Back from Blazes

As I write this, the forest fire on British Columbia’s Galiano Island is finally and completely under control, and all the evacuees (yours truly included) have been allowed to return to their homes. Over the last several days, I found writing about this frightful experience somewhat cathartic. As well, my personal blog allowed me to keep in touch with a much larger number of people than would otherwise have been possible: friends, family, and even fans who had heard about the Galiano fire in newspapers or on television and knew that I lived out here on this tiny island.

At one point, through all of this writing about fires, I asked if the freakish winds we were experiencing on the day the fire broke out might have been caused by the fire itself.

Dave Hugelschaffer, a novelist and ex-firefighter in Alberta, e-mailed me with an answer:

If the fire was large enough, it certainly could create its own wind. In fact, firefighters sometimes use the wind effect as a tool--the fire will suck air into itself after a convection column is created in the center. Smoke flares are placed in front of the fire, along a dozergaurd, and when the wind shifts and begins to pull into the fire, a line of new fire is ignited along the inside of the guard. This new fire is pulled into the main fire, obliterating the intervening forest fuels and starving the mainfire, while creating a wide, black firegaurd--the best kind. This is literally fighting fire with fire.

Hugelschaffer’s recently released novel is Day Into Night, and its cover is so graphic, I can barely look at it right now, after all we’ve been through. I hope to read the book sometime soon, but, meanwhile, here’s the synopsis:

When a raging forest fire cannot suck in air quickly enough, smoke turns black, blotting out the sun and turning day into night. To a firefighter, this false dusk is a sign of conditions turning rapidly from bad to worse. But [protagonist Porter] Cassel has more than just fires to contend with--he is a man with a tragedy in his past and the situation becomes more complex when he is framed for the murder of a suspect.

It might be a while before I can read it, but author Nevada Barr (Hard Truth) doesn’t share my hang-ups. She blurbed the book enthusiastically, saying, “It was the Forest Rangers’ equivalent of CSI. I liked the realistic descriptions of the work and an interesting plot. A good read.”

Day Into Night is available in trade paper from Cormorant Books.