a Wildland Firefighters Story One Foot in the Black chronicles one mans struggle with the risks of his career as a wildland firefighterone of the most dangerous, yet most fulfilling jobs on earth. Greg Kowalski leaves his abusive father in Michigan to become a seasonal firefighter with CalFire and then attends the brutal LACoFD Helitack training academy where he finds acceptance and comfort within the family of his fire crew. Greg comes of age when suffers traumatic stress after his crew is trapped on a mountainside in an explosive wildfire in which his captain and mentor dies in a burnover.