25 firefighting terms to know when a wildfire begins
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – Fire season is now a year-round reality in many areas of New Mexico, according to the New Mexico Forestry Division.
When a wildfire starts and fire crews respond, oftentimes wildfire briefings by officials may include terms that the average person may not know. To help better understand wildfire response terminology, KRQE News 13 selected 25 terms you may hear from firefighters if a wildfire begins in your area.
Fire Evacuations: What you need to know
Blackline
Preburning of fuels adjacent to a control line before igniting a prescribed burn. Blacklining is usually done in heavy fuels adjacent to a control line during periods of low fire danger to reduce
heat on holding crews and lessen chances for spotting across the control line. In fire suppression, a
blackline denotes a condition where there is no unburned material between the fireline and the
fire edge.
Backfiring
When attacking a wildland fire using the indirect attack method, intentionally setting fire to fuels inside the control line to reduce fuel and contain a rapidly spreading fire. Backfiring provides a wide defense perimeter and may be further employed to change the force of the fire’s convective column.
Control line
An inclusive term for all constructed or natural barriers and treated fire edges used to control a
fire.
Controlled
The completion of the control line around a fire, any spot fires therefrom, and any interior islands to be saved; burn out any unburned area adjacent to the fire side of the control lines; and cool down all hot spots that are immediate threats to the control line, until the lines can reasonably be expected to hold under the foreseeable conditions
Complex
Two or more individual incidents located in the same general area which are assigned to a single incident commander or unified command.
Containment/contained
The status of a wildfire suppression action signifying that a control line has been completed around the fire, and any associated spot fires, which can reasonably be expected to stop the fire’s spread.
Direct attack/direct line
Any treatment applied directly to burning fuel such as wetting, smothering, or chemically
quenching the fire or by physically separating the burning from unburned fuel.
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Extreme Fire Behavior
“Extreme” implies a level of fire behavior characteristics that ordinarily precludes methods of
direct control action. One or more of the following is usually involved: high rate of spread, prolific crowning and/or spotting, presence of fire whirls, strong convection column. Predictability is difficult because such fires often exercise some degree of influence on their environment and behave erratically, sometimes dangerously.
Fire Break
An existing barrier, man-made or natural, that will stop or slow an oncoming wildland fire.
Fire Concentration (Complex)
1. Generally, a situation in which numerous fires are burning in a locality.
2. More specifically, the number of fires per unit area or locality for a given period, generally a
year.
Fireline
The part of a containment or control line that is scraped or dug to mineral soil.
Fuel
Any combustible material, especially petroleum-based products and wildland fuels.
Handline
A fireline that is constructed with hand tools.
Head of a Fire
The most active part of a wildland fire. A developing wildland fire can have multiple heads.
Hotshot Crew
Intensively trained fire crew used primarily in hand line construction (Type-1).
Hot-spotting
Checking the spread of fire at points of more rapid spread or special threat. Is usually the initial
step in prompt control, with emphasis on first priorities.
Indirect Attack
A method of suppression in which the control line is located some considerable distance away
from the fire’s active edge. Generally done in the case of a fast-spreading or high-intensity fire
and to utilize natural or constructed firebreaks or fuel breaks and favorable breaks in the
topography. The intervening fuel is usually backfired; but occasionally the main fire is allowed to
burn to the line, depending on conditions.
Knock Down
To reduce the flame or heat on the more vigorously burning parts of a fire edge.
Large Fire
1. For statistical purposes, a fire burning more than a specified area of land e.g., 300 acres.
2. A fire burning with a size and intensity such that its behavior is determined by interaction
between its own convection column and weather conditions above the surface.
New Mexico landowners can get certified to conduct prescribed burns
Limited Containment
Halting of fire spread at the head, or that portion of the flanks of a prescribed fire that is
threatening to exceed prescription criteria, and ensuring that this spread rate will not be
encountered again; does not indicate mop up.
Mineral Soil
Soil layers below the predominantly organic horizons; soil with little combustible material.
Mop Up
Extinguishing or removing burning material near control lines, felling snags, and trenching logs
to prevent rolling after an area has burned, to make a fire safe, or to reduce residual smoke.
Red Flag Warning
A term used by fire weather forecasters to alert forecast users to an ongoing or imminent critical
fire weather pattern.
Uncontrolled Fire
Any fire which threatens to destroy life, property, or natural resources, and (a) is not burning
within the confines of firebreaks, or (b) is burning with such intensity that it could not be readily
extinguished with ordinary tools commonly available.
Tanker
During the fire response, you may also hear the word “tanker” used. There are a few types of tankers, such as the air tanker, which is a “fixed-wing aircraft certified by FAA as being capable of transport and delivery of fire retardant,” or the helitanker, which is a “helicopter equipped with a fixed tank, Air Tanker Board certified, capable of delivering a minimum of 1,100 gallons of water, foam, or retardant.”
You may also hear of a tanker vehicle, which is also called a water tender. They are ground vehicles capable of transporting specified quantities of water or solutions.
These definitions were provided by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group and the Alaska Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry and Fire Protection.
