Fire Season

Smoke and flames make people nervous, writes Philip Connors. For this reason, in part, the U.S. Forest Service deploys a near-mythical professional to deal with the problem: the solitary ranger who lives alone for months in a tiny fire station cabin. Connors, who has been stationed for the last eight fire seasons in the Gila Wilderness (the rest of the time he tends bar in New Mexico), provides four strands to his story: (1) a personal memoir detailing his attraction to the job, (2) the history of forest preservation, (3) sketches of others who have served in the job, and (4) details about the science of finding and fighting forest fires. Narrator Sean Runnette provides a relaxed reading that emphasizes the Zen qualities of the job. The resulting audiobook should appeal to armchair rangers (and closet pyromaniacs). R.W.S. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

January 17, 2011
For almost a decade, former Wall Street Journal reporter Connors has spent half a year keeping vigil over 20,000 square miles of desert, forest, and mountain chains from atop a tower 10,000 feet above sea level. One of a handful of seasoned, seasonal fire-watchers in New Mexico's Gila National Forest, Connors introduces us to his wilderness in this ruminative, lyrical, occasionally suspenseful account that bristles with the narrative energy and descriptive precision of Annie Dillard and dovetails between elegiac introspection and a history of his curious and lonely occupation. Poet Gary Snyder, environmental advocate Edward Abbey, and beat novelist Jack Kerouac once stood watch over the woods, but today, 90% of American lookout towers have been decommissioned, with only a few hundred remaining. The world at large intrudes in Connors's account of contented isolation only in a discussion of evolving forest fire–fighting policies, in which advocates of ruthlessly suppressing fires are pitted against a new generation of Forest Service professionals who choose, when it's safe, to let forest fires burn themselves out.

Starred review from August 1, 2011

Between tales of sweeping out rat droppings from the two-room cabin or flyfishing by moonlight or describing the environmental issues of fire suppression, former Wall Street Journal copy editor Connors deftly weaves his personal story and shares the joys of working solo five months each year as a U.S. Forest Service wilderness lookout, watching over thousands of acres for sources of forest fires--from lightening strikes to poorly extinguished campfires. Narrator Sean Runette brings Connors's writing alive. Fire Season reminds one of Bill Bryson's Walk in the Woods (minus Bryson's zany humor). Highly recommended for adults and older teens. [The Ecco pb will publish in February 2012.--Ed.]--M. Gail Preslar, formerly with Eastman Chemical Co. Business Lib., Kingsport, TN

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