Glossary of wildfire terms

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Glossary of wildfire terms

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The following is a glossary of wildfire terms. Except where noted, terms are taken from a 1998 Fireline Handbook transcribed for a Conflict 21 counter-terrorism studies website by the Air National Guard.

Separate glossaries for firefighting terms and firefighting equipment are also available.

Contents: Top  09 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

Aerial canopy: Fuel type consisting of trees having few low branches, making it less susceptible to ignition by low-intensity fires.

Aerial firefighting (or air attack): Use of aircraft in support of ground resources to combat wildfires, often most effective in initial attack in light fuels.

Air drop: Delivery of supplies or retardant from the air. Supplies can be dropped by parachute. Retardant is dropped in a single “salvo” or one or more “trails”, the size of which is determined by the wind and the volume, speed and altitude of the airtanker (usually no less than 200 feet above the drop zone).

Air operations: Group tasked with coordinating aerial-based observation, supply, rescue and suppression at a wildfire.

Air Tactical Group Supervisor or Air Attack: Coordinates air resources for attack of a fire.

Airtanker: Fixed-wing aircraft certified by FAA as being capable of transport and delivery of 600 to 3,0000 gallons of water or other liquid or powder fire retardants. Formerly referred to as “borate bombers” before borate-based retardants became less desirable. Often accompanied by a spotter plane.

Anchor point: An advantageous location, usually a barrier to fire spread, from which to start constructing a fireline. The anchor point is used to minimize the chance of being flanked (or outflanked) by the fire while the line is being constructed.

B

Backburn: Precautionary fire set downwind of main fire for controlled fuel clearing by “backing” it into the main fire, similar to burnout, below, which occurs adjacent to control line.

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 or force of the fire convection column.

Bambi bucket: collapsible bucket for lifting and moving water or other fire retardant with a helicopter. (Note: The name was in use many years before the trademark owner claimed it in 1983.)

Barrier: Any obstruction to the spread of fire. Typically an area or strip devoid of combustible fuel.

Base: (1) staging and/or command center location for fire operations; (2) starting location of a fire; (3) base camp: location for eating, sleeping, etc., near staging or command center.

Berm: Soil heaped on the downhill side of a traversing fireline below a fire, to trap rolling firebrands.

Blackline: A condition where no combustible fuels remain between the fireline and the main fire.

Blowup: Sudden increase in fireline intensity or rate of spread of a fire sufficient to preclude direct control or to upset existing suppression plans. Often accompanied by violent convection and may have other characteristics of a firestorm.

Boise Interagency Fire Center (BIFC): The former name of the National Interagency Fire Center (see below); often pronounced as “biff-see”.

Booster hose, booster pump, booster reel: small solid hose on a reel connected to a small pump fitted to a water tank on a vehicle. Booster pump also refers to pump in a relay series for pumping uphill beyond the lift of the previous pump.

Brush blade: Rake attachment for cutting or ripping brush and roots out of a fireline.

Brush hook: Cutting tool used to clear brush, longer than a machete, usually with a heavy, solid,curved blade bolted to the end of an arm’s-length handle.

Brush truck: Small fire truck outfitted for wildland fire. Also called a “Type 6 Engine.”

Bump up: To move to another location. Can refer to anything from moving to another location on a fireline, to an entire crew moving to another fire. “Bump back” means to return to your previous location. In the “bump” system of fireline construction, each firefighter works on a small piece of fireline with his or her tool, perhaps slowly walking as the line progresses, until a completed portion of line is encountered. Then the call to “bump up!” is heard, and everyone ahead of the caller skips ahead one or more positions, leaving the unfinished fireline for those coming up behind. This is known as the bump up method or leapfrog method.

Burning index: relative measure of fire-control difficulty; doubling the index means twice the effort may be needed to control the fire (e.g., wind shift, heavier fuel load, etc).

Burn out: Setting fire inside a control line to consume fuel between the edge of the fire and the control line.

Burning period: The part of each 24-hour period when fires spread most rapidly; typically from 10:00 AM to sundown.

Bushfire: A bushfire is a wildfire that occurs in the forests, scrubs, woodlands or grasslands of Australia or New Zealand.

C

Candle: A standing tree with a broken top which often continues to burn after the main firefront has passed. Candles usually send up a fountain of sparks and burning embers which may travel some distance and be of concern if near the unburnt side of a control line.

Closed area: An area in which specified activities or entry are temporarily restricted to reduce risk of human-caused fires.

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 trailing: A method of controlling a partly dead fire edge by carefully inspecting and feeling with the hand for heat to detect any fire, and lining any live edge. This method is the only way to fly in the Great Basin.

Complex: Two or more individual incidents located in the same general area which are assigned to a single incident commander or unified command.

Confine a fire: The least aggressive wildfire suppression strategy which can be expected to keep the fire within established boundaries of constructed firelines under prevailing conditions.

Contain a fire: A moderately aggressive wildfire suppression strategy which can be expected to keep the fire within established boundaries of constructed firelines under prevailing conditions.

Control line: An inclusive term for all constructed or natural barriers and treated (retardant) fire edges used to control a fire.

Controlled burn: See Prescribed Burn (Rx burn).

Coyote tactics: A progressive line construction duty involving primarily hotshot and jumpers which build fireline until the end of the operational and then bed down where ever they end up sleeping just as they started the shift, no sleeping bag. “Coyoteing” is not to be confused with “spiking” where sleeping bags a hot buckets are the prizes of the day. Coyoteing is a very useful tool although very uncomfortable. For the privilege of coyoteing personnel are compensated while they sleep (usually).

Creeping fire: Fire burning with a low flame and spreading slowly.

Crown fire: A fire that advances from top to top of trees or shrubs more or less independent of a surface fire. Crown fires are sometimes classed as running or dependent to distinguish the degree of independence from the surface fire.

Crown out: see “Torching”

D

Dead Man Zone: Unburnt areas around edges of brush fire.

Demob: Demobilization, or a crew being removed from working a fire.

Direct Attack: Any treatment applied directly to burning fuel such as wetting, smothering, or chemically quenching the fire or by physically separating the burning from unburned fuel.

Dozer line: Fireline constructed by the front blade of a bulldozer or any tracked vehicle with a front mounted blade used for exposing mineral soil. Also “catline.”

Drafting: using a suction pump to lift water from below the pump, using a semi-rigid suction hose, typically to fill a portable reservoir that has other suction pumps (to relay) or siphon hoses running downhill to their nozzles.

Drip torch: hand-carried fire-starting device filled with flammable liquid that is poured across a flaming wick, dropping flaming liquid onto the fuels to be burned.

Duff: Layer of decaying forest litter consisting of organics such as needles, leaves, plant and tree materials covering the mineral soil. Duff can smolder for days after a fire. Extinguishing smoldering duff is key to successful mopup operations.

E

Engine: Any ground vehicle providing specified levels of pumping, water, and hose capacity but with less than the specified level of personnel.

Engine crew: A number of personnel trained and supervised to respond to incidents using an engine. Typically much smaller than a hand crew.

Escape fire: An intentional fire ignited by a fire crew, usually in a grassland environment, to escape a dangerous situation.

Escaped fire: A fire, which has exceeded or