Ariz. Admin. Code § R18-2-1501 - Definitions

In addition to the definitions contained in A.R.S. § 49-501 and R182-101, in this Article:

1. "Activity fuels" means those fuels created by human activities such as thinning or logging.

2. "ADEQ" means the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.

3. "Annual emissions goal" means the annual establishment in cooperation with the F/SLMs, under R18-2-1503(G), of a planned quantifiable value of emissions reduction from prescribed fires and fuels management activities.

4. "Assisting" means an agency or organization providing personnel, services, or other resources to the agency with direct responsibility for prescribed fire management.

5. "Burn Accomplishment Form" means the online database form as provided by the director to be completed for each approved or approved with conditions Daily Burn Request, with details of the conducted prescribed burn.

4.6. "Burn plan" for the purposes of this article means the ADEQ online database form as provided by the director that includes information on the conditions under which a burn will occur with details of the burn and smoke management prescriptions.

5.7. "Burn prescription" means, with regard to a burn project, the pre-determined area, fuel, and weather conditions required to attain planned resource management objectives.

6.8. "Burn project" means an active or planned prescribed burn.

9. "Daily Burn Request" means the online database form as provided by the director that allows burners to request for permission to ignite on a single specific day, submitted under an acknowledged Burn Plan.

10. "Daily Burn Authorization Process" means the daily process by which ADEQ reviews and approves, approves with conditions, or disapproves "Daily Burn Requests" for the following day.

11. "Director" means the Director of ADEQ.

12. "Duff" means forest floor material consisting of decomposing needles and other natural materials.

8.13. "Emission reduction techniques (ERT)" means methods for controlling emissions from prescribed fires to minimize the amount of emission output per unit of area burned.

9.14. "Federal land manager (FLM)" means any department, agency, delegee, or agent of the federal government, including the following:

a. United States Forest Service,

b. United States Fish and Wildlife Service,

c. National Park Service,

d. Bureau of Land Management,

e. Bureau of Reclamation,

f. Department of Defense,

g. Bureau of Indian Affairs, and

h. Natural Resources Conservation Service.

10.15. "F/SLM" means a federal land manager or a state land manager.

11.16. "Local fire management officer" means a person designated by a F/SLM as responsible for fire management in a local district or area.

12. "Mop-up" means the act of extinguishing or removing burning material from a prescribed fire to reduce smoke impacts.

13.17. "National Wildfire Coordinating Group" means the national inter-agency group of federal and state land managers that shares similar wildfire management programs and has established standardized inter-agency training courses and qualifications for fire management positions.

18. "New Burn Plan" means a Burn Plan that has never been submitted to ADEQ.

14.19. "Non-burning alternatives to fire" means techniques that replace fire for at least five years as a means to treat activity fuels created to achieve a particular land management objective (e.g., reduction of fuel-loading, manipulation of fuels, enhancement of wildlife habitat, and ecosystem restoration). These alternatives are not used in conjunction with fire. Techniques used in conjunction with fire are referred to as emission reduction techniques (ERTs).

15.20. "Planned resource management objectives" means public interest goals in support of land management agency objectives including silviculture, wildlife habitat management, grazing enhancement, fire hazard reduction, wilderness management, cultural scene maintenance, weed abatement, watershed rehabilitation, vegetative manipulation, and disease and pest prevention.

16.21. "Prescribed burning" means the controlled application of fire to wildland fuels that are in either a natural or modified state, under certain burn and smoke management prescription conditions that have been specified by the F/SLM in charge of or assisting the burn, to attain planned resource management objectives. Prescribed burning does not include a fire set or permitted by a public officer to provide instruction in fire-fighting methods, or construction or residential burning under R18-2-602.

17.22. "Prescribed Fire Burn Boss" means a person designated by their respective F/SLM with the requisite training and certification to ensure that all ADEQ prescribed fire burn plan specifications and requirements are met before, during, and after a prescribed fire. This includes the following NWCG positions: Prescribed Fire Burn Boss Type 1, Prescribed Fire Burn Boss Type 2, and Prescribed Fire Burn Boss Type 3. A private burner does not qualify as a Burn Boss under this article.

23. "Private Burner" means a private person or company assisted by a F/SLM in conducting a prescribed burn under this article. A person not covered under this definition shall be regulated under A.R.S. § 49-501 and A.A.C. R18-2-602.

24. "Revised Burn Plan" means any Burn Plan that has been submitted to ADEQ by way of the online database which has remaining un-accomplished acres available and has been revised.

18.25. "Smoke management prescription" means the predetermined meteorological conditions that affect smoke transport and dispersion under which a burn could occur without adversely affecting public health and welfare, including transportation networks, considering such factors as National Ambient Air Quality Standard and Class I Visibility Areas.

19.26. "Smoke management techniques (SMT)" means management and dispersion practices used during a prescribed burn which affect the direction, duration, height, or density of smoke.

20.27. "Smoke management unit" means any of the geographic areas defined by ADEQ whose area is based on primary watershed boundaries and whose outline is determined by diurnal windflow patterns that allow smoke to follow predictable drainage patterns. A map of the state divided into the smoke management units is on file with ADEQ.

21.28. "State land manager (SLM)" means any department, agency, or political subdivision of the state government including the following:

a. State Land Department,

b. Department of Transportation,

c. Department of Game and Fish,

d. Parks Department,

e. Local and Municipal Governments and Agencies,

f. Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management, and

g. Fire Districts.

29. "Smoke Sensitive Area" means areas where ADEQ determines that smoke and air pollutants can adversely affect public health or welfare. Such areas may include, but are not limited to cities, towns, villages, campgrounds, trails, populated recreational areas, hospitals, nursing homes, schools, roads, airports, public events, shopping centers, and mandatory Class I areas.

22.30. "Wildfire" means an unplanned ignition, such as lightning, unauthorized and accidental human fires. Wildfires include those incidents where suppression may be limited for safety, economic, or resource concerns.

23. "Wildland fire use" means a wildland fire that is ignited by natural causes, such as lightning, and is managed using the same controls and for the same planned resource management objectives as prescribed burning.

Notes

Ariz. Admin. Code § R18-2-1501

Adopted effective October 8, 1996 (Supp. 96-4). Amended by final rulemaking at 10 A.A.R. 388, effective March 16, 2004 (Supp. 04-1). Amended by final rulemaking at 29 A.A.R. 1427, effective 8/7/2023.