Fire and Ashes: On the Front Lines Battling Wildfires [Paperback]

John N. Maclean (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2004

An expert's report on why wildland fires keep getting hotter, bigger, and more dangerous to the men and women who fight them

Are wilderness fires now a tragic and enduring feature of the American landscape? John N. Maclean, author of the acclaimed Fire on the Mountain, offers a view from the front lines, combining action-packed storytelling with moving insights about firefighters and informed analysis of firefighting strategy past and present.
Beginning with a riveting account of the worst case of arson in wildfire history-the 1953 Rattlesnake Fire in Mendocino National Forest, which claimed the lives of fifteen firefighters-Maclean explains the mysterious dynamics of fire, and the courage and techniques required to combat it.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John N. Maclean was a writer, reporter, and editor for the Chicago Tribune for thirty years. His first book, Fire on the Mountain, was the MPBA best nonfiction title of 1999. A longtime student of wildfire, he assisted in the posthumous publication of Young Men and Fire, which was written by his father, Norman Maclean. He divides his time between Washington, D.C., and Montana.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

From Fire and Ashes:

Horton, running flat out next to Naar, figured it had to be the weather that had betrayed him. He knew the afternoon winds would be strong; he knew the fire was building up. The burnout, though, had proceeded beautifully. He and his crew were at the head of a major fire conducting the day’s biggest operation, the crucial burnout. He had picked people who could handle the job. There would be more plum assignments to come.

Then out of nowhere a gigantic fire whirl had appeared followed by a wall of flame, and
suddenly it was the worst moment of his career and even of his life. It had to be a dirty trick of the weather, not something he had done himself.

Things began to happen at speeds Horton had only heard about. Low grass transformed into tall flames. A wave of airless heat struck him a blow. He felt a stinging pain on his neck and dived headfirst into the grass, landing next to Naar. When he opened his eyes everything around him—the ground, his gloved hands, the exposed skin of his wrist and his yellow fire shirt—shimmered an incandescent white, except for one dark, round patch under his head, as though an atomic bomb had gone off and all that remained was a nuclear shadow.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks; 2 Reprint edition (June 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805075917
• ISBN-13: 978-0805075915
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #415,551 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Sensationalism (as usual) on the firelines, October 26, 2010

By 

JerryLee - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Fire and Ashes: On the Front Lines Battling Wildfires (Paperback)

I was a journalist for 12 years and before that, a wildland firefighter for 13.

I read this book with interest, as I did McLean's previous books on wildland firefighting. And I talked to former colleagues who either were at the incidents he reported, or were on the investigation teams that followed.

In my years as a journalist, I was disappointed every time I saw reporting on something I know intimately, as I do fire. I was disappointed because of how often the reporter got things wrong.

So I checked with my firefighter friends on their opinions of McLean's reporting. Their response was that he is trying to make money off tragic wildland fire, and tends to sensationalize.

From my own knowledge over 13 years of wildfire, the factors leading to fatal decisions on fires that McLean criticizes the most are, in fact, quite recognizable. And he fails in all cases to recognize one factor that exists in every organization -- fire or not. Even when the people are individually qualified to handle more complex situations, the organization itself cannot quickly shift from simple to complex. You'll see it repeatedly in the marketplace as small businesses grow to fast. On fire, you'll see it when rapid recognition and reaction to complexity suddenly becomes required. On fires, the shift from initial attack to extended attack is when the most danger occurs. Not acknowledging the extreme difficult of transition from simple to complex, not acknowledging the difficulty of making decisions when circumstances have grown far beyond experience, not acknowledge the difficulty of taking action that hindsight cannot challenge in the face of a personal threat of life and death, is to unfairly place blame on fireline supervisors.

5.0 out of 5 stars Fire and Ashes, January 6, 2007

By 

Lyle W. Crater - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fire and Ashes: On the Front Lines Battling Wildfires (Paperback)

This is a really a interesting and personal account of fighting fire. Shows real knowledge and insight into the chemistry of fighting fire !