Kurt Kamm

I have written a novel about wildland firefighters, One Foot in the Black and am currently working on a second novel about an arsonist, Red Flag Warning (More information at http://www.kurtkamm.com)

I am a graduate of Brown University and Columbia Law School and have retired from Wall Street. I spent five years as a masters (55 -60) bicycle racer. I moved to Malibu 5 years ago. The first thing you realize about Malibu, after its beauty, is the fire danger. Every year Malibu has fires. Every 10 years, Malibu has devastating fires. In October and November 2007, we had two terrible fires which destroyed 60 homes. The October fire was driven by 60 m ph winds. It literally burned to my front door. My closest neighbor lost his house and a church nearby was destroyed. I saved my house as a result of the things about firefighting, which I learned while writing my book.

Malibu is full of fire stations and fire camps. Camp 13, a female inmate camp trains women to work on wildland fires. Camp 8, is a helitak camp, where crews train to fight fires using modified Blackhawk helicopters. One day when I was riding my bike home, I passed Pepperdine University and saw an LA County Fire helicopter on the lawn, with several firefighters standing around it. I wondered what their lives were like and thought I would write a book about it.

I have been fortunate to have access to all the fire stations, camps and training academies of LA County as well as CalFire (CA state fire agency). My book tells the story of a boy from Michigan who is forced out of his home by an abusive father. He comes to California and becomes a firefighter. His role model and mentor is killed in a wildfire burnover. He struggles to cope with his father's influence on his life and the loss of his mentor. While the book is complete fiction, it is based on real situations and people involved in firefighting in California. One foot in the black is a wildland firefighter's phrase. It refers to 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, near a zone into which escape is possible.