SERVICES WE OFFER

Apex – Doug Harrison has been working wildfires for 29 years and has been instructing BC Wildfire Courses for 25 years. Along with adult education training, he is able to apply his years of experience to the class.

We organize wildfire training courses and can travel to train for your  organizational needs.

Apex has provided falling services for a wide variety of forestry applications.

• Falling / Logging contracts
• Danger tree falling on wildfires
• Faller supervision
• Faller & Chainsaw competency audits
• New Faller Training (NFT) – BCFSC

Doug is a QST and has instructed for the BCFSC New Faller Training (NFT) course. He regularly conducts falling audits for multiple clients.

Doug stays informed and updated on the latest falling practices by belonging to & acting as Co-Chair of the Falling Technical Advisory Committee (FTAC). FTAC is a diverse group of workers from across BC with experience related to hand falling that work together to improve faller safety to ensure fallers get home safe every day.

Doug Harrison is currently one of the lead instructors for the BC Forest Safety Council “Faller Supervisor” course & can act as a Qualified Falling Supervisor for clients that require this service, which meets WorkSafe BC reg. #26.22.1.

For numerous years Apex has held a standing arrangement with the BCWS for the following:

• Danger Tree Assessors / Danger Tree Fallers
• Faller Coordinator
• Danger Tree Specialist

For other forestry related work, we employ DTA’s that are trained with the “Forest Activities ” & “Parks & Recreation” DTA modules.

Apex has worked on many different Interface Fuel Management projects through the Province of BC over the last 25 years. Interface Fuel Management projects reduce hazardous forest fuel build-up around communities. This reduces the chances that a fire will burn hot, make its way into the tops of the trees or spread quickly through the treated area.

• Logging Slash Piles: is the leftover tree limbs, tops and other residue left by logging activities. Slash piles are disposed of by burning or chipping.
• Pile and burning: Slash is piled together and burned during safe conditions, usually during the winter after it has been left to season (dry). Burning is generally done during very wet periods or with light snow cover in late fall or early spring.
• Chipping: Slash is disposed of without risk of fire hazard and/or smoke concerns. The slash is either hand or machine fed depending on location and density.

Apex has been in charge of many Fuel Modification project where we supply crews, a track chipper, all necessary equipment and safety plan required for each contract.

Power saw training courses (PSO).

• We organize 2 or 3 day PSO training courses at our office or can travel to accommodate our client needs.
• Day 1 is spent in the classroom outlining the parts of a chainsaw, safe handling/carrying skills, defining kickback hazards & management, tools, PPE, site hazard identification, identifying bind.  The classroom session gets participants out of their seats regularly to handle the saw & conduct a comprehensive “hands on” maintenance section. the classroom session finishes up with a written exam.
• Day 2 is spent in the field as a full hands on session, which includes an initial safety meeting, reviewing the Emergency Response Plan(ERP), 3 methods of starting the saw, site & weather hazard assessment/ controls, identifying bind, applying the basic bucking skills to address the bind, filing the chain, reinforcing safe handling/carrying skills, demonstrating & managing for kickback hazards. Through the day the participant is continuously being monitored on the skills they are learning which is recorded using a practical evaluation document.

Apex has been involved with and in charge of several prescribed burns throughout BC. We supply a large portion of the equipment required along with personnel to execute the job.

Prescribed burning, also known as controlled burning or broadcast burning- is a controlled application of fire under specified weather conditions that helps restore the health of fire-adapted environments. This application of fire safely reduces the excessive amounts of slash – brush, trees and shrubs – as well as encouraging the new growth of vegetation. It also helps to maintain the plant and animal species whose habitats depend on periodic fire. Prescribed burning also help to prevent the outbreak and spread of wildfires and cleans the site for planting new trees.