The biggest firestorm documented in North America—3,500,000 acres of forest burned in northern Alberta and British Columbia—created the world's largest smoke layer in the atmosphere. The smoke was seen around the world, causing the moon and the sun to appear blue. The Chinchaga Firestorm is a historical study of the effects of fire on the ecological process. Using technical explanations and archival discoveries, the author shows the beneficial yet destructive effects of forest fires, including the 2011 devastation of Slave Lake, Alberta. Cordy Tymstra tells the stories of communities and individuals as their lives intersected with the path of the wildfire—stories that demonstrate people's spirit, resourcefulness, self-sufficiency, and persistence in the struggle against nature's devastating power. The 1950 event changed the way these fires are fought in Alberta. Forest fire scientists, foresters, forest ecologists and policy makers, as well as those who are interested in western Canadian history and ecology, will definitely want this book in their library.

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NONFICTION • FINALIST FOR THE HILARY WESTON WRITERS' TRUST PRIZE FOR NONFICTION • FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN NONFICTION • ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES’ TOP TEN BOOKS OF THE YEAR • SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 SHAUGHNESSY COHEN PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING A stunning account of the colossal wildfire at Fort McMurray, and a panoramic exploration of the rapidly changing relationship between fire and humankind from the award-winning, best-selling author of The Tiger and The Golden Spruce. Named a Best Book of the Year by The Guardian • TIME • The Globe and Mail • The New Yorker • Financial Times • CBC • Smithsonian • Air Mail Weekly • Slate • NPR • Toronto Star • The Washington Post • The Times • Orion Magazine In May 2016, Fort McMurray, the hub of Canada's petroleum industry and America's biggest foreign supplier, was overrun by wildfire. The multi-billion-dollar disaster melted vehicles, turned entire neighborhoods into firebombs, and drove 88,000 people from their homes in a single afternoon. Through the lens of this apocalyptic conflagration—the wildfire equivalent of Hurricane Katrina—John Vaillant warns that this was not a unique event but a shocking preview of what we must prepare for in a hotter, more flammable world. For hundreds of millennia, fire has been a partner in our evolution, shaping culture, civilization, and, very likely, our brains. Fire has enabled us to cook our food, defend and heat our homes, and power the machines that drive our titanic economy. Yet this volatile energy source has always threatened to elude our control, and in our new age of intensifying climate change, we are seeing its destructive power unleashed in previously unimaginable ways. With masterly prose and a cinematic eye, Vaillant takes us on a riveting journey through the intertwined histories of North America's oil industry and the birth of climate science, to the unprecedented devastation wrought by modern forest fires, and into lives forever changed by these disasters. John Vaillant's urgent work is a book for—and from—our new century of fire, which has only just begun.

A page-turning memoir about a young woman's grueling, revelatory summers working alone in a remote lookout tower and her eyewitness account of the increasingly unpredictable nature of wildfire in the Canadian north. While growing up in Peace River, Alberta, Trina Moyles heard many stories of Lookout Observers--strange, eccentric types who spent five-month summers alone, climbing 100-foot high towers and watching for signs of fire in the surrounding boreal forest. How could you isolate yourself for that long? she wondered. "I could never do it," she told herself. Craving a deeper sense of purpose, she left northern Alberta to pursue a decade-long career in global humanitarian work. After three years in East Africa, and newly engaged, Trina returned to Peace River with a plan to sponsor her fiance, Akello's, immigration to Canada. Despite her fear of being alone in the woods, she applied for a seasonal lookout position and got the job. Thus begins Trina's first summer as one of a handful of lookouts scattered throughout Alberta, with only a farm dog, Holly--labeled "a domesticated wolf" by her former owners--to keep her company. While searching for smoke, Trina unravels under the pressure of a long-distance relationship--and a dawning awareness of the environmental crisis that climate change is producing in the boreal. Through megafires, lightning storms, and stunning encounters with wildlife, she learns to survive at the fire tower by forging deep connections with nature and with an extraordinary community of people dedicated to wildfire detection and combat. In isolation, she discovers a kind of self-awareness--and freedom--that only solitude can deliver. Lookout is a riveting story of loss, transformation, and belonging to oneself, layered with an eyewitness account of the destructive and regenerative power of wildfire in our northern forests.

A memoir of disaster, survival, and “how our treasured objects can be the priceless vessels that carry the stories of both our past and our future” (Diane Schoemperlen, author of This Is Not My Life). Four years after Therese Greenwood and her husband moved to Fort McMurray, Alberta, their new community was shattered by one of the worst wildfires in Canadian history. As the flames approached, they had only minutes to pack, narrowly escaping a fire that would rage for weeks, burn more than 85,000 hectares and force 80,000 people to flee. In this book, she tells her dramatic story, and contemplates mourning, memory, and rebuilding. “By considering the things that she lost in the blaze and the things that were saved, Greenwood takes the reader with her through her own evacuation, the road to safety, the grief that she experienced on losing her home, and the steps to her recovery . . . a beautiful book, sharply observed [and] gripping.” —Miranda Hill, author of Sleeping Funny

A raging forest fire in the National Parks area of the Sierras traps a forest ranger and a young boy he suspects is an arsonist.

THE FIREIt was the deadliest fire in North America. In less than 16 hours, 1.8 million acres2,400 square milesburned. People fled. There was no time to react. Thousands of lives were lost. But no help came. THE HEROESJean Pierre and Father Peter Pernin. A half-breed Indian and a priest. Two contrasting characters collide, Native American vs. Catholic beliefs, destined to lead the people through. THE MYSTERYWhy did it happen? The Great Peshtigo Fire of 1871 is lost somewhere in history even though it is still listed among Americas top ten worst natural disasters. Nobody ever determined the cause. Theories exist, yet none can match the vivid descriptions of actual eye witnesses.

An overview of the history of the great forest fires which swept over northern minnesota in 1918.