Part 3, pages 278-308 Summary

Part 3, pages 278-308

August is half over and the temperatures are sweltering. Jick's mother is busy with canning, pickling and preserving food for the winter. The ranger station, staffed with a dispatcher, Chet Barnouw, an assistant ranger, Paul Eliason and Ranger Mac McCallas is busy keeping track of the small pocket fires with which the smoke chasers have so far been able to deal.

Jick spend his days fishing, checking on Walter Kyle's place, reading and sometimes passing time in the ranger station. In search of things to keep himself busy, Jick decides to wallpaper his porch bedroom.

On the evening of August 25, a lightning storm moves across Montana and when Jick awakes the next morning there are 200 fires in Region One, six of them in Mac's English Creek district. After breakfast, Jick follows his father to the ranger...