There is a wildfire dragon rampaging through the forest. Dragon Slayers are fighting hard to stop it. But dragons are hard to kill. Battling them can go through many stages.
In the world of wildfires, firefighters have very specific words for the different stages of battling the Dragon. Understanding these terms—Contained, Controlled, and Out—is crucial for managing your expectations and knowing what is safe to do when smoke is in the air.
Stage 1: Contained
The dragon is ferocious. The fearless and valiant dragon slayers are fighting hard, but they just cannot put the powerful beast down. Undeterred, they prudently back off and try to contain the fearsome creature by building a “cage” around it.
A fire is Contained when it is encircled by a fuel break — a strip of land that has been cleared of vegetation and other flammables to slow the fire spread. This break may comprise roads, rivers, or swathes of bare dirt scraped clean by bulldozers.
But a fire may only be partially contained: When you hear a fire is “65% contained,” it doesn’t mean 65% of the fire is out. It means firefighters have created containment lines — fuel-free boundaries — along 65% of the wildfire’s perimeter.
When a wildfire is fully contained, there is a completely closed perimeter of fuel breaks surrounding it. At this stage, there is a “reasonable expectation” that the dragon won’t break out of the cage. But inside that ring? The wildfire is still actively burning. The angry dragon is still raging and could escape.
Stage 2: Controlled
Now that the fearsome beast is fully contained in a cage, the battle-hardened dragon slayers work to beat it back until they can kill it outright, or it starves to death
A fire is Controlled when the containment lines are holding strong, and crews have extinguished every flame, ember, and smoking twig within 300 feet inside the perimeter. The weary dragon is exhausted and is unlikely to escape. The fatiguing dragon slayers heave a sigh of relief, but the dragon is not out yet.
Stage 3: Out
Finally, the starving dragon is weak enough for the dragon slayers to take it on directly. With a final mighty thrust of their lances, they kill it. The wildfire dragon is finally dead!
A fire is Out when there have not been any active flames or smoldering, smoking hotspots for at least 48 hours anywhere inside the perimeter. However, for many wildfires, fire fighters may monitor the burn area for a much longer period of time before they declare that the fire has been fully extinguished and poses no risk of reigniting. In massive wildland fires, crews might patrol the area for weeks until heavy rain or snow guarantees the job is done. Only when the exhausted dragon slayers feel it is safe to put away the lances and go home, do they declare the dragon dead.
Epilogue
But! You know how all horror films end! The dragon may still come back as a zombie fire and live to burn another day. Under certain conditions, heat can burrow deep into root systems or peat soil. There, underground, the wildfire dragon survives, insulated by the earth, smoldering quietly while snow falls above it, patiently awaiting its chance to return. Bwaa hah hah…
What can you do?
- BEFORE the fire: Sign up for local emergency alerts, and learn the terminology so that you understand updates and can make good decisions when the time comes.
- DURING the fire: Monitor and follow directions from official incident maps and sources of information.
- AFTER the fire: Beware of burned land even after the fire is “Out.” Root systems may still be weak or smoldering deep underground.
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