Smokejumper Lib/E: A Memoir by One of America's Most Select Airborne Firefighters

A PACIFIC NORTHWEST BOOKSELLERS ASSOCIATION BESTSELLER "A fascinating look" (Esquire) at the thrilling world of smokejumpers, the airborne firefighters who parachute into the most remote and rugged areas of the United States, confronting the growing threat of nature's blazes. Forest and wildland fires are growing larger, more numerous, and deadlier every year -- 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 every year. One select group of men and women are part of America's front-line defense: smokejumpers. The smokejumper program operates through both the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. Though they are tremendously skilled and only highly experienced and able wildland firefighters are accepted into the training program, being a smokejumper remains 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 a liquid. In this extraordinarily rare memoir by an active-duty jumper, Jason Ramos takes readers into his exhilarating and dangerous world, explores smokejumping's remarkable history, and explains why their services are more essential than ever before.

About the Author :
Jason A. Ramos has devoted twenty-six years of his life to the fire service. His career began at the age of 17 as a volunteer with the Riverside County Fire Department, then progressed to wildland firefighting in Southern California. Now a smokejumper in his sixteenth season, he is based in Winthrop, WA, at the North Cascades Smokejumper Base, the "birthplace of smokejumping." JULIAN SMITH received a Banff Mountain Book Award and a Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award for Crossing the Heart of Africa: An Odyssey of Love and Adventure. The coauthor of Smokejumper: A Memoir by One of America's Most Select Airborne Firefighters, he has written for Smithsonian, National Geographic Traveler, Wired, Outside, and the Washington Post, among other publications. Julian lives in Portland, Oregon. John Maclean is a motivational speaker and personal development coach. Hit from behind by a truck while riding his bike at the age of 22, he woke from a coma as a paraplegic destined for life in a wheelchair. But this may have been the making of John, as he went on to become the first wheelchair athlete to complete the Hawaii Ironman World Championship triathlon, swim the English Channel, and represent his country at Olympic and Paralympic games. John has competed in over 20 of the world's most challenging sporting events in his 25 years as a wheelchair athlete, then, in an extraordinary turn of events, John took his first steps towards achieving his dream to walk again in 2013. John's life story is one of constant change, and while he shares his challenges and how he overcame them with audiences and individuals around the world, he continues to set new personal goals and further improve his mobility. John is the founder of The John Maclean Foundation, which assists children in wheelchairs and their families, and lives in Sydney, with his wife Amanda, and son Jack. Connect with John via his website www.johnmaclean.com.au or on Twitter @johnmaclean27.

Review :
"[A] touching and fast-paced memoir...written with precision and perspective, sometimes with a touch of poetry...A fun and valuable read." -- "Washington Post" "A fascinating look at the men and women who devote their lives to this service." -- "Esquire" "Compelling...A fast-paced, eye-opening read." -- "Minneapolis Star Tribune" "Fast paced...Ramos is an expert guide through a fearful world...His passion is unmistakable." -- "USA Today" "Interwoven with his exciting adventures on fires throughout the west, Jason educates the reader about the art of firefighting, the smokejumper culture, and the human tragedies associated with his twenty-six-year firefighting career." -- "Bill Moody, NCSB jumper and base manager (retired) 1957-1989" "Jason Ramos tells of nature at its most savage, of two-thousand-degree heat and hurricane-force drafts, of heroic, sometimes lethal efforts to save the lives of people less prepared. Here you'll meet the people who fly between Heaven and Hell. And jump." -- "Wayne van Zwoll, PhD, former special projects editor, Intermedia Outdoors" "Jason Ramos' Smokejumper is a rousing personal adventure story, a nutshell history of the great wildland fires, and insider's brief for making smokejumpers more relevant on today's fire line." -- "John N. Maclean, author of Fire on the Mountain" "Ned Vaughn credibly narrates Ramos' first-person account... Vaughn's matter-of-fact tone maintains listener interest while allowing for the solemnity of death and injury to hit home. A passage in which Ramos ponders the feelings that a group of firefighters must have had before their deaths is especially moving. Listeners who know someone in a line of dangerous work may particularly appreciate hearing Ramos' take on his job." -- "AudioFile" "Nothing can ever measure up to the sound of engines roaring as you step out into the cold air, into harm's way--to the smell of smoke and the endless beauty of the western mountains of America. Jason Ramos brings all that alive in this book." -- "Bill Furman, CEO, Greenbrier Companies, Inc., Smokejumper NCSB 1962-1967" "You think your job's hard? Jason Ramos and his colleagues parachute into the wilderness in order to save nature from going up in flames. He takes readers into the world of smokejumping, which has become more important as drought in America becomes more widespread." -- "Men's Journal (a 7 Best Books of the Month selection)"