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Terms and Definitions
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Faller
A person who fells trees. Also called a sawyer or cutter.
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Field Observer
Person responsible to the Situation Unit Leader for collecting and reporting information about an incident obtained from personal observations and interviews.
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Fine (Light) Fuels
Fast-drying fuels, generally with a comparatively high surface area-to-volume ratio, which are less than 1/4-inch in diameter and have a timelag of one hour or less. These fuels readily ignite and are rapidly consumed by fire when dry.
See also
flash fuels
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Fingers of a Fire
The long narrow extensions of a fire projecting from the main body.
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Fire Behavior
The manner in which a fire reacts to the influences of fuel, weather and topography.
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Fire Behavior Forecast
Prediction of probable fire behavior, usually prepared by a Fire Behavior Officer, in support of fire suppression or prescribed burning operations.
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Fire Behavior Specialist
A person responsible to the Planning Section Chief for establishing a weather data collection system and for developing fire behavior predictions based on fire history, fuel, weather and topography.
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Fire Break
A natural or constructed barrier used to stop or check fires that may occur, or to provide a control line from which to work.
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Fire Cache
A supply of fire tools and equipment assembled in planned quantities or standard units at a strategic point for exclusive use in fire suppression.
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Fire Crew
An organized group of firefighters under the leadership of a crew leader or other designated official.
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Fire Cycle
1. A fire-return interval calculated using a negative exponential (or Weibull) distribution, applied using current age-class structure on the landcape. 2. Length of time required to burn an area equal in size to a specified area.
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Fire Event
A single fire or series of fires within an area at a particular time.
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Fire Extent
The area burned per time period or event.
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Fire Frequency
The return interval or recurrence interval of fire in a given area over a specific time.
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Fire Front
The part of a fire within which continuous flaming combustion is taking place. Unless otherwise specified the fire front is assumed to be the leading edge of the fire perimeter. In ground fires, the fire front may be mainly smoldering combustion.
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Fire Intensity
A general term relating to the heat energy released by a fire.
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Fire Load
The number and size of fires historically experienced on a specified unit over a specified period (usually one day) at a specified index of fire danger.
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Fire Management Plan (FMP)
A strategic plan that defines a program to manage wildland and prescribed fires and documents the Fire Management Program in the approved land use plan. The plan is supplemented by operational plans such as preparedness plans, preplanned dispatch plans, prescribed fire plans and prevention plans.
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Fire Names
The normal procedure or protocol is that a fire is named by the Incident Commander. The name is usually taken from some local geological feature.
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Fire Perimeter
The entire outer edge or boundary of a fire.
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Fire Predictability
A measure of variation in fire frequency expressed as a range, standard deviation or standard error.
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Fire Regime
The combination of fire frequency, predictability, intensity, seasonality and size characteristics of fire in a particular ecosystem.
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Fire Rotation
The length of time necessary to burn an area the size of a specific area (for example a watershed).
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Fire Season
1. Period(s) of the year during which wildland fires are likely to occur, spread and affect resource values sufficient to warrant organized fire management activities. 2. A legally enacted time during which burning activities are regulated by state or local authority.
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Fire Severity
The effect of fire on plants. It is dependant on intensity and residence of the burn. An intense fire may not necessarily be severe. For trees, severity is often measured as percentage of basal area removed.
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Fire Shelter
An aluminized tent offering protection by means of reflecting radiant heat and providing a volume of breathable air in a fire entrapment situation. Fire shelters should only be used in life-threatening situations as a last resort.
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Fire Shelter Deployment
The removing of a fire shelter from its case and using it as protection against fire.
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Fire Storm
Violent convection caused by a large continuous area of intense fire. Often characterized by destructively violent surface indrafts, near and beyond the perimeter, and sometimes by tornado-like whirls.
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Fire Triangle
Instructional aid in which the sides of a triangle are used to represent the three factors (oxygen, heat, fuel) necessary for combustion and flame production; removal of any of the three factors causes flame production to cease.
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Fire Use Module (Prescribed Fire Module)
A team of skilled and mobile personnel dedicated primarily to prescribed fire management. These are national and interagency resources, available throughout the prescribed fire season, that can ignite, hold and monitor prescribed fires.
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Fire Weather
Weather conditions that influence fire ignition, behavior and suppression.
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Fire Weather Watch
A term used by fire weather forecasters to notify using agencies, usually 24 to 72 hours ahead of the event, that current and developing meteorological conditions may evolve into dangerous fire weather.
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Fire Whirl
Spinning vortex column of ascending hot air and gases rising from a fire and carrying aloft smoke, debris and flame. Fire whirls range in size from less than one foot to more than 500 feet in diameter. Large fire whirls have the intensity of a small tornado.
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Fire-Free Interval
Time between two successive fire events at a given site or an area of a specified size.
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Fire-Return Interval
The number of years between two successive fire events at a specific site or an area of a specified size.
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Firefighting Resources
All people and major items of equipment that can, or potentially can, be assigned to fires.
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Fireline
A linear fire barrier that is scraped or dug to mineral soil.
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Fireline Intensity
The rate of heat release along a unit length of fireline, measured in kW m-1.
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Flame Height
The average maximum vertical extension of flames at the leading edge of the fire front. Occasional flashes that rise above the general level of flames are not considered. This distance is less than the flame length if flames are tilted due to wind or slope.
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Flame Length
The distance between the flame tip and the midpoint of the flame depth at the base of the flame (generally the ground surface); an indicator of fire intensity.
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Flaming Front
The zone of a moving fire where the combustion is primarily flaming. Behind this flaming zone combustion is primarily glowing. Light fuels typically have a shallow flaming front, whereas heavy fuels have a deeper front. Also called fire front.
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Flanks of a Fire
The parts of a fire’s perimeter that are roughly parallel to the main direction of spread.
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Flare-up
Any sudden acceleration of fire spread or intensification of a fire. Unlike a blow-up, a flare-up lasts a relatively short time and does not radically change control plans.
See also
Blow-up
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Flash Fuels
Fuels such as grass, leaves, draped pine needles, fern, tree moss and some kinds of slash, that ignite readily and are consumed rapidly when dry.
See also
Fine Fuels
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Foam
Water in which a surfactant has been added at the pump. Foam insulates fuels against heat, increases the penetration of water into fuels and decreases evaporation.
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Foehn Wind
A dry wind associated with windflow down the lee side of a plateau or mountain range and with adiabatic warming. Also called Santa Ana (southern California), Mono or North Wind (north and central California), East Wind (western Washington and Oregon) or Chinooks (east side of Rockies).
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Forb
A plant with a soft, rather than permanent woody stem, that is not a grass or grass-like plant.
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Fuel
Combustible material. Includes, vegetation, such as grass, leaves, ground litter, plants, shrubs and trees, that feed a fire.
See also
Surface Fuels
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Fuel Bed
An array of fuels usually constructed with specific loading, depth and particle size to meet experimental requirements; also, commonly used to describe the fuel composition in natural settings.
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Fuel Loading
The amount of fuel present expressed quantitatively in terms of weight of fuel per unit area.
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Fuel Model
Simulated fuel complex (or combination of vegetation types) for which all fuel descriptors required for the solution of a mathematical rate of spread model have been specified.
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Fuel Moisture (Fuel Moisture Content)
The quantity of moisture in fuel expressed as a percentage of the weight when thoroughly dried at 212 degrees Fahrenheit.
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Fuel Reduction
Manipulation, including combustion, or removal of fuels to reduce the likelihood of ignition and/or to lessen potential damage and resistance to control.
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Fuel Type
An identifiable association of fuel elements of a distinctive plant species, form, size, arrangement or other characteristics that will cause a predictable rate of fire spread or difficulty of control under specified weather conditions.
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Fusee
A colored flare designed as a railway warning device and widely used to ignite prescription fires and backfires.
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