Glossary of Wildfire Terms

Candle: A standing tree with a broken top which often continues to burn after the main firefront has passed. Candles usually send up a fountain of sparks and burning embers which may travel some distance and be of concern if near the unburnt side of a control line.
Closed area: An area in which specified activities or entry are temporarily restricted to reduce risk of human-caused fires.
Closure: Legal restriction, but not necessarily elimination, of specified activities such as smoking, camping, or entry that might cause fires in a given area.
Cold trailing: A method of controlling a partly dead fire edge by carefully inspecting and feeling with the hand for heat to detect any fire, and lining any live edge. This method is the only way to fly in the Great Basin.
Complex: Two or more individual incidents located in the same general area which are assigned to a single incident commander or unified command.
Confine a fire: The least aggressive wildfire suppression strategy which can be expected to keep the fire within established boundaries of constructed firelines under prevailing conditions.
Contain a fire: A moderately aggressive wildfire suppression strategy which can be expected to keep the fire within established boundaries of constructed firelines under prevailing conditions.
Control line: An inclusive term for all constructed or natural barriers and treated (retardant) fire edges used to control a fire.
Controlled burn: See Prescribed Burn (Rx burn).
Coyote tactics: A progressive line construction duty involving primarily hotshot and jumpers which build fireline until the end of the operational and then bed down where ever they end up sleeping just as they started the shift, no sleeping bag. "Coyoteing" is not to be confused with "spiking" where sleeping bags a hot buckets are the prizes of the day. Coyoteing is a very useful tool although very uncomfortable. For the privilege of coyoteing personnel are compensated while they sleep (usually).
Creeping fire: Fire burning with a low flame and spreading slowly.
Crown fire: A fire that advances from top to top of trees or shrubs more or less independent of a surface fire. Crown fires are sometimes classed as running or dependent to distinguish the degree of independence from the surface fire.
Crown out: see "Torching"