LONDON (AP) 鈥� A book about a fire that ravaged a Canadian city and has been called a portent of climate chaos won Britain鈥檚 leading nonfiction book prize on Thursday.
John Vaillant鈥檚 鈥淔ire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World鈥� was awarded the 50,000 pound ($62,000) Baillie Gifford Prize at a ceremony in London.
The chair of the judging panel, Frederick Studemann, said the book tells 鈥渁 terrifying story,鈥� reading 鈥渁lmost like a thriller鈥� with a 鈥渄eep science backdrop.鈥�
He called 鈥淔ire Weather,鈥� which was also a U.S. National Book Award finalist, 鈥渁n extraordinary and elegantly rendered account of a terrifying climate disaster that engulfed a community and industry, underscoring our toxic relationship with fossil fuels.鈥�
Vaillant, based in British Columbia, recounts how a engulfed the oil city of Fort McMurray in 2016. The blaze, which burned for months, drove 90,000 people from their homes, destroyed 2,400 buildings and disrupted work at Alberta鈥檚 lucrative .
Vaillant said the lesson he took from the inferno was that 鈥渇ire is different now, and we鈥檝e made it different" through human-driven climate change.
He said the day the fire broke out in early May, it was 33 Celsius (91.4 Fahrenheit) in Fort McMurray, which is about 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) south of the Arctic Circle. Humidity was a bone-dry 11%.
鈥淵ou have to go to Death Valley in July to get 11% humidity," Vaillant told The Associated Press. 鈥淣ow transpose those conditions to the boreal forest, which is already flammable. To a petroleum town, which is basically built from petroleum products -鈥� from the vinyl siding to the tar shingles to the rubber tires to the gas grills. 鈥� So those houses burned like a refinery.鈥�
Vaillant said the fire produced radiant heat of 500 Celsius 鈥� 鈥渉otter than Venus.鈥�
sa国际传媒 has experienced many devastating fires since 2016. The country endured its worst wildfire season on record this year, with blazes destroying huge swaths of northern forest and blanketing much of sa国际传媒 and the U.S. in haze.
鈥淭hat has grave implications for our future," Vaillant said. 鈥淐anadians are forest people, and the forest is starting to mean something different now. Summer is starting to mean something different now. That鈥檚 profound, It鈥檚 like a sci-fi story -鈥� when summer became an enemy.鈥�
Founded in 1999, the prize recognizes English-language books from any country in current affairs, history, politics, science, sport, travel, biography, autobiography and the arts. It has been credited with bringing an eclectic slate of fact-based books to a wider audience.
Vaillant beat including best-selling American author David Grann鈥檚 seafaring yarn 鈥淭he Wager鈥� and physician-writer Siddhartha Mukherjee鈥檚 鈥淭he Song of the Cell.鈥�
Sponsor Baillie Gifford, an investment firm, has faced protests from environmental groups over its investments in fossil fuel businesses. , Katherine Rundell, gave her prize money for 鈥淪uper-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne鈥� to a conservation charity.
The judges said neither the sponsor nor criticism of it influenced their deliberations.
Historian Ruth Scurr, who was on the panel, said she did not feel 鈥渃ompromised鈥� as a judge of the prize.
鈥淚 have no qualms at all about being an independent judge on a book prize, and I am personally thrilled that the winner is going to draw attention to this subject,鈥� she said.
Jill Lawless, The Associated Press
