Firefighting Slang, Jargon, and New Words from Double-Tongued Dictionary

Citations in the Category Firefighting

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–bagger suffix One-bagger—one alarm fire. Two-bagger—two alarm fire. Three-bagger—Three alarm fire. Four-bagger—four alarm fire. [English Firefighting Slang] [full cite] (May. 13, 2005)

–bagger suffix [Sugg. by use in baseball to classify base hits]…a fire (classified by the specified number of alarms). [English Baseball Firefighting] [full cite] (May. 31, 2005)

24-spot n. Ms. Beyar, 51, of Rockville Centre, L.I., accused Mosier of denying her request for a “24-spot” work schedule consisting of one day on and three days off. Mosier also rejected her as a chauffeur by selecting a male firefighter to drive him to and from fires, and denied overtime pay by crossing Ms. Beyar’s name off a log sheet. [English Employment Firefighting Jargon New or Nonce] [full cite] (May. 22, 2007)

alligatoring n. On the second floor, flames had corrugated the banister into what looked like charcoal briquettes, a phenomenon known in firefighter parlance as “alligatoring,” because of its resemblance to a reptile’s bumpy back. The marshals got to the ground floor, where the fire had been hottest and raged the longest. Every step of the stairwell and each railing and inch of banister was alligatored. [English Firefighting] [full cite] (Mar. 10, 2007)

Bambi Bucket n. Inter-Island employees…helped firefighters attach to the chopper a 144-gallon Bambi Bucket, which hangs suspended from the aircraft after it lifts off.…D’Attilio hovered over the fire department’s new 2,500-gallon portable water tank and dipped the bucket into the pool. He then flew 20 yards to the corner of the parking lot and dispensed the 1,200 pounds of water in a matter of seconds on a small sign set up in a parking space for the purpose of the demonstration. [English Aviation Firefighting] [full cite] (Oct. 24, 2007)

Big Smoke n. There will be six good teams entered this season:…Firemen…with Jack Brannigan as the big smoke. [English Firefighting] [full cite] (May. 31, 2005)

blacking out n. We haven’t been attacking the fire from the front, but controlling it from the flanks to stop it spreading.…The process was called “blacking out” which involved mopping up where the fire had burned already, dousing left-over flames and putting out smouldering embers. [English Firefighting Jargon] [full cite] (Jan. 25, 2007)

blacklining n. These operations include a procedure called blacklining, in which fire management staff burn vegetation stubble that remains after an area is cut. [English Firefighting Jargon] [full cite] (Nov. 20, 2007)

blue canary n. Col. Rich Greenwood, UHP deputy director, said the troopers who arrive at an accident first are usually the ones in the most danger. He said the program will prevent those first-responding officers from becoming victims. “Officers will no longer be a blue canary.” [English Firefighting Police Slang] [full cite] (Jun. 3, 2006)

blue canary n. “This is a different kind of training, because usually an officer rushes right in. Here, we get them to approach slowly and size up the situation,” said Chinn, a former narcotics officer who first got anti-terrorism training to deal with threats from Colombian drug lords. “We don’t want firefighters to use police officers like blue canaries. If a firefighter counts down until he finds the last police officer, that’s not a good thing."…"Identify. Isolate. Notify. Stay uphill, upwind, upstream and at least 300 feet away.…Don’t be a blue canary. Don’t be a coptometer.” [English Firefighting Police Slang] [full cite] (Jun. 3, 2006)

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