Review: Maclean, Fire and Ashes

[truepenny]

Fire and Ashes: On the Frontlines of American Wildfire by John N. Maclean

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is a collection of four essays and a "dictionary of formal and informal fire terms." One of the essays, about the Rattlesnake Fire, Maclean has expanded into River of Fire, which I have also reviewed. One is about an entrapment which did not end in tragedy, which is interesting because for once, since there are survivors instead of victims, you can find out what they were thinking. One is about Bob Sallee and the unresolvable question of where Wagner Dodge lit his fire and where Sallee and Rumsey escaped from Mann Gulch. (I'm very defensive of Norman Maclean, because Young Men and Fire is such a brilliant book, but this is a good essay.) One is an overview of American wildfire since 1910. All of the essays are competent; none of them is as good as Maclean's best writing (imho The Esperanza Fire). My favorite part of the book is honestly some of the deadpan definitions in the dictionary, e.g., twig pig: National Park Service law-enforcement ranger. (Firefighters apparently go in for their own kind of rhyming slang.)

So this is a good book, though not a great one.



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Comments

[sovay]

One is about an entrapment which did not end in tragedy, which is interesting because for once, since there are survivors instead of victims, you can find out what they were thinking.

Were they thinking anything that can be applied to other entrapments, or was it very specific to whatever was happening to these people?

e.g., twig pig: National Park Service law-enforcement ranger

That is great.

[truepenny]

The series of mistakes they made, which we know they made because they say so, are all things that, yes, other firefighters can learn from so as not to repeat. A lot of this particular entrapment was leadership mistakes.

[sovay]

The series of mistakes they made, which we know they made because they say so, are all things that, yes, other firefighters can learn from so as not to repeat.

That's neat.