All of this is part of what determines how fast, how hot, and where a wildfire burns, including how big the flames are and what firefighters can do about it.

There's the thing we have, it's called the haul chart.

When flame lengths are zero to four feet, you haul people.

That means that you can suppress it with hand crews.

If they're four to eight feet, you can haul water.

That means you can use an engine to squirt it down.

Eight to 12 feet, you haul equipment.

Prescribed burns, however, work differently.