Discusses three major forest fires in the United States and Canada, including events leading up to them, how they were fought, and their after effects.
Explains how forest fires are a natural part of the process of a forest's renewal. Describes how over time vegetation grows again and animals return from underground burrows.
Eighteen-year-old Phil finds his summer job as fire lookout boring and uneventful until an electrical storm sets off a forest fire and changes his mind about the future.