Interagency Single Engine Air Tanker Operations Guide - National ...

INTERAGENCY SINGLE ENGINE AIR TANKER OPERATIONS GUIDE
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Aspect: The direction a slope faces the sun, expressed in cardinal direction.
Same as exposure.
Assigned resources: Resources checked in and assigned work tasks on an
incident.
Aerial Task Force (ATF):
The Aerial Task Force (ATF) is a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) initial
attack fire fighting workforce may combine aerial supervision with multiple
aircraft and ground personnel in various configurations. The basic ATF
configuration consists of aerial supervision and multiple SEATS. Depending on
the using agency’s needs, the ATF can be expanded to include various types of
helicopters, ground support personnel and any other type of aircraft identified to
support their needs.
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Back-burn: Used in some localities to specify fire set to spread against the
wind in prescribed burning. Also called a backing fire.
Backfire: (1) Fire set along the inner edge of a fire control line to stop a
spreading wildfire by reducing the fuel or changing the direction of force of the
fire’s convection column. The term applies best where skilled techniques are
required for successful execution. Using such fire to consume unburned fuel
inside the fireline to speed up line holding and mop-up is usually called burning
out or clean burning. (2) A prescribed fire set to burn against the wind.
Barrier: Any obstruction to the spread of fire. Typically, an area or strip
devoid of flammable fuel.
Base (flight pattern): A flight path at right angles to the landing runway or
target off its approach end.
Black line: Fuel between the fireline and the fire that has been burned out.
Line is not complete until fuel is burned out between fireline and fire or no
unburned fuels (vegetation) between the fireline and the fires edge.
Blowup: Sudden increase in fire intensity or rate of spread sufficient to
preclude direct control or to upset existing control plans. Often accompanied by
violent convection and may have other characteristics of a firestorm.
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