FindMyTBR

About Evacuee: Behind the Lines of a Firestorm (Unabridged)

It was always a dream of mine, as a young man, to move to the mountains and buy a piece of land. In 2005, my family and I did just that. In the seven years that followed, we overcame countless challenges and setbacks as we built houses, planted gardens, and created harmony in our beautiful valley. It was an incredible amount of hard work, and through it all, that piece of land blossomed into a family homestead. Then, on the morning of June 9, 2012, nature gave birth to a demon, about a mile north of us. By nightfall, we were in a mandatory evacuation from what would become the most destructive wildfire in the history of Larimer County, Colorado. Everything we had worked so hard for was on the line. Enter the mind of an evacuee, thrust into a nightmare laced with fear, anxiety, and grief. Ride the emotional rollercoaster of a man in his darkest hour, desperately clinging to a fading memory of happiness, as the High Park Fire ravaged more than 250 homes and 137 square miles. Experience the two clandestine attempts to get home, the brutal disappointments, and the exhilarating moments of triumph, in a three-week journey behind the lines of a firestorm....