Grass Valley firefighter John Russell has been fighting on the front lines of wildland fires for nearly 20 years, and of all the things he’s learned in his decades of experience, he knows that it can be done better, more efficiently. So he is making it just that. When a fire strikes, Russell and his crews work to stop it from spreading by “cutting a line” around the perimeter of the fire. The line consists of trenches and berms and can be backbreaking, grueling and slow work. Several years ago Russell started examining the tools used for such work and …