Holiday reading

Dan Robinson fought forest fires for 14 years, and now in his

dramatic first novel “After the Fire” he explores the internal

struggle of one fire crew supervisor, Barnes, who loses 12 members

of his crew in a fated forest fire.

Robinson, who is an adjunct professor in the English department

said that all of the smaller fires that Barnes’ crew fights in the

novel are based on real fires, but the tragedy that eventually

kills much of his crew and friends was created from a compilation

of several larger fires that he fought.

“Everything (in the novel) is true even if it didn’t happen

exactly as I’ve written,” he said.

The truthfulness of his novel comes not from a factual depiction

of real events, but rather from his intimate knowledge of fires

gained from fighting over 100 fires throughout the years.

He had to run from fires and he lost close friends in tragedy

fires as well, which creates depth in the character of Barnes.

“I know what it’s like to spend a couple of days on a fire line

so my descriptions of the fires were maybe not more accurate but

(more true),” he said.

But even though on the surface the novel is about forest fires,

Robinson said that in actuality it is about much more.

“Even though the action is about forest fires it is not about

forest fires, it is about dealing with loss and what we do when

we’re faced with a seemingly overwhelming event,” he said.

Other minor characters in the novel, like Cal, a Vietnam veteran

who faced a similar dilemma when he was an officer in the war, help

to flesh out this deeper purpose.

Robinson, who has several other short stories and poems

published, has spent over 20 years working on this novel. He

originally began writing the novel early in his fire career, but

gave up until 1993 where he started again from scratch.

“At that time I didn’t know enough about fire to not write about

fire,” he said.

And that is the strength of his current novel, the fires are

only periphery to the characters and their struggles.

“I didn’t want Barnes to find his life only in fire,” Robinson

said. “The tragedy that happened to Barnes, while distinctly his,

is similar to the tragedies we all go through in our lives.”

While Robinson’s ambiguity about certain technical aspects of

fire-fighting makes the book accessible to those not in the field,

it also makes certain action scenes a little confusing for those

same readers as well. But while some terminology is at first

unclear, it can be picked up as the novel advances.

One of the best parts of the book for CSU readers is the fact

that the book is placed in Fort Collins, which Robinson said was a

natural choice because of it’s location close to the foothills and

his intimate knowledge of the town.

Robinson said that the central theme of his book is “those

moments of grace offered from individual to individual” and how

those individuals deal with the past.

“We are either enslaved by our pasts or set free by them and

that is determined by how we deal with our pasts.”

“After the Fire” is currently being sold in bookstores

everywhere including the CSU Bookstore.

Some terms that may be confusing are:

fire line: designed to take away the fuels for the fire,

essentially a trench that is dug down to mineral soil around the

perimeter of the fire in an attempt to fence it in

tie-in: where the fire line ends

pulaski: primary tool, besides the shovel, used by

fire-fighters, has an ax on one end and a hoe on the other

Hot shot crew: a crew of Type 1, or professional fire-fighters,

that are fully employed during the fire season and are on call to

any fire in the country within a two-hour notice

Type 2-crew: a crew of non-professional firefighters that are

called in when hot shot crews need assistance

Other recommended books for Holiday Break:

“Memoirs of a Geisha” by Arthur Golden

-An incredible depiction of a little girl who is sold into

prostitution by her parents and finds love.

“The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien

-Personal accounts of Vietnam soldiers that blurs the line

between fiction and non-fiction.

“The Butcher Boy” by Thomas Perry

-A boy struggles with mental illness in Ireland.

“King of Torts” by John Grisham

-A lawyer who delves into mass tort law and is turned on by the

clients he solicited.

“The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold

-A girl who is murdered watches from heaven as her family deals

with her death and searches for her killer.

“Omerta” by Mario Puzo

-A mafia godfather teaches a young man the ways of the

family.

“The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood

-Speculates about the future of the world in religious

conflict.

“Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius” by Dave Eggers

-A humorous and realistic non-fiction novel about a man who must

take care of his kid brother after his parent’s death.

“A prayer for Owen Meany” by John Irving

-A comprehensive story of one man’s life, religion, friendship

and parents.

“If Tomorrow Comes” by Sydney Sheldon

-After everything is taken for her a woman resorts to coning the

evil people of the world, a tale of a modern day Robin Hood

Classics: If you haven’t read ’em you have to, if you have read

’em again

“Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger

“Gone with the Wind” by Margaret Mitchell

“The BFG” by Roald Dahl

“Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens