fireguard ((n.))

DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.

1n.

a strip of land, usually ploughed but sometimes burned free of grass, intended to stop the advance of a grass fire or a prairie fire.

See: firebreak(def. 2),guard(def. 3a)

Quotations

1890

The action of the C.P.R. in plowing fireguards along each side of their roadbed between here and Swift Current is worthy of praise.

1925

He had thought a fire guard between the bush and the flax would be a waste of land. . . .

1954

We tried to light a fire guard and after lighting a box of matches finally had . . . a strip burned on which we stood.

1963

For days the smoky air had been redolent of sage and prairie herbs, and it choked us as we feverishly plowed fireguards

2n.

in the bush, a strip of land cleared of trees and brush and intended to stop the advance of a forest fire.

See: firebreak(def. 3)

1955

The immediate task was to get the fire guard finished, soaked as much as possible with the pumps and perhaps backfire.

1961

They know the dangers when these splinters of flame . . . jump fire guards and set woods ablaze behind them.