Jason Ramos Book Signing
Meet the people who fly between Heaven and Hell...and jump.
Enter a world of breathtaking danger and beauty. Winthrop resident and veteran smokejumper Jason Ramos' Smokejumper offers a rare inside look at the lives of airborne firefighters, the select few who parachute into the most rugged and remote wild areas to battle nature's blazes.
Founded in our backyards in 1939, in what was then called the Chelan National Forest, smokejumping was populated in its early days by former World War II paratroopers. Though jumpers are tremendously skilled and only highly experienced and able wildland firefighters are accepted into the training program, smokejumping is an art that can only be learned on the job. Forest fires often behave in unpredictable ways: spreading almost instantaneously, shooting downhill behind a stiff tailwind, or even flowing like liquid.
Featuring a foreword by author John Maclean (Fire on the Mountain), Ramos's unforgettable firsthand account takes readers into his exhilarating and daring world, explores smokejumping's remarkable history, and explains why the services of these brave men and women are more essential than ever before.
"fast-paced... written with precision and perspective...[and] a touch of poetry.” — Washington Post
Jason A. Ramos has devoted twenty-six years of his life to the fire service. His career began at the age of 17 as a volunteer with the Riverside County Fire Department. Now a smokejumper in his sixteenth season, he is based in Winthrop, WA, at the North Cascades Smokejumper Base, the "birthplace of smokejumping."
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