A Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Bestseller In a firestorm, nothing is safe: sand turns to glass, metal runs like water, wood and human beings vanish into ash. Enter a world of breathtaking danger and beauty: In this remarkable memoir, veteran smokejumper 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. Featuring a foreword by author John Maclean (Fire on the Mountain), Ramos's unforgettable firsthand account takes readers into his exhilarating and daring world.

Author Biography

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 for Crossing the Heart of Africa and has written for Outside, Smithsonian, Wired, Men's Journal, National Geographic Traveler, Discover, and the Washington Post.