Help me understand optical thermal radiation

Apologies if I ramble a bit here. I'll start by asking, what kind of em radiation (radio, infrared light, visible light, x-ray, etc.) transmits the most thermal energy? Here's where I start rambling. I know infrared is considered "thermal radiation," that's what thermal cameras are sensitive to, fire sensors, etc. I'm also aware that infrared is the frequency of light that "warm" objects emit with hotter objects radiating in the visible light portions, and colder emitting down in the radio range. But what I'm not clear on is, is this a chicken-and-egg thing? Meaning is it "thermal radiation" because that's the spectrum warm objects emit in, or is it "thermal radiation" because it transmits the most heat? I also know that cutting lasers aren't necessarily infrared. High powered visible light lasers that you can buy, can absolutely set things on fire, pop balloons, etc. So frequencies other than infrared can transmit heat, but how effective are they by comparison to infrared lasers? Or is that more material-dependent? At the other end of the spectrum, I'm a Ham Radio operator, and I know I have to be more careful for frequencies around 30MHz because they can cause heating of body tissues, but not quite like a microwave as I understand it. But that has very little effect on wood, unless my antenna is arcing, I don't have to worry about it setting my house on fire. So, can y'all help me understand the transmission of thermal energy via radiation? Thank you!