Company Name: Cutters Edge
Headquarters: Baker City, Ore.
Signature Product: 2100 Series MULTI-CUT® Fire Rescue Saws and BULLET® Chain
Website: http://www.cuttersedge.com/
Intro: At Cutters Edge, we are proud to make Fire Rescue Saws specifically engineered and built for the fire rescue service. All of our Fire Rescue Saws feature next generation engine technology for more power, torque, better fuel efficiency and 75 percent less emissions.
Where did your company name originate from?
It came from a typical late night play-on words. “Cutting Edge” was a catch phrase at the time and even though our product gave the cutter an edge over the tools currently being used, we didn’t want to be lumped into a trendy stereotype.Instead of ‘cutting,’ we decided on ‘cutters’ – note: no apostrophe – relating to the operator, and ‘edge’ to not only the extra edge, or advantage, our product gave the cutter, but the ‘edge’ on the chain itself, which stayed sharp much longer.
What was the inspiration behind starting your company?
A safer, better way to do a job! I was a forest ranger in the mountains of Southern California and a green volunteer firefighter. I was assigned to make a trench cut (the Lakeland Lodge fire in Lake Cuyamaca, Calif. in 1978) to separate the kitchen from the rest of the building. Our department had a Homelite DM50 cut-off saw with a carbide-tipped blade. I got it done, but thought there had to be a better way, and went about finding it. Turns out, other firefighters had already tried chainsaws (see “Company” dropdown on our website homepage www.cuttersedge.com) and Capt. Mo Bullard of the L.A. City Heavy Duty Rescue Unit had already invented a carbide-tipped chainsaw chain. Using chainsaws with carbide-tipped chain still had some issues and now I spent about 30 years trying to figure them out.
Why do you believe your products are essential to the fire community?
There are just so many variables in cutting structural materials at fire and rescue scenes, and the environment we have to work in can be pretty rough. If the decision is made to make a cut, it’s imperative that we can complete the cut. We engineer our tools to work in these environments and cut the wide variety of material that are going to be encountered.
What has been the biggest challenge your company has faced?
Bureaucracy and tradition!
What makes your company unique?
Our focus. We have only one product, Fire Rescue Saws. In many ways that’s right, but we have several models and then the carbide-tipped Bullet® Chain, Diamond Blades, Diamond Chainsaw Chain and now the BulletBlade®. However, we only do one thing and that’s make Fire Rescue Saws. Between our three saw models, we have not found a material we cannot cut!
What do your customers like best about you and your products?
What I hear the most is their reliability.
What is the most rewarding part of serving the firefighting community?
The brotherhood.
Do you support any charitable organizations within public safety?
No specific organizations, but we do give back a lot through free training and equipment. We are supporters of the Wounded Warrior program and, while not specifically a fire service organization, an important one to us.
Is there any fun fact or trivia that you’d like to share with our users about you or your company?
As a firefighter, two different houses I owned burned down. Both in one fire and the largest wildland fire in the history of California – the Cedar Fire in 2003.
What’s next for Cutter’s Edge? Any upcoming new projects or initiatives?
There is always something on the drawing board. We’ve been going green both with engine designs and manufacturing practices, and our move of corporate headquarters to Baker City, Ore. in 2008 really reduced our environmental footprint.
