NWCG Glossary of Wildland Fire, PMS 205

Overview

The NWCG Glossary of Wildland Fire provides an extensive listing of approved terms and definitions used by the NWCG community. It contains terms commonly used by NWCG in the areas of wildland fire and incident management and is not intended to list all terms used by NWCG groups and member agencies. The NWCG has directed that all committee and subgroup product glossaries be contained within the NWCG Glossary of Wildland Fire to maintain definition consistency and clarity among documents.

Comments, questions, and recommendations shall be submitted to the appropriate agency program manager assigned to the Data Standards and Terminology Board (DSTB).

NWCG Glossary of Wildland Fire, PMS 205 (Quick View)

EDG Explorer is a database platform used for managing NWCG Glossary terms. The following table is a quick view of the terms found in EDG. More detailed information such as rules, documentation, and term relationships may be viewed in EDG Explorer.

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Title	Steward	Status	Definition
fuel bed	FUSC Fire Use Subcommittee	Approved	An array of fuels usually constructed with specific loading, depth, and particle size to meet experimental requirements; also, commonly used to describe the fuel composition.
fuel bed depth	FUSC Fire Use Subcommittee	Approved	Average height of surface fuels contained in the combustion zone of a spreading fire front.
fuel break	FUSC Fire Use Subcommittee	Approved	A natural or manmade change in fuel characteristics which affects fire behavior so that fires burning into them can be more readily controlled.
fuel break system	FUSC Fire Use Subcommittee	Approved	A series of modified strips or blocks tied together to form continuous strategically located fuel breaks around land units.
fuel characteristics	FUSC Fire Use Subcommittee	Approved	Factors that make up fuels such as compactness, loading, horizontal continuity, vertical arrangement, chemical content, size and shape, and moisture content.
fuel class	FDSC Fire Danger Subcommittee	Approved	Group of fuels possessing common characteristics. Dead fuels are grouped according to 1-, 10-, 100-, and 1000-hour timelag, and living fuels are grouped as herbaceous (annual or perennial) or woody.
fuel condition	FUSC Fire Use Subcommittee	Approved	Relative flammability of fuel as determined by fuel type and environmental conditions.
fuel continuity	FUSC Fire Use Subcommittee	Approved	The degree or extent of continuous or uninterrupted distribution of fuel particles in a fuel bed thus affecting a fire's ability to sustain combustion and spread. This applies to aerial fuels as well as surface fuels.
fuel depth	FUSC Fire Use Subcommittee	Approved	The average distance from the bottom of the litter layer to the top of the layer of fuel, usually the surface fuel.
Fuel Dryness Level	FWS Fire Weather Subcommittee	Approved	A quantitative measure of fuel moisture and receptability to ignition as determined by an accepted Fire Danger Rating System index that influences fire growth, intensity, or activity.
fuel group	FUSC Fire Use Subcommittee	Approved	An identifiable association of fuel elements of distinctive species, form, size, arrangement, or other characteristics. General fuel groups are grass, brush, timber, and slash.
fuel loading	FUSC Fire Use Subcommittee, FDSC Fire Danger Subcommittee	Approved	The amount of fuel present expressed quantitatively in terms of weight of fuel per unit area. This may be available fuel (consumable fuel) or total fuel and is usually dry weight.
fuel management	FUSC Fire Use Subcommittee	Approved	Act or practice of controlling flammability and reducing resistance to control of wildland fuels through mechanical, chemical, biological, or manual means, or by fire, in support of land management objectives.
fuel model	FDSC Fire Danger Subcommittee	Approved	Simulated fuel complex for which all fuel descriptors required for the solution of a mathematical rate of spread model have been specified.
fuel modification	FUSC Fire Use Subcommittee	Approved	Manipulation or removal of fuels to reduce the likelihood of ignition and/or to lessen potential damage and resistance to control (e.g., lopping, chipping, crushing, piling and burning).
fuel moisture analog	FBSC Fire Behavior Subcommittee	Approved	Device that emulates the moisture response of specific classes of dead fuels, constructed from organic or inorganic materials (e.g., half-inch ponderosa pine dowels representing ten-hour timelag fuels).
fuel moisture content	FBSC Fire Behavior Subcommittee	Approved	The quantity of moisture in fuel expressed as a percentage of the weight when thoroughly dried at 212 degrees F.
fuel moisture indicator stick	FBSC Fire Behavior Subcommittee	Approved	A specially prepared stick or set of sticks of known dry weight continuously exposed to the weather and periodically weighed to determine changes in moisture content as an indication of moisture changes in wildland fuels.
fuel reduction	FUSC Fire Use Subcommittee	Approved	Manipulation, including combustion, or removal of fuels to reduce the likelihood of ignition and/or to lessen potential damage and resistance to control.
fuel size class	FBSC Fire Behavior Subcommittee	Approved	A category used to describe the diameter of down dead woody fuels. Fuels within the same size class are assumed to have similar wetting and drying properties, and to preheat and ignite at similar rates during the combustion process.
fuel temperature	FDSC Fire Danger Subcommittee	Approved	The temperature reading measured from a fuel stick fully exposed to sunlight, above a representative fuel bed, using one of two methods (within a 3/4-inch or across a 1/2-inch pine dowel).
fuel tender	NIAC National Interagency Aviation Committee, ETC Equipment Technology Committee	Approved	Any vehicle capable of supplying engine fuel to ground or airborne equipment.
fuel treatment	FUSC Fire Use Subcommittee	Approved	Manipulation or removal of fuels to reduce the likelihood of ignition and/or to lessen potential damage and resistance to control (e.g., lopping, chipping, crushing, piling and burning).
fuel type	FUSC Fire Use Subcommittee	Approved	An identifiable association of fuel elements of distinctive species, form, size, arrangement, or other characteristics that will cause a predictable rate of spread or resistance to control under specified weather conditions.
fuels wet flag	FDSC Fire Danger Subcommittee	Approved	A one-character code indicating whether or not fine fuels are wet or dry.
fugitive color	SEATB Single Engine Airtanker Board, IAB Interagency Airtanker Board	Approved	A coloring agent used in fire retardants that is designed to fade rapidly following retardant application in order to minimize the visual impacts of the retardant.
fulfillment comment	IOSC Incident Operations Subcommittee	Approved	Communication about the request and fulfilling that request
fulfillment status	IOSC Incident Operations Subcommittee	Approved	Indicates the state of the request.
full-thickness burn	RMC Risk Management Committee	Approved	A burn involving all the layer of the skin. Muscle layers below the skin and bones may also be damaged. Areas of the skin may be charred black or areas that are dry and white.
fume	RMC Risk Management Committee, FUSC Fire Use Subcommittee	Approved	An airborne irritating, noxious, or toxic smoke, vapor, or any combination of these produced by a volatile substance or a chemical reaction.
function	NIMSIC National Incident Management System Integration Committee	Approved	In ICS, function refers to the five major activities: command, operations, planning, logistics and finance/administration.
Funding Agency			agency providing funding for treatment or activity. May or may not be the same as location Agency.
Funding Department			Department providing funding for treatment or activity. May or may not be the same as location Department.
Funding Region			Region providing funding for treatment or activity. May or may not be the same as location Region.
Funding Source			For Fuels:List of available funding sources: Fuels Management Regular (FMReg), Fuels BIL Admin (FMBILAdmin), Fuels BIL Control Locations (FMBilControlLocations), Fuels BIL Laborers (FMBilLaborers), Fuels BIL Prescribed Fire (FMBilPrescribedFire), FuelsBIL Thinning (FMBilThinning), Fuels BIL Regular (FMBilReg), Fules Disaster Relief (FMDisasterRelief) For Post Fire:Fuels (all), Post-fire (ES), BAR (all), BIL (?), Fules Disaster Relief (FMDisasterRelief)?
Funding Sub Unit			SubUnit only displayed for BLM
Funding Tribe			Tribe displayed only for BIA
Funding Unit			Unit providing funding for treatment or activity. May or may not be the same as location unit.
fusee	ETC Equipment Technology Committee	Approved	A colored flare designed as a railway warning device, widely used to ignite backfires and other prescribed fires.
Gallons per Minute	ETC Equipment Technology Committee	Approved	The measure of water flow in firefighting. It is used to measure the output of wildland and structural fire engines, pumps, hose streams, nozzles, hydrants, and water mains.
gap	IASS Interagency Aerial Supervision Subcommittee	Approved	Weak or missed area in a retardant drop or in a fireline.
gate valve	ETC Equipment Technology Committee	Approved	A valve with a gate-like disk that moves up and down at right angles to the flow when actuated by a stem screw and hand wheel. Gate valves are best for service that requires infrequent valve operation and where the disk is kept either fully open or closed.
gear pump	ETC Equipment Technology Committee	Approved	Positive displacement pump which uses closely meshed gears to propel water when high pressures and low volumes are desired; can be used safely only with clear water-- suspended particles of soil or rocks can quickly wear the gears and reduce pressure and volume of water.
general cause	CEPC Communication, Education, and Prevention Committee	Approved	Agency or circumstance which started a fire or set the stage for its occurrence.
general fire weather forecast	FWS Fire Weather Subcommittee	Approved	A forecast, issued daily during the regular fire season to resource management agencies, that is intended for planning of daily fire management activities, including daily staffing levels, prevention programs, and initial attack on wildfires.
General Origin Area	WFISC Wildland Fire Investigation Subcommittee	Approved	The larger area where the fire first established itself and is identified by an analysis of the fire behavior context, macroscale fire pattern indicators, and witness statements.
General Schedule Employee	IBC Incident Business Committee	Approved	A regular federal government employee who is compensated under the General Schedule (GS) Pay Plan.
General Staff	NIMSIC National Incident Management System Integration Committee	Approved	A group of incident personnel organized according to function and reporting to the Incident Commander or Unified Command. The ICS General Staff consists of the Operations Section Chief, Planning Section Chief, Logistics Section Chief, Finance/Administration Section Chief.
general status	IPSC Incident and Position Standards Committee	Approved	Indicates whether the resource is available or unavailable to fill a capability request.
general winds	FWS Fire Weather Subcommittee	Approved	Large scale winds caused by high- and low-pressure systems but generally influenced and modified in the lower atmosphere by terrain.

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National Wildfire Coordinating Group

PMS 205

NWCG Glossary of Wildland Fire, PMS 205

Overview