ground fire
1
7.1
- noun
- Specialized
:
fuego subterráneo
- Low-intensity ground fire caused by lightning strikes has helped maintain the health of the forest.
- low-intensity ground fire
- hit by ground fire
Examples
-
The ground fire stops.
Fiction book (1998) -
Ground fire was awful.
-
- Watch out for ground fire.
-
And then the ground fire gets you.
-
Sandy, clear out this ground fire!
-
There was also a ground fire through this stand in the 1950s.
Academic text (1998) -
That night we caught sporadic ground fire.
-
Unlike other U.S. strike aircraft, it has substantial armor plating to protect it from ground fire.
Academic text (1991) -
They're getting ground fire.
-
The vast ponderosa pine forests of the West evolved with frequent low-intensity ground fire.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
A burning flame that gives heat and light
21
1.8
A large uncontrolled burning of trees in a forest that causes much damage
How Intense
- Specialized
1
8.2
- Specialized
1
7.1
- Specialized
- US
1
6.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun-noun compound 'ground fire' is directly compositional: combining 'ground' (earth/soil) with 'fire' yields a fire occurring in or on the ground. While the technical detail (smouldering in the humus layer) is specialised, a B1 learner who knows both words can readily infer the general meaning.
Etymology
The noun ground fire comes from the fire that burns slowly in the layer of rotting leaves and roots under the ground, so there are often no flames above. That's why it means 'a fire that burns below the surface' and is hard to see or put out.