For Joey Philion, surviving the fire was only the beginning.

On the morning of March 10th, 1988, in Orillia, Ontario, a house fire engulfed fourteen-year-old Joey Philion in flames. He suffered third degree burns on 95 percent of his body. Doctors didn’t think he would make it through the night.

After the Flames is about one of the world’s most famous burn victims: his incredible survival, his nightmarish path to recovery that helped revolutionize medical treatment for burn victims worldwide, the fame thrust upon him after he was declared a hero from the media, and the tumultuous years that followed, most of which were spent under the microscope of an unforgiving public eye.

The story also follows Joey’s family, including his mother Linda, stepfather Mike, and younger brother Danny, all of whom endured their own tremendous hardships in the wake of a fire that changed their lives forever.

• The 1988 house fire in the town of Orillia set off a chain of incidents that would profoundly change the family that lived there
• Both a true crime story and a compelling biography of Joey Philion, the severe burn victim who was revered as a hero, then villainized in the ensuring years as he and his family struggled under the weight and public expectations of celebrity
• Never-before-revealed insider stories from the family, including the fact that Joey started the house fire while he and his brother were home alone stoking the wood stove; for years, Joey lied saying he returned to the home to save his younger brother
• Joey’s burn treatment at Boston’s Shriners Hospital revolutionized the way we treat severe burns
• Author is Joey’s step-brother, who interviewed members of the family to create a complex picture of how celebrity caused this family to fall apart in the years after the fire
• Author residence: Mississauga, Ontario