NWCG Glossary of Wildland Fire, PMS 205

An agency supplying assistance other than direct operational or support functions or resources to the incident management effort. (e.g. Red Cross, law enforcement agency, telephone company, etc).

A federal, Tribal, state, or local agency that participates with another agency(s) in planning and conducting fire or emergency management projects and activities.

The intersection of lines of reference, usually expressed in degrees/minutes/seconds of latitude and longitude, used to determine or report position or location.

The process of systematically analyzing a situation, developing relevant information, and informing appropriate command authority of viable alternatives for selection of the most effective combination of available resources to meet specific objectives. The coordination process (which can be either intra- or interagency) does not involve dispatch actions. However, personnel responsible for coordination may perform command or dispatch functions within limits established by specific agency delegations, procedures, legal authority, etc. 

Term used to describe any facility that is used for the coordination of agency or jurisdictional resources in support of one or more incidents.

An apparent force due to the rotation of the earth that causes a deflection of air to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere. This force maximizes at the poles and is essentially zero at the equator.

Result of chemical reaction between a metal and its environment (i.e., air, water, and impurities in same).

The dollar amount associated with an incident.

Agreements that document the financial responsibility for incident resource costs, possibly identifying requirements of other party payments.

Cost Unit staff track costs, analyze cost data, make estimates, and recommend cost-saving measures. They ensure that equipment and personnel for which payment is expected are properly identified, obtain and record cost data, and analyze and prepare estimates of incident costs. Cost Unit staff provide cost estimates for resource use to Planning Section staff. The Cost Unit staff maintain information on the actual costs of all assigned resources.

Spun cotton fiber yarn woven into a hose.

Cotton yarn combined with  polyester yarn filler for abrasion resistance.

Long-handled combination rake and cutting tool, the blade of which is constructed of a single row of three or four sharpened teeth.

Emergency firing to stop, delay, or split a fire front, or to steer a fire.

Fire set between main fire and backfire to hasten spread of backfire.

A nation with its own government, occupying a particular territory.

Short alphanumeric identification code for countries and dependent areas.

The name of the country.

Political subdivisions that fall within a country

A code for the identification of first-level administartive subdivisions within a country.

Area representing administrative or political subdivisions of a state.

Representation of counties and equivalent entities as a three-digit code.

The County Code identifying the county or equivalent entity at point of origin designated at the time of collection. Point of origin is the location where a competent ignition source came into contact with the material first ignited and sustained combustion occurred.

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.

System that created the data record.

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.

The waviness of the yarn in a woven jacket. The difference in distance between two points on a yarn as it lies in a fabric, and their same two points when the yarn has been removed and straightened.

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.