What Fire Reveals

A year ago this month, 12,000 lightening strikes exploded across Northern California. In the Santa Cruz Mountains, scattered fires grew into one massive burning blaze, dubbed the The CZU August Lightning Complex Fire. It scorched about 86,000 acres, destroying more than 900 homes, and it burned Big Basin, California’s oldest state park. A year later, the fire is still smoldering deep in some of the roots and stumps of ancient redwoods.The Kitchen Sisters started recording people’s stories about what was lost-- and what has been found --since lightning struck. This story grew out of a collaboration with the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History.