To the Last Smoke

The American fire scene is simply too sprawling, varied, and vigorous to shoehorn into a single narrative, however complex. To convey some of that ardor, I plan to write comments as I conduct my research. I thought of this enterprise as a kind of fire journalism, or perhaps as real-time history.

The pieces will focus on ideas, sites, or people – stuff that is integral to the story but cannot be inserted into a master narrative except by severe editing.  My original intention was that these pieces would be posted at this site and then selected, edited, and assembled into a companion volume.

Almost from the onset, however, they began grouping themselves into regional studies and have assumed a literary character that I liken to a nonfiction novella.  I plan five such suites, with a sixth collection – “Spot Fires and Slopovers” – to catch topics and places that don’t group in the same way.   Even so, I’ve had to create two other groupings for stuff that doesn’t fit those categories.  One, “Making History,” offers thoughts on the art and craft of doing history as it appears from the field.  The other, “Here and There,” offers thoughts on assorted fire-related topics.

For those knowledgeable about a place, the background sketches will seem flimsy.  But for the uninitiated, the essays offer an opportunity to expand their sense of fire history and the complexities of fire’s management.  The science of fire may, at an abstract level, be universal.  Real fires, however, are specific to places, which means they are also historically constructed, which means they express a long interaction with people.  My hope is that these pieces will convey something of that sense.  In the end they remain color commentary, the field notes of a scholar on fire.  The Grand Narrative is another project.  To help bind the two projects, however, I am using the title for the narrative, “Between two fires,” to conclude each of the regional surveys as a way to link section with nation.

In sum, the suites are:

  • Florida: A Fire Mosaic – America’s most pyric red state .  Essays are written and being edited.  A final suite should be posted by the end of June.
  • California’s Fire Complex - a survey of fire’s Golden State.  In progress, with two  research trips, one south, the other north.  Essays should appear during the summer, with a final suite in August.
  • Southwest Suite – where burning deserts and blazing woods meet flaming sunsets.  Underway, with essays written over the previous few years and others as opportunities permit.
  • Middle Ground - fire’s oft-overlooked but vital heartland, with a special novella-length study of Texas. Scheduled for spring 2012.
  • Where the Mountains Roar – the Northern Rockies whose fiery tremors have repeatedly shaken the national infrastructure.  Scheduled for summer 2012.
  • Spot Fires and Slopovers – essays on places and themes that do not fall under the above regional rubrics, including Alaska, the Northeast, Utah, the Lake States, and national programs.