NWCG Glossary of Wildland Fire (PMS 205)

Area representing administrative or political subdivisions of a state.

Device that connects the ends of adjacent hoses or other components of hose.

In aviation, the intended direction of horizontal flight.

The area on the ground covered by the combined aerial parts of plants expressed as a percent of the total area.

The designation of a vegetation complex described by dominant species, age, and form.

Recommended amount of aerially applied retardant keyed to the NFDRS fuel models and/or fire behavior models. Coverage level 2 represents 2 gallons of retardant per hundred square feet. Levels range from 1 to 6 for most fuel models. A coverage level of greater than 6 is for heavy fuels. The levels can be adjusted for fire behavior. 

A progressive line construction duty involving self-sufficient crews which build fire line until the end of the operational period, remain at or near the point while off duty, and begin building fireline the next operational period where they left off.

Fine cracking of glass, usually from heat of fire.

Date the feature was created.

Name of the person creating the feature.

Date and time the event record was created

Fire burning with a low flame and spreading slowly.

An organized group of firefighters under the leadership of a crew boss or other designated official.

Transportation of fireline personnel to and/or from assigned fireline locations.

Any vehicle capable of transporting a specified number of personnel in a specified manner.

Agency employees who have actual experience dealing with a critical incident and are qualified as incident information officers.

Pollutants deemed most harmful to public health and welfare and that can be monitored effectively. They include carbon monoxide (CO), lead (Pb), nitrogen oxides (Nox), sulfur dioxide (SO2), ozone (O3), particulate matter (PM) of aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 10 micrometers (PM10) and particulate matter of aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5). 

Total time a fuel can burn and continue to feed energy to the base of a forward-traveling convection column.

A fatality or other event that can have serious long-term adverse effects on the agency, its employees and their families, or the community.

The process in which teams of professional and peer counselors provide emotional and psychological support to incident personnel who are or have been involved in a critical (highly stressful) incident.

An event dealing with a critical incident event. Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM)/Peer Support is the selection and implementation of the most appropriate crisis intervention tactics to best respond to the needs of the situation. CISM has multiple components other than responding after a critical incident occurs. These components can be used before, during, and after a crisis. They include a wide range of various activities, including PreIncident Education (PIE), which provides for resiliency, planning and preparedness, acute crisis management, and post-incident follow up. 

An adaptive short-term helping process that focuses solely on an immediate and identifiable problem to enable the individual(s) affected to return to their daily routine(s) more quickly and with a lessened likelihood of experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder.

Intersecting lines of sight from two points to the same object, frequently used to determine location of a fire from lookouts.

Combustion of the twigs, and needles or leaves of a tree during a fire.

The ground area covered by the crown of a tree as delimited by the vertical projection of its outermost perimeter.

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.

A theoretical concept that is used to model and classify crown fire. It may be observable after the fact in burn severity assessments.

A fire that rises from ground into the tree crowns and advances from tree top to tree top. To intermittently ignite tree crowns as a surface fire advances.

The ratio of live crown to tree height.

Browning of needles or leaves in the crown of a tree or shrub caused by heating to lethal temperature during a fire. Crown scorch may not be apparent for several weeks after the fire.

The height above the surface of the ground to which a tree canopy is scorched.

A probability that a crown fire may start, calculated from inputs of foliage moisture content and height of the lowest part of the tree crowns above the surface.

The ultimate growth of a cumulus cloud into an anvil-shaped cloud with considerable vertical development, usually with fibrous ice crystal tops, and usually accompanied by lightning, thunder, hail, and strong winds.

A principal low cloud type in the form of individual cauliflower-like cells of sharp non-fibrous outline and less vertical development than cumulonimbus.

A fireline trench on the downhill side of fire burning on steep slopes that is supposed to be built deep enough to catch rolling firebrands that could otherwise start fire below the fireline. A high berm on the outermost downhill side of the trench helps the cup trench catch material.

Weight of a truck empty (without payload and driver) but ready to drive, including a full fuel tank, cooling system, crankcase, tools, spare wheel, and all other equipment specified as standard.

In the 1978 version of NFDRS, the herbaceous stage when herbaceous fuel moisture falls to 30% or less.

In fire danger rating, a subjective estimate of the degree of activity of a potential human-caused fire source relative to that which is normally experienced. Five activity levels are defined: none, low, normal, high, and extreme.

Paid on a calendar day basis (0001-2400).

The comparative differences of damage to objects resulting from the fire’s passage.

The amount of fire related destruction to combustible objects determined by comparing opposing sides of an object.

A particular day of a calendar year.

The last edit, update, of this GIS record

The combination of date and time elements.

Fuels with no living tissue in which moisture content is governed almost entirely by absorption or evaporation of atmospheric moisture (relative humidity and precipitation).

An event dealing with a fire spreading from any fire originally ignited to clear land or burn rubbish, garbage, crop stubble, or meadows (excluding incendiary fires).

In prescribed fire terminology, a fire used to dispose of scattered, piled, or windrowed dead woody fuel, generally in the absence of a merchantable overstory. Its purpose is to reduce unsightly fuel concentrations, or consume unwanted natural fuels to facilitate subsequent resource management or land use actions on the area. 

In fire suppression terminology, a fire spreading from any fire originally ignited to clear land or burn rubbish, garbage, crop stubble, or meadows (excluding incendiary fires).