Overview
Nick Raeside worked at many jobs in the logging business but the one that he specialized in was starting forest fires-small, (hopefully) controlled forest fires that were approved by the Forest Service-indeed, required by them-as a means of cleaning up logging slash or debris-laden sites left after the merchantable timber had been removed. It was a crude way of reducing fire hazard and clearing the ground for replanting, and there was a constant danger that the controlled burns would get away and become real wildfires, destroying millions of dollars' worth of standing timber. Raeside found this challenge irresistible. InSlashburner, Raeside recounts many hilarious anecdotes from his career in theBCwoods during the1970s, '80s and '90s. He worked as a forest firefighter for a time, but discovered he was more interested in starting fires than putting them out,and found his calling in slashburning. In between pissing on rain gauges to fake wetter weather and lighting each other's pants on fire, Raeside and his slashburning crews rampaged throughout southernBCarmed with drip torches, chainsaws and homemade explosives. They lit fires. They put some of them out. They survived rockslides, animal encounters and flare fights.Slashburneris a rollicking tale of the good old times in the logging business when danger and excitement were the order of the day and almost everyone you met was a memorable character. Raeside captures the flavour of that era as few have done before. Including thirty colour photos that prove it actually did all happen,Slashburneris the first book to take readers beneath the smoke cloud to find out what really takes place on a slashburn.
Full Product Details
Author: Nick Raeside
Publisher: Harbour Publishing
Imprint: Harbour Publishing
Dimensions:
Width: 13.90cm
, Height: 1.50cm
, Length: 21.50cm
ISBN: 9781550178982
ISBN 10: 1550178989
Pages: 240
Publication Date: 29 October 2020
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Temporarily unavailable
The supplier advises that this item is temporarily unavailable. It will be ordered for you and placed on backorder. Once it does come back in stock, we will ship it out to you.
Reviews
Raeside is of the woods. Totally unrepentant. Slashburner is shocking and hilarious. --Aaron Williams, author of Chasing Smoke
Raeside is of the woods. Totally unrepentant. Slashburner is shocking and hilarious. -- Aaron Williams, author of Chasing Smoke
Author Information
Nick Raeside was seven years old when he fought his first fire—barefoot—in New Zealand. After upgrading to sandals, learning to make napalm on the kitchen stove and moving to Canada, he headed straight for the woods. He worked a variety of jobs including forest firefighter, land surveyor’s chainman, forestry official and, of course, slashburner. This is his first book. He lives in Nanoose Bay, BC.
