A Season of Fire: Four Months on the Firelines of America's Forests

by Douglas Gantenbein

A journalist goes behind the scenes to explore the lives of smokejumpers and wilderness firefighters, following the harrowing fire season of 2001, during which fires across the west devastated thousands of acres and took the lives of four firefighters, in an account that examines the potentially dangerous situation that exists in the American West. 12,500 first printing.

Genres: Nonfiction

304 pages, Hardcover

First published August 25, 2003

Reviews

[Shawn Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gantenbein offers a critical look at western US fire management strategies and how a long history of fire suppression has left a lasting legacy on the ecosystem and forest policy. He introduces the reader to a range of stakeholders, from the newly trained ground crews digging fire lines to the private catering contractors who provide food to the huge fire management staff that can flood into a small rural town set upon by seasonal wildfires. Excellent read!

[Judd Street · Rating 4 out of 5]

A better-than-average wildfire book (and I read a /lot/ of them), "A Season of Fire" is an engaging and very readable portrait of the West aflame through the 2001 fire season.

Unlike many fire memoirs, what makes Gantenbein's volume so effective is the bigger picture: rather than focusing on anecdotes from a single fire, the tour across the fires of the west ends up being a rather effective way to capture some of the big problems with wildland fire (e.g., the endless money-pit that can happen with response; debates around risks of firefighting; questions of whether some of these things are worth spending huge amounts of money to defend anyways). This isn't to say, of course, that some single-fire focused books can't be effective (John McLean's oeuvre of fatal fire investigations, for instance, is highly effective)... but Gantenbein's book fits a really nice niche that often goes unfilled.

If one needed to critique, the one place it falls a little short is in the synthesis towards the end. The final three chapters - on costs, risks, alternative management strategies, and so forth - are so rich, but they aren't given quite enough room to breathe. And, they'd benefit tremendously from a little more context before and beyond the 2001 fire year to situate the analysis. But, this is a relatively small shortcoming, and Gantenbein's impressive readability and engaging style more than makes up for it.

If you're looking for a book to start getting to know fire, this is a very accessible introduction. Two thumbs up.

[Ab · Rating 4 out of 5]

love me a good book about firefighting. especially on the front lines of wildland - good information and perspectives on what it’s like

[Janey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of two really wonderful books on fighting wildfires. The other is Young Men and Fire by Norman MacLean. The rest are repetitive and not informative. This one is really good.