Fire on the Mountain (1999 book)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fire on the Mountain is a 1999 non-fiction book by John Norman Maclean that describes the most famous wildland fire of the late 20th century. The book describes the events and aftermath of the South Canyon Fire on Storm King Mountain on July 6, 1994 in Colorado, which took the lives of 14 firefighters. The fire has become an icon of firefighting, a caution about the dangers of taking high risks for low-value wildlands. Those who died included nine members of the Prineville (Oregon) Hotshot crew, three smokejumpers, and two members of a helicopter fire crew. Fire on the Mountain, a national bestseller, won the Mountain and Plains Booksellers award as the best non-fiction of 1999. It was made into an eponymous two-hour documentary by the History Channel that was a finalist for an Emmy award and won the Cine Master's Award as the best documentary of 1999. National Geographic Films is currently developing the book as a full-length feature movie. The book is written to a general audience, but has also become a staple of wildland firefighter training courses, from entry level to the top level.