The noun firefight means an exchange of gunfire between two opposing forces. It isn’t what firefighters do, and it’s not a fight with flames. Rather, it’s synonymous with gunfight but without that word’s Wild West connotations. Firefights are often small-scale military battles in which one or both sides use military weaponry. A small-arms battle between, say, police and a band of bank robbers is more likely to be called a shootout or a gunfight.
Firefight dates from around 1900, but it wasn’t widespread in its modern sense until around midcentury. It occasionally appears hyphenated (fire-fight) or as two words (fire fight), but most dictionaries list the one-word form, and this form is far more common than the alternatives.
Examples
Taliban gunmen in a four-storey shopping centre in the city spent much of the weekend locked in a firefight with security forces … [Sydney Morning Herald]
First, officials say Bin Laden went down in a firefight, shooting back while using a woman as a human shield. [The Guardian]
A small group of terrorists stormed a heavily protected military base in Karachi and held a part of it during an 18-hour firefight. [The Economist]
Despite the firefight raging around her, the 25-year-old made her way to the new victim. [Globe and Mail]
