[ A ]
Aerial Fuels – All live and dead vegetation in the forest canopy or above surface fuels, including tree branches, twigs and cones, snags, moss, and high brush. Examples include trees and large bushes.
[ B ]
Buffer – An area between the forest and the bordering urban development where a defensible space can be created by reducing the buildup of hazardous fuels; thereby reducing the risk to surrounding communities.
Building or Structure – Any structure used for support or shelter of any use or occupancy.
[ C ]
Canopy - The stratum containing the crowns of the tallest vegetation present (living or dead), usually above 20 feet.
Class A, B, C Roofing Classifications – Roofing classification based on UL Standard 790, tests for fire resistance of roof covering materials.
Class A – severe – fire retardant coverings afford a fairly high degree of fire protection.
Class B – moderate – fire retardant coverings afford a moderate degree of fire protection.
Class C – light – fire retardant coverings afford only a slight degree of fire protection.
Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP) - The CWPP enables a community to plan how it will reduce the risk of wildfire. The plan identifies strategic sites and methods for fuel reduction projects across the landscape and jurisdictional boundaries.
For more information on CWPPs, visit http://www.cafirealliance.org/cwpp/ or call (858) 756-5714.
Contained – The fire is completely surrounded by natural barriers and/or firebreaks but there is still a significant threat that it may escape. Additional work and/or surveillance are required.
Controlled – The fire is completely surrounded by natural barriers and/or firebreaks, and there is no reasonable expectation that it will escape. The fire no longer needs to be tended.
Convection - 1. The transfer of heat by the movement of a gas or liquid; convection along with conduction and radiation are the principal means of heat transfer 2. As specialized in meteorology, atmospheric motions that are predominantly vertical in the absence of wind (which distinguishes this process from advection), resulting in vertical transport and mixing of atmospheric properties. 3. Convection occurs when the lighter warm air moves upward; as does the rising of a smoke column.
Crawler Tractor – A tracked vehicle (typically with a front-mounted blade and rear-attached plow) used to suppress wildfires.
Crown Fire - A fire that advances from top to top of trees or shrubs more or less independent of a surface fire. Crown fires are sometimes classed as running or dependent to distinguish the degree of independence from the surface fire.
Cul-de-sac – A blind alley, open at one end only. Usually refers to the circular “dead end” of the street or road.
[ D ]
Defensible Space – An area, typically a width of 30 feet or more, between an improved property and a potential wildfire where the combustibles have been removed or modified and basic wildland fire protection practices/measures have been implemented. In the absence of firefighters, this safety zone increases the likelihood that the structure will survive on its own.
Dry Hydrant – 1. A non-pressurized, low-cost pipe system with a hard suction hose connection, installed along the bank of a body of water. 2. Permanent devices with fire engine threads attached to expedite drafting operations in locations where there are water sources suitable for use in fire suppression (e.g. piers, wharves, bridges over streams, highways adjacent to ponds).
[ E ]
Ecosystem - An interacting natural system including all the component organisms together with the abiotic environment and processes affecting them.
[ F ]
Fire Plow - A heavy-duty plowshare or disc plow usually pulled by a tractor to construct a fireline.
Fire Resistant Tree - A species with compact, resin-free, thick corky bark and less flammable foliage that has a relatively lower probability of being killed or scarred by a fire than a fire sensitive tree.
Firebrand - Flaming or glowing fuel particles that can be carried naturally by wind, convection currents, or gravity into unburned fuels.
Firebreak (also called a fireroad, fire line or fuel break) - a gap in vegetation or other combustible material that acts as a barrier to slow or stop the progress of a bushfire or wildfire. A firebreak may occur naturally where there is a lack of vegetation or "fuel", such as a river, lake or canyon. Firebreaks may also be man-made such as a secondary road or a highway.
Firewise Construction – The use of materials and systems in the design and construction of a building or other structure to safeguard against the spread of fire within the building or structure as well as the spread of fire to other buildings or structures or to adjacent forest or wildland areas.
Firewise Landscaping – Landscaping with the intent of preventing the spread of fire from forests or wildland to a structure.
Forest – An ecosystem characterized by more or less dense and extensive tree cover commonly including meadows, streams and clearings.
Fuel - Combustible material.
Fuel Loading – The quantity of fuel present, usually in tons per acre.
Fuel model - Simulated fuel complex for which all fuel descriptors required for the solution of a mathematical rate of spread model have been specified.
Fuel Modification Area – An area where the volume of flammable vegetation has been reduced, providing reduced fire intensity and duration.
[ G ]
GPM – Gallons per minute.
Greenbelts – A facility or land-use, designed for a use other that fire protection, which will slow or resist the spread of a wildfire. Includes parking lots, irrigated or landscaped areas, golf courses, parks, playgrounds, maintained vineyards, orchards or annual crops that do not cure in the field.
[ H ]
Hammerhead –T – Widened area at the terminus of a dead-end road providing for a 3-point turn for emergency equipment.
Hazard Assessment – Procedure for determining the vulnerability of a specific area to wildland fire.
Home Ignition Zone – Area extending outward from a structure 100-200 feet in all directions that has a significant influence on structural ignitions.
Hydrant – A valved connection on a water supply/storage system, having at least one 2 ½ inch outlet, with male American National Fire Hose Screw Threads (NH) used to supply fire apparatus and hoses with water.
[ I ]
Infrastructure – The physical support systems of a community including roads, power lines, water and sewage.
Intermix Interface – An interface area where structures are interspersed/scattered among forest or wildland fuels.
[ J ]
[ K ]
[ L ]
Ladder Fuels - Fuels that provide vertical continuity between strata, thereby allowing fire to carry from surface fuels into the crowns of trees or shrubs with relative ease. Ladder fuels help initiate and assure the continuation of crowning.
Land Manager – Individual responsible for management of forest, range or wildland areas.
[ M ]
Mitigation – Action taken to reduce or eliminate an existing hazard.
[ N ]
NFPA 1141 – Standard for Fire Protection in Planned Building Groups (1998). Additional information from the National Fire Protection Association can be obtained at http://www.nfpa.org/codes/index.asp.
NFPA 1142 – Standard on Water Supplies for Suburban and Rural Fire Fights (2001). Additional information from the National Fire Protection Association can be obtained at http://www.nfpa.org/codes/index.asp.
NFPA 1144 – Standard for the Protection of Life and Property from Wildfire (2002). Additional information from the National Fire Protection Association can be obtained at http://www.nfpa.org/codes/index.asp.
NFPA Sprinkler System – Indoor sprinkler systems installed for property protection, as well as to save lives.
NFPA 13D and 13R is code not for property protection, but for “life safety.” This means that their design is not to guarantee that the building will be saved, but that the fire will be contained for a certain length of time to allow occupants to leave the building and the fire department to arrive.
NFPA 13D is only for one-and two-family dwellings and manufactured homes. NFPA 13R is only for residential-type occupancies where people sleep overnight such as hotels, dormitories, and apartments.
Non-combustible – A material that, in the form in which it is used and under the conditions anticipated, will not aid combustion or add appreciable heat to an ambient fire.
[ O ]
Occluded Interface – Islands of forest or wildlands surrounded by development.
Overstory – The portion of trees in a forest that forms the uppermost layer (tree tops).
[ P ]
Peat – Found in organic soils composed of leaf litter and a matted root mass. Ground fires burning in these soils are difficult to detect and control.
Prescribed Fire - A management-ignited wildland fire that burns under specified conditions where the fire is confined to a predetermined area and produces the fire behavior and fire characteristics required to attain planned fire treatment and resource management objectives.
[ Q ]
[ R ]
Radiation - Transfer of heat in straight lines through a gas or vacuum as a ray or wave other than the heating of intervening space. Radiant heat warms you as you stand close to a campfire or as the sun warms you on a sunny day.
Reduced Fuel Zone – The area that extends out from 30 to 100 feet away from the building or structure (or to the property line, whichever is nearer to the building or structure.
Relative Humidity (RH or Rh) - The ratio of the amount of moisture in the air to the maximum amount of moisture that air would contain if it were saturated. The ratio of the actual vapor pressure to the saturated vapor pressure.
Risk - A number related to the potential of firebrands to which a given area will be exposed during the rating day. A causative agent. The chance of fire starting as determined by the presence and activity of causative agents.
[ S ]
Shrub - A woody perennial plant differing from a perennial herb by its persistent and woody stem and from a tree by its low stature and habit of branching from the base.
Skirting – A type of barrier used to keep unwanted debris from accumulating underneath a structure whose floor is raised off the ground.
Soffit – Typically a board or sheathing that encloses the eaves (roof overhang) of a structure, equipped with screened openings for ventilation of the attic.
Structural Firefighter – Firefighter whose primary responsibility is to respond to fires in buildings (structural fires).
Suppression - All the work of extinguishing or confining a fire, beginning with its discovery.
Surface Fire - Fire that burns loose debris on the surface, which includes dead branches, leaves, and low vegetation.
[ T ]
Tree – A woody perennial plant typically with a single stem at least 5 inches in diameter and mature height of at least 15 feet.
Tree Protection Ordinance – Municipal or county ordinance regulating tree removal.
Triage – To sort or arrange by priority.
Turnaround – A portion of a roadway, unobstructed by parking, where emergency vehicles can safely reverse directions.
[ U ]
Understory – Lesser vegetation (underbrush) below the canopy of a forest or wildland area.
[ V ]
[ W ]
Wildfire - A fire occurring on wildland that is not meeting management objectives, thus requiring a suppression response.
Wildfire Disaster Cycle – Cycle of destruction in the wildland-urban interface where homes are burned, rebuilt and lost again as a result of wildland fire.
Wildland - An area in which development is essentially non-existent, except for roads, railroads, powerlines, and similar transportation facilities. Structures, if any, are widely scattered.
Wildland Firefighter – Firefighter trained to respond to fires in forested or wildland areas.
Wildland/Urban Interface - The line, area, or zone where structures and other human development meet or intermingle with undeveloped wildland or vegetative fuels.
Wildland Fire - Any fire occurring on the wildlands, regardless of ignition source, damages or benefits.
[ X ]
[ Y ]
[ Z ]
References for Glossary:
http://www.itm-info.com/lotesc/images/terms.pdf - (info from Firewise Communities)
http://www.fire.ca.gov/cdfbofdb/PDFS/4291finalguidelines2_23_06.pdf
http://www.rsf-fire.org/assets/documents/prevention/ordinances/SRAFireSafeRegulations.pdf |
