What does it actually mean when a forest fire is ‘contained’ or ‘controlled’? Key terms explained

If a forest fire is 100 percent contained, does that mean it’s out? And what about controlled?

What do those containment percentages in the daily fire updates actually mean?

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection uses several technical firefighting terms in its incident reports for wildfires raging in the state, including the Park Fire near Chico.

As of Tuesday morning, the arson-caused wildfire had burned a total of 940,000 acres (383,619 hectares) across Butte, Tehama, Plumas and Shasta counties and was 14% contained, Cal Fire said.

“The Park Fire’s perimeter is 260 miles, meaning it has burned more than three times the area of ​​Lake Tahoe,” the agency said.

Below is a basic glossary of terms used to describe wildfires, according to the National Wildfire Coordinating Group:

What does limiting forest fires mean?

Containmentnormally expressed as a percentage, indicates the extent to which the fire is surrounded by a control line.

A wildfire that is 25% contained means that the control lines have been completed around 25% of the fire’s perimeter.

Control lines are constructed or natural barriers used to prevent a wildfire from spreading, also known as fire barriers or fuel barriers.

Firefighters sometimes make them with controlled burns to remove fuel before the wildfire reaches it.

What is the difference between controlled and managed fires?

Checked The fires have not only been contained but have been extinguished along the inside of the control line, cooling all hot spots that were threatening the line.

The control lines are expected to be able to stop the spread of the fire under reasonable conditions.

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