The Yarnell Hill Fire (2013) took nineteen firefighters from the Granite Mountain Hotshot Crew. This accident was the tragedy of our generation. Seven years later, how much has the fire service learned?

Not much.

We can change this. And we will.

The expedition starts here.

Origins is the first book in a series that will transform how you lead and how you learn. Future books will take you into aspects of history, human factors, and investigations in the American Fire Service. This series was not written from an ivory tower, and it’s not like other fire books you may have read. It’s an expedition.

It all starts here at Origins. In this book, I will introduce you to the world of fire and hotshots, innovators and investigators, as I know them. Join me by a warming fire on a ridge in the middle of nowhere. Under the pull-up bars at my fire station in Southern California. In a garage, with nothing but dirty hands and a blank sheet of paper. In the lobby of a Phoenix hotel, when I accepted the job of Lead Investigator in 2013. And in Prescott years later, as I struggled to figure out what went so wrong, and how to unlock a generation of innovation.

Bio:
BRAD MAYHEW served as Lead Investigator on the Yarnell Hill Fire, and has conducted investigations in every region in the continental United States. He has a master’s degree in Human Factors and System Safety. He served on the Los Padres Hotshot Crew, and he has worked for federal, tribal, and local fire departments. He wrote the Human Factors pages in the Incident Response Pocket Guide (IPRG), and was one of the youngest to receive the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) Paul Gleason Lead by Example Award for Initiative and Innovation.