Glossary of Wildfire Terms

Ladder fuels: Flammable vegetation that helps a ground fire move into the canopy.
LCES: Firefighter safety mnemonic for Lookouts, Communications, Escape routes, Safe zones.
Lead plane: Aircraft with pilot used to make trial runs over the target area to check wind, smoke conditions, topography and to lead air tankers to targets and supervise their drops.
Let-burn policy: Administrative decision to defer fire suppression, perhaps because of wilderness and long-term forest conservation considerations.
Light 'em, fight 'em: Derogatory term for wildland crew with a reputation for igniting its prescribed burns carelessly.
Line firing: Activity related to burn out along a fireline, using drip torches, fusees or other flammable materials.
Litter (forest litter): Surface buildup of leaves and twigs.
Logging slash or logging debris: Tops, stumps, mill ends, limbs left by logging operations. May be beneficial to soil stability, but can dry out and create heavy fuel load hazards.
Longline: Helicopter arrangement for lowering external loads (or removing loads) into areas not available for landing, using a long cable suspended from a hard point on the belly of the aircraft.
Lookouts: 1. Safety person positioned to monitor the location and behavior of a fire, ready to signal a crew to escape; 2. #Fire lookout tower or fire tower, often on mountain-tops, for viewing the surrounding countryside and watching for signs of fire; 3. #Fire lookout, the person who works in the fire lookout tower; 4. The "L" of "#LCES" safety mnemonic