Fire Terminology
The following glossary contains fire terms. The entire glossary
is in ABC order and is readable by scrolling down, or by skipping
to a particular section by selecting a letter.
A B
C D
E F
G H
I J
K L
M N
O P
Q R S
T U
V W
X Y Z
A
Aerial Fuels: All live and dead vegetation in
the forest canopy or above surface fuels, including tree branches,
twigs and cones, snags, moss, and high brush.
Aerial Ignition: Ignition of fuels by dropping
incendiary devices or materials from aircraft.
Air Tanker: A fixed-wing aircraft equipped to
drop fire retardants or suppressants.
Agency: Any federal, state, or county government
organization participating with jurisdictional responsibilities.
Anchor Point: An advantageous location, usually
a barrier to fire spread, from which to start building a fire line.
An anchor point is used to reduce the chance of firefighters being
flanked by fire.
Aramid: The generic name for a high-strength,
flame-resistant synthetic fabric used in the shirts and jeans of
firefighters. Nomex, a brand name for aramid fabric, is the term
commonly used by firefighters.
Aspect: Direction toward which a slope faces.
B
Backfire: A fire set along the inner edge of a
fireline to consume the fuel in the path of a wildfire and/or change
the direction of force of the fire's convection column.
Backpack Pump: A portable sprayer with hand-pump,
fed from a liquid-filled container fitted with straps, used mainly
in fire and pest control. (See also Bladder Bag.)
Bambi Bucket: A collapsible bucket slung below
a helicopter. Used to dip water from a variety of sources for fire
suppression.
Behave: A system of interactive computer programs
for modeling fuel and fire behavior that consists of two systems:
BURN and FUEL.
Bladder Bag: A collapsible backpack portable sprayer
made of neoprene or high-strength nylon fabric fitted with a pump.
(See also Backpack Pump.)
Blow-up: A sudden increase in fire intensity or
rate of spread strong enough to prevent direct control or to upset
control plans. Blow-ups are often accompanied by violent convection
and may have other characteristics of a fire storm. (See Flare-up.)
Brush: A collective term that refers to stands
of vegetation dominated by shrubby, woody plants, or low growing
trees, usually of a type undesirable for livestock or timber management.
Brush Fire: A fire burning in vegetation that
is predominantly shrubs, brush and scrub growth.
Bucket Drops: The dropping of fire retardants
or suppressants from specially designed buckets slung below a helicopter.
Buffer Zones: An area of reduced vegetation that
separates wildlands from vulnerable residential or business developments.
This barrier is similar to a greenbelt in that it is usually used
for another purpose such as agriculture, recreation areas, parks,
or golf courses.
Bump-up Method: A progressive method of building
a fire line on a wildfire without changing relative positions in
the line. Work is begun with a suitable space between workers. Whenever
one worker overtakes another, all workers ahead move one space forward
and resume work on the uncompleted part of the line. The last worker
does not move ahead until completing his or her space.
Burn Out: Setting fire inside a control line to
widen it or consume fuel between the edge of the fire and the control
line.
Burning Ban: A declared ban on open air burning
within a specified area, usually due to sustained high fire danger.
Burning Conditions: The state of the combined
factors of the environment that affect fire behavior in a specified
fuel type.
Burning Index: An estimate of the potential difficulty
of fire containment as it relates to the flame length at the most
rapidly spreading portion of a fire's perimeter.
Burning Period: That part of each 24-hour period
when fires spread most rapidly, typically from 10:00 a.m. to sundown.
C
Campfire: As used to classify the cause of a wildland
fire, a fire that was started for cooking or warming that spreads
sufficiently from its source to require action by a fire control
agency.
Candle or Candling: A single tree or a very small
clump of trees which is burning from the bottom up.
Chain: A unit of linear measurement equal to 66
feet.
Closure: Legal restriction, but not necessarily
elimination of specified activities such as smoking, camping, or
entry that might cause fires in a given area.
Cold Front: The leading edge of a relatively cold
air mass that displaces warmer air. The heavier cold air may cause
some of the warm air to be lifted. If the lifted air contains enough
moisture, the result may be cloudiness, precipitation, and thunderstorms.
If both air masses are dry, no clouds may form. Following the passage
of a cold front in the Northern Hemisphere, westerly or northwesterly
winds of 15 to 30 or more miles per hour often continue for 12 to
24 hours.
Cold Trailing: A method of controlling a partly
dead fire edge by carefully inspecting and feeling with the hand
for heat to detect any fire, digging out every live spot, and trenching
any live edge.
Command Staff: The command staff consists of the
information officer, safety officer and liaison officer. They report
directly to the incident commander and may have assistants.
Complex: Two or more individual incidents located
in the same general area which are assigned to a single incident
commander or unified command.
Contain a fire: A fuel break around the fire has
been completed. This break may include natural barriers or manually
and/or mechanically constructed line.
Control a fire: The complete extinguishment of
a fire, including spot fires. Fireline has been strengthened so
that flare-ups from within the perimeter of the fire will not break
through this line.
Control Line: All built or natural fire barriers
and treated fire edge used to control a fire.
Cooperating Agency: An agency supplying assistance
other than direct suppression, rescue, support, or service functions
to the incident control effort; e.g., Red Cross, law enforcement
agency, telephone company, etc.
Coyote Tactics: A progressive line construction
duty involving self-sufficient crews that build fire line until
the end of the operational period, remain at or near the point while
off duty, and begin building fire line again the next operational
period where they left off.
Creeping Fire: Fire burning with a low flame and
spreading slowly.
Crew Boss: A person in supervisory charge of usually
16 to 21 firefighters and responsible for their performance, safety,
and welfare.
Crown Fire (Crowning): The movement of fire through
the crowns of trees or shrubs more or less independently of the
surface fire.
Curing: Drying and browning of herbaceous vegetation
or slash.
D
Dead Fuels: Fuels with no living tissue in which
moisture content is governed almost entirely by atmospheric moisture
(relative humidity and precipitation), dry-bulb temperature, and
solar radiation.
Debris Burning: A fire spreading from any fire
originally set for the purpose of clearing land or for rubbish,
garbage, range, stubble, or meadow burning.
Defensible Space: An area either natural or manmade
where material capable of causing a fire to spread has been treated,
cleared, reduced, or changed to act as a barrier between an advancing
wildland fire and the loss to life, property, or resources. In practice,
"defensible space" is defined as an area a minimum of
30 feet around a structure that is cleared of flammable brush or
vegetation.
Deployment: See Fire Shelter Deployment.
Detection: The act or system of discovering and
locating fires.
Direct Attack: Any treatment of burning fuel,
such as by wetting, smothering, or chemically quenching the fire
or by physically separating burning from unburned fuel.
Dispatch: The implementation of a command decision
to move a resource or resources from one place to another.
Dispatcher: A person employed who receives reports
of discovery and status of fires, confirms their locations, takes
action promptly to provide people and equipment likely to be needed
for control in first attack, and sends them to the proper place.
Dispatch Center: A facility from which resources
are directly assigned to an incident.
Division: Divisions are used to divide an incident
into geographical areas of operation. Divisions are established
when the number of resources exceeds the span-of-control of the
operations chief. A division is located with the Incident Command
System organization between the branch and the task force/strike
team.
Dozer: Any tracked vehicle with a front-mounted
blade used for exposing mineral soil.
Dozer Line: Fire line constructed by the front
blade of a dozer.
Drip Torch: Hand-held device for igniting fires
by dripping flaming liquid fuel on the materials to be burned; consists
of a fuel fount, burner arm, and igniter. Fuel used is generally
a mixture of diesel and gasoline.
Drop Zone: Target area for air tankers, helitankers,
and cargo dropping.
Drought Index: A number representing net effect
of evaporation, transpiration, and precipitation in producing cumulative
moisture depletion in deep duff or upper soil layers.
Dry Lightning Storm: Thunderstorm in which negligible
precipitation reaches the ground. Also called a dry storm.
Duff: The layer of decomposing organic materials
lying below the litter layer of freshly fallen twigs, needles, and
leaves and immediately above the mineral soil.
E
Energy Release Component (ERC): The computed total
heat released per unit area (British thermal units per square foot)
within the fire front at the head of a moving fire.
Engine: Any ground vehicle providing specified
levels of pumping, water and hose capacity.
Engine Crew: Firefighters assigned to an engine.
The Fireline Handbook defines the minimum crew makeup by engine
type.
Entrapment: A situation where personnel are unexpectedly
caught in a fire behavior-related, life-threatening position where
planned escape routes or safety zones are absent, inadequate, or
compromised. An entrapment may or may not include deployment of
a fire shelter for its intended purpose. These situations may or
may not result in injury. They include "near misses."
Environmental Assessment (EA): EAs were authorized
by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969. They are
concise, analytical documents prepared with public participation
that determine if an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is needed
for a particular project or action. If an EA determines an EIS is
not needed, the EA becomes the document allowing agency compliance
with NEPA requirements.
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS): EISs were
authorized by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969.
Prepared with public participation, they assist decision makers
by providing information, analysis and an array of action alternatives,
allowing managers to see the probable effects of decisions on the
environment. Generally, EISs are written for large-scale actions
or geographical areas.
Equilibrium Moisture Content: Moisture content
that a fuel particle will attain if exposed for an infinite period
in an environment of specified constant temperature and humidity.
When a fuel particle reaches equilibrium moisture content, net exchange
of moisture between it and the environment is zero.
Escape Route: A preplanned and understood route
firefighters take to move to a safety zone or other low-risk area,
such as an already burned area, previously constructed safety area,
a meadow that won't burn, natural rocky area that is large enough
to take refuge without being burned. When escape routes deviate
from a defined physical path, they should be clearly marked (flagged).
Escaped Fire: A fire which has exceeded or is
expected to exceed initial attack capabilities or prescription.
Extended Attack Incident: A wildland fire that
has not been contained or controlled by initial attack forces and
for which more firefighting resources are arriving, en route, or
being ordered by the initial attack incident commander.
Extreme Fire Behavior: "Extreme" implies
a level of fire behavior characteristics that ordinarily precludes
methods of direct control action. One of more of the following is
usually involved: high rate of spread, prolific crowning and/or
spotting, presence of fire whirls, strong convection column. Predictability
is difficult because such fires often exercise some degree of influence
on their environment and behave erratically, sometimes dangerously.
F
Faller: A person who fells trees. Also called
a sawyer or cutter.
Field Observer: Person responsible to the Situation
Unit Leader for collecting and reporting information about an incident
obtained from personal observations and interviews.
Fine (Light) Fuels: Fast-drying fuels, generally
with a comparatively high surface area-to-volume ratio, which are
less than 1/4-inch in diameter and have a timelag of one hour or
less. These fuels readily ignite and are rapidly consumed by fire
when dry.
Fingers of a Fire: The long narrow extensions
of a fire projecting from the main body.
Fire Behavior: The manner in which a fire reacts
to the influences of fuel, weather and topography.
Fire Behavior Forecast: Prediction of probable
fire behavior, usually prepared by a Fire Behavior Officer, in support
of fire suppression or prescribed burning operations.
Fire Behavior Specialist: A person responsible
to the Planning Section Chief for establishing a weather data collection
system and for developing fire behavior predictions based on fire
history, fuel, weather and topography.
Fire Break: A natural or constructed barrier used
to stop or check fires that may occur, or to provide a control line
from which to work.
Fire Cache: A supply of fire tools and equipment
assembled in planned quantities or standard units at a strategic
point for exclusive use in fire suppression.
Fire Crew: An organized group of firefighters
under the leadership of a crew leader or other designated official.
Fire Front: The part of a fire within which continuous
flaming combustion is taking place. Unless otherwise specified the
fire front is assumed to be the leading edge of the fire perimeter.
In ground fires, the fire front may be mainly smoldering combustion.
Fire Intensity: A general term relating to the
heat energy released by a fire.
Fire Line: A linear fire barrier that is scraped
or dug to mineral soil.
Fire Load: The number and size of fires historically
experienced on a specified unit over a specified period (usually
one day) at a specified index of fire danger.
Fire Management Plan (FMP): A strategic plan that
defines a program to manage wildland and prescribed fires and documents
the Fire Management Program in the approved land use plan. The plan
is supplemented by operational plans such as preparedness plans,
preplanned dispatch plans, prescribed fire plans, and prevention
plans.
Fire Perimeter: The entire outer edge or boundary
of a fire.
Fire Season: 1) Period(s) of the year during which
wildland fires are likely to occur, spread, and affect resource
values sufficient to warrant organized fire management activities.
2) A legally enacted time during which burning activities are regulated
by state or local authority.
Fire Shelter: An aluminized tent offering protection
by means of reflecting radiant heat and providing a volume of breathable
air in a fire entrapment situation. Fire shelters should only be
used in life-threatening situations, as a last resort.
Fire Shelter Deployment: The removing of a fire
shelter from its case and using it as protection against fire.
Fire Storm: Violent convection caused by a large
continuous area of intense fire. Often characterized by destructively
violent surface indrafts, near and beyond the perimeter, and sometimes
by tornado-like whirls.
Fire Triangle: Instructional aid in which the
sides of a triangle are used to represent the three factors (oxygen,
heat, fuel) necessary for combustion and flame production; removal
of any of the three factors causes flame production to cease.
Fire Use Module (Prescribed Fire Module): A team
of skilled and mobile personnel dedicated primarily to prescribed
fire management. These are national and interagency resources, available
throughout the prescribed fire season, that can ignite, hold and
monitor prescribed fires.
Fire Weather: Weather conditions that influence
fire ignition, behavior and suppression.
Fire Weather Watch: A term used by fire weather
forecasters to notify using agencies, usually 24 to 72 hours ahead
of the event, that current and developing meteorological conditions
may evolve into dangerous fire weather.
Fire Whirl: Spinning vortex column of ascending
hot air and gases rising from a fire and carrying aloft smoke, debris,
and flame. Fire whirls range in size from less than one foot to
more than 500 feet in diameter. Large fire whirls have the intensity
of a small tornado.
Firefighting Resources: All people and major items
of equipment that can or potentially could be assigned to fires.
Flame Height: The average maximum vertical extension
of flames at the leading edge of the fire front. Occasional flashes
that rise above the general level of flames are not considered.
This distance is less than the flame length if flames are tilted
due to wind or slope.
Flame Length: The distance between the flame tip
and the midpoint of the flame depth at the base of the flame (generally
the ground surface); an indicator of fire intensity.
Flaming Front: The zone of a moving fire where
the combustion is primarily flaming. Behind this flaming zone combustion
is primarily glowing. Light fuels typically have a shallow flaming
front, whereas heavy fuels have a deeper front. Also called fire
front.
Flanks of a Fire: The parts of a fire's perimeter
that are roughly parallel to the main direction of spread.
Flare-up: Any sudden acceleration of fire spread
or intensification of a fire. Unlike a blow-up, a flare-up lasts
a relatively short time and does not radically change control plans.
Flash Fuels: Fuels such as grass, leaves, draped
pine needles, fern, tree moss and some kinds of slash, that ignite
readily and are consumed rapidly when dry. Also called fine fuels.
Forb: A plant with a soft, rather than permanent
woody stem, that is not a grass or grass-like plant.
Fuel: Combustible material. Includes, vegetation,
such as grass, leaves, ground litter, plants, shrubs and trees,
that feed a fire. (See Surface Fuels.)
Fuel Bed: An array of fuels usually constructed
with specific loading, depth and particle size to meet experimental
requirements; also, commonly used to describe the fuel composition
in natural settings.
Fuel Loading: The amount of fuel present expressed
quantitatively in terms of weight of fuel per unit area.
Fuel Model: Simulated fuel complex (or combination
of vegetation types) for which all fuel descriptors required for
the solution of a mathematical rate of spread model have been specified.
Fuel Moisture (Fuel Moisture Content): The quantity
of moisture in fuel expressed as a percentage of the weight when
thoroughly dried at 212 degrees Fahrenheit.
Fuel Reduction: Manipulation, including combustion,
or removal of fuels to reduce the likelihood of ignition and/or
to lessen potential damage and resistance to control.
Fuel Type: An identifiable association of fuel
elements of a distinctive plant species, form, size, arrangement,
or other characteristics that will cause a predictable rate of fire
spread or difficulty of control under specified weather conditions.
Fusee: A colored flare designed as a railway warning
device and widely used to ignite suppression and prescription fires.
G
General Staff: The group of incident management
personnel reporting to the incident commander. They may each have
a deputy, as needed. Staff consists of operations section chief,
planning section chief, logistics section chief, and finance/administration
section chief.
Geographic Area: A political boundary designated
by the wildland fire protection agencies, where these agencies work
together in the coordination and effective utilization
Ground Fuel: All combustible materials below the
surface litter, including duff, tree or shrub roots, punchy wood,
peat, and sawdust, that normally support a glowing combustion without
flame.
H
Haines Index: An atmospheric index used to indicate
the potential for wildfire growth by measuring the stability and
dryness of the air over a fire.
Hand Line: A fireline built with hand tools.
Hazard Reduction: Any treatment of a hazard that
reduces the threat of ignition and fire intensity or rate of spread.
Head of a Fire: The side of the fire having the
fastest rate of spread.
Heavy Fuels: Fuels of large diameter such as snags,
logs, large limb wood, that ignite and are consumed more slowly
than flash fuels.
Helibase: The main location within the general
incident area for parking, fueling, maintaining, and loading helicopters.
The helibase is usually located at or near the incident base.
Helispot: A temporary landing spot for helicopters.
Helitack: The use of helicopters to transport
crews, equipment, and fire retardants or suppressants to the fire
line during the initial stages of a fire.
Helitack Crew: A group of firefighters trained
in the technical and logistical use of helicopters for fire suppression.
Holding Actions: Planned actions required to achieve
wildland prescribed fire management objectives. These actions have
specific implementation timeframes for fire use actions but can
have less sensitive implementation demands for suppression actions.
Holding Resources: Firefighting personnel and
equipment assigned to do all required fire suppression work following
fireline construction but generally not including extensive mop-up.
Hose Lay: Arrangement of connected lengths of
fire hose and accessories on the ground, beginning at the first
pumping unit and ending at the point of water delivery.
Hotshot Crew: A highly trained fire crew used
mainly to build fireline by hand.
Hotspot: A particular active part of a fire.
Hotspotting: Reducing or stopping the spread of
fire at points of particularly rapid rate of spread or special threat,
generally the first step in prompt control, with emphasis on first
priorities.
I
Incident: A human-caused or natural occurrence,
such as wildland fire, that requires emergency service action to
prevent or reduce the loss of life or damage to property or natural
resources.
Incident Action Plan (IAP): Contains objectives
reflecting the overall incident strategy and specific tactical actions
and supporting information for the next operational period. The
plan may be oral or written. When written, the plan may have a number
of attachments, including: incident objectives, organization assignment
list, division assignment, incident radio communication plan, medical
plan, traffic plan, safety plan, and incident map.
Incident Command Post (ICP): Location at which
primary command functions are executed. The ICP may be co-located
with the incident base or other incident facilities.
Incident Command System (ICS): The combination
of facilities, equipment, personnel, procedure and communications
operating within a common organizational structure, with responsibility
for the management of assigned resources to effectively accomplish
stated objectives pertaining to an incident.
Incident Commander: Individual responsible for
the management of all incident operations at the incident site.
Incident Management Team: The incident commander
and appropriate general or command staff personnel assigned to manage
an incident.
Incident Objectives: Statements of guidance and
direction necessary for selection of appropriate strategy(ies),
and the tactical direction of resources. Incident objectives are
based on realistic expectations of what can be accomplished when
all allocated resources have been effectively deployed.
Infrared Detection: The use of heat sensing equipment,
known as Infrared Scanners, for detection of heat sources that are
not visually detectable by the normal surveillance methods of either
ground or air patrols.
Initial Attack: The actions taken by the first
resources to arrive at a wildfire to protect lives and property,
and prevent further extension of the fire.
J
Job Hazard Analysis: This analysis of a project
is completed by staff to identify hazards to employees and the public.
It identifies hazards, corrective actions and the required safety
equipment to ensure public and employee safety.
Jump Spot: Selected landing area for smokejumpers.
Jump Suit: Approved protection suite work by smokejumpers.
K
Keech Byram Drought Index (KBDI): Commonly-used
drought index adapted for fire management applications, with a numerical
range from 0 (no moisture deficiency) to 800 (maximum drought).
Knock Down: To reduce the flame or heat on the
more vigorously burning parts of a fire edge.
L
Ladder Fuels: Fuels which provide vertical continuity
between strata, thereby allowing fire to carry from surface fuels
into the crowns of trees or shrubs with relative ease. They help
initiate and assure the continuation of crowning.
Large Fire: 1) For statistical purposes, a fire
burning more than a specified area of land e.g., 300 acres. 2) A
fire burning with a size and intensity such that its behavior is
determined by interaction between its own convection column and
weather conditions above the surface.
Lead Plane: Aircraft with pilot used to make dry
runs over the target area to check wing and smoke conditions and
topography and to lead air tankers to targets and supervise their
drops.
Light (Fine) Fuels: Fast-drying fuels, generally
with a comparatively high surface area-to-volume ratio, which are
less than 1/4-inch in diameter and have a timelag of one hour or
less. These fuels readily ignite and are rapidly consumed by fire
when dry.
Lightning Activity Level (LAL): A number, on a
scale of 1 to 6, that reflects frequency and character of cloud-to-ground
lightning. The scale is exponential, based on powers of 2 (i.e.,
LAL 3 indicates twice the lightning of LAL 2).
Line Scout: A firefighter who determines the location
of a fire line.
Litter: Top layer of the forest, scrubland, or
grassland floor, directly above the fermentation layer, composed
of loose debris of dead sticks, branches, twigs, and recently fallen
leaves or needles, little altered in structure by decomposition.
Live Fuels: Living plants, such as trees, grasses,
and shrubs, in which the seasonal moisture content cycle is controlled
largely by internal physiological mechanisms, rather than by external
weather influences.
M
Micro-Remote Environmental Monitoring System (Micro-REMS):
Mobile weather monitoring station. A Micro-REMS usually accompanies
an incident meteorologist and ATMU to an incident.
Mineral Soil: Soil layers below the predominantly
organic horizons; soil with little combustible material.
Mobilization: The process and procedures used
by all organizations, federal, state and local for activating, assembling,
and transporting all resources that have been requested to respond
to or support an incident.
Modular Airborne Firefighting System (MAFFS):
A manufactured unit consisting of five interconnecting tanks, a
control pallet, and a nozzle pallet, with a capacity of 3,000 gallons,
designed to be rapidly mounted inside an unmodified C-130 (Hercules)
cargo aircraft for use in dropping retardant on wildland fires.
Mop-up: To make a fire safe or reduce residual
smoke after the fire has been controlled by extinguishing or removing
burning material along or near the control line, felling snags,
or moving logs so they won't roll downhill.
Multi-Agency Coordination (MAC): A generalized
term which describes the functions and activities of representatives
of involved agencies and/or jurisdictions who come together to make
decisions regarding the prioritizing of incidents, and the sharing
and use of critical resources. The MAC organization is not a part
of the on-scene ICS and is not involved in developing incident strategy
or tactics.
Mutual Aid Agreement: Written agreement between
agencies and/or jurisdictions in which they agree to assist one
another upon request, by furnishing personnel and equipment.
N
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA): NEPA
is the basic national law for protection of the environment, passed
by Congress in 1969. It sets policy and procedures for environmental
protection, and authorizes Environmental Impact Statements and Environmental
Assessments to be used as analytical tools to help federal managers
make decisions.
National Fire Danger Rating System (NFDRS): A
uniform fire danger rating system that focuses on the environmental
factors that control the moisture content of fuels.
National Wildfire Coordinating Group: A group
formed under the direction of the Secretaries of Agriculture and
the Interior and comprised of representatives of the U.S. Forest
Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs, National
Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Association of
State Foresters. The group's purpose is to facilitate coordination
and effectiveness of wildland fire activities and provide a forum
to discuss, recommend action, or resolve issues and problems of
substantive nature. NWCG is the certifying body for all courses
in the National Fire Curriculum.
Nomex ®: Trade name for a fire resistant synthetic
material used in the manufacturing of flight suits and pants and
shirts used by firefighters (see Aramid).
Normal Fire Season: 1) A season when weather,
fire danger, and number and distribution of fires are about average.
2) Period of the year that normally comprises the fire season.
O
Operations Branch Director: Person under the direction
of the operations section chief who is responsible for implementing
that portion of the incident action plan appropriate to the branch.
Operational Period: The period of time scheduled
for execution of a given set of tactical actions as specified in
the Incident Action Plan. Operational periods can be of various
lengths, although usually not more than 24 hours.
Overhead: People assigned to supervisory positions,
including incident commanders, command staff, general staff, directors,
supervisors, and unit leaders.
P
Pack Test: Used to determine the aerobic capacity
of fire suppression and support personnel and assign physical fitness
scores. The test consists of walking a specified distance, with
or without a weighted pack, in a predetermined period of time, with
altitude corrections.
Paracargo: Anything dropped, or intended for dropping,
from an aircraft by parachute, by other retarding devices, or by
free fall.
Peak Fire Season: That period of the fire season
during which fires are expected to ignite most readily, to burn
with greater than average intensity, and to create damages at an
unacceptable level.
Personnel Protective Equipment (PPE): All firefighting
personnel must be equipped with proper equipment and clothing in
order to mitigate the risk of injury from, or exposure to, hazardous
conditions encountered while working. PPE includes, but is not limited
to: 8-inch high-laced leather boots with lug soles, fire shelter,
hard hat with chin strap, goggles, ear plugs, aramid shirts and
trousers, leather gloves and individual first aid kits.
Preparedness: Condition or degree of being ready
to cope with a potential fire situation
Prescribed Fire: Any fire ignited by management
actions under certain, predetermined conditions to meet specific
objectives related to hazardous fuels or habitat improvement. A
written, approved prescribed fire plan must exist, and NEPA requirements
must be met, prior to ignition.
Prescribed Fire Plan (Burn Plan): This document
provides the prescribed fire burn boss information needed to implement
an individual prescribed fire project.
Prescription: Measurable criteria that define
conditions under which a prescribed fire may be ignited, guide selection
of appropriate management responses, and indicate other required
actions. Prescription criteria may include safety, economic, public
health, environmental, geographic, administrative, social, or legal
considerations.
Prevention: Activities directed at reducing the
incidence of fires, including public education, law enforcement,
personal contact, and reduction of fuel hazards.
Project Fire: A fire of such size or complexity
that a large organization and prolonged activity is required to
suppress it.
Pulaski: A combination chopping and trenching
tool, which combines a single-bitted axe-blade with a narrow adze-like
trenching blade fitted to a straight handle. Useful for grubbing
or trenching in duff and matted roots. Well-balanced for chopping.
R
Radiant Burn: A burn received from a radiant heat
source.
Radiant Heat Flux: The amount of heat flowing
through a given area in a given time, usually expressed as calories/square
centimeter/second.
Rappelling: Technique of landing specifically
trained firefighters from hovering helicopters; involves sliding
down ropes with the aid of friction-producing devices.
Rate of Spread: The relative activity of a fire
in extending its horizontal dimensions. It is expressed as a rate
of increase of the total perimeter of the fire, as rate of forward
spread of the fire front, or as rate of increase in area, depending
on the intended use of the information. Usually it is expressed
in chains or acres per hour for a specific period in the fire's
history.
Reburn: The burning of an area that has been previously
burned but that contains flammable fuel that ignites when burning
conditions are more favorable; an area that has reburned.
Red Card: Fire qualification card issued to fire
rated persons showing their training needs and their qualifications
to fill specified fire suppression and support positions in a large
fire suppression or incident organization.
Red Flag Warning: Term used by fire weather forecasters
to alert forecast users to an ongoing or imminent critical fire
weather pattern.
Rehabilitation: The activities necessary to repair
damage or disturbance caused by wildland fires or the fire suppression
activity.
Relative Humidity (Rh): The ratio of the amount
of moisture in the air, to the maximum amount of moisture that air
would contain if it were saturated. The ratio of the actual vapor
pressure to the saturated vapor pressure.
Remote Automatic Weather Station (RAWS): An apparatus
that automatically acquires, processes, and stores local weather
data for later transmission to the GOES Satellite, from which the
data is re-transmitted to an earth-receiving station for use in
the National Fire Danger Rating System.
Resources: 1) Personnel, equipment, services and
supplies available, or potentially available, for assignment to
incidents. 2) The natural resources of an area, such as timber,
crass, watershed values, recreation values, and wildlife habitat.
Resource Management Plan (RMP): A document prepared
by field office staff with public participation and approved by
field office managers that provides general guidance and direction
for land management activities at a field office. The RMP identifies
the need for fire in a particular area and for a specific benefit.
Resource Order: An order placed for firefighting
or support resources.
Retardant: A substance or chemical agent which
reduced the flammability of combustibles.
Run (of a fire): The rapid advance of the head
of a fire with a marked change in fire line intensity and rate of
spread from that noted before and after the advance.
Running: A rapidly spreading surface fire with
a well-defined head.
S
Safety Zone: An area cleared of flammable materials
used for escape in the event the line is outflanked or in case a
spot fire causes fuels outside the control line to render the line
unsafe. In firing operations, crews progress so as to maintain a
safety zone close at hand allowing the fuels inside the control
line to be consumed before going ahead. Safety zones may also be
constructed as integral parts of fuel breaks; they are greatly enlarged
areas which can be used with relative safety by firefighters and
their equipment in the event of a blowup in the vicinity.
Scratch Line: An unfinished preliminary fire line
hastily established or built as an emergency measure to check the
spread of fire.
Severity Funding: Funds provided to increase wildland
fire suppression response capability necessitated by abnormal weather
patterns, extended drought, or other events causing abnormal increase
in the fire potential and/or danger.
Single Resource: An individual, a piece of equipment
and its personnel complement, or a crew or team of individuals with
an identified work supervisor that can be used on an incident.
Size-up: To evaluate a fire to determine a course
of action for fire suppression.
Slash: Debris left after logging, pruning, thinning
or brush cutting; includes logs, chips, bark, branches, stumps and
broken understory trees or brush.
Sling Load: Any cargo carried beneath a helicopter
and attached by a lead line and swivel.
Slop-over: A fire edge that crosses a control
line or natural barrier intended to contain the fire.
Smokejumper: A firefighter who travels to fires
by aircraft and parachute.
Smoke Management: Application of fire intensities
and meteorological processes to minimize degradation of air quality
during prescribed fires.
Smoldering Fire: A fire burning without flame
and barely spreading.
Snag: A standing dead tree or part of a dead tree
from which at least the smaller branches have fallen.
Spark Arrester: A device installed in a chimney,
flue, or exhaust pipe to stop the emission of sparks and burning
fragments.
Spot Fire: A fire ignited outside the perimeter
of the main fire by flying sparks or embers.
Spot Weather Forecast: A special forecast issued
to fit the time, topography, and weather of each specific fire.
These forecasts are issued upon request of the user agency and are
more detailed, timely, and specific than zone forecasts.
Spotter: In smokejumping, the person responsible
for selecting drop targets and supervising all aspects of dropping
smokejumpers.
Spotting: Behavior of a fire producing sparks
or embers that are carried by the wind and start new fires beyond
the zone of direct ignition by the main fire.
Staging Area: Locations set up at an incident
where resources can be placed while awaiting a tactical assignment
on a three-minute available basis. Staging areas are managed by
the operations section.
Strategy: The science and art of command as applied
to the overall planning and conduct of an incident.
Strike Team: Specified combinations of the same
kind and type of resources, with common communications, and a leader.
Strike Team Leader: Person responsible to a division/group
supervisor for performing tactical assignments given to the strike
team.
Structure Fire: Fire originating in and burning
any part or all of any building, shelter, or other structure.
Suppressant: An agent, such as water or foam,
used to extinguish the flaming and glowing phases of combustion
when direction applied to burning fuels.
Suppression: All the work of extinguishing or
containing a fire, beginning with its discovery.
Surface Fuels: Loose surface litter on the soil
surface, normally consisting of fallen leaves or needles, twigs,
bark, cones, and small branches that have not yet decayed enough
to lose their identity; also grasses, forbs, low and medium shrubs,
tree seedlings, heavier branchwood, downed logs, and stumps interspersed
with or partially replacing the litter.
Swamper: (1) A worker who assists fallers and/or
sawyers by clearing away brush, limbs and small trees. Carries fuel,
oil and tools and watches for dangerous situations. (2) A worker
on a dozer crew who pulls winch line, helps maintain equipment,
etc., to speed suppression work on a fire.
T
Tactics: Deploying and directing resources on
an incident to accomplish the objectives designated by strategy.
Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFR): A restriction
requested by an agency and put into effect by the Federal Aviation
Administration in the vicinity of an incident which restricts the
operation of nonessential aircraft in the airspace around that incident.
Terra Torch ®: Device for throwing a stream of
flaming liquid, used to facilitate rapid ignition during burn out
operations on a wildland fire or during a prescribed fire operation.
Test Fire: A small fire ignited within the planned
burn unit to determine the characteristic of the prescribed fire,
such as fire behavior, detection performance and control measures.
Timelag: Time needed under specified conditions
for a fuel particle to lose about 63 percent of the difference between
its initial moisture content and its equilibrium moisture content.
If conditions remain unchanged, a fuel will reach 95 percent of
its equilibrium moisture content after four timelag periods.
Torching: The ignition and flare-up of a tree
or small group of trees, usually from bottom to top.
Two-way Radio: Radio equipment with transmitters
in mobile units on the same frequency as the base station, permitting
conversation in two directions using the same frequency in turn.
Type: The capability of a firefighting resource
in comparison to another type. Type 1 usually means a greater capability
due to power, size, or capacity.
U
Uncontrolled Fire: Any fire which threatens to
destroy life, property, or natural resources, and
Underburn: A fire that consumes surface fuels
but not trees or shrubs. (See Surface Fuels.)
V
Vectors: Directions of fire spread as related
to rate of spread calculations (in degrees from upslope).
Volunteer Fire Department (VFD): A fire department
of which some or all members are unpaid.
W
Water Tender: A ground vehicle capable of transporting
specified quantities of water.
Weather Information and Management System (WIMS):
An interactive computer system designed to accommodate the weather
information needs of all federal and state natural resource management
agencies. Provides timely access to weather forecasts, current and
historical weather data, the National Fire Danger Rating System
(NFDRS), and the National Interagency Fire Management Integrated
Database (NIFMID).
Wet Line: A line of water, or water and chemical
retardant, sprayed along the ground, that serves as a temporary
control line from which to ignite or stop a low-intensity fire.
Wildland Fire: Any nonstructure fire, other than
prescribed fire, that occurs in the wildland.
Wildland Fire Implementation Plan (WFIP): A progressively
developed assessment and operational management plan that documents
the analysis and selection of strategies and describes the appropriate
management response for a wildland fire being managed for resource
benefits.
Wildland Fire Situation Analysis (WFSA): A decision-making
process that evaluates alternative suppression strategies against
selected environmental, social, political, and economic criteria.
Provides a record of decisions.
Wildland Fire Use: The management of naturally
ignited wildland fires to accomplish specific prestated resource
management objectives in predefined geographic areas outlined in
Fire Management Plans.
Wildland Urban Interface: The line, area or zone
where structures and other human development meet or intermingle
with undeveloped wildland or vegetative fuels.
Wind Vectors: Wind directions used to calculate
fire behavior.
Top of Page
|