This book covers the events surrounding the Yarnell Hill Fire. The fire began on June 28, 2013 when lighting ignited some dry vegetation. The Granite Mountain Hotshots responded to this fire, and were unfortunately overran by it on June 30, 2013. There was an extreme shift in conditions that caused the death of 19 of the Granite Mountain Hotshots. This fire was the deadliest day for firefighters since the September 11, 2001 attacks. There was one survivor, who had been helping out elsewhere as a look out, and was able to escape the fire with them. There was some controversy surrounding the surviving member as to why he was not with the rest, but I believe that boils down to sour feelings and sadness about the loss of life.


I read another book about this topic, that was absolutely heart breaking, and thus had high expectations for this one. I was certainly not disappointed. The other book I read was from the only surviving member, and this one took an outside view of the events. I really enjoyed this perspective, even though it was a tragic, awful story. I have no idea why I read books about fire deaths, because it always hits me in a personal way, having grown up in a fire family.