Fire on the Rim: A Firefighter's Season at the Grand Canyon

by Stephen J. Pyne

Overview

In this lively account of one [fire] season, Pyne introduces us to the tightly knit world of a fire crew, to the complex geography of the North Rim, to the technique and changing philosophy of fire management.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780295805221
Publisher:	University of Washington Press
Publication date:	05/01/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
File size:	18 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	18 Years

Editorial Reviews

Pyne ( The Ice ) spent 15 seasons as a firefighter on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. In this lively account of one season, he introduces us to the tightly knit world of a fire crew, to the complex geography of the North Rim, to the technique and changing philosophy of fire management. Firefighters, the migrant workers of the National Park Service, look askance at its career employees, we're told: Park Naturalists are ``fern feelers'' and Rangers are simply police officers. Pyne makes trenchant comments about the Park Service and its emphasis on people rather than resource management; as more visitors come into an area, Rangers replace fire crews. A firefighter needs resourcefulness and stamina, writes Pyne, and these qualities are amply represented in his tales of men in the field, forest and on the Rim. The book will appeal to readers who enjoy action; it will also appeal to those interested in the human-wildfire-nature relationship. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Reprint (of 1989 ed.) with a new preface. Pyne (American Studies, Arizona State U., MacArthur awardee) recounts his 15 years as an active firefighter on the North Rim. A lyric, articulate, swift book. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

Stephen J. Pyne is to fire what Theodore White was to American politics, an insider who can explain how his subject works and affects our lives. . . . In Fire on the Rim Pyne has compressed accounts of the 15 summers he spent as an eager firefighter [on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon]. He begins as a single man, enjoying the heady freedom of his summertime release from college, and ends when he is married and a father, a veteran fighting his last gritty battle against the flames before regretfully packing up like a successful professional athlete who has stayed two or three seasons too long. . . . This book, full of human detail, brings us to the front lines, and we learn what fires mean to the fire—crew foreman (an empire to rule over, if only for a summer) and to the individual firefighter (not the least is plenty of overtime if the struggle against a minor blaze can be stretched out). . . . The author reminds us of the natural rhythms of these vast wild preserves that thwart any of man’s efforts to shape them.

New York Times Book Review