Wildland Fire Phrases and Terms
These are words and phrases used in One Foot In The Black. This Glossary is included in the book.
Anchor Point: A location from which to start building a fire line. Used to reduce the chance of firefighters being flanked by fire.
Backfire: A fire set along the inner edge of a fireline or control line to consume the fuel in the path of a wildfire and change the direction of the fire.
BC: Battalion Chief.
BIA: Bureau of Indian Affairs.
BLM: Bureau of Land Management.
Banjo: Round, flat 1.5 gallon water container. Resembles the lower part of a banjo.
Bird: Helicopter. See Firehawk.
Blow-up: A sudden increase in the fire intensity or rate of spread strong enough to prevent direct control or to upset control plans. Blow-ups are often accompanied by violent convection and may have other characteristics of a firestorm.
Boise (Idaho): The National Interagency Coordination Center (NIFC) in Boise, Idaho is the focal point for overseeing all interagency coordination activities throughout the United States. Wildfire suppression is built on a three-tiered system of support - the local area, one of eleven geographic areas, and finally, the national level. When a fire is reported, the local agency and its firefighting partners respond. If the fire continues to grow, the agency can ask for help from its geographic area. When a geographic area has exhausted all its resources, it can turn to the NIFC for help in locating what is needed, from air tankers to radios to firefighting crews to incident management teams.
Bucker: A firefighter who assists others using chainsaws to clear brush. Carries fuel, tools.
Bump/ Bump Up/ Bump Down: When each worker on a fire line has completed clearing his space with his particular type of tool, the crew boss will call out “Bump,” at which time all workers move ahead one space and resume work. Depending on whether the crew is moving uphill or downhill, the call may be “Bump Up,” or “Bump Down.”
Burn Out: Setting a fire inside a fireline or control line to widen it or consume fuel between the edge of the fire and the control line.
Burn Over/Burnover: Firefighter death caused by entrapment.
CDC: California Department of Corrections.
CDF: California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Since 2007, known as CalFire.
Chaparral: A dense thicket of shrubs and small trees, including Sage, Yucca, Prickly Pear, and Scrub Oak.
Cold Trailing: Controlling a partly dead fire edge by inspecting for heat and digging out live spots.
Contain a Fire: Completing a fuel break around a fire.
Control a Fire: The complete extinguishment of a fire, including spot fires.
Crew Boss: A person in charge of a group of firefighters, responsible for their performance and safety.
Cubie: square five-gallon water container.
D-6, D-8: Size designations for large bulldozers.
Dozer: Any tracked vehicle (bulldozer) with a front-mounted blade used for exposing soil, creating a firebreak.
Drip Torch: Hand-held device for igniting fires by dripping flaming liquid fuel.
EMT: Emergency medical technician.
Engine: Fire vehicle capable of pumping water, carries hose, water, equipment, and a crew of two or more.
Entrapment: A situation in which personnel are caught in a fire in a life threatening position when planned escape routes or safety zones are absent or compromised.
Escape Route: A planned route firefighters take to move to a safety zone or low-risk area.
FSA: Fire Suppression Aide. Entry-level job at Los Angeles County Fire Department wildland fire camps.
F-ban: Fire behavior analyst.
Fire Shelter: An aluminized tent offering protection by reflecting radiant heat and providing a volume of breathable air in a fire entrapment situation. Also referred to as a "Shake and Bake."
Fire Storm: Wind drives flames into the fuel in front of the advancing line of fire. Spot fires introduce radiant heat in the fuel in advance of the main fire. The spot fires become so numerous and the preheating of the fuel so intense that the area seems to ignite all at once, creating a firestorm. A wildfire can burn with such intensity that most of the oxygen is burned out of the air around it. If the wind suddenly changes and brings fresh air and oxygen, a ground fire may explode into the branches and crowns of the trees around it. A crown fire may then create its own weather. As hot, lighter air rises, cold, heavier air moves down to replace it in what is known as a convection effect, which causes tornado-like winds, which may reach 80-90 miles per hour. These winds may become a rotating vortex, known as a fire whirl, which throws off burning twigs, branches, even logs. The center of the vortex is a downdraft full of deadly gas, primarily carbon monoxide, with a temperature as high as two thousand degrees. The outer ring of the vortex is an updraft, which may reach 20,000 feet into the air. The explosive effects of such fire conditions create the roaring sound often described as that of an approaching train.
Firehawk: Sikorsky UH60L Blackhawk Attack Helicopter converted to fire fighting use. Rated as a Type 1 helicopter, it carries sixteen people including pilot, has a payload of 5,000 pounds, and a retardant tank holding 1,100 gallons. In use by Los Angeles County. Referred to by firefighters as the "Bird."
Fireline: (Control line) A fire barrier scraped or dug down to the soil. Sometimes a fireline is located some distance from the main fire and the intervening vegetation and fuels are burned to make a much wider strip devoid of fuel. This is called backfiring or burning out.
Forest Service/USFS: U.S. Forest Service.
Full Thickness Burn: Third degree burn to the subcutaneous layer below the epidermis and dermis skin layers.
Fusee: A colored flare used to ignite backfires. Also used in an emergency to burn out an area for a safe zone.
Helitack: The use of helicopters to transport crews, equipment and fire retardants to the fire line.
Hotshot Crew: A trained fire crew used to build fire lines by hand. Generally regarded as the most highly skilled among fire crews.
Incident: A human-caused or natural occurrence, such as a wildland fire, that requires emergency action to prevent loss of life or damage to property.
Incident Commander: Individual responsible for the management of all operations at a fire.
Mcleod: A double-sided rake-like tool with large teeth on one side and smaller teeth on the other side. Used for cutting firelines, removing vegetation and ground litter.
Nifsee: NIFC, National Interagency Fire Center, the national wildland fire-management center in Boise, Idaho
Nomex®: Trade name for a yellow fire resistant synthetic material used in the manufacture of pants and shirts used by fire fighters. Provides fire resistance, but must be worn over long sleeve cotton T-shirt and cotton pants, which provide insulation from heat and burns.
OIG: Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Agriculture charged with investigating fire casualties among USFS firefighters.
P-3: Lockheed Orion four-engine naval patrol bomber converted to use as a fire retardant tanker.
Personal Protective Equipment/PPE: Fire fighting equipment and clothing used to protect wildland firefighters from exposure to hazardous conditions. PPE includes 8-inch high-laced leather boots with lug soles, fire shelter, hardhat with chinstrap and shroud, goggles, earplugs, Nomex shirts and trousers, leather gloves and first aid kits.
Pulaski: A chopping and trenching tool, which is half axe and half hoe. Named after Edward Pulaski, a USFS firefighter.
RH: Relative humidity.
Radiant Burn: A burn received from the radiant heat of a fire.
Safety Zone: An area cleared of flammable materials used for escape if a fireline is outflanked by fire or in the event of a blow-up.
Spot Fire: A fire ignited outside the perimeter of the main fire by flying sparks of embers.
Stokes Basket: Wire basket used to immobilize and lift bodies during rescue operations.
Squirrel Channel: Radio frequency often used by fire crews to communicate among themselves.
Swamper: a) Inmate crew leader at prison fire camps, b) see Bucker.
Type – Fire: Fires are classified according to severity and acreage burned. A Type IV Fire is the lowest designation, a fire in its initial stages. Types III and II are more complex and severe, and Type I is the most severe.
