"When Manjula Martin moved from the city to the woods of Northern California, she wanted to be closer to the wilderness that she had loved as a child. ... But the landscape that Martin treasured was an ecosystem already in crisis. Wildfires fueled by climate change were growing bigger and more frequent. ... In 2020, when a dry lightning storm ignited hundreds of simultaneous wildfires across the West and kicked off the worst fire season on record, Martin ... evacuated her home in the midst of a pandemic. Both a love letter to the forests of the West and an interrogation of the colonialist practices that led to their current dilemma, [this book] follows her ... as she seeks shelter, bears witness to the devastation, and tries to better understand fire's role in the ecology of the West"--

August 1. Storm 3 Go bag—Bay leaves—A brief pyronatural history of California—Turtle Island—On pruning 2. Sea 38 Over the hill—The land—Aftershocks—The sea—Dawn patrol 3. Glacier 67 Love letters—A garden—What the tule knows—Pit stop—Where water comes from 4. Steam 97 The recreators—Hangtown—Fuel September 5. Hawk 115 A season—Beauty and sweetness—The river 6. Sky 135 What smoke is—The day without a sky—Visions 7. Smoke 154 Outside things—Inside things—Bread—Days of Awe   October 8. Devils 181 Wine Country—The people who stay—Devils—Flare-ups—Fire flowers 9. Gods 226 Foxes—Red flag—Surf lessons—What the forest knows 10. Veils 249 After wind—Veils—Helicopter—Portal— The recumbent November 11. Owl 275 Watchers—Hashtag strong—Dozer lines 12. Oak 290 Good fire—A brief pyronatural history of women—Rain 13. Dirt 306 Stewardship—Black gold   Acknowledgments 323 Source Notes 325