California's Rim Fire: Behind The Headlines

by B.J. Hansen

The Rim Fire of 2013 in the Stanislaus National Forest had all the ingredients of a perfect drama, and that is why it became an international news story. It was an out-of-control raging fire that put thousands of homes at risk, ripped through portions of Yosemite National Park, and created concerns about the water supply for San Francisco. "California's Rim Behind The Headlines" is the culmination of in-depth interviews with several of the key players that responded to the fire and community members impacted. It is designed to paint a clear picture, for the first time, of the early efforts to stop the fire when it was only a couple of hundred acres. It also details what led to its explosive growth, the controversial investigation into the cause, how a community rallied together, and the divisive political debates it ignited.

156 pages, Paperback

First published August 10, 2015

Reviews

[Patricia]

After reading this book, I had a chance to interview the author. Hansen, who is News Director for Clark Broadcasting in Sonora, reported on the fire beginning with an email he received shortly after the fire started through its explosive growth to full containment. He also followed the controversial investigation into the cause of the fire and the story of how a community rallied to care for each other and the fire fighters who came from all over the country. Eventually, he would examine the divisive political debates that erupted following the fire related to environmental issues, commercial logging, salvage logging, and recreational land use.

“I’m passionate about documenting history,” explained Hansen. “The Rim Fire is a very complex story and I wanted to be unbiased and report as accurately as possible.” To this end, Hansen relied not only on his first hand experience reporting the day-to-day progress of the fire, but he also interviewed many of the key players who responded. He tracked down people near and far, including the first incident commander, Damon Carson-Hull, a Battalion Chief for the Mi-Wok Ranger District of the Stanislaus National Forest and Incident Commander Mike Wilkins, a District Supervisor with the U.S. Forest Service in North Carolina who was brought in when the fire was categorized as complex, requiring national Type 1 incident management.

But make no mistake, “California’s Rim Fire” is not dry. For a Tuolumne County resident like myself it’s a compelling read, but Hansen reports that readers in Oregon and Idaho have emailed applauding the book. Since I, too, am passionate about history, I liked reading about well documented local event.