Tecnobosque · Wildfire Knowledge Graph
Understand the language of wildfire.
328 connected concepts explained through fire science, engineering and real incident evidence. Search a term, follow its relationships and move from definition to calculation or documented fire record.
Wildfire Containment
The documented percentage of a fire perimeter where control measures are expected to stop further spread under current conditions.
Explore concept →Control Line
A constructed or natural barrier, together with treated fire edges, used to control a wildfire.
Explore concept →Firebreak
A natural or constructed barrier intended to stop or check fire spread or provide a line from which crews can work.
Explore concept →Mop Up
Work after a fire edge has passed to extinguish or remove burning material and reduce the chance of escape near control lines.
Explore concept →Rate of Spread
The rate of spread (ROS) describes how rapidly a wildfire extends its horizontal dimensions. In forward-spread engineering calculations, it commonly means the horizontal speed of a specified fire-front segment over a defined time interval.
Explore concept →Fireline Intensity
Fireline intensity is the rate of heat release per unit time per unit length of active fire front. In Byram’s relationship it is the product of heat yield, fuel consumed in the flaming front and rate of spread.
Explore concept →Flame Length
Flame length is the distance from the flame tip to the midpoint of the flame depth at the base of the flame, measured along the flame rather than simply in the vertical direction.
Explore concept →Flame Height
The vertical distance from the ground or fuel surface to the upper visible extent of a flame.
Explore concept →Head Fire
A head fire is the portion of a fire spreading in the primary forward direction, commonly with the wind and/or upslope, and often exhibiting the highest spread rate and intensity within the same fire perimeter.
Explore concept →Flank Fire
A side portion of a wildfire located between the faster-moving head and the slower rear.
Explore concept →Spotting
Spotting is fire behaviour in which sparks or embers are carried by wind and/or convection and start new fires beyond the zone of direct ignition by the main fire.
Explore concept →Firebrand
A firebrand is a burning or glowing piece of combustible material that is transported from a fire and can ignite receptive fuels or structures away from the original flame zone.
Explore concept →Spot Fire
A separate fire ignited outside the main perimeter by transported firebrands or other fire transfer.
Explore concept →Surface Fire
Fire that burns loose litter, low vegetation, small fuels and other combustible material close to the ground surface.
Explore concept →Ground Fire
Fire that burns organic material below the surface, including duff, roots or peat.
Explore concept →Crown Fire
Fire that advances through the canopy of trees or shrubs, independently or coupled with surface fire below.
Explore concept →Wind-driven Fire
A fire whose direction, spread and flame behaviour are strongly controlled by ambient wind.
Explore concept →Fuel Load
Fuel load is the dry mass of combustible fuel per unit ground area, reported for a defined fuel component, size class or total fuel bed.
Explore concept →Fuel Moisture
Fuel moisture content is the amount of water in a fuel expressed as a percentage of that fuel’s oven-dry mass. The value must be tied to a defined live or dead fuel class and sampling or modelling method.
Explore concept →Fine Fuels
Fine fuels are small-diameter fuels that ignite readily and respond rapidly to atmospheric moisture changes; NWCG commonly associates fine dead fuels with particles less than about 1/4 inch and timelag of one hour or less.
Explore concept →Ladder Fuels
Vegetation or combustible material that creates vertical continuity between surface fuels and elevated canopy fuels.
Explore concept →Red Flag Warning
A weather-service warning that forecast or observed combinations of weather and fuel conditions can produce critical fire behaviour.
Explore concept →Wildland–Urban Interface (WUI)
The wildland–urban interface (WUI) is the area where human development meets or intermingles with wildland vegetation and where wildfire can interact with homes, infrastructure and communities.
Explore concept →Home Ignition Zone
The Home Ignition Zone (HIZ) is the structure and its immediate surroundings considered as the primary system that determines whether a home is likely to ignite during a wildland-urban fire.
Explore concept →Zone 0
Zone 0 is the immediate area next to a structure—commonly the first 5 ft (about 1.5 m) in California guidance—where reducing combustible material and ember ignition opportunities is especially important.
Explore concept →Defensible Space
Defensible space is the managed area around a structure where vegetation, combustible materials and access are treated to reduce wildfire exposure, interrupt fire pathways and support safer response.
Explore concept →Structure-to-structure Spread
Structure-to-structure spread is fire propagation in which a burning building or built feature becomes a significant source of heat, flames or firebrands that contributes to ignition of another structure.
Explore concept →Radiant Heat Flux
Radiant heat flux is the rate of radiant thermal energy received through a unit area of a surface. In wildfire and WUI engineering it is commonly expressed in kilowatts per square metre.
Explore concept →Convective Heat Transfer
Heat transfer caused by the movement of hot gases and air around a target surface.
Explore concept →Evacuation Warning
An official notice advising people in a defined area to prepare to leave because conditions may require evacuation.
Explore concept →Evacuation Order
An official direction for people in a defined area to leave because of an immediate or expected threat.
Explore concept →Holdover Fire
A fire that remains undetected or dormant for a period after ignition before becoming visible or active again.
Explore concept →Fire Cause
The identified action, circumstance or mechanism that brings an ignition source, fuel and conditions together to start a fire.
Explore concept →Area of Origin
The general geographic area within which available evidence indicates a fire began.
Explore concept →Known At
A dated evidence state containing only information documented as available by that moment, without importing later findings.
Explore concept →Evidence State
A controlled label describing how a material claim relates to its supporting information, such as observed, reported, derived, interpreted, disputed or unknown.
Explore concept →Fire Growth
Fire growth is the change in a fire’s spatial extent through time. Depending on the analysis, it may be described by advancing distances, perimeter, area, width or an idealized geometric growth model.
Explore concept →Equilibrium Moisture Content (EMC)
Equilibrium moisture content (EMC) is the moisture content a dead fuel particle tends toward when held long enough under constant temperature and relative humidity, with no net moisture exchange with the surrounding air.
Explore concept →PM2.5
PM2.5 is airborne particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 micrometres or smaller; wildfire smoke can contain high concentrations of these fine particles.
Explore concept →Air Quality Index (AQI)
The Air Quality Index (AQI) is a dimensionless public-health communication scale that converts pollutant concentrations, including PM2.5, into standard index categories using defined breakpoints.
Explore concept →Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR)
Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR) is the effective volumetric flow of contaminant-free air delivered by an air cleaner for a specified particle-size test, combining airflow with particle-removal performance.
Explore concept →Air Changes per Hour (ACH)
Air changes per hour (ACH) is a volumetric rate normalized by room volume: the equivalent number of room-air volumes supplied, removed or cleaned in one hour.
Explore concept →Total Dynamic Head (TDH)
Total Dynamic Head (TDH) is the total head a pump must overcome at a specified flow, combining elevation change, friction and minor losses, and any required residual discharge pressure.
Explore concept →Hose Friction Loss
Hose friction loss is the irreversible pressure or head loss caused by fluid friction as water flows through hose, pipe and associated components.
Explore concept →Sprinkler Water Runtime
Sprinkler water runtime is the time an independent stored-water system can sustain a specified net discharge flow before usable storage is exhausted.
Explore concept →Battery Capacity
Battery energy capacity is the amount of electrical energy a battery can store or deliver under stated conditions, commonly expressed in watt-hours (Wh) or kilowatt-hours (kWh).
Explore concept →Inverter Efficiency
Inverter efficiency is the ratio of useful AC output power or energy to the DC input drawn from the battery during DC-to-AC conversion.
Explore concept →Relative Humidity (RH)
Relative humidity (RH) is the ratio, expressed as a percentage, of the amount of water vapor in the air to the amount that would be present if the air were saturated at the same temperature.
Explore concept →Fire Weather
Fire weather is the set of meteorological conditions and forecasts used to evaluate how the atmosphere may influence wildfire ignition, growth, behaviour, control difficulty and smoke dispersion.
Explore concept →Dead Fuel Moisture
Dead fuel moisture is the water content of nonliving wildland fuel, expressed on a dry-mass basis and interpreted for a stated fuel size or timelag class.
Explore concept →One-hour Timelag Fuel Moisture (1-h TL FM)
One-hour timelag fuel moisture is the moisture content of one-hour timelag fuels: fine dead fuels that respond relatively rapidly to changes in atmospheric moisture and wetting.
Explore concept →Crown Fire Transition
Crown fire transition is the change from predominantly surface-fire spread to intermittent or sustained combustion in the canopy when surface-fire intensity and canopy conditions are sufficient to ignite and support crown involvement.
Explore concept →Ember Exposure
Ember exposure is the time-varying arrival and deposition of burning or hot firebrands at a target, described by properties such as number flux, size, shape, combustion state, energy and duration.
Explore concept →Structure Ignition
Structure ignition is the initiation of sustained combustion in a building or attached component when wildfire-related ember, flame or heat exposure overcomes the resistance of the exposed materials and assemblies.
Explore concept →Active Crown Fire
A crown-fire regime in which the canopy layer continuously sustains forward fire spread.
Explore concept →Passive Crown Fire
A crown-fire regime in which individual trees or groups torch while sustained spread remains mainly controlled by the surface fire.
Explore concept →Torching
The transition of fire from surface fuels into the crowns of one or more trees without necessarily producing sustained active crown-fire spread.
Explore concept →Backing Fire
A fire front spreading against the prevailing wind or downslope, commonly slower than the head fire in the same fuels.
Explore concept →Running Fire
A rapidly spreading fire or fire front characterized by sustained forward movement through available fuels.
Explore concept →Smoldering Combustion
Flameless combustion that proceeds on or within a porous fuel and can persist after visible flaming has ended.
Explore concept →Flaming Combustion
Combustion in which volatile gases burn in a visible flame above or adjacent to the fuel.
Explore concept →Residence Time
The duration that active combustion or significant heat release persists at a particular location or fuel element.
Explore concept →Reaction Intensity
The rate of heat release per unit area of the flaming combustion zone used in wildland fire-behaviour modelling.
Explore concept →Heat of Combustion
The thermal energy released per unit mass of fuel during combustion under a stated convention or test condition.
Explore concept →Heat per Unit Area
The total heat released per unit ground area as a flaming zone passes a location.
Explore concept →Fire Front
The actively advancing portion of a fire perimeter where flaming combustion and spread are occurring.
Explore concept →Fire Perimeter
The mapped boundary enclosing the area affected or burned by a wildfire at a stated time and mapping resolution.
Explore concept →Spread Direction
The azimuth or directional orientation in which a specified fire-front segment is advancing.
Explore concept →Fire Whirl
A rotating column of hot gases, flame, smoke and debris generated by strong vorticity in or near a fire.
Explore concept →Pyroconvection
Buoyant atmospheric motion generated or strongly intensified by heat and moisture released from a fire.
Explore concept →Pyrocumulus
A convective cloud that develops above a strong heat source such as a wildfire when the rising plume reaches condensation level.
Explore concept →Pyrocumulonimbus
A deep fire-driven convective cloud with cumulonimbus characteristics that can produce lightning, outflows and major changes in fire behaviour.
Explore concept →Convection Column
The rising column of heated air, gases, smoke and particles above a fire.
Explore concept →Plume-dominated Fire
A fire whose local behaviour is strongly influenced by buoyant plume dynamics rather than being controlled primarily by the ambient wind.
Explore concept →Fire–Atmosphere Coupling
Two-way interaction in which a wildfire modifies local atmospheric flow and the modified atmosphere in turn changes fire behaviour.
Explore concept →Long-range Spotting
Spot-fire ignition caused by firebrands transported a substantial distance ahead of the main flaming front.
Explore concept →Extreme Fire Behavior
Fire behaviour that departs strongly from steady or expected spread and can include rapid acceleration, intense spotting, fire whirls, crown fire or strong plume interactions.
Explore concept →Fire Acceleration
An increase in fire-front rate of spread over time as the fire responds to ignition geometry or changing fuels, weather or terrain.
Explore concept →Ten-hour Timelag Fuel Moisture
Moisture content associated with dead woody fuels represented by an approximate 10-hour atmospheric response time.
Explore concept →Hundred-hour Timelag Fuel Moisture
Moisture content associated with larger dead woody fuels represented by an approximate 100-hour atmospheric response time.
Explore concept →Thousand-hour Timelag Fuel Moisture
Moisture content associated with large dead woody fuels represented by an approximate 1,000-hour atmospheric response time.
Explore concept →Live Fuel Moisture
The water content of living vegetation expressed relative to dry fuel mass under a stated measurement method.
Explore concept →Foliar Moisture Content
Moisture content of live foliage, particularly relevant to crown-fire initiation and propagation studies.
Explore concept →Canopy Base Height
The lowest height above ground at which canopy fuel is available under the definition or model being used.
Explore concept →Canopy Bulk Density
The mass of available canopy fuel per unit canopy volume used in crown-fire propagation analysis.
Explore concept →Fuel Bed Depth
The vertical depth of a surface fuel layer used to describe its physical structure and combustion environment.
Explore concept →Surface-area-to-volume Ratio
The amount of fuel surface area exposed per unit fuel volume, a key property controlling heat and moisture exchange.
Explore concept →Fuel Compactness
The degree to which fuel particles are packed within a fuel bed, affecting airflow, heating and flame spread.
Explore concept →Fuel Continuity
The degree to which combustible material is connected sufficiently for fire to spread across or through a fuel complex.
Explore concept →Horizontal Fuel Continuity
The lateral connectivity of burnable fuels across a landscape or parcel.
Explore concept →Vertical Fuel Continuity
The vertical connection of fuels that can allow fire to move from surface vegetation into shrubs, lower branches and canopy fuels.
Explore concept →Fuel Model
A standardized or custom representation of fuel properties used as input to a fire-behaviour model.
Explore concept →Standard Fire Behavior Fuel Model
One of the standardized surface-fuel parameter sets used in operational fire-behaviour modelling systems.
Explore concept →Dead Fuel
Non-living combustible vegetation or woody material whose moisture responds primarily to environmental conditions.
Explore concept →Live Fuel
Living vegetation that can burn and whose moisture and chemistry are influenced by species, phenology and physiology.
Explore concept →Fine Dead Fuel Moisture
Moisture content of small dead fuels that respond rapidly to humidity, temperature, precipitation and solar exposure.
Explore concept →Vapor Pressure Deficit
The difference between saturation vapour pressure and actual vapour pressure, expressing atmospheric drying demand.
Explore concept →Dew Point
The temperature to which air must be cooled at approximately constant pressure and water-vapour content for saturation to occur.
Explore concept →Wind Gust
A short-duration increase in wind speed above the surrounding mean wind.
Explore concept →Wind Shift
A material change in wind direction that can rapidly alter head-fire orientation, spread direction and exposure.
Explore concept →Atmospheric Stability
The tendency of the atmosphere to resist or enhance vertical motion, affecting plume rise, turbulence and fire–atmosphere interaction.
Explore concept →Temperature Inversion
An atmospheric layer in which temperature increases with height, suppressing vertical mixing and potentially trapping smoke.
Explore concept →Fire Weather Watch
A forecast headline indicating that critical fire-weather conditions may develop before warning criteria are imminent or certain.
Explore concept →Spot Weather Forecast
A site-specific weather forecast prepared for a wildfire, prescribed fire or other incident at the request of an authorized user.
Explore concept →Structure Separation Distance
The horizontal spacing between structures or major combustible exposures considered when evaluating structure-to-structure fire spread.
Explore concept →Structure Hardening
Construction, material and detailing changes intended to reduce structure vulnerability to ember, flame and radiant-heat exposure.
Explore concept →Parcel Hardening
Mitigation of combustible features and exposure pathways within a parcel to reduce fire transfer to or from structures.
Explore concept →Community Hardening
Coordinated mitigation across structures, parcels and shared spaces intended to reduce community-scale WUI fire spread.
Explore concept →Structure Survivability
The ability of a structure to avoid destructive ignition given the intensity and duration of ember and fire exposures and its level of hardening or defense.
Explore concept →Ember-resistant Vent
A vent assembly designed and installed to reduce entry of wind-driven embers while still providing required ventilation.
Explore concept →Class A Roof
A roof-covering system with the highest fire-test classification under the applicable test standard for resistance to severe fire exposure.
Explore concept →Noncombustible Zone
An area immediately adjacent to a structure where combustible materials are minimized to reduce direct-flame and ember-driven ignition pathways.
Explore concept →Combustible Attachment
A deck, fence, awning, trellis or other combustible feature connected to or touching a structure and capable of transferring fire to it.
Explore concept →Fence-to-Structure Pathway
A fire-spread path in which a combustible fence transmits flame or heat toward an attached or nearby structure.
Explore concept →Deck Ignition
Ignition of deck boards, framing, debris or items on a deck from embers, flame contact or radiant exposure.
Explore concept →Gutter Ember Accumulation
Collection of embers and combustible debris in roof gutters that can create prolonged smoldering or flaming exposure at the roof edge.
Explore concept →Eave Vulnerability
Susceptibility of eaves, soffits and adjacent openings to ignition or ember entry during WUI fire exposure.
Explore concept →Window Thermal Exposure
Radiant, convective or direct-flame heating incident on a window system during a nearby fire.
Explore concept →Siding Ignition
Ignition of exterior wall cladding or combustible components behind it due to flames, heat or accumulated embers.
Explore concept →Vegetation-to-Structure Pathway
A fire-spread path in which burning vegetation exposes a structure through flame contact, radiation, convection or embers.
Explore concept →Vehicle Fire Exposure
Thermal and ember exposure produced by a burning vehicle close enough to threaten nearby structures or parcel fuels.
Explore concept →Shed Exposure
Fire and ember exposure produced by a burning detached shed or accessory structure.
Explore concept →Woodpile Exposure
Flame and radiant-heat exposure produced by a burning stack of firewood or similar concentrated combustible storage.
Explore concept →Structure Density
The number or spatial concentration of structures within an area, affecting potential structure-to-structure propagation and suppression demand.
Explore concept →Fuel Agglomeration
A localized concentration of combustible items or vegetation that can produce a larger or longer-duration fire exposure than the individual fuels alone.
Explore concept →Structure Defense
Active firefighting actions intended to reduce exposure to a structure, extinguish ignitions or improve its chance of surviving a WUI fire.
Explore concept →Home Hardening
Residential construction and retrofit measures intended to reduce ignition from embers, flame contact and radiant heat.
Explore concept →Direct Flame Contact
An exposure in which visible flames physically impinge on a target fuel or building component.
Explore concept →Ember Intrusion
Entry of wind-driven embers through vents, gaps, openings or damaged assemblies into concealed or interior spaces.
Explore concept →Ember Accumulation
Collection of multiple embers in a receptive location where combined heat and residence time can produce smoldering or flaming ignition.
Explore concept →Thermal Exposure Duration
The length of time a target is subjected to significant radiant, convective or flame heating.
Explore concept →Incident Command System
A standardized incident-management structure integrating personnel, procedures, communications and resources within a common organizational framework.
Explore concept →Incident Commander
The individual responsible for overall management of an incident under the Incident Command System.
Explore concept →Operational Period
A defined period scheduled for execution of incident action plans and tactical activities.
Explore concept →Incident Action Plan
The documented or communicated objectives, organization, assignments and support information for an operational period.
Explore concept →Division
A geographic subdivision of an incident established to organize tactical operations.
Explore concept →Group
A functional subdivision of incident operations established to perform a specific assignment regardless of geography.
Explore concept →Branch
An organizational level used to combine multiple divisions, groups or functions when span of control or incident complexity requires it.
Explore concept →Strike Team
A specified combination of the same kind and type of resources with common communications and a leader.
Explore concept →Task Force
A combination of mixed resources assembled for a particular tactical need with common communications and a leader.
Explore concept →Anchor Point
An advantageous location from which to begin constructing fireline or a firing operation to reduce the chance of being outflanked.
Explore concept →Direct Attack
Suppression action applied directly at or near the burning edge of the fire.
Explore concept →Indirect Attack
Suppression action conducted away from the active fire edge using a control line located at a chosen distance from the fire.
Explore concept →Parallel Attack
A suppression method in which control line is constructed approximately parallel to and close to the fire edge.
Explore concept →Handline
A strip of ground from which fuels have been removed or disturbed by hand tools to create or strengthen a control line.
Explore concept →Dozer Line
A control line constructed primarily using a bulldozer or similar tracked equipment.
Explore concept →Firing Operation
Deliberate ignition of fuels to remove or modify fuel between a control line and the main fire or to achieve another stated tactical objective.
Explore concept →Burnout Operation
A firing operation intended to consume fuel between a control line and the main fire edge under controlled tactical conditions.
Explore concept →Safety Zone
A location where firefighters can survive without deploying a fire shelter under the conditions anticipated for the incident.
Explore concept →Escape Route
A preplanned route used to move from a potentially hazardous position to a safety zone or other safer location.
Explore concept →LCES
A wildland fire safety system emphasizing Lookouts, Communications, Escape Routes and Safety Zones.
Explore concept →Trigger Point
A predefined condition or threshold that prompts a planned tactical, evacuation or safety action.
Explore concept →Cold Trailing
A method of checking a fire edge by careful inspection and touch to confirm that no heat remains capable of rekindling or escaping.
Explore concept →Hot Spotting
Suppression work focused on the most active or threatening burning locations, particularly those that could compromise control lines.
Explore concept →Initial Attack
The first planned suppression response to a wildfire using the resources initially dispatched or arriving.
Explore concept →Extended Attack
Suppression actions undertaken after a fire cannot be controlled within the objectives or resources of initial attack.
Explore concept →Point of Origin
The specific location where available evidence indicates a fire began, when it can be determined to the required level of confidence.
Explore concept →Origin Area
The broader area within which the point of origin is investigated or constrained by physical, witness and contextual evidence.
Explore concept →Ignition Source
The heat, flame, spark, electrical fault, lightning discharge or other initiating energy source capable of starting combustion.
Explore concept →Ignition Sequence
The reconstructed order of events by which an ignition source, first fuel and surrounding conditions produced a developing fire.
Explore concept →Cause Classification
A structured category assigned to fire cause based on the investigation framework and strength of available evidence.
Explore concept →Human-caused Fire
A wildfire whose ignition is attributed to human activity, whether accidental, negligent, intentional or infrastructure-related.
Explore concept →Natural-caused Fire
A wildfire whose ignition is attributed to a natural process, most commonly lightning in many jurisdictions.
Explore concept →Undetermined Cause
A cause status used when available evidence is insufficient to support one specific ignition cause to the required standard.
Explore concept →Lightning Ignition
A fire ignition attributed to a lightning discharge interacting with receptive fuel.
Explore concept →Powerline Ignition
A fire ignition associated with electrical transmission or distribution infrastructure, equipment failure, conductor contact or related arcing.
Explore concept →Equipment-use Ignition
A fire ignition associated with machinery, vehicles, tools, exhaust, hot surfaces, metal contact or other equipment operation.
Explore concept →Evidence Provenance
The documented origin, custody, transformation and source history of an item of evidence or data used in an incident record.
Explore concept →Primary Source
A source that directly records, measures, issues or documents the event, decision, observation or official status being described.
Explore concept →Secondary Source
A source that summarizes, interprets or reports information originating from other sources rather than directly creating the underlying evidence.
Explore concept →Source Reliability
An assessment of how dependable a source is for a specific claim, considering authority, method, proximity to the event and record integrity.
Explore concept →Claim Confidence
The stated level of confidence assigned to a material claim after considering the quality, consistency and completeness of supporting evidence.
Explore concept →Conflicting Evidence
Two or more credible evidence items that support materially different descriptions, values or interpretations of the same issue.
Explore concept →Versioned Evidence
Evidence preserved with identifiable versions or timestamps so that later revisions do not erase what was documented earlier.
Explore concept →Timeline Reconstruction
The process of ordering time-stamped observations, decisions and fire-progression evidence into a defensible incident chronology.
Explore concept →Timestamp Normalization
Conversion of source timestamps into a consistent time basis while preserving the original timezone, publication time and uncertainty.
Explore concept →Geospatial Evidence
Maps, coordinates, perimeters, tracks, rasters or other spatial data used to support claims about wildfire location and progression.
Explore concept →Satellite Evidence
Remote-sensing observations used as evidence of thermal activity, smoke, burned area, fire progression or environmental context.
Explore concept →Evolution of Knowledge
A structured record of how the best-supported understanding of an incident changed as new evidence, revisions and formal findings became available.
Explore concept →Material Claim
A factual assertion important enough to affect the interpretation, comparison or conclusion of an incident record.
Explore concept →Evidence Matrix
A structured table linking material claims to sources, evidence types, confidence, timestamps, conflicts and current status.
Explore concept →Evidence State Transition
A recorded change in how a claim is classified, such as moving from reported to corroborated, disputed, superseded or final.
Explore concept →Source Snapshot
A preserved copy, capture or immutable representation of source material as it existed at a particular time.
Explore concept →Citation Integrity
The ability to trace a published claim to the exact source, version and passage or data object that supports it.
Explore concept →Active Fire Detection
A satellite- or sensor-derived observation indicating thermal conditions consistent with active combustion or a significant heat anomaly.
Explore concept →Thermal Anomaly
A remotely sensed pixel or feature whose thermal signal is unusually high relative to surrounding background conditions.
Explore concept →VIIRS
The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite, a satellite sensor used for products including active-fire and thermal-anomaly detection.
Explore concept →MODIS
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, a satellite instrument widely used for active-fire, burned-area and environmental monitoring.
Explore concept →NASA FIRMS
NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System, which distributes near-real-time active-fire and thermal-anomaly data from satellite sensors.
Explore concept →NASA EONET
NASA’s Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker API and catalogue for curated natural events including wildfires.
Explore concept →Hotspot Confidence
A quality or confidence attribute associated with an active-fire detection whose meaning depends on the sensor product and algorithm.
Explore concept →Brightness Temperature
The equivalent blackbody temperature inferred from measured radiance in a thermal spectral band.
Explore concept →Fire Radiative Power
The instantaneous rate of radiant energy release estimated from satellite-observed thermal emission from active fire.
Explore concept →Satellite Overpass
The time at which a polar-orbiting satellite passes over a location and can acquire an observation under suitable viewing conditions.
Explore concept →Geolocation Error
The difference between the mapped location of a remote-sensing detection and the true ground location of the observed feature.
Explore concept →Spatial Resolution
The ground dimensions or effective detail represented by a sensor pixel, raster cell or mapped observation.
Explore concept →Temporal Resolution
The frequency or revisit interval with which a sensor or data product can observe the same location.
Explore concept →Cloud Obscuration
Loss or degradation of a remote-sensing observation because cloud blocks or contaminates the sensor view of the surface or fire.
Explore concept →Remote-sensing False Positive
A detection classified as fire or thermal anomaly that actually originates from another hot source, artefact or contextual condition.
Explore concept →Sentinel-2
A multispectral Earth-observation satellite mission widely used for high-resolution mapping of vegetation, burned area and post-fire change.
Explore concept →Landsat
A long-running multispectral Earth-observation program used for land-cover, vegetation, burn severity and change analysis.
Explore concept →GOES
The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite system, providing frequent observations useful for weather, smoke and rapidly evolving fire context.
Explore concept →Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR)
A spectral index using near-infrared and shortwave-infrared reflectance to highlight vegetation condition and fire-related change.
Explore concept →Differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (dNBR)
The difference between pre-fire and post-fire NBR values used to map the magnitude of spectral change associated with burning.
Explore concept →Burn Severity
The degree of ecological change caused by fire, commonly assessed using field observations, remote sensing or both.
Explore concept →Raster Data
Spatial data represented as a regular grid of cells, each storing a value such as elevation, temperature, index or classification.
Explore concept →Vector Data
Spatial data represented as points, lines and polygons with associated attributes.
Explore concept →Coordinate Reference System
A defined coordinate framework that relates mapped coordinates to positions on Earth.
Explore concept →Digital Elevation Model
A raster representation of ground-surface elevation used to derive slope, aspect, drainage and other terrain variables.
Explore concept →Fire Perimeter Mapping
Creation of a geospatial boundary representing the observed or interpreted outer extent of a wildfire at a stated time.
Explore concept →Smoke Plume
The airborne mixture of gases and particles transported away from a fire by buoyancy and atmospheric flow.
Explore concept →Smoke Transport
Advection of wildfire smoke by the wind from the source region toward downwind locations.
Explore concept →Smoke Dispersion
Dilution and spreading of smoke through atmospheric mixing, turbulence and changing transport conditions.
Explore concept →PM10
Particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter generally at or below 10 micrometres under the applicable air-quality convention.
Explore concept →Carbon Monoxide
A colourless gas produced by incomplete combustion and present in wildfire smoke at concentrations that vary by combustion phase and proximity.
Explore concept →Indoor Air Filtration
Removal of airborne particles or gases from indoor air using filters, sorbents or other air-cleaning technologies.
Explore concept →HEPA Filter
A high-efficiency particulate air filter designed to remove a very high fraction of specified test particles when properly installed and operated.
Explore concept →MERV Rating
A standardized rating used to describe the particle-capture performance of HVAC filters across defined particle-size ranges.
Explore concept →Air Leakage
Uncontrolled airflow through cracks, gaps and penetrations in the building envelope.
Explore concept →Infiltration Rate
The rate at which outdoor air enters a building unintentionally through leakage paths and pressure differences.
Explore concept →Recirculation
Reuse of indoor air through an HVAC or filtration system rather than replacing it entirely with outdoor air.
Explore concept →Portable Air Cleaner
A stand-alone device that moves room air through one or more filters or air-cleaning stages.
Explore concept →Smoke Forecast
A forecast of smoke concentration, transport, dispersion or air-quality impacts based on emissions, meteorology and atmospheric modelling.
Explore concept →Wildfire Smoke Episode
A period during which wildfire smoke materially degrades outdoor or indoor air quality at a location.
Explore concept →Clean Air Center
A public or community space operated to provide cleaner indoor air during smoke events, subject to local guidance.
Explore concept →Static Head
Pressure-equivalent elevation difference in a fluid system when flow-related losses are excluded.
Explore concept →Pump Curve
A manufacturer or test relationship showing how a pump’s available head, flow and sometimes efficiency vary across operating points.
Explore concept →System Curve
The relationship between required system head and flow rate produced by static elevation and flow-dependent losses.
Explore concept →Cavitation
Formation and collapse of vapour bubbles in a liquid when local pressure falls sufficiently, potentially reducing pump performance and causing damage.
Explore concept →Flow Rate
Volume of water delivered per unit time through a hose, pipe, nozzle or sprinkler system.
Explore concept →Water Pressure
Force per unit area exerted by water, commonly represented as static, residual or operating pressure in a suppression system.
Explore concept →Hose Diameter
Internal hose dimension that strongly affects velocity and friction loss for a given flow rate.
Explore concept →Nozzle Pressure
Pressure required at a nozzle inlet to achieve its intended flow and discharge characteristics.
Explore concept →Nozzle Flow
Water discharge rate delivered through a nozzle at a stated pressure and configuration.
Explore concept →Elevation Head
Hydraulic head required to raise water through a vertical elevation difference.
Explore concept →Tank Capacity
Usable volume of water stored in a tank or reservoir for a stated application.
Explore concept →Water Application Rate
Volume of water applied per unit area and time to a target surface or zone.
Explore concept →Pump Efficiency
Ratio of useful hydraulic power delivered by a pump to the power supplied to it.
Explore concept →Hydraulic Power
Rate of useful energy transferred to flowing water as a function of density, gravity, flow rate and hydraulic head.
Explore concept →State of Charge
The estimated fraction of a battery’s usable capacity remaining at a given time.
Explore concept →Depth of Discharge
The fraction of a battery’s usable capacity that has been removed relative to a stated full-charge reference.
Explore concept →Battery Energy
The electrical energy stored or deliverable by a battery, commonly expressed in watt-hours or kilowatt-hours.
Explore concept →Battery Power
The instantaneous or short-duration rate at which a battery can deliver or absorb electrical energy.
Explore concept →Continuous Power
The power level an inverter, power station or generator is designed to supply continuously under stated conditions.
Explore concept →Surge Power
A short-duration power capability intended to support loads with high starting or transient demand.
Explore concept →Power Factor
The ratio of real power to apparent power in an AC circuit under a stated waveform and load condition.
Explore concept →Watt-hour
A unit of energy equal to one watt of power sustained for one hour.
Explore concept →Kilowatt-hour
A unit of energy equal to one thousand watt-hours.
Explore concept →Generator Runtime
The duration a generator can support a specified load before fuel, maintenance or operating constraints require interruption.
Explore concept →Transfer Switch
A device that transfers selected electrical circuits between utility power and an alternate supply such as a generator.
Explore concept →Uninterruptible Power Supply
A system that provides near-continuous temporary power to connected loads when the primary supply fails or falls outside acceptable limits.
Explore concept →Critical Load
An electrical load prioritized for continued operation because loss of the function has disproportionate safety, communications or resilience consequences.
Explore concept →Load Shedding
Intentional disconnection or reduction of lower-priority electrical loads to keep total demand within available power or energy limits.
Explore concept →Runtime Margin
Additional planned battery or fuel capacity beyond the calculated minimum runtime to account for uncertainty, degradation and changing loads.
Explore concept →Evacuation Zone
A geographically defined area used to organize evacuation status, messaging and protective actions.
Explore concept →Evacuation Route
A road or movement path designated or used to move people away from an exposed area toward safer locations.
Explore concept →Evacuation Clearance Time
The elapsed time required for the population or vehicles intended to evacuate a defined area to reach the specified safe boundary under stated assumptions.
Explore concept →Emergency Notification
An official message distributed through one or more channels to communicate urgent protective information to the public.
Explore concept →Wireless Emergency Alert
A geographically targeted emergency message transmitted to compatible mobile devices through the U.S. Wireless Emergency Alerts system.
Explore concept →Shelter in Place
A protective action directing people to remain inside or enter a suitable building rather than evacuate immediately.
Explore concept →Traffic Bottleneck
A road location or network condition where demand approaches or exceeds movement capacity, increasing evacuation delay.
Explore concept →Egress Capacity
The rate at which people or vehicles can move through a route, intersection, gate or network under stated conditions.
Explore concept →Decision Point
A predefined condition, location or time at which authorities or individuals choose among protective actions.
Explore concept →Phased Evacuation
A strategy that sequences evacuation of different areas or populations to manage exposure, roadway demand and available time.
Explore concept →Road Closure
Official restriction or prohibition of traffic on a road segment because of fire, smoke, operations, damage or another hazard.
Explore concept →Public Information Officer
An incident-management role responsible for coordinating and communicating approved incident information to the public and media.
Explore concept →Common Operating Picture
A shared representation of current incident conditions, resources, hazards and decisions used to support coordination.
Explore concept →Situational Awareness
Perception and understanding of current conditions and likely changes relevant to decisions and safety.
Explore concept →Evacuation Modeling
Use of analytical or simulation methods to estimate movement, demand, clearance time, bottlenecks and alternative evacuation strategies.
Explore concept →Fire Effects
Physical, chemical, biological and social changes produced by a fire, distinguished from the fire-behaviour processes that caused them.
Explore concept →Fire Severity
A broad description of the magnitude of fire effects on organisms, vegetation, soil or ecosystem components.
Explore concept →Soil Burn Severity
A field-based assessment of fire-caused changes to soil and ground-surface properties relevant to runoff, erosion and ecosystem response.
Explore concept →Post-fire Debris Flow
A rapid flow of water, sediment, rock and debris from a burned watershed, often triggered by intense rainfall after fire.
Explore concept →Post-fire Flooding
Increased runoff and flood response after wildfire due to vegetation loss, altered soil properties and changed watershed conditions.
Explore concept →Post-fire Erosion
Removal and transport of soil and sediment from burned land by rainfall, runoff, wind or gravity.
Explore concept →Watershed Response
Changes in runoff, infiltration, erosion, channel behaviour and water quality after disturbance such as wildfire.
Explore concept →Burned Area Emergency Response
A rapid post-fire assessment and emergency stabilization process used by U.S. federal land agencies to address imminent threats.
Explore concept →Ecological Recovery
The longer-term process through which ecosystem structure, function and species composition develop after fire.
Explore concept →Fire Regime
The characteristic pattern of fire frequency, seasonality, size, intensity, severity and type associated with an ecosystem or landscape over time.
Explore concept →Fire Return Interval
The average or estimated time between fires affecting a defined point or area under a stated method.
Explore concept →Prescribed Fire
A planned fire intentionally ignited under specified conditions to meet defined land-management objectives.
Explore concept →Fuel Treatment
A deliberate modification of vegetation or other fuels intended to change future fire behaviour, exposure, access or ecological condition.
Explore concept →Post-fire Regeneration
Establishment or regrowth of vegetation after fire through seed, resprouting, planting or natural succession.
Explore concept →Heat Release Rate
The rate at which thermal energy is released by combustion, commonly expressed in kilowatts or megawatts.
Explore concept →Radiative Fraction
The fraction of total fire heat release emitted as thermal radiation under a stated fire and measurement condition.
Explore concept →View Factor
A geometric factor describing the fraction of radiation leaving one surface that reaches another surface in radiative heat-transfer analysis.
Explore concept →Flame Tilt
Angular displacement of a flame from vertical due to wind, slope, buoyancy and fire geometry.
Explore concept →Thermal Dose
A time-integrated measure of heat exposure that combines exposure magnitude and duration under a defined formulation.
Explore concept →Pyrolysis
Thermal decomposition of a material into gases, vapours, char and other products before or during combustion.
Explore concept →Convective Heat Flux
Thermal power transferred to a target per unit area by moving hot gases.
Explore concept →Air Tanker
A fixed-wing aircraft used to deliver water, retardant or other suppressants in support of wildfire operations.
Explore concept →Chain of Custody
The documented history of possession, transfer, handling and storage of an evidence item from collection through later use.
Explore concept →Community Wildfire Protection
Coordinated community-level planning and mitigation intended to reduce wildfire exposure, vulnerability and consequences across multiple properties and systems.
Explore concept →Continuous Load
The sustained electrical power demand that a power source or inverter must carry during normal operation of the connected critical loads.
Explore concept →Debris Flow
A rapidly moving mixture of water, sediment, rock and organic debris that can occur in or downstream of recently burned steep terrain during intense rainfall.
Explore concept →Earth Observation
The acquisition of information about Earth’s surface and atmosphere using satellite, airborne or other remote sensing systems.
Explore concept →Emergency Alert
An official or authorized message intended to communicate urgent hazard information or protective actions to the public.
Explore concept →Emissive Power
Thermal radiation emitted by a surface per unit area, often represented as a function of surface temperature and emissivity.
Explore concept →Energy Storage
A system that stores energy for later use, including batteries used to support critical electrical loads during outages.
Explore concept →Event Catalogue
A structured collection of event records and identifiers used to discover, reference and organize incidents across data sources.
Explore concept →Flame Contact
Direct impingement of flame on a receptor surface, creating a thermal exposure pathway distinct from radiation alone.
Explore concept →Flame Temperature
The temperature associated with the reacting gases in a flame, which varies with combustion conditions and is not represented by one universal wildfire value.
Explore concept →Fuel Recovery
The post-fire development or reaccumulation of combustible biomass, litter and vegetation that changes the future fuel complex.
Explore concept →Fuel Reduction
Treatment intended to reduce the quantity, continuity or arrangement of combustible material in order to alter potential fire behaviour or exposure.
Explore concept →Heat Flux
The rate of heat transfer through or onto a unit area, expressed as power per area and separated into radiative, convective or combined components as appropriate.
Explore concept →Hydrophobic Soil
Soil exhibiting reduced water infiltration because of water-repellent properties that may be created or enhanced by fire effects.
Explore concept →Incident Status
A time-stamped operational description of an incident’s current condition, activity or management state.
Explore concept →Incident Update
A dated public or operational communication that reports the current known status of an incident and may later be superseded.
Explore concept →Invasive Species
Non-native or otherwise invasive organisms that can establish or expand after fire and alter ecological recovery or future fuel structure.
Explore concept →Large Fire
An incident classification or descriptive category indicating a fire of substantial size or complexity, with thresholds that can vary by agency and reporting system.
Explore concept →Lookout
A person or observation function assigned to watch fire behaviour, hazards and changing conditions as part of firefighter safety practices.
Explore concept →Peak Load
The highest electrical power demand expected over a defined period, including short-duration demand that may determine inverter or generator sizing.
Explore concept →Preparedness Level
An interagency indicator of wildfire activity and resource commitment used to support national or geographic-area readiness decisions.
Explore concept →Pressure Head
Pressure expressed as the equivalent height of a fluid column, used when combining pressure with elevation and friction terms in hydraulic calculations.
Explore concept →Remote Sensing
Measurement or observation of a target without direct physical contact, commonly using satellite or airborne sensors to characterize wildfire activity and effects.
Explore concept →Resprouting
Vegetative regrowth from surviving plant tissues such as roots, lignotubers, stems or buds after fire damage.
Explore concept →Revegetation
Re-establishment of vegetation after disturbance through natural regeneration, resprouting, seeding, planting or other recovery processes.
Explore concept →Reverse 911
A common informal label for outbound emergency notification systems that send geographically targeted messages to phones or registered contacts.
Explore concept →Road Capacity
The number of vehicles or people a road segment or network can move under specified traffic, control and operating conditions.
Explore concept →Satellite Hotspot
A mapped satellite thermal detection indicating anomalous heat at an observation time; it is not automatically a final fire perimeter or ignition point.
Explore concept →Source Provenance
The documented origin, lineage, version and retrieval context of a datum, document, map or claim used in an incident record.
Explore concept →Thermal Radiation
Electromagnetic energy emitted because of temperature and transferred without direct material contact between source and receptor.
Explore concept →Usable Battery Capacity
The portion of nominal stored battery energy available to the connected load after reserve limits, conversion losses and operating constraints are considered.
Explore concept →Vegetation Management
Planned modification, removal or maintenance of vegetation to influence fuel continuity, access, exposure or ecosystem objectives.
Explore concept →Warning Time
The interval between delivery or receipt of an actionable warning and the hazard or decision deadline to which the warning relates.
Explore concept →Water Storage
A finite stored water volume available to a suppression, sprinkler or resilience system before replenishment is required.
Explore concept →Wildfire Smoke
The airborne mixture of gases and particles produced by wildland combustion and transported away from the fire source.
Explore concept →Wind Speed
The speed of air movement measured or forecast at a stated height, exposure, averaging period and time, all of which matter to wildfire interpretation.
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