Fire

<p>Spitcat, a raging forest fire in the Sierra Nevada of California, had a lifespan of merely eleven days, &quote;yet its effects could be reckoned ahead in centuries.&quote; So writes George R. Stewart in this engrossing novel of a fire started by lightning in the dry heat of September, and fanned out of control by unexpected winds. The book begins with the origins of the firea &quote;smoldering quietly at first, unnoticed, then suddenly bursting into a terrifying inferno, devouring trees and animals over acre after acre and leaving nothing but desolation in its wake.</p><p>Firefighters and lookouts, forest rangers and smokejumpersa &quote;as well as animals in the forest, many of them the bewildered victims of the blaze, and all the varied tress and bushes therea &quote;are characters of this realistic story.</p>