Smokejumpers are the elite ... My top tip for solo travelers is to book for 2 people — even if it costs more.

In 1972, when wildfires of millennial proportions closed in on Moscow, 1,100 Siberian smokejumpers flew in to save the day. As Pyne writes in his book Vestal Fire, "Avialesookhrana glowed with pride.

A dangerous race to fight remote fires begins each summer when Alaska's combustible backcountry is ablaze. Matt Oakleaf, camera mounted on his gear bag, drops behind the rest of his team to a ...