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.

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.