When Clare Frank was 17 years old, she became a firefighter in Northern California. Clare was five-foot-two and officially too young to join the service—she left her birthdate blank on her paperwork, hoping no one would notice. And she didn’t look like her peers, who sported an Adam’s apple and a mustache. But her brother was a firefighter and loved it, so she thought she’d try it out, too. This memoir chronicles the transformation of a young adult determined to prove her mettle into a scarred and sensitive veteran, grappling with the weight of her duties as chief of fire protection, one of the highest-ranking women in Cal Fire history, while record-setting fires engulf her home state. Mentors and mediocre managers, funerals and scandal, pickup basketball, car crashes, and always fire—no one has written about this world, from this perspective, like Clare Frank. She masterfully mixes irreverence and awe, taking readers inside firehouses, on daily calls, and along to gigantic wildfires where antics and dark humor balance terrifying risk, trauma, and a sense of almost holy responsibility.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.