The Fires California Grieves—And Needs

In Her Scorched Klamath Mountains Community, a Fire Advisor Contemplates Mortality and Renewal

On a recent Sunday, I lay alone by my favorite hometown swimming hole, taking in the familiar sensations of the South Fork Trinity River. The hot sun, the light up-canyon wind—sending mist over me each time it swirled past the falls—the buzz and clicking of grasshoppers, the distant sound of trucks passing by on the rural highway above. I looked down at my body and thought how remarkable it was that I’m still me, all these decades later, and the rocks and the trail and the river are still here, …

A Letter From Napa Valley, Where Love Burns Hotter Than Fire | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

A Letter From Napa Valley, Where Love Burns Hotter Than Fire

A Writer Reflects on Fleeing Northern California’s Glass Fire, the Written History She Lost to the Blaze, and the Relationships That Sustain Her

I nearly died last week, which is how I realized: All of my stories are about love.

It was about 3 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 27, and my husband Tom …

All California Is Wine Country—and the Wildfires Make It More So

Our Thriving Vineyards Put People in Harm's Way, but They Also Bind Us Together

The deaths and damage of this year’s Wine Country wildfires are a historic disaster. They are also the product of an epic California success.

That triumph is the growth of the …

Canada’s Fort McMurray Wildfire Highlights the Trouble with Fighting Fire with Fire

Call It the “Pyrocene,” an Unprecedented Collision of Free-Burning Flames with Our Fossil-Fuel Powered Society

“And where two raging fires meet together, they do consume the thing that feeds their fury.” —William Shakespeare

The images are gripping. Horizons glow with satanic reds squishing through black and …