NWCG Glossary of Wildland Fire, PMS 205

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. 

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

All structures built and used primarily for fire management, e.g. lookout towers, lookout cabins, telephone lines, and also firebreaks, fuel breaks, and roads to lookouts.

Planned, measurable result desired from fire protection and use based on land management goals and objectives.

A compilation of goals, objectives, and requirements from the land/resource management planning process necessary to implement wildland fire management decisions.

A land area definable by specified management objectives, constraints, topographic features, access, values to be protected, political boundaries, fuel types, major fire regime groups, and other defined elements that set it apart from an adjacent area. The primary purpose of developing Fire Management Units in fire management planning is to assist in organizing information in complex landscapes. A fire management unit may have dominant management objectives and pre-selected strategies assigned to accomplish these objectives. 

Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) assigned to the spatialrecord.

The date when all observable combustion has ceased or there is no risk of the fire again becoming active and requiring additional control or management actions.

The time when all observable combustion has ceased or there is no risk of the fire again becoming active and requiring additional control or management actions. All management activities directly relating to suppression (including mop-up), monitoring, or burning efforts have concluded; however, there may be secondary management efforts, such as burned area rehabilitation or hazard mitigation, still in process.

A one-person unit of fire tools, equipment, and supplies prepared in advance for carrying on the back.

The visible or measurable physical changes formed by a fire effect or group of fire effects. This can be over a small area or it can include the overall pattern of fire spread as determined by the entirety of fire pattern indicators over a larger area.

A physical object that displays changes (fire effects) from exposure to heat, flame, and combustion by-products that can reveal the direction of fire progression at a precise location with accurate analysis. A fire pattern indicator is a single component of the overall fire pattern.

Multiple fire pattern indicators in relatively close proximity to each other which exhibit a consistent vector.

Angled or horizontal char or scorch pattern created on standing fuels as fire burns up to, past and beyond, indicating the direction of fire progression at that point. One of the 11 NWCG categories of fire pattern indicators.

Scorch pattern left on canopy of standing fuels that indicates the direction of fire progression at that point. This fire pattern indicator is included within the fire pattern indicator category of Angle of Char.

A concave or cup-shaped char pattern found on the side of fuels exposed to the oncoming fire including small stumps (generally 10 inch diameter and less are more reliable), grass stem ends and terminal ends of brush and tree limbs (generally less than 1/2 inch diameter) that indicate the direction of fire progression at that point. One of the 11 NWCG categories of fire pattern indicators.

Green leaves and succulents, uncured vegetation which bends and curls inwards towards the heat source due to desiccation. One of the 11 NWCG categories of fire pattern indicator.

Small branches, needles, and leaves swept into a position by the wind and fixed by desiccation indicating the wind direction at the time of fire passage. One of the 11 NWCG categories of fire pattern indicators.

The un-consumed grass stems and heads of cured grass left lying on the ground after the passage of a fire that under certain circumstances point in the direction that the fire came from. One of the 11 NWCG categories of fire pattern indicators.

A combustible or non-combustible object that displays differential damage or deposits on opposing sides due to the passage of the fire and indicates the direction of fire progression at that location.  One of the 11 NWCG categories of fire pattern indicators.

Rock or boulders that display more chipping or pitting on the exposed surface than the protected surface due to the passage of the fire indicating the direction of fire progression at that location. One of the 11 NWCG categories of fire pattern indicators

Objects displaying more stain deposits on the exposed surface of the object than on the protected surface of the object indicating the direction of fire progression at that location. One of the 11 NWCG categories of fire pattern indicators.

Fire pattern that resembles a U or V shape and indicates the direction of fire progression in that area. One of the 11 NWCG categories of fire pattern indicators.

There are two subsets of the white ash fire indicator, deposits and exposure.

Objects displaying more white ash deposits on the exposed surface of the object as opposed to the protected surface of the object indicating the direction of fire progression at that location.
Objects displaying more attached white ash on the exposed surface of the object as opposed to the protected surface of the object indicating the direction of fire progression at that location.

One of the 11 NWCG categories of fire pattern indicators.

The entire outer edge or boundary of a fire.

The process of developing and interpreting goals and objectives necessary to guide wildland fire management actions.

The geographic scope of the landscape defined for the fire management analysis. A Fire Planning Unit consists of one or more Fire Management Units. FPUs may relate to a single administrative unit, a sub-unit, or any combination of units or sub-units. FPUs are scalable and may be contiguous or non-contiguous. FPUs are not predefined by agency administrative unit boundaries, and may relate to one or more agencies. They may be described spatially. 

A heavy duty plowshare or disc plow usually pulled by a tractor to construct a fireline.

The likelihood of a wildland fire event measured in terms of anticipated occurrence of fire(s) and management's capability to respond. Fire potential is influenced by a sum of factors that includes fuel conditions (fuel dryness and/or other inputs), ignition triggers, significant weather triggers, and resource capability. 

Activities undertaken in advance of fire occurrence to help ensure more effective fire suppression. Activities includes overall planning, recruitment and training of fire personnel, procurement and maintenance of firefighting equipment and supplies, fuel treatment and creating, maintaining, and improving a system of fuel breaks, roads, water sources, and control lines. 

Activities such as public education, community outreach, law enforcement, engineering, and reduction of fuel hazards that are intended to reduce the incidence of unwanted human-caused wildfires and the risks they pose to life, property or resources.

A map maintained on a large fire to show at given times the location of the fire, deployment of suppression forces, and progress of suppression.

The spread of the fire from one location to another.

Computerized interagency summary of fire suppression qualifications of listed personnel. Available information includes fire training record, fire experience record, and physical fitness testing score for each individual.

Description of the patterns of fire occurrences, frequency, size, severity, and sometimes vegetation and fire effects as well, in a given area or ecosystem. A fire regime is a generalization based on fire histories at individual sites. Fire regimes can often be described as cycles because some parts of the histories usually get repeated, and the repetitions can be counted and measured, such as fire return interval. 

A qualitative measure classified into three classes describing the relative degree of departure from historical fire regimes, possibly resulting in alterations of key ecosystem components such as species composition, structural stage, stand age, canopy closure, and fuel loadings. 

A classification of fire regimes into a discrete number of categories based on frequency and severity. The national, coarse-scale classification of fire regime groups commonly used includes five groups: I - frequent (0-35 years), low severity; II - frequent (0-35 years), stand replacement severity; III - 35-100+ years, mixed severity; IV - 35-100+ years, stand replacement severity; and V - 200+ years, stand replacement severity. 

An official record of a fire, generally including information on cause, location, action taken, damage, costs, etc., from start of the fire until completion of suppression action. These reports vary in form and detail from agency to agency.

Name of the person that approved the fire report. Approval authority varies by agency.

Name of person that provided the data for the fire report or is the contact for questions regarding the fire report.

The unit identifier for the agency preparing the fire report.

A species with compact, resin-free, thick corky bark and less flammable foliage that has a relatively lower probability of being killed or scarred by a fire than a fire sensitive tree.