bjackrian's review
5.0
I read this book on the 15th anniversary of the South Canyon Fire, better known as Storm King Mountain. The book tells the story of the intense fire blow up that caused the death of fifteen smokejumpers, hot shots, and helitack crews in one of the worst firefighting disasters in modern history. Maclean uses his investigative journalism skills (he was a reporter and editor for the Chicago Tribune) to go behind the scenes and dig into the root causes of the events. By doing so, he is able to find mistakes made by nearly everyone involved from the leaders in the regional and national land management offices to the firefighting crews on the ground. It was only through the summation of all of these circumstances that the disaster could take place. The book serves as an important, if grim, reminder of how easy it is to become complacent even while performing extraordinarily dangerous work. I recommend the book as an engaging read with excellent writing and a strong lesson to be learned.
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