John McPhee and Eddie Parker's cousin

One of the books that I have been reading is a book called The Pine Barrens written by John McPhee in 1967. As I understand it, this book was one of the movers that lead to the preservation of the NJ Pine Barrens through the Pinelands Commission. If any one you out there want to get a feel for the NJ Pine Barrens -- both the ecosystem and her people -- go and pick up this book.

Naturally, he has a chapter on wildfires. I want to cite one of my favorite passages:

One of the first lessons in forest-fire survival is: Get into burned ground. But this is not always easy. Head fires can also be as much as half a mile deep. Lateral fires can be only a foot deep, but they can also be a hundred feet deep. In 1936, a cousin of the fire watcher, Eddie Parker was caught in the middle when a head fire and a backfire came together. He had to time to get to burned ground. The last living thing he did was to kneel as he burned, and embrace a pine tree (McPhee, The Pine Barrens, p. 111)

I have never been near a wild or forest fire. If I was caught in a forest fire, I think that I would embrace a pine tree.