The invention of the Pulaski is credited to Ed Pulaski , an assistant ranger with the United States Forest Service , in 1911 , although a similar tool was first introduced in 1876 by the Collins Tool Company . Pulaski was famous for taking action to save the lives of a crew of 45 firefighters during the disastrous August 1910 wildfires in Idaho . His invention ( or reinvention ) of the tool that bears his name 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 . In 1920 the Forest Service began contracting for the tool to be commercially manufactured but use remained regional for some years . The tool became a national standard in the 1930s
wildfires in Idaho
Great Fire of 1910
Pulaski (tool)