Wildfire Terminology

This glossary provides the wildland fire and fire use communities a single source document that covers wildland fire, prescribed fire, fire use and incident management terminology commonly used by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) and its Working Teams.

Scope of the Glossary: This glossary provides the wildland fire and incident management communities a single source document that covers wildland fire, prescribed fire, fire use and incident management terminology commonly used by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) and its subgroups. Objective of the Glossary: This glossary will help to improve communication and provide consistency in terminology usage throughout those organizations with a mission of wildland fire or fire use management. It will also facilitate consistent use of glossary terms in publications, course development, and incident management activities. Reference Definitions: Some of the terms within this glossary will be followed by initials or will have references or comments at the end of the definition to help broaden the recognition and understanding of the term. An explanation of those references is as follows: Also called: means there is another term that may sometimes be in use, but is not defined in this glossary. Acronym: A name made up of the initial letters of a multi-word term or official title. An acronym appears in parentheses following the term. See: means there is another, preferred term that should be used instead. In such a case only the preferred term is defined in this glossary. See Also: means there are one or more related terms that may also be of interest to the glossary user. The related terms are also defined in this glossary. Synonym: means the term is synonymous with another. The terms have the same, or essentially the same, definition and the terms are interchangeable in their use.

This glossary, issued in 1924, and revised, provides terms used in fire control.