Hank Winton: Smokechaser Review

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(More customer reviews)My mom had an old copy of this hanging around the house when I was a kid, from when she was a kid. It tells the story of a young man who wants to be a forest ranger, specifically what is called a smokechaser, who watches for and puts out forest fires. The book is very well-written; dramatic, detailed, and develops the characters and their relationships well. This book always makes me want to get out of the house and off the computer and out into a park or forest, which is a plus.

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Smokejumpers, '49: Brothers in the Sky Review

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(More customer reviews)Starr Jenkins does a comprehensive job of integrating the early history, glory and tragedies of the Forest Service's Missoula, Montana Smokejumpers with photographs and good writing. This is a collectors book as well as good reading for anyone interested in Forest Service history and conservation.

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Trimotor and Trail: Pioneer Smokejumpers Review

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(More customer reviews)While the Mann Gulch fire is only one chapter of this book, it was my main interest. Having read other accounts, it was nice to hear the voice of someone actually involved. Cooley writes well and in an enjoyable, straight-forward manner. I've enjoyed other books on this incident but this added something extra that I'm finding hard to describe. Other accounts of this incident include Noman MacLean's "Young Men and Fire" and "A Great Day to Fight Fire: Mann Gulch, 1949" by Mark Matthews.
Other chapters provide an enjoyable read as well for anyone interested in wildfire fighting and forest rangering in the mid-twentieth century.

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A Great Day to Fight Fire: Mann Gulch, 1949 Review

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(More customer reviews)Mark Matthews has written about the Mann Gulch fire before, and avid readers of firefighting literature may readily recognize both his style and the events. But what makes A GREAT DAY TO FIGHT FIRE memorable is its different focus on the people who fought the fire, rather than just strategies and events. Chapters in A GREAT DAY TO FIGHT FIRE focuses on the victim's families and the personal impact of the fire upon firefighters, family members, survivors, and community members: as such it's an essential piece of information key to any collection strong in firefighting literature - and any general-interest library interested in true-life heroism.

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Smokejumpers Review

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(More customer reviews)Smokejumpers is an excellent book to have available at Smokejumper bases and Forest Service Headquarters as a handout to kids under 14 years of age.

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On The Job: Twenty Years On The New York Fire Department 1963 through 1983 Review

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(More customer reviews)Very poorly written. So bad that I quit after a few chapters. It's too bad the author didn't have the services of a good editor to assist in making the story of an interesting career into an interesting read.

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Relive the experiences of a New York City Fireman during the busiest two decades in the history of the New York Fire Department. Experience the search in smoke filled apartments where visibility is down to about one foot. Feel the excitement and danger of fighting both small and large fires and the dangers encountered on an every day basis. Read about being almost caught in an ambush and being bombarded and attacked during a riot. Know the feeling of satisfaction of rescuing someone from a fire. Feel the pleasure of rendering first aid or Cardio-pulmonary Resuscitation and possibly saving someone's life. Be a part of firehouse life, its comradery and closeness. Laugh at the different type of humor experienced in a firehouse. Read about the after work activities and the feeling of large family gatherings. Understand how life long friendships could be formed.

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Fire Fighters: Stories of Survival from the Front Lines of Firefighting (Adrenaline) Review

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(More customer reviews)I was disappointed in this book. I found the majority of material to be related to 9/11 or to wildland firefighting while the cover implies it covers all ranges of firefighting. The material included is good...it just spends very little time on structural firefighting and the men who do that job. What time it does dedicate to it is mostly in the form of re-hash of previous material; Report from Engine Co 82, Working etc. There are better books out there, unless you are interested in wildland firefighting. If you are, then this is one of the better books on the subject.

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Firefighters have long been among the most admired men and women in our culture, and recent events have shown how well-placed that admiration is-adding fuel to our innate fascination with stories about fire and the people who risk their lives to fight it. Some of our best writers are drawn to the subject of firefighting, and over the years they have created a rich body of literature. Fire Fighters offers the most exciting and compelling stories from that body of work, including accounts of devastating fires from New York to Yellowstone, as well as smaller blazes that have turned particularly ugly or dangerous. Selections include Jimmy Breslin's eulogy for the men who died in the famous Chelsea fire, Norman McLean on the Great Gulch forest fire that killed nine young smokejumpers, John McPhee on fires in the Pine Barrens, Studs Terkel's interview with a fire fighter, and riveting accounts of the FDNY's role in the September 11 tragedy and its aftermath. 16 black-and-white photos are also featured.

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Walking Through The Ashes: A volunteer firefighter's perspective on the Rodeo- Chediski Fire Review

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(More customer reviews)I found this book to be very moving.It makes you feel as though you are right there with Gary and his fellow firefighters as they try to save their neighborhoods.I found the book to be very hard to put down and found myself thinking about the book during the day.At times, I was brought to tears as I read about the homes that were destroyed and the pets that were displaced by this awful fire. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys real life adventures.

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Young Men and Fire Review

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(More customer reviews)I picked up this book by chance, captivated by the title and by the jacket. Since I first read it seven years or so ago, I have returned to it time and time and time again. (Indeed, I am using sections of it in a course I will be teaching soon on men and masculinity).
The publishing world has seen a plethora of non-fiction books on tragedies and natural disasters in recent years, with "The Perfect Storm" and "Into Thin Air" perhaps the most successful. But those two bestsellers pale in comparison with the subtlety, the grace, and the sheer power of Maclean's story of discovering what happened to a dozen young firejumpers on a steep Montana hillside many years ago. In the final fifty pages, as remembrances of survivors mix with a technical discussion of wind and flames, Maclean's prose is so vivid, so pure, so unadornedly beautiful that I had to put the book down three or four times because my eyes were filling with tears. 'Tis a rare work of non-fiction that can do that!
I am a deeply urban person. I know nothing of forestry or firefighting. I have never been to Montana. And I was gripped by this book from start to finish, even as Maclean skilfully avoids even the slightest shred of bathos or melodrama. It is a marvelous meditation on heroism and death, and on masculinity itself, and well, well worth the read.

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Ladder Company Fireground Operations, 3rd Edition Review

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(More customer reviews)The 3rd Edition has some updating from the venerable 2nd Edition. The logical and easy-to-read format is refreshing. I feel, however, that the update should have included photographs...the 3rd Edition still uses drawings. Modern fire service professionals are looking for something more than this. In all, it is a good resource from which to base Truck Company SOP's, but falls short in polish and content related to modern ventilation principles and forcible entry techniques. Perhaps a companion video would have helped.

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Fire department ladder companies face many challenges. Ladder company personnel are an integral part of fire fighting operations at the fireground, and this book emphasizes the point that fire fighters performing ladder company tasks must be properly trained, possess the proper equipment, and be adequately staffed.Ladder Company Fireground Operations, Third Edition covers the basic objectives of ladder company work including the assignments of conducting a primary search, rescuing victims, forcing entry, and conducting proper ventilation techniques. This book also emphasizes other areas of importance including pre-incident planning, using standard operating guidelines (SOPs), and working within an Incident Management System (IMS).

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Responding to Routine Emergencies Workbook Review

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(More customer reviews)A good book that touches on the everyday calls. A lot of books explain the extreme incidents and tactics. This one helps with what to look for and be aware of with the mundane calls. Keeping in mind that the mundane can become the extreme. I would give a great recommendation and it is an easy read.

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This workbook is the companion to best selling text Responding to Â"RoutineÂ" Emergencies. The author has developed study materials in the form of questions and scenarios that will challenge the reader to look deeper into the routine calls that all firefighters respond to so they come away with a better grasp of proper actions to take.

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Fire Department Incident Safety Officer Review

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(More customer reviews)I found this book very informative, ignore Safety-Command's review. I attended David Dodson's 16 hour class during the FDIC conference in Indianapolis in 2005. The class was an overview of the book and the more important skill of learning to read smoke. Mr. Dodson also taught an Art of Reading Smoke class that was attended by over 1,000 people. This book is the basis for the FDSOA certification test. It is a must read for any Department who has not established procedures for implementing a scene safety officer. Read and learn. The book is simplified to better understand and function in the role of a Safety Officer.

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To Sleep with the Angels: The Story of a Fire Review

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(More customer reviews)Many books have been written about real-life tragedies, and in this sense, Cowan and Kuenster's book is no different. However, there is a thin line in these type of books between boring the reader by burying the human aspect of the story with an overload of factual material and becoming nothing more than a non-fiction hankie weeper. Quite a few books have disappointed me in the past by straying to either one side or the other. Not so with this one. It is a solid piece of reporting that does not lose the human dimension of the tragedy. Nor does it obscure the investigation and the facts with too much emphasis on the human dimension.
The fire at Our Lady of the Angels was one of the worst tragedies to strike America, made even more so in that the vast majority of its victims were innocent children. The authors follow the story from the day it occured to the fire itself and the heroic efforts of the fire department to the later delegation of blame and recriminations from what was seen as a bureaucratic conspiracy. In doing so they manage to bring the reader into the story not merely as a spectator but almost as a fellow reporter, sharing not only facts, but also conjectures and whispers plus personal items about the victims, always careful always to straddle the line between objectivity and thje trap of a "crusading" journalism. By letting the story speak for itself, they bring it home all the more forcefully, to where no one who reads it will remain unaffected.
This book should also serve as a warning against the false sense of security that this sort of thing cannot happen again. There are still many schools, public and private, at risk, and this is a book that should be read by every parent with children still in school, and not only during Fire Prevention Week.

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Exam Preparation for Fire Officer I & II Review

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(More customer reviews)This is another fantastic resource for the firefighters to study. I highly recomend this book to all firefighters and fire officers. This is a fantastic study guide, full of information.

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Intended for firefighters and officers seeking promotion, Exam Preparation for Fire Officer I & II provides the necessary review of the 2003 Edition NFPA Standard 1021 requirements. Based on Bloom's Taxonomy, and a complimentary companion to the Company Officer, 2nd Edition text, the book guides the learner through various phases of testing, beginning with comprehension questions, application and analysis, and then following up with evaluation questions.Each phase includes three, 100 question exams to allow learners to practice answering questions at each level, as well as target areas needed for further study. The answers are provided following each exam, and each question is accompanied by references to the Company Officer, 2nd Edition, the NFPA Standard 1021, 2003 Edition, as well as insightful rationale that encourages self-study.A final exam consisting of 200 questions of the various types is also included at the end of the book, once learners have mastered the previous levels.

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Collapse of Burning Buildings: A Guide to Fireground Safety Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is very well written, providing the reader a clear overview of the collapse hazards presented by a burning building. The organization of the chapters makes the book a valuable resource for a fire service instructor - complete with a "lessons learned" section at the end of the chapters.
The only downside to the book is that it is written primarily from the urban perspective - but then, that's where Vincent Dunn got his experience.
I'm hoping for a new edition; one that focuses more attention on the dangers of lightweight wood construction, and considers the challenges of the rural fire service.
In the meantime, though, the current edition provides a thorough foundation in building collapse (based on building construction) for a fire fighter or fire officer.

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Chief Vincent Dunn, a 42-year fire service veteran, has updated his best-selling book which examines the dangers of structural failure caused by fire. This is the second edition of the first textbook written to warn firefighters, company officers, and fire chiefs about exactly how structures collapse when destroyed by fire--and examines the subject of burning building collapse in great detail. More importantly, this book, unlike any other publication, instructs firefighters and fire officers in how to survive burning building collapse.

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Truck Company Operations, 2nd Edition Review

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(More customer reviews)one of the first books to give the truckies the respect they deserve and show how different their work is from the nob holders. Learned many tips from this book.
From a truckie

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Author John Mittendorf has completely rewritten his best-selling book, Truck Company Operations, a must-have for all firefighters who are assigned to the truck and who have responsibilities for the truck on the fireground.The new second edition covers the many aspects, tasks, and functions of a truck company, and contains new and expanded information related to search, reading a building, reading smoke, the Ten Commandments of truck company operations, operating truck apparatus, and more--all from a truck company perspective.

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Smoke Eaters: A Thriller Review

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(More customer reviews)The Justice Peak, Montana fire is raging out of control. In charge of putting out the conflagration out is Mattie McCullogh, the first female firefighter commanding a Forest service team. Already struggling with her male peers who demand the brass fire her and a hostile media expecting impossible miracles to occur, Mattie also worries about her son being in the front lines in the war with the inferno.

When her son's team dies in what is obviously arson, her superiors sacrifice Mattie to the public howling and fire her. To her surprise, her son's body is not recovered. Unable to sit back and accept being a scapegoat, Mattie begins her own inquires into finding a serial arsonist. She also plans to find out exactly what has happened to her son. Along the way she finds some help, but is unaware that her foe is watching and waiting.

SMOKE EATERS is a non-stop action filled plot that takes the readers on a wild ride from page one to the climax. The characters are fully developed and their reaction to the environment feels genuine to the point that the audience will swear they can smell, see, and hear the inferno. The taut story line will receive much acclaim from critics and fans as Christine Andreae has written one of the years top thrillers.

Harriet Klausner

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