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Terms and Definitions
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Ladder Fuels
Fuels which provide vertical continuity between strata, thereby allowing fire to carry from surface fuels into the crowns of trees or shrubs with relative ease. They help initiate and assure the continuation of crowning.
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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.
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Lead Plane
Aircraft with pilot used to make dry runs over the target area to check wing and smoke conditions and topography and to lead air tankers to targets and supervise their drops.
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Light (Fine) 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.
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Lightning Activity Level (LAL)
A number, on a scale of 1 to 6, that reflects frequency and character of cloud-to-ground lightning. The scale is exponential, based on powers of 2 (i.e., LAL 3 indicates twice the lightning of LAL 2).
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Line Scout
A firefighter who determines the location of a fireline.
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Litter
Top layer of the forest, scrubland, or grassland floor, directly above the fermentation layer, composed of loose debris of dead sticks, branches, twigs and recently fallen leaves or needles, little altered in structure by decomposition.
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Live Fuels
Living plants, such as trees, grasses and shrubs, in which the seasonal moisture content cycle is controlled largely by internal physiological mechanisms, rather than by external weather influences.
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Lookout
A member of a fire crew whose job is to monitor local weather conditions and to identify and report potential dangers resulting from a change in fire behavior or weather. A lookout may also refer to a fire watch tower or to the employees stationed there whose job is to detect fire starts.
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Lost Ignition
A natural ignition that was suppressed. Some agencies may re-ignite a lost ignition at a more convenient, later date to salvage a natural process.
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