NWCG Glossary of Wildland Fire, PMS 205

Five-minute test used to predict a person's ability to take in, transport, and use oxygen (aerobic capacity), the most important factor limiting the ability to perform arduous work.

The central point or area of a weather system associated with increased winds, clouds or precipitation (or any combination thereof).

Water or fire retardant projected directly from the nozzle (as contrasted with a fog or spray cone), provided by a solid stream orifice or by adjusting a fog jet into a straight stream pattern.

A hose tip spout designed to provide the maximum reach of water without feathering.

A wire or metal guard used to keep debris from clogging pipe or other openings made for removing water; used in pumps and on suction hose to keep foreign material from clogging or damaging pumps.

A broad statement, specified in a land/resource management or fire management plan that identifies change in water, soil, air, or vegetation from the present to proposed conditions, or describes an existing resource condition that should be maintained. Strategic objectives deal with large areas over long time periods and project intended outcomes of management activities that contribute to the maintenance or achievement of desired conditions. 

The general plan or direction selected to accomplish incident objectives.

Number of resources used to attack a fire.

Total firefighting resources available, during a specified period, to conduct and support firefighting operations.

A set number of resources of the same kind and type that have an established minimum number of personnel, common communications, and a leader.

A narrow finger or band of fuel that connects two or more patches or areas of wildland fuel.

Burning by means of strip firing.

In hazard reduction, burning narrow strips of fuel and leaving the rest of the area untreated by fire.

Setting fire to more than one strip of fuel and providing for the strips to burn together. Frequently done in burning out against a wind where inner strips are fired first to create drafts which pull flames and sparks away from the control line.

A series of lines of fire ignited near and up wind (or downslope) of a firebreak or backing fire so they burn with the wind (or upslope) toward the firebreak or backing fire.

The protection of homes or other structures from an active wildland fire.

A constructed object, usually a free-standing building above ground.

The arrangement of vegetation in terms of density, basal area, cover, and vertical arrangement.

Fire originating in and burning any part or all of any building, shelter, or other structure.

The characteristics of a structure and its immediate surroundings within 100 feet; the SIZ may be extended (e.g., to 150 or 200 feet) in areas of steep terrain or dense, highly flammable vegetation. The SIZ is the key determinant for structure ignition potential during wildfire.

A plan developed by the Structure Protection Specialist that provides operational guidelines to suppression resources responsible for providing wildland fire structure protection.

Downward or sinking motion of air in the atmosphere. Subsiding air warms due to compression. Increasing temperature and decreasing humidities are present in subsiding air. Subsidence results in a stable atmosphere inhibiting dispersion. Subsidence is generally associated with high atmospheric pressure. 

An inversion caused by subsiding air, often resulting in decreased atmospheric mixing conditions.

The process of vegetational development whereby an area becomes successively occupied by different plant communities of higher ecological order.

In fire service, the number of feet (meters) of vertical lift from the surface of the water to the center of the pump impeller. In testing, e.g., fire department pumpers are required to discharge their rated capacity at 150 pounds (1034 kPa) net pump pressure at a 10-foot (3 meter) lift. The suction gauge would indicate the vertical suction lift in inches of mercury when the pump was primed with no appreciable water flowing. 

The adjective classification of the sky when 5/10 or less of the sky is obscured by clouds.

The mean solar times of sunset and sunrise as published in the Nautical Almanac, converted to local standard time for the locality concerned.

A minor thermal burn involving the outer layer of skin, i.e. "a sunburn". It is characterized by reddening of the skin and perhaps some swelling without blisters.

An extremely dense surface fog (water droplets suspended in the atmosphere) at the site of combustion that reduces visibility to less than three meters (ten feet).

The ICS title for an individual responsible for a division or group.

Overhead tied to a local fire department, generally by agreement, who are mobilized primarily for response to incidents or wildland fires outside their district or mutual aid zone. Supplemental fire department resources are not a permanent part of the local fire organization and are not required to attend scheduled training, meetings, etc. of the department staff. 

Minor items of equipment and all expendable items assigned to an incident.

Supply Unit staff order, receive, process, store, inventory, and distribute all incident-related supplies. The Supply Unit staff are responsible for all off-incident ordering.

A branch within the logistics section responsible for providing personnel, equipment and supplies to support incident operations. Includes the supply, facilities and ground support units.

On-incident costs and off-incident costs. On-incident costs include caterer, shower units, mobile commissary, cache supplies, and materials, etc. Off-incident costs include expanded dispatch, buying teams, administrative payment teams, cache personnel, area command, transportation to/from incident, etc. 

Non-tactical resources under the supervision of the logistics, planning, finance/administration sections or the command staff.

An agency providing suppression or other support and resource assistance to a protecting agency.

Any technology which may be used to support NIIMS. Examples of these technologies include GIS mapping, infrared technology, NFDRS, communications, dispatch coordination, and national cache system.

see: Suppression

An agent that extinguishes the flaming and glowing phases of combustion by direct application to the burning fuel.

All the work to extinguish or limit wildland fire spread.

Two or more firefighters stationed at a strategic location for initial action on fires. Duties are essentially the same as those of individual firefighters.

Intentional application of fire to speed up or strengthen fire suppression action on wildfires. Types of suppression firing include burning out, counter firing, and strip burning.

The ratio between the surface area of an object, such as a fuel particle, to its volume. The smaller the particle, the more quickly it can become wet, dry out, or become heated to combustion temperature during a fire.

Fire that burns loose debris on the surface, which includes dead branches, leaves, and low vegetation.

Fuels lying on or near the surface of the ground, consisting of leaf and needle litter, dead branch material, downed logs, bark, tree cones, and low stature living plants.

An area on the earth's surface where atmospheric pressure is at a relative maximum. Winds blow clockwise around highs in the Northern Hemisphere but, due to friction with the earth's face, tend to cross constant pressure lines away from the high center. Air is usually subsiding above a surface high. This causes warming due to air compression. This results in stable atmospheric conditions and light surface winds. 

An area on the earth's surface where atmospheric pressure is at a relative minimum. Winds blow counter-clockwise around lows in the Northern Hemisphere but, due to friction with the earth's surface, tend to cross constant pressure lines toward the low center. Upon converging into the low's center, air currents are forced to rise. As air rises it cools due to expansion. Cooling reduces its capacity to hold moisture; so cloudiness and precipitation are common in lows. If a low center intensifies sufficiently it will take on the characteristics of a storm center with precipitation and strong winds.

The elastic-like force at the surface of a liquid, tending to minimize the surface area and causing drops to form. Expressed as Newtons per meter or dynes per centimeter (1 Newton/m=1,000 dynes/cm).