From “Hellroaring,” which appeared in the July 1989 issue of Harper’s Magazine.
The first thing we did was build a bridge over Slough Creek, a pristine trout stream in the northern reaches of Yellowstone National Park. I felt strange—digging and hammering in a wilderness area, spanning water that’s been protected since 1872, fighting wildfire.
The job is unglamorous and often brutal. The fundamental activity of a western fire crew is building “handline.” A handline is a narrow trail ripped out of the forest floor with hand tools. The common tactic for stopping a big fire is…