Includes bibliographical references and index.

Part I: Everybody's hometown. Yarnell Hill ; Fuses and bombs ; Prescott -- Part II: Our greatest ally, our fiercest foe. Heartstrong ; Red Buffalo, Black Dragon ; Crazy woman ; the bigger blowup -- Part III: The crowded forest. Mansions in the slums ; The blackline ; Slop-over ; Off to the races ; Red zones -- Part IV: Turning up the heat. Playing with fire ; Nuclear frying pan ; The vanishing forest ; The fire-industrial complex ; High park ; Firebugs ; Forest jihad -- Part V: Extended attack. Mountain shadows ; Firestorm ; Seeing red ; Never winter ; Black forest ; Trickle down -- Part VI: Backfire. Frontier days ; Defusing the time bomb ; The Doce ; Where the desert breeze meets the mountain air ; The perfect firestorm ; Trigger points ; Nineteen ; Blowback.

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.

"A brilliant exploration of the rising phenomenon of megafires--forest fires of alarming scale, intensity, and devastation--that explains the science of what is causing them and captures the danger and heroism of those who fight them. In Megafire, a world-renowned journalist and forest fire expert travels to the most dangerous and remote wildernesses, as well as to the backyards of people faced with these catastrophic conflagrations, to look at the heart of this phenomenon and witness firsthand the heroic efforts of the firefighters and scientists racing against time to stop--or at least to tame--these deadly flames. From Colorado to California, China to Canada, the narrative hopscotches the globe and takes readers to the frontlines of the battle on the ground and in the air, and in the laboratories, universities, and federal agencies where this issue of rampant wildfires and the controversial question of how best to manage them rages on. Through this prism of perspectives, Kodas zeroes in on a handful of the most terrifying and tumultuous of these environmental disasters in recent years--the Yarnell Hill Fire in Arizona that took the lives of nineteen elite "hotshot" firefighters, the Waldo Canyon Fire that overwhelmed the city of Colorado Springs--and more in a page-turning narrative that puts a face on the brave people at the heart of this issue. Megafire describes the profound impact of these fires around the world and will change the way we think about the environment and the essential precariousness of our planet."--Jacket.