| The sight of prairie fires sweeping across the the horizon struck fear in the hearts of
ranchers, settlers, miners, and town folk in the developing West. Whether fought
with wet burlap sacks and hastily ploughed fireguards, bucket brigades, or increasingly
sophisticated equipment of early firehalls, prairie fires were a daunting enemy that
blazed through the history of the Canadian West.
Sometimes naturally occurring, but more often the result of the rapid changes brought by
steam engines and settlements, these fires had the power to decimate huge tracts of land,
changing the environment, endangering countless lives, and drastically altering the
architectural face of towns and cities.
Filled with archival photographs, Out of the Flames examines the dramatic impact
fire had on the settlement of the West and the heroic and tragic stories that arose from
smoldering ashes. Faye Reineberg Holt combines personal stories, the history of
fire-fighting techniques, urban disasters, fires in mines, oil wells, and slag heaps, fire
folklore, and legend in this fascinating account of prairie fires.
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