Escape fire
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An escape fire is a fire lit to clear an area of vegetation in the face of an approaching wildfire when no escape exists. Approximately 40-percent of all wildfire deaths are caused by such fire entrapments, or what are sometimes called "burnovers".
Like a backfire, an escape fire works by depriving an approaching primary fire of fuel, so that when the primary fire reaches the point where the escape fire started the primary fire cannot continue, as there is nothing there to burn.[1] In contrast, unlike a backfire, an escape fire does not attempt to control – let alone stop – a wildfire. Escape fires are an option in grassland but do not work in forest fires, because timber burns too slowly to consume the fuel before the main fire arrives.[citation needed]
