Account of female firefighter in USA. The account is very detailed including firefighting, and intimate details of their personal life. It sure wasn’t easy being a firefighter. Important notes on sexual harassment in the workplace and childhood trauma. Thank you to the author. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

"This may have been the exact moment I fell in love with being a hotshot. Burning was like entering an alternate dimension. My shirt was drenched but I hadn't noticed myself sweating. The drip torch became an extension of my arm, fire a liquid expelled by my body. There was no pain. I'd been totally focused, consumed like branches alchemized from solid to smoke. I was cleansed." (loc. 672*)

Selby fell into firefighting almost by accident—but it stuck, and what followed was years in and out of seasonal work, in the wild, on the fireline. Firefighting was (still is) an industry dominated by cis White men, and Selby did not fit the mold; sometimes it was possible to forget that and just be a firefighter, and sometimes the reminders came thick and fast that some of the people on the crew wanted a crew that was exclusively firemen.

I've said it before and expect I'll say it again in the not too distant future: in another life, I want to be a wildland firefighter. In the meantime, though, I'll just keep ploughing through memoir after memoir as they turn up. And what I'm learning from memoirs on the subject is this: Wildland firefighting has always been behind the times in the US; it has always focused on suppression despite centuries of evidence that some amount of fire can be a regeneration tool. And wildland firefighting is falling ever more behind the times as the effects of climate change accelerate and fires burn bigger and hotter than ever before. As Jordan Thomas does in "When It All Burns", Selby dives into both past and present, excavating history to trace the path of firefighting, mismanagement, and inadequate stewardship.

"Leaving was my answer to everything." (loc. 2401)

Though it is of course the same history, the tone of the books is strikingly different. While Thomas felt out of place at times for being an academic who took to firefighting as a side gig (for money and for research), once he proved himself, he was any other guy on the crew; for Selby, firefighting was a lifeline out of a traumatic upbringing, and there was never going to be the option to be "any other guy" on the crew. It's a painful read at times, but a raw and valuable one. Recommended to those interested in climate change, gender politics, fire, and/or more generally memoir.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

*Quotes are from an ARC and may not be final.

In this thoroughly researched memoir, Selby expertly weaves memories of firefighting with technical and metaphorical descriptions of fires as well as Native American history of the land on which they worked, while examining the whole experience through the lens of the misogyny they experienced as the only visibly female crew member in a long time.

Selby does a great job of describing their experiences in vivid detail, particularly when it comes to the physicality of firefighting as an occupation.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in land history, the science of fires, the field of firefighting, and sexism.

Long and winding memoir set against the backdrop of wilderness fire fighting. I enjoyed learning about the fire fighters and especially the challenges of being a woman in that setting. There was also a lot of education interspersed on forest fires and I learned a lot. Excellent writer who has not had an easy road. Thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and give an honest review.

Hotshot is an upcoming nonfiction/memoir from author River Selby. This book is rich with information about the environmental complexities of fire suppression and the impact of human behavior on our landscapes. These themes of nature are woven between stories of Selby’s life as a female wildland firefighter.

This will sound stupid to say, but I think this book does a really good job at being what it is. It is both an intensely vulnerable memoir and a thorough resource on environmental science—in equal parts. I can think of a few different friends or coworkers who would find this memoir really interesting.

TW: eating disorders, sexual assault, suicide, substance abuse, mental illness, sexual content

As you can see from the list above, this book hits on several heavy topics that may not be suitable for all readers. I’m pretty unflinching when it comes to these things, and the only part I’m still looking for at the end of the book is some resolution on Selby’s experiences with those things. Maybe unbeknownst to the author, the reader is rooting for you!

River, I hope you’re doing well and thriving today. This book taught me more than I ever dreamed of learning about fire, nature’s response to it and the various local and government departments, agencies and programs that regulate our human interactions with the land.

This is a 5 ⭐️ read for me. Hotshot is available on August 12, 2025. Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for this ARC in exchange for me honest review.

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