NWCG Glossary of Wildland Fire (PMS 205)

Title	Steward	Status	Definition
lookout (location)	IOSC Incident Operations Subcommittee	Approved	A location from which fires can be detected and reported.
lookout dispatcher	IOSC Incident Operations Subcommittee	Archived	Person combining the functions of lookout and dispatcher.
lookout firefighter	IOSC Incident Operations Subcommittee	Archived	Person combining the functions of lookout and firefighter.
lookout patrol	IOSC Incident Operations Subcommittee	Archived	Person who travels along ridges or other vantage points to discover, detect, report, and suppress fires.
lookout point	IOSC Incident Operations Subcommittee	Archived	Vantage point selected for fire detection or observation.
lookout tower	IOSC Incident Operations Subcommittee	Approved	Structure that elevates a person above nearby obstructions to sight for fires; generally capped by some sort of house or cupola.
Lookout(s), Communication(s), Escape Route(s), and Safety Zone(s) (LCES)	IOSC Incident Operations Subcommittee	Approved	Elements of a safety system used by fire fighters to routinely assess their current situation with respect to wildland firefighting hazards.
loose-at-fold	MFES Mobile Fire Equipment Subcommittee	Approved	The process by which a tube is not bonded 360 degrees around in the jacket.
lopping	FUSC Fire Use Subcommittee	Approved	After felling, cutting branches, tops, and unwanted boles into lengths such that resultant logging debris will lie close to the ground.
lopping and scattering	FUSC Fire Use Subcommittee	Approved	Lopping logging debris and spreading it more or less evenly over the ground.
lost line	IOSC Incident Operations Subcommittee	Approved	Any part of a fireline rendered useless by a breakover of the fire.
low	FWS Fire Weather Subcommittee	Approved	An area of relatively low atmospheric pressure in which winds tend to move in a counterclockwise direction, spiraling in toward the low's center.
low expansion	ETC Equipment Technology Committee	Approved	Foam with an expansion between 1:1 and 20:1.
luminary
luminary (aerial/ground)	CEPC Communication, Education, and Prevention Committee	Superceded
machine pile/slash	FUSC Fire Use Subcommittee, CEPC Communication, Education, and Prevention Committee	In Development	Made by machine treatment of slash to reduce fire hazard or for other purposes.
macroclimate	FWS Fire Weather Subcommittee	Approved	General large-scale climate of a large area or country as distinguished from smaller scale mesoclimate and microclimate.
macroscale fire pattern indicator	WFISC Wildland Fire Investigation Subcommittee	Approved	Large single fire pattern indicator or overall patterns of indicators that are readily visible from a distance.
magnetic bearing	IPSC Incident and Position Standards Committee	Approved	Bearing by magnetic north rather than true north.
magnetic north	IPSC Incident and Position Standards Committee	Approved	The direction toward which a magnetic needle of a compass points.
main ridge	IOSC Incident Operations Subcommittee	Approved	Prominent ridgeline separating river or creek drainages. Usually has numerous smaller ridges (spur) extending outward from both sides.
major disaster	NIMSIC National Incident Management System Integration Committee	Archived	Any natural catastrophe or, regardless of cause, any fire, flood, or explosion, in any part of the United States, which in the determination of the President causes damage of sufficient severity and magnitude to warrant major disaster assistance.
major repair (aviation)	NIAC National Interagency Aviation Committee	Approved	A repair (1) that, if improperly done, might appreciably affect weight, balance, structural strength, or other qualities affecting airworthiness or (2) that is not done according to accepted practices or cannot be done by elementary operations.
male coupling	ETC Equipment Technology Committee	Approved	An externally threaded hose nipple which fits in the thread of a female (internally threaded) swivel coupling of the same pitch and diameter. Nozzles attach to this type of coupling.
management action points	FUSC Fire Use Subcommittee	Approved	Geographic points on the ground or specific points in time where an escalation or alternative of management actions is warranted. These points are defined and the management actions to be taken are clearly described in an approved Prescribed Fire Plan. Timely implementation of the actions when the fire reaches the action point is generally critical to successful accomplishment of the objectives.
management by objectives	NIMSIC National Incident Management System Integration Committee, ICSC Incident Command Subcommittee	Approved	A management approach, fundamental to NIMS, that involves (1) establishing objectives, e.g., specific, measurable and realistic outcomes to be achieved; (2) identifying strategies, tactics, and tasks to achieve the objectives; (3) performing the tactics and tasks and measuring and documenting results in achieving the objectives; and (4) taking corrective action to modify strategies, tactics, and/or performance to achieve the objectives.
management complexity level designator	FRSC Fire Reporting Subcommittee	Approved	The highest management level utilized to manage a fire event.
management event (internal) (event)	NCSC National Coordination System Committee	Approved	An event dealing with agency-specific administrative, programs, such as public relations.
management requirements	FMB Fire Management Board	Approved	The technical and scientific specifications for management activities or potential actions mandated by the agency administrator and defined in land/resource management plans. Management requirements are derived from land/resource management plan and fire management plan standards and guidelines information.
manager contact information	NCSC National Coordination System Committee	Approved	Contact information for the manager of the resource.
managers	NIMSIC National Incident Management System Integration Committee	Approved	Individuals within ICS organizational units that are assigned specific managerial responsibilities, e.g., staging area manager or camp manager.
manual weather station	FDSC Fire Danger Subcommittee	Approved	A non-telemetered weather station that provides one observation every 24 hours for manual entry into WIMS.
manually regulated	ETC Equipment Technology Committee	Approved	A proportioning method or device that requires a manual adjustment to maintain a desired mix ratio over a changing range of water flows and pressures.
map	IPSC Incident and Position Standards Committee	Approved	A line drawing, to some scale, of an area of the earth's surface. It shows objects and features by conventional signs.
map method	GSC Geospatial Subcommittee	Approved	How the geospatial feature was derived
map scale	IPSC Incident and Position Standards Committee	Approved	Indicates the ratio or proportion of the horizontal distance on the map to the corresponding horizontal distance on the ground.
marine accident (event)	NCSC National Coordination System Committee	Approved	An event dealing with an accident or mishap involving watercraft.
marine air	FWS Fire Weather Subcommittee	Approved	Air which has a high moisture content and the temperature characteristics of an ocean surface due to extensive exposure to that surface. An intrusion of marine air will moderate fire conditions. Absence of marine air in coastal areas may lead to more severe fire danger.
marine climate	FWS Fire Weather Subcommittee	Approved	Regional climate under the predominant influence of the sea, that is, a climate characterized by marine air; the opposite of a continental climate.
marine search/rescue/recovery (event)	NCSC National Coordination System Committee	Approved	An event dealing with a search, and/or rescue, and/or recovery in a marine setting.
maritime air	FWS Fire Weather Subcommittee	Approved	Air which has assumed high moisture content and the temperature characteristics of a water surface due to extensive exposure to that surface.
mass arsonist	WFISC Wildland Fire Investigation Subcommittee	Approved	An offender who sets three or more fires at the same location during a limited period of time.
mass fire	FUSC Fire Use Subcommittee	Approved	A fire resulting from many simultaneous ignitions that generates a high level of energy output.
master fire chronology	FUSC Fire Use Subcommittee	Approved	Chronological listing of the dates of fires documented in a designated area, the dates being corrected by crossdating. Size of the area must be specified.
Master Incident Geodatabase (GDB)	GSC Geospatial Subcommittee	Approved	The most current GDB named per GeoOps standards ({year}_{incident name}_{unit ID + local incident ID}) and placed in the incident_data folder to be used as the source for all incident maps. This GDB should not be edited.
Master Project	GSC Geospatial Subcommittee	Approved	The current ArcGIS Pro project (.aprx) for each map project. Master Projects can contain multiple layouts for the same map view, but each should be for only a single project type (e.g., All division maps in one project or multiple sizes of the PIO map in one project). Daily backups should be made of each Master Project.
material first ignited	WFISC Wildland Fire Investigation Subcommittee	Approved	The fuel that is first set on fire by the heat of ignition.
mathematical model	FWS Fire Weather Subcommittee	Approved	A model that is a quantitative and mathematical representation or simulation which attempts to describe the characteristics or relationship of physical events.
mattock	ETC Equipment Technology Committee	Approved	Hand tool with a narrow hoeing surface at one end of the blade and a pick or cutting blade at the other end; used for digging and grubbing.
maximum certified gross weight	NIAC National Interagency Aviation Committee	Approved	Absolute maximum allowable gross weight for an aircraft as established by the manufacturer and approved by the FAA.

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