Shortly after Santa Rosa cartoonist Brian Fies returned home on Oct. 9, 2017 to discover that his house and all his family’s possessions had vanished in the Tubbs Fire, he bought some markers at the drug store and began drawing his experience. He titled it A Fire Story.
Through the format of comics, Fies perfectly captured the shock, anguish and heartbreak that thousands of others in the North Bay felt when they’d learned they, too, lost everything to the fire. A resulting KQED Arts video brought Fies’ comic to life, garnering over 2 million views and a regional Emmy Award.
Fies and his wife are still rebuilding. And this weekend, he celebrates the release of A Fire Story, the book, at the Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa. At 160 pages, A Fire Story includes an expanded version of Fies’ original comic, as well as stories from his neighbors and other fire survivors. With a journalist’s acumen—Fies is a former newspaper reporter—and an eye and heart for the important stuff, Fies shouldn’t be surprised if he sees it on upcoming bestseller lists.
The book release for ‘A Fire Story’ gets underway on Saturday, March 9, at the Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa from 6–9pm. Free admission. Details here.