Into the Inferno: A Photographer's Journey through California's Megafires and Fallout

by Stuart Palley

Overview

In the tradition of Young Men and Fire and Fire on the Mountain, Stuart Palley’s memoir Into the Inferno documents eight years of devastating wildfire in California, showing how fire can transform a landscape as well as a soul …

For nearly a decade, Palley has been on the front line of fire. He has witnessed homeowners on the worst day of their lives. He’s seen puddles of aluminum where cars were once parked. He’s watched as 150-foot walls of flame cascaded down mountainsides and crashed into the Pacific Ocean. And he’s captured, time and again, the tireless commitment of firefighters as they work to save lives and homes, in terrain where fire always seems to have the upper hand.

In this memoir, Palley recalls how he went from learning to be safe on the fire line to a fire-savvy documentarian of wildfire and climate change. He covers some of California’s largest, most destructive, and deadliest fires between 2012 and 2020, lugging his gear from the Wine Country Fire Siege to the Thomas Fire and ultimately to the Woolsey Fire in Malibu. And he shows how, in a relatively short span of time, fire season in California has grown into a perpetual crisis, requiring billions of dollars and thousands of firefighters each year.

Ultimately, the experiences, the voices, and the science shared in the memoir form an urgent call for climate action. Into the Inferno stands alongside Palley’s photography to show just what kind of environmental tragedy we can expect if we do nothing.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798212184731
Publisher:	Blackstone Publishing
Publication date:	06/13/2023
Sales rank:	371,335
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Stuart Palley is a photographer based in Southern California. He is the author of Terra Flamma: Wildfire at Night, and his work has been featured in National Geographic, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and many other publications.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Introduction xi

1 Dreams of Fire 1

2 High Fire Hazard Severity Area 6

3 Access to Wildfires, Training, Staying Safe 13

4 Granite Mountain 21

5 Initial Attack at the Mountain Fire 24

6 It's the Climate 32

7 Megafire 40

8 A Chance Encounter 50

9 Reality Check 55

10 The Campaign Fires of Lake County 64

11 Rough Times at Buck Rock Lookout 76

12 No Light 84

13 Fight Fire with Fire 90

14 Fatigue Sets In 95

15 Mad Max 102

16 Orange County's Fire Funnel 108

17 Smoke in the Vineyard 115

18 The Great Western Firebreak 130

19 Fire in the Valley 145

20 The Memory Remains 152

21 The Big One, Woolsey Fire Part I 158

22 I of the Storm 173

23 Paradise Lost 186

24 Fallout 191

25 Ripple Effects 202

26 The Pulaski Pilgrimage, or Ghosts in the Gulch 210

27 Firestorms of the Future 215

28 Desert Breeze 228

Acknowledgments 234

Endnotes 241

Bibliography 249

Glossary 257

Editorial Reviews

Here, in this gripping memoir, [Palley] records his fascination with his views of the burning vistas, his heroic attempts to photograph the spectacular power that the consuming flames discharge.”

San Francisco Book Review (5 stars)

Palley mostly shoots at night, making long exposures that pulse in a cosmic blaze of heat and color.”

praise for the author Wired

Compelling.”

San Francisco Chronicle

Stuart is a much needed and powerful voice in the face of the climate emergency. Like his photos, his writing viscerally captures the unique and haunting experience each fire has on ecosystems, survivors, and the communities impacted. Into the Inferno captures the frontlines of each megafire and translates each experience into urgency, loss, and a sobering foreshadowing of our future in an age of fire.”

Julia Jackson

Very few photographers understand the nuances of fire like Stuart Palley. With Into the Inferno, Palley takes the reader on his journey to the heart of some of the most historic and destructive fires in the United States, and provides compelling insight into the complexities of photographing wildfires while trying to stay safe, and ultimately making one of the most poignant and important photographic records of the effects of climate change to date. This book is essential reading for anyone looking for insight into the treacherous journey of those covering and fighting fires.”

Pulitzer Prize–winning photojournalist and a Lynsey Addario

Into the Inferno is a nature book, a disaster-chasing book, a California book. It’s the story of a man mesmerized by the seasonal fires that sweep the American West grappling with what it does to a person to face something so large, so powerful, so destructive…Poetic.”

Washington Independent Review of Books

A thrilling tale that persuades its reader to mind the devastating consequences of climate change. Aspiring photographers and wildfire fetishists will be eager for the bountiful details of Palley’s routines and training, as well as the litany of his dances with ‘the gods of fire.’ More relevant to a broader audience is Palley’s rousing argument about human responsibility for the crescendo of megafires that are rendering his home state increasingly uninhabitable.”

New York Times Book Review

From his front-row seat, Palley pens a compelling, personal narrative of what it’s like to watch the world burn. His journey into realizing that climate change is a current disaster, not a future one, is ultimately a destination we’re all going to have to reach. Let Palley be your guide to understanding the new normal.”

editor and columnist at Outside magazine Wes Siler

12/01/2021

In Wastelands, award-winning novelist Addison turns to nonfiction to profile a rural community so angered by the damage done by pollution-spewing Big Agriculture that it sued the worst offender—and won. New York Times best-selling author Bremmer sets us on a Collision Course, predicting that more pandemics, increased climate-change complications, and life-altering new technologies will inevitably be a part of our future (100,000-copy first printing). Distinguished Stanford political scientist Fukuyama, perhaps best known forThe End of History and the Last Man, now examines Liberalism and Its Discontents at a time of political upheaval (75,000-copy first printing). "Corner Office" columnist at theNew York Times, Gelles calls General Electric CEO Jack Welch The Man Who Broke Capitalism, indicting him for the harm done by his brand of capitalism and showing how some companies are trying to undo it with different strategies. Award-winning journalist Hill ( BET News) and New York Times best-selling author Brewster (The Century) join forces in Seen and Unseen, considering videos like those showing the killing of George Floyd and the harassment of Christian Cooper to investigate how technology has impacted our conversations about race (100,000-copy first printing). Photographer Palley's Into the Inferno recalls eight years spent documenting California's raging wildfires, showing that the state's fire season now lasts year-round and calling for climate action (see also poet Kevin Goodan's Spot Weather Forecast). Former president of the Uyghur Humans Rights Project and now a commissioner for the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Turkel uses memoir in No Escape to reveal China's ongoing repression of the Uyghur people.

Library Journal

Professional wildfire photographer Stuart Palley describes his life in the unique and frequently terrifying world of fire photography. Having witnessed some of the most destructive fires in California’s history, Palley is no stranger to the heartbreaking loss of homes and the threat of imminent danger. In this audiobook, Palley brings his native Californian accent to tales of riding along with firefighters, sleeping in his car, and running out on a moment's notice to capture images of one of nature’s most destructive forces. Palley’s thoughtful narration captures his passion for both photography and environmental preservation. His emotional engagement adds to the immediacy and authenticity of his account. V.B. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

OCTOBER 2022 - AudioFile