"A year ago, I saw a man go up in flames. Our helitak crew was fighting the Pozo Fire in the Los Padres National Forest in Central California. That morning, we dropped onto a remote ridge on Black Mountain. Our job was to cut a control line along the flank of the fire burning in the valley below. We struggled to clear a three-foot wide break through thick brush on the side of the mountain."


Kurt Kamm has lived in Malibu for several years with his wife and three dogs. He was previously a businessman and semi-professional bicycle racer. One of the recent fires in Malibu, the 80 mile-per-hour Santa Ana wind driven Canyon Fire, burned to his front door and destroyed the homes of several neighbors. Mr. Kamm said the lessons he learned from L.A. County Fire Department helped him save his home.


Kurt is Vice Chairman of the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Foundation at UCLA


Books






ISBN: 978-1-4357-0626-2
Publisher: Lulu.com
Rights Owner: Kurt Kamm
Copyright: © 2007
Language: English
Country: United States
Contact: Email

Summary


One Foot in the Black (Definition): A position on the fireline which is next to an area already burned ("the black"). It is at once the most dangerous place, usually close to the flames, and the safest place, a safe zone into which escape is possible.

Greg Kowalski grows up in Michigan with an emotionally and physically abusive father, a Saginaw city firefighter. Cut off from his family, Greg travels to California to become a seasonal firefighter with CDF. He is tormented by the contradiction of hatred for his father and the need to have his father’s approval and love. Greg moves on to the brutal LACoFD Helitak-Attack training academy where he graduates and begins work. He suffers traumatic stress after his crew is trapped on a mountainside in an explosive wildfire in which his captain and mentor dies. The night before this incident, Greg's father is killed in a fire in Saginaw. Greg struggles to cope. He comes to terms with the loss of his captain but has greater difficulty surmounting his father’s influence on his life. This story focuses on the two formative years of his training as a young wildland firefighter when Greg comes of age and finds acceptance and comfort within the “family” of his fire crew.

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Reviews


ONE FOOT IN THE BLACK:
A Wildland Firefighter’s Story
Kirkus Discoveries, Nielsen Business Media,
770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003
discoveries@kirkusreviews.com


A determined loner battles both California wildfires and memories of a difficult childhood.

All Greg Kowalski, a teenager from Saginaw, Mich., ever wanted was a sense of family. His volatile father, a Harley-driving firefighter, demeans Greg and his younger sister Vicky with verbal attacks and physically abuses their quiet, deferential mother. Throughout his adolescence, Greg dreams of escape but nurses a desire to connect with others. Upon graduating from high school, a captain at the fire station offers Greg a chance to enter a training program at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, an opportunity that Greg hopes will impress his father. A curt, heartless dismissal from his family leads to a cross-country bus ride and a strenuous apprenticeship learning the skills required for fighting fire in the brush.

After the gig ends, Greg drives south to Malibu, daring to survive the notorious four week training camp required to join a fire-suppression unit with the LA County Fire Department. Life in the academy is brutal, but it is here that Greg begins to discover the family he never had: fellow trainee Luis Zambrano, who dreams of a better life for his wife and newly born child; Hector Wells, a rootless Native American with years of service as a firefighter; and Capt. Tom Bratton, a gruff yet kindhearted superior who takes a liking to Greg, offering home-cooked meals and sage advice. An unpredictable wildfire in the middle of the dry season, raging over the hills north of Los Angeles, gives Greg plenty of firsthand experience but tests his resolve and dedication to the profession.

Kamm, whose considerable research lends the novel a keen sense of verisimilitude, structures the narrative by unfolding two storylines at once: one tracking Greg’s budding career and the other exploring the gloomy events of his childhood. Greg’s efforts to shake loose of his past make for a compelling, fast-paced read.

A turbulent, thoughtful story of putting out fires, both personal and professional.
Kamm, Kurt

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