For most of us, a quick glimpse of a plane as it
drones overhead on its way to a wildfire is all we’ll ever see of
smokejumpers or the work they do, but Murry A. Taylor’s Jumping
Fire: A Smokejumper’s Memoir of Fighting Wildfire in the West,
offers insight into their hectic lives. Taylor, who has been in the
smokejumping business for 27 years, tells us that for smokejumpers,
fire is usually the least of all hazards. They face bear attacks,
1,500-foot plunges to the ground, broken arms, legs, wrists, jaws,
ankles and backs, and exhaustion that is kept at bay by instant
coffee and Ibuprofen. Taylor shows how this high-adrenaline job
takes over jumpers’ lives, edging out a normal life or stable
relationship.
Stressing the macho and gonzo,
Jumping Fire also does nothing to alter any perception that these
firefighters are irreverent, vulgar, uncouth and crass. They get
airsick and toss their barf bags out the door in mid-flight. They
are the men who show up to save your cabin in the forest and just
might run off with your daughter before it’s
over.
If you know nothing about smokejumping – or
if you think it’s done by wholesome, Smokey Bear types who live to
teach kids about fire safety – Jumping Fire, full of technical
details that don’t leave the reader in the dust, will be an
eye-opening introduction. If you do know something about
smokejumping, you’ll be reminded how fortunate society is that
those who smokejump are employed by the U.S. government and not up
to worse mischief.
Jumping Fire: A
Smokejumper’s Memoir of Fighting Wildfire in the West, by
Murry A. Taylor, harcourt, Brace & Co., 2000. Hardcover: $26.
400 pages.
Matt Jenkins writes from
Three Rivers, Calif., where he will spend the summer fighting fires
for the U.S. Park Service.
Copyright © 2000 HCN and Matt
Jenkins
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Vulgar yet valiant.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
