The Smoke Jumper Who Learned to Read the Wind

In 2003, rookie wildland firefighter Jason Ramos reported to his first season with the Arrowhead Interagency Hotshot Crew in the San Bernardino Mountains. His superintendent, a veteran named Mark Linane, would stop the whole crew mid-hike and say, "Listen." Jason heard nothing — just wind through ponderosa pines, maybe a jay calling. But Linane heard something else entirely: a shift in the breeze that meant the fire was crowning half a mile east, or the faint crackle of spot fires jumping the line.…