Mini review: “Fire Weather” by John Vaillant (audiobook edition)
As I write in September 2023, Britain is experiencing an unprecedented heatwave where temperatures have topped 30ºC for at least 7 days. This is no match for the 40ºC we experienced last summer but it follows recent massive wildfires in Greece which have been declared the biggest ever recorded in the EU.
It seemed like an appropriate time to read / listen to this book. Despite it being non-fiction I raced through it in a couple of days as if it were a thriller – it is addictive and, frankly, one of the scariest things I have ever read. It is also one of the best books I have read and I encourage everyone to read it.
Initially I was surprised that I don’t remember it being reported at the time but a search shows that it was reported. Britain was 7 weeks away from voting in the Brexit referendum, an event whose run-up and aftermath was all-consuming in and of itself and my attention would have been elsewhere.
The scale of the wildfire cannot really be comprehended despite the excellent way in which the power, ferocity and speed are described or the fire’s structure and mode of operation explained.
Parallel to the story of the fire itself is a look at the growth of the industry surrounding the exploitation of the Canadian tar / oil sands. It is not oil but rather bitumen that is mined – something which has to be refined extensively before it becomes a petrol. Financially it is not cost-effective some of the time, it leads to massive environmental destruction and the pressures of the work can lead to mental health issues. The book does make you think, given all that, why do corporations and people do it? Money, pure and simple, spurred by mankind’s insatiable need for energy. I was reminded of the many times I read The Lorax by Dr Seuss to my children.
If I have any issue with the book it’s with the subtitle: “A True Story From A Hotter World” – I don’t think that it ultimately reflects the full extent of what the book delivers. It starts with a focus on the Fort McMurray fire but broadens it’s scope way beyond that. It also goes indepth on the experiences of fire in Australia and California, how the world is now experincing new types of extreme weather and how they have become year-round threats rather than isolated events in distinct seasons. But what struck me was how we get a whole section looking at the history of climate change discoveries and revelations of who-knew-what-when. For me, it came out of the blue and contrasted with the “thriller” aspect of the earlier content. By the end of that section it is perfectly clear that you cannot argue with the science behind climate change. In fact, it is so clear and effective it would make an excellent mini-book all by itself. The author then brings things back together nicely, re-introducing the characters of the McMurray fire and balancing that with how the overall situation has changed in the last few years as environmental concerns have become increasingly important and influential.
The narrator does a low-key, excellent job – I find that non-fiction books can often be read by some soulless default American accent that sucks any of the vigour out of the story. Not so here. He is a Canadian reading a Canadian story and he has a slight gravelly aspect to his voice which adds a kind of cinematic feel – just a touch of the voice in the movie trailers that start “In a world where…”. It is perfectly paced – a lot of the time I have to listen to audiobooks at 1.1x or 1.2x speed but for once I just left it on the default and let it power on. No nonsense of trying to imitate an accent and failing. Good stuff.
Also:
• The Guardian: ‘Absolutely apocalyptic’: Fort McMurray evacuees describe terror of Alberta wildfires
•The Guardian: Alberta wildfires leave Fort McMurray charred and desolate – in pictures
• The Guardian: ‘Like Nagasaki’: devastating wildfires will only get worse, new book warns
• CBC: John Vaillant’s Fire Weather looks at the Fort McMurray wildfire and a ‘new century of fire’
• CBC: Massive ’21st-century’ fires are here to stay — and we need to update how we fight them, says author
Spare Cycles 