A Fire Story

“I inhaled my neighbors' lives”

I have lived through a few things. I have been robbed, my house has caught fire (twice), and I very nearly floated my car in a flash flood. I had to drive on the wrong side of the road and got swept sideways. I have not yet, thankfully, lived through a firestorm and the aftermath. Brian Fies has, however. A Fire Story is a memoir of the experience, pain, fear, regret, and most importantly...hope. His family lost everything. Everything...from pencil to pillar when the Northern California wildfires of 2017 blew through his home and swept away everything but their lives.

A Fire Story is the real world experience of famous Eisner award-winning comic artist and writer, Brian Fies. It starts with the initial smell of a fire, no alarms rang or phones went off. Just the smell of fire and a burning light out in the distance. Then the escape with his family, his dog and cat, and what few belongings he could remember at the moment. Next, is recovery. Being a nomad, the shock and fear of displacement on his animals and how his family rallied together to help them. He talks of starting over, moving on, and trying to rebuild a home both literally and figuratively.

This is a powerful memoir. It makes you stop for a moment, and think about what is truly important. What would you grab? What would you be ok with losing? How do you move on? Graphically, the panels are simply done. Purposefully, not even fully rendered to give the feeling of incompleteness. Even in his use of simplified panels, never think for a moment that emotion, a sense of place and timing are not conveyed. Fies conveys it all and there is a reason why he has won so many awards in the past.

This is a testament to his work as a writer and worth the read.

Remarkable. Delicate balance of facts, sentiment and humour. 
Unenviable first hand insight into an experience which is understood as unique to each individual, but becoming far too commonplace, that is, house destroyed by natural disaster fire. Such a touching rallying of human beings, community.
Inclusion of other people's lost home stories, also helps draw attention to how emergency response might be improved, in future. Read Afterword!