Breathing Fire
Female Inmate Firefighters on the Front Lines of California's Wildfires
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Breathing Fire
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Narrated by:
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Frankie Corzo
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Jaime Lowe
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By:
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Jaime Lowe
About this listen
This program features a bonus clip with archival recordings from several of the inmate firefighters and the author.
A dramatic, revelatory account of the female inmate firefighters who battle California wildfires.
Shawna was overcome by the claustrophobia, the heat, the smoke, the fire, all just down the canyon and up the ravine. She was feeling the adrenaline, but also the terror of doing something for the first time. She knew how to run with a backpack; they had trained her physically. But that’s not training for flames. That’s not live fire.
California’s fire season gets hotter, longer, and more extreme every year - fire season is now year-round. Of the thousands of firefighters who battle California’s blazes every year, roughly 30 percent of the on-the-ground wildland crews are inmates earning a dollar an hour. Approximately 200 of those firefighters are women serving on all-female crews.
In Breathing Fire, Jaime Lowe expands on her revelatory work for The New York Times Magazine. She has spent years getting to know dozens of women who have participated in the fire camp program and spoken to captains, family and friends, correctional officers, and camp commanders. The result is a rare, illuminating look at how the fire camps actually operate - a story that encompasses California’s underlying catastrophes of climate change, economic disparity, and historical injustice, but also draws on deeply personal histories, relationships, desires, frustrations, and the emotional and physical intensity of firefighting.
Lowe’s reporting is a groundbreaking investigation of the prison system, and an intimate portrayal of the women of California’s Correctional Camps who put their lives on the line, while imprisoned, to save a state in peril.
A Macmillan Audio production from MCD
©2021 Jaime Lowe (P)2021 Macmillan AudioListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about Breathing Fire
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Cliff Moyce
- 04-08-21
Shocking, emotional and thought provoking
Admiration for the toughness and bravery of women inmates fighting major wild fires in California is tempered by the depressing reality of ‘justice’ and the prison business (for it is a business) in the US. Men and women in prison are effectively being punished for the rest of their lives (for crimes like burglary and drug possession) by the fact that employers don’t want to know anyone with a record. Even when those job applicants have spent the past few years saving lives and property (and seeing colleagues lose their lives). The authors belief that the system doesn’t have to be this c**p (and could be changed if the will is there) will forever be fighting prejudice and vested interests. We the readers can only join her in that hope. Even if you fully support the severity of sentencing for proven crimes in your state, you may struggle to support the idea of a life on the margins (especially for mothers) when it raises significantly the chances of reoffending and / or addiction / death.
The book is told through the life stories of real women fighting fires now or in the very recent past. None are composite characters - all are 100% real. This case study approach is further enhanced by some interview recordings with the women at the end of the book. I really enjoyed hearing their real voices and emotions. It is a great bonus from having the audiobook. Btw the reading of the book is superb.
NB other books referenced by the author (as her sources of information) are also excellent. Perhaps a little more academic than this book (with its life stories) but still eminently readable. They are recommended.
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