Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
W. W. Norton & Company (2020), Edition: 1st Edition, 256 pages
Description
Bay Area-based reporters for The Guardian Alastair Gee and Dani Anguiano relate the story of the worst American wildfire in a century, weaving together a portrait of the remarkable California community of 27,000 souls, destroyed wholesale in a fire that left 86 dead, while offering a bigger-picture exploration of the science of wildfires in a time of dramatic climate change. Alastair Gee is a seasoned science/nature based in San Francisco and Dani Anguiano is a local reporter from nearby Chico, who knows many of the heroes, first responders, and victims personally.
Media reviews
When it arrived, it came on so fast that the preparations the cautious had made weren’t enough. Life as they’d known it was forever changed. People died: the vulnerable, the valiant, those who were just unlucky. This is, perhaps, how any tragedy unfolds. It’s what connects our coronavirus
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fight with “Fire in Paradise,” a book about a California calamity that speaks to our present moment.... In all, the Camp Fire killed 85 people. It burned more than 150,000 acres and destroyed nearly 14,000 homes. The town was all but wiped off the map.... Those who made it are lucky. But their world will never be the same. Show Less
The horror of the fire’s relentless advance is viscerally evoked, although the details sometimes verge on unbearable.... The authors temper the horror with stories of heroism and rescue... Still, this is unavoidably a story of devastation and loss.... “Fire in Paradise” has the narrative
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propulsion and granular detail of the best breaking-news disaster journalism; while the authors include some historical context, they largely refrain from in-depth analysis or attempts to draw broader conclusions from the tragedy. The main takeaway from their book is sobering: As many parts of the world get hotter and drier, we will likely see more fires as destructive as the one in Paradise. Show Less
Drawing heavily on the powerful interviews [the authors] conducted at the time and in the stunned aftermath, they have created a gripping account of the fire and how it affected the community. The narrative is bolstered by regional history, an awareness of the increasing prevalence of California
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wildfires, and the culpability of the giant power company, Pacific Gas and Electric, in the state’s unfolding climate crisis. By providing readers with such an intimate chronicle of the fire and curating a nearly overwhelming cascade of stories from those at the center of the disaster, the authors do an important job of establishing a time line of the destruction. There will likely be many more books about the Paradise fire, especially investigations into PG&E’s role, but Fire in Paradise is a powerful start. Show Less
Guardian journalists Gee and Anguiano deliver a tense and detailed account of the 2018 Camp Fire, which devastated the town of Paradise, Calif.... Gee and Anguiano vividly describe the conflagration without sensationalizing it, and their blow-by-blow reconstruction is balanced by background
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information on the history of wildfires and the links between their proliferation and climate change. This impressive report makes a convincing case that such tragedies as the Camp Fire are not a freak occurrence, but a glimpse of the future. Show Less
Making a powerful book debut, Bay Area–based Guardian journalists Gee and Anguiano draw on their extensive reporting to produce a tense, often moving narrative about the fire that destroyed the northern California town of Paradise. Drawing on interviews with hundreds of residents of Paradise and
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neighboring towns, public officials, first responders, and scientists, the authors reconstruct a tight chronology of events from the time the fire broke out on the morning of Nov. 8, 2018, through Nov. 25, when it was finally contained, to the weeks and months afterward, when evacuated residents sifted through the debris.... A riveting narrative that provides further compelling evidence for the urgency of environmental stewardship. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member Shrike58
So...having finished this the other evening, I went to bed thinking that maybe I'd just finished a book that was going to be a classic like Norman Maclean's "Young Men and Fire." The next day, I had to conclude that, no, as gripping as this work is, it's probably just journalism, not classic
That might be the lesson here. At the time of the "Camp" Fire, the coverage made me wonder what the people on the ground were thinking. This book is illustrative of how the local folks were not naive about their circumstances, but no one, outside of a few professional firefighters, were actually thinking in terms of what the the real worst-case scenario could look like. To be fair, very few people can think in those terms, as in the face of the worst-case scenario, you're just doomed. That the human toll was not worse is a tribute to the planning that was done, and the heroism of the first responders.
As for the culpability of Pacific Gas & Electric, a running thread in this book, the authors don't push that to the hilt. However, as dubious as the past behavior of the corporate management might have been, the failure of their power lines is probably more a commentary on how while PG&E is too big to fail, it's also probably too big to really manage its assets. If one was going to be fair, obsolescent infrastructure inadequately maintained is a chronic problem in this country, exacerbated by sprawl.
Finally, as I'm writing this, the community around Lake Tahoe has just been saved from the "Caldor" Fire; disasters like this remain a threat into the future of what is now looking like the "Pyrocline." A new age of fire birthed by massive climate change.
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history. However, this is very good journalism, as the authors tell a poignant tale of the obliteration of a community, for which the chances of a worst-case scenario playing out was always high.That might be the lesson here. At the time of the "Camp" Fire, the coverage made me wonder what the people on the ground were thinking. This book is illustrative of how the local folks were not naive about their circumstances, but no one, outside of a few professional firefighters, were actually thinking in terms of what the the real worst-case scenario could look like. To be fair, very few people can think in those terms, as in the face of the worst-case scenario, you're just doomed. That the human toll was not worse is a tribute to the planning that was done, and the heroism of the first responders.
As for the culpability of Pacific Gas & Electric, a running thread in this book, the authors don't push that to the hilt. However, as dubious as the past behavior of the corporate management might have been, the failure of their power lines is probably more a commentary on how while PG&E is too big to fail, it's also probably too big to really manage its assets. If one was going to be fair, obsolescent infrastructure inadequately maintained is a chronic problem in this country, exacerbated by sprawl.
Finally, as I'm writing this, the community around Lake Tahoe has just been saved from the "Caldor" Fire; disasters like this remain a threat into the future of what is now looking like the "Pyrocline." A new age of fire birthed by massive climate change.
Show Less
Awards
Audie Award (Finalist — Non-Fiction — 2021)
Original language
English
Physical description
256 p.; 8.3 inches
ISBN
1324005149 / 9781324005148