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When It All Burns
Jordan Thomas
A hotshot firefighter’s gripping firsthand account of a record-setting fire season
Eighteen of California’s largest wildfires on record have burned in the past two decades. Scientists recently invented the term “megafire” to describe wildfires that behave in ways that would have been nearly impossible just a generation ago, burning through winter, exploding in the night, and devastating landscapes historically impervious to incendiary destruction.
In When It All Burns, wildland firefighter and anthropologist Jordan Thomas recounts a single, brutal six-month fire season with the Los Padres Hotshots—the special forces of America’s firefighters. Being a hotshot is among the most difficult jobs on earth. Thomas viscerally renders his crew’s attempts to battle flames that are often too destructive to contain. He uncovers the hidden cultural history of megafires, revealing how humanity’s symbiotic relationship with wildfire became a war—and what can be done to change it back.
Thomas weaves ecology and the history of Indigenous peoples' oppression, federal forestry, and the growth of the fire industrial complex into a riveting narrative about a new phase in the climate crisis. It's an immersive story of community in the most perilous of circumstances, told with humor, humility, and affection.
Dear Reader,
The first time I edited this manuscript, I read it straight through without stopping—even the rough draft was impossible to put down. When It All Burns follows a single fire season with the Los Padres hotshots, the country’s most skilled wildland firefighters. Hotshots are kind of like the Navy SEALs or NFL quarterbacks of firefighting. This is one of the hardest jobs in the world. The author, Jordan Thomas, describes it as mountaineering with chainsaws.
Jordan is a rookie on the squad who also happens to be an anthropologist. The stories he tells about the big personalities on his crew and their incredibly challenging work jump right off the page. They can veer from hilarious to harrowing in a moment, as Jordan and his crew fight some of the worst fires California has ever seen.
But the thing that really drew me to this book is the hidden history of American megafires that Jordan weaves into his narrative: The colonial fire-suppression efforts that destabilized ecosystems. The government policies that let logging and chemical companies maximize their profits while making fires worse. The political forces that refuse to pay our frontline wildfire fighters more than near minimum wage for risking their lives.
Jordan gives us a firefighter’s perspective of the forces that make fires rage out of control. Burned out by the impossible conditions and policies that made his job even harder, Jordan goes looking for the people who are working to prevent future megafires. He finds hope in efforts to manage fire more holistically.
If we keep fighting fire like it’s a war, we’re doomed to keep losing. When It All Burns argues for a desperately needed new approach.
Sincerely,
Courtney Young
Executive Editor, Riverhead Books
“Exceptional. . .When It All Burns is one of those books that immerses the reader in the nuances of a world most of us know only through the lens of tragedy and destruction. Thomas’ visceral, crystalline prose only adds fuel to the fire.” —Los Angeles Times
“A riveting story of the costs of climate change and the realities of this terrifying work, as well as an examination of the history that got us here and the very real lives now at risk.” —New York Times
“Wedding anthropological research and elegant descriptions of the natural world, Thomas builds an argument for a clear solution." —The New Yorker
“Thomas brings us to the front lines, deftly pulling the reader to the edge of the fire in evocative writing that reads like a thriller. . .Thinking about fire has never been more essential—Thomas charts a map toward the future.” —Kirkus (starred review)
“Writing with exceptional verve, Thomas captures the furious intensity of working on the fire line. . . Narrative nonfiction doesn’t get better than this.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Profoundly relevant. . . Thomas, in this spellbinding account, shows how thoughtful forestry management can begin to address the megafires now touching all of our lives.” —Booklist (starred review)
“A tremendous book that deepened my understanding and appreciation not just of the men and women who serve as wildland firefighters but also of the long, tragic history of land mismanagement in the American West. . . powerful, instructive and well written.” —Minnesota Star Tribune
“In this engrossing work on wildfires and the environment, Thomas skillfully weaves together how historical events, genocide, politics, and the logging industry have all contributed to climate change, creating megafires throughout the American West.” —Library Journal
“It is rare and wonderful when an author emerges perfectly matched to a subject and a book that also captures the spirit of the times. This gripping, deeply perceptive first-hand encounter with the devastating ferocity of 21st Century Fire reads like the Kitchen Confidential of elite wildfire fighting.” —John Vaillant, author of Fire Weather
"A fascinating account of life as a hotshot—but also an insightful and nuanced take on how we might learn to coexist a little more sensibly with the flames we've unleashed on this earth. Reading this is a little akin to having an escape plan from your house: useful preparation." —Bill McKibben, author The End of Nature
“Jordan Thomas draws on his experience as a hotshot to tell a story that's as scary and exciting as a wildfire. When It All Burns manages to be at once deeply personal and far-reaching in scope.” —Elizabeth Kolbert, author of Under a White Sky and The Sixth Extinction
