“In the spring of 2016, halfway through the hottest year of the hottest decade in recorded history, a new kind of fire introduced itself to the world.”

Vaillant states the book’s main thesis in his typically vivid style. He distills the facts of the wildfire down to their bones, explaining that climate change has essentially rewritten the rules for fires, thus thematically introducing The Role of Human Activity in Natural Disasters.

“Fort McMurray is an anomaly in North America. Located six hundred miles north of the U.S. border and six hundred miles south of the Arctic Circle, the city is an island of industry in an ocean of trees.”

The text introduces Fort McMurray, the site of the fire. Its description as an island of industry in a forest of trees highlights the irony inherent in its essentially contradictory nature, which ultimately led to its destruction.

“If all of Alberta’s pipelines were lined up end to end, they would span the gap between Fort McMurray and the moon, with enough leftover to wrap the equator.”

Several statements in the book convey the staggering scale of Alberta’s oil operations, including this one, which notes that the pipelines could reach the moon. Additionally, the text notes that the oil fields are visible from space.