Smokejumper : a memoir by one of America's most select airborne firefighters
(Book)

Includes bibliographical references.

Enter a world of breathtaking dangers and beauty: In this remarkable memoir, veteran smoke jumper Jason Ramos offers a rare inside look at the lives of airborne firefighters, the select few who parachute into the most rugged and remote wild areas to battle nature's blazes. - Forest and wild land fires are growing larger, more numerous, and deadlier every year as 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. One small group of men and woman are American's front line defense:Smoke jumpers. - Founded in 1939 and populated in its early days by former World War 2 paratroopers, today's smoke jumper program operates through both the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. Though jumpers are tremendously skilled and only highly experienced and able wild land firefighters are accepted into the training program, smoke jumping is 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 liquid. - Featuring a forward by author John Maclean (Young Men and Fire), Ramos's unforgettable firsthand account takes readers into his exhilarating and daring world, explores smoke jumping's remarkable history, and explains why the services of these brave men and woman are more essential than ever before.