Not everyone can achieve their childhood dream of becoming a pirate, wizard, or firefighter. But at least we all can learn to speak like one! With this helpful terminology guide, you can feel more authentic the next time you pretend to be a firefighter. For guidance on pirate and wizard speak I recommend working a shift at Krispy Kreme on September 19th and watching the Harry Potter series on repeat.
11 Terms Firefighters Use
Fire: When firefighters use this term it's usually because something is lit. By that, I mean that something's literally on fire.
Ladder: What firefighters climb on to save cats.
Fuel: Anything that burns. To see if something meets this criteria, ask a person to light the object in question on fire then see if they get excited or nervous*.
Ladder Fuels: Fuels that are spaced in a way that allows fire to climb from the ground to greater heights. They are bad if you are a cat trying to avoid fire by climbing a tree.
Prescribed Fire**: This type of low-dose fire can keep ecosystems healthy and reduce the risk of catastrophic fire. Side effects include heat, smoke, and climate resilience.
Catastrophic Fire: When you know it's bad.
Complex Fire: When two (or more) fires meet up. Unclear if they met on Tinder.
Acre: A metric for measuring land that was established in the middle ages and seriously needs to be updated. Here’s an article about acreage that will likely leave you confused. Why can't it be simple and we all adopt the metric system?
Megafire: A fire that's burned at least 100,000 acres (40468.564 hectares).
Gigafire: Because the previous term wasn’t big enough we also have this term to describe fires that are at least 404685.64 hectares (you do the conversion if you're so attached to acres).
Containment: The percentage of a fire's perimeter that is under control...for now. Winds can shift and things can get heated again real quick.
*Do not take this bad advice.
**Note: You cannot pick up this prescription at your typical pharmacy.
For more fun fire terminology refer to this fun document titled "Fuels & Fire Management: Definitions, Ambiguous Terminology, and References".
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