Sci-Fi & Scary

Extreme Wildfire was an interesting and educational read. Everything is laid out in a thoughtful, easy to understand fashion. The fire facts, nature’s signals, and notes from the fields each give small bursts of useful (and cool!) information. I liked reading up on the famous fires. I’d never even heard of most of the fires, including Black Saturday or the Big Blowup. The pictures really give you a sense of what it’s like to be there, and exactly how dangerous it can be. These aren’t (for the most part) pretty pictures of flames. Instead the pictures do a great job at depicting the dangers and devastation a wildfire can bring. Mark Thiessen did a great job photographing all the fires. He’s … brave … to say the least!

The immediacy of the fires isn’t the only thing that Extreme Wildfire is about. It also tells readers why fires start, what happens afterwards, and how beneficial wildfires can actually be. I had no clue that cleaning up after the fire was out could be so dangerous! Wildfires are one of nature’s recyclers and one of nature’s defenders. I knew that fire could be beneficial for forests, in clearing out undergrowth and such. I did not know that some things only germinated after fires. So, definitely enjoyed discovering that tidbit with my daughter. There’s nothing that they didn’t cover, as far as I know.

Speaking of: When my kiddo laid eyes on the book, she immediately grabbed it and scurried to a corner of the couch. She didn’t give it back until she’d finished over half of it. There might have been bribes involved to get her to read it with me, instead of by herself. It was utterly fascinating to her. She was able to recognize the fire lookout’s responsibilities from watching Fireman Sam. The character Tom watches from a lookout tower and has a helicopter for rescues in case something happens. She particularly enjoyed reading the “Notes From the Field” sections.

We will be making use of the emergency family plan tips that were included in the book.

Overall, Extreme Wildfire was informative, engaging, and well laid out. I’d recommend it for anyone whose got some former Fireman Sam addicts in their brood.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.