An Elite Firefighter Photographs California's Most Devastating Blazes

Bone-dry, drought-stricken California is on track to have its most destructive wildfire season on record. When you read a report that a blaze there has been "contained," know that that term is something of a euphemism.

From May to October every year, crews of Hotshots—the U.S. Forest Service's 100 or so highly trained, elite wildland firefighting squads—are on call 24/7 to fly or trek into remote areas flaming fast and high. They'll spend 16-hour days hauling power tools across blazing mountainsides, stopping only to strategize and to clear away dry branches and brush that fuel the fires. These are the people who dig the fire lines—the deep trenches that stop the flames. They, along with air tankers (like the one that crashed yesterday in Yosemite, killing the pilot), ultimately "contain" the fire.