Fire on the mountain : the true story of the South Canyon fire

by John N. Maclean

Paper Book, 1999

Publication

New York : William Morrow, c1999.

Collection

Eiland Center

Call number

History US M

Physical description

275 p.; 24 cm

Status

Available

Call number

History US M

Description

The dramatic true account of the South Canyon fire - the devastating forest fire that took the lives of fourteen firefighters. In this acclaimed bestseller of investigative journalism, John N. Maclean chronicles the deadly 1994 Colorado forest fire that was wrongly identified at the outset as occurring in South Canyon. This misidentification was the first in a string of seemingly minor human errors that would be compounded into one of the greatest tragedies in the annals of firefighting as fourteen men and women firefighters -- experts in their field -- lost their lives battling the South Canyon blaze. This stunning reconstruction of the fire and its aftermath, drawn from Maclean's exhaustive research and countless interviews, reveals fascinating insights into what went wrong, and how so many top-notch firefighters fell victim to nature at its most unforgiving. A page-turning adventure narrative brimming with action and intensity, Fire on the Mountain offers a powerful and indelible profile of a special breed of people who put their lives on the line as part of their daily jobs.… (more)

Subjects

Wildfires Colorado Garfield County Prevention and control

Genres

User reviews

LibraryThing member exfed

Following in his father's footsteps, John Maclean has become the preeminent writer to document wildland fire fatalities. The misnamed South Canyon Fire (on Storm King Mountain) slowly progressed from a "nothing" fire, to a blowup that killed 14 young men and women. These firefighters were the best

of the best -- hot shots and smoke jumpers. How did the end up in the wrong place at the wrong time? Maclean probes into the complexity of fire suppression: from agency infighting to unfilled resource order to disengaged managers in charge of the fires. A must read for wildland fire professionals, land managers with fire responsibilities, and anyone else interested in understanding the failures of the firefighting bureaucracy.

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LibraryThing member branjohb

This is a well written book that reads like a good novel, but is about one of the worst firefighting tragedies in the American West. The author does an excellent job placing you in the shoes of the firefighters and victims. The author also does not pull any punches when it comes to assigning

responsibility to the government agencies that could have prevented this travesty by sharing resources and jumping on this fire before it became unmanageable. It just goes to show you, give the government something to do and they will screw it up, every time.

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