As it happens, he went into firefighting, the same line of work as his grandfather, and on Sept. 11, 2001, he watched from West Street as people fell from another place ladders could not reach.
Wilderness firefighting "is a line of work where there are more people looking for jobs than there are jobs available," said Stephen J. Pyne, a professor at the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University and a former wilderness firefighter who has written numerous books about the history and mechanics of wildfires.
More firefighters and more firefighting equipment are, of course, needed.
Below, a firefighting crew from Montana lined up along a highway near Mountain Springs, Nev.
Helicopters circle overhead, airplanes drop heavy loads of firefighting chemicals, uniformed firefighters march to the front and lines of refugees stream out of burning towns.
By 12 30 pm, more than 200 firefighters were on duty and involved in digging fire line or in support of the firefighting effort.
But at 6 o'clock on a gloomy evening, firefighters across the land, some in distinctive brown or navy blue uniforms, walked out of firehouses to form picket lines, locking away their firefighting vehicles and equipment.
As Britain's 50,000 firefighters ended an initial two-day pay strike, the government urged them to call off three planned eight-day strikes and said troops might be sent across picket lines to operate their firefighting equipment if the stoppages continue.
Inmates make up a third of California's state firefighting force, cutting brush, digging fire lines and doing other such physical work.The rest of the year they are loaned out to local communities and private agencies for projects that range from fence repair and brush clearing to park maintenance.
Firefighting is a team job.
