Book Review: A Fire Story by Brian Fies

A Fire Story by Brian Fies

Brian Fies was one of the countless victims of the wildfires that hit Northern California is October 2017. He is a cartoonist and immediately began drawing his experience and publishing it on the web. That work became a minor hit and has been expanded into a full-length graphic novel. He starts with waking up to the smell of smoke in the early hours of October 9. He and his wife grabbed a few thing when the evacuation was called. They assumed they'd come back in a couple of hours, at most a couple of days. The fire came right through their neighborhood, completely destroying their house. He goes on to describe his personal recovery effort and how his life was changed by the loss of practically every material possession he had.

His story is very moving and full of surprising details. He remembers a lot of the stuff he'll never have again, including all of his work up to that point. He and his wife start to get new stuff thanks to the generosity of friends and family. Government and relief agencies were mostly good though in the book he gives prominence to the moments of bureaucracy and frustration. Fies is forthright about his anger and occasional misjudgments. At one point, people are waiting at the post office to get the mail that can't be delivered anymore. The workers had a system where people had to wait for their numbers before getting whatever mail might be available. Fies was pretty mad at one worker until the worker's wife came to drop off lunch for him since the worker hadn't eaten since the previous day. The worker was also a fire victim. Fies shows a very human response to a very difficult and unusual situation.

Recommended.