The story has interesting statistics but is mostly personal accounts of heroism and foresight based on interviews of survivors, firefighters, and forestry specialists. Salisbury, a specialist on China, visited, interviewed, walked and helicoptered over much of the fire area. While not a firefighter, he offers a great perspective on a relatively unknown part of the world. Definitely not your usual firefighter training manual. Very easy to read and understand.
Subject matter flows very well from chapter to chapter.
Structural firefighters crossing over to wildland interface will get a lot out of this book. I give this book 5 chainsaws. AZ Trailblazer Workbook for Firefighter's Handbook on Wildland Firefighting Good addition to the handbook, if you want to fork over the extra money. I had a chance to become one of many technical editors for this book. You'll find my name in with the rest of the technical reviewers.