Like all of Bobcat''s skid-steer loaders, the A220 can accommodate myriad-powered and nonpowered attachments everything from angle brooms and augers to wheel saws and whisker brooms. And it''s that versatility, along with the all-wheel steer capability, that has the company licking its chops in anticipation of a range of new markets. "We have several test machines in the field right now at a wide variety of customers," Fitzgerald said. "We''ve got one at a recycling plant where they''re running in all-wheel steer 100 percent of the time because of tire wear. They''ve taped the switch so the guys can''t run in skid-steer mode. They''ve got three other machines there and they go through approximately $12,000 worth of tires a year. If the plant can reduce its tire cost significantly, the price difference between an 863 and A220 can easily be justified. The other area of concern is a howtouseanabrasivechopsaw landing area by a conveyor. Current operating methods wear out the concrete surface. Grooves get worn deep enough into the concrete that they need to mill it out and repour the concrete. The A220 is a lot easier on the surface.

Wildfire perimetersGPS is also a new asset for mapping the perimeters of wildfires, but there are problems. Walking the fire line with a GPS unit is too dangerous, and flying the perimeter in a helicopter equipped with GPS or mapping by hand from the air at a safe distance aren''t often feasible. During the initial stages of a wildland fire, helicopters are usually busy with the more critical task of dropping water.The Los Angeles County Fire Department has found a third alternative. It has equipped bulldozers with built-in GPS units, a scheme that''s proved to be valuable because it takes the guesswork out of where a bulldozer line exists. The GPS receivers in these bulldozers have removable PC Type II cards that can be processed with associated mapping software. However, this bulldozer line typically makes up only a part of the fire line, the rest of which must still be mapped by other means.

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