Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World
John Vaillant
A stunning account of a colossal wildfire that collided with a city and a panoramic exploration of the rapidly changing relationship between fire and humankindIn May 2016, Fort McMurray, the hub of Canada’s oil 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. more
432 pages, Hardcover
First published Knopf
4.4
Rating
3152
Ratings
517
Reviews
John Vaillant
18 books 415 followers
John Vaillant is an author and freelance writer whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, National Geographic, and the Guardian, among others. His first book, The Golden Spruce (Norton, 2005), was a bestseller and won several awards, including the Governor General's and Rogers Trust awards for non-fiction (Canada). His second nonfiction book, The Tiger (Knopf, 2010), was an international bestseller, and has been published in 16 languages. Film rights were optioned by Brad Pitt’s film company, Plan B. In 2014 Vaillant won the Windham-Campbell Prize, a global award for non-fiction. In 2015, he published his first work of fiction, The Jaguar's Children (Houghton Mifflin), which was long-listed for the Dublin IMPAC and Kirkus Fiction Prizes, and was a finalist for the Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize (Canada).
Community reviews
Horribly timely and likely to remain so, this deep dive into our new, human-created climate of petrochemical industry-driven fire took me a long time to read because I needed frequent breaks to be able to get through and process the sobering information. On breaks I’d look up for relief and see the news about fires in Europe, the Northwest Territories, British Columbia, or on Maui, which reinforced the importance of Vaillant’s message. He takes the 2016-17 fire that destroyed most of Fort MacMurray as his focal event, exploring the conflagration hour by hour both from a human perspective and a scientific one. He delves into the lives and experiences of people in the city with great compassion, as well as recognition of the bravery and resourcefulness with which they responded to an entirely terrifying situation, one that he makes clear will continue to happen more and more this century. Dependent on the petrochemical industry for their livelihoods, hard workers who enjoy the modern lifestyle and gas-powered toys that their work brings them, believing like most of us do that there is an invisible divide between wilderness and city that won’t be breached, people in Fort MacMurray awoke one day in early May to smoke on the horizon and authorities suggesting vaguely and cheerfully that they go about their usual activities but ‘have a plan. more
Wildfires live and die by the weather, but “the weather” doesn’t mean the same thing it did in 1990, or even a decade ago, and the reason the Fort McMurray Fire trended on newsfeeds around the world in May 2016 was not only because of its terrifying size and ferocity, but also because it was a direct hit — like Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans — on the epicenter of Canada’s multibillion-dollar petroleum industry. That industry and this fire represent supercharged expressions of two trends that have been marching in lockstep for the past century and a half. Together, they embody the spiraling synergy between the headlong rush to exploit hydrocarbons at all costs and the corresponding increase in heat-trapping greenhouse gases that is altering our atmosphere in real time. In the spring of 2016, halfway through the hottest year of the hottest decade in recorded history, a new kind of fire introduced itself to the world. I’ve read John Vaillant before — I thought that The Tiger was the perfection of a multidisciplinary approach to nonfiction storytelling — and when I began Fire Weather and realised it was about the Fort Mac wildfire of 2016 (a national tragedy that mesmerised and horrified Canadians as it unfolded), I was 100% enthralled. more
There's a scene in Fire Weather where a Fort McMurray woman drives past flames right on the highway in her town, and continues on to drop off her dry cleaning. The dry cleaner takes her order and confirms the date for pickup, while he calls his wife to tell her the flames are in their neighbourhood and that it's time to leave. The police chief had just wrapped up a press conference where despite overwhelming evidence of the disaster about to take place, he did not advise people to anything other than to be cautious. Keep calm and carry on. That scene is going to stick with me a long time, because I can't think of a better example of our relationship to the reality of climate change. more
Although I added this to my TBR when it was first published last June, I didn't get around to reading it until it won the Baillie Gifford award for non-fiction last week. Let me say, I think the award committee got it right. This book is a great achievement, a dramatic recounting of a horrific few days for a community, and a detailed lesson in why we have begun to see more forest fires of unprecedented destruction, and why that situation is only going to get worse. In May 2016, a forest fire just outside of Fort McMurray, in northern Alberta, Canada, raged out of control and destroyed the city, forcing 88,000 inhabitants to evacuate in a single afternoon. Although 2,500 structures were immolated, not a single life was lost that day. more
Quite enjoyed this. I was in Fort McMurray in 2016 when the fire happened and he captures the moment-by-moment of it quite well, to the point that when I doubted him I went back and checked my the journal I'd kept throughout the fire and realized he'd got it dead on more often than not. Interesting to go back to that time and revisit it from different angles. The science and environmental aspects are a good fit and much-needed, given how, as he points out, talk of climate change during the disaster became verboten, on the misguided notion that it was 'punching down. ' That said, sometimes the poetic license he takes is a bit much. more
"Home is our memory palace, and there is an existential cruelty in the razing of it. "This book reads like a dystopian history of the present and future. We are past the point of no return, yet there is some hope. Not much, but some. That said, read this if you're interested in climate science, the conflagration of Fort McMurray and an overall history of the region. more
‘Fire Weather’ by John Vaillant is several books in one: Canadian history, the science of fire, world climate statistics, history of the politics of oil, gas and coal companies, and all about the Canadian Fort McMurray fire. The author has written a monumental book. It is well-written, and well-researched with extensive and reputable source material, and scary. There are photos, charts and drawings. Also, if readers want to see how Fort McMurray, an Albertan Province oil-company town created for the purpose of housing workers mining for a type of oil, bitumen, which is the inspiration for this book, burned down, there are hundreds of YouTube videos about it. more
A more accurate title might have been 'Fire Climate' as the story of the Fort McMurray wildfire of May 2016 was mainly a vehicle for an extended diatribe on the existential threat of climate change. I had hoped for more on the actual meteorology of the event and perhaps even some interviews with Environment Canada forecasters or other meteorological experts. He trots out a few stats about temps, RH (down to 12% on May 3. ) and winds attendant to the event and mentions ongoing drought but a systematic fire weather analysis is not really the focus. The story of the Fort McMurray fire itself and the human reactions and response is fascinating and it remains a miracle how the city was evacuated that May day with very little lead time with not a single fatality or even serious injury and basically only one highway out. more
This astonishing, and beautifully written, book is to non-fiction what Cormac McCarthy's THE ROAD is to fiction. Essential reading. . more
This book examines the environmental impact of climate change as it relates to the topic of wildfires. The author analyzes the causes and effects of the 2016 fire at Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada and what it portends for the future. The main section about the fire itself is bookended by an analysis of Canada’s multibillion-dollar petroleum industry, specifically bitumen production in the area surrounding Fort McMurray, and a segment devoted to the history of climate change. This section also includes what corporations in the energy industry knew about it, when, and what was (or was not) done about it at the time. The major set piece of this book is the Fort McMurray fire, which the author describes through the eyes of fleeing residents and the first responders trying deal with the disaster. more
A fire's beginnings are always humble, and any future beyond the uncertain present is dependent on a tripod of factors over which - at first anyway - a fire has no control: heat, fuel, and oxygen. These are the ingredients of fire, but a fourth ingredient - a catalyst - is needed to unite these disparate elements into a dynamic whole. Frankenstein's monster needed a jolt of lightning, and so in its way does fire. I was aware of wildfires, of course. But it wasn't until this summer that the wind blew the Canadian air down upon us as a toxic blanket, blocking out the sun. more
Divided into three main sections and all are excellent. Part 1 - Life in northern Alberta in and around Fort McMurray. Describes the environs and the people drawn to the arduous work in the bitumen industry. Provides notable historic moments about the people that shaped the area. Part 2 - The fire. more
I was riveted by this book. From Vaillant's chronicling of the 2016 Fort McMurray fire to his chilling chronology of our obsession with fossil fuels and combustion, this book should be required reading for all inhabitants of planet Earth. Vaillant describes the Lucretius Problem to explain the delayed evacuation of Fort McMurray and projects that concept unto our inability to fully act on climate change, despite the science staring us in the face. The Lucretius Problem is a mental defect where we assume the worst-case event that has happened is the worst-case event that can happen. The Lucretius Problem has proven itself to be a feature of society's response to our new reality. more
This one really made me angry. Not at the author, because it´s an excellent book, but at humans. We are stupid and arrogant and that´s why we are so doomed. more
The book starts off well enough using wild fire facts and global warming. Vaillant provides a detailed and empathetic narrative that really connected with me. BUT THEN…. the guilt laden, divisive, awful political drivel starts. The age old brain dead diatribe about left vs right. more
This book should be categorized as horror because it’s fucking terrifying. A detailed and well researched look at the oil industry, wildfire, climate change with the backdrop of the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire. I want to shove this book down every politician and oil executive’s throat. I would ding it half a star for the overuse of heavy handed metaphors which got a bit tiresome. . more
Meteorologist approved. After the last few years wildfires have skyrocketed to top of the list of things I want no part of. Fire Weather just reinforces this newfound fear. Books dealing with weather are hit or miss and often times the reader has to wade through the meteorological weeds which can be intimidating . Vaillant includes a lot of information in the book and could have been made into multiple publications. more
What a treat: one of my favorite authors (I loved both "The Tiger" and "The Golden Spruce") writing about one of my favorite subjects, wildfires. And as always, he does it masterfully. I remember Fort McMurray from 2016 as it was widely covered in the media, but only after reading this book did I understand the magnitude of the event. Vaillant reconstructs in fascinating detail what happened in Alberta at that time, and it is a gripping story - the only other book on wildfires that did a similar job was "Paradise" by Lizzie Johnson. While this vivid description fulfilled my expectations, the author offers much more here. more
Another extraordinary book from the remarkable John Vaillant. Gripping environmental storytelling, using the May 2016 Ft McMurray fire (which burned over 15 months) as a real-life example. The clearest exposition I've seen of the multiple issues around global warming and carbon emissions. Bleak yet slightly hopeful. Among other interesting philosophical detours, the one about ”failure of imagination,” that is, how impossible it is to plan for anything we can’t imagine to be real especially resonated as a sorry reason for why people have failed to do much about the mess the planet is in. more
An excellent book. Four stars because it became a bit preachy about climate change. I would rather have heard more about the aftermath of the fire. Overall a fascinating listen although quite nerve-wracking for someone who lives in the wilderness side of the wilderness-urban interface. . more
Page four. Still in the prologue, and l already said "Holy shit. That can happen. " out loud. I think this is going to be very educational (and terrifying) read . more
a well written book about the human-caused destruction of fort mcmurray tied in with current state politics and the ongoing ignorance to climate science. highly recommend this read to all. . more
“Fire has no heart, no soul, and no concern for the damage it does, or who it harms. Its focus is solely on sustaining itself and spreading as broadly as possible, wherever possible. In this way, fire resembles the unspoken priorities of most commercial industries, corporate boards and shareholders, and, more broadly, the colonial impulse. ”Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast is an eye-opening book that works at multiple levels: from the riveting story of the Fort McMurray Fire, to the climate context that created the conditions for this devastating fire, to the hungry fire beast that has emerged in our existential nightmares. And John Vaillant speaks directly about our culpability. more
In typical American ignorance, I remember hearing about these fires vaguely. I knew that the Alberta tar sands were a thing, but had no idea the scale or how much of an impact they made on the global economy. This book does a masterful job of conveying the expanse and emotion of fire, weather, and the impacts we are seeing related to climate change. Definitely recommend. . more
If you're wanting to read about the fire, it's path and the effort to fight it read something else. 600 pages of adverbs, adjectives, analogies (at least one per page), the history of every block in town, and the biography of half the citizens. this is the book for you. I ALWAYS finish books that I start. Couldn't do it. more
One of those books where: I have to hold back when talking to people about it because I want to tell them FACTS, I cannot read it before bed because I will have NIGHTMARES. A book I will not soon forget, despite living in the land of forgetting (Calgary, Alberta). “Science can be frustrating for nonscientists because scientists are trained to be humble and cautious and not to speak in absolutes. Almost everything they say is qualified somehow. It’s an approach that doesn’t generate clicks, or draw eyeballs, or make money, and it leaves openings for cynical actors. more
I don't think I have ever read a non-fiction that gripped me like Fire Weather did. I simply could not put it down. This book about climate science centers around the Fort Mac fire of 2016, and includes references to other beastly recent fires and the science behind them. Vaillant manages to make the science accessible, and his vivid writing and extensive research take the reader right into the bowels of that terrifying disaster. The book tells how we got here, why fire is more dangerous to us than ever before, and gives us a glimpse of the terrifying future we have created. more
“The wilful and ongoing failure to act on climate science is unforgivable. Recriminations are justified but none will be sufficient. ”Powerful and urgent clarion call to a blind world stumbling headlong into catastrophe. As an Australian who lived through 4+ months of choking smoke in the 2019 fire season this hit home, hard. Required reading. more
John Vaillant writes in such a way that I felt as if I was in the town of Fort MacMurray as it burned to the ground. His descriptions are vivid and eerie. Then he adds in the science of climate change and you have truly scary story of the future if people don’t take climate change seriously. I need to read other titles by this author. more