Rachel Monroe is a writer based in Marfa, Texas. Her work has been published in or is forthcoming from The Believer, Tin House, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and the Awl. You can find more of her work at therachelmonroe.tumblr.com.
I joined the Marfa Volunteer Fire Department six months ago. So far, I have been to zero fires—the West Texas wildfire season doesn’t really pick up until spring—and two fire…