Technical glossary

Backfire – A fire spreading, or set to spread, into or against the wind.

Back-pack-Pump – A portable water container equipped with a hand pump and back-pack straps carried on the back of fire fighters; used for applying water in suppression and mop-up operations. Synonyms - Back Tank and Pack Pump.

Back Tank – See Back-pack Pump.

Beaufort Wind Scale – A method for estimating wind speed based on observation of visual indicators of wind effects (e.g. smoke drift, flag and tree movement). Suggested for use when an anemometer is lacking or is not in operating condition.

Birddog Aircraft – An aircraft carrying the person directing fire bombing action on a fire. Also known as the Birddog.

Blowup – A somewhat sudden, and sometimes unexpected, major increase in rate of spread and frontal fire intensity sufficient to upset overall fire suppression action or plans. Blowups can result from small or large fire situations. Note Flareup.

Breakover (Fire) – A fire edge that crosses a section of a control line intended to confine a going fire.

Burn – Any unit of land over which a fire of any kind has spread.

Burning – An operation consisting of using fire to totally or partially eliminate living or dead vegetation.

Burning Conditions – The state of the combined components of the fire environment that influence fire behaviour and fire impact in a given fuel type. Usually specified in terms of such factors as fire weather elements, fire danger indexes, fuel load, and slope.

Burning Off –- A fire suppression operation where fire is set to consume islands of unburned fuel inside the fire perimeter during mop-up operations.

Burning Out (Burnout) – A fire suppression operation where fire is set along the inside edge of a control line or natural barrier to consume unburned fuel between the line and the fire perimeter, thereby reinforcing the existing line and speeding up the control effort. Generally a limited, small-scale routine operation as opposed to backfiring.

Burning Period – That part of each 24-hour day when fires are generally the most active. Typically, this is from mid-morning to sundown, although it varies with latitude and the time of year.

Burning Prescription – A written statement and/or list defining the objectives to be attained from prescribed burning, as well as the burning conditions under which fire will be allowed to burn, generally expressed as acceptable ranges of the various parameters, and the limit of the geographic area to be covered.

Burning Torch – Any flame-generating device used to ignite forest fuels.

Burn-out Time – The duration of active flaming and smouldering combustion at a given point in the ground, surface and crown fuel layers, expressed in convenient units of time. Note Residence Time.