Customer Reviews

Fire and Ashes: On the Front Lines Battling Wildfires

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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.

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