51 pages • 1 hour read
Rodman PhilbrickWildfire
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2019A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 1Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1: “Day One”
Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary: “When Trees Explode”
Wildfire begins with a broadcast from radio host Phat Freddy Bell to the campers at Camp Wabanaski. It has not rained in 65 days, and this is the hottest and driest summer on record.
Sam Castine wakes to the smell of smoke. Camp Wabanaski is ordered to evacuate because of an approaching wildfire. Just before boarding a bus, Sam realizes that he left his cell phone in his cabin and runs back to get it. He runs back through the smoke toward the buses, relying on his internal sense of direction. Suddenly, the pine trees around him burst into flames, creating a “wall of fire” between him and the buses (10). He runs in the opposite direction.
Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary: “Run, Boy, Run”
Sam keeps running and completely loses all sense of direction in the smoke. He starts choking on the smoke and worries he is dying until he is saved by a gust of wind that changes the direction of the smoke. He can finally see and breathe again. He sees a swamp a little ahead of him and crawls toward it.
Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary: “Your Son Is Missing”
Sam lies in the swamp for a while. He worries that Camp Wabanaski has burned down completely and wonders if anyone has noticed that he is missing or told his mom, who is in a substance abuse rehabilitation facility, what has happened. Sam wants to call her and leave a message, as she will not “have access to family or friends for the first ten days of treatment” (14). Then, he realizes that his phone has been in his back pocket while lying in water. He checks his phone urgently, but the screen is dark. He decides that he needs to find a road and get home.
Part 1, Chapter 4 Summary: “Don’t Believe in Sorry”
As Sam follows the swamp, his father’s words echo in his head, telling him to “make a plan and stick to it” (15). Sam’s plan is to find a road in the hope that a police car or other vehicle sees him. As he reaches the end of the swamp, he tries to walk in a straight line, as he knows how dangerous it is to get lost in the woods. Because he has no phone, it is hard for Sam to know how much time passes. He gets very thirsty and tired, but he knows that he cannot stop to nap.
Being in the woods reminds Sam of trout fishing with his dad when he was younger. His dad taught him a lot of “cool, outdoorsy stuff” (18) like how to build a fire, whittle with a knife, and read trail maps. He was supposed to teach Sam how to hunt ducks, but he died in Afghanistan. He notices tire tracks on the ground and realizes that he has found a road.
Part 1, Chapter 5 Summary: “Beautiful Music”
The road that Sam finds is an old, overgrown logging road. He knows this because his dad used to be a trucker. Sam knows that the road must eventually lead to a main road. He does not know which direction to go in, so he “flip[s] a coin in [his] head” and turns left (20).
As Sam follows the logging road, he thinks about his dad and how he worked as a gas tank driver in Afghanistan, partly to save money for Sam to go to college. To distract himself from thinking about his guilt over his father’s death, Sam instead thinks about where he can find water. He tries to suck the moisture out of leaves, but they taste bad and make him cough. Eventually, he hears the sound of running water. He follows the sound and finds an old spring. He drinks his fill of the water and then realizes that the spring is man-made, indicating that there must be a lumber camp nearby.
Part 1, Chapter 6 Summary: “Sleep Like the Dead”
Sam finds the old lumber camp, which has a little cabin where he can sleep for the night. There is no electricity in the cabin, but Sam finds a working flashlight. He also finds bottles of water with labels that “haven’t faded or peeled, so they can’t be that old” (26). Feeling optimistic about his discovery, Sam lies down on the cabin bunk bed.
He thinks about his mom and worries that if she hears that he is missing, she will quit her substance abuse rehabilitation program to look for him. He recalls begging his mom to stick to the program while he is at summer camp so she can recover from her addiction to prescription pain medication. Finally, Sam sleeps.
Part 1 Analysis
Wildfire starts with the camp’s sudden decision to evacuate before the fire arrives. Part 1 also introduces Sam Castine, the protagonist and narrator. In these early chapters, Sam has no clear sense of The Essentiality of Friendship and Connection. He can only rely on himself and the few resources at his disposal to escape the fire. He is alone and afraid, often thinking the worst. As he approaches the logging camp at dusk, he thinks that “every clump of bushes looks like [a bear], ready to charge” (24). Completely isolated from the outside world, he has no way of knowing how big the fire is, where he is, or what choices might increase his chances of survival.
Despite his solitude, Sam’s connections with other people are still an important motivator during his first day on the run from the fire. He thinks about his mother. He wants to tell her that he is alive so that she will not worry or leave her rehabilitation program early. He also maintains a strong connection to his deceased father through both memories and guilt. Sam feels guilty about his father’s death, as he took the job in Afghanistan that ultimately killed him to help build Sam’s college fund, among other reasons.
Sam’s connection to his father is also preserved in the survival skills that keep him going, even when he is tired or thirsty. These first chapters make it clear that Sam is a very resourceful and determined 12-year-old with an aptitude for Survival and Resilience Through Crisis. He makes good choices largely because of what his father taught him. He knows to run from the fire, even though it means running away from the camp buses. He spends time in the relative safety of the swamp instead of hiding in the dry forest. When he gets tired, he keeps moving instead of stopping to nap. He even manages his fears about dehydration by reminding himself that “humans survive for days without water” (17).
Despite everything that Sam’s father taught him about survival, Sam makes some mistakes in these chapters that present challenges. Going back for his phone is his first and most serious mistake. Material objects can be replaced, but escaping a dangerous situation is often time-dependent. His second mistake is getting his phone wet in the swamp, rendering it useless. Despite these errors, Sam is still able to prioritize many of the right things, including getting away from the fire and finding water and shelter to survive his first day in the woods.
Nature’s Simultaneous Power and Fragility are on full display in these chapters. The summer camp takes just a few hours to decide to evacuate, by which time the fire is almost on the property. The flames can be unpredictable, and if they touch a tree, the whole thing will essentially explode. The long, hot, dry summer has turned the forest into the perfect tinderbox. Sam realizes early on that it is not just the flames that pose a danger to him: Inhaling smoke can also be deadly. Particulate matter can damage the lungs, and if the fire gets close enough to heat up the air, breathing that superheated air can also kill humans and animals. This latter effect on animals demonstrates the fragility of nature, which is simultaneously powerful and delicate. Although the swamp might seem like a refuge, Sam realizes it cannot provide permanent safety or shelter. If the fire were to get closer, it could cause the swamp to dry up or fill the air with smoke. Sam must rely on his sense of Survival and Resilience Through Crisis to keep moving forward in search of safety.
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