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
Sand Table Exercise	LC Leadership Committee	Approved	A tactical decision game that employs a three-dimensional terrain model made from sand and various props to provide a visual representation of the situation described in the tactical decision game.
scope of practice	RMC Risk Management Committee	Approved	The set of responsibilities and ethical considerations that define the extent or limits of the care provider within the current standards of practice.
scorch height	FUSC Fire Use Subcommittee	Approved	Average heights of foliage browning or bole blackening caused by a fire.
scratch line	IOSC Incident Operations Subcommittee	Approved	An unfinished preliminary control line hastily established or constructed as an emergency measure to check the spread of fire.
scrubbing	ETC Equipment Technology Committee	Approved	The process of agitating foam solution and air within a confined space (usually a hose) that produces tiny, uniform bubbles - the length and type of hose determine the amount of scrubbing and, therefore, foam quality.
sea breeze	FWS Fire Weather Subcommittee	Approved	A breeze (wind) blowing inland from the sea generally during daytime hours.
sea-level pressure	FWS Fire Weather Subcommittee	Approved	Pressure value obtained by the theoretical reduction or increase of station pressure to sea level. The average atmospheric pressure at sea level is 14.7 psi.
search/rescue/recovery (event)	NCSC National Coordination System Committee	Approved	An event, usually managed by organizatons external to the fire community, for which the primary focus is the search, rescue and/or recovery of people or things. This category includes missing persons, entrapments, etc.
season code	FDSC Fire Danger Subcommittee	Approved	One of four designations of seasonal plant development used in the 1988 version of NFDRS.
Seasonal Data Collection Station
seasonal monthly average	FWS Fire Weather Subcommittee	Approved	Historically, the average number of human-caused fires occurring on a protection unit per month during the established fire season.
seasonal risk class	WFISC Wildland Fire Investigation Subcommittee	Approved	Objective ranking of protection units within an administrative group based on the number of human-caused fires for at least the past five years.
Second Order Fire Effects	FUSC Fire Use Subcommittee	Approved	The secondary effects of fire such as tree regeneration, plant succession, and changes in site productivity. Although second order fire effects are dependent, in part, on first order fire effects, they also involve interaction with many other non-fire variables.
second-degree burn	RMC Risk Management Committee	Approved	A burn in which the skin is blistered.
second-in-command	NIAC National Interagency Aviation Committee	Approved	Pilot who is designated to be second-in-command of an aircraft during flight time.
secondary line	IOSC Incident Operations Subcommittee	Approved	Any fireline constructed at a distance from the fire perimeter concurrently with or after a line already constructed on or near to the perimeter of the fire. Generally constructed as an insurance measure in case the fire escapes control by the primary line.
secondary lookout (location)	IOSC Incident Operations Subcommittee	Approved	A lookout point intermittently used to supplement the visible area coverage of the primary lookout system when required by fire danger, poor visibility, or other factors.
secondary lookout (person)	IOSC Incident Operations Subcommittee	Approved	The person who occupies such a station.
secondary phone	DMC Data Management Committee	Approved	Individual’s secondary phone.
secondary weather station	FWS Fire Weather Subcommittee	Approved	Station at which minimum weather measurements are taken to compute ratings of burning conditions; provides supplementary information on weather experience.
section	NIMSIC National Incident Management System Integration Committee	Approved	The ICS organizational level having responsibility for a major functional area of incident management (e.g., Operations, Planning, Logistics, and Finance/Administration).
section area		Approved	An area of land one mile square and containing 640 acres, more or less, which is one of 36 parts of a township.
security weather watch	IOSC Incident Operations Subcommittee	Archived	Observers are posted at one or more strategic locations in the proximity of a fire to detect and warn fire personnel of pending critical weather changes that might significantly affect the fire.
segment	IOSC Incident Operations Subcommittee	Approved	A geographical area in which a task force/strike team leader or supervisor of a single resource is assigned authority and responsibility for the coordination of resources and implementation of planned tactics. A segment may be a portion of a division or an area inside or outside the perimeter of an incident. Segments are identified with Arabic numbers, i.e., A-1, etc. and are not to be used as radio designators.
selection area		Approved	Indicates the dispatch center inside/outside the current dispatch center for which resources are being requested.
Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus	RMC Risk Management Committee	Approved	Portable air (not oxygen) tanks with regulators which allow firefighters to breathe while in toxic smoke conditions. Usually rated for 30 minutes of service. Used primarily on fires involving structures or hazardous materials.
separation (aircraft)	IASS Interagency Aerial Supervision Subcommittee	Approved	The horizontal and vertical spacing of aircraft working over or near a wildfire or other incident.
separation (airports)	IASS Interagency Aerial Supervision Subcommittee	Approved	Spacing of aircraft while landing and taking off at airports to achieve safe and orderly movement in flight.
separation (personnel)	IOSC Incident Operations Subcommittee	Approved	Spacing of personnel while performing line construction activities.
serial number	NCSC National Coordination System Committee	Approved	A set of numbers that is put on equipment by the manufacturer so that each has a different number and can be recognized.
Serious Accident Investigation Team	RMC Risk Management Committee	Approved	A formal investigation team that is organized with the purpose of conducting an accident investigation for an occurred serious accident. The team is given full authorization to conduct the investigation from involved agencies through letter of delegation.
serious aircraft incident	NIAC National Interagency Aviation Committee	Approved	An incident or malfunction that could adversely affect the safety of flight.
service branch	NIMSIC National Incident Management System Integration Committee	Approved	A branch within the logistics section responsible for service activities at the incident. Includes the communications, medical and food units.
set (incendiary)	WFISC Wildland Fire Investigation Subcommittee	Approved	An individual incendiary fire.
set (individual)	WFISC Wildland Fire Investigation Subcommittee	Approved	Individual lightning or railroad fires, especially when several are started within a short time.
set (material)	WFISC Wildland Fire Investigation Subcommittee	Approved	Material left to ignite an incendiary fire at a later time.
set (planned)	WFISC Wildland Fire Investigation Subcommittee	Approved	Burning material at the points deliberately ignited for backfiring, slash burning, prescribed burning, and other purposes.
set (point of origin)	WFISC Wildland Fire Investigation Subcommittee	Approved	The point or points of origin of an incendiary fire.
severe winter weather (event)	NCSC National Coordination System Committee	Approved	An event dealing with response to severe winter weather such as blizzards, heavy snow, or ice storms.
severity	FUSC Fire Use Subcommittee	Approved	See fire severity
severity funding	IBC Incident Business Committee	Approved	Suppression funds used to increase the level of presuppression capability and fire preparedness when predicted or actual burning conditions exceed those normally expected, due to severe weather conditions.
severity index	FDSC Fire Danger Subcommittee	Approved	A number that indicates the relative net effects of daily fire danger on the fire load for an area during a specified period, such as a fire season.
shaded fuel break	FUSC Fire Use Subcommittee	Approved	Fuel breaks built in timbered areas where the trees on the break are thinned and pruned to reduce the fire potential yet retain enough crown canopy to make a less favorable microclimate for surface fires.
Shareable Content Object	IPSC Incident and Position Standards Committee	Archived	Self-contained units of learning. They can be used as building blocks (or legos) to create packages (lessons) of SCOs, but they cannot be broken down into smaller units.
Shareable Content Object Re-usable Model	IPSC Incident and Position Standards Committee	Archived	A specification for standardizing the reusability and interoperability of learning content. SCORM has been developed by the Advanced Distributed Learning initiative (ADL). SCORM focuses on two critical pieces of learning content interoperability: It defines an aggregation model for packaging learning content. It defines an API for enabling communications between learning content and the system that launches it.
shock wave	WFISC Wildland Fire Investigation Subcommittee	Approved	The leading edge of an expanding air mass.
Short Takeoff or Landing Aircraft	NIAC National Interagency Aviation Committee	Approved	An aircraft which has the capability of operating from a STOL runway in accordance with applicable airworthiness and operating regulations.
Short Takeoff or Landing Airstrip	NIAC National Interagency Aviation Committee	Approved	Developed or undeveloped area that has been tested and will accommodate STOL aircraft.
short-range spotting	FUSC Fire Use Subcommittee	Approved	Firebrands, flaming sparks, or embers are carried by surface winds, starting new fires beyond the zone of direct ignition by the main fire. The range of such spotting is usually less than 1/4 mile.
short-term	IBC Incident Business Committee	Approved	Persons or work for which employment is less than 12 months (excluding firefighters hired for a particular fire).

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National Wildfire Coordinating Group

PMS 205

NWCG Glossary of Wildland Fire, PMS 205

Overview