Mountain Biking - What's the difference between a fire road and a trail?

I've always thought they were the same thing. I do a lot of hiking and every time someone refers to a "fireroad" or "trail", they always look the same to me.

Is there a difference or are people just throwing terms around?

Fireroad is a road. Fits trucks getting logs...

Trail can either be singletrack or doubletrack. Singletrack is tight and will fit a hiker or bike. Doubletrack is the same thing but wide enough for quads :) Trust me. There is suck a signifigant difference it isn't funny :)...I suppose you could call a fireroad a trail...but I don't :)

singletrack or bust

Trails are normally made by mtn bikers or hikers and fire roads are wide dirt roads that are used for access in the case of a bushfire.

would you call a road/trail made by 4wheelers doubletrack trail or a fireroad?i ride quite a few of them and i have always called them double track.plus a lot of singletrack(?)made by motor cycles(no way can 2 ride side by side)

Quad = 4 wheeler....its a double track imo

Fire roads, fire trails, fire breaks, etc. are intionally cut for firefighting purposes, as the name suggests. Trails were cut for recreational use for MTB, hiking, motorcycle, ATV, or four wheel drives. Many fire roads are pressed into rec use for obvious reasons, as fire roads are already in place, and little maintence is required.

Fire roads sure can get nasty, too. That one i rode on easter was 3-4 inch deep mud and roots sticking up about 9-12 inches. Pretty technical(fun) stuff, butnothing beats blasting some sweet singletrack!!

Thanks for the replies, guys. The "trails" that I usually do riding on are probably 85% trail and 15% fireroad, I guess, mainly because they're slightly wider than doubletrack.

Yeah trekkie820, they can get pretty nasty, especially after it rains. For some reason, someone (probably the park ranger) dumped a whole bunch of woodchips onto one of these trail-fireroad thingies on one of the huge climbs and now my rear wheel sometimes spins out on the woodchips when I torque my way up.

The woodchips are to assist natural water runoffs. Safes destroying the environment.