A unique and shocking fictional story (based on facts) of the growing unhoused communities of the Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington areas. A story of multi-billion-dollar city government spending, policy-making, the rights and wrongs done, and the fates of several families who have lost children to drugs and street violence who decide to take matters into their own hands.
In the early 2020s, just after the Covid pandemic, homelessness in Portland has grown exponentially. Vancouver homelessness is rising. These cities are unprepared to change their views to address this problem. Crime has spread through all downtown neighborhoods. Parts of both cities are burning. A new methamphetamine is available from Mexican cartels. A progressive government reigns in the City of Roses. And a storm of change is brewing.
The Norton's were a tight family, successful in that middle class way that American families have thrived in past decades. Not rich, not perfect, but together toward a future. The combination of drugs and homelessness deals them a tragedy they could never be prepared for. They grieve, they meet violence with violence, they protect their family and others. An entire community of people throughout the area are weary of the violence, crime and drugs and decide to do something. That something isn't legal, it isn't ethical, it may not be right.
"An Unsheltered Fire" is a story about overcoming loss, grieving through pain, reaction to social crisis, redemption and future. It is also a unique vision of a crumbling sub-society, a strained support system, and the question of whether or not America's values, and our deeply held sense of right and wrong, are being threatened.
