The Esperanza Fire

March 15, 2013

Should some readers harbor a fleeting desire to live in the woods, isolated from people and civic infrastructure, this book may cure them of that leave-it-all-behind fantasy. Maclean (Fire on the Mountain: The True Story of the South Canyon Fire) details a 2006 fire that killed five firefighters and led to the first murder conviction for a wildfire arsonist. Though the writing is clunky in places, the story of the fire is compelling and sad. The chapters detailing the landmark trial of the arsonist provide a glimpse into the jury's agonizing deliberations. The subsequent emotional upheaval for the surviving engine crews is reflected in the bureaucratic flood of conflicting reports, logs, and accounts of the fire. Maclean humanizes the firefighters and their families while providing technical information about both fires and fire departments. VERDICT For readers interested in firefighting and wildfires, this book will fascinate. Others may be left obsessively checking their smoke-alarm batteries.--Kate Sheehan, Middlebury, CT

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2013
Maclean (The Thirtymile Fire, 2007) returns to a setting he knows all too well: wildfires and those who fight and investigate them. In clear and precise prose, he lays out the facts about the 2006 Esperanza Fire in Southern California that killed five U.S. Forest Service firefighters. There are a lot of voices to consider here, from those physically near the doomed men in their final moments to those up the chain of command and the investigators who tracked the arsonist. Esperanza is notable for both its loss of life and because it led to the first successful prosecution of an arsonist for a wildfire. Maclean thus treats his subject as a serious police procedural, giving readers the lay of the land, documenting communication as the fire was fought, and following up with everyone involved. It is a truly exhaustive analysis from the fire through the conviction. This is as thorough and gripping an account as could be hoped for, but it's also a very human one. For CSI-, Bones-, and NCIS-loving readers, it is an engrossing read.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)