Wildfire glossary of equipment and common terms

Air Tanker: Fixed-wing aircraft that drops water or fire retardant. 

Crown Fire: Fire that spreads through the tree canopy rather than the forest floor. 

Dozer: Heavy machinery used to create wide firelines. 

Drip Torch: A handheld device that drips flaming fuel to ignite controlled burns or backfires. 

Fire Front: The part of the fire with the greatest flame length, typically spreading the fastest. 

Fireline: A cleared strip of land used to stop or slow a wildfire. 

Fuel: Any burnable material, such as grass, shrubs, trees, and dead leaves. 

Helitack: Helicopter-based crew and equipment used for rapid wildfire response. 

Hotshot Crew: Elite wildland firefighters used in high-risk areas. 

Ladder Fuels: Vegetation that allows fire to climb from the ground into tree canopies. 

Mobile Command Center: A vehicle outfitted with communication and coordination tools. 

Perimeter: The boundary of an area that has been burned by a wildfire. 

Pulaski: A combo tool with an axe on one side and a grub hoe on the other that is used to dig fireline. 

Red Flag Warning: A weather alert indicating critical fire weather conditions. 

Skidder: Used to move logs and adapted for wildfire work. 

Smokejumper: A firefighter who parachutes into remote wildfire locations. 

Spot Fire: A fire ignited outside the main fire area by wind-blown embers. 

Type 1 Incident Management Team: The highest-level team assigned to manage the most complex and large-scale wildfires 

Unmanned Aerial Systems: Provide real-time imagery, thermal scanning, and mapping. 

Water Tender: A truck that carries water to support firefighting crews. 

Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI): Areas where human development meets undeveloped wildland, often at high wildfire risk.