Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Clare Frank
Just One More Game
An entertaining look at the meteoric rise of pickleball and one player's joyful obsession with the game—a fun, enlightening read for pickleballers old and new. Just One More Game is Clare Frank's account of abandoning herself to a sport loved by millions (and hated by plenty of others).
A firefighter’s greatest fear - and 4 ways to tame it
Firefighters are a fearful bunch. I’m not talking about fear of physical danger. Any firefighter would risk life or limb to save someone else’s. I’m talking about a different kind of trepidation –the fear of failure. And that keeps them from being as good as they should be in this high-stakes profession. Over the course of my fire service career, I noticed this increasing unwillingness to take risks involving something other than physical danger.
Book excerpt: ‘Burnt - A Memoir of Fighting Fire’ Original
If heaven is sitting atop a smoky knoll after smothering flames, hell is the hike out. My blisters woke up as soon as I stood. And my sweat-soaked gear conducted an unshakable chill down my spine as redwood shade and a falling sun conspired against me. At a good clip, I could expect the distress to last at least 2½ hours. Drawing on my childhood churchgoing skills, I attenuated the pain by concentrating on something else. At first, I started shyly, humming it.
Dangberg Summer festival kicks off with Chautauquan, author events at Dangberg Historic Park Aug. 4 and 5
Submitted by Carson Now Reader on Wed, 08/02/2023 - 10:00am By Kim Harris - Events Manager A Chautauqua of Lora Josephine Knight and author Clare Frank open August’s events during the 2023 Summer Festival at Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park. On Friday, August 4, from 10 to 11 a.m., Guinevere Hobdy will give a repeat performance as Lora Josephine Knight, widowed heiress and builder of Vikingsholm at Lake Tahoe’s Emerald Bay. This event is free for all to attend.
Opinion: ‘Dear Canada…’ an American firefighter’s heartfelt letter to north of the border Original
Editor’s Note: Clare Frank served as the state of California’s first female chief of fire protection and is the author of “Burnt: A Memoir of Fighting Fire.” The views expressed in this commentary are her own. Read more CNN opinion here. CNN — Dear Canada, What I wouldn’t give to turn back the clock 40 years — to listen more closely to the harbinger wildfires and the future they foretold of catastrophes to come during my tenure as a firefighter in the United States.
Words Matter - Moonshine Ink
By Aimee LaGrandeur Hello from Word After Word Books, your local Truckee/Tahoe bookshop. We are excited to partner with Moonshine Ink to provide our book recommendations for this edition of Words Matter. Conveniently located in Historic Downtown Truckee, we offer a curated selection of new and used books with an emphasis on local authors and interests.
We suffer too many fools who start wildfires
Genoa, Nev. * Thick gray wildfire smoke is pouring down from Canada into the Northeast this week, but it may have a silver lining. Every summer and fall, wildfires in America wreck homes, air quality and lives. While many of the current fires in Canada were caused by lightning that landed on dry forests, here in the States, lightning is rarely the culprit. An astonishing 80 percent are caused by human carelessness.
Opinion | We Suffer Too Many Fools Who Start Wildfires
Opinion|We Suffer Too Many Fools Who Start Wildfires https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/08/opinion/smoke-air-quality-what-started-the-wildfire.html Guest Essay June 8, 2023, 5:00 a.m. ET The Caldor fire burning in the Eldorado National Forest near Pollock Pines, California, in 2021.Credit...Max Whittaker for The New York Times By Clare Frank Ms. Frank served as California’s first female chief of fire protection and is the author of “Burnt: A Memoir of Fighting Fire.” Sign up for the Opinion...
MLK and the fight for civil rights lead the 10 best books of May
“Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood,” Martin Luther King Jr. intoned from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. “Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children,” he urged in what became known as the “I Have a Dream” speech. It was 1963, a pivotal year for the Civil Rights Movement.
A Memoir of Fighting Fire: Clare Frank: Hardcover: 9781419763908: Powell's Books
by Release Date: 9/14/2023 Upcoming Event When Clare Frank was 17 years old, she became a firefighter in Northern California. Clare was five foot two and officially too young to join the service — she left her birthdate blank on her paperwork, hoping no one would notice. And she didn’t look like her peers, who sported an Adam’s apple and a mustache. But her brother was a firefighter and loved it, so she thought she’d try it out, too. Very soon, she knew she had found her calling.
Go/no-go in the wild: Incident command decision-making on wildland and WUI fires Original
You’re the first company officer at scene of a fast-moving 20-acre grass fire. Do you help with attack or go into command mode? Same fire, but now it’s racing toward a house with a car parked out front. Does this change your decision? Same fire, no car, little defensible space, and other structures in the fire’s path. What now? There’s no definitive answer based on the information I’ve given you. A decision to pass command could be just as valid as assuming command.
Review: In memoir ‘Burnt,’ firefighter details her storied career chasing flames
“Burnt: A Memoir of Fighting Fire” by Clare Frank. Photo: Abrams Press If you live in California — or anywhere in the West, for that matter — fires are a constant threat, and they’re getting worse by the year. In 2021 alone, two of them, the Caldor and Dixie fires, burned more than 1.18 million acres. Tens of thousands of people were displaced from their homes. But what would it feel like to run toward these infernos instead of away from them?
If we squeak (or wheeze) loudly enough, will firefighters get the technology we need?
The advancement of wildland fire apparatus and equipment depends on using available technology and pushing for undiscovered technology Technology to help combat wildfire’s ever-increasing rage comes in two flavors: available and undiscovered. Now more than ever, fire service leaders need to lean in to both.
If we squeak (or wheeze) loudly enough, will firefighters get the technology we need?
The advancement of wildland fire apparatus and equipment depends on using available technology and pushing for undiscovered technology Technology to help combat wildfire’s ever-increasing rage comes in two flavors: available and undiscovered. Now more than ever, fire service leaders need to lean in to both.
Hotspotting the nation’s growing wildfire problem
We must focus our efforts on quick suppression, fuel management, WUI codes and ignition reduction When I was a young California firefighter in the 1980s, we used to joke, “This is going to be the worst fire season ever.” We predicated the statement on the certainty that fire would come. A wet winter meant a hearty new grass crop would fuel fires as hills transitioned from green to golden. A dry winter meant heavier fuels were that much closer to tinder.
Hotspotting the nation’s growing wildfire problem
We must focus our efforts on quick suppression, fuel management, WUI codes and ignition reduction When I was a young California firefighter in the 1980s, we used to joke, “This is going to be the worst fire season ever.” We predicated the statement on the certainty that fire would come. A wet winter meant a hearty new grass crop would fuel fires as hills transitioned from green to golden. A dry winter meant heavier fuels were that much closer to tinder.
California is up in smoke but still won't stop playing with fire
California’s wildfire problem is the worst it’s ever been. Just like it was last year. And the years before that. And the decades before that. The insatiable beast devouring the state has become a terror of our own making. Ineffective red and blue slogans involving rakes or carbon footprints are empty rants that do nothing to curb the devastation. The problem is fuel build-up. And it is climate change.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Clare
Contact Clare, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack