“Above
that, trees burn. They flare up in groups of two or three, the taller
balsams being the most impressive to watch. Sheets of flame unfurl
from their branches, sending black smoke into the sky to join the
mothership cloud of grey smoke hanging permanently in the air above
us.” — Aaron Williams, Chasing Smoke
Imagine
waking at dawn in a cold tent, bolting down breakfast and jumping
into a mud-splattered truck that carries you to the edge of a raging
fire.
Picture
spending the next 16 hours hauling hoses, spraying water, falling
trees with chainsaws and grubbing out underground embers with hand
tools, choking on bitter smoke. Welcome to the world of B.C.’s
forest firefighters.
If
you have ever wondered what it is like to fight fires on the steeply
pitched mountainsides of the province, Aaron Williams’ new memoir
Chasing Smoke is for you.
Williams,
already an experienced firefighter in 2014 when he was hired to work
the season he records in Chasing Smoke, provides the reader with
vivid, richly observed stories about the hectic, dirty, exhilarating
and exhausting adventures he and his team, the Telkwa Rangers,
experienced during the season.
Every
year, our province hires close to 1,000 workers to fight forest
fires. And the challenge seems to worsen each season. In 2017, for
example, wildfires charred 1,216,197 hectares of B.C., more than a
third of the land burnt out across the country.
Global
warming is making wildfires more extensive, and the incursion of
human habitations into what was formerly untouched bush means that
more fires start and more of them threaten settlements.
Williams
is a born storyteller and his colourful anecdotes capture the
high-energy work under terrible conditions that he and his workmates
endured every year.
He
also provides vivid character sketches of the brave women and men who
share the smoky side hills and cut blocks with him, and chronicles
with admirable honesty the moments of spite and competitiveness that
inevitably occur as stress and exhaustion mount. This is a fast and
entertaining read and important background as we think about the
public policy challenges for a province in flames.
Purchase this book, CLICK HERE:
Original review on: http://www.ottawacitizen.com
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