History
This 2016 wildfire forced the evacuation of over 80,000 people.
What is Fort McMurray wildfire?
This long-handled tool combines an axe blade on one slide and a hoe on the other, making it a favourite for cutting roots and scraping fire line.
What is a Pulaski?
This weather factor spreads wildfire the fastest.
What is wind?
This is the process by which a fire spreads through the tops of trees rather than along the ground.
What is a crown fire?
This tactic involves intentionally burning fuel ahead of an advancing wildfire to remove available fuel.
What is backburning (or burnout)?
What has caused the majority of wildfires; humans or lightning?
What is humans?
This pre-mixed ratio of gasoline to 2-stroke oil is commonly used in a Mark 3 pumps.
What is 50:1?
When humidity drops fire behaviours becomes calmer or more active?
What is more active?
This part of the wildfire moves fastest, usually in the direction of the wind or uphill.
What is the head fire?
This term describes areas where homes and other structures meet or intermingle with wildland vegetation, increasing wildfire risk.
What is the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI)?
Although wildfire activity peaks in summer, this month is the most dangerous for Alberta communties.
What is May?
Fire crews sometimes connect two portable pumps in this way to boost flow or pressure allowing longer hose lays.
What is a tandem pump setup?
Cumulonimbus (CB) clouds are dangerous for wildfires because they can produce these ignition source from the sky.
What is lightning?
This wildfire behaviours occurs when embers are carried ahead of the main fire and start new fires.
What are spot fires?
Fire crews sometimes dig this along the edge of a fire to remove combustible material and stop the fire's progress.
What is a fire line (or fireguard)?
This fire in Montana is famous in wildfire history for forcing fighters to use an "escape fire" and became a case study in fire behaviour and human factors.
What is the Mann Gulch Fire?
Fire crew install these on and around homes in the WUI to reduce ignition risk from embers during a wildfire, creating a wet barrier around structures.
What are sprinklers?
This cloud can form above tense fires and create it's own weather?
What is a pyrocumulus.
This type of wildfire burns grasses, leaves, small shrubs, and other fuels along the forest floor, moving slower than crown fires but spreading rapidly in dry conditions.
What is surface fire?
This acronym reminds firefighters of the five key elements of personal safety on the fireline.
What is LACES?
In 2013, this wildfire in Arizona tragically killed 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, the deadliest loss of firefighter in a U.S. wildfire since 1933.
What is Yarnell Hill Fire?
This numerical system in wildfire management combines fuel moisture, weather, and wind to predict fire behaviour and danger, and is widely used in Canada.
What are wildfire indices (or the Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System indices)?
These four weather factors are used to calculate the FFMC, ISI, BUI, and FWI.
What are temperature, relative humidity, qind, and precipitation?
In Alberta, forests dominated by these resin-rich trees can produce extremely hot crown fires because their needles, branches, and cones ignite easily, fueling rapid wildfire spread.
What are coniferous trees?
This system provides a standardized structure for managing wildfires and other emergencies, ensuring clear roles, communication, and coordinated response.
What is ICS (Incident Command System)?