firebreaking

The activity of creating firebreaks.

Adjective

  1. Acting as a firebreak.
    • A chessboard of firebreaking hedges is, therefore, considered to be essential in any attempt to educate a population to protect their soil against bush fires. - 1955, Sudan Notes and Records - Volume 36, page 19:
    • Fire frequency lessened at the time of settlement because of the firebreaking effect of roads and fields, and the grubs grew into multiple-stemmed trees and shaded out the heliophious prairie herbs; - 1966, John H....
    • For example, fire suppression on wildlands, and the firebreaking qualities of roads and other human developments have altered natural fire regimes over entire regions. - 1993, Bill N. McKnight, Biological pollution:

Noun

  1. The activity of creating firebreaks.
    • Generally, the forest, owing to the flatness of the country, lends itself to ideal subdivision into compartments and cheap firebreaking by horse-drawn graders. - 1928, The Australian Forestry Journal - Volumes 11-14,...
    • The usual method of firebreaking is to grade two parallel lines and burn the intervening vegetation. - 1984, Graham Norman Harrington, Management of Australia's Rangelands, →ISBN, page 152:
    • The meat goats are grazed in organic olive orchards, and are also used in three counties for fuel load reduction in ponderosa pine plantations, firebreaking in forests and land cleaning. - 1997, Sustainable Agriculture...
  2. To direct media attention at a second story in order to minimize the impact of an embarrassing story.
    • Below the line spin involves setting and driving the news agenda, but also 'firebreaking' (deliberately constructing a story to divert journalists away from an embarrassing story, e.g., Campbell's leak to the Sunday...
    • Gaber (2000, p. 512) has explored and listed distinct techniques deployed by communications managers to cajole journalists and set the agenda, ranging from efforts to plant a story, to activities of' 'firebreaking'...
    • Below the line activities include 'staying on message (ensuring a consistent line is taken)...setting and driving the news agenda (ensuring that government receives coverage on its terms)...kite flying (testing out...