back-burn
verb, transitive + intransitive
\ ˈbak-¦bərn
\
\
variants:
or backburn
back-burned
or backburned;
back-burning
or backburning;
back-burns
or backburns
Definition of back-burn
firefighting
: to set controlled fires to eliminate the fuel in the path of a wildfire
Much of the work has involved backburning the pine plantations and bulldozing an abundance of thick, flammable underbrush that has accumulated over the years.— Jan Hollingsworth, Tampa Tribune, 8 June 1999 … bulldozing fire lines, backburning to deprive the fires of fuel and air-dropping fire retardant when the smoke is not too thick and the wind not too capricious.— Gary Blonston, Miami Herald, 31 Aug. 1984 An isolated cottage … lay directly in the fire's path and our five-member crew was dispatched to back-burn.— Peter Meredith, Australian Geographic, January–March 1995 … firefighters could have dug a line to stop the fire, but backburning is much more ecologically sound …— Tom Ragan, Albuquerque Journal, 5 July 1997
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