The Firefighters of Station 12 Who Refused to Sleep

In 1991, a wildfire swept through the Oakland Hills of California, killing twenty-five people and destroying over three thousand homes in a single afternoon. Investigators later discovered that the fire had actually started the day before — a small grass fire that crews believed they had fully extinguished. They went home. They slept soundly. By morning, hidden embers had reignited beneath the dry brush, and within hours the blaze became unstoppable.…