On the afternoon of August 20, 1910, a battering ram of wind moved about the dry national forests of Washington, Idaho, and Montana, creating a roaring inferno that rapidly destroyed towns and timber.  Egan narrates the struggles of the overmatched rangers and the larger story of the outsized president Teddy Roosevelt and his chief forester, Gifford Pinchot. Pioneering the notion of conservation, they created the idea of public land as our national treasure, owned by every citizen; thus, even as the national forests were smoldering, they were being saved.