Glossary Flashcards
Numeric Codes used to communicate predefined situations or conditions.
10-Codes
A rule of thumb used for estimating the length of time until structural collapse occurs.
20-minute Rule.
It states that when a heavy volume of fire is burning out of control on two or more floors for 20 minutes or longer in a building of ordinary construction, structural collapse should be anticipated.
A system established on the fire ground to ensure that everyone entering the area has a specific assignment, to track all personnel at the scene, and to identify the location of any missing personnel if a catastrophic even should occur.
Accountability system
A floor area with at least two rooms separated by smoke-resisting partitions in a building protected by a sprinkler system, or a space located in an egress path this is separated from other building spaces.
Area of Refuge
An occupancy used for the gathering of 50 or more persons for deliberation, worship, entertainment, eating, drinking, amusements, awaiting transportation, or similar uses; or used as a special amusements building, regardless of occupant load.
Assembly Occupancy
The fire-arriving engine company that goes directly to the fire building without securing a water supply
Attack Pumper
A fire condition that occurs when oxygen (air) is introduced into a super-heated, oxygen-deficient compartment charged with smoke and pyrolytic emissions, resulting in an explosive ignition.
Backdraft
Also know as elevation pressure, the pressure required to overcome the weight of water in a piping or hose system. Each vertical foot of water in a pipe, hose, or tank exerts a pressure of 0.434 psi at the base.
Backpressure
An older type of woof-frame construction in which the wall studs extend vertically from the basement of the structure to the roof
Balloon-Frame Construction
The tactical-level management units immediately subordinate to the sections in NIMS hierarchy. Units are subordinate to the logistics, finance/administration, and planning sections. Divisions and Groups are subordinate to the operation sections.
Branches
Branches are used to reduce the span of control at very large operations or to manage a particular functions/agency
An occupancy used for account and record keeping or the transaction of business other than mercantile.
Business Occupancy
An organization structure establishing a line of authority and responsibility along which orders and instructions are passed
Chain of Command
e.g. - Incident commander to operations section to branch director to division supervisor to company officer to fire fighter, or a reply to a higher level in reverse order
Foam used on fires in Class A fuels such as vegetation, wood, cloth, paper, rubber, and some plastics
Class A Foam
An area where personal protective clothing is not required; command post, rehab, and medical treatment should be located in the _______.
Cold Zone
The area endangered by a potential building collapse; generally considered to be an area 1 1/2 times the height of the involved building.
Collapse Zone
Subdividing of a building into small areas (rooms) capable of limiting the spread of fire and the products of combustion.
Compartmentation
A plan used when a property have more than three buildings or when it is necessary to show the layout of the premises and relationship between the buildings on site
Complex Pre-incident Plan
A reaction to fire conditions in which groups take shelter together to provide mutual support.
Convergence Cluster Phenomenon
The time available until the structure becomes untenable
Critical Time
The weight of a building; consists of the weight of all materials of construction incorporated into a building, including but not limited to floors, roofs, ceilings, stairways, built-in partitions, finishes, cladding, and other similarly incorporated architectural and structural items as well as fixed service equipment
Dead Load
The phase of fire development in which fire has consumed either the available fuel oxygen to a point that the fire begins to diminish in intensity.
Decay Phase
A tactic utilized during a structure fire when it is very difficult to remove occupants from the building. Occupants are either protected at their present location or moved to a safe location within the building.
Defend-in-Place
A type of fire attack in which exterior fire suppression operations are directed at protecting exposures.
Defensive
A sprinkler system in which all sprinklers or applicators are open. When an indicating device, such as a smoke detector, is activated, the deluge valve opens and water discharges from all of the open sprinklers simultaneously.
Deluge System
An occupancy used to house four or more persons under varied degrees of restraint or security where such occupants are mostly incapable of self-preservation because of security measures not under the occupants’ control.
Detention and Correctional Occupancy
Firefighting operations involving the application of extinguishing agents directly onto the burning fuel.
Direct Attack
The principle that an incident or task should be broken down into smaller, more manageable tasks and personnel assigned to complete those tasks (developing job skills in a concentrated area to allow for more productivity).
Division-of-Labor Principle
The tactical-level management unit in charge of geographic area
Division
Walls designed to limit horizontal spread of the fire that extend partially down from the underside of the roof. (usually no more that 20% of the height of the compartment)
Draft Curtains
Using a computer to navigate by pointing and clicking through a series of drop down menus in a graphical user interface.
Drilling Down
Systems in which the pipes are normally filled with compressed air or nitrogen. When a sprinkler is activated, it releases air from the system, which opens a valve so the pipes can fill with water.
Dry Pipe Sprinkler Systems
An occupancy used for educational purposes though the 12th grade by 6 or more persons for 4 or more hours per day or more than 12 hours per week.
Educational Occupancy
Fire that moved into areas not originally involved, including walls, ceilings, and attic spaces; also, the movement of fire into uninvolved areas of a structure.
Extension
Buildings, vehicles, or other property threatened by fire that are external to the building, vehicle, or property where the fire originated.
External Exposures
The section that tracks and provides financial and administrative services required to compensate people or organizations providing goods and services at the incident scene
Finance/Administration Section
A wide area beyond the hazard control zones, usually staffed by police to keep unauthorized people away from the scene.
Fire Perimeter
An oxygen-sufficient condition in which room temperatures reach the ignition temperature of the suspended pyrolytic emissions, causing all combustible contents to suddenly ignite.
Flashover
The movement of heat and smoke from higher pressure fire area toward lower pressure areas on the interior and exterior of the structure
Flow Path
A fixed facility consisting of an enclosure house a foam concentrate supply tank, a foam solution proportioning system, a pump, and sometimes an extra supply of foam concentrate that can be added to the proportioning system.
Foam house
A plan for a property with a substantial rick to life and/or property; includes a drawing of the property, specific floor layouts, and a narrative describing important features.
Formal Preincident Plan
The act of performing tasks outside the incident’s organizational structure.
Freelancing
As related to fire fighter injures, a measure of how often an injury occurs; for example, sprains and strains are the most frequent fire fighter injury.
Frequency
Refers to a fire in which the heat release rate and growth rate are controlled by the characteristics of the fuel, such as quantity, chemistry and geometry, and in which adequate air for combustion is available.
Fuel-Controlled
Fuels provided by a building’s contents and combustible building materials.
Fuel Load
Fire Load
The phase of fire development at which the fire is free-burning and consuming much of the fuel.
Fully Developed Phase
The tactical-level management unit in charge of function.
Group
The phase of fire development at which the fire is spreading beyond the point of origin and beginning to involve other fuels in the immediate fire area.
Growth Phase
The area in which emergency responders are working it can be subdivided into no-entry, hot warm, and cold zones
Hazard Control Zones
An occupancy used for purposes of medical or other treatment or care of 4 or more persons, where such occupants are mostly incapable of self-preservation due to age, physical or mental disability, or security measured not under the occupants’ control
Health Care Occupancy
An operating are considered safe only for individuals wearing appropriate levels of personal protective clothing; established by the IC and safety officer.
Hot Zone
Accessing text or graphic items on a computer screen by placing the computer cursor over a specific area or by touching the screen in a touch-screen environment.
Hovering
The phase of fire development at which the fire is limited to the immediate point of origin.
Ignition Phase.
Exposure to airborne contaminants that are likely to cause death or immediate or delayed permanent adverse health effects or prevent escape from such environment.
Immediately Dangerous to Life and Health (IDLH)
The objectives for the overall incident strategy, tactics, risk management, and member safety that are developed by the incident commander and updated throughout the incident.
Incident Action Plan
The individual responsible for all incident activities, including the development of strategies and tactics and the ordering and the release of resources.
Incident Commander (IC)
The incident commander and appropriate command and general staff personnel assigned to the incident.
Incident Management Team (IMT)
Firefighting operations involving the application of extinguishing agents to reduce the buildup of heat released from a fire without applying the agent directly onto the burning fuel; ventilation is kept to a minimum while a fog stream is directed at the ceiling. The approach if most useful in unoccupied, tightly enclosed spaces.
Indirect Attack
An occupancy in which products are manufactured or in which processing, assembling, mixing, packaging, finishing, decorating, or repair operations are conducted.
Industrial Occupancy
A stand-by team of at least two fire fighters located outside the hazard area available to provide assistance to fire fighters within a hazard.
Initial Rapid Intervention Crew (IRIC)
Areas within the structure where the fire originates or within buildings directly connected to the building or origin that were not involved in the initial fire ignition.
Internal Exposures
A member of the command staff, responsible for coordinating with representatives from cooperating and assisting agencies.
Liaison Officer
The weight of the buildind’s contents, people, or anything that is not part of or permanently attached to the structure.
Live Loads
A high-rise assignment in which a crew is responsible for managing the stairways; elevators; heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems; and related duties.
Lobby Control
The section that obtains needed supplies, equipment, and facilities.
Logistics Section
An occupancy used to the display and sale of merchandise
Mercantile Occupancy
A multiple occupancy where the occupancies are intermingled.
Mixed Multiple Occupancy
A rate-of-flow calculation that calculates the rate of flow as the area in square feet divided by 3 (A/3)
National Fire Academy Formula
A system mandated by HSPD-5 that provides a consistent, nationwide approach for federal, state, local and tribal governments; the private sector and nongovernmental organizations to work effectively and efficiently together to prepare for, respond to, and recover from domestic incidents, regardless of cause, size, or complexity.
National Incident Management System (NIMS)
An area that is unsafe regardless of the level of personal protective equipment and that must be cleared of all personnel, including emergency response personnel.
No-Entry Zone
A piece of information about the premises, such as damage to the building from a previous fire. This information may accompany a pre-incident plan or may be available when the building does not have a pre-incident plan.
Notation
A measure of the number of people in a given area; usually states as the number of square feet per person
Occupant Density
A type of fire attack in which fire fighters advance into the fire building with hose lines or other extinguishing agents to overpower the fire.
Offensive
The section that manages all tactical units deployed at an incident scene.
Operations Section
Examination of all areas of the building and contents involved in a fire to ensure that the fire is completely extinguished.
Overhaul
A fire in which the heat release rate and/or growth of the fire are controlled by the amount of air available to the fire.
Oxygen-Controlled Fire
Ventilation-Controlled Fire
The section that gathers and evaluates information, assists the incident commander in developing the incident action plan, and tracks progress; also tracks resource status.
Planning Section
A construction technique using seperate components to build the frame of the structure (one floor at a time). Each floor has a top and bottom plate that act as fire-stops.
Platform-Frame Construction
A dry sprinkler system that uses a deluge valve instead of a dry pipe valve and requires activation of a secondary device before the pipes fill with water.
Preaction Sprinkler
Factors that can contribute to a collapse in a building that is heavily involves in fire; these factors include construction types, weight, fuel loads, damage, renovations, deterioration, support systems, and related factors such as lightweight truss ceilings and floors
Prefire condition
Written documents resulting from gathering of general and detailed information to be used by public emergency response agencies and private industry for determining the response to reasonable anticipated emergency incidents at a specific facility.
Prefire Plans
Damage caused by the products of combustion
Primary Damage
The most important factors, assessed during size-up, which change from incident to incident and depend of specific incident conditions.
Primary Factors
A member of the command staff responsible for interfacing with the public and media or with other agencies with incident related information requirements
Public Information Officer (PIO)
The chemical decomposition of a compound into one or more other substances by heat alone; the process of heating solid materials until combustible materials are emitted.
Pyrolysis
A multifunction apparatus equipped to provide for the following four functions: water, pumps, hose, and ground ladders. In other words, this is a quint company minus the aerial ladder.
Quad
A multifunction apparatus that is equipped to perform both engine and truck company operations. It is equipped to provide for the following five functions: water, pumps, hose, ground ladders, and an aerial ladder.
Quint
A minimum of two fully equipped personnel on-site, for immediate rescue of injured or trapped fire fighters.
Rapid Intervention Crew (RIC)
The minimum water application rate required for extinguishment
Rate of Flow
A form of decision making in which input is obtained from diverse sources and all options are carefully considered.
Rational Decision Making (RDM)
A form of decision making in which the incident commander must decide on the proper course of action with limited information available in a relatively short period of time.
Recognition-Primed Decision Making (RPD)
The process of providing rest, re-hydration, nourishment, and medical evaluation to members involved in extended incident scene operations and/or extreme weather conditions.
Rehabilitation
A building or portion thereof that is used for lodging and boarding of 4 or more residents, not related by blood or marriage to the owners or operators, for the purpose of providing personal care services.
Residential Board and Care Occupancy
An occupancy that provides sleep accommodations for purposes other than health care or detention and correctional.
Residential Occupancy
The process of weighing predicted risks to fire fighters against potential benefits for owners/occupants and making decisions based on the outcome of that analysis.
Risk-Versus-Benefit Analysis
A rate-of-flow calculation that calculates the rate of slow as the volume in the fire area in cubic feet decided by 100 (V/100). This formula is based on the assumption that structural fires are primarily oxygen controlled.
Royer/Nelson Formula
Damage caused by fire-ground activities or the operation of a fire suppression system.
Secondary Damage
Less important factors at an incident, which can change from incident to incident and depend on specific incident conditions
Secondary Factors
A multiple occupancy where the occupancies are separated by fire resistance-rated assemblies
Separated Multiple Occupancy
The extent of an injury’s consequence, usually categorized as death, permanent disability, temporary disability, and minor
Severity
A command structure in which one person is designated as the incident commander (IC). This person is responsible for the development and implementation of the incident action plan. The IC can delegate staff and command positions as needed to assist in command and control functions.
Single command
A stairway that is designed to be separated from the building by a landing. This creates a separation that will limit the spread of smoke into the stairway and keep it clear for evacuation.
Smoke-Proof Tower
Cooling hot fire gases using rapid, short-duration application (usually 15-60 sec) from a straight or smooth bore fire stream aimed at a steep angle toward the ceiling from the safest effective location. When using this tactic, water often is applied from the exterior to the interior of a building.
Softening the Target
The number of people reporting to a supervisor. The ________ should not exceed 7 people reporting to a single supervisor under emergency conditions.
Span of Control
Specific rate-of-flow calculations for sprinkler systems; based on the fuel load. These calculations can be found in various publications, including NFPA documents and Factory Mutual Data Sheets.
Sprinkler System Calculations
The vertical airflow within buildings cause by temperature differences between the building interior and the exterior; depending on conditions, _________ could be positive or negative, causing smoke to move upward or downward.
Stack Effect
Written rules, policies, regulations, and procedures intended to organize operations in a predictable manner.
Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
Piping systems with discharge outlets at various locations; in high-rise buildings an outlet will normally be located in the stairway on each floor level. Most are connected to a water source and the pressure boosted by a fire pump
Standpipe Systems
An occupancy used primarily for the storage or sheltering of goods, merchandise, products, vehicles, or animals
Storage Occupancy
A set number of resources of the same kind and type that have an established minimum number of personnel. _______ always have a leader (usually in a seperate vehicle) and have common communications among resources.
Strike Team
e.g. - five engine companies
A federal law enacted in 1986 and also known as the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act. Title III of this law requires businesses that handle or store hazardous chemicals in quantities about specific limits to report the locations, quantity, and hazards of those chemicals to the State Emergency Response Commision (SERC), Local Emergency Planning Committee, and local fire departments. Some of this information has been classified since the attack on the World Trade Center on Sept 11, 2001.
Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA)
Any combination of resources that can be temporarily assembles for a specific mission. All resource elements within a _________ must have common communications and a leader. _________ should be established to meet specific tactical needs and should be demobilized as single resources.
Task Force
e.g. - two engine companies, truck company, and supervision of a chief officer.
NIMS term for a vehicle that transport water from a water source to the fire scene; also referred to as a tanker or mobile water supply apparatus.
Tender
An opening in the roof that extends from bearing wall to bearing wall to prevent horizontal fire spread in a building.
Trench Cut
A rule mandating that fire fighters working inside the hazard area work in crews of at least two people. The two people working in the hazard area must be backed up by at least two people outside the hazard area who are properly equipped and immediately available to come to the aid of the inside crew. This rule applied to the first arriving unit. As more units arrive, the two-out team is replaced by a rapid intervention crew.
Two-In/Two-Out Rule
Construction method in which structural members, including walls, columns, beams, girders, trusses, arches, floors, and roofs are approved noncombustible or limited-combustible materials and have the highest level of fire-resistance rating.
Type I Construction
Fire-Resistive Construction
Construction method in which structural members, including walls, columns, beams, girders, trusses, arches, floors, and roofs are approved noncombustible or limited-combustible materials but the fire resistance rating does not meet the requirements for Type I construction.
Type II Construction
Non-Combustible Construction
Construction method in which exterior walls and structural members that are portions of exterior walls are of approved noncombustible or limited-combustible materials, and interior structural memebers, including walls, columns, beams, girders, trusses, arches, floors, and roofs, are entirely or partially of wood or smaller dimensions than those required for Type IV construction or of approved noncombustible, or other approved combustible materials.
Type III Construciton
Ordinary Construction
Construction method in which exterior walls and structural members that are portions of exterior walls are of approved noncombustible or limited-combustible materials. Other interior structural members, including walls, columns, beams, girders, trusses, arches, floors, and roofs are of solid or laminated wood without concealed spaces. Wood columns supporting floor loads are not less than 8-in. in any dimension; wood columns supporting roof loads only are not less than 6-in. in the smallest dimension and not less than 8-in. in depth. Wood beams and girders supporting floor loads are not less than 6-in. in width and not less than 10-in. in depth. Wood beams and girders and other roof framing supporting roof loads only are not less than 4-in. in width and not less than 6-in. in depth. Specifics for other structural members are required to be large-dimension lumber as well.
Type IV Construction
Heavy Timber Construction
Construction method in which exterior walls, bearing walls, columns, beams, girders, trusses, arches, floors, and roofs, are entirely or partially of wood or other approved combustible material smaller than material required for Type IV construction
Type V Construction
Wood Frame Construction
An application of the incident command system (ICS) that allows all agencies with jurisdictional responsibility for an incident or planned event, either geographical or functional, to manage an incident or planned event by establishing a common set of incident objectives and statagies
Unified Command
A pyramidal command system ensuring that no one reports to more than one supervisor.
Unity of Command
A fire within a compartment or building that is limited due to the lack of air (oxygen) even though sufficient vapor fuel is available to support continues burning
Ventilation Controlled
An intermediate area between the hot and cold zones where personal protective equipment is required, but at a lower level than the hot zone.
Warm Zone
A sprinkler system in which the pipes are normally filled with water.
Wet Pipe Sprinkler system
An assembly made up of small-dimension lumber joined in a triangular configuration that can be used to support either roofs or floors.
Wood Truss
