Hold the Line

Katy L. Wood

7 hours ago

2 min read

An original comic about the state of wildland fire. Written and illustrated by Katy L. Wood.

A watercolor style digital illustration of four people standing in a line, visible only from mid-upper arms down. The person on the left is in civilian clothes, the second person is in wildland firefighter clothes, the third is in civilian clothes, the fourth is in wildland firefighter clothes. All are standing on green grass, but at the bottom of the image the grass is being burned away by a line of small flames. Over the bottom of the image are the words “Hold the Line” in red and “By Katy L. Wood” in orange.

A comic page in a digital watercolor style. The page depicts a woman in a home in the mountains preparing for a potential wildfire as one starts in the distance. She is using a sprinkler to wet down the lawn, cleaning her gutters, packing to evacuate, and examining the mitigation zones around her home. Throughout the page are bright red lines tracing parts of the image like the hose, gutters, and mitigation zones, each with the words “Hold the Line” over them in white text. There are also similar red lines on other parts of the image to emphasize those areas, but without the words.

A comic page in a digital watercolor style. Three panels show a wildland fire dispatcher from behind, multiple crowded monitors in front of them. Multiple text boxes in black and red build up across each image, crowding out the dispatcher and getting cut off by the edges of the panels. The black ones have general information about fires, the red ones all say “Hold the Line”. There are also floating images outside the panels of things related to being a dispatcher including a notebook, a cup of steaming coffee, and dry erase markers. Each floating image has a red line accenting a part of it.

A comic page in a digital watercolor style. A view from above shows an engine crew pulling out a hose line and attempting to protect a home from a rapidly encroaching wildfire burning through the woods that press right up against the home. The hose is a bright red line with the words “Hold the Line” overtop of it in white. There are also floating images outside the panels of things related to being a wildland firefighter including hoses, a standalone pump, and a hardhat. Each floating image has a red line accenting a part of it.

A comic page in a digital watercolor style. Two wildland firefighters are rappelling out of a helicopter into a forest, a growing smoke column visible in the distance. The lines connecting the firefighters to the helicopter are bright red, with the words “Hold the Line” in white over the one in the foreground. There are also floating images outside the panels of things related to being a wildland firefighter including a Pulaski, an electrolyte drink, and a freeze-dried meal pouch. Each floating image has a red line accenting a part of it.

A comic page in a digital watercolor style. A group of rangers helps evacuate campers from a raging wildfire. In the top, edgeless panel one ranger paddles a canoe with a mother and child along a waterway while in the background the forest, and a campground, are completely engulfed. The trail from the oar is a bright red line, with the words “Hold the Line” in white over it. The second panel depicts a view from above as several other rangers work over a map to coordinate the evacuation. Thin red lines mark the evacuation paths over the water, the words “Hold the Line” twirling through part of the lines. There are also floating images outside the panels of things related to being a ranger including a walkie-talkie, a bullhorn, and a flashlight. Each floating image has a red line accenting a part of it.

A comic page in a digital watercolor style. The top section of the page depicts three round tanks full of fire retardant, in front of them a person bringing the hose from the tanks forward to fill the tank on a plane. The pipe from the tanks is in bright red, with the words “Hold the Line” on it in white. The next three panels are steeply angled showing three types of firefighting planes dropping retardant on a growing wildfire, a single engine air tanker, a large air tanker, and a very large air tanker. The retardant from each plane is bright red, with the words “Hold the Line” over it in white. The bottom panel is a line of firefighting planes waiting to take off to fight a fire in the distance. The central runway line is bright red with the words “Hold the Line” over it in white. There are also floating images outside the panels of things related to wildland firefighting aircraft including a hose dolly, a cone, and a bucket. Each floating image has a red line accenting a part of it.

A comic page in a digital watercolor style. The page has two panels depicting a group of smokejumpers parachuting out to fight a fire in the forest behind them. In the top panel the parachute lines are all in bright red, and the lefthand control line of the foremost jumper has the words “Hold the Line” over it in white. The bottom line also has red parachute lines as two of the jumpers fold up a chute to store it after the jump, the words “Hold the Line” over the red lines. There are also floating images outside the panels of things related to being a wildland firefighter including a chainsaw, a fuel bottle, and a smokejumper helmet. Each floating image has a red line accenting a part of it.

A comic page in a digital watercolor style. The single panel depicts a wildland fire crew cutting fireline in a grassy field as other fires burn in the mountains in the distance. The line they are cutting is depicted in bright red with the words “Hold the Line” over it in white. There are also floating images outside the panels of things related to being a wildland firefighter including leather work gloves, a drip torch, and a wildland firefighter pack. Each floating image has a red line accenting a part of it.

A comic page in a digital watercolor style. The single panel depicts a wildland fire staging camp from above, the area crowded with tents and other structures as well as vehicles. The main road out of the camp is depicted in bright red with the words “Hold the Line” over it in white. There are also floating images outside the panels of things related to a wildland fire camp including stickynotes, a cup of pens, and a desk phone. Each floating image has a red line accenting a part of it. Additionally, one of the pens in the cup has a red tip but blue ink well inside the clear body, a nod to one of the wildland firefighters who died in 2026, Emily Barker, who was a bit of a prankster and once switched the ink wells of a bunch of pens so the colors did not match.

A comic page in a digital watercolor style. The page depicts a community struggling with the effects of a wildfire impacting their community. In the first panel a line of people waits at a food truck with a sign that food is free for evacuees. Under the people is a bright red line, overwhich are the words “Hold the Line” in white. The second panel depicts a crowded evacuation center full of cots, tables, and people. Bright red lines show the layout for the rows of cots and between two of the lines are the words “Hold the Line” in white. In the last panel are two people hugging tightly, the line where their bodies meet colored bright red, with the words “Hold the Line” in white. There are also floating images outside the panels of things related to being a community impacted by a wildfire including a shelter provided blanket, a shelter provided pillow, and a brochure about “Burned Area Reentry Safety.” Each floating image has a red line accenting a part of it.

A comic page in a digital watercolor style. There are no panels, just a tan background going across the entire image. In front of it is a floating red ball made up of the tangled image of every red line from the other pages. A thin cord stretches from the ball up and out of the image, on which are the words “Hold the Line”. The cord is fraying and near to breaking.

A comic page in a digital watercolor style. The image is the same as the cover, except now the only thing left is burned ground and the shoes of the people who were there before. The leftmost shoes are tattered and full of pill bottles. The first pair of firefighter boots is burned and holds a white cross with a wreath of flowers. The next pair of civilian shoes holes a partially empty whiskey bottle. The next pair of wildland fire boots is tattered and has an IV bag. The words “Hold the Line” are still there, now burned to black with glowing embers.

A comic page in a digital watercolor style. The pale tan background is overlaid with the text: “2026 has been a hard year in wildland fire. We have seen multiple fatalities, multiple entrapments, multiple life-altering injuries, multiple neighborhoods burned to the ground. There has been uncertainty and change at all levels, from communities to firefighters to decision makers. Everyone has been asked to do more with less, and to push through confusion, fear, and grief to get the work done anyway.

We cannot keep going like this.

We cannot have another year like this one.

“Hold the Line” is inspired by everything that has happened this year, by all the threads we are
all expected to hold together, all the weight we are expected to carry. It is meant to inspire conversation.

Please, take the time to understand wildfire mitigation, prevention, and evacuation preparation. Even a single, simple action can be the thing that changes everything.

Please, take the time to understand the various pieces of wildfire legislation winding their way through all levels of government, from your own HOA to the federal system, and advocate for the ones you believe in.

We cannot have another year like this one.”

I started working on this comic this summer after our district lost three firefighters to a burnover, and then a fourth when he passed away from his injuries a month later. Ever since then it has felt like the fatalities just keep coming across the country and around the world. It has been, and continues to be, a lot to wrestle with as a wildland fire dispatcher, as well as someone who does a lot of outreach and education around wildfire and disasters in general.

These are my crews, my coworkers, my friends, my community, and there is always going to be a chance that I will be the last person to ever hear their voices over the radio, or over the phone. And I am okay with that. Not okay with it happening, but okay with being the one on the other end of the line if it does. I've got the tools and temperament to handle it. But that doesn't mean there aren't hard days, or that I don't have a million questions after this summer.

Creating this comic was a way to try and express a lot of those complicated feelings as I search for and wait for answers, and come to terms with the fact that some questions may never be answered at all. I tried to depict a little of everything that goes on in wildland fire from the community level on up, though I'm sure there are things I missed.

Please, even if you do not live somewhere that you see as prone to wildfires, take the time to understand wildland fire related legislation and issues. Learn how to talk about it and don't be afraid to do so. Every voice matters in the effort to prevent another summer like this one.

Grassroots Wildland Firefighters is an advocacy group that has helped create and push forward multiple pieces of beneficial legislation. They are also a charity that is massively crucial for supporting wildland firefighters and their families after injuries and fatalities. Consider taking the time to explore their website.

Hold the Line

Recent Posts

Comments