Jocko Lakes Fire Photo Book Honors Angie Kimmel

SEELEY LAKE – What all started with hundreds of cookies turned into an opportunity for professional photographer Angie Kimmel and her friend Becky Kyle to document the Jocko Lakes Fire, the largest fire to threaten Seeley Lake. Now 10 years later, her neighbor and friend Randi de Santa Anna and mother Sue Heagy complied her photographs into a book in her honor and made it available to the public.

Kimmel and Kyle were both living at the Tamaracks Resort when the Jocko Lakes Fire started in 2007. Being a professional photographer and recognizing the scale of the event unfolding, Kimmel immediately started taking photographs of the fire. After the fire camp was established at Harper's Lake they decided they would bake the firefighters cookies.

"They baked hundreds and hundreds of cookies," said Heagy. "All of our kitchens were full of cookie making stuff. They would pack them up and every day or two they would take these bags of cookies. That was how she got into the fire camp to start taking photographs. It was bribery."

The incident management teams and the crews welcomed Kimmel and Kyle and recognized their commitment to honor the fire crews' efforts through her photographs. They documented every aspect of the camps, the crews, the progress of the fires and the town meetings.

Kimmel sold 200 signed and numbered prints of several of her photographs. She wrote the Seeley Lake Rural Fire Department a check for $2,000, donating all of the money she earned.

A year ago Kimmel was going through her photographs and told De Santa Anna that she wanted to put together a book for the 10th anniversary of the fire.

"We talked about it and thought we had all kinds of time," said Heagy.

They did not. While Kimmel had chosen more photos than they could have included in the book, she had not started putting the book together before she died Oct. 27. She fought a courageous 27-month battle with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.

"As Angie was dying I promised her I would make her book," wrote De Santa Anna in the book's introduction. "I do it with the deepest love and respect for a woman whose spirit for life and learning and adventure were indomitable. Thank you Angie for showing us the world through your eyes and heart. We are forever richer because of what you did."

The only printed copy of the 66 page, 13 X 11 inch book was auctioned off at Clearwater Resource Council's Remembering the Jocko event. All proceeds were donated to the Seeley Lake Rural Fire District.

Heagy is taking pre-orders for the book through July 15. To order, email sue@tamaracks.com or call 406-210-1257. The price will be determined at the time of order based on the number ordered.