When a bolt of lightning ignited a hilltop in the sleepy town of Yarnell, Arizona, in June 2013, setting off a blaze that would grow into one of the deadliest fires in American history, the twenty men who made up the Granite Mountain Hotshots sprang into action. An elite crew trained to combat the most challenging wildfires, the Granite Mountain Hotshots were a ragtag family, crisscrossing the American West and wherever else the fires took them. The...

"Brendan McDonough was on the verge of becoming a hopeless, inveterate heroin addict when he, for the sake of his young daughter, decided to turn his life around. He enlisted in the Granite Mountain Hotshots, a team of elite firefighters based in Prescott, Arizona. Their leader, Eric Marsh, was in a desperate crunch after four hotshots left the unit, and perhaps seeing a glimmer of promise in the skinny would-be recruit, he took a chance on the unlikely...

Fire on the Wind is a first-hand account of ... the 2013 Yarnell Hill Fire in Arizona. The Helm property, Not Muchuva Ranch, became involved with the Yarnell Hill Fire because of its close proximity (1/3 of a mile) to the fatality site. The Hotshots were headed for the ranch to their designated safety zone. With no other way to get across the valley to the site on the side of the mountain to retrieve the firefighters, officials began using the ranch...

A journalist and forest-fire expert shares his experiences in some of the world's most dangerous and remote regions to explore the rising phenomenon of large-scale fires, the damage they cause, and how they are being battled by elite firefighters.