Fire on the Mountain: The True Story of the South Canyon Fire

Great book. Good for training firefighters

Our two sons have worked as wildland firefighters, and our daughter once lived in the Glenwood Springs area. So this book spoke to us in several respects. Very engaging and exciting account of how the fire spread and was fought. And a very good explanation of how wildfires "work."

This is such a remarkable book. It satisfies on several fronts, creating a visual world that stays with the reader long after the last sentence is finished.Maclean's research was complete and meticulous. He compiles his work into an astounding, captivating narrative that draws the reader along as the tragic events unfold on Storm King.I felt as if I were there on the west flank line with the Prineville hotshots and the smoke jumpers. As I read this compelling book, I felt as if I'd known each of the victims for many, many years. I could actually feel the superheated air and smell the toxic gases coming off the blowup.Along with a gripping narrative, Maclean incorporates analysis of events and decisions made prior to, during, and after the tragedy. This, again, is based on hours of interviews and meticulous research.His reconstruction of the final moments of each of the victims was very benifical as well.I've never been to Storm King Mountain, but after reading this truly exceptional book, I plan to go. I didn't know any of the victims or people involved either, but after reading John Maclean's exceptional book I feel as if I were there.Buy this book, read it, cherish it, be moved by it.It is a lasting memorial to those who died on the mountain.

In a long ago period of my life I spent time on the fireline and was a trained fire monitor. And for the laymen the two books I would recommend as must-reads when it comes to wildland fires and the men and women who fight them are by the father/son duo - Noman Maclean's "Young Men and Fire" and this book by John Maclean. The author covers a lot of material from a lot of different perspectives - you, and correctly I believe, get the sense that this book is culled from thousands and thousands of pages of research, testimony, and reports, and hundreds of hours of interviews. The book could have been much longer, but it captures the narrative of what happened in those first few days of July 1994 and in just a few hours on the afternoon of July 6. There were several facts that made me shake my head. There was one moment when I audibly gasped - and people around my pool looked at me funny. And Chapter 18 is heartbreaking. Mistakes were made at all levels throughout the course of the fire, even post-blowup. But true heroes emerge from the smoke and flame, even amongst those who didn't make it to the top of Hell's Gate Ridge - Don Mackey rising to the top of that list. Read it. Enjoy it. Shed the tears. And remembers the names and the faces of the people who lost their lives that day.

I bought this book in preparation for a pilgrimage to Storm King. AS a former USFS Firefighter, I had long wanted to go there to pay my respects, as so many before me have. I felt the best way to ensure the best experience possible for myself was to educate myself on this incident by both reading the Official report, and also by utilizing John Maclean's extensive investigative skills in this book. I was not disappointed. After reading this book, and then hiking to the incident scene one week later, all the details and reference points were fresh in my mind, and I could actually recognize and visualize what had happened that day as I was hiking it. I was the only one on that mountain that day, and I must say that it was a very somber, sad, eye opening as well as spiritual experience. It was one of the most rewarding things I have done in a long time, however. I highly recommend this to any firefighter, both active or former, to embark on this journey. I feel like I have had most of my questions answered and the sense of "what the hell happened up there?", that had lingered with me all these years is finally replaced with closure. The void is gone. This book helped tremendously with that, and I wish to thank John Maclean for helping make that possible for me through his hard work putting this book together. When I got home, I also watched the documentary that was based on this book, that was featured on the History Channel. "Fire on the Mountain", which touches on the similarities between the South Canyon fire and the Mann Gulch fire which also claimed the lives of young people back in 1949. I must say that this was also very rewarding after having just been to the site just days before. I couldn't have asked for a better narrative with which to complete my journey to find answers and closure. This book and Documentary were in essence, a gift. A gift of closure. And for that, I am grateful. Thanks John.

Thank you for a timely arrival and a book in great condition, better than described.

The book describes the events and aftermath of the South Canyon Fire on Storm King Mountain on July 6, 1994 in Colorado, which took the lives of 14 firefighters. A very insightful and profound narrative of firefighters, the book gave me a good overview of the most famous wildland fire of the late 20th century; and the great service and sacrifice of the firefighters involved in that incident.The number of people and agencies mentioned in the beginning of the book can prove difficult to keep track of, as well as the jargon and terminology - at least for a Non-U.S person like myself - but then the book suddenly explodes into a riveting, action-packed heartbreaking true adventure story. The reconstruction of the events are both brilliant and horrific; such as when smoke jumper Eric Hipke (one of the fortunate survivors of the Fire) outruns the blowup, while his fellow firefighters get incinerated behind him. Completely being drawn into this heart-wrenching true story, I actually had the feeling that I was on the mountain myself, witnessing this tragic event, although it happened over twenty years ago - the storytelling is that good.Regarding the element of human error of this tragic event, I suppose there are two philosophical ways of looking at it: On the one hand, firefighting is inherently dangerous. Sooner or later, fatal accidents are bound to happen in such a risky profession; so from that point of view John Maclean's excessive criticism - virtually criticizing everybody - may be regarded as somewhat overbearing. On the other hand, the general consensus seems to be that the death of the 14 firefighters could have been avoided if there would have been better inter-agency cooperation and communication. Petty rivalries between overlapping bureaucratic agencies, resources - that exist - but are not made accessible to firefighting personnel who need them badly, whimsical decisions from people in key administrative positions, the BLM's Grand Junction District not following their own policies, a reluctance by management to support aggressive initial attack on fires, red flag warnings and weather forecast never given to firefighters themselves, management failure to take responsibility for the safety of firefighters, management failure to communicate the identity of the incident commander, lack of communication with management during rescue operations etc. Perhaps it's because I come from a German culture, but this sounds all very chaotic to me; clearly a dysfunctional leadership structure unable of making sensible, reasonable and rational decisions, which in public safety management is essential. So from my point of view, management theory in the US bureaucratic system concerning public safety and firefighting during that time was simply not working; probably also due to an excessive culture of assertion and confrontation, everybody wanting to be the boss and nobody willing to yield. But I suppose the US bureaucracy has its own culture, and is quite capable of learning from its mistakes, which I gathered from this book has happened to a certain extent; such as improving public safety policies and firefighting concerning the dangers of taking high risks for low-value wildlands.