NWCG Glossary of Wildland Fire (PMS 205)

Agency or circumstance which started a fire or set the stage for its occurrence; source of a fire's ignition. For statistical purposes fires are grouped into broad cause classes. The nine general causes used in the U.S. are lightning, campfire, smoking, debris burning, incendiary, machine use (equipment), railroad, children, and miscellaneous. 

Any class into which wildland fires are grouped according to their origin.

Composite pattern of weather elements over time that affect fire behavior in a given region.

Plant community maintained by periodic fires.

General term for two or more firefighters organized to work as a unit.

Standard crew arrangement used for fireline construction in direct or indirect attack; consists of line locator, line cutters, rakers, torch operators, and mop up crew.

Sum of constant danger and variable danger factors affecting the inception, spread, and resistance to control, and subsequent fire damage; often expressed as an index.

The range of possible values for a fire danger index or component, given a set of NFDRS parameters and weather input.

A relative number indicating the severity of wildland fire danger as determined from burning conditions and other variable factors of fire danger.

A fire management system that integrates the effects of selected fire danger factors into one or more qualitative or numerical indices of current protection needs.

A geographic area of relatively homogenous climate, fuels and topography, tens of thousands of acres in size, within which the fire danger can be assumed to be uniform. The basic on-the-ground unit for which unique fire management decisions are made based on fire danger ratings. Weather is represented by one or more NFDRS weather stations. 

A guide to collection, communication, and application of fire danger ratings at the local level.

A communication aid designed to help firefighters develop an awareness of the local fire situation by providing a visual reference to fire danger rating.

The complete program necessary to produce and apply fire danger ratings, including data collection, data processing, fire danger modeling, communications, and data storage.

Fire casualty which is fatal or becomes fatal within one year of the fire.

Plants and vegetation communities which have evolved adaptations such as a reliance on fire as a disturbance agent, protection as a species against the effects of wildland fire, or even a strengthening or enhancement by it.

Act or system of discovering and locating fires.

A fire detected via artificial intelligence using computer-vision to monitor fire starts and send notification without human interpretation.

A fire detected by a human actively viewing the fire camera footage.

A near scale depiction of the scene based on measurements and data.

The act of determining that a fire exists; does not include determining its location.

The date the fire was confirmed to exist or was reported as discovered

The time of day the fire was confirmed to exist or was reported as discovered.

A rural or suburban fire organization, usually tax supported, that maintains fire companies and apparatus.

Actual physical engagement in firefighting service as distinguished from staff work at headquarters or maintenance division; work at an individual fire done by an individual firefighter or by a company.

The study of the effects of fire on living organisms and their environment.

The boundary of a fire at a given moment.

Activities to change behaviors and attitudes about fire ecology, wildland fire and the role of fire in natural resource management. Defines the purposes for actions that provide information about and improve understanding of wildland fire.

The physical, biological, and ecological impacts of fire on the environment.

The surrounding conditions, influences, and modifying forces of topography, fuel, and weather that determine fire behavior.

A general term referring to the recurrence of fire in a given area over time.

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.

A general term for a firefighter, lookout, patrol, prevention guard, or other person directly employed for prevention and/or detection and suppression of fires.

A fuel complex, defined by volume, type condition, arrangement, and location, that determines the degree of ease of ignition and of resistance to control.

A numerical rating for specific fuel types, indicating the relative probability of fires starting and spreading, and the probable degree of resistance to control; similar to burning index, but without effects of wind speed.

Those wildland areas where the combination of vegetation, topography, weather, and the threat of fire to life and property create difficult and dangerous problems.

A general term referring to the historic fire occurrence of a given geographic area.

The time that initial response action was taken by the first resources to arrive at a wildfire or wildland fire use incident.

Injury suffered as the result of a fire that requires (or should require) treatment by a practitioner of medicine within one year of the fire, regardless of whether treatment was actually received.

Fire prevention specialist or arson investigator.

The number of years between two successive fire events for a given area; also referred to as fire-free interval or fire-return interval.

The process of determining the ignition source, materials first ignited, ignition factors, and party responsible for a fire.

Cleared path wide enough to permit single-lane vehicular access in a remote area.

The number and size of fires historically experienced on a given unit over a given period (usually one day) at a given index of fire danger.

Numerical rating of the maximum effort required to contain all probable fires occurring within a rating area during the rating period.

All activities for the management of wildland fires to meet land management objectives. Fire management includes the entire scope of activities from planning, prevention, fuels or vegetation modification, prescribed fire, hazard mitigation, fire response, rehabilitation, monitoring and evaluation. 

An event, responded to and/or managed by the wildland fire management community, which addresses certain activities and responses undertaken by the wildland fire management community in conjunction with existing or potential fire event(s). 

One or more parcels of land having a common set of fire management objectives.