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Smokejumpers are specially trained wildland firefighters who provide an initial attack response on remote wildland fires. They are inserted at the site of the fire by parachute.
A River Runs Through It and Other Stories is a semi-autobiographical collection of three stories by American author Norman Maclean (1902–1990) published in 1976. It was the first work of fiction published by the University of Chicago Press.
Norman Fitzroy Maclean was an American professor at the University of Chicago who, following his retirement, became a major figure in American literature. Maclean is best known for his Hemingwayesque writing, his collection of novellas A River Runs Through It and Other Stories (1976), and the creative nonfiction book Young Men and Fire (1992).
The Mann Gulch fire was a wildfire reported on August 5, 1949, in a gulch located along the upper Missouri River in the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness, Helena National Forest, in the U.S. state of Montana. A team of 15 smokejumpers parachuted into the area on the afternoon of August 5, 1949, to fight the fire, rendezvousing with a former smokejumper who was employed as a fire guard at the nearby campground. As the team approached the fire to begin fighting it, unexpected high winds caused the fire to suddenly expand, cutting off the men's route and forcing them to flee uphill. During the next few minutes, a "blow-up" of the fire covered 3,000 acres (1,200 ha) in ten minutes, claiming the lives of 13 firefighters, including 12 of the smokejumpers. Only three of the smokejumpers survived. The fire would continue for five more days before being controlled.
Wildfire suppression is a range of firefighting tactics used to suppress wildfires. Firefighting efforts depend on many factors such as the available fuel, the local atmospheric conditions, the features of the terrain, and the size of the wildfire. Because of this wildfire suppression in wild land areas usually requires different techniques, equipment, and training from the more familiar structure fire fighting found in populated areas. Working in conjunction with specially designed aerial firefighting aircraft, fire engines, tools, firefighting foams, fire retardants, and using various firefighting techniques, wildfire-trained crews work to suppress flames, construct fire lines, and extinguish flames and areas of heat in order to protect resources and natural wilderness. Wildfire suppression also addresses the issues of the wildland–urban interface, where populated areas border with wild land areas.
Young Men and Fire is a 1992 non-fiction book written by Norman Maclean. It is Maclean's story of his quest to understand the Mann Gulch fire of 1949 and how it led to the deaths of 13 wildland firefighters, 12 of them members of the USFS Smokejumpers. The fire occurred in Mann Gulch in Montana's Gates of the Mountains Wilderness on August 5. The book was a national bestseller and won the 1992 National Book Critics Circle Award for general non-fiction.
The Esperanza Fire was a large, wind-driven, arson-caused wildfire that started on October 26, 2006, in a river wash near Cabazon, California, west of Palm Springs, California. By October 29, 2006, it had burned over 41,173 acres (166.62 km2) and was 85% contained. On October 30, 2006, the fire was fully contained.
The Rattlesnake Fire was a wildfire started by an arsonist on July 9, 1953, in Powder House Canyon on the Mendocino National Forest in northern California. The wildfire killed one Forest Service employee and 14 volunteer firefighters from the New Tribes Mission, and burned over 1,300 acres (530 ha) before it was controlled on July 11, 1953. It became and remains to this day a well-known firefighting textbook case on fatal wildland fires.
The Zaca Fire was a wildfire that began burning in the San Rafael Mountains, northeast of the Santa Ynez Valley in Santa Barbara County, California. It was also the single largest wildfire of the 2007 California wildfire season. The fire started on July 4, 2007, and by August 31, it had burned over 240,207 acres (972.083 km2), making it California's second largest fire in recorded history at that time after the Cedar Fire of 2003. As of 2023, it is California's 12th-largest recorded fire in modern history. The fire was contained on September 4, 2007, with the fire being brought under control on October 29, 2007.
The 2007 California wildfire season saw at least 9,093 separate wildfires that charred 1,520,362 acres (6,152.69 km2) of land. Thirty of those wildfires were part of the Fall 2007 California firestorm, which burned approximately 972,147 acres of land from Santa Barbara County to the U.S.–Mexico border. At the peak of the wildfire activity in October 2007, the raging wildfires were visible from space.
The 2008 California wildfire season was one of the most devastating in the state of the 21st century. While 6,255 fires occurred, about two-thirds as many as in 2007, the total area burned— 1,593,690 acres —far exceeded that of previous years.
The Thirtymile Fire was first reported on July 9, 2001 in the Okanogan National Forest, approximately 30 miles (48 km) north of Winthrop, Washington, United States. The wildfire had been caused by an unattended campfire that spread rapidly in the hot and dry weather in the Pacific Northwest. Four firefighters were killed when the fire cut off their only escape route out of the narrow canyon.
On August 18, 1937, a lightning strike started the Blackwater Fire in Shoshone National Forest, approximately 35 miles (56 km) west of Cody, Wyoming, United States. Fifteen firefighters were killed by the forest fire when a dry weather front caused the winds to suddenly increase and change direction. The fire quickly spread into dense forest, creating spot fires that trapped some of the firefighters in a firestorm. Nine firefighters died during the fire and six more died shortly thereafter from severe burns and respiratory complications. Another 38 firefighters were injured. The fire killed more professional wildland firefighters in the U.S. than any other in the 103 years between the Great Fire of 1910 and the Yarnell Hill Fire in 2013.
The Yarnell Hill Fire was a wildfire near Yarnell, Arizona, ignited by dry lightning on June 28, 2013. On June 30, it overran and killed 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots. Just one of the hotshots on the crew survived—he was posted as a lookout on the fire and was not with the others when the fire overtook them. The Yarnell Hill Fire was one of the deadliest U.S. wildfires since the 1991 Oakland Hills fire, which killed 25 people, and the deadliest wildland fire for U.S. firefighters since the 1933 Griffith Park fire, which killed 29 "impromptu" civilian firefighters drafted on short notice to help battle that Los Angeles area fire.
The 2005 California wildfires were a series of wildfires that were active in the state of California during the year 2005. In total, 7,162 fires burned 222,538 acres (900.58 km2) of land.
The 2018 wildfire season was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire season in California history. It was also the largest on record at the time, now third after the 2020 and 2021 California wildfire seasons. In 2018, there were a total of 103 confirmed fatalities, 24,226 structures damaged or destroyed, and 8,527 fires burning 1,975,086 acres (799,289 ha), about 2% of the state's 100 million acres of land. Through the end of August 2018, Cal Fire alone spent $432 million on operations. The catastrophic Camp Fire alone killed at least 85 people, destroyed 18,804 buildings and caused $16.5 billion in property damage, while overall the fires resulted in at least $26.347 billion in property damage and firefighting costs, including $25.4 billion in property damage and $947 million in fire suppression costs.
The 2020 Maricopa County wildfires were a series of major and non-major wildfires that took place in Maricopa County, Arizona, from the month of May to the month of October. In the year 2020, Arizona saw one of its worst fire seasons in the states history. Due to the lack of precipitation needed in Arizona, the state fell into an ongoing drought from late 2020 and 2021. High winds were also present during the summer when fire season is mostly active in the state. These factors led to the wildfires in Maricopa County to be destructive and costly.
Rev. John Norman Maclean (1862–1941) was a Scottish-Canadian Presbyterian minister who emigrated to the United States and served in congregations in California, Iowa, and Montana.
The 2022 California wildfire season was a series of wildfires burning throughout the U.S. state of California. By the end of the year, a total of 7,667 fires had been recorded, totaling approximately 363,939 acres across the state. Wildfires killed nine people in California in 2022, destroyed 772 structures, and damaged another 104. The 2022 season followed the 2020 and 2021 California wildfire seasons, which had the highest and second-highest (respectively) numbers of acres burned in the historical record, with a sharp drop in acreage burned.
The 49er Fire was a destructive wildfire in September 1988 in California's Nevada County and Yuba County. The fire was ignited on the morning of September 11, when a homeless schizophrenic man accidentally set brush on fire by burning toilet paper. Driven by severe drought conditions and strong, dry winds, firefighting crews were hard-pressed to stop the fire's advance until winds calmed and humidity levels recovered. It burned 33,700 acres throughout the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, impinging on the communities of Lake Wildwood, Rough and Ready, and Smartsville before officials declared it fully contained on September 16.
