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
pilotage	NIAC National Interagency Aviation Committee	Approved	Navigation of aircraft by visual reference to landmarks.
pin flags	WFISC Wildland Fire Investigation Subcommittee	Approved	Colored flags attached to metal or plastic pins to designate the location of fire pattern indicators, evidence, and other items of interest.
pin lug coupling	ETC Equipment Technology Committee	Approved	A hose coupling with one or more cylindrical studs on its outside rim. The studs allow the use of a spanner wrench to tighten the coupling.
pincer action	IOSC Incident Operations Subcommittee	Approved	Direct attack around a fire in opposite directions by two or more attack units. Usually conducted from the fire's tail to head.
ping-pong ball system	NIAC National Interagency Aviation Committee, ETC Equipment Technology Committee	Approved	Mechanized method of dispensing DAIDs (Delayed Aerial Ignition Devices) at a selected rate. The DAIDs are polystyrene balls, 1.25 inches in diameter, containing potassium permanganate. The balls are fed into a dispenser, generally mounted in a helicopter, where they are injected with a water-glycol solution and then drop through a chute leading out of the helicopter. The chemicals react thermally and ignite in 25-30 seconds. The space between ignition points on the ground is primarily a function of helicopter speed, gear ratio of the dispenser, and the number of chutes used (up to four).
pithy stalk	WFISC Wildland Fire Investigation Subcommittee	Approved	A vascular plant that has a usually continuous central internal stand of spongy tissue in the stem.
plan of attack	IOSC Incident Operations Subcommittee	Approved	The selected course of action and organization of personnel and equipment in fire suppression, as applied to a particular fire or to all fires of a specific type.
planetary boundary layer	FWS Fire Weather Subcommittee	Approved	That part of the earth's lower atmosphere that is directly influenced by the presence of the earth's surface and responds to surface forcings such as fronts, friction, evapotranspiration and convective mixing.
planimetric map		Approved	A map that shows the positions of feature swithout showing the elevations of all hills and valleys of the land. It can include rivers, lakes,roads, boundaries, or other human-made symbolic features.
planning interval	NIMSIC National Incident Management System Integration Committee	Archived	Period of time between scheduled planning meetings.
planning meeting	NIMSIC National Incident Management System Integration Committee	Approved	The meeting which serves as a final review and approval, by the Command and General Staff, of operational plans and resources requirements. This meeting is an element of the Planning Cycle.
Planning Section	NIMSIC National Incident Management System Integration Committee	Approved	The ICS Section that collects, evaluates, and disseminates operational information related to the incident and for the development of the IAP. This section also maintains information on the current/forecasted situation and on the status of resources assigned to the incident.
Plastic Sphere Dispenser	NIAC National Interagency Aviation Committee	Approved	Device installed, but jettisonable, in a helicopter, which injects glycol into a plastic sphere containing potassium permanganate, which is then expelled from the machine and aircraft. This produces an exothermic reaction resulting in ignition of fuels on the ground for prescribed or wildland fire applications.
plow line	ETC Equipment Technology Committee	Approved	Fireline constructed by a tractor plow.
plume	FUSC Fire Use Subcommittee	Approved	A convection column generated by combustion (of wildland fuel).
plume rise	FUSC Fire Use Subcommittee	Approved	How high above the level of release an emission plume rises.
plume-dominated wildland fire	FUSC Fire Use Subcommittee	Approved	A wildland fire whose activity is determined by the convection column.
PM10	FUSC Fire Use Subcommittee	Approved	Particulate matter of mass median aerodynamic diameter (MMAD) less than or equal to 10 micrometers.
PM2.5	FUSC Fire Use Subcommittee	Approved	Particulate matter of mass median aerodynamic diameter (MMAD) less than or equal to 2.5 micrometers.
pocket weather meter	FWS Fire Weather Subcommittee	Approved	A handheld electronic device that measures temperature, humidity, wind speed, and possibly other atmospheric variables, depending on brand and model.
pockets of a fire	FBSC Fire Behavior Subcommittee	Approved	Unburned indentations in the fire edge formed by fingers or slow burning areas.
point date time		Approved	The date and time that the fire point was collected in the field.
point name		Approved
point of attack	IOSC Incident Operations Subcommittee	Approved	That part of the fire on which work is started when suppression crews arrive.
point of origin	WFISC Wildland Fire Investigation Subcommittee	Approved	The exact physical location within the Ignition Area where a heat source and the local fuel interact, resulting in a fire.
point of origin accuracy descriptor		Approved	Description of the methods used to determine the certainty and precision of the fire location at the point of origin.
point of origin aspect code		Approved	A code used to describe the direction toward which the predominant slope faces at the point of origin of the fire (including ridgetops and/or flat ground). Point of origin is the location where a competent ignition source came into contact with the material first ignited and sustained combustion occurred.
point of origin county code		Approved	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.
point of origin datum		Approved	The datum associated with the coordinates that identify the point of origin. Point of origin is the location where a competent ignition source came into contact with the material first ignited and sustained combustion occurred.
point of origin fire intensity level code		Approved	An expression of fire intensity based on observed and/or calculated flame lengths representative across the immediate vicinity of the point of origin during the initial response. Point of origin is the location where a competent ignition source came into contact with the material first ignited and sustained combustion occurred. Fire intensity levels (FILs) provide "an expression of fireline intensity, based on typical and/ or calculated flame length of a fire behavior condition. FILs are used in the analysis to reflect the differences in difficulty of suppression and fire effects on natural and cultural resources." (Ref. FSH5109.19 ch40.5 9/85)
point of origin landowner category		Approved
point of origin landowner category code		Approved	More specific classification of land ownership within land owner kinds identifying the owner at the point of origin at the time of the incident. Owner in the context of this data element refers to the agency or entity having the land management responsibility at the point of origin if they are not the legal owners. E.g., NPS may be the designated "owner" even though the US Federal Government holds title to the land.
point of origin landowner kind		Approved	Broad classification of land ownership at the point of origin.
point of origin latitude		Approved	The latitude location of the point of origin specified in decimal degrees. Point of origin is the location where a competent ignition source came into contact with the material first ignited and sustained combustion occurred.
Point of Origin Latitude Decimal Degrees		Approved	The latitude location of the wildland fire location point specified in decimal degrees.
point of origin longitude		Approved	The longitude location of the point of origin specified in decimal degrees. Point of origin is the location where a competent ignition source came into contact with the material first ignited and sustained combustion occurred.
Point of Origin Longitude Decimal Degrees		Approved	The longitude location of the wildland fire location point specified in decimal degrees.
point of origin on unprotected land	IFPC Interagency Fire Planning Committee	Approved	Point of Origin of an incident for which NO fire agency has been assigned as the protecting unit.
Point of Origin owner unit		Approved
point of origin responsible agency unit identifier		Approved	The unit identifier for the agency that has primary protection responsibility at the point of origin at the time of the incident. Point of origin is the location where a competent ignition source came into contact with the material first ignited and sustained combustion occurred.
Point of Origin Responsible Unit		Approved	NWCG Unit Identifier of agency with primary fire protection responsibility at the point of origin of a fire.
point of origin slope percentage		Approved	The ratio between the amount of vertical rise and horizontal distance of the terrain as expressed in a percent that represents the typical slope in the immediate vicinity of the point of origin of a fire. Point of origin is the location where a competent ignition source came into contact with the material first ignited and sustained combustion occurred.
point of origin state		Approved	The State alpha code identifying the state or equivalent entity at point of origin.
point of origin state code		Approved	The State Code identifying the state or equivalent entity at point of origin. Point of origin is the precise location where a competent ignition source came into contact with the material first ignited and sustained combustion occurred.
point source	FUSC Fire Use Subcommittee	Approved	A permanent source of air pollution that can be distinctly identified such as a smokestack.
point source fire predictions	FUSC Fire Use Subcommittee	Approved	Predictions that apply to an initiating fire burning during a time when conditions have been relatively constant, or where it can be assumed that the fire will maintain a basically elliptical shape.
point type		Approved
point/zone protection	IFPC Interagency Fire Planning Committee	Approved	A wildfire response strategy which protects specific assets or highly valued resources from the wildfire without directly halting the continued spread of the wildfire.
poise	ETC Equipment Technology Committee	Approved	Unit of fluid viscosity in fire retardant, defined as tangential force per unit area (dynes/square centimeter) required to maintain unit difference in velocity (1 centimeter/second) between two parallel planes separated by 1 cm of fluid (1 poise=1 dyne-second/cubic centimeter).
polygon date time		Approved	The date and time that the polygon was collected in the field

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National Wildfire Coordinating Group

PMS 205

NWCG Glossary of Wildland Fire, PMS 205

Overview