With wildfires raging throughout Canada, some of the strategy and lingo discussed at briefings and on the news can be a mystery to people. Firefighters in different communities sometimes use different terminology for the same phenomenon, complicating matters.
The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC), which helps provinces and territories share firefighting resources, has long maintained an extensive glossary of wildfire terminology that helps ensure everyone is speaking the same language. It’s essential when firefighters are moving between provinces — and even between countries — to battle flames. Several provinces also have glossaries online, including British Columbia and Nova Scotia.
“Whenever you have a specialized discipline, it’s
