Poets Merry Maxwell and Eileen Owen know first-hand the effects of fire, both on the landscape and the soul. Merry's father Forrest was one of eleven firefighters who perished in the Inaja Fire in 1956, and her life has been but one small part of the aftermath. Eileen comes from a family legacy of firefighters, and her husband John has volunteered with Okanogan County's Fire District 6 in the Methow Valley for over twenty years.