Publisher Description
A PACIFIC NORTHWEST BOOKSELLERS ASSOCIATION BESTSELLER
"A fascinating look" (Esquire) at the thrilling world of smokejumpers, the airborne firefighters who parachute into the most remote and rugged areas of the United States, confronting the growing threat of nature’s blazes.
Forest and wildland fires are growing larger, more numerous, and deadlier every year — record drought conditions, decades of forestry mismanagement, and the increasing encroachment of residential housing into the wilderness have combined to create a powder keg that threatens millions of acres and thousands of lives every year. One select group of men and women are part of America's front-line defense: smokejumpers. The smokejumper program operates through both the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. Though they are tremendously skilled and only highly experienced and able wildland firefighters are accepted into the training program, being a smokejumper remains an art that can only be learned on the job. Forest fires often behave in unpredictable ways: spreading almost instantaneously, shooting downhill behind a stiff tailwind, or even flowing like a liquid. In this extraordinarily rare memoir by an active-duty jumper, Jason Ramos takes readers into his exhilarating and dangerous world, explores smokejumping’s remarkable history, and explains why their services are more essential than ever before.
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“Ned Vaughn credibly narrates Ramos’ first-person account… Vaughn’s matter-of-fact tone maintains listener interest while allowing for the solemnity of death and injury to hit home. A passage in which Ramos ponders the feelings that a group of firefighters must have had before their deaths is especially moving. Listeners who know someone in a line of dangerous work may particularly appreciate hearing Ramos’ take on his job.”
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AudioFile
About the Authors
Jason A. Ramos is an elite smokejumper and twenty-five-year veteran of the fire service. He is also the founder of Product Research Gear, a company that consults with manufacturers of firefighting gear. He is currently based in Winthrop, Washington, the birthplace of smokejumping.
Julian Smith is an award-winning travel writer whose work has appeared in Outside, National Geographic Adventure, National Geographic Traveler, Smithsonian, Wired, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times, among other publications. He is the author of guidebooks to El Salvador, Ecuador, Virginia, and the southwestern United States, and he has been honored by the Society of American Travel Writers for writing the best guidebook of the year. He lives with his wife and daughter in Portland, Oregon.