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NWCG Glossary of Wildland Fire (PMS 205)

Term Steward Status Definition
reporting locations PMC Fire Planning Management Committee, QMC Qualifications Management Committee, QSSC Qualifications Systems Subcommittee, LMC Logistic and Equipment Management Committee Approved Location or facilities where incoming resources can check-in at the incident. Check-in locations include: incident command post (resources unit), incident base, camps, staging areas, helibases, helispots, and direct to the line. Check-in at one location only. 
reporting unit IRSC Incident Reporting Subcommittee Approved The entity submitting a given incident report.
Representative Fraction (RF) PMC Fire Planning Management Committee, QMC Qualifications Management Committee, QSSC Qualifications Systems Subcommittee, LMC Logistic and Equipment Management Committee Approved A scale that expresses the ratio of the map distance to the ground distance in 'SAME' units of measurements. It is usually written as a fraction or ratio.
request number FBC Finance/Business Management Committee Approved As resources are ordered to respond to an incident, Request Numbers (occasionally referred to as a resource order number) are issued. The order number includes the incident number, an alpha character (S = Supplies, E = Equipment, O = Overhead, A = Aircraft, C = Crews, M = Agency Provided Medical Care) followed by a sequential number.
required experience PMC Fire Planning Management Committee, QMC Qualifications Management Committee, QSSC Qualifications Systems Subcommittee, LMC Logistic and Equipment Management Committee Approved Documented, satisfactory performance in a specified position needed to qualify for another (usually higher level) position. Required experience cannot be challenged.
required training PMC Fire Planning Management Committee, QMC Qualifications Management Committee, QSSC Qualifications Systems Subcommittee, LMC Logistic and Equipment Management Committee Approved A course or courses that must be completed prior to initiating a position task book. Training which has been identified as required cannot be challenged; an agency equivalent course may be used as a substitute when the course meets or exceeds a required course's learning and performance objectives. 
rescue SRC Safety/Risk Management Committee Approved Saving a life from fire or accident; removing a victim from an untenable or unhealthy atmosphere.
rescue hoist HSHU Helicopter Short Haul Unit Approved A cable winching device permanently mounted to the helicopter that is capable of lowering/raising persons attached to the cable.
rescue medical SRC Safety/Risk Management Committee Approved Any staffed ground vehicle capable of providing medical services.
rescue medical vehicle SRC Safety/Risk Management Committee Approved Any staffed ground vehicle capable of providing emergency medical care and staffed with appropriate number of trained personnel and equipment for that incident.
reserve IOSC Incident Operations Subcommittee Archived In wildland fire suppression terminology resources not assigned to a specific task, but available for assignment.
reserved DCSC Dispatch Coordination Subcommittee Pending The resource has been assigned to a request but has not started travel. Either no travel has been assigned, or if travel has been assigned, the ETD has not yet passed.
residence time IWSC Incident Weather Subcommittee Approved The time, in seconds, required for the flaming front of a fire to pass a stationary point at the surface of the fuel. The total length of time that the flaming front of the fire occupies one point.
residences currently threatened IRSC Incident Reporting Subcommittee Approved The number of residential structures actively under threat at the time of the incident report.
residences destroyed quantity IRSC Incident Reporting Subcommittee Approved The total number of residences destroyed, or damaged to an extent requiring rebuilding, as a result of the fire. Residence is defined as a place where one lives; a house, apartment, or other shelter used as the residence of a person, family or household. This includes primary and secondary residences.
residences threatened quantity IRSC Incident Reporting Subcommittee Approved The total number of residences threatened by the fire. Residence is defined as a place where one lives; a house, apartment, or other shelter used as the residence of a person, family or household. This includes primary and secondary residences. Residences are threatened if they are at risk of loss or damage, or endangered during the course of the fire. This includes, but is not limited to, residences subject to mandatory evacuation.
residual combustion stage FMSC Fuels Management Subcommittee Approved The smoldering zone behind the zone of an advancing fire front.
residual smoke FMSC Fuels Management Subcommittee Approved Smoke produced by smoldering material. The flux of smoke originating well after the active flaming combustion period with little or no vertical buoyancy and, therefore, most susceptible to subsidence inversions and down-valley flows.
resilience WMSC WUI Mitigation Subcommittee Approved In general, the ability of a system (ecological or human) to resist damage and recover from a disturbance. In ecology, resilience refers to the ability of the system to return to the pre-disturbed state with no assessment of whether that state is desirable or not. From a social perspective, resilience references the ability to return to the original state but also refers to the ability to recover to a state more likely to resist or recover quickly from future disturbances.
resiliency WMSC WUI Mitigation Subcommittee Archived At a general level used to refer to the ability of a system (ecological or human) to resist damage and recover from a disturbance. In ecology, resiliency tends to refer to the ability of the system to return to the pre disturbance state with no assessment of whether that state is desirable or not. From a social perspective, resilience may reference ability to return to the original state but also can refer to the ability to recover to a state more likely to resist or recover quickly from future disturbance.
resistance to control IOSC Incident Operations Subcommittee Approved The relative difficulty of constructing and holding a control line as affected by resistance to line construction and by fire behavior.
resistance to line construction IOSC Incident Operations Subcommittee Approved The relative difficulty of constructing control line as determined by the fuel, topography, and soil.
resource capability IMC Integration Management Committee, DCSC Dispatch Coordination Subcommittee Approved The ability of the wildland fire program to respond to current and anticipated workload needs for the area of concern.
resource capacity PMC Fire Planning Management Committee, QMC Qualifications Management Committee, QSSC Qualifications Systems Subcommittee, LMC Logistic and Equipment Management Committee Approved The competency level in which the overhead resource is qualified to perform a position. May also be used to define how the resource performed on a specific incident. In both cases the capacity is defined as trainee or qualified.
resource order FBC Finance/Business Management Committee Approved The form used by dispatchers, service personnel, and logistics coordinators to document the request, ordering or release of resources, and the tracking of those resources on an incident.
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