NWCG Glossary of Wildland Fire, PMS 205

International distress signal/call. When repeated three times it indicates imminent and grave danger and that immediate assistance is required.

A combination hoe or cutting tool and rake, with or without removable blades.

Arithmetic average of all fire intervals in a given area over a given time.

Average height of the surface of the sea for all stages of the tide over a 19-year period.

Moisture content of the small branch wood and foliage of live woody plants, expressed as a percentage of the oven dry weight of the sample, collected monthly and used to supplement NFDRS modeled outputs.

Medical Unit staff are responsible to plan for and provide health and medical services for incident personnel.

Foam with an expansion between 21:1 and 200:1.

A forecast for a period extending from about two days to five days or a week in advance; there are no absolute limits to the period embraced by this definition.

Mobile medical treatment and transportation.

Two or more wildfires that burn together to form a single burned area and which, by management action, may be declared merged and managed as a single incident to improve efficiency and simplify incident management processes.

The message center is part of the incident communications center and is collocated or placed adjacent to it. It receives, records, and routes information about resources reporting to the incident, resource status, and administrative and tactical traffic.

A set of standardized procedures and practices that have been peer-reviewed and have received general acceptance by the profession.

Mobile weather monitoring station. Each unit consists of a shipping container, solar panel, battery, temperature/relative humidity sensor, wind mast, wind direction/speed sensor, data logger and radio. A Micro-REMS usually accompanies an incident meteorologist and ATMU to an incident. 

Fire pattern indicators that are generally only visible when viewed within close proximity.

The speed of the wind measured at the midpoint of the flames, considered to be most representative of the speed of the wind that is affecting fire behavior.

The middle name of the resource as it appears on a government issued ID. Applies only to overhead resources.

Military Operations Area found on aeronautical charts.

The 24-hour clock system where midnight is 2400, one minute after midnight is 0001 and progresses to 2400 daily.

A unit of pressure equal to a force of 1,000 dynes per square centimeter. (A dyne is the force that would give a free mass of one gram an acceleration of one centimeter per second per second).

The residue of mineral matter left after complete combustion of wood (wood ash) or other organic material; consists largely of oxides, carbonates, and phosphates of Ca, K and Mg, together with other compounds.

Soil layers below the predominantly organic horizons; soil with little combustible material.

The alternative that achieves incident objectives, consistent with priority for firefighter and public safety, and is least expensive when considering expected costs for fire suppression and emergency stabilization and/or rehabilitation.

The lowest value for dry bulb temperature measured at the observation site during the preceding 24-hour period.

The application of strategy and tactics that effectively meet suppression and resource objectives with the least environmental, cultural and social impacts

The lowest value for relative humidity measured at the observation site during the preceding 24-hour period.

Fire of known cause that cannot be properly classified into any of the eight standard causes of fires.

A work order issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to a federal agency, directing completion of a specified task, and setting forth funding, other managerial controls and guidance. Mission Assignments (MA) are implemented utilizing assigned federal agency's existing authorities and resources which may be compensable or non-compensable.

Modifying the environment or human behavior to reduce potential adverse impacts of from a natural hazard.

Actions that are implemented to reduce or eliminate (mitigate) risks to persons, property or natural resources. These actions can be undertaken before and during a wildfire. Before a fire actions can include fuel treatments, creation of fuel breaks or barriers around critical or sensitive sites or resources, and vegetation modification and structural changes to increase the chance a structure will survive a wildfire with or without active protection (sometimes referred to as defensible space or the home ignition zone). Mitigation actions can also occur during response and can include mechanical and physical tasks, specific fire applications, and limited suppression actions. Such as fireline construction, and creating "black lines" through the use of controlled burnouts to limit fire spread and behavior.

The ratio of liquid foam concentrate to water, usually expressed as a percent.

A random exchange of air parcels on any scale from the molecular to the largest eddy.

A tube, constructed with deflectors or baffles, that mixes foam solution and air to produce tiny, uniform bubbles in a short distance (1 to 2 ft).

Measured from the surface upward, the height to which relatively vigorous mixing occurs due to convection.

That portion of the atmosphere from the surface up to the mixing height. This is the layer of air, usually below a stable layer, within which pollutants are mixed by turbulence and diffusion.

The person in charge of fire retardant mixing operations with responsibility for quantity and quality of the slurry and for the loading of aircraft.

A two way radio unit on mobile apparatus (instead of base stations), usually semi-permanently attached to the apparatus.

A special fire weather forecast for a specific fire prepared by a meteorologist on site at or near the fire area.

A special weather forecast for a specific incident prepared by a meteorologist on site at or near the incident area.

The processes and procedures for activating, assembling, and transporting resources that have been requested to respond to or support an incident.

An off-incident location at which emergency service personnel and equipment are temporarily located pending assignment, release, or reassignment.

A written description of procedures used by federal, state, and local organizations for activating, assembling, and transporting resources that have been requested to respond to or support an incident.

A simplified or generalized representation of reality; a description, analogy, picture, or hypothesis to help visualize something that cannot be directly observed.

Model legislation, recommended by the Fire Marshals' Association of North America and adopted in most states, dealing with the subject of arson.

Model legislation recommended by the Fire Marshals' Association of North America and adopted by many states, regulating display of fireworks.

Moderate duty field work requires the average endurance and conditioning of an individual who possesses complete control of all their physical faculties. Occasional demands may be required for moderately strenuous activities in emergencies over long periods. The pace of work is usually set by the current environmental conditions.  Essential functions include, but are not limited to: considerable walking over irregular ground, standing for long periods, lifting 25 to 50 pounds, climbing, bending, stooping, squatting, twisting, and reaching.

Username of system that modified the record.

Date/Time that the record was modified

A manufactured unit consisting of five interconnecting tanks, a control pallet, and a nozzle pallet, with a capacity of 3,000 gallons, designed to be rapidly mounted inside an unmodified C-130 (Hercules) cargo aircraft for use in cascading retardant chemicals on wildfires. 

Rate of decrease of temperature with increasing height of an air parcel lifted at saturation via adiabatic process through an atmosphere in hydrostatic equilibrium. Rate varies according to the amount of water vapor in the parcel and is usually between 2.0 and 5.0 degrees F per 1000 feet (3.6 and 9.2 degrees C per 1000 meters).