Publisher's Synopsis
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 the 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% 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 a year getting to know dozens of women who have participated in the fire camp program.
