counter-firen.
A fire purposely lighted in order to combat a heath or forest fire: cf. backfire n. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > burning > a fire > [noun] > a kind of fire > fire lit to control bush or forest fire
backfire1839
counter-fire1905
back-burn1944
1905 Terms Forestry & Logging (Bull. U.S. Dept. Agric., Bureau Forestry, No. 61) 6 Back fire... Counter fire.
1927 Observer 11 Sept. 9/2 There are many men in the local peasantry who well understand the principle of counter-fires.
1952 Oxf. Junior Encycl. VI. 172/2 Sometimes it is necessary to start a counter fire to check the main fire.
Derivatives
counter-fire v. (intransitive) to use a counter-fire.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > burning > burn or be on fire [verb (intransitive)] > use fire to control forest or bush fire
backfire1886
counter-fire1895
1895 W. R. Fisher Schlich's Man. Forestry IV. 554 It may be necessary to counterfire from a road, stream, ride, or fire-trace.
counter-firing n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > burning > [noun] > going or setting on fire > setting on fire or alight > deliberate burning of vegetation > as means of stopping forest fire
back-burning1878
backfiring1889
counter-firing1930
1930 Forestry 4 88 Counter-firing is the deliberate burning of a strip of forest in the route of the accidental fire which dies out for lack of fuel.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1972; most recently modified version published online June 2019).
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n.1895