Fire!
The forest rangers are worried. The weather is hot and there has been no
rain for a long time. They know the forest is as dry as sawdust. It
would take only a tiny spark to turn the whole forest into a roaring,
raging sea of fire!
From their watchtower high above the trees, the rangers see a thin
spiral of smoke. Fire! There’s a fire in the forest!
A quick call for help goes out. Fire fighters rush to the blaze in
trucks. Working quickly, they battle the blaze with streams of water and
shovelfuls of soil. They chop down trees and dig up the ground to keep
the fire from spreading.
Overhead, airplanes swoop over the fire, dropping water and chemicals on
it. From other planes come fire fighters called smoke jumpers. They
parachute into places that the fire fighters on the ground can’t reach
easily.
At last, after hours, or perhaps even days, the fire is out. Thousands
of trees that might have become blackened stumps have been saved.
A forest is long in growing, but its ashes are made in a moment.
