What is "pulaski"

n. A double-ended fire-fighting tool, usually long-handled, and having an ax-blade on one side and a mattock-blade on the other.

Pulaski most commonly refers to Casimir Pulaski (Kazimierz Pułaski), a Polish military commander and American Revolutionary War hero.

The pulaski is a special hand tool used in wildland firefighting.

The tool combines an axe and an adze in one head, similar to that of the cutter mattock, with a rigid handle of wood, plastic, or fiberglass. The pulaski is a versatile tool for constructing firebreaks, as it can be used to both dig soil and chop wood. It is also well adapted for trail construction, gardening, and other outdoor work. As a gardening or excavation tool, it is effective for digging holes in root-bound or hard soil.

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. Ed 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 direct result of the disaster, as he saw the need for better firefighting tools. Ed 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.

Raising the tool above head height while swinging is discouraged as this wastes energy and creates a safety hazard.

An initialed ("E.P.") tool, which purportedly belonged to Pulaski himself, is at the Wallace District Mining Museum in Wallace, Idaho in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution.

Pulaski is an elevated, side platformed rapid transit station on the Chicago Transit Authority's 'L' system, serving the Green Line. Pulaski is located at the intersection of Lake Street and Pulaski Road in the West Garfield Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. The station opened in March 1894.

Pulaski is a station on the Chicago Transit Authority's 'L' system, serving the Pink Line and the North Lawndale neighborhood. Pulaski opened on June 16, 1902, as part of the Douglas Park branch of the Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad. It served as the terminus of that line until its 1907 extension to 48th Avenue.

Pulaski is a neighborhood in eastern Gary, Indiana. It is roughly triangular in shape, bounded on the south by the Borman Expressway, on the west by Maryland Street, and on the northeast by the Norfolk Southern railway. It is separated by an industrial corridor from Aetna to its east and Emerson to its north; it directly adjoins the neighborhoods of Midtown and Glen Park. As of 2000, Pulaski's population was 6,777, which was 96.7% African-American, 1.4% white, and 1.3% of Hispanic ethnicity.

Pulaski was originally settled by white ethnic millworkers from the 1920s to 1950s. It was one of the first neighborhoods in Gary to be integrated, as upwardly-mobile African-American families moved in from neighboring Midtown in the 1950s. In 1970, the neighborhood's population was 11,825, nearly double what it is today.

The neighborhood was the site of Gary's first experiment with urban renewal, beginning in 1963. This experiment caused considerable damage to the community.

There is little retail in the neighborhood, apart from a small cluster of shops at 21st and Virginia. The housing stock consists primarily of single-family homes, although there are also several apartment complexe. Pulaski's housing stock has a 96% occupancy rate and a 40% owner-occupancy rate. The neighborhood includes a large subdivision called Marshalltown. There are three elementary schools and a middle school.

The neighborhood includes a portion of the Little Calumet River floodplain in its southeastern corner, where there is significant open space. There are also several small community parks. As with many Gary neighborhoods, illegal dumping is a serious problem in disused areas.

Pułaski family was a Polish noble family of the Ślepowron coat of arms. Its most famous member was Casimir Pulaski.

Many of the family members were supporters of the Bar Confederation in the late 18th century.