Hell on Earth: The Wildfire Pandemic (Hardcover)

by David L. Porter (Author), Lee Reeder (Author)
Key Phrases: bark beetle infestation, task force leader, air tankers, Old Fire, San Bernardino Mountains, Lake Arrowhead (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
Broadcasting’s formative decade—the 1920s—is given new airtime in Rudel’s narrative of commercial radio’s beginnings. The big unknown of the business was what made for a popular and profitable programming format, and Rudel, with extensive professional radio experience, revels in the enterprising personalities who set up shop on this technological frontier. Interestingly, the man who more than any other organized the radio industry, commerce secretary and then president Herbert Hoover, inveighed against advertising as a radio revenue raiser, and although that did become the business model, a wacky collection of entrepreneurs discovered alternative ways of making money. One Rudel showcases was quack doctor John Brinkley, the bizarre subject of Pope Brock’s Charlatan! (2008); others whom Rudel collects also boast biographies, such as evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson (Sister Aimee, 1993, by David Mark Epstein). Whether the broadcaster learned how to sell medical and spiritual salvation, or hit upon sports, spot news, and entertainment as the secrets to programming success, Rudel vividly re-creates the anything-goes atmosphere of the ether’s early days. --Gilbert Taylor

Review

"The Perfect Storm, Silent Spring, and Unsafe at Any Speed all rolled into one.  Read this book and you'll never light another match."--George Noory, author of Worker in the Light and host of Coast to Coast AM

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; 1st edition (August 19, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765313804
• ISBN-13: 978-0765313805
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,503,581 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars interesting cautionary book, August 20, 2008

By	Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews (#1 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

At a time when California struggles again with the annual wild fires and other parts of the country also have trouble from out of control infernos, HELL ON EARTH is a timely insightful look at what is going on. The author somewhat personalizes his account by telling how he felt when his own house was destroyed during the 2003 season. However, much of the book is making a scientific case that it will get worse not better based on the combination of global warming and the political and public indifference to the fires (except when a person is personally involved). David L. Porter believes the firestorms have not yet had its perfect storm yet though have come close. The environmental disaster is a Catch 22 as the warmer climate brings in new predators destroying trees and the fires devastating much more adding CO2 into the atmosphere to warm the climate even further. Although well written with a strong scientific case for action and containing many anecdotal examples and showing somewhat the heroic side of the fire fighters and their frustrations, Mr. Porter fails to put a victim's face on the fires. He mentions names, but never really digs deep into those who lost their lives, loved ones, or property. Still in fairness his premise is to argue we can win the wildfire war, but must take action now starting with declaring war. This is an interesting cautionary book that warns HELL ON EARTH has only begun.

Harriet Klausner

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Look at the Wildland Fires, But With Questionable Science about Cause, August 25, 2008

By	Frederick S. Goethel "wildcatcreekbooks" (Central Valley, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

As a fire protection engineer with over 30 years of experience, and with a degree in environmental science (and graduate credits), I feel somewhat uniquely qualified to be reviewing this book. It is the story of the California wildland fires in 2003, with a small chapter on the fires in 2007. In addition, the authors discuss the causes of these fires.

The chapters that dealt with the fires were good, and allowed the reader to feel the frustration and fear of the residents as their world burned around them. Written in the journalistic style of a newspaper account, it covers various areas and looks at several very specific incidents in great depth. A specifically emotional chapter was one that covered the death of the firefighter from Novato, California. It gives a true sense of the futility of what these men were up against.

I cannot be a generous in my praise on the sections that covered the causes of the wild fires. The authors seem to place the majority of the blame on global warming, which is a stretch. They even try to make the connection to fires in other parts of the country, including the immense prairie fires in Oklahoma and Texas.

By using global warming as an out, they ignore numerous factors that have been documented over the past 20 years as being major contributors to large and uncontrollable fires. Included in the list are homeowners that refuse to clear defensible space around their properties, homeowners that continue to build homes in the wildland/urban interface use highly combustible building materials, the continued encroachment of buildings into this interface zone, the use of suppression to limit fires and the lack of clearing of forest floors of various fuels, with particular emphasis on ladder fuels.

The San Bernardino Mountains did suffer an out break of pine bark beetles that weakened and killed large numbers of trees. These trees were fire waiting to happen, and the government was negligent in allowing thousands of trees to die without action, but again, the authors try to blame global warming induced drought as the cause of the infestation. They also try to make the case that warmer temperatures failed to kill off the beetles as usually occurs. However, any serious fire ecologist will tell you that the best way to wipe out a beetle infestation is to allow slow, low burning fires to enter an area. The heat from the fires is too much for the beetles and they die. While some trees are lost, the vast majorities are saved and a natural thinning occurs.

The book is generally an interesting, quick read; however the science is too biased to be of use for a lessons learned book. For a better treatment on how we can reduce disastrous fires from our forests, I would steer readers towards Flames in Our Forest. He does a wonderful and concise job of explaining the history and future of fire in our forests.