The Fire Line, Fernanda Santos
The Fire Line, Fernanda Santos
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The Fire Line
The Story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots

Author: Fernanda Santos

Narrator: Ari Fliakos

Unabridged: 6 hr 22 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/03/2016


Synopsis

“In Fernanda Santos’ expert hands, the story of 19 men and a raging wildfire unfolds as a riveting, pulse-pounding account of an American tragedy; and also as a meditation on manhood, brotherhood and family love. The Fire Line is a great and deeply moving book about courageous men and women.”

- Héctor Tobar, author of Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine and the Miracle that Set Them Free.

When a bolt of lightning ignited a hilltop in the sleepy town of Yarnell, Arizona, in June of 2013, setting off a blaze that would grow into one of the deadliest fires in American history, the twenty men who made up the Granite Mountain Hotshots sprang into action.

An elite crew trained to combat the most challenging wildfires, the Granite Mountain Hotshots were a ragtag family, crisscrossing the American West and wherever else the fires took them. The Hotshots were loyal to one another and dedicated to the tough job they had. There's Eric Marsh, their devoted and demanding superintendent who turned his own personal demons into lessons he used to mold, train and guide his crew; Jesse Steed, their captain, a former Marine, a beast on the fire line and a family man who wasn’t afraid to say “I love you” to the firemen he led; Andrew Ashcraft, a team leader still in his 20s who struggled to balance his love for his beautiful wife and four children and his passion for fighting wildfires. We see this band of brothers at work, at play and at home, until a fire that burned in their own backyards leads to a national tragedy.

Impeccably researched, drawing upon more than a hundred hours of interviews with the firefighters’ families, colleagues, state and federal officials, and fire historians and researchers, New York Times Phoenix Bureau Chief Fernanda Santos has written a riveting, pulse-pounding narrative of an unthinkable disaster, a remarkable group of men and the raging wildfires that threaten our country’s treasured wild lands.

The Fire Line is the winner of the 2017 Spur Award for Best First Nonfiction Book, and Spur Award Finalist for Best Western Contemporary Nonfiction.

About Fernanda Santos

Fernanda Santos covers Arizona and New Mexico as the Phoenix bureau chief for The New York Times. The Fire Line is her first book.

About Ari Fliakos

Ari Fliakos is an actor with experience in television, radio, film, theater, and voiceovers. His narration of Seth Patrick’s Reviver won an Audie for paranormal fiction. He has narrated Black Site and Tier One Wild by Dalton Fury, as well as Gangster Squad, The Inquisitor, and Shotgun Lovesongs. On screen, he is best-known for his roles in Law & Order, Pills, and Company K.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Ms.pegasus on October 16, 2017

The unspoiled beauty of the American West is a vision which competes with the cost of enjoying that vision. It is a magnet for developers eager to build on the interface that promises both scenic vistas and a congestion-free lifestyle. The result is a growing configuration of homes abutting remote t......more

Goodreads review by Ariane on May 22, 2016

A wonderful tribute to the brave men of the Granite Mountain Hotshots. These men will live on in the hearts and minds of people who never had the honor to meet them, thanks to the diligent efforts of Fernanda Santos. I learned a great deal from this book, but I most enjoyed the personal stories abou......more

Goodreads review by Shrike58 on July 25, 2023

My overall feeling once I finished this book is what a waste, as Ms. Santos provides a chronicle of a unit of firefighters, how they lived, and how they died. Call this a group portrait of a band of average men who aspired to live superior lives. The big gap is that the perspective of the controlling......more

Goodreads review by Daniel on May 04, 2016

This spring I went to a conference in Boston called Power of Narrative and got an early copy of THE FIRE LINE: The story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots and one of the deadliest days in American firefighting. I finished the book yesterday. It’s a fast-moving, vividly written read that transported......more

Goodreads review by Linda on April 26, 2016

Fernanda Santos did excellent work in presenting this story. I am a fast thinker, and she moved right along with the events and interviews and kept my interest. She was at the incident shortly after it occurred and followed it through, it was very personal to her. Living in Arizona we have heard a g......more


Quotes

“Ari Fliakos's reading of the text is subdued and serious, as befits the material. Good pacing and well-placed inflection keep the forward momentum, and his serious tone, devoid of drama, adds to the sense of foreboding as the events unfold...Fliakos's delivery is reminiscent of a reporter's eyewitness account: well pitched to the text, unadorned, absorbing, and effective.” -AudioFile.com


Awards

  • Spur Awards - Finalist
  • Spur Awards - Winner