Summary

In Chapter 6, the wildfire at the heart of Vaillant's story is given a code--MWF-009 (McMurray Wildfire 009). It was spotted on May 1, 2016. This fire behaved differently from the start. Fort McMurray's mayor, Melissa Blake, indicated that the wildfire was not in any way contained. Often accompanying the mayor were Bernie Schmitte and Darby Allen. Schmitte was the regional manager of the Wildfire Division of Alberta's Ministry of Forestry and Agriculture. Allen was the municipal fire chief. Working together, both men declared a local state of emergency but remained upbeat. This optimistic outlook would prove dangerous.

Firefighter Ryan Coutts had a better sense of the fire's path. He and his father Jamie, also a firefighter, were from Slave Lake and knew how easily a fire could get out of control. Their devastating fire had taken place in 2011. They had not called in reinforcements and lived...