulaski, an assistantranger with theUnited States Forest Service in 1911.[2][3] Similar tools were introduced in 1876 by theCollins Tool Company. A tool that serves the same purpose was used in the Alps for over 300 years forplanting trees (Wiedehopfhaue) or thedolabra in ancient Rome. Pulaski was famous for taking action to save the lives of a crew of 45 firefighters during the August 1910wildfires in Idaho. His invention (or reinvention[4][5]) of a combination axe and adze may have been a result of the disaster, as he saw the need for better firefighting tools. Pulaski further refined the tool by 1913, and it came into use in the Rocky Mountain region.[1] In 1920 the Forest Service began contracting for the tool to be commercially manufactured but its use remained regional until the tool became a national standard in the 1930s.[4]
A tool bearing the initials "E.P.", which purportedly belonged to Pulaski himself, is part of the collection of theSmithsonian Institution at theWallace District Mining Museum inWallace, Idaho.[1][4][6]
Invented by USFS ranger Ed Pulaski in 1911.
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